Chapter 5 Of Riches and Honour (2/2)

On the other side of the hall, stood a mother and her daughter. The mother looked old. She dressed in a simple and minimalistic manner. Her brows were light and sparse, and she looked motherly. There were wrinkles at the corner of her eyes which amplified her charm as a matured woman.

She held hand with a young lady, who looked slightly older than Shen Lian. She was dressed in a simple light green dress. Akin to a lotus flower that was about to bloom, the lady looked fresh and attractive in her own way. Shen Lian's heart skipped a beat when he saw her. Despite that he had seen plenty of beautiful women, the sight of a young lady dressed in traditional clothing caught him off guard.

Most of the beautiful women that Shen Lian had seen in the modern world had gone under the knife.1 In comparison, this lady was not particularly exquisite and did not have perfectly sculpted features like theirs. However, she was a breath of much-needed fresh air. Having been born into a rich family, she had porcelain-like fair skin; a sight that was guaranteed to turn heads.

Even though she could still be considered as a borderline Lolita2 in the modern world, by the standard of this world, she was already of marriageable age. If it was not Old Master Shen who was doting on Shen Lian's mother, his mother would not be unmarried at the age of seventeen.

The mother-and-daughter pair would be Shen Lian's second aunt, Chen and his cousin sister, Shen Ruoxi.

Having spent so many years apart from each other, the Shen family did not know how to behave around Shen Lian. The sensitive circumstances surrounding his birth did not help.

As to why did Old Master Shen invite Shen Lian back to the Shen family, it might be that he had some sort of plans in mind. If Shen Qingshi was proven to be infertile like Shen Qingsan, the Shen family would be left with no heir. At that point, it would not matter if Shen Lian was not related to the Shen family paternally, or if Ruoxi was not a male; Old Master Shen will be faced with a limited choice.

When he was conversing with the adults, Shen Lian remained cautious and alert, on top of paying attention to his mannerism.

Old Master Shen did not show much affection to Shen Lian; perhaps he was too used to being stern, or it might be that he was grieving for the passing of his grandchildren.

When Old Master Shen finally retired to his chamber out of tiredness, Shen Lian's aunt, Xu, glared at Shen Lian in a hostile manner.

Shen Lian knew that Xu would have been pleased if he were to come across as unintelligent. If that was the case, he would not catch Old Master Shen's attention.

After all, Shen Lian's eldest uncle had lost all of his children. What more with his sickness, he might not be able to father any sons in the future. Unlike before, his branch of the family would no longer be entitled to a huge portion of the inheritance. Their share of inheritance would be even smaller with Shen Lian in the picture.

A servant then led Shen Lian to his room. After all these years, Shen Lian was surprised that his room still looked almost the same.

After sending a servant to fetch him a cup of Ginseng tea, he managed to warm himself up. He proceeded with his body weight training.

Body weight training essentially meant training every part of one's body with one's body weight. As compared to machine workouts that target a particular muscle group, body weight training allowed for every part of the body to be trained at the same time.

If someone were to walk in on Shen Lian, one would see that Shen Lian was doing push-ups. With his hands placed firmly on the bed, Shen Lian bent his arms to go as low as possible; as his chest met the edge of the bed, he would straighten his arms and return to his starting position. The motion itself was just too suggestive.

This exercise was actually one of the bodyweight exercises that the Shen Lian knew from his previous life in the modern world. As he felt his body being pushed to its limit, he rose up and rest. Shortly after, he resumed training with a different set of exercises.

When he was done, he could feel his body generated a significant amount of heat energy, spreading to every part of his body. This was the effect of the Ginseng tea that he consumed earlier. Here referring to 'plastic surgery'.This was translated from the author's words.