Chapter 96: There Is a Cause for Everything in the World

Lu Jin felt a brief daze as he looked at the young man rushing up to him, his forehead slick with fine beads of sweat.

"Sir, do you still remember me?"

"You are... the boy from the inn?" Lu Jin recalled him at once. Wasn't this the reed-thin child who stood behind the counter?

"Yes, sir. My name is A Liang." The boy's face lit up with joy.

"A Liang, no need to rush. Wipe your sweat first." As he spoke, Lu Jin handed him his handkerchief.

The boy was startled. Staring at that clean handkerchief, he could neither take it nor refuse it. How could he dare soil something so spotless?

"Just wipe your sweat. It's only a handkerchief," Lu Jin said with a smile.

In the end, the boy did not take it. Instead, he lifted his sleeve and hurriedly rubbed his forehead.

"Look, sir, it's clean now." A Liang stood there with a soft laugh, as if he had accomplished some great deed.

"Good. So, what did you need from me?" Lu Jin said, taking the handkerchief back.

"Sir, the clothes you left at our shop that day had something hidden inside them. I meant to chase after you and return it, but by the time I got outside, you'd already gone. After that, whenever I had a moment, I'd wait by the door, hoping that if I saw you again, I could give it back." The boy rattled it all off in one breath.

Lu Jin had just been tucking the handkerchief into his sleeve pocket when the boy's words made him freeze.

He had long since stopped caring about that bundle. When he had casually checked it that day, it had only contained a few clothes and some tattered books. Lu Jin no longer had any use for either. By his aunt's account, if the original owner had given him a hundred taels, there might well have been a bit more money besides. Since he had not found it, so be it.

But why? Why would a child stand watch on the street every day just to return something to him? It was as if he had done nothing at all to deserve it.

"Then if a guest loses something, do you always return it to them?" Lu Jin asked.

The boy shook his head, then lowered it in shame, pressing his lips together. He was only a minor errand boy, barely able to keep his own stomach full. Even if someone lost something, it would never reach his hands. And besides, why should he return it? It was their own carelessness.

"Then what did I lose?" Lu Jin asked, seeing that the boy's reaction showed this was no ordinary matter.

"A small booklet, sir. But I was in a hurry and didn't bring it with me. Could you wait for me? I'll go back and fetch it for you." The boy looked up.

A small booklet? Lu Jin grew curious. He had not noticed any booklet that day.

"All right. No hurry. You go back and look for it first. We'll walk that way slowly." Lu Jin patted the boy's head. He was far too thin.

Watching the boy dart away like the wind, Lu Jin only grew more puzzled. Turning, he asked Yuan Fang, "How are things handled in these shops when customers leave something behind?"

"I know what you mean, young master-in-law. If the customer doesn't notice, the shopkeeper usually just keeps it. If someone does notice, then it depends on the person involved. Some will deny it to the bitter end, and there's nothing you can do. Of course, you're an exception."

"Why am I an exception?"

"Because young master-in-law can just smash the shop," Yuan Fang said with a light laugh, arms folded.

Lu Jin's cheeks twitched. Was he really that overbearing?

"Brother, I think that boy looks at you differently. His eyes were all bright..." Xiao Bai said.

Lu Jin shivered instinctively. Different? He had only met the boy once. Don't tell me there was something strange about this too. One odd one was enough; no need to add another.

"But I only saw him once. I don't think we even exchanged a single word," Lu Jin said, falling into thought. It did seem that way.

The group chatted as they followed the direction the boy had run.

"Young master-in-law, this is the place," Xiao Bai said, pointing to a storefront ahead.

Lu Jin looked up. Yes, this was indeed the place. But why did he hear shouting from inside?

Lu Jin hurried forward a few steps and saw, through the doorway, a woman wielding a broom and beating A Liang furiously, while A Liang clutched something tightly in his hands.

Lu Jin's temper flared instantly. He stormed inside to stop her... but why had that woman suddenly flown away on her own?

For a moment, Lu Jin was stunned. Had he somehow mastered some divine art? Did his aura keep others from approaching? He turned and saw that, without him noticing, Wu You was already standing beside him, her almond eyes wide with fury.

"You Ran, did you hit that woman?" Lu Jin asked in shock.

"That vicious woman hardly deserves Brother to lift a hand," Wu You said coldly, glaring at the woman who had been sent flying.

So formidable? Lu Jin had not even seen a shadow of her movement, only the woman being hurled backward and crashing beneath the wall.

He paid no attention to the woman howling like a ghost and turned to A Liang instead. The boy stood there with his head lowered, saying nothing.

"Why was he hitting you?" Lu Jin asked.

"I'm in charge of my own family. What business is it of yours? I raised him, and instead of helping with the work properly, he runs off to play whenever he has free time..." The wailing woman blurted out first.

"Enough noise." Yuan Fang slammed the scabbard onto the table with a bang, and the woman, frightened out of her wits, shrank back into the corner.

"Is she your mother?" Lu Jin asked.

A Liang shook his head, and large tears fell to the floor.

"Then why did she say she raised you?"

"Sir, this is your thing. I had it in my hand just now and accidentally bent it." A Liang did not answer Lu Jin's question. Instead, he opened his hand and offered Lu Jin the wrinkled little roll of paper.

Lu Jin took the booklet that had been crushed into a scruffy mess and did not open it at once. The matter at hand was not yet settled.

"And also..."

And also? Was he really that careless that day?

"And what else?" Lu Jin asked.

"And also, Sir, what you had originally deposited at the shop..."

The boy had only just begun when the woman suddenly scrambled up and rushed toward them. "Shut your mouth, you ungrateful little beast! I might as well have raised a dog! I'll beat you to death... Ah! Let go!"

She had only made it halfway before Yuan Fang seized her by the collar and lifted her clean off the ground. The woman shrieked in pain.

"Sir, don't you remember me? I'm your dear sister..." the woman cried.

Lu Jin's mouth twitched, and Yuan Fang nearly burst out laughing.

"If you don't shut up, Yuan Fang will make sure you can't speak again," Lu Jin snapped.

Hearing that, the woman immediately clamped her mouth shut.

"Sir had sixty taels of silver deposited here. Last time you came, you never mentioned it, so my aunt didn't bring it up to you either..."

Lu Jin was not particularly surprised. He had already suspected that the original owner could not have been left with so little silver. If there had been more, someone must have kept it for themselves. He simply had not intended to pursue the matter further.

"You said she was your aunt?" Lu Jin exclaimed. He had thought the child had simply been sold here as a servant; he had not expected there to be a family connection.

"Mm..." The boy lowered his head again.

"And if you tell me, what will happen to you?" Lu Jin asked. Hadn't that cut off his own escape route?

The boy only kept crying.

"What about your parents? Don't they know? Where is your home?" Lu Jin asked again.

The boy only kept shaking his head.

"Where are his parents?" Lu Jin had no choice but to ask the woman.

"His parents died long ago. If I hadn't taken pity on him, he would've starved to death somewhere long ago..." the woman roared.

Lu Jin let out a long sigh. In this world, some were born into wealth and privilege, while others were born into misery.

"A Liang, would you be willing to follow me?" Lu Jin asked.

There was no other way. This boy had gone to such lengths to return the item that he had effectively sold out his aunt completely. He was already gaunt as a reed; what future could there possibly be for him here?

The boy looked up at Lu Jin, his eyes full of starlight.

"From now on, he follows me. I'll take the sixty taels as compensation." Lu Jin said to the woman.

"No chance. I raised him this big, and just as he finally starts working, you think you can take him away for a few dozen taels? Besides, that money was something you forgot yourself, not something I refused to give you. If you dare take him away, you'll have to beat me to death first and face a murder charge, or else I will sue you for trafficking a good citizen." The woman had plainly lost all restraint. She had only had him under her thumb for a few days; how could she possibly let go?

"A good citizen? You still have the nerve to say that? You're his aunt, so how have you acted as one? Look at how you've starved the child. You run an inn, so it's not as if you can't afford a meal, is it?" Lu Jin said angrily.

"So what if I have? Did I starve him to death? A bite to eat is already generous enough, and he still complains this and that. Do you think we're all like you rich young masters?"

"He's coming with me. Just tell me how I can take him away."

Lu Jin could have been more forceful, but he could not. Kinship was a strange thing. You might hate it, but you could never quite sever it.

"Give me another hundred taels. No, two hundred, and I'll sell him to you," the woman said, her eyes gleaming.

"One hundred taels. Sign the agreement and affix your seal. If you still refuse, I'll make sure you disappear without a trace in Jiangzhou," Lu Jin said angrily.

"Y-"

Before the woman could argue further, Yuan Fang's fist came crashing down. The table beside her split apart into a heap of broken wood. After that, the woman gaped for a long while and dared not make another sound.

The formalities were handled by Yuan Fang and Xiao Bai. Through the sale, A Liang ceased to be a free commoner and became a private slave. Without that contract, Lu Jin could not guarantee that the woman would not continue making trouble for A Liang later. And that would have become Lu Jin's own trouble as well.

"A Liang, do you regret it?" Lu Jin asked after the slave contract had been retrieved from the county office.

A Liang shook his head.

"Then from this moment on, you are a servant of the Lu family. Your new name is Lu Liang."

Lu Jin would not tear up the contract. The world was unpredictable, and hearts changed too easily.

"Now tell me, why did you insist on returning that thing to me?" he asked.

"Because only you smiled at me..." the boy said.

Lu Jin said nothing. He patted A Liang's shoulder and walked on, though his eyes had begun to sting.

He had never imagined that a smile he had given so carelessly could become sunlight in someone else's life.

The carriage was moving slowly along the road back to the Shen residence, and with a moment to spare, Lu Jin finally had the chance to look at the so-called booklet. Yet the moment he unfolded it, Lu Caiwei reached out from beside him and snatched it away.

"You little brat, are you trying to rebel against the heavens?"

"Hmph. I'm checking it for you first." With only her brother beside her, Lu Caiwei was far less restrained.

But after glancing at it once, Lu Caiwei tossed the booklet back at him. "Hmph! Not a single man is any good. I'm telling my sister-in-law!"

Lu Jin was utterly dumbfounded. What on earth was wrong with it that made "not a single man any good"? She made it sound as if she understood everything. And she was going to tell his sister-in-law?