Artifact Chapter 6: The Road is Uneven

Chapter 6: The Road is Uneven

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The smile at the corner of Liu Shuyun’s mouth seemed to deepen, her eyes looked straight at Lu Ming, not saying a word, but the medicine bowl in her hand did not move.

Lu Ming lowered his eyes, then raised his head. His eyebrows became calm, reached out and took the bowl, without hesitation, tilted his head and took a sip.

This medicine was extremely difficult to drink. The bitter taste of medicine filled his mouth and nose. Lu Ming forced himself to hold back his stomach from churning, tightly biting his lips, so as not to spit it out.

Thinking of all the encounters in the past two days, Lu Ming suddenly felt some sympathy for the original He Qingci. It was obvious that he was the noble young master of the He family, but he was insulted for no reason. He was even lower than others, even the servants dared to shout at him. It was obvious that this was poison that destroyed spiritual roots, but he still had to pretend not to know. Bowl after bowl, he drank it everyday for several years. If he hadn’t experienced this himself today, how could he understand the original’s pain and suffering?

Lu Shuyun’s eyes were fixed on Lu Ming drinking the medicine, and only then did she put her heart down and slowly speak, “I heard that you had a fight with Qingqiu yesterday?”

Lu Ming smiled, no big expression on his face, still lightly said, “Yesterday Qingqiu was  not feeling well, a momentary fever. So I acted impulsively, with some deviation in behavior. I wanted to go to the main house to apologize to Qingqiu, but I heard that Father had gone to the artifact refining workshop with him to discuss the method of refining Artifacts. I’m going to look for him to apologize, do you think it’s okay?”

Liu Shuyun’s eyes turned, looking at Lu Ming with a hint of annoyance in her gaze. After a long time, she withdrew her gaze and said with a light smile, “It’s just a child’s fight, Qingci doesn’t need to blame himself too much. As the saying goes, an elder brother is like a father, so if your brother is wrong, you should discipline him properly.”

Lu Ming bowed his head and said, “Qingci would not dare.”

Liu Shuyun smiled and touched his head, saying with concern, “There is nothing to be afraid of. You are still not feeling well, so you should go inside and rest more, so you don’t have to go looking for him.”

Lu Ming nodded obediently in response. Lu Shuyun saw that Lu Ming had given up the idea of going to the artifact refining workshop to look for He Qingqiu, then nodded in satisfaction. She yawned and said, “I am suddenly a little tired, you can go back first. Also, your body is almost better, after a while, you will need to go to school to listen in on the lessons. With no spiritual power, and you can’t even read a few words, don’t make the master angry again.”

Lu Ming smiled, stood up and made a bow to Liu Shuyun, and said, “Then Qingci will leave now.”

Liu Shuyun waved her hand impatiently, closed her eyes and lazily reclined on the soft couch, instructing the servants to carry her away quickly, not willing to stay for a second longer.

Lu Ming looked at Liu Shuyun’s fading back, the corners of his mouth hooked up a nice arc, his expression inexplicable. Through the trial just now, Liu Shuyun obviously didn’t want He Qingci to be exposed to the knowledge related to refining artifacts. She even didn’t want him to step half a step into the artifact refining workshop.

Position of the next head of the He family would be able to skip He Qingci and fall directly to He Qingqiu, her son. 

Lu Ming coldly smiled, his eyes shone with a different light, it seemed that he would have to be doubly careful in the future.

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After leaving the dining room, Lu Ming was taken by the boy to the side house.

Lu Ming then realized that the shabby house where he lived yesterday was originally dedicated to the maids and servants who had made mistakes and was used for reflection.

Because of its remote location, hardly anyone stepped into it during the week.

It was hard to believe that He Qingqiu came here yesterday specifically in order to humiliate He Qingci. This person seemed to be more than disgusted in He Qingci, simply to the point of wanting to get rid of him. However, since he was after the identity of the main young master of the He family, he did not dare to kill him at will, but on the weekdays, he would do everything possible to bully He Qingci.

Lu Ming stepped into the room where He Qingci lived for more than ten years and raised his eyes to look around. The interior furnishings were very plain, and could even be described as simple, not at all like the treatment a young master should have.

The boy who was following Lu Ming suddenly said, “Young master, the First Lady has ordered you to go to the school in half an hour, don’t forget.”

Lu Ming nodded and asked, “What kind of lessons are they?”

The boy said impatiently, “I don’t know, you’ll know when you go.”

Lu Ming was about to ask where the classes were, but the boy turned around and ran away in a huff. Lu Ming sighed and walked helplessly to the low cupboard, opened the drawer and took his books to the school.

Lu Ming stepped out of the house and walked towards the west.

On the way, he asked several maids and boys about the location of the school, but unfortunately no one was willing to show him the way, they just gave him a direction with impatient faces and walked away.

Lu Ming could not ask anyone else, so he had to walk east and west by himself, and was turned around for most of an hour but could not find the location of the school.

Lu Ming slowly walked along the stream upstream, enjoying the surrounding scenery along the way. Now it was too late to rush to go to school, so he decided that he was not going to go back. If the first lady had the intention to make things difficult for him, she would find many excuses to make things difficult anyway, and this would not be the only one.

At this moment, a commotion suddenly came from the front.

Lu Ming stopped in his tracks and looked up. Several teenagers dressed as servants were now surrounding a boy of about ten years old, kicking and punching.

The boy’s face was bruised and battered, his forehead was broken and blood was flowing down his cheeks. In addition, it had just rained, so the ground was covered in water. Since he was wearing a white cloth shirt, it was stained with sludge, looking wretched to the extreme.

The boy was too young and skinny to beat three or four healthy and strong teenagers, so he was beaten without the strength to fight back and had to protect his head with his arms. He was gritting his teeth and not saying a word, his dark eyes shining with cold hatred. He was very tough and did not ask for mercy from the beginning, only giving a faint moan. The only thing that came out of the mouth from time to time was a weak moan, and his face gradually turned white.

Lu Ming originally did not want to take care of this nuisance since it was now difficult to protect himself. Even with the young master’s attitude, he believed that in the entire He House, no one would give him face. More than likely, it would be counterproductive, and harm him. He had to be ruthless. He turned around and was ready to leave.

The boy’s eyes were really bright, his eyes were swollen, but he still saw Lu Ming not far away. A glimmer of hope flashed in his jade-like eyes, his lips moved slightly, but when he saw Lu Ming turn to leave, the glimmer in his eyes suddenly went out. His eyes dropped, his long, thick eyelashes trembled slightly, and his lips were bitten to death.

Lu Ming turned around at that moment, for some reason, a strange feeling welled up in his heart. The look in those eyes was so similar to his own when he was young.

At that time, after the death of his parents in a car accident, he had no one to rely on after experiencing countless hardships and difficulties. He never had anyone to talk to. Whenever he looked into the mirror, he saw someone exhausted to the extreme, with a pale face and eyes. The young man in the mirror, with countless resentment and hatred towards the world, this look was extremely similar to this boy.

Those memories that had been sealed up for a long time suddenly enveloped his brain, so Lu Ming could not help but clench his fist. His heart was cold. He stopped in his tracks, turned around, and shouted at the front, “Stop!”

The boy saw the figure stop in front of him, and looked up sharply. His gaze suddenly crashed into the pair of clear, transparent black pupils like a cold pool in deep autumn. For a moment, it was as if his heart was hit hard, and his breath suddenly tightened.

The boy’s gaze never left the handsome but somewhat pale young man in front of him. The sun’s strong rays shot straight into his eyes, but he did not seem to feel it, and did not blink. The slender figure slowly approached him, and he suddenly reacted, blinking his sore eyes.

A few of the boys heard Lu Ming’s voice and hurriedly stopped their fists and feet, and a group of people looked towards Lu Ming’s location in unison.

Lu Ming said in a deep voice, “What did he do that you beat him up like that?”

Several of the boys were relieved to see that it was the young master of the He Family who even dared to bully his servants. One of them smiled coldly, kicked the boy on the ground and scolded him with a smile, “You little bastard. The He family’s youngest son has the most honorable status, except for the old king at the entrance of the He family.”

Everyone who heard this could not help but snicker, looking at Lu Ming’s gaze with playfulness and ridicule.

The boy who fell on the ground had a cold look in his eyes, his lips were pursed tightly, and he did not say a word.

One of the boys, who seemed to be new, asked in some confusion, “The old king who watches the door… Who is that?”

The boy tilted his head and laughed out loud, looking at Lu Ming with a sneer in his gaze, and replied, “What else can a watchman be but a dog?”

Lu Ming’s face sank as he heard the insulting words and the ear-piercing laughter, and his gaze became cold and stern, like a cold light, shooting straight at the people in front of him, with a cold aura emanating from his body.

A few of the boys met Lu Ming’s gaze, somehow from the bottom of their hearts felt a chill, and reflexively gulped spittle. Their laughter abruptly stopped. The young master of the He family, who was usually weak and incompetent and could be stepped on by almost everyone, why does he look so ominous today?

Lu Ming was expressionless, and slowly walked forward. He did not even open his mouth to say half a sentence, directly moved to the roadside to smash a long thick piece of firewood towards the head of that insulting young man. It viciously smashed over!

Blood flowed slowly down his head, the boy dumbly touched it. His brain temporarily did not react, and it was followed by the second stick that immediately landed on his shoulder. The pain was so intense that he fell to the ground with a wail, holding his head in pain, while dodging Lu Ming’s constant blows to his body, and rolling around in pain. In a short time, his whole body was covered with dirty mud, looking like a mud loach that was constantly struggling.

The surrounding people were all stunned, standing dumbfounded, staring at the scene in front of them with wide eyes, not daring to believe.

The boy was screaming in pain, struggling and shouting angrily at the dumbfounded crowd, “What are you waiting for? Hurry up and beat him to death!”

Only then did everyone realize and rush forward, reaching out to grab Lu Ming, who was still beating the boy severely.

 

 

 

 

 

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