It was no wonder Shen Shiyin felt such a sense of superiority.

After losing his post in Dawan Village, he and his family had returned to Tian Nan City, originally thinking their future was bleak.

But thankfully, Steward Lai Er was a man of his word and remembered their old ties.

Since Shen Shiyin’s promised ten-year post had been taken from him midway through,

the steward had him pay some additional Spirit Stones and secured him a cushy job following a Transportation Envoy around to collect grain.

The Shen Clan was enormous and powerful, controlling an unimaginable number of directly-owned Spirit Fields.

As subordinates of the Transportation Envoy, their main task was to assist in collecting the harvest from the Spirit Fields belonging to the Shen Family.

But the Transportation Envoy himself mostly went to major cities and areas with large clusters of Spirit Fields to oversee the collections.

The other scattered Spirit Fields in remote villages, like Dawan Village, were left for underlings like them to handle.

Shen Shiyin was now one of these errand runners for the Transportation Envoy.

Currently, the Transportation Envoy he reported to was in Qing City.

And because he had once served as the Dawan Village Guardian and was familiar with the area, he was primarily responsible for running errands in this region.

And in the process,

with every village or Shen Family-affiliated estate he passed through, he could skim a little something off the top.

This extra income might be nothing to big shots like the Transportation Envoy,

but for collateral branch members like them, these small amounts added up to a staggering fortune!

Along the way,

Shen Shiyin had only passed through five villages and estates under the Shen Family’s banner.

But the amount he’d skimmed was already no less than the annual income he had received back when he was the Guardian of Dawan Village!

In comparison,

seeing the unlucky plight of the brat who had "stolen" his foundation,

how could Shen Shiyin not feel a sense of smug satisfaction?

It even made him feel a little giddy.

Shen Changchuan was naturally unaware of the changes in Shen Shiyin’s heart.

However, he keenly sensed the faint air of pride, or rather, superiority, emanating from the man.

This was perhaps related to his keen perception, thanks to a Divine Sense Strength comparable to someone at the Qi Introduction Late Stage.

’This guy must be thinking I’m going to suffer a huge loss on this trip, right?’

A thought stirred in Shen Changchuan’s mind.

He had only been casually complaining and playing the victim to avoid attracting unwanted attention.

After all, his harvest this time was not small.

And if he promoted the improved Spirit Grain cultivation techniques to all the Spirit Fields during the spring planting next year,

and also used the sediment formed from the condensed Water Vein Essence Qi and Earth Vein Essence Qi dredged from the bottom of the Dawan River as fertilizer,

then Shen Changchuan estimated that the yield per mu of land could increase by at least 50 jin next year!

In that case, the Spirit Field harvest for the first season next year would likely be no less than 1,800 jin.

After deducting the required 1,000 jin of Spirit Grain to be handed over to the Shen Family, he would be left with 800 jin of Spirit Grain, an income of roughly eighty Spirit Stones.

That would be over one hundred and sixty Spirit Stones a year!

Although, according to their agreement, a small portion of these one hundred and sixty-plus Spirit Stones had to be shared with the two thousand villagers,

any other Cultivator probably wouldn’t bother with such reward agreements and would instead fixate on that income of one hundred and sixty Spirit Stones.

If you added the allegiance of the surrounding villages, the income would likely exceed two hundred Spirit Stones!

An income like that,

would tempt even a Cultivator at the Qi Introduction Late Stage!

Shen Changchuan was certain,

that if this news got out, it would definitely stir up trouble out of nowhere.

He might even be unlucky enough to lose his position as the Dawan Village Guardian and be sent back to the Shen Family Mansion!

This was something Shen Changchuan could not accept.

That was why,

long before Shen Shiyin’s arrival, Shen Changchuan had Han Qinhu issue a gag order to the villagers, using their future share of the profits as leverage.

He even had them walk around outside less and forbade any discussion related to the Spirit Field’s harvest.

And he had also prepared to play the victim.

’Looks like it worked?’

A glint flashed in Shen Changchuan’s eyes.

The way things were developing seemed unexpectedly smooth.

’Oh well, this is a good thing. It saves me the trouble of guiding the conversation, which might have seemed too deliberate and aroused suspicion.’

Then again, although he called Shen Shiyin "Uncle," they had only met twice. What kind of relationship did they have?

Although there was some sincerity in Shen Changchuan’s earlier long speech,

they were not close.

Normally, who would pour out their heart like that in front of an unfamiliar outsider?

Shen Changchuan naturally had ulterior motives.

It was simply a matter of showing weakness to his enemy,

and quietly making a fortune.

However, Shen Changchuan also knew that going too far was as bad as not going far enough.

"Sigh... never mind, let’s not talk about it."

A mix of sadness and regret crossed Shen Changchuan’s face as he waved his hand dismissively.

He looked like he didn’t want to bring up the painful subject again.

Then he changed the subject.

"Uncle, you came from Tian Nan City. Have there been any major events in the Shen Family recently?"

"Major events? I wouldn’t know about anything critical."

Shen Shiyin took a sip of tea, looking quite pleased with himself.

Clearly, confirming that Shen Changchuan had suffered a great loss made him very happy.

On account of that, he didn’t mind revealing some news.

"However, there was a rumor circulating in Tian Nan City a while ago that caused quite a stir. Perhaps you’d be interested, Nephew."

"Oh? What kind of rumor is it?"

"Nephew, do you know of a person named Shen Han?"

Shen Shiyin gave a mysterious smile.

"Shen Han? I believe he’s one of my brothers, also from a concubine?"

Shen Changchuan thought for a moment before asking.

The name sounded familiar,

but the impression wasn’t strong. Still, Shen Changchuan managed to dredge the name up from the depths of his memory.

This Shen Han was the full-blooded younger brother of that unlucky fellow who supposedly committed suicide by stabbing himself in the back seven times!

Shen Changchuan seemed to recall that before he left the Shen Family Mansion, Shen Han’s birth mother had gone mad over his brother’s death and was sent to a temple outside the city. Afterwards, the First Madam had ordered Shen Han to go to the temple as well, to take care of her and fulfill his filial duty.

"That’s right!"

"That’s the one!"

Shen Shiyin seemed to know who Shen Changchuan was thinking of and confirmed it.

"It’s said that not long ago, Shen Han’s mad birth mother died a violent death in the temple."

"And after that, for some unknown reason, Shen Han’s strength suddenly surged."

"He broke the arms and legs of all the people the First Madam had sent to the temple and left a message saying he was cutting all ties with the Shen Family. He said, ’Thirty years the river flows east, thirty years it flows west.’ He would never forget the enmity of today, and once his Cultivation was accomplished, he would definitely return to the Shen Family to seek justice for his mother and brother!"

"This incident supposedly caused a huge uproar in Tian Nan City. The Second Madam even used it as an opportunity to cause trouble, making the First Madam so angry she hasn’t eaten for days. She smashed her beloved possessions and had more than a dozen servants beaten to death."

"I also heard that the First Madam has secretly put out a bounty: one thousand Spirit Stones to whoever can take Shen Han’s life!"