Meng Yi knew her place in the world. And Meng Yi’s place in the world was to serve those with power.

This didn’t necessarily mean cultivators per se, but since pretty much anyone with any degree of power in the world was a cultivator, the young woman was fully cognizant that this meant serving cultivators.

It was fortunate that Meng Yi knew this, and, more importantly, it was fortunate that she was accepting of it, because this was why when Young Master Xian Qigang leered at her within two months of his being in town, she’d had no problems with doing what needed to be done.

Xian Qigang had come to the town of Silver Springs almost two years ago now.

On paper, his reason for coming here had been to take over as Commander of the little, nameless outpost The Sunrise Empire maintained here, but everyone knew why he was really here.

See, Xian Qigang was the seventh child and second son of the wealthy Xian clan all the way down in the capital. He was twenty-eight years old. He was a Peasant ranked cultivator of the fifth layer of The Weaving Phase of The Formation Realm. And, outside of a backwater place like Silver Springs, he had little power besides his family name.

No one knew the specific reason (if there even was one) why Xian Qigang had been unceremoniously dumped here, but everyone understood that it was so his family wouldn’t have to deal with his shit anymore.

Everyone… including Xian Qigang.

Xian Qigang was an unpleasant person at the best of times; he was spoilt, narcissistic, and petty, and embittered as he was by what he considered a betrayal by his family, Xian Qigang did not come to Silver Springs at the best of times.

In the two months before he laid eyes on her and decided she would be his, Xian Qigang had managed to create a reputation for himself in town that had women (and men, though for different reasons) stepping aside in fear when he walked down the streets.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Serving girls dreaded attending him at establishments, and the servants at his home all had horror stories to tell.

Meng Yi had been a serving girl herself back then, and on the day Xian Qigang had walked into the restaurant she worked at, she’d known that it was her turn.

He’d spotted her pretty quickly (she was beautiful, after all) and when he’d leered at her, Meng Yi had nodded to herself and stepped forward, prepared to lie like there was no tomorrow.

For, you see, while Meng Yi understood completely that her place in the world was to serve those above her, she also understood that, even within the limited boundaries of servitude, there were layers. And if she was going to have to put up with someone as unpleasant as Xian Qigang, there was no reason why she should be at the bottom of the pecking order.

Meng Yi had ended up in Xian Qigang’s bed that night, and as she’d been prepared to do, she lied her ass off.

“You rocked my world,” she’d told him, when all he’d rocked was the poor bed.

“I’ve never cum this hard before.” “You really are a man among men, Young Master.”

… Perhaps she’d laid it on a bit too thick, but alas, Xian Qigang was a narcissist; for him to believe her words false would require him to pull his head out of his own ass far enough to spot her insincerity, and his anatomy simply wasn’t designed for that.

Sex alone though, no matter how well she used it to stroke his ego, was not enough, Meng Yi knew that.

She needed more.

So she gave more.

She gave Xian Qigang the attention he craved. She gave him the loyalty he felt he was owed.

Meng Yi was the perfect servant for a man like him; quiet, dutiful, competent, and beautiful.

Soon he began to give her gifts. Then he began to trust her. In less than two years, she was Manager of his estate.

And, yes, it had cost her. Her happiness, her pride, her freedom, even a relationship with a boy she may have loved.

But every time she went to visit her mother and her sisters in their new house, and she saw them wearing new clothes and eating good food; every time he gave her cultivation resources and she advanced a layer, Meng Yi knew that it was worth it. And she would do it all over again.

Xian Qigang may not be a good man, or a kind one, but he was useful to her. And maybe for someone like Meng Yi, that was the best she could reasonably hope for.