Chapter 40: I Can Become the Blade in Your Hand… (Second Update)
Shen Zejue felt happy seeing the cub playing so joyfully.
His gaze swept to the small toys placed nearby that were suitable for cubs to play with; they must have been placed there specifically by that old man, Heri.
Shen Zejue’s favorable impression grew as he saw the old man’s meticulous care.
Heri smiled and said, “Third Young Master Shen, please accompany the Young Master to play first. I will go and urge the kitchen to see how dinner is coming along.”
Although he had a request, Heri was not in a hurry to speak of it. Instead, he had servants bring out more things suitable for playing on the beach and placed them by the sand for the cub to take easily.
Not only that, he also thoughtfully had servants prepare cooling drinks and sliced fruit, placing them in the shade.
Even the cub’s head was fitted with a small sun hat by a servant.
Gulf Island was a tourist island.
Many people bought property here just to enjoy the sun.
After all, many beastmen naturally loved sunlight in their primitive genes.
Otherwise, the artificial sun wouldn’t have been created on the Federation’s main star.
Shen Zejue suddenly remembered the items head maid A’mei had given him before he left.
Looking left and right, he found the items had been left on the spaceship.
He slapped his head in annoyance and signaled the guards behind him to go get them.
The group of guards following the Shen brothers had declined Heri’s invitation to rest in the small tea room and stood tall outside the sandy area. They could protect the two young masters and observe the surroundings at all times.
Several of the leading guards followed the Third Young Master, and one of them took the order and ran to get the items.
Besides the guards who entered the castle with the two young masters, other guards surrounded the exterior of the castle like an iron bucket, with a post almost every step of the way.
Fortunately, his grandfather had bought an entire small islet, and besides Tarriel’s own castle, there were no other neighbors on the island.
Shen Zejue took the small bundle the guard brought back and pulled out items.
They were all jars and bottles.
Shen Zejue seriously read the detailed instructions A’mei had sent, matching the jars to the pictures.
Shen Zejue hadn’t expected the cub would need to apply so many skincare products.
His little chubby cub was quite fond of beauty.
Though in the interstellar era everyone could maintain a youthful face in their twenties, as long as there were people who loved beauty, skincare products remained popular.
Many people didn’t like the one-key skincare of the nutrient tank and instead enjoyed the process of skincare.
Shen Zejue feared making a mistake in the steps, so he simply made a video call to A’mei.
Under A’mei’s one-on-one guidance, the little chubby cub’s face glowed white under the sun.
Besides the milky scent, his body also carried a faint, very pleasant fragrance.
At first, Shen Zejue thought it was the scent of those skincare products, but upon smelling closely, he found it was naturally emitted by the cub himself.
If the cub hadn’t complained about the heat, Shen Zejue might have kept holding him without letting go.
While Tarriel was building castles and digging in the sand with the cub, the cub’s shovel struck something pitch-black and the size of an adult’s palm.
Shen Lin poked it with his small shovel. A flash of light went by, and the shovel snapped into two segments.
“This is a Sea Razor Clam Beast. Don’t be fooled by its strange appearance; its meat tastes very good. Sea Razor Clam Beasts are social animals; they usually appear in piles. As long as you find one, there’s a pile hidden beneath. Let’s dig some more.”
While Tarriel explained, he had a servant go and get tools for digging Sea Razor Clam Beasts.
A servant came over with a plate of snow-white sugar.
Tarriel grabbed a handful and sprinkled it evenly on the sandy ground that had just been dug half a foot deep.
Shen Lin and his third brother squatted beside him and watched quietly.
The two brothers squatting in a row like that looked much like a big dog with a kitten.
Tarriel couldn’t help but let out a laugh as he watched.
Unexpectedly, the sensitive Shen Zejue captured it precisely.
Caught in the act, Tarriel immediately retracted his smile, lowered his head, and continued sprinkling sugar.
Shen Zejue scratched his head, finding it inexplicable.
“Wow~”
He was immediately drawn away by a cry of surprise from the cub.
The cub poked out his butt and dug for Sea Razor Clam Beasts seriously. While digging, the shovels of the two beside him collided.
Shen Zejue and Tarriel looked up at the same time.
The next second, Shen Zejue’s shovel flicked.
A Sea Razor Clam Beast landed in his hand.
Shen Zejue boastfully raised his eyebrows at Tarriel.
Tarriel’s temper was piqued, and he instantly threw the words he had previously said about letting Shen Zejue win to the back of his mind.
Shua-shua-shua!
Three Sea Razor Clam Beasts landed in the bucket, and they were twofold larger than the one Shen Zejue had caught before.
Tarriel gave Shen Zejue a provocative smile.
Both their eyes were filled with a slowly burning desire for victory.
Though it was a game for three, the cub was isolated.
The cub very thoughtfully yielded the position to the two of them and ran off to build a castle on his own.
He replicated the castle before him, and it looked quite decent.
Once Shen Lin had mostly finished building, the two over there still hadn’t finished.
Shen Lin rubbed his small belly and ran pitter-patter to the place where the drinks were kept, picked up a cup of beast milk, and gulped it down.
After finishing a cup of beast milk, he let out a milk-scented burp and sat on the small sofa.
The servant was very observant and took the initiative to come forward and feed him fruit.
The two over there cleared out the surrounding Sea Razor Clam Beasts and finally stopped.
They checked each other’s buckets.
“I won!”
Shen Zejue puffed out his chest with pride.
Tarriel rolled his eyes and lay directly on the beach, squinting his eyes slightly to enjoy the sunlight.
Shen Zejue lay beside him, likewise soaking up the sun.
“Treat this as me owing you a favor.”
“Hah! Is that something you, Tarriel, can say?”
Shen Zejue opened his eyes and asked curiously.
Tarriel sat up, his tone serious. “My word is my bond. Even if you told me to kill someone, I would be willing to become the blade in your hand!”
“Uh, that won’t be necessary.”
Shen Lin had a very happy day today.
After running for a day, his physical strength declined rapidly, and his stomach began to “sing an empty city plan.”
Fortunately, dinner was served soon.
On the table were the Sea Razor Clam Beasts they had dug today. With the first bite, the cub instantly fell in love with the taste.
Tarriel’s grandfather knew the cub’s bloodline was weak and had specially processed all the meats on the table, diluting the internal energy so the cub could eat them safely.
Halfway through the meal, Shen Zejue asked directly, “Mr. Heri, is there something else you want to discuss by specifically accompanying us youngsters for dinner today?”
Heri’s eating motion paused. He put down his utensils and wiped his mouth, the ring of red beard around his chin being particularly prominent.
“Since Third Young Master Shen has asked, I won’t hide it and will speak directly. I imagine you have already looked into my grandson’s background, so I won’t elaborate on that here. In short, I raised a ‘white-eyed wolf’ who now wants to swallow all my assets. If it were just my assets, it wouldn’t matter if they were gone, but my daughter’s illness requires a massive amount of Star Coins to support. If my assets are gone, my daughter’s life is gone. So, I want to obtain the protection of the Shen family. Of course, if Councilor Shen agrees, I am willing to give up two-thirds of my assets.”
Heri was full of sincerity, even willing to discard most of his wealth; it seemed he truly had been pushed to a dead end by Ta Liyao.
Shen Zejue peeled the meat from a sea beast shell, dipped the fresh meat into a bit of seasoning, and placed it on the cub’s plate, then wiped the food residue from the cub’s face.
“Delicious… San-ge~”
The cub’s pair of dark eyes burst with sparkling light.
He tilted his small head and showed his tiny rice teeth.
Shen Zejue’s expression was flat; no emotion could be seen on his face.
Everyone subconsciously held their breath, and the atmosphere at the table suddenly grew cold. The little chubby cub’s milky voice suddenly inserted itself.
It was like a drop of water falling, instantly breaking the silence and causing ripples on the calm surface of the lake.
Shen Zejue looked helpless and pinched the little chubby cub’s meat-filled face.
During the time he had been playing with the little chubby cub, he had gradually come to understand the meaning of the cub’s words.
The cub’s words just now were clearly intended to help Heri.
Shen Zejue was a bit jealous that the little cub would speak up for an outsider he had just met but was unwilling to give him a good face.
But since the little chubby cub had rarely and seriously called him “San-ge,” he would reluctantly help out.
His gaze moved from the old man’s expectant face to the uneasy red-haired youth opposite him.
Forget it. Since the other party had said words like becoming his blade, he shouldn’t keep them in suspense.
“I will relay Mr. Heri’s words to my second sister truthfully. All I can do is help you pass the message; whether it succeeds depends on your own talk with my second sister.”
Heri’s expression visibly relaxed, and he raised his wine glass with a smile. “Of course. Regardless of whether it succeeds, I am very grateful to Third Young Master Shen for being willing to bridge the gap.”
Shen Zejue picked up his drink and clinked glasses with Heri.
The conversation between the two sides came to a temporary close.
Tarriel saw the two talking happily and let out a heavy sigh of relief.
The food that was previously difficult to swallow suddenly became delicious.
His gaze toward the cub became even softer, and he planned in his heart what gift to send later as a thank-you.
As for Shen Zejue—with that ‘keeping people in suspense’ attitude he just had, he could go wherever it was cool.
His nominal father, Ta Liyao, had become increasingly intolerant of them, mother and son, since gaining power.
In the past, Ta Liyao would still treat him with a cold face because of the mother and son’s weeping, but now the other side didn’t even want to do the surface-level work and was blatantly swallowing his grandfather’s industry.
When Tarriel was a child, he very much hoped to get his father’s attention. Especially when he saw his father doting on his younger brother and giving him meticulously prepared gifts for his birthday, his envy for his brother reached its peak.
When he was small, his father liked to touch his brother’s light yellow hair but loathed his own red hair.
He worked hard to cut his hair short, leaving only a thin layer of stubble.
He received a word of praise from his father.
He could be happy for a long time.
He studied hard and became a good student in the eyes of his teachers.
Yet, because his brother, who wasn’t good at studying, wept, he was heartlessly scolded by his father.
When envy reached its extreme, it turned into twisted and intense jealousy.
He began to be rebellious—fighting, skipping school. Only every time he made a mistake could he get his father’s attention, even if it was a beating.
Until his grandfather’s industry was suppressed and that tiny sliver of hope in his heart was shattered.
His father hated the color red, the look down his grandfather gave him, and his mother’s ignorance of poverty.
“I loathe the way your grandfather looked down on me from on high, and I loathe your mother’s innocence even more. She didn’t worry about wealth and could easily get the things I craved… Your existence is like a thorn stuck in my heart that has grown into a festering, smelly ulcer. You are a shame I can’t wash away. You should be like your mother—only able to stay in a place that never sees the light of day and slowly rot away!”
Tarriel knew his father was swallowing his grandfather’s industry. Looking at his grandfather’s face thinning day by day, he had run to question him in confusion.
This time, he didn’t receive a beating like before.
His father only wiped his glasses nonchalantly and said the most poisonous words in the calmest manner.
Tarriel was pinned in place by the hatred in his father’s eyes.
At that moment, he felt as if all his strength had been sucked out.
It wasn’t until his grandfather gave his father a punch and took him away…
That he returned to his senses from that freezing sensation.
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