Chapter 2: Good-for-nothing

Translator: Sparrow Translations  Editor: Sparrow Translations

Even while staring blankly ahead and thinking of what exactly had happened, Lu Shu continued to hold on to Lu Xiaoyu and was prepared to sprint off together any moment. Even if they were unable to run away from these guys, they could have said that they had done their utmost best.

Surprisingly for the group of men dressed in black coats, they did not seem like they desired to complicate things for them nor did they seem to be the kind of typical antagonists in TV shows who would kill anyone in their way for no good reasons. These men simply walked off.

Only after a short while did Lu Shu regained his composure, “Could they really have been government officials?”

Lu Shu then thought of the supernatural incidents before where all video evidences and witnesses had disappeared… “Could this performer be linked to that incident as well?” He also pondered as to when had the government came up with these jet-black coats as uniforms which he acknowledged were rather decent looking.

If only the men from before had suddenly produced documents that they were from the secret service, Lu Shu would have possibly believed in it. And as for the fire safety brigade they had mentioned before… Forget it…

Coming across this, both Lu Shu and Lu Xiaoyu had lost all mood to carry on watching the temple fair and just wanted to head back home. Lu Shu hung his head low and seemed to be lost in his thoughts as they left the area.

Lu Xiaoyu looked up at Lu Shu and asked, “Hey Lu Shu, a penny for your thoughts?”

“Can’t you refer to me as ‘big brother’ for once!” replied Lushu with a hint of rage.

With a face full of scorn, that little rascal Lu Xiaoyu retorted, “Are we even related by blood?”

Just then, a youth popped out of nowhere in front of Lu Shu and with a huge smile on his face, enquired, “I saw that both of you came from behind the stage, care to share what exactly happened behind there?”

“And just who are you?” Lu Shu asked warily.

And with a wide grin, this handsome young man introduced himself, “Hi, I’m Zhi Wei, happy to meet you”

“Yeah right… how happy exactly?” Lu Shu responded rudely.

Zhi Wei almost pissed his pants… why can’t this guy act logically?!

“Uhm… just take it that I’m very happy…” Just as Zhi Wei was about to continue explaining, he realized that the teenager did not even bother about him and had walked off in hand with that cute little girl, skipping as she tagged along.

“Hmph…Fine… I won’t be so calculative about this”

Since Lu Shu did not want to help, Zhi Wei decided to go check it out for himself as there should be many other witnesses and they would probably not be as difficult to interact with as that punk.

After covering some distance, Lu Shu turned back to look at that young man with a raised eyebrow as Lu Xiaoyu calmly stated, “You’re not your usual self today, Lu Shu.”

“Xiaoyu, what would you do if this world had a lot more people who are insolent and arrogant? ” questioned Lu Shu. He thought, “If that performer was really weird and had a problem, then would that throbbing feeling in my heart I experienced meant that there’s something wrong with me as well?”

“I’ll just be even more arrogant than them!” Said Lu Xiaoyu confidently.

After hearing her response, Lu Shu pondered for a moment and as if he had solved the problem in his mind replied with a smile, “Your logic is so naive, but it does make sense. Come on, let’s go home.”

Brimming with self-confidence, Lu Xiaoyu proclaimed, “But since you’re so weak, I’m sure you can’t be that arrogant, even just five minutes of basketball with your friends would make you breathless. But don’t worry, I’ll be arrogant enough to protect you and all you have to do is to cook for me!”

“Ha Ha,” With a black face, Lu Shu stated, “Such ridiculous confidence.”

Lu Shu and Lu Xiaoyu lived in the 4th district of Luo Cheng XingShu road, this was the place which was said to be the Shi Wei family household, but that was decades ago. Now the 4th district was publicly recognized as the slums, consisting only of one-story high apartments even in this age of times. Tattered and run-down, these structures did not have gas fuel supplied to it nor does it provide ample warmth, rightfully earning itself the label of “slums”.

Within this city, the 80-square meter rented-apartment they lived in cost them $500 a month, excluding water and electricity charges.

Purely hoping for the decent compensation he would receive upon the relocation of the entire district, the landlord did not have any plans to sell the apartment. Even with talks of tearing the place down going on since years ago, it still had not been acted on as the residents of this district were rather unreasonable and were hard to deal with.

Although many despised and look down on this place, Lu Shu was somehow rather fond of it due to the fact that every apartment had a courtyard of approximately 10metres wide in front of it; where you could plant your own vegetables such as garlic, chives and many others as these costs money to buy outside.

Lu Shu was relatively poor as he was an orphan, being abandoned outside an orphanage from a young, tender age.

Such was the same for Lu Xiaoyu as well.

For most orphans living in these orphanages, they would have to enter society and make a living for themselves if no one offered to adopt them upon reaching the age of 16. This was exactly the case for Lu Shu.

Lu Shu had been frail since young and logically speaking, no family would want to adopt such a frail, sick-looking kid.

As for Lu Xiaoyu, she sneaked out on her own accord and orphanages were not strangers to such behaviors. In these times where orphans were unable to stand the way they live in the orphanage, sneaking out and resorting to stealing, robbery or begging to get by each day were not uncommon. As such, filing police reports about these missing children were too much of a hassle nowadays.

The orphanages around were not like those “model orphanage” depicted in movies, where it was filled with a strong sense of responsibility. After running off, who cared how the child was doing, whether he or she was dead or alive?

Lu Shu actually wished to send Lu Xiaoyu back to the orphanage since her qualities were rather decent and was still at a tender age; surely there would be people willing to accept her. However, every time he tried to send her back, she sneaked back out again regardless. Time after time, Lu Shu had gotten used to her being around all the time.

Compared to the kids around her age, Lu Xiaoyu had matured earlier and was considered somewhat abnormal, although Lu Shu was not exactly very “normal” himself. It did not show usually but today’s interaction with Zhi Wei was just one of the many examples.

Their rented apartment was the innermost one out of the whole stretch of buildings.

On their way back home, they spotted the neighboring middle-aged lady brewing oriental medicine. Lu Shu had observed that there was an elderly within the house, suffering from an illness all year round and that this lady was the elder’s daughter-in-law. This illness seemed to be hereditary, torturously taking away the son’s life even before the elderly.

You could consider this daughter-in-law to be quite filial, always caring for the old man all these years. Auntie Lim, despite only looking 40-something, had quite a few wrinkles all over her face. But after everything, Lu Shu could tell from her features and outlines that she was rather attractive in her prime, younger days.

It was an uncommon trait in today’s society for someone to be willing to go so far as to singlehandedly take care of her husband’s father.

“Good evening, Auntie Lim,” Lu Shu greeted with a smile.

“Shu, Xiaoyu, you’re back,” smiling as well as she replied.

As Lu Shu was about to bring Lu Xiaoyu back home, she abruptly bent over and curiously stared at the medicinal herbs brewing over the stove, “Auntie Lim, can I have some?”

Auntie Lim chuckled, “This is medicine, Xiaoyu.”

Lu Xiaoyu thought for a moment, “Then just one mouth!”

With disapproval written all over Lu Shu’s face, “Shoo, shoo, shoo, this is medicine for others, not something for you to try out!”

At this age where a person’s pride starts to build, this was especially embarrassing for Lu Shu. Having this gluttonous rascal tagging along with him was simply disgraceful!

“That kind of medicine does not taste nice at all okay?!”

“Aww..” Lu Xiaoyu reluctantly continued on her path home, constantly looking back towards the pot of medicine… Obviously, she had not given up on the thought of tasting it.

From the house directly behind Auntie Lim, faint sounds of coughing could be heard as the elderly man lamented, “How nice it is to be young.”

With a smile, Auntie Lim agreed, “Yeah, it’s nice being young.”

Lu Xiaoyu stopped turning back to look at the pot of medicine but at Lu Shu with her big, pearly eyes, “Lu Shu, I want to eat some bread, some braised beef bread!”