Zhuolu - Chapter 4

Suddenly feeling something soft and warm on the back of his hand, as if being licked by a puppy, Shen Lou’s fingertips couldn’t help but tremble slightly. It was fine as long as the child was curious, for fear of scaring him, he refrained from pretending to know.l

The coffin was opened and the autopsy caused the body to be tossed for a while. Dong Shechuan’s conclusion was similar to Lin Xin’s judgment, but at this time, there was no disease that could make people go crazy, so he guessed that he had encountered some kind of monster.

“Six months ago, a strange thing happened on the Dahuang side. The family had just married a bride, but they all died overnight. Only the bride was alive, but she went stupid for a while and couldn’t remember what happened. Huan Xinghai sent people to check, it was terrifying to find that the entire family had died!” Mr. Dong said with three sighs, which attracted everyone’s attention.

“But like my son, was the skin sack destroyed?” Zhao Wanhu was anxious to know the cause of his son’s death and was too impatient to listen to this lengthy foreshadowing.

“That’s not true, but they were also soulless.” Seeing that the Zhao family did not want to hear him ramble, Dong Shechuan smacked his lips, and directly talked about the result, “After inspection, it was found that there are traces of the soul-devouring Gu near the Great Wilderness.”

Shen Lou looked indifferent and listened, noncommittal. He knew about this matter. Those people just lost their souls, but their souls were still there. Their terrifying appearance in death was entirely due to the resentment of the bride who was forcibly robbed and was thus put to her death.

“Soul-devouring Gu…” Hearing these words, the Zhao family was a little flustered. This was a well-known monster mentioned in “Foreign Objects”. It was shaped like a sculpture and had strange horns. It entered the door at night and devoured the soul. Legend had it that a hundred years ago, people were killed on a large scale because of it, then the imperial court ordered for their encirclement and suppression, and the immortal clans were dispatched one after another, then only this kind of monster was slaughtered. Now it has appeared again, and it was still in their house!

Just at this moment, a servant came to report, “Second young master woke up.”

The second young master of the Zhao family had been in a coma for a day and a night, and the doctor could not find out the cause. Now that he had finally woken up, Mrs. Zhao couldn’t sit still, and she immediately charged to the backyard to see her son.

“I also want to see the second young master.” Lin Xin whispered to Zhao Wanhu.

He was clearly a master of the family but called his cousin “young master”. The people from Huan Xinghai were a little surprised. The Zhao family, who were used to listening to it, didn’t feel anything wrong for a while. Zhao Wanhu tried his best to look like a good uncle in front of outsiders, and said pleasantly, “Xin’er has a heart, let’s go.”

With Zhao Wanhu’s approval, Lin Xin asked Shen Lou again.

When the Marquis Lu wanted to do something, he did not even have to ask the emperor, when did he show such a well-behaved appearance? Shen Lou felt a softness in his heart, and nodded slightly, indicating that he would take care of himself.

Shen Qingque really liked well-behaved people. Lin Xin, who ran out of the mourning hall, pouted. In the last life, Shen Lou didn’t give a good look every time he saw him. Now that he had accidentally met Shen Lou early, he had to make a good impression on him.

Rubbing his fingers, Lin Xin couldn’t help laughing secretly after recalling the feeling he had just felt. The little boy’s hand felt as cool and smooth as jade, and he didn’t know if there were thin calluses on his fingers… It would be better if he could touch some more…

After entering the second young master’s courtyard, Lin Xin immediately put away his face and showed a slight wretched expression, then he shrank his shoulders, slipped against the wall and stood under the bedroom window, trying to minimize his presence.

“My son, did Xie Tianhe hurt you?” Mrs. Zhao burst into tears when she saw her young son sitting on the bed with a dull gaze.

“Xie Tianhe?” The second young master looked at a loss. He couldn’t remember how he fell into a coma. He couldn’t even remember many things from the past. He would have a headache if he thought about it too much.

“He didn’t turn into a fool, tsk.” Lin Xin broke his short hand, but his strength was still too weak. His excitement didn’t seem to be realized by others, and the mother and son didn’t see it, then Lin Xin walked into Mrs. Zhao’s yard with his hands behind his back.

Although he was very happy to see Shen Lou, happiness couldn’t be eaten, and his top priority was to leave Zhao’s house as soon as possible and find his unreliable master.

The people in Mrs. Zhao’s yard were used to his coming and going, and they had no defense against this cowardly and useless third young master. Only Mrs. Zhao’s maid, Chun Shui, was in the room.

“Sister Chun Shui, Madam asked you to give me ten taels of gold.” Lin Xin opened his innocent eyes and reached out to Chun Shui.

“What do you want with the gold?” Chun Shui asked suspiciously.

“It was for that Mr. Dong. Madam said something about Huan Xinghai and asking the second young master to go too.” The child’s words were mixed, but it didn’t prevent Chun Shui from understanding. This was to give gifts to the people around the prince, so that they could help to say good things, and the second young master could follow the prince to Huan Xinghai.

Chun Shui, who thought he knew everything, immediately opened the box and gave him a bag of 12 gold taels.

The eldest young master died unexpectedly, and the second young master lost his memory for a short time, which coincided with the experience of the Dahuang family, and further confirmed Dong Shechuan’s guess.

“If that’s the case, let the eldest son go to the ground for safety.” Shen Lou didn’t want to say more and left the mourning hall with a flick of his sleeves, and also attributed the matter to Soul Eater Gu.

After the matter was clarified, the Shen family was about to leave.

There may be a soul-devouring Gu hidden in the house, how could Zhao Wanhu let Shen Lou go, so he begged the prince to stay for one more day, so that the experts from Huan Xinghai could help to investigate the monster, “The prince came from a long way, if you don’t even eat a simple meal, this subordinate will be ashamed to see the Duke in the future.”

After having hunched over, Zhao Wanhu felt a gaze on the top of his head, which seemed to instantly see him from the inside out, and his heart suddenly felt like a drum.

After a long silence, just when Zhao Wanhu thought the prince was going to lose his temper, Shen Lou said a word “good” and instructed Huang Ge to lead people to search the mountain.

Zhao Wanhu was overjoyed, and immediately invited the prince to sit in the best-decorated warm pavilion.

In the Northern Territory, everything belonged to the Shen family. For people like the Zhao family who had low immortality and only relied on their ancestors to live, they must rely on the breath of Huan Xinghai to survive. In this case, it was natural to let their son show his face.

So Mrs. Zhao didn’t care that her youngest son’s head was still confused, she asked someone to clean him up and dragged him to the prince, saying that he would be eating with the prince.

“Sir Xijing, please don’t disturb.” The maid dressed in purple stood in front of the door of the warm pavilion, arrogantly squinting at Zhao Wanhu, who brought his family to “accompany the Prince in a meal”. This maid’s name was Zishu, and like the bodyguard named Huang Ge, she was Shen Lou’s close attendant and a cultivator of Huan Xinghai. A gilded cloud-patterned sword hung around her waist, and a splendid Luli was embedded on the hilt. Spiritual energy was lingering around her, which was definitely a good match to her strength.

Shen Lou looked at the typical three-eyed Zhao family[1], and was very impatient, and said coldly, “Tell A Xin to come over.”

Lin Xin, who was about to climb over the wall with a bag of gold in his back, was brought back in front of Shen Lou in disgrace. Lady Zhao and Zhao Ershao were chased back by Zhao Wanhu.

“Why are you so embarrassed?”

The snow-white cotton robe he had just put on yesterday was now full of muddy prints, and the thin hemp rope on his head had long since flown to somewhere. In the morning, he was still a handsome little boy, but in a blink of an eye he had turned back into a little beggar.

Hearing this, Lin Xin knew that Shen Lou’s useless disease of benevolence and righteousness had flared up again. This man was decisive on the battlefield and when he led the army, but he couldn’t change his problem of pitying the weak. This was Shen Lou’s weakness, and the only place that could contain him.

“I went to the kitchen to get some food, and accidentally fell into a somersault.” Lin Xin raised his head, his eyes as bright as black sea beads, as he looked over pitifully.

Sure enough, hearing this, Shen Lou’s brows furrowed, and his heart ached, this man couldn’t even get enough to eat when he was a child! He motioned for Lin Xin to sit next to him and fed him a piece of cake.

Lin Xin’s hands were dirty, so he acted like he couldn’t reach for it, he put his hands behind his back, opened his mouth obediently, and finished the snack in two bites. His mouth bulged like a squirrel whose mouth was stuffed with nuts because it ate in a hurry. Shen Lou felt that his fingertips had begun to itch again, so he coughed lightly, raised his eyes and said to Zhao Wanhu: “I want to take this son to be my attendant. Would Master Wanhu be willing?”

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Small theater-

Lou Lou: I want him to be my bed warmer, do you dare refuse?

Zhao Wanhu: I dare not refuse, I dare not refuse