Zhuolu - Chapter 12

The light of the fire was extremely conspicuous on the pitch-black Mogui Mountain. After a while, firefighters and spectators flocked to the place. Before the stone door could be closed, the two brothers of the Zhong family stood there in embarrassment with smoldering faces.

Zhong Suifeng who came in a hurry saw this scene and couldn’t help but fell and beat his chest. The subjects of the Western Regions were basically all there, and the news of Zhong Changye’s death could no longer be concealed.

The curfew candles were lit again, and the whole Mogui Mountain was as bright as day, revealing all the secrets hidden in the dark.

“My lord is dead! What’s going on here?” Several respectable subjects rushed into the stone room without hesitation, and burst into tears when they saw Zhong Changye’s corpse.

“My lord!”

The stone room was in chaos, Lin Xin squeezed out of the crowd with his short body and saw the guards of the Shen family supporting Shen Lou standing on the edge of the mud that had just extinguished the fire, and Shen Qirui stood beside him with his hands behind his back, looking cold and serious. Zhong Lu knelt on one knee on the bluestone slab, without saying a word.

“Your Majesty.” Lin Xin walked over quickly and pulled Shen Lou up to look over. There were some injuries on his arms and legs, which didn’t look serious.

Shen Lou lowered his head and didn’t speak, the tearing pain exploded again in the altar, the pain made his eyes blurred, he had vaguely heard Lin Xin’s voice, but couldn’t tell the direction. Fortunately, he was used to this kind of pain, and there was nothing wrong with him.

Zhong Suifeng ran over anxiously, and kicked Zhong Lu, “I told you to guard the garden, what are you doing trying to kill the Prince?”

Tilting his body, he simply stood up and stared at Zhong Suifeng.

The air froze for a moment.

“Okay, Suifeng, now is not the time to worry about this!” Shen Qirui said in a deep voice, raising his hand to signal the guards of the Shen family to clear the field. The tomb was full of people, what did it look like.

Zhong Lu went away without turning his head, rushed into the stone room and stood in front of the coffin with his sword in his arms. His powerful spiritual power was accompanied by a terrifying coercion, which shocked everyone to take three steps back. The Xuanyi guards of the Shen family came in and invited out the adults of Wanhu and Qianhu who were crying heartbrokenly, it didn’t matter whether they were genuine or not, and the stone room finally became quiet.

Shen Qirui walked in, looked at Zhong Changye in the coffin, and said nothing for a long time. The night wind passed through the stone gate, causing the white candles on the table to flicker, “What’s the matter?”

“Father was fighting with someone that day, and for some reason he suddenly fell to the ground.” Zhong Youyu’s eyes turned red, “Even Yao Shi doesn’t work.”

Shen Lou walked in slowly, with steady steps and a calm expression. After receiving his father’s signal, he stepped forward to salute Zhong Changye.

Lin Xin stood aside with his arms folded, not intending to salute at all. He secretly thought that his work was in vain, since Zhong Changye was dead, and there was nothing to be afraid of in the Zhong family’s disunity, there had really been no need for him to confess his identity to Shen Lou, it was really a big loss.

“Oh, why is it so lively?” A slightly noisy voice came from the door, and before everyone could turn their heads, Zhong Lu had rushed over in an instant.

The two strands of spiritual energy collided in the air, directly smashing the half-covered stone door.

“Hey, if you have something to say, say it, don’t just act!” The visitor held a short black stick in his hand. It was ugly and not like a spiritual weapon, but like a living thing. And with it Zhong Lu’s killing moves were disassembled one by one.

Tánhuáng Biāojì! Lin Xin recognized the spirit sword that looked like a fire stick at a glance and stared at the man in red with both eyes.

“No more fights, no more fights, your Zhong family is bullying people!” The man in red didn’t want to take any more moves, so he rolled on the spot, regardless of whether the move was ugly, and rolled directly to Shen Qirui’s feet.

“Stop!” Shen Qirui raised his hand to stop Zhong Lu from chasing him, and looked down at the man making faces at Zhong Lu, “Yi Xiao, why are you here?”

Hearing this name, Shen Lou immediately looked up at the man and secretly said a bad word in his heart. Master Zhu Xingli, who was killed by Lin Xin himself in his previous life, also had the nickname of Yi Xiao.

“It’s not that I want to come, it’s Zhong Changye who won’t let me go!” Zhu Xingli got up and patted the dust off his robes. The crimson silk and gold jade robes were the usual extravagant attire of the Zhu family in the Southern Region. They were out of place in the pale mourning hall.

“You’re talking nonsense!” Zhong Youyu couldn’t help retorting, “It was you who stayed at our house and killed my father.

“I didn’t kill him, I can’t beat him, you have to be reasonable!” Zhu Xingli was born with a good appearance, but he didn’t know how to stand up and talk properly, like a big monkey jumping out of the deep mountains and old forests, not at all like a master. The Zhu family had the style of “moving like a phoenix and burning for nine days”.

After extinguishing the fire and comforting the mourning officials outside, Zhong Suifeng ran in with his head full, and saw Zhu Xingli rolling around in the mourning hall, so he suddenly became angry, “Zhu Xingli, what are you doing? Why did you run over here?”

“You didn’t let me out of Mogui Mountain, but you didn’t say I wasn’t allowed out of the yard!” Zhu Xingli hid behind Shen Qirui, turned around and saw the pale-faced Shen Lou, “Yo, my eldest nephew is also here. Well, why do you have such a bad complexion?” As he spoke, he looked at Xiao Linxin who was beside Shen Lou.

Shen Lou stepped sideways, blocking Zhu Xingli’s view of Lin Xin, and bowed his head in salute, “Second Uncle Zhu…” Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly fell down, and Zhu Xingli quickly caught him.

“This child, why is he covered in cold sweat!” Zhu Xingli hugged him horizontally, feeling someone grabbing his clothes, and looking down, it was the child who had been staring at him just now.

“Master…uncle, Shizi just got into a fight with Zhong Lu, so we need to find a doctor.” Lin Xin tried his best to restrain the trembling in his throat, as he looked at Zhu Xingli’s young and handsome face without blinking.

The doctor couldn’t tell the reason, but it could only be attributed to the fact that the sword forcefully injured the soul, and it would be better to rest for a few days.

Zhu Xingli curled his lips, “Quack doctor.”

“You call him a quack doctor, then you treat him.” Lin Xin habitually choked him.

“Hey,” Zhu Xingli circled around Lin Xin, and suddenly reached out to flick his head, “You’re kind of funny.”

Lin Xin covered the place where he was flicked and stared at him for a while, his eyes gradually blurring. It had been a long, long time that he hadn’t heard that voice, nor had anyone flicked his head.

“Oh, why are you still crying?” Zhu Xingli scratched his head, knelt down and looked at Lin Xin at the same level, “Can I bounce it back for you?”

Lin Xin wiped his eyes, raised his hand and bounced it back.

“Oh! You really played it!”

The night of farce ended, and the news of Zhong Changye’s death could no longer be suppressed. The next day, the mourning hall was moved to the vestibule, and people were sent to various regions to report the funeral. The news spread to the capital as quickly as possible, and the emperor’s decree would come down in a few days, but the burial could not be done until then.

Zhong Youyu and Zhong Wumo no longer had to keep watch at night, but had to kneel in the mourning hall during the day, dressed in sackcloth and mourning, while greeting and sending people off. The Wanhu and Qianhu who came to the autumn tribute in full swing put on plain clothes and black robes one after another.

Only Zhu Xingli was still walking around in a festive red dress.

“Zhu Yixiao, don’t go too far!” Zhong Suifeng looked at his attire, shaking his fingertips with anger.

The Zhu family in the southern region liked extravagance, and all the descendants of the direct line wore red clothes. The crimson red crocodile gold jade robe, with a Luli bead the size of a grain of rice embellished on the forehead, carved on eight sides, was exquisite and translucent, and dazzling in the sun.

“Our Zhu family is usually dressed like this, and it’s the same for funerals and happy events.” Zhu Xingli opened his mouth and began to talk nonsense, “I’m not here to hold a wedding for Zhong Changye, don’t get me wrong.”

“You…” Zhong Suifeng drew his sword, but just as he exposed the three-foot blade, he was knocked back by a gust of wind which suddenly struck.

Zhu Xingli held the black and shiny fire stick, and said with a smile: “Look at you, you won’t let me go, and the weather is like a bastard who drank too much water, why bother?”

“Yi Xiao.” Shen Qirui came over from a distance, stopped Zhu Xingli’s nonsense in time, patted Zhong Suifeng on the shoulder to signal him to go first, and said a few words to Zhu Xingli himself.

Shen Lou fell into a coma for the night, and the next day he refused to drink the medicine as if nothing had happened.

Lin Xin leaned on the window sill to look out and saw his master talking to Shen Lou’s father from a distance. Based on the time, Zhu Xingli should be looking for him everywhere at this time, but he went to Mogui Mountain to directly manage Zhong Changye’s important person, which was really his style. It was just that Zhong Changye died strangely, and Zhu Xingli, who had been at odds with him happened to be on Mogui Mountain, so he naturally became the object of suspicion.

Shen Lou coughed lightly, put the untouched medicine bowl on the small table, which made a crisp sound.

Hearing the sound, Lin Xin turned his head, looked at the prince who was leaning on the soft couch with his eyes closed, and remembered what Master said last night. Zhu Xingli was different from ordinary monks. He cultivated very complicated things, such as counting fortune in strange ways, five elements and gossip, engraving arrays and drawing symbols, and using fortune-telling for diseases…

According to the head of the Zhu family—Zhu Xingli’s brother, he was the reincarnation of a monkey, who had no personality, knew a little about everything, but was not very proficient in everything.

But heterogeneity had its benefits. He could discover many things that ordinary people could not see. According to Zishu, Shen’s family sought many immortal doctors but failed to cure Shen Lou, so maybe his master could help.

“My lord, I want to go out and play for a while.” Lin Xin looked at Shen Lou eagerly.

“…Go.” Before he could finish speaking, the child had already run out in a gust of wind, Shen Lou looked at the medicine bowl on the small table, his thin lips pursed into a straight line.

The messenger who had gone to report the funeral to Zhu’s family would arrive soon and would also bring the news that Zhu Xingli was in Mogui Mountain. Shen Qirui agreed to make peace for him and remove his suspicion. Zhu Xingli couldn’t leave Mogui Mountain for a while, so he squatted in the yard digging ants, feeling bored.

Looking up, Zhu Xingli saw half a small head protruding from behind the fence. Zhu Xingli smiled and beckoned him over, “Boy, how did you find me?”

Lin Xin walked in front of Zhu Xingli and stared at the pair of phoenix-tailed eyes unique to the Zhu family. The Zhu family people were beautiful, with phoenix shaped upturned eyes, but Zhu Xingli was a different kind, and the corners of his eyes were a little down, which should be caused by his own sloppy expression.

“Who are you to Shen Lou?” Zhu Xingli squatted on the ground, eyes level with him. He couldn’t see clearly in the dark last night, but now when he looked at the child’s eyebrows…

“I am the prince’s attendant.” Lin Xin replied obediently.

“Such a small attendant!” Zhu Xingli compared the height of the little guy, “What’s your name?”

“Xin, a single letter.” Lin Xin lowered his eyes, recalling the first time he saw Zhu Xingli in his previous life, at that time, also he said the same thing, only the first name, no last name.

Zhu Xingli twitched his brows slightly, his face remained unchanged, he still had the same smile, but he held Lin Xin’s arm and skilfully touched the bones, “Tsk, what a boy, you have good qualifications, be my apprentice.”

I was originally your apprentice, Lin Xin clenched his hands behind his back, “Why should I be your apprentice, what are your abilities?”

“I am a fairy,” Zhu Xingli said solemnly, then he took out his Tánhuáng biāojì from behind his back, “See, this is a fire stick. I just need to blow on it, and I can turn it into a spirit sword.”

“…” Lin Xin was not interested in this, and even didn’t want to recognize him, “I am the son’s attendant, I can’t go with you.”

“It’s okay, I will steal you away, let’s go quietly.”

“…”

The author has something to say:

Small theater:

Master: From today on, you are my apprentice

Xinxin: What can I learn?

Master: You can learn fortune-telling, gossip, how to chop vegetables, dye cloth and make rouge

Xinxin: Goodbye manual