Zhou Zishu frowned, he could hear it too. He wanted to stand but only staggered back down. Under Gu Xiang’s look of surprise, he slowly supported himself up by grasping at the table, lowering his voice, “Just numb legs from sitting too long.”

Gu Xiang’s disbelief only deepened with the flimsy excuse.

Morning was when Zhou Zishu was at his weakest, and the quick mediation earlier didn’t help much. But he didn’t want to fight someone right now either, “Get the boy and hide.”

“Hide? Hide where?” Gu Xiang looked at him with her big eyes.

Zhou Zishu was temporarily helpless.

They didn’t get to do anything else as a group of well-trained people with their faces covered barged in through the window, glancing at a sleeping Zhang Chengling and charging forwards. Zhou Zishu, still leaned on the table, saw one with their sword aiming their attack at the young boy. No one saw how what happened as there was only a fleeting shadow; but then skinny fingers, in the same state of emaciation as the mask on Zhou Zishu’s face, were already around the person’s throat.

There wasn’t even time to cry out before they spasmed and stopped breathing.

The cruel method got the attention of the rest of the group; they had no choice but to halt and take precautions against this sickly looking man who seemed like he couldn’t even stand straight.

Gu Xiang secretly stuck her tongue out, jumping down from the incense table to stand behind Zhou Zishu.

He knew at first glance that those people only dressed to intimidate, they couldn’t be expendable assassins with all this cautiousness. Had it been Tian Chuang, they would have never hesitated to put the mission first even when their friend’s or their own life was on the line. They were definitely not those infamous Ghosts either; the Ghosts could never be this coordinated. Seemed like the Zhang family was specifically targeted.

He leisurely fixed his sleeves as if the rags he was wearing were his old robes hemmed with silver thread. Halfway through, feeling ridiculous himself, he stopped with a smile, “It’s way too early to be attacking a defenseless child, isn’t it? The least you can do first is say hi.”

| |

Footnotes

1 Usually the altar.

2 A slang used to call sex offenders.

2 The only disciple of a senior in a sect.

Chapter 6. The Beauty

No one made a sound. The group quickly exchanged looks, disregarding Zhang Chengling to slowly circle around Gu Xiang and Zhou Zishu.

Gu Xiang sighed. “What an unfortunate situation. I haven’t done good deeds in forever, and of course the moment I did it troubles came to me. Brother1 Zhou, I’m just a frail maiden who has never been attacked by this many before, I’m very afraid, please protect me.”