19. Case is solved?

Lan gestured for the two of them to follow and lazily plopped down into a reclining chair. Situ Rin and Situ Fu entered his room after bowing.

Lan observed Situ Fu as he walked in with the grace of a gentleman and stood before him. Despite being crippled, his posture was as straight as a bamboo pole.

His black hair was trimmed at the root, his face was cleanly shaven, and his white apparel gave the impression that he was someone of military background.

In reality, Situ Fu was from a family of bullies and was just an ordinary shopkeeper. Lan's keen eyes saw Situ Fu differently, thinking, This man here is perfect butler material. Lan had already decided Situ Fu's future.

Lan still needed to find out who had crippled this father-and-son pair as a starting point, but he was not in the mood for stories. He just needed answers and asked lazily, "Situ Fu, who crippled you?"

Situ Fu was startled when the Ancestor suddenly asked about the person who had crippled him. The Ancestor had never spoken to him before. Why is he asking me this? Situ Fu was more concerned about something else.

In his youth, he had a normal aptitude for cultivation. At age nineteen, he was still in the Martial Apprentice Realm. However, as his mother used to say, a person should hold himself with dignity even if he is weak; life would be meaningful.

So he always behaved with grace. With a little experience and practice, he managed to cultivate an upright, strict, and gentlemanly image. He used this image to con many young beautiful maidens. His life became very meaningful.

His life was blissful, but he always felt his low cultivation did not fit his image. This changed when he met his child's mother.

Around the age of twenty-three, he saw a beautiful young lady in BlackCloud City. He knew every beautiful girl in the city, but she was a new face. The young lady showed all the signs of being from a big family, but from her condition, Situ Fu concluded she must have run away from home.

Using his perfect gentleman image, he easily impressed her and, leveraging the Situ family background, managed to court her. They stayed together for months, and she became pregnant.

Situ Fu accepted this, as he had plenty of money as a scion of a big family to rear a child. The girl was also happy. However, as time went on, he could not tolerate her spoiled personality.

For months, he endured her constant remarks about his low cultivation. To keep up his reputation, he had not told anyone about his marriage, so he could not do anything. This went on for some time.

He remembered one night when the baby was a month old, and he was taking care of his son while his wife cursed him while eating. The door flew open, and a few old men barged in. The leading old man embraced his wife, calling her "daughter" or something. The reunion was touching, but when the old men saw him and the baby, they became angry. They shouted at his wife, who remained silent.

At that time, he was poorly dressed, and they obviously thought him lowborn. As a result, he was beaten black and blue.

As he was being beaten, he saw a few of them taking his wife away with them. He felt a little happy. Finally, he was free from her, and now he was free to pursue other maidens.

But then he remembered his low cultivation. It was his only weak point. Seeing the old men, he had a brilliant idea. He shouted with all his might to those who were almost finished beating him, "Don't cripple me. I will become stronger and get my wife back. You cannot stop me!" Then, fearing for his life, he added, "I will use my big family's resources to grow stronger."

His acting was so perfect that the old man who was his wife's father quickly crippled him and left, dragging his daughter away. They left him badly beaten and crumpled on the floor, with his son on the bed, but Situ Fu was smiling. After two days, he was as good as new. Now he had a reason for his lack of cultivation.

He hurriedly returned to his family with his son and spread a rumor about his heroic act of stopping people from stealing his son. He claimed he was unable to stop his father-in-law from taking his wife away, even at the cost of being crippled.

He further claimed that he managed to save his son from those wicked people. However, he realized his son would have poor aptitude in the future. To safeguard himself, he spoke of how his son's spiritual roots had also been destroyed.

He remembered how the entire city praised him for months that year. His family head always asked about his wife's background, but he never buckled. His happiness was on the line; he didn't want her back at all. He told many lies about how strong his in-laws were and whatnot. To this day, people believed them to be from a hidden family or something.

When the Ancestor asked about this, he became scared. He had heard how the Ancestor dealt with rival family heads. He did not want to face the Ancestor's wrath, but he could not break his perfect image. His romantic life was at stake. This was a huge dilemma. He decided to find a way out.

"Great Ancestor, this humble one was badly beaten and does not remember them clearly. But those weak people are not worthy of your attention." To further cement his argument, he displayed a hearty smile. "Great Ancestor, I am very happy now. I have my son, and I don't need anyone else. But I thank you for your concern."

Situ Fu believed his act to be nearly perfect, so his smile was radiant.

Situ Rin was fully awestruck by this magnanimous person who kept smiling even though he was crippled for life.

But Lan, who already knew that everyone from this family was a bully and cunning, had a different viewpoint. He saw through Situ Fu's façade the instant he spoke about "not needing anyone else." Certainly, this person doesn't want his wife back. Looking at his radiant smile, I can tell he is really happy.

Lan did not care anymore. He did not want to fight with someone without a proper reason. But he needed a butler; it was his dream to have one. Lan waved his hand tiredly with a wizened face. "Well, I also don't like to pry into your childish matters."

He stared at Situ Fu, waiting for any rebuttal. All he received was a perfect bow from a happy man.

"But I want you to be my attendant from now on. I don't want your talent to go to waste."

With that, Lan started searching for something in his system shop.

Situ Fu was overjoyed when the Great Ancestor said he would not disturb his childish matters. He did not mind being called childish; for the Great Ancestor, everyone was a child.

When he heard he was about to become the attendant of the Great Ancestor, his happiness knew no bounds.

This was a huge leap in his status. It wasn't just any attendant position; it was the Great Ancestor's Attendant. The Great Ancestor was the person who had smashed four big family heads with his bare fists. He felt giddy. He kowtowed hurriedly.

"Great Ancestor, this humble one will never forget the boon bestowed upon me by you."

He was already thinking about how this position would boost his romantic life.

Lan ignored the kneeling man and walked out lazily. After a few minutes of walking, he reached an open area for sparring. Everyone in the vicinity hurriedly bowed, and the people in the sparring area quickly dispersed. Nobody asked questions; they all stood at a distance and watched what the Ancestor was up to.

Looking at the crowd's reaction from the corner of his droopy eyes, Lan nodded satisfactorily. Of course, Situ Fu and Situ Rin were following him closely.

When they were clear, Lan brought out a car from his system store.

Conquest Knight XV: FP 20000. Conquest Vehicle Inc's flagship vehicle, the KNIGHT XV defines the future of the ultra-luxurious, handcrafted, fully armored SUV. This one-of-a-kind, V10, 6.8-litre, bio-fuel-powered SUV was inspired by military vehicle designs and features security appointments that are unrivaled in the SUV marketplace.

What is a gangster without this car? Lan had a dream, a dream where he would storm every place with a horde of armored cars swooshing in. How cool would that be? But now the situation was different; he was already the coolest person here. He stroked his beard lazily.

"Fu Kid, learn to operate this artifact."

He handed a pen drive containing "how-to" videos to Situ Rin. "Lad Rin, show this kid these videos."

Lan ignored the amazed faces of people gawking at his new car and returned to his abode lazily. "I want results in a week."

His figure gave people the feeling of an unfathomable entity.

The crowd hurriedly approached the car as soon as the Great Ancestor was out of sight. They marveled at the beautiful appearance of this mysterious artifact.

Situ Rin, who was similarly amazed, quickly sobered up when she saw the crowd. As the Ancestor's person, she needed to maintain her image. She put on a "this is nothing new for me" look, whipped out her phone, and began opening the videos.

When she finished looking through few she understood that these videos were similar to one shown to her regarding phone, only difference was the artifact was plain looking one in videos. She could understand the basics of operating the artifact. She puffed her chest and smiled confidently at her new subordinate,

"Attendant Fu, I will show you the ropes." Her faces became strict like Ancestor's, "Observe carefully, I will not allow any mistake." She started pointing out various controls.

Situ Fu who was amazed because of the huge artifact as well as sudden change in girl's attitude, quietly followed her instructions. Living for half century had already taught him to bear with people in superior position.

People around them eavesdropped occasionally to hear something about Seatbelt. Next day there was rumors that Ancestor summoned big artifact called 'Seatbelt', the main thing about 'artifact seatbelt' is 'always watch side view mirror before turning, don't forgot to use blinkers'.