Chapter 2: It turned out to be like this all along

  The old man let out a low, inarticulate sound and fainted, while Lu Bing was stunned on the spot, not daring to move. If it weren't for the fact that it was now broad daylight, with clear skies and no ominous signs, and if Lu Bing hadn't received modern education that broke away from feudal superstitions, he would probably have been scared into fainting as well.

  The ghostly face at the door suddenly let out a hearty laugh, and then a pair of small hands stretched out, pushing the ghostly face to the top of their head. It turned out that it was just a mask, but under these circumstances, people mistakenly thought it was a real ghost appearing.

  Under the mask was a delicate young man, looking like he was only twelve or thirteen years old. The young man smiled and said to Lu Bing: "Brother Bing is still so brave." But Lu Bing just smiled wryly in his heart, thinking: I almost peed my pants.

  The young man walked into the house, sat down on a chair and said: "Are you better now, Brother Bing? I'm completely fine. The other day, thanks to your sacrifice, I didn't drown. Let's not mention anything between us brothers, and from now on, I'll try my best to stay out of trouble."

  It turned out that it was for his sake, but who is he? Lu Bing scratched his head and said: "This... this little friend, no, this little brother, who are you?"

  "You don't even recognize me anymore, are you really okay?" The young man exclaimed in surprise "I thought you were pretending to be ill on purpose."

  "I'm going, I'm pretending to be ill, you see we're about the same age, you said it yourself that I saved your life, so tell me, what's going on, what's the situation now." Lu Bing said.

  The young man said: "Your surname is Lu, your name is Liang, and your father's name is Song..."

  "Wait a minute, stop it, I already know all these things, change the subject." Lu Biao said.

  The young man smiled and said, "Anyway, your family has been in office for generations, which adds up to several hundred years. Later, your father took over the position of his father and became a palace attendant, then was chosen by my father as a personal bodyguard. Although it is called a personal bodyguard, in fact, our royal family is just an empty shell with not many people, so your father is both a follower of my father and a martial artist who takes care of the house, and at the same time, he is also a close friend of my father's, two masters and servants but also respect each other like guests. Later, after I was born, Lu Niang, oh, that is, your mother, became my wet nurse, so you and I are basically brothers who drank the same milk."

  Lu Bing was taken aback, and immediately asked a few questions: "Are we sworn brothers? What about our fathers? Who are you? And how is it that our family, which has been officials for hundreds of years, has become worse off with each passing day, to the point where they've even become personal bodyguards?"

  The young man was taken aback, then burst out laughing and patted Lu Bing's shoulder, saying: "Bing Ge, I'm more and more enjoying playing with you. Although we had a good relationship before, you were like an old master, very rigid. Now it's much better, this is the kind of conversation between brothers. Oh, right, my name is Zhu Houzi, don't worry, take your time, you'll remember soon. But you have to keep this state, okay?"

  Zhu Houxiao, this name is so familiar, but for a moment, I couldn't think of who it was. However, one thing is certain, this should be a royal descendant. Zhu Houzhao is the current emperor, and Lu Bing already knew that. He and Zhu Houxiao are both fire-elemental, and they should be cousins. Lu Bing suddenly understood and looked at Zhu Houxiao's age, thinking he should be the son of a king. So Lu Bing stretched out his hand to wave, then thought about the Ming dynasty's etiquette and cupped his hands together: "So you're the Crown Prince."

  Zhu Houzhe sighed and said, "Alas, you've also forgotten. My father the king passed away not long ago, it's already been more than five months. After my father's death, he was given the posthumous title of Xian Wang. In the 23rd year of Chenghua, my father was granted the title of Xing Wang, so people called him Xing Xian Wang. After my father left, I succeeded to the throne, so I am Xing Wang."

  "My god, this is too much information." Lu Bing said in a low voice, then after a moment he said: "So you're saying you're now the prince?"

  "What is Wang Ye?" Zhu Houzhe asked, and then said: "Your strange words now come out of your mouth, should be referring to the meaning of the vassal king? However, others usually call us vassal kings as Your Highness." Zhu Houzhe's comprehension was quite strong, quickly converting Lu Bing's words into common language.

  Zhu Houxi looked at Lu Bing, who was still sitting there digesting his own words, then patted Lu Bing's shoulder and said: "Don't worry, everything will come back to you, take a rest first, I'll come find you again tomorrow."

  Lu Bing nodded vaguely, and after Zhu Houwen left, he lay back on the bed, his eyes staring at the ceiling, arranging the information he had just learned. It turned out that he was a descendant of an official family, now the child of a vassal king's guard, and also milk brothers with this King Xing Zhu Houwen, it seemed their relationship wasn't bad.

  Just now, Zhu Houzhuo also said that he had saved him, and it seems that the future days will not be too difficult. Although Zhu Houzhuo said that the Wangfu is just an empty shell, a thin camel is bigger than a horse, and the vassal king is after all a vassal king.

  Lu Bing thought back to the scene when he fell into the water. He and his classmates had come to play by the lake, where a thin layer of ice had formed on the surface. Lu Bing had warned them not to go onto the ice, but two of his classmates hadn't listened, and ended up falling through the ice. As they struggled, the hole in the ice grew bigger, and Lu Bing sacrificed himself to save them by jumping into the lake, rescuing the two classmates, but...

  "It's so cold!" This was Lu Bing's only feeling at the time, the icy water stabbed him like needles all over his body, but soon he didn't feel the pain anymore because his body had lost all sensation. Finally, Lu Bing's strength was exhausted and he sank to the bottom of the lake. Lu Bing smiled, at least his friend was saved, and his life was worth sacrificing too. Besides, in this world, Lu Bing didn't have anything to hold on to. However, in his heart, there was still some regret - he wasn't ugly, but he hadn't even given his girlfriend a chance before he died, what a pity!

  Looking at the sunlight shining through the lake, Lu Bing suddenly had a strong desire to survive. He was only sixteen, in his youth, and hadn't seen enough of the world outside; how could he bear to leave just like that? If he could live again, it would be great.

  Then... then Lu Bing arrived in the Ming Dynasty, this crossing was really too timely.

  Lu Bing was thinking about the past, but he heard a voice at the door and sat up to look, couldn't help but laugh. It turned out that he had forgotten about the Taoist priest who had fainted earlier while they were talking. At this moment, the Taoist priest had woken up, wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, looked awkwardly at Lu Bing sitting on the bed, and shouted: "Wu Liang Tian Zun, are you feeling better?"

  Lu Biao almost burst out laughing, this guy is so scared he's not even losing money, and as soon as he woke up he started pretending to be something he's not. So Lu Biao said: "Confucius said, don't pretend to be what you're not, or you'll get struck by lightning."

  The Taoist didn't seem to understand, but just nodded and said: "It seems that young master Shi is fine, it seems that my magical powers are still strong after all. As the saying goes, evil cannot defeat righteousness, I'll go tell your father."

  The Taoist priest ran away as soon as he finished speaking, probably to collect his money. Lu Biao didn't expose him and thought it was better to let things go unclear rather than being treated like a monster. He wasn't in a hurry and would slowly ask about the situation from Xiao Rui and Zhu Houcun. However, Lu Biao couldn't help but shout at the Taoist priest's back: "Old cow-nosed Taoist, don't cheat people again, otherwise the great immortal will scare you again, and by the way, a Taoist is not called 'donor' by others."

  The Taoist priest turned his head and took a glance, then ran even faster. After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Father and Mother walked in quickly, apparently they had already given the Taoist priest money to invite this "Great God" away. Their faces were filled with joyful expressions, which were produced by affection and genuine concern, without any pretence. Lu Bing's heart felt warm, the feeling of home.

  After his parents entered the house, Lu Bing made a big bow and said: "Father, mother, I have worried you two elders. I am unfilial, please punish me." Lu Bing tried to speak carefully, hoping to comfort his parents.

  Lu Song let Lu Bing stand up, thinking that Lu Bing might have indeed recovered. He nodded in approval and said: "My son doesn't need to be like this, this time you can be considered to have made a contribution. Since you're better now, go study. Tomorrow I'll examine your homework."

  Lu Bing hated that he couldn't even get a big ear slap, reading those articles that were like heavenly scriptures was not as good as being treated as a freak.

  For the next half month, Lu Bingke didn't get beaten less often. Although his mother kept comforting him that kids are fine and won't remember it, Lu Song just couldn't accept the fact that Lu Bingke had to start over from scratch.

  However, Lu Bing was a high school student under the sunshine of socialism, having experienced nine years of compulsory education. Lu Bing's learning ability was not to be underestimated, and most traditional characters could still be recognized, although writing was still a bit of a problem, but reading was no longer a major issue. As he gradually got used to being beaten, Lu Song saw that Lu Bing had memorized the characters proficiently, and this made him extremely happy.

  Apart from this, Lu Bing's life was actually quite easy. Lu Song let Lu Bing practice martial arts, and although his thoughts had changed, his body was still the original Lu Bing - incredibly strong, with horse steps and stone locks being no problem at all. Moreover, Lu Bing used many modern training methods, such as running, push-ups, sit-ups, etc., which made his body even stronger, much to Lu Song's delight.

  The Lu family had a ancestral thirteen killing knives, which was passed down to the generation of Lu Song and only three knives were left. It wasn't too difficult to practice, but Lu Bing couldn't remember it. However, after Lu Song demonstrated it once, Lu Bing learned it quickly. His body had already developed conditioned reflexes, making the practice as smooth as floating clouds and flowing water.

  Lu Biao remembers that in the movie "Kung Fu" starring Jet Li, Huo Yun Xie Shen said a sentence which also appears in Gu Long's book: The martial arts of the world are invincible, only speed is unbreakable.

  That is to say, speed is the key to victory, as long as you are faster than your opponent, you can win. So Lu Bing revised his remaining three knives, focusing on three words: fast, accurate, and ruthless. And intensified training of his accuracy and strength, his eyesight also improved greatly during the training. Lu Song was not conservative in martial arts training, so he allowed Lu Bing's new method, and in just one month, Lu Bing's kung fu had surpassed Lu Song, shocking him greatly.

  Apart from his literary and military talents, Lu Bing spent his days with Zhu Houzhao, the two of them being together like brothers, although they were supposed to be master and servant. Originally having a deep affection for each other, their relationship became even stronger now that Lu Bing had become humorous and witty, often speaking clever words.

  Lu Bing listened to Zhu Houzhen's words and learned that Zhu Houzhen's life was not easy, and his education was not much better than his own. He had only hired a rural teacher to teach him, but the old man was very rigid, which made Zhu Houzhen very frustrated. Moreover, Zhu Houzhen's mother had given birth to four children, all of whom except Zhu Houzhen had died young, so Zhu Houzhen regarded Lu Bing as his only friend and brother.

  Although Zhu Houzhao did not die like his other three brothers and sisters, he was physically weak and sickly. So Lu Bing began to teach Zhu Houzhao to exercise and told him the truth about strengthening his body. After a period of exercise, Zhu Houzhao's body became much stronger and no longer as frail as before.

  "Harry Potter", "Transformers", Lu Bing often told Zhu Houzhen, Zhu Houzhen listened with a daze, and sighed: The world is full of wonders.

  Lu Biao loves this era, in this era, he has a strong body, unique ideas, eats green food, breathes unpolluted air, blows cow x that others have never heard of, and has an exceptionally worshiped little brother Zhu Houzhen. Most importantly, there is also the extremely lovely little girl Xiao Rui.

  I'd rather die than leave now, thought Lu Bing with a smile.

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