This was a shop the Little Young Master opened himself.
This matter truly surprised the Master of the Earthly Realm quite a bit. Simply because gold, silver, and monetary wealth in the Human Realm were of no great use to the Little Young Master; if there was anything he wanted, with merely a word, the Master of the Human Realm would naturally present them to him one by one.
Seeming to discern the Master of the Earthly Realm’s astonishment, the Little Young Master’s face couldn’t help bearing a bit of triumph; without even needing to ask further, he couldn’t hold back from spilling out the reasons one by one himself.
Between this heaven and earth, those who could discipline and restrain the Little Young Master were merely the two Realm Masters of Heaven and Earth. It was often said that an elder brother was like a father, and to the Little Young Master, the two Realm Masters were precisely like so. Among the two Realm Masters, the Master of the Heavenly Realm had a gentler disposition, usually treating the Little Young Master with indulgence for the most part, habitually lacking prestige in front of the Little Young Master. He was that sort of absolute doting elder brother who would give a star if the child wanted a star, or even bring the moon along while he was at it.
The Master of the Earthly Realm, on the other hand, had a cold and stern disposition, so he naturally had to be much stricter. Although he also granted every request when it came to the Little Young Master, if the Little Young Master’s request was not very reasonable, he would not blindly indulge him; instead, after thoroughly explaining the reasons and consequences, he would let the Little Young Master make his choice anew. He would also sternly admonish him when the Little Young Master was mischievous and made mistakes, and had even struck the Little Young Master’s palm with a ferule during the Little Young Master’s childhood. He was the sole person between heaven and earth who had ever struck the Little Young Master to this day.
A young child was born instinctively knowing how to seek advantages and avoid harm, let alone the Little Young Master, who was born sensible and had been exceptionally intelligent and quick-witted since childhood. Originally, several of the Masters—including the Master of the Heavenly Realm and the Master of the Human Realm—all felt that the Little Young Master and the Master of the Earthly Realm would be quite at odds with each other in the future; never expected that in the end, the person the Little Young Master was most close to and reliant upon was actually the Master of the Earthly Realm.
When the Little Young Master was young, the Master of the Heavenly Realm and the others had noticed that the Little Young Master always acted a bit closer toward the Master of the Earthly Realm. At that time, unable to suppress the doubts in their hearts, the various Masters took advantage of the fact that the Little Young Master was still young and tender to ask him thoroughly, yet the answer they obtained was somewhat unexpected.
That was a certain day back then when the Master of the Earthly Realm left the Heavenly Realm to handle matters outside, and the Master of the Heavenly Realm accompanied four other Masters to look for the Little Young Master. Having received the inquiries from the various Masters, the Little Young Master tilted his small head up and thought quite seriously for a moment, then looked at the various Masters and said: “Although Brother Kun is a bit fierce, I know he is treating me well. Have the several elder brothers ever seen Brother Kun admonish others? It should be never, right?”
The various Masters recalled carefully, and indeed it was so. If the Master of the Earthly Realm punished someone, he would never use methods like admonishment; rather, he was extremely direct, such as dismissal, or throwing the offender into the training ground to be drilled. Only when dealing with the Little Young Master did he have a few more bits of cold-faced patience to reason with him.
“Precisely so,” the Little Young Master saw clearly despite his young age. “To Brother Kun, he must have placed Chushi in his heart, which is why he is willing to scold and punish me. What he does is merely to make Chushi better.”
“From this, it can be seen that to Brother Kun, Chushi is the most special in his heart! And to Chushi, Brother Kun is naturally also the most special person…”When the Master of the Earthly Realm was in the Immortal Realm, owing to someone disciplining him, the Little Young Master was naturally quite well-behaved. It was just that later, the Master of the Earthly Realm did not return for three hundred years, and coupled with the fact that the Little Young Master had grown older, waiting for so long made him lose his temper.
The Little Young Master originally thought that if he threw a tantrum, perhaps that person would return. Thus, he barged into the Demon Realm Sea to snatch the Master of the Demon Realm’s magical robe, entered the Human Realm to frequent brothels, gambling halls, and wineries, and did not miss the Master of the Dao’s monastery or the Master of Buddha’s Buddhist temple. His actions were exceedingly wild, yet no matter how wildly and recklessly he acted, the Master of the Earthly Realm did not return.
After throwing such a wild fuss for a while, the Master of the Heavenly Realm truly could not stand watching him like this, thinking to simply use an emergency talisman to recall the Master of the Earthly Realm, yet the Little Young Master suddenly quieted down for some unknown reason.
After the Little Young Master quieted down, he stayed in the Human Realm for a period of time. During those days, he learned many business strategies from the Master of the Human Realm. The Little Young Master was naturally brilliant and always had many novel ideas; unexpectedly, he managed all these shops quite well, earning a considerable amount of gold and silver.
The Little Young Master tilted his head to look at the Master of the Earthly Realm, supporting his cheek with one hand as he asked him: “I opened these shops precisely to make money. Do you know why I wanted to earn money?”
The Master of the Earthly Realm guessed a bit of it, yet he merely asked along with the Little Young Master’s words: “Why?”
The elegant private room where the two were located was by the window. The Little Young Master’s gaze passed over the Master of the Earthly Realm’s shoulder, softly falling onto the bustling street outside the window, saying in a low voice: “In the past, I only knew that the Human Realm was bustling and beautiful, with amusing storybooks, mouth-watering gourmet food, and all kinds of interesting gadgets… However, only by truly being in their midst, walking through and observing slowly, did I come to know that behind the bustling beauty, there are also many things that do not turn out as desired.”
“I thought back then, could I help out a bit? I originally could, as it was merely a matter of moving a finger, but Tiangan stopped me.”
The Little Young Master paused slightly, his gaze falling back onto the Master of the Earthly Realm as he said: “Tiangan told me that between this heaven and earth, there are causes and effects. The bustling beauty is cause and effect, and the undesirable things are also cause and effect; even I cannot interfere at will.”
“Tiangan then asked me, do you want to know why he hasn’t returned for a long time?” The Little Young Master looked at the Master of the Earthly Realm and blinked, continuing: “I naturally wanted to. So Tiangan told me that the matter you are handling is extremely difficult, simply because it involves the cause and effect of heaven and earth. Thus, Luo Xie could not handle it, and you had to go in person.”
Looking at the serious manner of the youth before him, the Master of the Earthly Realm couldn’t help raising his hand to rub gently on the crown of his hair, soothing him in a warm voice: “It wasn’t actually that difficult, just somewhat time-consuming, making Chushi wait for a long time.”
The Little Young Master narrowed his eyes, pulling down the Master of the Earthly Realm’s hand to hold it in his own, continuing: “So then I thought, since I as the Child of Heaven and Earth cannot interfere, then I will act as a ‘human,’ using the people, things, and matters of this mortal realm itself to do things; that should be fine, right?”
Speaking up to this point, the Little Young Master paused. The Master of the Earthly Realm understood, nodding as he said: “In that case, it is naturally fine.”
Having received a satisfactory answer, the Little Young Master nodded slightly and continued: “So I tried to make money. At the very beginning, my hands were completely empty and poor, so I wrote a few storybooks to sell on consignment; never expected those storybook tales would sell extremely well. After getting the silver, I simply opened a teahouse…”
Inside the teahouse, there was a storyteller sitting in the hall, telling the storybook tales vividly and colorfully, which was greatly loved. Thus, taking advantage of the momentum, he pulled a theater troupe together and set up a stage, performing the most popular storybook tales with great excitement. The theater troupe performed with great excitement, and through a twist of chance, the theatrical costumes worn by the actors became popular. Consequently, he opened a ready-made clothing shop.
The Little Young Master’s eye was naturally superb; with just a few casual pointers to the tailors and embroiderers in the shop, the crafted clothes were already magnificent and exquisite. For a time, the clothing shop’s business was booming, and before long he opened a second store, followed by store after store; today, it was already an old established brand with a hundred years of heritage.
Hearing this, the Master of the Earthly Realm couldn’t help praising: “Never expected Chushi to have such talent.”
Hearing this, the Little Young Master accepted it without a trace of modesty, nodding with pride: “How I make money nowadays cannot even be described by ‘making daily revenues of tons of gold’!”
Having earned enough silver, the Little Young Master threw himself heart and soul into the ranks of doing good deeds. Repairing roads and building bridges, providing disaster relief, establishing charitable homes, sheltering refugees… Wherever relief was needed, the presence of the “Shi Clan” could be found. For a time, everyone under heaven knew that the proprietor of the Shi Clan shops was generous, benevolent, and loved to perform charitable acts, a truly great person. As a result, the business of each shop actually grew even better.
Playing with the palm in his hand that was much larger than his own, the Little Young Master suddenly sighed softly, saying: “I know that doing this naturally cannot help everyone under heaven, but if one less person suffers and undergoes hardship, that is also good.”
The Master of the Earthly Realm moved his long fingers slightly, hooking the Little Young Master’s fingertips to give them a squeeze, saying in a warm voice: “Chushi has done extremely well, filling me with awe and praise!”
The Little Young Master raised his eyes slightly, only to meet the Master of the Earthly Realm’s deep, dark eyes. He suddenly felt a bit embarrassed, turning his head slightly to avoid them before hesitantly asking: “Then did my doing all this offer you some bit of help?”
The Master of the Earthly Realm was startled upon hearing this, his gaze falling onto the Little Young Master’s slightly red earlobes. He felt as though that single question was like scorching lava, surging and rushing across his chest and heart, melting his heart into a single pool in an instant, burning hot and warm…
With his heart a pool of rolling heat, the Master of the Earthly Realm suddenly stood up, stepping in front of the Little Young Master in one stride, bending down slightly under the Little Young Master’s puzzled gaze… Cool lips fell upon his brow. The Little Young Master blinked in a daze, and upon realizing what happened, his hands and feet suddenly froze.
The Little Young Master and the Master of the Earthly Realm had always been intimate; in the past, light kisses like this were not non-existent. Only this time, the Little Young Master felt it was completely different from any time before. Those past light kisses falling on his forehead, brow, or cheek carried affection, doting, and closeness, which the Little Young Master naturally liked.
Yet this kiss this time—he didn’t know how to express it—seemed to carry a bit more intimacy and something else… He liked it far more than any time before!
The lips stayed upon his brow for merely an instant. By the time the Little Young Master snapped back to his senses, the Master of the Earthly Realm had already stepped back. He instinctively reached out his hand wanting to pull him, yet the attendant who had been away for a while happened to appear at that moment. Helplessly, he could only temporarily suppress his thoughts, settling his mind to look over.
The attendant walked a few quick steps to come before the two, bowing as he said: “Pardon the distinguished guests for waiting long. Because the two are so extraordinarily distinguished, this small one took some extra time when picking sample garments; I hope you can forgive me.” After speaking, the attendant turned slightly to the side. Following behind him were two laborers, each pushing a human-high rack filled with various garments—presumably the ready-made clothes selected by the attendant.
The Master of the Earthly Realm waved his hand slightly, indicating it was fine. Seeing that the two bore no displeasure on their faces, the attendant couldn’t help letting out a long breath in his heart. These two possessed divine appearances; he had accidentally picked a bit too many, but fortunately the distinguished guests did not mind.
“The two distinguished guests may inspect them first and keep whichever catches your eye. Afterward, this small one will arrange for the two to try them on.”
Hearing this, the Master of the Earthly Realm looked toward the Little Young Master, calling him softly: “Chushi?”
Only then did the Little Young Master regain his senses at the sound. He glanced at the Master of the Earthly Realm without saying much, pacing over to the clothing racks to make his selection carefully.