Wait. Why did one plus one equal to zero? How can they add up to four, five, six, seven and eight? Is a billion even a possible answer? All of a sudden, Gao Ren recalled what Ren Jie said about one plus one. Although the example of one man plus one woman was a little uncomfortable, that was still a brilliant idea. The example of how two droplets of water added up to one droplet was even more brilliant.
Gao Ren had always been a "master" to Ren Jie since their first encounter, but those two answers made him confused. Now that he thought of it and wanted to probe further, he realized that Ren Jie had left together with the person who came to find him.
Jade Imperial Academy was one of the two most formidable academies in the Clear Jade Dynasty. It was the place where all the imperial children, heirs to the five largest family clans and the children of influential and wealthy people congregated. It was also known as the Academy for the Pampered. The other academy was the Jade Essence Academy, which congregated the elites of the elites. Those skilled professionals in various fields were chosen after various rounds of selection. Because of the fact that the spiritual jade was the root of cultivation in Heaven and Earth, the name Jade Essence Academy was thus inspired by the phrase "the essence of jade". The academy was also known as the Academy for the Elites.
The two academies were less than 150 kilometers apart. The Jade Imperial Academy was located south of the Clear Jade Dynasty, while the Jade Essence Academy was located north.
Ren Jie was sitting in a large and spacious luxury carriage. The area of the interior of the carriage was more than ten square meters. The interior was similar to a small bedroom. There were places to lie and sit. The carriage traveled steadily at great speed. Ren Jie lifted the curtain casually and took a look. The surroundings outside passed by in a flash. The carriage was driving at high speed on a road that was more than ten meters wide and was completely covered with flat stones.
There were previously two maidservants in the carriage, but Ren Jie chased them out. He wanted an undisturbed place where he could think quietly.
Looking at the unique ring on his hand which had the family clan leader symbol carved on it, Ren Jie did not know if he was to laugh or cry. Even though he was just an ordinary person in his previous life, he had become a true pampered child after the accidental transmigration. No. He was the family head of a large family clan. Yet, Ren Jie was not very happy.
From the bottom of his heart, he was not very elated. It was cool watching the protagonist in the novels he read transmigrating because that allowed him to experience a different feeling by going into a completely new universe.
Now he had really transmigrated. As Ren Jie calmed himself down, the thoughts that circulated his brain were that he could no longer play computer games, use the phone, or watch television and movies. Most importantly, he was no longer able to download pornography. Although he was an orphan who relied on the money inherited from his parents to pay for his school fees and had no one he missed on Earth, he grew up on that planet.
Now that he had left the modernized lifestyle and transmigrated, he felt some discomfort in his heart.
However, what was done was done and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Who is that! Stop right there! We're conducting a check."
"How dare you. This is the carriage of the Ren family head."
Ren Jie remembered that the Jade Imperial Academy was 150 kilometers away from the Jade Capital, so he decided to use the travel time to mull over everything thoroughly in silence. He was in a foreign land and there were so many things happening.
He was merely recalling the modernized lifestyle on Earth and was slightly sentimental about it. It had not been very long. However, he did not expect voices from outside the carriage during the short span of time he was preoccupied with his recollections. Even if he was distracted, at most half an hour passed. It was impossible that a few hours had passed.
He lifted the curtain of the carriage again to peek outside. There was a city right ahead which was massive beyond his imagination. Lines of carriages were slowly moving on the roads beside him into the city.
"This is the carriage of the Ren family head? Yes… yes… allow them in immediately."
The person outside replied with caution in his voice. Their carriage was immediately allowed access. It cleared the checks in no time and sped towards the city.
Ren Jie was internally puzzled. He thought for a moment and asked ambiguously, "Where are we?"
"Reporting to the family head! We have entered the city exterior. We are less than 100 kilometers away from the Ren Family abode. We will reach in another thirty minutes," the guard outside replied respectfully.
There are still 100 kilometers after we have entered the city exterior? We'll need about half an hour to travel 100 kilometers. Doesn't that make our speed 200 kilometers per hour? No wonder we can reach so quickly even though the place is 150 kilometers away. What kind of horse carriage is this? This is equivalent to a high-speed rail or a maglev train. This is terrifying.
Ren Jie suddenly discovered that he did not know his current universe well. What kind of universe is this exactly?
As for the original Ren Jie, there was nothing in his brain other than women and entertainment.
It looks like I can only rely on myself to truly understand this world. However, Ren Jie quickly remembered something—if the carriage was traveling at such a high speed, how could he have seen the surroundings outside when he opened the curtain if he did not have a decelerating glass? The things that he used to recognize and understand did not seem to apply here. But he was certain about one thing. From the memory of the original Ren Jie, he was still at the fifth level of the Body Refinement Realm. That accomplishment was pretty good for ordinary people.
However, he was ranked the bottom fourth in cultivation among all the pampered disciples in the Jade Capital of the Clear Jade Dynasty. Amongst all the juniors and disciples of the biggest five family clans in the Clear Jade Dynasty, there was only one loser who could not cultivate, another who was ruined by a severe injury and one retard.
Even if that was the case, his body was strong enough to resist the headache or other symptoms that could be derived from looking outside a vehicle traveling at a speed of 150 or 200 kilometers per hour. There was also information in his memory about the True Qi Realm, the Divine Power Realm, and the Yin Yang Realm. Above the Yin Yang Realm was the unbounded Tai Chi Realm. Those in that realm were so powerful that they could soar beyond the skies or dive beyond the ground.
F*ck. That's all?
Those were things that Ren Jie was interested to learn about. However, the only things he found out after scraping all the memories of the original Ren Jie that were relevant to cultivation were that there were the True Qi Realm and the Divine Power Realm after the Body Refinement Realm and that cultivating to the Divine Power Realm allowed one to master divine powers. Additionally, those in the Yin Yang Realm were extremely powerful existences that were not bound by the principles of the world. Other than that, there was no more relevant information.
"Please exit from the carriage, Family Head. The elders have been waiting for a long time in the conference hall. They wanted you to hurry in after you arrived." Ren Jie strained his brain and thought for a long time, but that was all that he managed to squeeze out. Not before long, he had arrived at the Ren Family abode.
He walked down from the carriage. The Ren Family abode looked like an array of magnificent ancient architecture. However, what was different from the ancient architecture buildings on Earth was that it was livelier and more majestic. There were also many areas that were beyond his imagination. Looking from afar, there were surprisingly many pavilions, terraces, and towers. Some of the towers were even as high as the skyscrapers in his previous life. Many of the architecture buildings were stunningly beautiful and lavishly elaborate beyond one's understanding and imagination.
Wow! If there were more dry ice and fog, it would have felt as though I entered a fairyland.
The Ren family conference hall was even more exaggerated and magnificent than the conference hall in the Forbidden Palace that Ren Jie visited in his past life. On the way in, he saw three elderly men and a youngster below him. The elderly men all had grim expressions on their faces. When the youngster saw Ren Jie entering, he snorted in disdain. Afterward, he drew his attention back to his thoughts. Here it comes again. It's been about a year and this scene unfolds every month. He could sense how comical it was going to be just by thinking about it.
The Sixth Elder could not stand watching how meek and obsequious he was trying to appeal to the elders, thus he sent me here. In reality, the sixth elder hated the elder conference every month, and he disliked Ren Jie even more. Ren Jie was a disgrace to his father Ren Tianxing and the Sixth Elder himself as well.
The elderly person on the left with the long beard was Ren Junyang, the second elder of the Ren family. The elderly man sitting below him who was short, stout and slightly bald was Ren Hanlin, the third elder of the family clan. On the other side of the conference hall, the person sitting at a higher position who had a horse-like grim face was Ren Wenxu, the fourth elder of the family clan. The youngster sitting below him was Wan Hong, the representative sent by Ren Jie's sixth uncle Ren Tianzong.
Ren Jie recalled the information about these people the moment he stepped into the conference hall.
Ren Tianzong was also a member assigned by Ren Jie's father to assist him when he handed the family head position over to Ren Jie. However, he would not usually participate in matters within the Elders' Union and he was not very willing to do so. He would only send a representative every month for the Elder Conference Day to listen to the discussions. That representative was that youngster named Wan Hong who was always by his side.
As Ren Jie walked past, he thought to himself, Luckily, this dude has not been an as*hole to the point that the elders do not even recognize him. Otherwise, I might have to thoroughly embarrass myself.
However, the atmosphere was tense. I should counter all the changes with constancy, Ren Jie thought to himself. He walked directly to the family head position at the center of the room and sat down. There was a platform that was evidently higher than the rest of the seats below. Ren Jie was unaccustomed to the feeling of overlooking others from above in that chair that was bigger than the imperial chair he saw in the Forbidden Palace.
"Huh?" Wan Hong lifted his eyelids slightly. This kid did not provide any explanation and sat on his chair without greeting the elders. This is weird.
Perhaps he realized that he went overboard and does not know how to explain his actions anymore. Does he think that he could escape by remaining silent?
"Bam…" Just as Ren Jie's buttocks touched the chair, the fourth elder Ren Wenxu slammed the teacup he was holding onto the tea table. "This is ridiculous. How could you forget about the Elder Conference Day? You made us wait for you for more than twelve hours. Moreover, the underlying reason was that you were fighting with someone out of jealousy. Look at what you're doing…"
The third elder Ren Hanlin locked his eyebrows together. He lifted his head towards Ren Jie who was sitting in the family head seat. "Family Head, you should have led by example. You were not only late for the Elder Conference Day. From the reports we heard from the family clan members, you were also fighting with someone in the academy over a woman, and you were knocked out by that person. Can I ask if that's true?"
What he said was obviously nonsense. Even an idiot would be able to tell what had happened by looking at the swell on Ren Jie's forehead that had not faded. If that swell was not caused by somebody else but was created by Ren Jie himself, that would mean that there was really a problem with Ren Jie's brain.
"Family Head, these are the bills for your expenses last month. We supply medicinal herbs within the family clan. Why would you purchase so many useless medicinal herbs on your own? There are also many other expenses, especially this one…" At that moment, the second elder took out a ledger and opened it. He wanted to cut to the chase and use that as a window to bring other things up to Ren Jie.
"Three thousand taels of gold spent on buying high-quality spring water from the Surging Spring County to be used to bath… Ten thousand taels of gold spent on purchasing ten thousand Fire Cloud Sparrows to eat sparrow tongues… Your expenses last month have exceeded thirty percent. Moreover, the money was spent on such prodigal areas. It looks like the normal allowance of fifty thousand taels of gold every month and the cash advances of a hundred thousand taels are too much. We have to first discuss the issues with this cash advance arrangement and also discuss cutting your expenses today."
"Bam!" The moment Ren Junyang finished his sentence, he maintained a grim expression on his face while slamming the ledger shut. He had never seen such a prodigal person. The first elder was in secluded cultivation, and there were two other elders who were not in the Jade Capital. Furthermore, Ren Tianzong merely sent a person to participate in the Elder Conference Days each month. If it was not for the fact that they could not gather enough people to organize an emergency meeting, they would have called for one already.
Ren Junyang had endured Ren Jie for a month. Now that it was finally the Elder Conference Day, he pointed those key points out immediately.
"That's right, Family Head. You are going overboard and are overly pampered."
"How could this happen? The noble Ren Family Head broke his head when he fought in jealousy. This would be a hilarious joke if word was to leak out."
"Although the Ren family is wealthy, we cannot tolerate such prodigal spending habits. Your expenses must be cut."