Chapter 34: For the Child

Returning to the Shen family merchant house, the sky was already bright. Lu Xingzhou then went directly to Shen Tang’s main courtyard.

Shen Tang and Du Gu Qingli were already eating breakfast in the courtyard. Seeing Lu Xingzhou come over, the two were not surprised. Shen Tang greeted very casually, "Want to join us?"

Lu Xingzhou was also not polite, quickly approaching the table edge, picking up a bun from the table, and starting to gnaw on it.

Shen Tang chuckled, "Why so impolite?"

"I wasn't polite with you when I ate before either," Lu Xingzhou said casually while gnawing on the bun, "We were hiding outside for the past two days, fearing that you would be targeted by the Huo family. But now it seems that problem is no longer an issue, so what is there to say..."

"We formed an enmity with Liu Qingcang. He originally would instigate Huo Yu to deal with us, which is unrelated to your personal matters. You should have cooperated with us in the first place."

"If you calculate accounts with me again, I won't help you cure your leg."

Shen Tang was slightly startled, a look of surprise flashing in her eyes. "Your medicine is already used up, can you still cure it?"

"Yes," Lu Xingzhou finished the bun in a couple of bites, wiped his mouth, and said, "The life-saving medicine is used up, but the wound medicine Huo Yu brought for Old Steward Huo is still there. It's exactly suitable for you. The only thing is the effect is relatively ordinary, it may take some time to recover slowly... but it can definitely be done."

Shen Tang suppressed her anticipation, took a deep breath, and remained calm. "What about you? Huo Yu brought enough to treat Old Steward Huo alone, he wouldn't have brought a double portion of medicine, there's definitely only one portion."

Lu Xingzhou was silent for a moment. "I said before, my situation is serious. This medicine won't do much for me, but it's exactly for you."

Du Gu Qingli had always leisurely held a cup of soy milk and drunk it, as if the matter didn't concern him. Hearing the words, he finally glanced at Lu Xingzhou.

It wouldn't do much, but it was still useful.

At least connecting a broken tendon should be no problem. Other aspects could be dealt with by finding other methods. Every little bit helps. Who, after being paralyzed for ten years, would still think of others when presented with an opportunity to get a little better?

But he still planned to give it to Shen Tang.

Lu Xingzhou also poured himself a cup of soy milk and drank it, sighing, "Maybe you all think I'm some schemer when you see my actions, but it's not really the case. Look, last night I did something very embarrassing."

"Embarrassing?" Shen Tang was a little absent-minded. "Why would you think that's embarrassing... Honestly, I envy A Nuo, she has the best father in the world."

Lu Xingzhou glanced at her, not saying anything.

He had revealed many of his secrets in front of Shen Tang, and Shen Tang had similarly revealed not a few in front of him. Although some details were still unclear, it was possible that Shen Tang was indeed a princess, and her father... Obviously, it was very difficult for her to get such fatherly love as A Nuo.

It was even possible that her leg was injured by her biological father.

After thinking for a bit, he decided not to pursue this topic with her and continued, "What I want to say is that my strategies are actually just so-so. What I do more is organizational management work and some planning matters."

Shen Tang came back to her senses, not understanding for a moment. "How is this again?"

"For an organization manager, how to allocate resources more reasonably is a basic quality... Just like this medicine, if it were given to me, it wouldn't change my status of still having to sit in a wheelchair, but if given to you, it can completely cure you, thoroughly solving a problem, and you can gain a complete combat power. No matter how you consider it, it should be given to you." Lu Xingzhou blinked his eyes at her. "Unless you don't want me to touch your leg."

"Mister is joking," Shen Tang's face blushed again. After a while, she said, "The premise of resource allocation is a group, otherwise, it's just everyone's own business."

Lu Xingzhou was puzzled. "Could it be that we still don't count as a group?"

"No," Shen Tang stared into his eyes. "Because no matter how I analyze it, I feel that you won't continue to stay in Xia State, and staying would be meaningless to you. Everything you arranged before was to extract me, not for yourself. When you let A Nuo make a move to deal with the demon, you had actually already decided to leave Xia State."

Lu Xingzhou was startled for a moment, then fell silent.

Shen Tang's thinking was always sharp, but her understanding of him really surprised people... They hadn't even known each other for long.

Seeing his silence, Shen Tang bit her lower lip, seemingly struggling for a long time, finally making up her mind. "But when you decided to leave, you didn't know your leg couldn't be cured... So the situation is different now. You also know that Qingli and I have an unusual background, just temporarily in some trouble. If you are willing to stay and help me, after solving some matters, it will be as easy as flipping a hand to find medicine for you, and you won't need to plan alone again."

Lu Xingzhou slightly narrowed his eyes.

Shen Tang continued, "Furthermore, it doesn't matter where you came from before, that's not important. What's important is that you are now a lone traveler, you have already missed the path of inheritance and improvement, and your situation is still not as good as Xu Bingkun. If you join my group, there's also a way to solve this problem."

Speaking of this, as if fearing to hurt his self-esteem, she carefully added a sentence, "Just treat it... for the child?"

Who says this is a paramour? This is a wife.

This sense of déjà vu... Lu Xingzhou couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Okay."

Being so straightforward, it instead made Shen Tang, who originally thought Lu Xingzhou might refuse,愣 (lèng) pause for a moment, then be overjoyed. "Really?"

"How can I deceive you? It's not like I'm just trying to coax you to cure your leg, you're not a child who still falls for this." Lu Xingzhou laughed, "Also, I'll say this upfront, I may not be as useful as you think, don't have too high expectations."

"Is this the reason you just said you're not a schemer?"

"Um... I can see you lack an advisor. Although you are very smart, you are not in this way. From the beginning of choosing a strategy, it's hard to evaluate. Choosing Bai Chi is even harder to evaluate..."

Shen Tang: "..."

"This is also the reason you looked at me differently only after the Sword Talisman proposal, isn't it?" Lu Xingzhou laughed self-deprecatingly. "Although... maybe there's also some empathy factor, just don't know how much it occupies."

Actually, Shen Tang herself didn't know how much empathy factor occupied her initially looking at Lu Xingzhou differently, how much the factor of wanting Lu Xingzhou's planning ability occupied, and up to today, whether something else was subtly mixed in during their various mutual helps.

At this moment, she was somewhat absent-minded. After a long time, she said, "What I want is not just some military advisor scheme... Originally, Yanluo Hall could grow from just a few people to a force that now shakes Da Qian. What I want now is also this."

Finally, he revealed the truth about Yanluo Hall. Lu Xingzhou was not surprised and calmly nodded. "Yanluo Hall's success is mainly not my credit. With her... with Yan Jun being so strong, it's very easy to make the strong flee upon hearing the news. I just added flowers to the brocade and did some structure. If you insist on me trying, I can, but I will only help you as a friend, just like Qingli, not your subordinate... When the time is right, I will still leave."

Shen Tang sighed. "It still comes down to that sentence, you won't enter a sect?"

"Yes."

"Then you will be a guest elder of this sect from now on." Shen Tang didn't dwell on it and handed over a jade token. "This is my token of trust. Seeing it is like seeing the sect master."

Du Gu Qingli wanted to say something, but in the end, held back.

He says he's the same as me, but I don't even have this thing.

He just even omitted the suffix "Girl Qingli" and called her Qingli directly.

Lu Xingzhou took the jade token and smiled brightly. "Now that we are considered a group, my heart is at ease. Can we cure the leg?"

Shen Tang's face turned a little red again and she slightly lowered her head. "Please Mister Shi Jiu (施救 - provide assistance)."

Curing the leg is not just curing the leg, it means touching, and lifting and touching. Listening to him just say it would take a long time, it probably wouldn't be finished in one go.

Does saying "Please Mister Shi Jiu" make a difference from saying "Please Mister touch me"?

Lu Xingzhou made a "please" gesture. "Then please enter the room."

Du Gu Qingli stood up and pushed the somewhat hesitant Shen Tang into the room.

Shen Tang was anxious. "Wrong, this is my room..."

Du Gu Qingli had a puzzled look. "To cure your leg, in your room, what's wrong?"

"I..." Shen Tang didn't even know how to explain to this fellow. You could have just put me in the guest room! This is my boudoir! Can a man just casually enter a woman's boudoir?

But facing Lu Xingzhou, saying these words again felt a bit hurtful, Shen Tang suppressed it for a long time, and finally resignedly lowered her head.

Lu Xingzhou also didn't think this guy, Little White Hair, would unexpectedly push Shen Tang towards the boudoir. He was momentarily stunned after following her into the room.

Fresh flowers were on the windowsill, the room was fragrant and pleasant, with the same clear fragrance as Shen Tang's body, very comfortable. There were pink gauze curtains, a pink bed quilt, and even a snow-white little belly band casually thrown on the head of the bed.

A crabapple flower was still embroidered on the belly band.

Shen Tang's face was so red it almost dripped blood... She had forgotten this, with so many things happening in the past two days, she of course hadn't had time to tidy up, she just casually threw her clothes around. Who would have thought a man would enter the room!

Actually, this was also the first time Lu Xingzhou had entered a young girl's boudoir in this world... He wouldn't dare enter Yuan Mu Yu's room... Um, A Nuo doesn't count.

Du Gu Qingli didn't realize the awkward faces of the two protagonists at all. He grabbed Shen Tang and put her on the bed, even taking off her shoes.

Shen Tang gritted her teeth. "Why are you taking off my shoes!"

Du Gu Qingli was very puzzled. "Don't you take off your shoes when you go to bed?"

"I..." Before Shen Tang could say anything, Du Gu Qingli pulled out the belly band that was pressed underneath and glanced at it. "What is this?"

Shen Tang: "..."

Lu Xingzhou: "..."

Haven't you seen a belly band? I've seen them, in TV shows.

Shen Tang lay on the bed, gnashing her teeth. "There will be a day when you can use it. Now, can, you, please, go out?"

Du Gu Qingli said seriously, "I want to protect you."

Shen Tang was almost fuming. "With Lu Xingzhou here, what do you need to protect?"

Du Gu Qingli was even more serious. "Precisely because he is here, I just want to protect you."

You said you don't understand, but you understand quite well!

Lu Xingzhou had no expression on his face. "There's an outsider here, it will interfere with the treatment. Do you want to ensure the treatment or something else? Consider it yourself."

Du Gu Qingli thought for a moment and felt that ensuring the completeness of Shen Tang's leg was more in line with the requirements of his task than ensuring that completeness. So he turned around and retreated outside, even closing the door.

Lu Xingzhou wheeled his wheelchair to the edge of the bed, and he and Shen Tang on the bed looked at each other. Both of them couldn't help but laugh at the same time.

Shen Tang: "Qingli has cultivated alone for a long time and has little contact with people, she is not familiar with worldly affairs, don't blame her."

"When did I blame her? It should be like this!" Lu Xingzhou laughed. "It's not fun otherwise."

Shen Tang turned her head back and looked at the ceiling. "You like Qingli very much?"

"I like her very much." Lu Xingzhou paused for a moment, then inexplicably added a sentence, "Not the kind of liking you think."

"How do I think? Do you know?" Shen Tang seemed to curl her lips with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. "How to cure it?"

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PS: Advanced update is finished, no 6 o'clock update, oh.