The next morning, the sky had just begun to lighten.
Lin Ning woke from a wonderful sleep, feeling refreshed and clear-headed.
It had been many years since he had slept so easily and comfortably…
In his previous life, Lin Ning's family had been poor since childhood, and his parents worked away from home year-round. By the time he was eight or nine, he had to get up early every day to cut pig fodder in the mountains, and after coming back and feeding the pigs, he also had to cook for his younger siblings.
Once he got into university, in order to pay for tuition and living expenses, besides tutoring as work-study, he also had to get up early every morning to help out in the cafeteria, earning a bit more money to send home to his siblings.
As for after he started working, an even heavier burden pressed down on his shoulders, his nerves perpetually taut. Even on the rare vacation, how could his heart truly relax?
It wasn't until he crossed over and completely severed ties with his previous life that he finally found peace of mind, able to be a good-for-nothing, sleeping so sweetly…
However, as a good-for-nothing with ideals, in order to be a long-lived good-for-nothing, Lin Ning still felt that accumulating more merit points was the proper thing to do.
Even if he had no wish to become the number one expert under heaven, it was better to be prepared just in case.
Before he had even finished washing up, he saw Aunt Chun already busy in the kitchen, who took a moment to ask if he wanted hot water.
Actually, in the original Lin Xiaoning's time, his washing up had always been handled entirely by Aunt Chun—he wouldn't even wipe his own face.
But how could Lin Ning stand for that? Over the past ten-odd days, he had finally gotten Aunt Chun to accept the fact that he had grown up and could wash his own face…
After washing up, Aunt Chun had already set out breakfast, but Lin Ning didn't start eating right away. Instead, he closed his eyes and began counting: "One, two, three, four, five…"
"Giggling sound!"
A burst of stifled laughter came from the kitchen doorway, and then a head with two little topknots peeked around the door, smiling ingratiatingly at Lin Ning.
Lin Ning opened his eyes and said, feigning annoyance, "Yesterday I at least made it to seven!"
Little Jiu Niang's face broke into a cat-like grin, and she came pattering in on her short legs, whining to Aunt Chun, "It's just that Auntie's porridge smells so good! Auntie, Brother-in-law is bullying me and laughing at me!"
Aunt Chun glared at Lin Ning and said, "You're not allowed to bully Xiao Jiu!"
As she spoke, she set the side dishes in her hands down on the table.
The three of them sat down to eat. After Aunt Chun asked about Lin Ning's health, she also asked, "Where are you off to play today? You're not allowed to go to the Back Mountain."
Jiu Niang giggled, and Lin Ning shot her a sidelong glance. After taking a big bite of his spring roll, he said to Aunt Chun, "Nowhere. I'm going to study to be a great philanthropist, to build up a bit of character."
Aunt Chun: "……"
……
"Grandma Zhou!"
Jiu Niang and the expressionless Cui'er led Lin Ning to a dilapidated house at the northeast corner of the stronghold, calling out in a not-too-loud voice.
Looking at the mottled wooden door and the crude wooden window set in the stone wall, even the smile on Lin Ning's face faded a little.
After all, even though Qingyun Village counted among the notable strongholds of the world, it still had to survive by plunder, and its "productivity" was extremely low.
Simply managing to support the stronghold's orphans and the elderly without letting them starve to death already counted as great kindness and virtue; there was really nothing more that could be spared for the rest.
"Creak…"
After Jiu Niang called out twice more, the wooden door slowly opened, and an old woman shuffled out unsteadily.
Her face was covered in age spots, her eyes clouded, her back stooped and body thin and small, a rasping wheeze coming from her throat…
However, though her coarse cloth clothes were patched all over, they were spotlessly clean.
When the old woman saw Jiu Niang, a smile squeezed onto her gaunt face, and she said, "Little Jiu Niang is here. Is something wrong? That black-hearted lot hasn't hurt you, has it?"
Lin Ning: "……"
Jiu Niang smiled brilliantly and said, "Grandma Zhou, I'm fine! My brother-in-law came to carry water for you!"
Hearing this, Grandma Zhou slightly raised her head and looked toward Lin Ning.
But she clearly didn't have a very good impression of him, and mumbled indistinctly, "Oh, no need for that. This old woman still has water to drink…"
Jiu Niang gave a little hop and said, "Grandma Zhou, every time you only carry one basin with your washbasin—that's nowhere near enough to last. My brother-in-law said he wants to study to become a great philanthropist, someone who was a wonderful person in ancient times, so just let him carry it for you! Not just for Grandma Zhou, but for Grandpa Sun and the others too!"
Hearing this, Grandma Zhou was clearly caught off guard. Her old eyes gave Lin Ning a suspicious glance, but seeing that he said nothing, just standing there quietly with a smile on his face, looking harmless enough…
Perhaps because his charisma had risen a little, and with Little Jiu Niang chattering away persuasively, Grandma Zhou hesitated, but in the end agreed. Still, she said worriedly, "If the young leader has a mind to be good, that's certainly a fine thing. But you must never go around trying to be some great philanthropist—we're mountain bandits! If your grandfather knew you wanted to study to become a great philanthropist, I'm afraid he wouldn't rest easy even in the ground!"
"……"
Lin Ning first shot a glare at Jiu Niang, who was nearly choking with laughter, then glanced at Cui'er's flushed face, and finally coughed dryly and said, "Rest assured, old woman, I'll only be a good person within the stronghold. Outside, I'm still a mountain bandit!"
Hearing this, Grandma Zhou finally relaxed, and pointed to a stone vat by the doorway inside the house, saying, "When Yong'er was alive, he filled that water vat every day…"
"Yong'er" was Grandma Zhou's only son, who had died in battle while out raiding with the group…
Without a word, Lin Ning found two long-unused wooden buckets in the corner, along with a shoulder pole, then called to Jiu Niang and set off.
Not long after they left Grandma Zhou's house, Cui'er, who had remained silent the whole time, tried to take the shoulder pole from Lin Ning's shoulders.
Lin Ning looked at her, puzzled. "What are you doing?"
Jiu Niang tilted her face up with a big grin and said, "Brother-in-law, let Cui'er help you carry the water! Her martial arts are really good!"
By normal standards, filling that water vat would probably take Lin Ning about three days…
Qingyun Village sat on a slope of Canglan Mountain, while the Canglan River was separated from the village by a ridge, forming a "W"-shaped terrain.
Qingyun Village was on the right side, while the Canglan River was at the top of the left side.
So getting from Qingyun Village to the Canglan River required not only crossing over a ridge but also continuing to climb higher.
The riverbed of the Canglan River was actually even higher than Qingyun Village.
Even taking the shortest route, the round trip including the climb came to about five li. With the original Lin Xiaoning's level of martial arts, carrying two full buckets of water, he would have collapsed from exhaustion before he was even halfway there.
However, this Lin Ning was not that Lin Xiaoning.
He gave a snort and said to Jiu Niang, "You dare look down on me? Let me tell you, Little Jiu Niang, it was only because that oaf Zeng Niu ambushed me the other day. Otherwise, small fry like him—I could knock out ten with one punch… What are you laughing at? Still laughing?"
Lin Ning tossed the shoulder pole to the pouting Cui'er, then went chasing after Jiu Niang, who was nearly dying of laughter…
Watching the two of them, one big and one small, chasing each other, a faint complicated look crossed Cui'er's face. She shouldered the pole and hurried to catch up.
Although she too felt that Lin Ning did seem to have genuinely changed, she still couldn't fully relax, always worried that this person might still be harboring some hidden scheme!
……
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
The river water surged eastward. Standing on the high mountain, watching the water rush past, Lin Ning marveled endlessly.
Who could have imagined that the wonders wrought by heaven and earth could be so magnificent!
He couldn't make out where the Canglan River's source lay; further upstream from this stretch were nothing but sheer cliffs and precipices, utterly impassable.
According to what was written in books, one stretch of the waterway was even hidden within a cave inside the mountain.
"Hah!"
"Hah!"
"Hoo!"
"Hey!"
Not far from Lin Ning, Jiu Niang, and Cui'er, a group of youths, some seven or eight years old, some in their teens, were practicing boxing in the river water.
These were the stronghold's "reserve force," tempering and strengthening their bones and muscles. Those among them who stood out would receive focused training.
These half-grown boys had also noticed Lin Ning, and one by one their faces showed contempt.
Lin Ning's attire would have been unremarkable among scholars in a great city.
But with his scholar's robes and his fair, red-lipped, white-toothed looks, he stood out like a sore thumb in the stronghold—much like, in his previous life, a rebellious punk suddenly appearing among a group of good students in school uniforms, or a good student in a school uniform suddenly appearing among a group of rebellious punks. Either way, utterly out of place.
Especially since Lin Ning had once looked down on these laborers with particular disdain, treating them with the scornful, sharp-tongued contempt of a scholar's lofty pride.
It wasn't hard to imagine what kind of impression he'd made in the eyes of these future stars of the stronghold…
But Lin Ning didn't mind—there was plenty of time ahead.
In his previous life, he had managed to whip so many headstrong, prestigious university graduates and professional managers into well-disciplined shape. These half-grown youths in front of him now were really no great challenge…
Standing on the riverbank, listening to Little Jiu Niang's endless chatter, he saw that Cui'er had already filled the two large wooden buckets with water and was about to go take them, when he heard the group of half-grown youths behind him suddenly burst into cheers:
"Look! Brother Xiao Zhi and Brother Xiao Shan are back!"
"Ohhh!"
A wave of wild whooping and hollering rose up, yet none of them left the water, which caught Lin Ning by surprise. He looked in the direction the youths were cheering toward.
He saw a group of about twenty people, some carrying knives, some with bows slung across their backs, some carrying or hauling or shouldering a number of bloody prey, striding out from the dense forest of North Mountain and walking along the riverbank.
Though the ground beneath their feet was littered with treacherous, jagged rocks, these young men, mostly around eighteen or nineteen years old, moved as if walking on level ground, drawing even louder cheers from the youths practicing boxing in the water.
But the stronghold's rules were strict, and since it wasn't yet time, none of them dared come out of the water.
So they could only watch, wide-eyed, as the group strode closer.
"Xiao Jiu! Look what your brother brought you!"
The young man at the front, his face smeared with blood but grinning brightly, carefully pulled a snow-white mountain rabbit from inside his robe and waved it toward Little Jiu Niang beside Lin Ning.
As for Lin Ning, in the eyes of this group he seemed practically invisible…
"Wow! A little bunny!!"
At the sight of the little white rabbit in the young man's hands, Jiu Niang's eyes lit up at once, and she ran excitedly toward him. But after only two steps, she suddenly stopped, gazing longingly at the adorable little rabbit for a moment, then slowly trudged back to Lin Ning's side.
Seeing this, Lin Ning smiled and said, "Why not go get it?"
Jiu Niang shook her head, glanced at Lin Ning, then lowered her head again.
Just as Lin Ning was wondering why, Cui'er said beside him in a muffled voice, "Master Lin dislikes Xiao Zhi and the others the most, says they're crude and lowly. Every time he sees Young Lady playing with them, the next day he forbids her from entering the Ink Bamboo Courtyard, and even tells her to get lost."
Hearing this, Lin Ning fell silent for a moment, then rubbed Jiu Niang's little head and said gently, "Go play. I'm not that stingy anymore."
Hearing this, Jiu Niang looked up at Lin Ning in disbelief and said loudly, "Brother-in-law, you're letting me talk to Brother Xiao Zhi and the others?"
Lin Ning chuckled and nodded. "I can tell they're all fond of you. Go on."
Xiao Zhi was the son of Second Boss Fang Lin, named Fang Zhi; Xiao Shan was the son of Third Leader Hu Dashan; and the rest were likewise sons of the stronghold's mid-to-upper ranks—only three or four of them seemed to be ordinary sons of common stronghold families.
As the saying goes, poor scholars, rich warriors—without a certain family fortune, it was hard to train up a skilled martial artist.
But these second-generation mountain bandits, destined to become the stronghold's future upper ranks, seemed to look right through Lin Ning as if he weren't there at all…
Jiu Niang's face broke into a sweet smile, and she nodded repeatedly, though before leaving she still remembered to ask, "Brother-in-law, aren't you coming too?"
Lin Ning shook his head and said, "I still have to deliver water to Grandma Zhou. You go on ahead."
Hearing this, Jiu Niang's gaze faltered for a moment. She looked back at Fang Zhi and the others standing not far off, especially at that fluffy white mountain rabbit, but in the end turned back and said to Lin Ning, "Then I won't go play either. I'll go with Brother-in-law to deliver water to Grandma Zhou's house—studying to be a great philanthropist!" And she clenched her little fists!
Seeing this, Lin Ning let out a helpless laugh, unable to help but admire Aunt Chun's skill at brainwashing!
If Aunt Chun hadn't told Jiu Niang, day in and day out, year after year, that Lin Ning and Tian Wuniang were her last remaining kin, this situation before him now would never have come to be.
Aunt Chun is amazing!
……
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