Chapter 187 - Zuo Xiaolang
“Zuo Xiaolang, how many times have I told you? Don't walk with your hands!”
“Ah …”
“Zuo Xiaolang, you have to use chopsticks to eat. Take your claws away!”
“Ahhh …”
“Zuo Xiaolang, come here. Open your mouth and call for your father. Otherwise, you'll be a vegetarian for dinner tonight!”
“Ahhh …
Zuo Shaoqing had never known that bringing a child was such a difficult task, especially for a child who could not speak normally or walk normally or eat normally. Zuo Shaoqing's patience was almost worn out.
Zuo Xiaolang was the nickname Zuo Shaoqing had given Little Thing. He had grown up with wolf milk, and the nickname suited him best. As for Big Name, he had given Xiaolang's homonym, “Xiaolan”.
When they arrived at the nearest relay station, Zuo Shaoqing had someone call a doctor to check Zuo Xiaolang's pulse, and the result was much worse than he expected.
“This child probably hasn't been taken good care of since the first month, and his body is much skinnier than those of the same age, but his physique isn't too bad, and he can still be nurtured properly for a few years. As for the fact that he hasn't been able to speak for a long time, this old man has checked his throat.
“Get to the point!” Zuo Shaoqing interrupted him impolitely. This was already the third doctor he invited, but the words he said were almost the same as the previous two.
“In short, this child's throat doesn't seem to be able to speak for the time being. I'll have to take some medicine first before I can take a look.”
“You mean he might never be able to speak again?” Zuo Shaoqing frowned and held the little thing tightly.
“No no, his throat isn't completely rotten, it's just that what he eats is too …” “I haven't learned how to talk, so it's a bit more difficult.”
Zuo Shaoqing sighed and instructed Luo Xiaoliu to go with him to get the medicine. He held the little thing at the same level as Zuo Shaoqing, “Tell me, why are you so unfortunate in your life? Otherwise, I'll change your name to Zuo Ping.”
With one hand holding Zuo Xiaolang's collar, he picked him up from Zuo Shaoqing's hands and casually threw him to Yinyi, who was standing to the side.
“Alright, the abilities of the doctors in this kind of small place is limited, once we arrive at Crane City, we can send someone to get the doctors at the mansion, even if we can't cure them, it would be alright. With ears to listen to, hands to write, and feet to walk, it's enough.”
Zuo Shaoqing glared at him, but he didn't have any good idea. He said in a low voice: “This is the only way.”
He told Yinyi to put the little thing on the ground and let him learn how to walk. Compared to talking, this was the most important thing.
Whenever he had the conditions, Zuo Shaoqing would almost never give Zuo Xiaolang hard food. Even if he wanted to eat meat, it would mostly be cooked into meat porridge or meat soup for him to eat to ease the burden on his internal organs.
“Ahhh …” Zuo Xiaolang waved his arm unhappily as he looked at the fish porridge in front of him. He had never eaten fish before, so his first thought was that this porridge had a bad smell, so he refused to eat it.
In order to let him use tableware, it was impossible for Zuo Shaoqing to feed him food. It was impossible for him to grab food like porridge and water with his bare hands.
“Eat this, otherwise you'll starve tonight!” Zuo Shaoqing hardened his heart and said, but he still subconsciously scooped a spoonful of soup and brought it to Zuo Shaoqing's mouth.
Zuo Xiaolang looked at the human who was closest to him. He could never reject food that was fed to his mouth, the only difference was that he swallowed it down and spit it out.
As a result, he stuck out his tongue and licked it. When Zuo Shaoqing glared at him, he tilted his head and looked at him in confusion. However, after licking his lips, he realized that the taste was not as bad as he had imagined.
Zuo Shaoqing knew it wouldn't make sense to say it, so he took advantage of the opening of his mouth to put the spoon in and took a big bite. He ordered, “Don't lick, chew!”
Lu Zheng ate his food quietly from beginning to end. There was no lack of meat on his menu. There was a famous local dish called Honey Pig's Heel on the table. He ate it well as the fragrance floated into Zuo Xiaolang's nose.
Zuo Xiaolang sniffed fiercely. He always felt that the taste in his mouth was different from the smell in his nose, so the light fish porridge didn't taste so good anymore.
He looked around from time to time to find that fragrant smell. Finally, he jumped out when Lu Zheng picked up a piece of the pig's foot.
Before Zuo Shaoqing could understand what had happened, he heard a “bang!” With a light sound, he turned around to see the little thing sprawled on the ground. There was a suspicious red patch on its forehead. It stared vigilantly and passionately at Lu Zheng as well as … The chopsticks in his hand.
Lu Zheng snorted coldly and continued to eat without saying a word. However, every time he started to eat, he would aim his chopsticks at the pig's feet until there was no more meat on the plate.
When Zuo Shaoqing saw Zuo Xiaolang drooling at Liu Tie despite being scared to death, he knew how much charm the fragrant meat had towards this little guy.
He was always on guard against Lu Zheng with his eyes full of vigilance. Moreover, he never dared to make a move when he was in Lu Zheng's hands. He was very well-behaved.
At that time, Zuo Shaoqing thought it was Lu Zheng battling on the battlefield all year round and that his killing intent was too strong. Furthermore, Zuo Xiaolang was the most sensitive person, so it was normal for him to be afraid of him.
It wasn't until he found out why Zuo Xiaolang was halfway to their starting point that he understood why this little thing was scared by Lu Zheng.
That night, Lu Zheng charged into the wolf lair alone. Only a few old wolves and pups were in the lair. The rest of them went out to hunt at night, while the little thing was sound asleep while hugging the half piece of dried meat.
During this period of time, Xiaolang's pup would smell the fragrance and then get pushed aside by him, while his mouth emitted a warning wuwu sound.
Lu Zheng didn't intentionally hide his movements, so the moment he arrived at the cave entrance, he was discovered by the two wolves guarding it. Lu Zheng didn't intentionally hide his movements, so the moment he arrived at the cave entrance, he was discovered by the two wolves guarding it.
Lu Zheng did not have any ideas of respecting the elderly and cherishing the young. He grew up under the guidance of a great education, so when Lil Thing attacked him, he did not hesitate to teach him a lesson.
The new wounds that Zuo Shaoqing thought were caused when he passed through the bushes were actually left behind at that time. When Zuo Shaoqing fell on the ground, gasping for breath and unable to fight back, Lu Zheng carried him through the forest.
Thus, Lil Thing saw the whole process of Lu Zheng killing a few wild beasts with his own eyes. The things that were several times bigger than him usually took a detour and were easily taken care of by this man.
He then watched as the man dragged the wild beasts back to the wolf den. He then threw the corpse into the cave and left a sentence, “Consider this as their reward for taking care of you!” Then she left with him.
Of course, Zuo Xiaolang didn't understand those words. It was just that Lu Zheng's series of actions had intimidated him. When he was placed on the ground and found that he couldn't move, he became even more afraid of Lu Zheng.
Lu Zheng wasn't afraid that the little thing would be taken away by the wild beast if it was left on the road, because he noticed that the female wolf had been following them ever since he left the wolf's den, but he didn't approach.
Wild beasts were actually very intelligent. If they met an enemy that was stronger than them, they wouldn't fight but run away with their tails between their legs. Therefore, when Lu Zheng took away the little thing, they could only silently watch.
Zuo Shaoqing carried Zuo Xiaolang back to his chair and poked his red forehead as he lectured, “You're quite daring. People say that people die for money while birds eat. You are no different from a bird.”
After finishing his meal, Liu Tie put down his chopsticks and walked over to Zuo Shaoqing to take over Zuo Xiaolang, who was not having a proper meal, “Let me do it.”
Zuo Shaoqing noticed that Lil Thing trembled for a bit, then it sat obediently on the chair like a cat and glanced at Zuo Shaoqing from time to time.
Zuo Shaoqing had been busy serving the little ancestor and had not eaten, so he did not care about the two anymore. He had his servants serve the hot food once again.
Lu Zheng picked up the warm fish porridge and directly put the bowl next to Zuo Xiaolang's mouth, “Open your mouth and drink!”
“Ah!” The little thing looked longingly at the table full of dishes.
“Do you want to drink it yourself or do you want me to drink it?” Lu Zheng looked at him with his deep gaze, not caring if the other party could understand his language at all.
Although Zuo Xiaolang didn't understand Lu Zheng's words, he could feel the cold air emitting from Lu Zheng's body. Thus, he opened his mouth and swallowed the porridge one mouthful at a time.
The fish was delicious, and as he ate, he felt that it wasn't that bad. He only burped after a big bowl of porridge was finished off.
Every time they arrived at a relay station, Lu Zheng would receive an urgent letter that was sent to him. After feeding Lil Thing, he would chuck it away to Zuo Shaoqing.
When he finished reading the contents of the first letter, his expression darkened and he slammed the letter onto the table.
“Someone, come!” Lu Zheng shouted towards the outside.
Yinyi pushed the door open and came in. When he saw the letter on the table that had already turned into scraps of paper, he lowered his head and asked, “What can I do for you?”
“Send people to check on Crane City Prefect's recent movements and his relationship with Zeng Family.”
Hearing Zeng Family, Yinyi knew that this was a small matter, so he didn't dare delay to personally bring people to investigate.
Although the fall of Zeng Family wasn't directly caused by the Wu Steel Manor, anyone with a discerning eye would be able to see that it was related to the Wu Steel Manor. Thus, most of the Tutor Zeng's faction's officials held hostility towards the Wu Steel Manor.
If the relationship between Crane City Prefect and Tutor Zeng was not ordinary, it was very possible that Crane City Prefect would become a potential enemy of the Liu Steel Manor.
Lu Zheng looked at the letter and mentioned that Lin Zhihao had secretly troubled the water master with the news that he was on bad terms with the leader of the Crane City water master. He also remembered that the last time he saw this person, the person had a respectful attitude, which was why he suspected that this person was related to Tutor Zeng.
No matter what, he planned to build the navy's headquarters at Crane City, so he had to get hold of Lin Zhihao's information. He didn't want the navy to stab him in the back while they were killing the enemy.
Opening the next letter, Lu Zheng frowned again and muttered, “What a load of nonsense!” He put the letter down.
However, when he opened the third letter, he found out that the madame had secretly left the team and was only bringing a few people with her.
The letter didn't mention who this male pet was, but the person who spread the news was obviously very careful. He actually used the military's code word. This meant that this matter wasn't only a secret, but was also tightly sealed by Zhan Yuanfeng.
Lu Zheng burned the letter and didn't take it too seriously. From his understanding of Zhan Yuanfeng, he probably wanted to try out his curiosity. However, seeing how well he protected that person, it was obvious that he wasn't treating the average male pet with the same attitude.
Zhan Yuanfeng was already twenty-five years old this year, and he did not lack princes or princesses. When he left the capital, he had three concubines that were pregnant in the imperial harem, so there was no need to worry about the issue of the offspring. He could do whatever he wanted as long as it had nothing to do with the Rivers and Mountains Society.
However, it was best not to let the civil officials in the imperial court know of this matter. Otherwise, it would be annoying to listen to them talk big and talk big.
Zhan Yuanfeng was not like him. The reason why courtiers and officials did not dare to say much about him marrying a man was because of his military power, and because of Zhan Yuanfeng's imperial edict. They did not dare to say it openly even if they wanted to.
However, Zhan Yuanfeng was different. If he suddenly became hot-headed and wanted to establish a man, even half of his old subjects would be knocked to death in the throne room.
Lu Zheng smiled in a gloating manner. Leaving these matters behind, he returned to his room. Hearing the sound of water behind the screen, Lu Zheng closed the door and walked inside while taking off his clothes.
Just as he was about to walk around the screen and get ready for a long absence of mandarin duck baths, he saw, in the tub, in addition to his yearning wife, a small thing that was in the way.
The young and the old man heard the sound and turned around to look at him. Lu Zheng said confidently to the two faces that were flushed red by the hot water, “Come out soon after washing. I want to take a bath too!”
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