Zhuolu - Chapter 10

As if being stared at by a venomous snake sticking out his tongue, Lin Xin’s blood froze instantly, but his face was full of innocence, and he stared back directly at Zhong Lu’s eyes.

After their eyes met, Zhong Lu left the stage without any indication and without looking back.

After a moment of panic, Lin Xin quickly calmed down. When he was hunted down, he was only five years old, and a child’s face changed every day. Now that three years had passed, Zhong Lu might not be able to recognize him.

“Xiaoyue!” Wu Wanhu leaped onto the high platform and held the young and fresh head. The handsome young man was still smiling, and his white canine teeth gleamed against the autumn sun. He didn’t even know that his head was in a different place from his body. Holding his head in one hand and embracing the body in the other, Wu Zhaoyang tried his best to restrain himself, but his eyes were still red.

“Zhaoyang, I’m really sorry, this Zhong Lu’s attack was too serious.” Zhong Suifeng was very sorry and gave Wu Wanhu a lot of apologies. However, Wu Wanhu didn’t say a word, just hugged Wu Yue’s corpse and didn’t speak, the scene was a little awkward for a while.

Shen Qirui came forward to mediate, and finally managed to appease Wu Wanhu.

Without Luli, only using the immortal’s own spiritual power to compete, in itself was for the sake of stopping bloodshed, but seeing the blood now, it was really unlucky. Naturally, the competition couldn’t go on, and the banquet ended in a hurry.

“A simple autumn tribute banquet can be messed up like this. I’m really convinced by uncle!” Zhong Youyu was so angry that he dragged Shen Lou to complain, “There are so many matters to be approved, but my uncle only knows how to accompany your father. After drinking, he threw it all to me for approval. How can I approve it! Which twelve years old can manage the affairs of the whole domain, and you will approve it if he puts it on you? You say you…”

The sentence got stuck in the middle, because Shen Lou was writing on a piece of paper, and three papers had already been approved in the time it took him to speak, “If you can’t, learn it, your father is not here, so someone has to take the lead.” After finishing speaking, he pasted the three approved papers on Zhong Youyu’s forehead.

Zhong Changye, the head of the Zhong family’s generation, was a very capable person, so much so that these two stupid sons only knew how to practice and play since they were young and ignored everything else. Thus, when Lin Xin disagreed with Zhong Changye and killed Zhong Changye, the Zhong family collapsed overnight and quickly declined.

“Monster, how can you know everything!” Zhong Youyu peeled off the paper on his head and yelled strangely.

“Are you studying, or Wumo?” Shen Lou didn’t want to talk to him and turned to look at Lin Xin.

Lin Xin did not know when had taken down the parrot from the porch, he held up the green-feathered bird, and let it peck Zhong Wumo who was sleeping soundly on the soft couch. There were blue shadows under Zhong Wumo’s eyes, obviously he hadn’t slept well at night.

Zhong Youyu grabbed the bird’s beak that was about to poke his younger brother, “Don’t touch him, let him sleep for a while.”

The parrot struggled away, jumped onto Lin Xin’s shoulder, and shouted loudly: “Don’t touch him! Fuck him! Don’t you know how to use fox fur?”

“You bastard, see if I won’t stew you today…” Zhong Youyu was so angry that he threw the bird out with his wings.

Lin Xin covered his mouth and giggled, “What’s the name of this bird?”

“Nageguo.” Shen Lou quickly looked at the documents on the table and chatted with Lin Xin with two purposes.

Which pot was not opened and which pot was lifted, the name was a bit interesting. Lin Xin leaned on the window and looked out, watching Zhong Youyu arguing with the parrot, he narrowed his eyes slightly. The twin brothers didn’t know about the Zhong family chasing and killing him from the beginning to the end, so Zhong Lu should not be under their control. Now that Zhong Changye was in seclusion, Zhong Lu’s mad dog might not take any action, but he couldn’t take this risk.

Whether Zhong Lu remembered him, whether he knew his identity, whether he would do anything, these were all unpredictable. Once he fell into the hands of Zhong Changye, what awaited him was a life worse than death. It would be too useless to live a shorter life after rebirth than in the previous life.

Looking back at Shen Lou who was quickly browsing through the documents, Lin Xin jumped off the couch, walked to Shen Lou’s side, and grabbed his hem.

“What’s wrong?” Shen Lou turned to look at him.

Feeling reluctant to say goodbye to the beauty, Lin Xin blinked and yawned.

It was getting late and seeing Lin Xin sleepy, Shen Lou didn’t stay any longer, he just bid farewell to the Zhong brothers, and returned to his guest house. Lin Xin held onto Shen Lou’s sleeve all the way and did not let go, he did not dare to do anything in front of outsiders, in order to save his life, he had to stay close to Shen Shizi when in the Zhong family.

But this was by no means a long-term solution, if Zhong Changye found a reason to ask the Shen family to take him back, and the Shen family who didn’t know why sent him here, then he would really have no place to cry.

“A Xin, let’s take a bath first.” On the table was a pile of gifts sent by Zhong Suifeng, Shen Lou picked up a spirit sword to check. This sword was three inches shorter than ordinary spirit swords, and much lighter. Presumably it was specially made for Shen Lou in consideration of his poor health in recent years.

A spirit sword referred to a treasured sword that could be equipped with Luli and circulate spiritual power. Children of aristocratic families usually didn’t get their own natal spirit sword until they were fifteen years old. Before that, they used ordinary spirit swords given by their elders. It was not unusual for Zhong Suifeng to give him this one, but the few boxes of Luli next to it seemed to be a bit too expensive.

“Your Majesty…” Lin Xin grabbed the hem of his clothes, stood in front of the bathroom door and looked at him eagerly.

“Huh?” Shen Lou turned to look at him.

“This, I don’t know how to use it,” the little face wrinkled into a ball, “Let’s wash together, okay?”

Let’s wash together…

The small sword in Shen Lou’s hand hit his foot with a clang.

….

“Such a big pool, let’s take a bath together.” In his memory, Lin Xin suddenly tightened the chains around his wrists, nailed him to the pool wall, and leaned against the hot spring pool.

“Get out!”

“It’s really heartless,” Lin Xin bit his earlobe and said in a hoarse voice, “His Royal Highness Xuanwang, who has no shame in his heart, shouldn’t you get out what you left in me with his own hands?”

How could he be ruthless, let alone facing Lin Xin like that, how could he really have a clear conscience.

….

The memory imprinted in his soul popped up untimely, so Shen Lou closed his eyes, bent down to pick up the small sword, and took Lin Xin to the bathroom with stiff steps.

There were hot springs in Mogui Mountain, leading to every courtyard. In the bathroom was a small pool made of bluestone, with a huge tiger head carved on the wall, spitting out water continuously. There was a large tank next to the pool, which contained cool mountain spring water.

Shen Lou twisted the tiger’s head, closed the water gate, and the tiger’s mouth stopped spraying water. Feeling the water temperature was a bit hot, he poured some cold water into it, “Try whether it’s hot or not.”

Lin Xin kicked off his shoes and socks and stretched out a foot. He tried the water with his feet, and as soon as he touched the surface of the water, he retracted it as if he was afraid of itching, then he giggled and stretched out again, and kicked twice, “It’s not hot anymore.”

Turning to look at Shen Lou, whose face had started blushing because of the hot springs, Lin Xin touched the hemp rope around his neck, walked barefoot in front of Shen Lou, staggered, slipped, pulled Shen Lou and fell into the pool.

“Plop!” Shen Lou, who was still wearing a tunic, was thoroughly soaked in the water, then he spat out a mouthful of water, and frantically picked up the struggling Lin Xin.

“The clothes are wet.” Lin Xin barely stood up, and tore off his soaked underwear, revealing the topaz pendant.

The flawless jade pendant was tied with a thin hemp rope. The beautiful jade was tied with hemp, and the jade was covered with dust. It was absurdly desolate. This was the token of the marquises of Lin Zhenghan, the Marquis of Xunlu, and it was given to him when it was announced to the world that he was named Marquis. As a child of the family, Shen Lou naturally recognized it, “A Xin, you…”

Lin Zhenghan rebelled from the Lin family and established his own family. He was sealed as the Marquis of Xunlu by the emperor, and his story was unparalleled for a while. However, he died young and his only son went missing. The emperor sent people to search for him for a long time, and finally found Lin Xin when he was sixteen years old. Lin Xin, who was supposed to inherit his father’s title, did not get the title of Marquis of Xunlu[1], and was instead named “Marquis of Gelu[2]“.

The difference between Gelu and Xunlu was a thousand miles away.

The duty of the Marquis Lu was to go to various places to collect Luli every year. Lin Xin was ruthless and wilful, and he disliked those would ask for more, especially the Western Regions, who insisted on adding 30% more, so he clashed with Zhong Changye.

“That bastard Lin Xin killed my father! In the future, he must be cut into pieces!” When Zhong Youyu came to report the funeral, the members of the Shen family were very surprised. Although they knew that Lin Xin was powerful, they did not expect him to be able to kill even Zhong Changye, who had such a strong spiritual power.

Marquis Lu became famous in his first battle, and the world’s fear of Lin Xin became more and more serious.

Seeing Shen Lou holding the jade pendant in a daze, Lin Xin knew that he recognized it, and sighed silently in his heart. Meeting by accident in Weishui before, and being picked up by Shen Lou, was luck that he could not have dreamed of in his previous life. He thought that he could grow up with Shen Lou well, coaxing him early, but it was no good to play tricks on him.

“…Why do you tie the jade pendant with a hemp rope? Ask Zishu to change it to soft silk for you.” Holding the jade pendant for a while, Shen Lou said such a sentence, then moved his eyes away, and took off his soaked undershirt.

“What kind of jade pendant is this, don’t you know?” Lin Xin didn’t intend to let him go, he had to tell Shen Lou about this today to ensure that he would not hand him over to the Zhong family, “I am not Zhao Wanhu’s nephew, I’m Lin Zhenghan’s son.”

“A Xin!” Shen Lou looked at him in surprise, thinking that Lin Xin didn’t know his life experience when he was a child, until Zhu Xingli found him, but it turned out that this child knew from the beginning.

“I saw that man today, the man who chased and killed Uncle Zhao, with a scar on his face,” Lin Xin said with red eyes, “They will kill me too, that Zhong Lu will definitely come to catch me.”

“You, that is to say, it was people from the Zhong family who chased to kill you back then?” Shen Lou’s pupils shrank, and he finally understood why Lin Xin targeted the Zhong family in his last life, and why he wanted to kill Zhong Changye. If Zhong Changye killed Lin Zhenghan…

When he thought back to when he blamed Lin Xin for killing Zhong Changye… Shen Lou stretched out his hand to support the shivering Lin Xin, “Don’t be afraid, with me around, no one would dare to hurt you “

Lin Xin lowered his eyes to hide the sarcasm in his pupils. A child’s protection could be somewhat believable, but in the end he might be handed over by Duke Xuan who “stands like a pine in the snow”, and then handed over to the emperor. “You can hand me over to the emperor for a reward, but please don’t hand me over to the Zhong family.”

The author has something to say:

The small theater:

Loulou: My heart is too painful to believe: So what should I do? Let me give you Huhu, okay?

T/N: So it seems the MC is the Marquis of Lu and was responsible for collecting Luli as was his father…