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Shen Shiying couldn't help but feel a sense of superiority.

After losing his position in Great Bay Village, he and his family returned to Tiannan City, initially believing their future was bleak.

But fortunately, Steward Lai Er was a man of his word and remembered their past connection.

Since the promised ten-year tenure was cut short by someone else, He was compensated with some spirit stones and was given a lucrative position assisting a transport commissioner with grain collection.

The Shen Family was a powerful entity, managing an unimaginable number of direct spirit fields across the land.

As subordinates to the transport commissioner, their main task was to assist in collecting the harvest from the spirit fields belonging to the Shen Family.

However, the transport commissioner himself primarily stayed in major cities and areas with large concentrations of spirit fields to oversee collection.

Other scattered spirit fields, like those in Great Bay Village, located in remote rural areas, were handled by their subordinates.

Shen Shiying was currently one of these errand runners for the transport commissioner.

His current transport commissioner was in Qing City.

Because he had served as a guardian in Great Bay Village before, he was familiar with the surrounding areas, so this region was primarily assigned to him for his errands.

And during this process, Every village or manor belonging to the Shen Family he passed through provided him with some extra income.

This extra income might not mean much to important figures like the transport commissioner, But for them, the lower-ranking collateral relatives, it accumulated into immense wealth!

Along the way, Shen Shiying had only visited five villages and manors under the Shen Family.

But the accumulated extra income was already no less than the annual income he received when he was the guardian of Great Bay Village!

In comparison, And seeing the current predicament of the young man who had "usurped" their foundation, How could Shen Shiying not feel a surge of satisfaction?

It even gave him a sense of elation.

Shen Shiying's internal changes, Shen Changchuan was naturally unaware of.

However, from the faint pride, or rather sense of superiority, emanating from him, He had keenly noticed it.

This might be related to his keen perception due to his Spiritual Sense strength, which was comparable to the Qi Gathering Late-stage.

"Could this guy be thinking that I'm going to suffer heavy losses this time?"

Shen Changchuan's heart stirred.

He had initially just made a casual remark and played the victim to avoid drawing attention to himself.

After all, his current harvest was not small.

And if he could promote the improved spirit grain cultivation techniques to all the spirit fields during the spring plowing next year, Combined with the sediment formed from the essence of water and earth veins extracted from the bottom of the Great Bay River as fertilizer.

Shen Changchuan estimated that the yield per mu would increase by at least 50 jin next year!

Then the spirit field harvest for the first quarter of next year would likely be no less than 1,800 jin.

After deducting the necessary 1,000 jin of spirit grain to be submitted to the Shen Family, there would be 800 jin of spirit grain left, generating an income of about 80 spirit stones.

That would be over 160 spirit stones a year!

Although a small portion of these over 160 spirit stones would have to be distributed to the two thousand villagers according to the agreement, Other cultivators would likely ignore such reward agreements and focus solely on this temporary income of 160 spirit stones.

If the allegiance of the surrounding villages were added, the income could exceed 200 spirit stones!

Such an income, Even a Qi Gathering Late-stage cultivator would definitely be tempted!

Shen Changchuan was certain, If this news were to spread, it would undoubtedly cause complications out of nowhere.

He might even be unfortunate enough to lose his position as the guardian of Great Bay Village and be sent back to the Shen Family Manor!

These were things Shen Changchuan could not accept.

Therefore, Even before Shen Shiying arrived, Shen Changchuan had instructed Han Qinhu to threaten the villagers with future profit sharing as a reward, imposing a gag order.

He even told them to limit their outdoor activities and not to discuss anything related to the spirit field harvest.

and he was also prepared to play the victim.

"Looks like this is a success?"

Shen Changchuan's eyes flickered slightly.

The development of events seemed to be going smoother than he had expected.

"Never mind, this is a good thing. It saves me the trouble of guiding the conversation, which might have seemed deliberate and aroused suspicion."

That was true.

Although he called Shen Shiying "Uncle,"

they had only met twice, and they hardly had any rapport.

While Shen Changchuan's earlier lengthy speech contained some genuine sentiment, they weren't close.

Normally, why would anyone pour out their troubles like this to an unfamiliar outsider?

Shen Changchuan naturally had ulterior motives.

It was nothing more than feigning weakness to gain an advantage and quietly accumulating wealth.

However, Shen Changchuan also knew that too much of a good thing could be bad.

"Sigh, forget it, I won't say any more."

Shen Changchuan's face showed a mixture of sadness and regret. He waved his hand and said, as if unwilling to bring up this painful matter again.

Then he changed the subject.

"Uncle, you've come from Tiannan City. Have there been any significant events in the Shen Family recently?"

"Significant events? I'm not sure about anything particularly important."

Shen Shiying took a sip of tea, looking quite at ease.

It was clear that confirming Shen Changchuan's heavy losses had made him very happy.

Given that, he didn't mind revealing some information.

"However, not long ago, there was a piece of gossip that caused quite a stir in Tiannan City. Perhaps Nephew would be interested."

"Oh? What kind of gossip?"

"Does Nephew know of Shen Han?"

Shen Shiying smiled mysteriously.

"Shen Han? He seems to be one of my brothers, also born of a concubine?"

Shen Changchuan pondered for a moment and asked.

He seemed to have heard this name before, but his impression was not deep. Still, Shen Changchuan managed to retrieve the name from the depths of his memory.

This Shen Han, was the younger brother of that unlucky fellow who was stabbed seven times and committed suicide!

Shen Changchuan seemed to recall that before he left the Shen Family Manor, Shen Han's birth mother had gone mad over her son's death and was banished to a temple outside the city. Afterward, the First Madam had ordered him to go to the temple outside the city to care for her and fulfill his filial duties.

"That's right!"

"It's that Shen Han!"

Shen Shiying, as if knowing who Shen Changchuan was thinking of, confirmed.

"It is said that not long ago, Shen Han's mother, who had gone mad, died suddenly in the temple."

"And Shen Han, for some unknown reason, suddenly experienced a significant increase in his strength."

"He crippled all the people the First Madam had sent to the temple and left a message stating that he was severing all ties with the Shen Family. He said that fortunes change, and he would never forget this debt. Once his cultivation reached a certain level, he would return to the Shen Family to seek justice for his mother and brother!"

"This matter is said to have caused a huge uproar in Tiannan City. The Second Madam even used it as an opportunity to cause trouble, angering the First Madam so much that she hadn't eaten for days, smashed her favorite possessions, and beat more than a dozen servants to death."

"I also heard that the First Madam has already offered a bounty: whoever can take Shen Han's life will receive one thousand spirit stones!"