Shen Family

"Cough, cough." "Cough, cough"...

Shen Luo suddenly woke from his bed amid a fit of involuntary, rapid coughing. He hurriedly opened his mouth and took several deep breaths, then quickly pulled a small bottle from beneath his pillow, poured out a yellow pill the size of a bean, and swallowed it.

He sat motionless on the bed for quite some time. Only after the tightness and chill in his chest gradually faded did he let out a long breath.

With a bitter smile, Shen Luo slowly put on the neatly folded clothes from the chair beside him, then habitually glanced at the desk in the corner.

A worn, pale-yellow book lay quietly on the desk, its cover bearing five neat black characters: "Records of Strange Tales of Chunhua."

Shen Luo frowned slightly, withdrew his gaze, and slowly opened the door to leave the room.

"Young Master."

A young servant in green, about twelve or thirteen years old, stood guard outside. The moment he saw Shen Luo emerge, he hurried forward to bow.

In the distance stretched a vast cluster of connected residences, with red tiles and white walls. Altogether, there were forty or fifty buildings of varying sizes.

"How many times did I cough last night? Was there any other disturbance?" Shen Luo asked flatly after glancing at the servant.

"Young Master, you coughed thirteen times last night. There were no other sounds," the servant replied timidly, dark circles under his eyes. He seemed faintly afraid of Shen Luo.

Shen Luo nodded and asked nothing further, simply walking past the servant.

The green-clad servant followed behind him tactfully.

After passing through several long corridors and a garden spanning roughly an acre, Shen Luo arrived before a building that looked like the main hall.

The two serving women standing outside the hall hurriedly came forward and bowed. They, too, seemed rather afraid of Shen Luo.

"Luo'er, you're here. How did you rest last night? Come in and have some ginseng soup. I had the servants prepare it for you just now," a concerned male voice called from within the hall.

"Thank you for your concern, Father. I rested well last night," Shen Luo replied, his expression shifting slightly as he entered the hall.

Inside stood a round table laden with fine dishes. Several people sat around it. At the head was a middle-aged man in his forties, his hair faintly gray and his appearance somewhat prematurely aged.

The middle-aged man was Shen Luo's father, Shen Yuange. He was presently looking at Shen Luo with delight.

"Luo, you're up! Xiaocui, quickly bring the ginseng soup. Didn't you hear the master's orders?" The beautiful woman beside Shen Yuange, her hair adorned with pearls and jewels, forced a faint smile upon seeing Shen Luo.

"Thank you, Second Mother."

Shen Luo nodded to the woman without warmth.

"Big Brother."

"Big Brother."

A teenage boy and girl seated beside the woman also rose and greeted Shen Luo. They were around fourteen or fifteen, and their features bore a three- or four-tenths resemblance to Shen Luo's. They were his half-siblings, one named Shen Ci and the other Shen Mumu.

The two had been born as twins, but their reactions toward Shen Luo were vastly different.

His younger brother Shen Ci avoided Shen Luo's gaze, looking much like the servants did.

After greeting him, however, his younger sister Shen Mumu looked like a restless, curious child. She seemed to want to ask her eldest brother something, but after glancing at Shen Yuange beside her, she hesitated.

Shen Luo took his seat. After drinking the ginseng soup brought by a maid and eating several bites of food, he frowned, set down his chopsticks, and stopped eating.

"Luo'er, since you're done eating, come to the study with me. I have some business matters to discuss with you," Shen Yuange said. Though he was even more worried, his words remained composed.

Shen Luo nodded, briefly took his leave of the woman, and followed Shen Yuange out of the hall.

The woman watched them leave, her expression turning somewhat unpleasant.

Shen Ci likewise could not hide the envy on his face. Shen Mumu, on the other hand, puffed out her rosy little lips, deeply dissatisfied that her father and this "eldest brother" Shen Luo had finished eating and left so quickly.

"Luo'er, was everything truly all right last night?" Shen Yuange asked with concern as soon as they sat down in the study.

"Rest assured, Father. Nothing happened last night. That... thing did not appear again. But my body is getting worse. Even with the Golden Fragrant Jade I compounded myself, I doubt I can hold on for more than a few years. This body of mine simply cannot be nursed back to health with ordinary medicine," Shen Luo replied, shaking his head.

"Ah, Luo'er, you truly have suffered one illness and misfortune after another. Your mother disturbed her fetal energy while carrying you, leaving you frail and sickly since childhood. Then last year, you were plagued by that evil presence, and it left you with such a severe lingering illness. If anything were to happen to you, how could I ever face your mother in the underworld? I personally promised her back then that I would take good care of you." Shen Yuange let out a long sigh, pain appearing on his face.

"Father, you should look on the bright side. If I had not become a doctor through long illness and developed pills such as Golden Fragrant Jade, how could the Shen family have built such a great estate? Our family has gained a blessing from a disaster."

"That is true. In Chunhua County, who hasn't heard of the Shen Family Clinic and Shen Family Pharmacy? Even Magistrate Wang now holds our Shen family in high regard." Shen Yuange's spirits lifted somewhat at those words.

"That is also because Father knows how to deal with people. You gave Lord Wang a bottle of Golden Fragrant Jade and cured his only son's consumption. Otherwise, with the Shen family's current wealth, we would have run into trouble long ago." Shen Luo calmly flattered his father.

"Haha, it was only because father and son worked together that we built such a great family estate. It is a pity you do not wish to make a name for yourself, so I had no choice but to attribute the formulas for those pills to ancient prescriptions discovered by chance. Only you and I know about this. I have not revealed a word of it even to your second mother or your younger siblings. So, if your second mother ever offends you in ordinary matters, I hope that for my sake, you will not take it too much to heart. After all, your second mother comes from a humble family. She has long hair and short sight." Shen Yuange first laughed heartily, then seemed to recall something and spoke hesitantly.

"Father, how could I take Second Mother's affairs to heart? Besides, if I am gone, the Shen family will still need Second Brother to support it. My greatest wish now is to drive out the evil presence attached to me. Otherwise, I fear I will die before those few years are up." After a brief silence, Shen Luo could not help but smile bitterly.

"Since you say so, I am relieved. No matter what, a harmonious family brings prosperity in all things. How is your health now? If I recall correctly, your last episode was seven days ago." Shen Yuange's expression relaxed, but he immediately pressed on anxiously.

"Yes. During the last episode, I nearly strangled that Yellow Immortal to death. Last year, Golden Light Monk, who claimed to be a golden-bodied Arhat descended to the mortal world, was beaten half to death when I had an episode. They do not know any magic at all. They are nothing but swindlers." Shen Luo replied bitterly, his face darkening.

"But Yellow Immortal and Golden Light Monk are already the most famous exorcists in several nearby counties. The others are even more blatant frauds. How about I send people to the provincial city to look again?" Shen Yuange said helplessly.

"No. The provincial city is too far away, and we know no one there. How could we find an exorcist? Even if we did, there is a ninety percent chance he would be another fraud like Yellow Immortal. My episodes are coming faster each time. I simply cannot wait that long." Shen Luo refused without hesitation.

"Then what do you mean, Luo'er..." Shen Yuange, who knew his eldest son quite well, was somewhat surprised.