淫欲的代价

Chapter 309 After Dying, I Woke Up In Ancient Times With My Pharmacy 8.0

In the grand hall, Physician Fu stared at the newcomer in surprise. Although he wanted to step forward and ask some questions about the young man\'s unique looks, he wasn\'t stupid enough to actually do it.

On the other hand... He looked to Lu Xuilan... He also wanted to ask the young miss if she had any more unique teas but it wasn\'t appropriate to remain in the inner courtyard for too long -especially when the master of the Lu household was present- so after nodding at the Matriarch, he camly saw himself out.

Standing by Bai Yun\'s side, Lu Peng\'s eyes burned holes into the skin of the silver haired man. At first, he\'d been surprised and very alarmed when his father had suddenly mentioned another male child but now... He swallowed... now he felt excitement awaken from the deepest parts of his being.

He took a step forward. "You... What are you called?"

Lu Jingye lifted his eyes and looked in the general direction of the person who had spoken. He had no idea who that person was but the tone of the person\'s voice made his skin crawl. He looked away in disgust.

Shi Meifen\'s eyes widened at this and fear filled her heart for her son. She quickly blurted out, "Jingye!" Everyone turned to glare at her for being loud and she cleared her throat in embarrassment. "His name is Lu Jingye."

Her son had been confined all his life so his temperament was a little special. He hardly spoke and whenever he did, his words were few. Also, he was partially blind so he didn\'t do well in unfamiliar situations. She was afraid he would offend the wrong person and get in trouble.

Bai Yun frowned and wanted to reprimand the so called Lu Jingye but was cut off with the words,

"Ah? Why has my neck massager suddenly stopped working?!"

She shifted her attention to the Matriarch alongside everyone else and frowned in confusion. "Mother what\'s wrong?"

The Matriarch removed the device from around her neck and turned it every which way with a frown on her face. Next, she turned to glare at Lu Jingye hatefully. "It was working just fine a while ago!" And then she gave Lu Qian a look full of blame.

"I warned you, now see what has happened!"

This was the reason she didn\'t want that child anywhere near her! Such a unique device had suddenly broken down the moment he walked in. She hadn\'t even had the chance to show off to the ladies in the Capital yet!

Everyone looked between the Matriarch and Lu Qian in confusion whilst Shi Meifen immediately turned to her son to check if he was okay. Lu Jingye showed no visible reaction so she calmed down a notch.

She knew what the Matriarch was insinuating and that realization caused sadness to well up in her heart. After raising Jingye all these years, nothing bad had happened to her. Wasn\'t that enough proof that the Taoist priest\'s divination was nonsense?!

Whilst everyone was curious about what the Matriarch\'s words meant, Lu Qian stared at the strange device in his mother\'s hands in curiousity. "What is that?"

BAM!

The Matriarch hit the armrest of her chair. "Does it matter what it is?! The main issue here is that cursed child has caused it to go bad!"

Realization settled on the faces of the others then. This was why this child had been hidden away? He was cursed? Lu Zhenzhen immediately took a step back -even though she was already far away to begin with.

Although Lu Jingye couldn\'t see the people in the hall clearly, he already knew what kind of expressions their faces held and frankly, it didn\'t matter to him.

He\'d lived in seclusion for a good part of his life so besides his mother and elder brother, the rest of the Lu family were no more than strangers. They were free to think whatever. He turned to his right and was about to demand why he was here when a voice suddenly spoke up,

"Grandmother, can I take a look at it?"

The Matriarch eagerly handed the massager over to Lu Xuilan with hopeful eyes.

Lu Xuilan rolled her eyes inwardly and calmly accepted the massager. She wasn\'t a saint and was planning to watch the show without interference but after careful observation of the sudden sibling, she decided against it.

He might be young but from his mannerisms and expert control over his expressions, it could be seen that he wasn\'t a simple person. At present, she and her mother did not have a firm foothold in the Lu mansion so allies were always welcome.

Besides, she was planning on setting up her forces and a capable helper was welcome too. As long as the young man performed well, she would naturally not let him suffer and give him her full protection. Afterall, she always looked after her own.

Lu Xuilan gave Lu Jingye a few more glances before cracking open the battery compartment of the neck massager and taking a look. It was just as she suspected. The batteries had gone bad.

The neck massager had been causally dumped in her pharmacy about a year before she died so it wasn\'t surprising that the batteries had died out after some minutes of use.

This was a simple case of used batteries dying out and not some curse. She took another glance at Lu Jingye. Actually, to her, the young man\'s features weren\'t too special.

In her past life, she\'d seen all sorts of unique body features. Both the ones that were natural and the ones that were as a result of body modifications. She was also used to seeing some people with coloured contacts and extravagantly dyed hair so it wasn\'t as difficult for her as it was for others to accept his looks.

She turned to the Matriarch then. "The wandering master had explained to me what to do if I ever encountered such a situation." The Matriarch\'s eyes sparkled as she continued, "I\'ll take it to my courtyard later but it would take some time to fix it and I can\'t guarantee the success."

After saying her piece, she relaxed back on the chair with the neck massager in her hands. Although she had a box of brand new batteries in her pharmacy, she couldn\'t casually pull out so many things from her sleeves lest she aroused suspicion. Also, if she also fixed it too quickly then it could arouse suspicion too so she planned to take her time.

The Matriarch tapped her foot impatiently. She wanted Lu Xuilan to hurry up and fix the device but she didn\'t want to appear too eager in front of everyone so she maintained her composure. As she relaxed back on her chair, a thought arose in her mind.

Since Lu Xuilan needed to go to her courtyard to fix the device, did that not mean that she might have hidden away many more items that she\'d gotten from the wandering master?

Pure greed flashed in the Matriarch\'s eyes.

Seeing that his mother had been appeased, Lu Qian\'s shoulders relaxed and he finally turned to his fifth son. "You.. ah..." The boy\'s name seemed to have slipped his mind so he simply went straight to the point, "You\'ve met General He?"

Lu Xuilan\'s ears perked immediately and she narrowed her eyes on Lu Jingye. That name... General He. Wasn\'t he the one who had saved her the day before? It wasn\'t easy for others to catch her interest and it was even harder for her to compliment others but something about that General had drawn her in.

Not a single person in the hall was unfamiliar with the General of the Northern army. Even if they hadn\'t met him personally, they had at least heard of him and this was especially true for the young misses who were keeping their eyes out for suitors.

Lu Yunyue raised a brow. She had her eyes set on one of the princes so it was impossible for her to look at a General but she\'d met General He once and he was quite handsome.

She scrutinized Lu Jingye from head to toe. Her father wouldn\'t ask this person such a question if it was a simple meeting. That meant that this Lu Jingye must be familiar with General He!

Lu Zhenzhen was thinking the same thing but unlike Lu Yunyue, she was more interested in getting close to General He. She was the daughter of a concubine so it was impossible for her to marry into the household of a prince -even as a mere bed maid.

A General on the other hand.... Although it was also impossible for a General to marry a concubine as his official wife, General He was not a true noble born so with her status as the right prime minister\'s daughter, it was possible for her to become his secondary wife!

What kind of person was General He? After the princes, he was the next most eligible bachelor in Xiangshan and due to the fact that tales of his exploits travelled far, he was even more famous than most princes!

Lu Zhenzhen\'s eyes shone and she rushed forward... Only to stop short three seconds later and narrow her eyes on Lu Jingye. "If you\'ve been confined in your courtyard all along... How did you meet General He?"

Lu Qian folded his arms across his chest with a grave look on his face. That was exactly what he wanted to know. The reason he\'d ultimately let the boy live was because the Taoist priest had reassured him that no calamity would befall the Lu home as long as the boy was confined.

If the boy was going to be a problem now then it was high time he looked for a way to handle him...

Lu Jingye felt the inquisitive eyes and calmly replied with a bored demeanor, "I don\'t know any General He."

That was true. He\'d managed to sneak out of the mansion the day before because he heard from his personal servant that a famous doctor was in the Capital.

His elder brother was very sick and he, himself, was basically blind so he\'d taken the unconscious Lu Wenduo with him to see the doctor. He\'d even gone as far as instructing his servant to lace his mother\'s food so she\'d fall asleep and wouldn\'t find out what he\'d done.

Where did this so called General come from?

Lu Qian narrowed his eyes on Lu Jingye. "You\'re sure?"

Lu Jingye nodded without missing a beat.

Lu Qian frowned thoughtfully. General He suddenly had a dream about the child that the Taoist priest had divined was ill omen... Uneasiness filled his heart. What could this mean?

At that moment, a servant walked into the hall, "Master Lu... The General of the Northern army requests your presence."

Lu Jingye cocked his head to the side curiously and Lu Qian\'s eyes narrowed once more.