Full Time Servant

"Father, he's not a Taoist Boy. He's one of our people, impersonating a Taoist Boy here..." After the Young Miss figured it out, she immediately said.

"Nonsense. How could he be one of ours? How could he impersonate a Taoist Boy? He's been helping the Taoist master all along. If he were impersonating, how could the master not see through it." The Mo family Great Master said sternly, already showing some dissatisfaction with the Young Miss.

"Right, Xiao Yu, don't talk nonsense. The master is an expert—how could he let someone impersonate his apprentice?" The First Master frowned.

"But I'm not talking nonsense. Can't you see who he is?" The Young Miss didn't bow her head in admission of error, because she was right about this matter.

Even if she were wrong, the Young Miss wouldn't necessarily bow her head easily, let alone when she was right.

"..."

"He does look somewhat familiar..."

With the Young Miss's reminder, everyone looked at Xiaoyao a few more times. At first glance, they all felt he looked somewhat familiar.

Xiaoyao was this type of person—though everyone didn't necessarily know him, they'd more or less seen him, making people feel they'd seen him before but couldn't remember who he was, unless someone among them had paid attention to him.

In other words, he was just familiar-looking.

"This Taoist Boy does indeed resemble a servant of ours called Xiaoyao..." The Second Master and Second Madam spoke up at this time. They weren't quite certain, though they'd already recognized it was Xiaoyao. Still, they felt Taoist Master Wucai shouldn't have Xiaoyao do this work.

In everyone's eyes, Taoist Master Wucai was a mystical expert whom they all respected. Psychologically, they wouldn't think an expert would casually find someone as an assistant, especially a low-ranking servant from their own household.

"Kid, you explain yourself—why did you become a Taoist Boy? Are you causing trouble or conspiring with someone to cheat food and drink?" The Young Miss grabbed Xiaoyao and said.

"I..." Xiaoyao said, but after just one word, he was immediately interrupted.

"Mo Yu." The Mo family Great Master said in a low voice. "Don't be disrespectful in front of the master. Whatever it is, discuss it later."

Regardless of the situation, the Mo family Great Master didn't want Taoist Master Wucai to feel awkward, especially in front of everyone. From past interactions, Taoist Wucai was definitely not a fraud.

Though Taoist Wucai was a mystical practitioner who spoke of mystical arts, with prolonged contact, one could naturally understand somewhat and know whether someone had real ability.

Since he wasn't a fraud but someone with real ability, the Mo family Great Master naturally wouldn't ask about such small matters. Who the Taoist Boy was didn't matter to him.

Because of this, he didn't want Mo Yu to continue on this issue.

"But..." The Young Miss still wanted to continue.

"Xiao Yu, discuss it later." The Young Miss's father, the Mo family First Master, spoke softly at this time while giving her a look, telling his daughter to be obedient and discuss whatever it was later.

Thus, the Young Miss very reluctantly released Xiaoyao.

Xiaoyao smiled, shrugged his shoulders, then continued working. He didn't explain this matter, perhaps because he didn't want to explain anything in front of so many people, feeling it unnecessary to clarify with them.

Taoist Master Wucai also didn't explain this. As the saying goes, why should experts explain so much?

Moreover, the work Xiaoyao was doing seemed to be just measurements, which shouldn't be very difficult. Perhaps the expert lacked an assistant and randomly found someone.

Because of this, though everyone knew about this matter, they didn't take it to heart, except for the Young Miss.

The Young Miss kept following Xiaoyao, wanting to see what exactly he was doing, or perhaps wanting to know whether Xiaoyao really could or couldn't do these things.

"Young Miss, do you have any questions?" After finishing his work, Xiaoyao asked the Young Miss.

"Nonsense. If I didn't have questions, would I have followed you for so long?" The Young Miss said irritably.

"I knew you were following me, so I asked what questions you had." Xiaoyao said lightly, as if not understanding the Young Miss's meaning.

"Kid, you're playing dumb with Sister. Be careful or this Sister will cripple you." The Young Miss said with mild anger.

"What? I'm not playing dumb. If you don't say what the problem is, how can I answer you? I can't answer you when you haven't stated a problem, and if you state a problem but I don't answer, and if you don't state one, how can I know what you're thinking? If you speak, I'll know what you want..." Xiaoyao spoke like a tongue twister, explaining why he asked about her questions.

"Stop, stop. What a mess. I surrender. Tell me, how can you work as a Taoist Boy? Do you actually know these things?" The Young Miss cut straight to the point. Talking with this kid would either anger you to death or exhaust you to death.

"Didn't I say before? I was helping Taoist Master Wucai. You were the one who informed me of this." Xiaoyao looked at the Young Miss, his eyes full of questions, as if saying she was asking the obvious.

"I know, but I thought you were going to help him refine pills. I didn't expect you'd work as a Taoist Boy." The Young Miss said somewhat helplessly.

"Taoist Master Wucai examines feng shui. Obviously I'm helping him with that. Why did you think I'd help him refine pills?" Xiaoyao asked somewhat strangely.

"Because legend says he also knows pill refining and feng shui mystical arts. I never imagined you'd know a bit of this too." The Young Miss explained while stating her perspective.

"Actually, I only understand a little. What I'm doing now isn't very difficult—just helping with surveys. Anyone could do these things." Xiaoyao replied.

"Regardless of difficulty, I always feel you're strange. You're just a servant—why do you even need to understand this?" The Young Miss looked at Xiaoyao. "Tell me, what else do you know?"

"Other things? What do you mean? If you're talking about Taoist mystical arts, I do know a bit—destiny reading, geomancy, character analysis, divination, and such. I understand some of each." Xiaoyao replied.

"..." The Young Miss was silent for a moment, then asked again: "You're a little servant—what do you need to know these things for? We're not a mystical family."

"I can't help it. My boss asked me whether her fate had any turning point, so I had to investigate." Xiaoyao replied. "We little servants have to learn whatever our bosses want us to know."

"Who is your boss?" At this point, the Young Miss was very curious about Xiaoyao's boss. From his words, she could tell the reason Xiaoyao knew these Taoist mystical arts was because of his boss.

Fate? Could it be that her fate was very special?

"You can find out by investigating. Don't ask here anymore, or the Great Master will be unhappy." Xiaoyao glanced at the Great Master, his eyes seeming to hold a kind of pity.

Pity? Why would there be such a feeling?

"That's too troublesome. Can't you just tell me directly? Also, what does this have to do with Grandfather?" The Young Miss didn't understand—didn't understand Xiaoyao's pity or why it would relate to the Mo family Great Master.

"You'll know if you investigate." Xiaoyao still said the same thing without elaborating.

"Hmph, investigate it is." Seeing this, the Young Miss understood she could only investigate this matter herself rather than get anything from Xiaoyao's mouth.

Actually, this matter was as Xiaoyao said—one would know by investigating. It wasn't some secret, and though it was a taboo that couldn't be spoken, it could be found out.

However, though the Young Miss said she'd investigate, just because she said it now didn't mean she'd necessarily remember next time. Who knew when she'd actually investigate thoroughly?

In some people's words, perhaps immediately, perhaps in three to five months—it depended on heaven's will.

After examining the feng shui, Taoist Master Wucai pointed out some places that needed modification while reminding the Mo family of areas requiring attention. Then he collected payment and left.

During this period, Taoist Master Wucai didn't explain the Xiaoyao matter, and simultaneously, the Mo family people didn't pursue or investigate deeply. Everyone seemed to treat this as if it never happened.

The Mo family people felt Xiaoyao's work was simple—just helping. Taoist Master Wucai had also revealed he lacked an assistant, possibly just randomly conscripting help.

As for Taoist Master Wucai, he didn't explain because he assumed the Mo family would ask Xiaoyao, so Xiaoyao would naturally tell them everything. As an expert, why should he explain anything?

How could he know the Mo family people actually didn't ask Xiaoyao? Otherwise, he would definitely have clarified somewhat, explaining why he used Xiaoyao.

Actually, Taoist Master Wucai had been using Xiaoyao as an assistant for several years, but no one had discovered this before because no one paid attention to Xiaoyao's existence.

He used Xiaoyao for help actually to resolve matters faster so he could rush to the next appointment—he didn't have just the Mo family as clients.

Though he had his own Taoist Boys, he seemed to discover that Xiaoyao was fastest and most accurate in surveys, preventing him from making basic errors in these areas.

Several years ago was also a coincidence—Taoist Master Wucai's young disciple had a small problem, so he found someone to do simple work. Thus, Xiaoyao, this little servant, was selected.

After interacting with Xiaoyao, Taoist Master Wucai discovered he was talented—much better than his own disciples. He even had thoughts of taking a disciple but was refused by Xiaoyao.

The reason was: I don't want to become a monk yet.

Though Xiaoyao refused Taoist Master Wucai, he often asked him questions and borrowed some unimportant Taoist books, which made Xiaoyao's Taoist mystical arts increasingly sophisticated.

In fact, because Xiaoyao wanted to learn these things, he found opportunities to approach Taoist Master Wucai and was discovered to have some potential by him.

(End of Chapter)