Both the kids, Furong and Little Ling sobbed while holding each other. After a few minutes, suddenly their sobbing turned into loud cries. It was raining inside the room.

At the end Great General Zhu had to step in with his umbrella. With his parenting skills, Great General Zhu somehow managed to calm down both the kids.

It's really weird how small children don't need any specific reason to cry. They just start crying by looking at another kid crying. It's automatic!

"Phew!..." Great General Zhu wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"I say... You two lads are really something. How can you start crying so loud out of nowhere? I almost didn't know what to do." Great General Zhu said in a helpless tone.

"Sniff! Sniff!..." Both the kids stopped crying, wiping their eyes with the sleeves of the robe and the body of the t-shirt.

Great General Zhu wiped Furong's cheek with his thumb. "I say Little Flower-... Ehem! I mean Little Furong, what do you think about staying with us?"

"I mean not as a guest but as a family."

He smiled warmly. "I am the head of the house, I will adopt you as my grandson and you will live as one of the members of the Zhu Family. What do you say?"

"I..." This sudden invitation came as a surprise to Furong. He already saw how kind-hearted these people are but he never expected them to go this far for a stranger.

Not to mention for a five years old, whose origins are unknown to them.

If they offered him a position as a servant or something similar, he would still understand that. But to directly adopt him as a grandson, to add him to the lineage of their family. This...

Great General Zhu noticed the hesitation on Furong's face. He caressed Furong's little head. "You don't have to feel scared or anything. All I want is to provide you with a shelter over your head and help you live a better future."

"Also..." He then used his other hand to caress Little Ling's head and smiled. "Also, to get a playmate for my lovely granddaughter and maybe a little brother too."

Then he added in a low and sad voice. "So she doesn't have to feel lonely in her own house and always hide in some corner to weep in sorrow."

Saying this, Great General Zhu made a helpless and dejected face filled with pain and remorse.

"Grandpa! Didn't I say, no talking about sad topics." Little Ling grabbed her grandfather's hand and pouted angrily.

Great General Zhu tried his best to make a smile. "I am sorry. Please forgive your grandpa."

"Only if I had paid more attention to the family matters, things wouldn't have turned so bad for you." "How can this old man atone for his sins. Sigh!..." Great General Zhu murmured while looking out the window on the opposite side.

"Cough! Cough!..." Furong noticed the atmosphere turning a bit sad. Without knowing what to do, he decided to start coughing.

"Here, drink some water." Little Ling quickly handed over him a glass of water and rubbed his back with her other hand while Furong drank the water.

"Ehem!... Look at me speaking about random stuff all of a sudden and getting way off the topic. I am really going senile with old age." Great General Zhu awkwardly blushed.

He then secretly wiped away his tears stuck at the corners of his eyes.

"So where were we? Ah yes, Little Furong what do you say? Wanna be my grandson?" Great General Zhu asked again.

"You will be treated as one of the Young Masters of the Zhu Family. You will get your own private courtyard and servants. What do you say?" Great General Zhu added with a smile.

"Why not accept it? It's not like you have anywhere else to go right? Also... Being offered the position of a Young Master shows that this old man is not someone common. He is sure to hold some high position." Xingzuo suddenly said with Divine Sense.

"What do you think, I don't understand this? I also find it beneficial to stay here. After all, Cultivation needs resources and resources need money. A lot of money! But..." Furong talked back with Divine Sense.

"Are you thinking about your past life? Didn't your master say not to take it to your heart? Not every person is the same. Maybe this family will treat you better than your past family. You won't know till you give it a try." Xingzuo suggested.

"Didn't you hear the old man just now? He was definitely talking about his family issues. From what I decipher, this family has serious internal conflicts ongoing and even the little girl here is involved. And this old man seems to be quite helpless about it." Furong presented his concerns.

"So what? Which family doesn't have any issues? They still live together at the end of the day, don't they? It's how life works. Finding happiness from the smallest things and supporting each other during hard times is what makes a family." Our Xingzuo, who only ever lived as a loner, showed more common sense than Furong, which made Furong blush with shame.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Fortunately for him, the people present near him didn't notice his blushing face, as Furong was hanging his face down.

From Great General Zhu's perspective, it looked like Furong was contemplating his offer. So Great General Zhu didn't disturb him and let him come to a decision on his own. After all it's Furong's own life, Great General Zhu doesn't have the authority to force his ideals on the little kid.

Although, it's not hard for high rank Cultivators to notice the use of Divine Sense, but that's only if there's a reasonable gap in the Cultivation Rank of both parties.

In this case here, even though Furong has no Physical Cultivation, he has a Nascent Soul.

For Great General Zhu, who is not even at the Open Ascension rank and hasn't formed his own Nascent Soul, it's impossible to even think about a little child using something like Divine Sense communication.

"Alright, I will give it a try. In my past life I didn't face my family problems and just left everything to fate. Since in this life I have decided to hold my own fate, I will overcome all the obstacles that stand in my way." Furong made his decision.

"That's my Big Brother." Xingzuo cheered.

"Thank you Xingzuo." Furong said warmly.

"We are brothers." Xingzuo answered back.

"We are brothers." Furong nodded.

The nod attracted the attention of Great General Zhu, raising his expectations.

As expected, Little Furong raised his tiny head and looked at Great General Zhu. "Well, I don't know what kind of life is waiting for me here in the future, but I am sure of this much, that you two won't treat me badly. I have no reason to decline." Saying this Furong tried to get off the bed to perform a kowtow to his new guardian parent Great General Zhu.

Great General Zhu rushed to stop Furong from moving any further. "No need to show any formalities, you are still injured, don't move too much."

He gently smiled at Furong and rubbed his small head. "Quite a smart child. Since you accept me as your guardian, we are a family now. From now on your name will be 'Zhu Furong'. We will hold an adoption ceremony later after your complete recovery."

"Our Zhu Family has been serving the Ming Dynasty for generations as the family of Great Generals."

"You grandfather, that would be me, is none other than the current Great General of the Ming Dynasty. Great General Zhu Bohai(sea waves)."

"Rejoice kid, you are in good hands. Haha..." Great General Zhu laughed while patting Furong's shoulders.

"Ah! Grandpa, you are hurting him." Little Ling jumped up pulling her grandpa's hand away from her now little brother.

"Er... Sorry, sorry, I got too excited there. My bad, my bad." Great General Zhu apologized with embarrassment rubbing his hands together.

"Yay! At last I got a little brother." Little Ling hugged Furong tightly, hurting him more than Great General Zhu's patting.

Great General Zhu didn't know what to say so he just watched silently and awkwardly.

Furong, too, didn't stop her. This much pain was nothing for him. The four different races' bloodlines inside him, made his body quite resilient. Even then he couldn't help but show a contorted face when one of his wounds got pressed upon.

Both the men looked at each other helplessly and thought the same thing.

'Women, ah!' Both men coincidentally shook their heads.

Little Ling noticed her mistake and quickly let go of Furong. She apologized while blushing all red. She looked so cute that it made both the men forgive her instantly.

...

"Phew! Glad this bastard accepted to be adopted by this family. At least now I can make use of his position to look for treasures to improve my Cultivation." Inside the pagoda, Xingzuo murmured.

"Nice going you testicle egg, I didn't know you were designing such devious plans. Let me discipline you a bit." Saying this, Furong cut off the connection of the Nine-Layers Pagoda to his dantian.

Instantly Xingzuo regretted having a slippery mouth. He forgot that even his murmur can be heard clearly by Furong since he is staying inside his dantian. Now he couldn't help but sit there begging for forgiveness, asking Furong to reopen the connection of the pagoda to his dantian so Xingzuo can keep absorbing the Spiritual Qi.

It's such a waste for him to miss even a little bit of Spiritual Qi after staying in the dead void for billions of years. He really wanted to cry.

"Big Brother, boohooo!... Big Brother, I am sorry... I am really sorry. It's the fault of my potty mouth, I won't say something like that ever again! Big Brother..." Xingzuo kept pleading non-stop.

"Shut up! You are giving me a headache. If you keep spewing nonsense like this I will even close my spiritual connection to the pagoda, so I won't have to listen to your blabbering. Humph!" Furong threatened.

"Big Brother I am sorry, I didn't know you were paying attention to the pagoda and will hear when I murmur to myself. It was a mistake." Xingzuo tried to make excuses but unfortunately he wasn't cunning enough as humans.

"Oh, so you mean, you will bad-mouth me anytime I am not paying attention to you huh? How audacious!" "Now keep your mouth zipped and accept your punishment. Don't you dare speak another word till I ask you to. I am warning you, you won't want to receive a more severe punishment." Furong scolded Xingzuo hard.

"Ah ok. I won't speak anymore." Xingzuo said in a remorseful tone.

He was really scared that Furong will seriously close his spiritual connection to the tower if he keeps speaking, after that he will be in the same position as an isolated prisoner. All alone. Similar to the past days when even those two brute gods were not there to keep him company.

'This guy is more dangerous than his masters, better not piss him off too much.' This is the only thing Xingzuo could think at the time.

The Nine-Layers Pagoda was all silent now, so Furong shifted his attention back to the people in the room.

...

Great General Zhu has left the room after chatting with the now Zhu Furong for a few minutes. He probably went away to chat with the other members of the family.

Little Ling also left for her own room after teasing her new little brother for about 15 minutes. She tucked Furong back to bed, to have proper rest and carried away the empty tray of food with a bright smile on her face. Totally satisfied.

Furong also enjoyed the care he received for the first time in his life.

Well he had received some care from her maid in his past life and from his Masters when he was practically dead. But still, nothing compared to the current feelings brewing inside his heart.

He slept peacefully and without any worries for the first time in his life too...