“Young master, the madam said that in seven days it will be the old lady’s birthday celebration. If you don’t want to go, just find an excuse to get out of it. As for the old lady, the madam will handle her.”

“Hmm?”

Little Alice thought William Reynolds hadn’t listened carefully, so she repeated it once more, then added, “Young master, the madam said, since those people in the family are targeting us like this, at worst, we’ll just leave Yunluo City. In the future, when young master’s Dao Seed awakens, there will come a day when they regret it.”

As the little maid said this, her tone carried a hint of pride, as if she herself was the one who possessed the Dao Seed.

“Us?” William Reynolds smiled. “Little Alice, if we leave the family, we’ll be far from home and might have to live a wandering life. Are you really willing to follow me?”

Little Alice’s hands paused. She looked up at William Reynolds seriously. As she looked, her eyes reddened, as if she had suffered a great grievance.

“What’s wrong?” William Reynolds asked with a smile.

Little Alice’s delicate lips trembled slightly, and she actually started to sob. “Young master must think Little Alice hasn’t done a good job.”

“How could that be? You’ve always been thoughtful and attentive in serving me.”

“Then is young master trying to send Little Alice away?”

“Who said that?”

“Then why did young master ask if I’m willing to go with you? Doesn’t young master know that Little Alice has always been your maid, and is willing to serve you for a lifetime? Wherever you go, Little Alice will follow.”

The little maid, perhaps anxious, spoke quickly and in a rush. After she finished, she seemed to realize she might have overstepped, and became nervous, uneasy, not daring to look at William Reynolds’s expression. She just lowered her head, scrubbing away.

William Reynolds laughed. “Girl, if you keep scrubbing, you’ll rub the skin off my feet.”

“Ah?” Little Alice was startled and hurriedly let go, flustered. “Young master, Little Alice is clumsy. Did I hurt you?”

William Reynolds knew that if he teased her any further, this little maid might really cry. Smiling, he patted the edge of the bed beside him. “Little Alice, come sit here.”

“Young master, I…”

How could Little Alice dare to sit on the bed next to the young master? Even though she was his maid, a servant sitting on the young master’s bed was against the rules. If outsiders found out, it wouldn’t matter if Little Alice lost face, but if the young master did, that would be a huge problem.

“Never mind, then sit on the stool.” William Reynolds understood the little maid’s awkwardness.

Little Alice answered, but still didn’t go sit.

Looking at this overly obedient little maid, William Reynolds didn’t quite know what to do for a moment.

Such a lovable girl—how could he have let her go in his previous life, watching her fall into a pit of fire and wither away so soon? He truly had been a fool!

In this life, no matter what, he would protect those around him. Including—this shy and stubborn little maid before him.

Chapter 0008 Martial Foundation

After Little Alice left, William Reynolds lay on the bed with his hands behind his head, starting to sort through some clues for the next five years.

There were only seven days left until his grandmother’s grand birthday!

Grandmother Guan was the undisputed top expert of the current Ren family, and also the true controller of the family.

Because of her special status, every year on the fifteenth of the second month—her birthday—the entire family attached great importance to the occasion.

The fifteenth of the second month was also set as the assessment day for each branch of the family.

On this day every year, each branch took it very seriously. As the family head, Madam Guan would personally assess the progress of each branch.

Whether it was martial achievements or other accomplishments, all would be counted as part of the family’s contribution score.

William Reynolds had originally cultivated ten purple pearl grasses just to prevent his branch from falling further behind in this year’s family assessment.

The previous year, Grandmother had already been extremely dissatisfied with their branch. If their performance continued to decline, the branch left by his father, Ren Dongliu, would become the family’s laughingstock.

By tradition, the internal assessment would begin in the morning of the fifteenth and end before dusk, followed by a grand birthday banquet to entertain guests from all directions.

In his previous life, William Reynolds’s branch performed poorly in the daytime assessment, dropping to the family’s second tier.

Although Grandmother was disappointed, she said nothing. Instead, it was the other family members who mocked and sneered. In a fit of anger, William Reynolds quarreled with his second uncle. His branch was immediately stripped by the elders of the right to attend the evening banquet.

It was at that banquet that Grandmother Guan’s birthday wine was tampered with, and disaster struck. Most of the family’s experts were killed or wounded, and the Ren family was removed from the top ten families of Yunluo City from then on.

William Reynolds’s branch hadn’t attended the banquet, so they didn’t know many details.

Although in his previous life William Reynolds had been marginalized in the family, that didn’t mean he could ignore this family-level catastrophe.

After all, in Yunluo City, only a powerful family could provide a foundation for survival! William Reynolds naturally understood the saying, “It’s good to enjoy the shade under a big tree.”

If nothing else, just take the demon clan invasion five years later. If the Ren family hadn’t fallen out of the top ten families at that time…