Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 34 For the Children
When he returned to Shen's Trading Company, it was already bright, so Lu Xingzhou went directly to Shen Tang's main courtyard.

Shen Tang and Dugu Qingli were already having breakfast in the yard. They weren't surprised to see Lu Xingzhou coming over. Shen Tang casually greeted him, "Come and have something to eat with us?"

Lu Xingzhou was not polite either. He quickly went to the table, took the buns on the table and started eating them.

Shen Tang smiled and said, "Why are you not polite?"

"I wasn't polite to you during the meal before." Lu Xingzhou said casually while chewing on a bun, "We've been hiding outside for the past two days because we were afraid that the Huo family would target you, but now it seems that this problem has been solved, so what else is there to say..."

"We have a feud with Liu Qingcang, so he would have encouraged Huo Yu to deal with us. This has nothing to do with your personal affairs. You should have cooperated with us."

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

Shen Tang was stunned, with a flash of surprise in his eyes: "Your medicine has been used up, can it still be cured?"

"Yes." Lu Xingzhou finished his bun in a few bites and wiped his mouth. "The life-saving medicine has been used up, but the medicine Huo Yu brought to Old Butler Huo is still there. It's just right for you. It's just that the effect is not very good, and it may take some time to slowly recover... but it will definitely work."

Shen Tang suppressed his anticipation and took a deep breath to remain calm. "What about you? Huo Yu brought this medicine to treat Old Butler Huo alone. He wouldn't have brought two doses, right? There must be only one."

Lu Xingzhou was silent for a moment. "I said, my condition is serious. This medicine is of little use to me, but it is just right for you."

Dugu Qingli had been drinking soy milk leisurely, as if it had nothing to do with him. Upon hearing this, he finally glanced at Lu Xingzhou.

It's not very useful, but it's still useful.

At least it should be no problem to fix the broken ligament alone, and then find other ways to deal with it, and the better it is, the better it will be. If someone has been paralyzed for ten years and has a chance to get better, who would care about others?
But he still planned to give it to Shen Tang.

Lu Xingzhou poured himself a cup of soy milk and sighed, "Maybe you think I'm a scheming person when you see me acting like this, but I'm not really a scheming person. Look, I did something really embarrassing last night."

"Shameful?" Shen Tang was a little lost in thought: "Why do you think that's shameful... To be honest, I envy An Nuo. She has the best father in the world."

Lu Xingzhou glanced at her and said nothing.

He let a lot of things slip in front of Shen Tang, and Shen Tang also let a lot slip in front of him. Although some details were still unclear, Shen Tang was indeed likely the princess. Then her father... Obviously, it would be difficult for her to get the kind of fatherly love that An Nuo had.

There is even a certain possibility that her legs were beaten by her own father.

After thinking about it, he decided not to discuss this with her and continued, "What I want to say is that my strategy is actually just that, and I mainly do organizational management work and some program planning."

Shen Tang came back to his senses and was puzzled for a moment: "What happened?"

"For organizational managers, knowing how to allocate resources more rationally is a fundamental skill... Just like giving this medicine to me won't change my wheelchair-bound status, but giving it to you will completely cure me, completely solve a problem, and give you a full combat capability. No matter how you think about it, I should give it to you." Lu Xingzhou winked at her, "Unless you're doing this to avoid letting me touch your legs."

"Sir, you're joking." Shen Tang's face flushed again, and after a while he said, "The premise of resource allocation is that we are all in the same group. Otherwise, it will just be our own things."

Lu Xingzhou asked curiously, "Are we not a team now?"

"Not really." Shen Tang stared into his eyes. "Because no matter how I analyze it, I feel that you will not continue to stay in Xiazhou. It makes no sense for you to stay. All the previous arrangements were to get me out, not for yourself. The moment you asked An Nuo to deal with the demon, you had actually decided to leave Xiazhou."

Lu Xingzhou was stunned and remained silent.

Shen Tang has always had a sharp mind, but my understanding of him is truly astonishing... We haven't known each other for very long.

Seeing him silent, Shen Tang bit her lower lip, as if struggling for a long time. Finally, she made up her mind and said, "But when you decided to leave, you didn't know your leg was still not healed...so the situation is different now. You also know that Qingli and I have special backgrounds, it's just that there are some temporary difficulties. If you are willing to stay and help me, once some things are resolved, it will be easy for me to help you find medicine. You don't need to plan it alone."

Lu Xingzhou narrowed his eyes slightly.

Shen Tang added, "Besides, no matter where you came from before, it's not important. What's important is that you're a lone traveler now, having lost the path to inheritance and advancement. Your situation is even worse than Xu Bingkun's. If you join my group, you'll have a way to solve this problem."

Having said that, as if afraid of hurting the man's pride, she carefully added, "Just think of it as... for the sake of the child?"

This visual experience... Lu Xingzhou couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Okay."

Shen Tang was stunned for a moment by the straightforwardness of his words. He had initially thought Lu Xingzhou might refuse, but then he was overjoyed: "Really?"

"Is this really a lie? I'm just trying to trick you into healing your leg. You're not a child, are you fooled by this?" Lu Xingzhou laughed. "Also, let me be clear: I may not be as useful as you think. Don't hold your hopes too high."

"Is this why you said you're not a schemer?"

"Hmm... I can see you're in need of an advisor. Although you're smart, you're not one for this. From the initial choice of base plan, I knew it was difficult to evaluate. Choosing Bai Chi makes it even more difficult..."

Shen Tang: "..."

"Isn't this also why you've treated me differently since the sword talisman proposal?" Lu Xingzhou laughed self-deprecatingly. "Although... there might also be a bit of empathy involved, I'm not sure how much."

In fact, Shen Tang himself didn't know how much of his different view of Lu Xingzhou was due to empathy and how much was due to his desire to gain Lu Xingzhou's planning ability. And today, whether there was something else mixed in with the mutual help.

He was lost in thought at the moment, and after a long moment he said, "I don't want some military strategist's schemes... The Yama Palace was able to grow from just a few of you to the mighty force it is today. This is what I want now."

Finally, his Yama Palace's background was exposed. Lu Xingzhou was not surprised and nodded calmly. "The Yama Palace's main credit is not mine. With her... with the power of Lord Yama, it is easy for strong people to come here. I am just the icing on the cake and setting up the structure. If you really want me to try, it's fine. I will only help you as a friend, just like Qingli, not as your subordinate... When the time is right, I will still leave."

Shen Tang sighed: "To put it bluntly, it's still the same sentence, you don't want to join the sect?"

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

Dugu Qingli wanted to say something, but in the end he held back.

He said it was the same as me, but I don’t have anything like that.

By the way, did he even skip the suffix "Miss Qingli" and just call her Qingli directly?

Lu Xingzhou took the jade talisman and smiled brightly: "Now we are a team, I feel relieved. Can I get my leg healed?"

Shen Tang's face turned red again, and he lowered his head slightly: "Please help me, sir."

Treating the legs isn't just about treating them; it involves touching them, or rather, lifting them up and touching them. From what he just said, it's a long-term process, so it probably takes more than one session.

Is there any difference between "Please sir, save me" and "Please sir, touch me"?
Lu Xingzhou made a "please" gesture: "Then please come in."

Dugu Qingli stood up and pushed Shen Tang, who was about to run away, into the house.

Shen Tang said anxiously: "Wrong, this is my room..."

Dugu Qingli looked puzzled: "Is there anything wrong with treating your leg in your room?"

"I..." Shen Tang didn't know how to explain to this guy, you can just let me go to the guest house, this is my boudoir! A woman's boudoir, how can a man enter casually!

But saying it in front of Lu Xingzhou sounded a bit hurtful. Shen Tang held it in for a long time, and finally lowered his head in resignation.

Lu Xingzhou didn't expect that the little white-haired humanoid would actually push Shen Tang into the boudoir. He followed her into the room and was stunned for a moment.

Flowers grew on the windowsill, and the room was filled with a pleasant fragrance, the same delicate scent as Shen Tang's. It was very comfortable. There were pink gauze curtains, a pink mattress, and even a small white bellyband casually thrown on the bedside.

There is a crabapple flower embroidered on the bellyband.

Shen Tang's face was so red that it seemed to bleed... She forgot about this. With so many things going on these past two days, she certainly had no energy to tidy up. She just changed her clothes and threw them away. Who would have thought that a man would enter the room!

In fact, this was also the first time that Lu Xingzhou entered a girl’s boudoir in this life... How could he dare to enter Yuan Muyu’s room... Well, An Nuo doesn’t count.

Dugu Qingli was completely unaware of the awkward expressions of the two protagonists. He picked up Shen Tang and put him on the bed, taking off his shoes.

Shen Tang gritted his teeth: "Why are you taking off my shoes?"

Dugu Qingli was puzzled: "Don't you take off your shoes before going to bed?"

"I..." Before Shen Tang could say anything, Dugu Qingli pulled out the bellyband that was pressed underneath and took a look at it: "What is this?"

Shen Tang: "..."

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

Have you never seen a bellyband? I've seen it on TV.

Shen Tang gnashed his teeth while lying on the bed: "One day I'll let you use it. Now, can you please, get out first?"

Dugu Qingli said seriously: "I want to protect you."

Shen Tang was almost furious: "Lu Xingzhou is here, what does he need your protection for?"

Dugu Qingli became more serious: "It is because he is here that I want to protect you."

You say you don’t understand, but you actually understand quite a bit!

Lu Xingzhou said expressionlessly, "There are outsiders here, interfering with the treatment. Do you want to ensure the treatment or something else? It's up to you to decide."

Dugu Qingli thought about it and felt that ensuring the integrity of Shen Tang's legs would be more in line with his mission requirements than ensuring that integrity, so he turned around and walked out, closing the door.

Lu Xingzhou rowed his wheelchair to the bedside and looked at Shen Tang on the bed. Both of them couldn't help laughing at the same time.

Shen Tang said: "Qingli has been practicing alone for a long time and rarely interacts with others. She is not familiar with the ways of the world. Don't blame her."

"When did I blame her? This is how it should be!" Lu Xingzhou laughed, "It wouldn't be fun if it weren't like this."

Shen Tang turned back and looked at the ceiling: "Do you like Qingli very much?"

"I do like it." Lu Xingzhou paused, then added, as if possessed by a strange force: "It's not what you think."

"What do I think? Do you know?" Shen Tang curled his lips in a half-smile. "How to treat it?"

----

PS: I have finished updating ahead of time, the 6 o'clock version is no longer available.

(End of this chapter)