You Promised to Be an Idle Son-in-Law, How Could You Become a Land Immortal?

Chapter 52: Chapter 52: My Brother-in-Law Dotes On Me the Most

The figure leaning against the porch was none other than Pei Guanli.

Upon hearing the sound, the bored look on her face instantly broke into a smile. She came bounding over, the bell on her neck swaying.

JINGLE, JINGLE.

”Brother-in-law, it’s past noon! How come you’re back so late?”

She must have been getting anxious from the wait, as her Mountain Race dialect had slipped out.

Chen Yi understood her just fine. He motioned for Xiaodie, Wang Lixing, and the others to take Xiao Wuge into the Spring Lotus Garden first.

Xiao Wuge curiously sized up Pei Guanli’s attire, only to be met with a funny face from her. He couldn’t help but laugh. ”Brother-in-law, she calls you Brother-in-law, too?”

Chen Yi clapped him on the shoulder. ”Your second sister has taken her as a sworn sister.”

”Oh, that explains why I’ve never seen her around the mansion.”

Once Xiao Wuge had followed Xiaodie into the Spring Lotus Garden, Wang Lixing, Yan Hong, and the others went to the central courtyard to report to Xiao Xuanshuo.

Chen Yi glanced around before asking, ”Did your sister let you out?”

Pei Guanli nodded vigorously and grinned. ”I begged Sister Jinghong for days! She finally caved and let me out today. She even said I could represent the Mountain Race at the old master’s birthday banquet tomorrow.”

Chen Yi raised an eyebrow. He remembered the girl saying the Mountain Race wanted to establish a Mutual Market with the Dingyuan Marquis’s Mansion. It all made sense now.

After a moment of thought, he said gravely, ”You’ll have to be careful, then. You’ve been seen around the mansion before. Watch out, or someone might recognize you.”

It would be one thing if the maids and household servants recognized her, but he was afraid Liu Si’er might grow suspicious.

After all, that secret letter had said, ”You have been exposed. Find him and kill him.”

Considering how secretive the Hidden Guard was and how deeply they had infiltrated the Xiao Family, there was no telling what Liu Si’er might do if he learned Pei Guanli had been in his room.

Pei Guanli, however, was unfazed. She puffed out her chest and said, ”I’ll just put on some pretty makeup tomorrow. I guarantee no one will recognize me.”

Seeing her so confident, Chen Yi just nodded. ”Let’s hope so.”

Before he could say another word, Pei Guanli cried out, ”Oh!” She grabbed his arm and started pulling him toward the Spring Lotus Garden, chattering as they went.

”Don’t you worry, Brother-in-law. It’ll be fine.”

”Then what’s this about?”

”I have a much, much more urgent problem! Tomorrow is the old master’s grand birthday banquet, and I... I don’t have a gift ready.”

”...”

Chen Yi couldn’t resist flicking her on the forehead. ”So you plan to show up with no gift and just eat and drink for free? Sorry, the Xiao Mansion doesn’t welcome freeloaders.”

Pei Guanli clutched her head and gave him a pitiful look. ”Brother-in-law, you’re good at Calligraphy, aren’t you? And you can write Poetry, too. Please, help me?”

”You think Poetry grows on trees? That I can just pluck it out of thin air? Besides, it’s already this late. There’s hardly any time to get it mounted.”

”Help me, Brother-in-law...”

Unmoved, Chen Yi shot her a look. ”Does your sister know about this?”

Her pitiful act vanished in an instant. She stuck out her tongue. ”To be honest, Brother-in-law, Sister Jinghong was the one who told me to find you.”

Chen Yi’s gaze shifted to the wooden building where Xiao Jinghong lived. It didn’t look like anyone was home, and he wondered where she had gone.

Pei Guanli seemed to read his mind. She bounced over to block his view and said with a giggle, ”Don’t bother looking, Brother-in-law. Sister Jinghong went out.”

”She said she was heading to the Governor’s Office. Something about memorials and official reports.”

Chen Yi nodded in resignation. ”Well, don’t just stand there. I’ll write something for you. Take it to a mounting shop; hopefully, they can get it done today.”

A smile instantly lit up Pei Guanli’s face. She latched onto his arm, swaying it back and forth. ”I knew you were the best to me, Brother-in-law!”

’The best to her?’

’I wish she’d hurry up and go back to her mountains.’

Chen Yi rolled his eyes and led her to the study. After spreading out a sheet of Yunsong Paper, he had her grind the ink at his side.

”Brother-in-law, what are you going to write?”

”May your fortune be as vast as the East Sea, and your life as long as the Southern Mountains.”

”Oh, that sounds very impressive... Where are the Southern Mountains? Is that Wumeng Mountain?”

”I suppose it could be.”

Chen Yi gave her absentminded replies. Once the ink took on a glossy sheen, he brandished his brush and wrote the phrase in large characters, all in one go.

This time, however, he didn’t use his Qi Mechanism to channel the Heaven and Earth’s Spiritual Mechanism, relying purely on his calligraphic skill.

Furthermore, to differentiate it from the piece he had written, *Zhiqing Marquis Xiao*, he deliberately used the Wei Qingzi script.

Even so, it was still an exceptional piece.

At least, it would be to the eyes of a calligraphy connoisseur.

When he finished, Pei Guanli picked it up and blew on the ink to dry it. She examined it from the left, then from the right, and nodded in feigned understanding.

”Wow, Brother-in-law, your writing is so beautiful.”

Chen Yi shot her a look. ’Might as well treat her as an expert,’ he thought. At least her words were pleasant to the ear.

After a moment’s thought, he called for Xiaodie.

He had her take Pei Guanli to the mounting shop, lest the Tiger Girl get lost and waste time wandering around a place she didn’t know.

Pei Guanli, of course, was all smiles and thanks. She followed Xiaodie into one of the mansion’s carriages and they departed from the Xiao Mansion together.

What she didn’t know, however, was that the coachman was the very same man who had led her to Liu Si’er’s room.

The Spring Lotus Garden fell silent.

Chen Yi enjoyed the peace and quiet. He was just about to study the Opportunity he had just obtained and advance his Martial Arts·Body to the Great Success Realm.

But as it turned out, with Xiao Jinghong away, he found he had even less free time.

Indeed, not long after Xiaodie and Pei Guanli had left, Shen Huatang from the adjacent courtyard came looking for him.

Chen Yi tidied up his desk, glanced at her, and asked casually, ”Looking for the Young Master? He’s resting upstairs. He wore himself out playing outside the mansion this afternoon.”

But to his surprise, Shen Huatang shook her head. ”Second Young Master, I’m looking for you.”

”Oh?”

”The Second Miss is out, and many guests have arrived at the mansion. The Eldest Miss is struggling to entertain them on her own, so she was hoping you might go and help out.”

Chen Yi considered this for a moment, then rose without objection and followed her toward Jiaxing Garden.

”What sort of guests are we talking about?”

”Mostly distant relatives of the Xiao Family. But some of them are older gentlemen and young masters, which makes things awkward for the Eldest Miss.”

”I see.”

Chen Yi nodded in understanding. With Xiao Wan’er’s gentle temperament, she certainly wasn’t suited to dealing with coarse men.

Shen Huatang glanced at him from the side. Seeing his calm expression and unconcerned air, she felt a little uncertain.

This Second Young Master was usually so lazy and listless; she had no idea if he could actually handle such guests.

As it turned out, she had worried for nothing.

When Chen Yi arrived at Jiaxing Garden, he first greeted Xiao Wan’er in the side room. He had her take him on a quick tour to introduce him to everyone, and then he sent her away to rest.

Then, in less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea, all those distant relatives of the Xiao Family, young and old, were chatting and laughing with him.

It sounds simple, but in truth, it wasn’t hard at all.

It was just the usual routine of social etiquette, combined with a bit of perceptiveness and a disposition that was neither servile nor arrogant. That was all it took.

Even when a few of the so-called ”young masters” made insolent remarks, bringing up the incidents of him fleeing his wedding and abducting a local girl, Chen Yi simply laughed it off and even joked at his own expense.

”My mind was all muddled then. I suppose I’m just not as upstanding as Brother Feng.”

”Well, naturally...”

Flattery.

Whether or not he’d kill them later was another matter; for now, at least on the surface, everyone was getting along amicably.

After that, Chen Yi could retreat, having done his part. He only needed to step in and guide the conversation to warm things up whenever there was an awkward silence, and in this way, he managed to coast through the afternoon.

But in contrast to his easy, carefree afternoon...

Xiao Wan’er was having a bit of a headache. Among the female relatives who had come, not a single one, young or old, was easy to deal with.

The various aunts were all chattering about her marriage, saying how a woman of her beauty was getting on in years and that it was getting a bit late for her to marry.

Her cousins, both younger and older, didn’t dare say anything outright, but their words were dripping with passive-aggressive cattiness.

”Sister Wan’er, you’re so beautiful. You must have lots of young masters admiring you, right?”

”Sister Wan’er, just yesterday before I left, a young master wrote me a love poem! Let me recite it for you...”

’A love poem?’

Xiao Wan’er’s foggy mind suddenly cleared. She looked at her cousin who had spoken and said:

”Don’t bother.”

”But it’s really quite good! I was almost moved to tears myself.”

Xiao Wan’er ignored her and turned to the girl’s mother, saying gently, ”Aunt, please don’t worry about my marriage. Perhaps you should focus on finding a good match for your own daughter first.”

She didn’t need to hear the love poem to know whether it was any good or not.

After all, a certain someone had already set an impossibly high bar...

As she thought this, Xiao Wan’er looked out the window into the courtyard and her eyes immediately found Chen Yi, who was laughing and joking amiably in the middle of the crowd.

’What are they talking about?’ she wondered. ’Why is he laughing so happily?’

”Wan’er? Wan’er?”

Xiao Wan’er snapped back to her senses, a faint blush creeping onto her pale cheeks. She stood and gave a small curtsy.

”Elders, sisters, please make yourselves comfortable for a moment. I am going to fetch some refreshments.”

With that, she exited the wooden building. As she headed for the rear kitchen with Shen Huatang, she shot a glare at Chen Yi.

But she happened to meet his gentle gaze, which in turn made her feel a bit flustered.

Xiao Wan’er quickly lowered her head and hurried away from Jiaxing Garden.

Chen Yi watched the two of them leave, feeling utterly baffled.

’Is it that time of the month for her?’