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Chapter 93: Covenantor (XVI)

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Two months later, Lu Xiufan finally brought home the mostly recovered Shang Ke and strengthened his home’s security to the point where not even a drop of water could escape.

Shang Ke now had special drivers, special maintenance staff, special tailors, special chefs, etc; these people were responsible for taking care of all his basic needs, while he, in turn, was responsible for taking care of Lu Xiufan.

Having completed the main task, Shang Ke began to shift his focus towards covenantors. The additional task was to set up a system for protecting covenantors. This system has actually been in place already for a long time. The only problem is that it currently lost its effectiveness. Shang Ke needed to force the general public to once again acknowledge covenantors.

Covenantors’ abilities were uneven and depended on their original education and experience. While their lack of emotions makes them seem as wooden as clones, in actuality, they all had different personalities. Some were rich in speech, some were reticent, some were cold and sharp. What they had in common was their lack of desires and thoughts of their own; they abided by rules and institutions, living an orderly life.

Shang Ke thought of another problem. If covenantors were hired by a group of terrorists, wouldn’t they become the ultimate criminal weapon? Even if they were to die, they wouldn’t show the slightest hesitation. Although the distribution centers conduct a background check on all employers, it’s difficult to ensure that all bad actors were removed during the screening.

Any casual Internet search will surface numerous news articles regarding covenantors committing crimes. Once caught, their chances of survival are slim since their employers typically give them orders to immediately commit suicide if they fail their task.

Shang Ke guessed this is probably one of the reasons why covenantors are not acknowledged; they are like a double-edged sword, whether they are good or bad is solely dependent on the quality of their master.

When Lu Xiufan returned to the mansion, he was immediately shaken by the scene he faced.

Standing upright in the middle of the mansion’s garden were over forty covenantors. When he entered, over forty expressionless faces turned towards him in unison; this truly was indescribably… weird.

Lu Xiufan walked to Shang Ke’s side and asked him, “What is happening?”

“A meeting,” Shang Ke replied.

“Here?”

“Didn’t Sir wish me to arrange this on my own?”

“…” So you made His Excellency’s grand mansion into a gathering place for an “illegal organization”? Lu Xiufan gave him a helpless look.

Presently, Shang Ke called over a covenantor, introducing him, “Sir, his name is ‘Yang Kai’, he’s a bodyguard. In the future, if I’m unable to drive you, he’ll be my replacement. What does Sir think about this?”

Lu Xiufan’s driver was also his bodyguard, but to prevent against the threat of the man coming under another’s influence, the driver will be replaced every so often. However, if a covenantor became a combined driver and bodyguard, everyday travel would become much easier.

Lu Xiufan stared at this covenantor for a long time before asking the housekeeper to take him away to assess his skill. He’d never before thought to use a covenantor, first, because their lifespan was too short, and second, because they were too inflexible. However, after Shang Ke arrived, his views towards covenantors have gradually changed. Shang Ke had an outstanding ability, a pure nature, abided by the rules but adapted agilely; he bravely acted in the interest of others and was considerate of others’ wants.

Lu Xiufan had previously met a significant number of covenantors, but he’d never met one more outstanding than Shang Ke. If Shang Ke was this exceptional after becoming a covenantor, how dazzling must he have been previously?

Every time he thought of the matter, Lu Xiufan felt a stirring of anger towards the Yue Family. It was their greed that destroyed what would have been a promising life.

Over the next couple of days, Shang Ke not only recommended bodyguards to Lu Xiufan, but also procured specialists, gardeners, cleaners, and more, increasing the mansion’s population by seven or eight new staff members and filling almost all the mansion’s vacancies. It got to the point that the butler, who thought he was about to lose his job, anxiously ran to Lu Xiufan to complain about Shang Ke’s “crimes”, declaring that if Lu Xiufan continued to ignore this behavior, the mansion would soon be overrun by covenantors! The result was as could be expected, Lu Xiufan dismissed the charges with a cold snort. 

The head butler was worried that too many covenantors would lower the mansion’s organization, but it was the opposite of what he feared. When the covenantors arrived, they made the mansion even more neat and orderly. They were strict with themselves and had serious work ethics. After being trained together, their etiquette met all standards and the way they dedicated themselves to their assigned roles was enough to make the head butler blush with shame. The only fly in the ointment was that their expressions were too singular.

Shang Ke had once attempted to fix that. He had picked out three covenantors and brought out pictures of three facial expressions for them to imitate. However, to his dismay, they truly just imitated the expressions. After they imitated an expression, they maintained it constantly without change. As long as Shang Ke does not tell them to change it, they would probably sustain a smiling face until the end of time. The even bigger tragedy was that one of the expression pictures showed an angrily glaring face with wide eyes. That sour and invigorating countenance simply could not be described with words.

Shang Ke really wasn’t playing around with them on purpose, but it was simply… too funny.

He thought it was funny, but Lu Xiufan found it even funnier.

How should a facially paralyzed person be able to rationally teach other facially paralyzed people how to properly control their facial muscles? Little Ze, have you never thought about enriching your own expression first?

The covenantors expressions could not be saved, instead, it was Lu Xiufan’s cold and stern face that was transformed.

That incident had Lu Xiufan surreptitiously smiling for a long time, to the extent that when surrounding people saw him, they all had the strange feeling of the sunshine shimmering upon them.

Shang Ke did not mind, although the expression training was a failure, other areas were successful.

To improve the covenantors’ position, the first step was to gradually acclimate everyone to covenantors blending into their personal and work life. Lu Xiufan was truly the best advertisement for this; with him taking the lead, he could influence many people. Although Lu Xiufan was considered an extremely dangerous beast by the bigwigs, he was a fairly popular and prestigious man amongst the common people. 

It was clearly impossible for Shang Ke to establish a protective mechanism for the covenanters by himself. He had to rely on those with real authority to draw up regulations and implement them.

Shang Ke’s gaze landed on Lu Xiufan; having a man like him who can charge through enemy lines as well as retreat in order to ensure peace and stability was just great.

After sneakily exploiting him of his remaining value, Shang Ke expressed that he must wholeheartedly repay him.

That night, Shang Ke took out a supplementary service plan book and let Lu Xiufan choose which type of service he would like. Amongst them was a massage (one hour), physiotherapy (two hours), musical performance (thirty minutes), cosplay (unlimited time), etcetera. 

Lu Xiufan looked through the service plan book. Although his expression did not change, an unusual light shone in his eyes.

After a moment, he calmly spoke, “Then today let’s start with a massage.”

“Alright.” Shang Ke first helped Lu Xiufan take off his nightgown and had him lie on his stomach. After rubbing on the essential oil, his ten slender fingers started to move all over his body.

The sweet scent of essential oil pervaded the air. Lu Xiufan, who habitually remained on alert, also gradually relaxed under Shang Ke’s masterful massage. He closed his eyes, his features smoothing out until he resembled a lazy black panther.

At this time, Shang Ke’s hands moved to the waist and after kneading that area, noticed that the initially relaxed muscles were once again tense.

Could it be that Lu Xiufan was ticklish? Shang Ke mischievously pinched and kneaded the waist area. He had never seen Lu Xiufan laugh heartily before, could he breakthrough that by tickling him?

Lu Xiufan did indeed breakthrough, but it was not for laughing.

His long arm reached out and dragged Shang Ke into his arms

“There’s another thirty-two minutes of massage left.” Shang Ke calmly reminded him.

“It can be used to increase the time for ‘making love’.” Lu Xiufan huskily replied while he nibbled on his neck.

“Sir always exceeds the time limit when making love.” Exceeding the time limit meant that there must be overtime pay.

“There’s overtime pay.”

Shang Ke: …Since you’re so principled, then I’ll let this slide.

However, can you slow down a bit, be gentler, and be more elegant!

Shang Ke’s nightgown hung on him loosely, his hands tightly clutched a pillow with one of his legs raised and body undulating in response to a rhythmic ramming tempo…. 

This time exceeded the limit by three hours and fifty-two minutes. Within that period, they had switched locations twice and the room was full of their scent of passion.

Shang Ke now has proof from personal experience that a massage and essential oil can stimulate the hormone activity.

The next day, Shang Ke earnestly recorded his hours, he was determined to not let Lu Xiufan have the chance to renege on his pay.

Lu Xiufan: …I can divide half of my assets with you.

Shang Ke: I don’t need excess money, I am just such a principle person.

Lu Xiufan: …… 

The following month, Lu Xiufan meticulously experienced for himself every single option; however, every experience would always eventually change into a certain harmonious exercise.

In the daytime, he was the facially paralyzed servant, in the nighttime, he was the passionate partner. Their lives started to enter a rich and cheerful, unconventional husband-husband mode.

Another year passed and Yue Family gradually went back onto the right track under Shang Ke’s management. The covenantors’ initiatives were also advancing smoothly. Although there were many large and small mishaps, under Lu Xiufan’s paranoid precautions, most of the dangers were nipped in the bud.

Through Lu Xiufan’s unconscious promotion, more and more people started to accept convenantors as employees. But Shang Ke could not completely ensure that convenantors would not be mistreated. He checked his own savings and pondered the possibility of him purchasing the covenantor distribution center.

He had once anonymously tried asking the person in charge the price for it. However, the person did not have any intention of selling it. Covenantors that were outstanding in abilities and looks were very expensive to employ, so the distribution center could generate a considerable sum of money. That wasn’t even adding in the shady transactions. Sometimes hush payments could easily top ten million; and afterward, there wouldn’t be any more problems as the distribution center erased the information for these convenantors.

Since purchasing wouldn’t work, then let’s make a new distribution center.

There were only a total of ten distribution centers in the entire nation, set up in various bustling cities, and classified as partly private-owned organizations. The covenantors’ information provided online were anonymous and did not include photographs. Their introduction only included their age and a rough estimate of their individual capabilities. Only the nobility have the power to obtain more detailed information.

This way of handling things gave better protection to covenantors, but it also made shady transactions more convenient.

Shang Ke felt that this kind of confidential measure was very necessary, but without a strict supervision system in place, many covenantors’ rights could not be ensured. He could not intervene in other distribution centers, but at his own distribution center, he could implement such a system.

In the beginning, he had thought that he must rely on Lu Xiufan for him to be able to complete his mission but with the protective mechanism, he could create, perhaps he can complete his objective on his own.

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