Chapter 94: Uncle, Please Stop!
Shen tried to ignore the clenching feeling in his heart as much as possible. He might not feel a thing killing hundreds of his enemies but hearing the girl saying such a thing in her innocent voice shook his heart.
Shi Qingzhuang didn’t look any better than Shen. She also realized what Shen thought and it was pretty obvious after hearing the little girl.
Shen bent down before the girl and asked as gently as possible, “Haha, little girl, will you take big brother with you? Big brother wants to see grandma too.”
“No! Your not a big brother. You are an uncle. A bad uncle. Grandma doesn’t like bad uncles. She won’t see bad uncles!” The little girl complained but anyone could see she was happy. No one wanted to see her grandma before. She wanted to brag about her good and kind grandma to everyone but no one cared about her. Now that this big brother cared about her most precious relative, it was as if he had won the adoration of this little girl. She cutely pouted and looking a tad bit unwilling, “But if you really insist grandma might not hate it...”
“Haha, yeah. I really insist.” Shen tried to laugh at the girl's cheerful words but he really found him unable to. Shi Qingzhuang also patted the girl’s head as they were both led by her very soon.
It didn’t take long for Shen to arrive before a rundown hut. On the way, he asked the little girl a lot of things and she happily told Shen everything.
From what he understood, the parents of the little girls were normal mercenaries who would fight wild beasts and ferocious beasts on the forest for a living. Around four months ago, her parents died and they were forced on this shack. Of course, the girl didn’t know such a thing and she only knew her parents went to fight some baddies and will return ‘one day’. After the death of her parents, their relatives didn’t accept the little girl and the old lady. The old lady was already at her late eighties, combined with the sadness of losing her son and daughter-in-law, she finally couldn’t hold herself anymore and passed on. Maybe even the last four months she was holding herself for the sake of her granddaughter.
When the little girl—who addressed herself as Ju Ju— opened the door as an intense rotting smell rushed into their nose. They both frowned and Shen was confirmed his wild guess silently. It was something he hoped wasn’t true but not something he could change.
“Eih, don’t mind the smell. Grandma is sleeping for a long time, she is reeking of sweat. Mmm, I will wash her and she will smell wonderful again, hehehe” the little girl, Ju Ju laughed happily as she tidied the ‘room’ before she took out a bowl, intending to feed soup to her ‘sleeping’ grandma.
As Ju Ju was trying to feed her grandma, Shen stopped her. She sent a questioning look towards Shen. He didn’t say anything and turned the body of the old lady.
Flies hovered on the air and created weird noises. The smell suddenly intensified. Looking at the old lay—now a dead body—Shen estimated she died at least five to seven days ago. Human on the world of nine continent had higher vitality from his previous world but this lady was already weak and considering how much time passed, it was already fortunate her body didn’t deteriorate completely. Still there were signs of rotten skins.
Seeing the girl who still giving him inquiring glance, Shen frowned. He didn’t know how to break it to this girl. She was definitely more understanding than girls of her age and even a normal 11-12 years old child would know this old lady was no longer alive. Children in this world matured faster than the children from his past world. It may be due to their struggle from childhood or the cruelness that made them mature faster.
He thought multiple ways but in the end decided to bring this up front, without any trick but he still couldn’t say frankly, “Juju, your grandma isn’t here anymore. She won’t wake up again.”
“Uncle, please stop! My grandma is right here and she will surely wake up. She is just sleeping.”
Shen realized she took his words literally and almost facepalmed. He sucked in a heavy breath.
“Juju, your grandma is dead. You already know it, don’t you. You shouldn’t pain her any longer.”
Tears flowed down the little girl's cheek, her expression looked unwilling and fearful. She murmured “You’re lying, you’re lying” loudly, she even hit him with her dainty arms. But she already knew the answer.
That’s right, the little girl who was more intelligent than her peers wasn’t oblivious to such a simple thing. She already knew her parents won’t return anymore and her only relatives were her grandmother. When she died, even if Ju Ju didn’t understand immediately, she learned about it soon enough but her subconscious mind completely ignored such a thing.
Human, in their desperate times can do a lot of desperate things. The little girl, who couldn’t bear the pain of her last relative leaving her alone and decided to ignore the fact that she was no longer with her. And Shen’s word only pushed her a little to realize this fact. She couldn’t run away from it anymore.
She fell weaklessly on the ground and hugged her grandmother’s body, crying her chest out. Shen didn’t try to stop her from crying nor did he let Shi Qingzhuang do it. He felt she should cry, she was still just a little girl. If she cried contently maybe she would be able to return to her cheerful life once again.
It was only when she couldn’t cry loudly anymore and her voice choked, did Shen let Shi Qingzhuang take care of the little girl.
Later that day, Shen called a few men to respectfully give the old lady a proper burial. Everything was done before the eyes of the little girl. She didn’t sleep ever after crying herself to exhaustion but persisted to remain awake the whole time.
By the time everything was taken care of, it was already night and the little girl fell asleep on Shi Qingzhuang’s arms.
“Shen, what do you want to do with this girl?” Shi Qingzhuang nervously asked she was afraid that Shen will decide to leave the girl on her own hut.
Shen felt the answer to her question was extremely easy, at the same time extremely hard. He couldn’t bring himself to leave the girl, nor will he do that. But what will he say to Yu Ruyan and the girls? He couldn’t just say, I got interested in the girl and took her in. They would surely bash him while cursing him as a lolicon even before hearing his explanation!
But again... he couldn’t leave the girl alone. She had no relative either. He decided he will nurture her and grow her up to be a prodigy. Bashing from the girls? As a man he decided to have a harem, he thought it was something he must face one day. What if he experienced it a few years before? He would count it as practice!