Half-Immortal Zhang withdrew his hand, and the remaining spirit water automatically returned to the spirit lake.
“Give it three more days and the rice will be ripe.”
Chen Xiaoman immediately ran over and hugged Half-Immortal Zhang’s leg. “Grandpa Half-Immortal, do it again!”
“That much water is already enough. Water it again and the seeds will turn out wrong.”
Half-Immortal Zhang stroked his beard leisurely, the corner of his eye fixed the whole time on the delighted Chen Xiaoman.
Such an unworldly little thing.
He muttered this to himself, but he couldn’t keep the corner of his mouth from lifting.
“All right.” Chen Xiaoman answered, disappointed.
But in the next moment she lifted her little head again, looking at Half-Immortal Zhang with curiosity. “Grandpa Half-Immortal, you’re so amazing, why can’t you grow herbs well?”
Half-Immortal Zhang’s eyes darted around. “Herbs are hard to grow.”
Chen Xiaoman said, “Tonight I’ll come help Grandpa Half-Immortal grow herbs then.”
Half-Immortal Zhang mumbled something vague and shooed her off. “Hurry up and go outside, don’t let anyone notice something’s off.”
Chen Xiaoman took one last reluctant look at the patch of land where the millet was planted before leaving.
Once she was gone, Half-Immortal Zhang let out a long breath.
He’d had too much to drink and had completely forgotten about the herbs.
He couldn’t let Xiaoman find out.
Wait.
He’d just watered the ground with spirit water!
Half-Immortal Zhang’s eyes snapped wide open.
His heart clenched.
This was spirit water that could strengthen the body.
He’d risked his life to obtain it.
A treasure that countless people would flock to get.
And he’d actually used it to water the ground?
Half-Immortal Zhang nearly smashed his head into the ground.
How could he do something so foolish!
Chen Xiaoman had no idea of Half-Immortal Zhang’s regret.
After leaving the room, she clenched her two little fists, her eyes bright as if lit by lanterns.
In three days, her family would have seeds that could grow so much grain.
She covered her mouth with her little hands and snickered to herself for a good while before remembering the cotton thread was still waiting for her to sort.
She tiptoed out of the room and closed the door.
The cotton thread they’d carried home had been put into baskets and hampers, piling up in the main room.
Chen Xiaoman thought it over and went to pick up the small basket with the least amount of thread.
Her strength was really too little, so she could only drag the basket along the ground into Zhou Daya’s room.
She took out the thread that had been tied into bundles and laid it on the bed.
She pulled out some of the thread and laid it down vertically, piece by piece, in order.
Then she carefully picked out another piece, and comparing it against the colors of the thread laid vertically, placed it horizontally in the right spot.
Once one piece was placed, she went to carefully find the next…
“Chuyuan already has a wife.”
“Is your wife pretty? Do you like her?”
“So embarrassing, you have to sleep hugging your wife!”
Coming out of the private school, Li Chuyuan’s ears were filled with nothing but these words.
Li Chuyuan was both embarrassed and angry.
He couldn’t help but roar at the little brats chattering around him, “I don’t like her at all! She’s not my wife!”
In the children’s eyes, having a wife was something very embarrassing.
They were seizing this moment to mock Li Chuyuan.
A little boy of five or six sniffled and said, “You bullying her is what really proves you don’t like her.”
“If you don’t scare her to tears, you must like her!”
“Do you dare or not?”
The children around them immediately started egging him on.
Li Chuyuan’s face flushed red with shame, and he shouted angrily, clenching his little fists, “Of course I dare!”
The little rascals instantly grew as happy as if it were New Year’s.
Someone said, “Pull her hair! Girls are most afraid of having their hair pulled!”
Li Chuyuan shook his head. “No good, her hair is too short.”
“Then throw mud on her!”
Li Chuyuan shook his head again. “If her clothes get dirty, my ma will have to wash them.”
“Bugs! Girls are all afraid of bugs!”
“Bugs are good, I just caught a centipede, take it and scare her with it.”
Li Chuyuan’s whole body shuddered, and he was about to refuse when the boy who’d caught the bug said, “You just can’t bear to bully her, that’s what this is!”
“Who says so!”
Li Chuyuan puffed up like an angry cat.
“Use the centipede!”
“If you don’t use it, that just means you don’t dare!”
The boys started egging him on again.
Cornered with no way out, Li Chuyuan said, “Find something to put it in, I’ll sneak it out to scare her.”
“My ba wove me a little basket for holding bugs, here you go.”
One boy pulled out a palm-sized bamboo-strip cage.
They stuffed the centipede into the bamboo-strip cage and held it out in front of Li Chuyuan.
Li Chuyuan hesitated for a moment, then quickly grabbed it and put it in his cloth bag.
Lifting his chin, he said arrogantly, “Just watch, I’ll scare her to death!”
The boys’ eyes lit up with delight, and they all crowded outside the Li family’s bamboo fence, craning their necks to look into the yard.
Li Chuyuan had no choice but to steel himself and go into the main room.
Finding no one there, he let out a breath of relief.
He turned his head and saw the boys outside still watching closely.
If he didn’t scare Chen Xiaoman, they’d all laugh at him.
Li Chuyuan clenched his fists, walked up to their room, hid his body behind the door, and poked his head out to peek inside secretly.
He saw Chen Xiaoman by the bed, playing seriously with the thread.
He gently took the bamboo-strip cage out of his cloth bag.
Creeping up behind Chen Xiaoman like a thief, he opened the bamboo-strip cage and dumped the centipede onto her shoulder.
Chen Xiaoman turned her head to look and went pale with fright at the centipede on her shoulder.
What a scary bug!
Half-Immortal Zhang’s voice came through: “That’s a medicinal centipede. Properly prepared, it can treat quite a few illnesses.”
Chen Xiaoman immediately asked, “Can it be sold for money?”
“The herb shop should take it.”
Half-Immortal Zhang said, somewhat helplessly.
Chen Xiaoman looked at the centipede again, and now it was like looking at a handful of coins.
Seeing her frozen in place, Li Chuyuan jumped three feet in the air with joy. “Ha ha, scared you, now go ahead and cry, you girls all love crying!”
As long as they heard her crying from outside, no one would say he liked her anymore!
Right after, he watched in horror as Chen Xiaoman’s small short hand picked up the centipede and happily held it up toward him.
Li Chuyuan was so frightened he stumbled back several steps.
“You… what are you doing?”
Chen Xiaoman hurried a couple steps toward him. “Brother Chuyuan, where did you find a medicinal centipede?”
Afraid he couldn’t see it clearly, she held it even closer to his face.
“Look, this is a medicinal centipede.”
In front of him, the centipede’s forty legs were wriggling wildly.
Li Chuyuan’s face turned deathly pale, and after shouting “Don’t come near me!” he turned and bolted outside.
Chen Xiaoman held up the centipede and wobbled after him.
“Brother Chuyuan, take me to catch centipedes!”
Li Chuyuan darted into the yard in a few steps.
The boys in the yard all straightened up at once, about to ask him how it went, when they saw a little girl with short hair cut level with her ears running out holding up a centipede.
The withered yellow short hair on her head flew up and down through the air as she ran.
They gaped in shock.
She wasn’t afraid of the bug at all!
Panicking, Li Chuyuan pointed at a snot-nosed boy in the crowd. “He’s the one who gave it to me, go ask him.”
Chen Xiaoman immediately turned and ran toward that little boy. “Take me to catch centipedes, I’ll share some with you.”
In her mind, sharing centipedes was the same as sharing money.
Seeing that she wasn’t chasing him anymore, Li Chuyuan secretly let out a breath of relief.
The boy sniffed, and his snot got sucked back up.
He waved his hands repeatedly. “I… I just caught it by chance.”
Chen Xiaoman smiled even more happily. “Then take me there!”
The other boys’ eyes all landed on him at once.
He waved his hands again and again. “I have to go pick Wupao, I don’t have time.”
Chen Xiaoman only hesitated for a moment before saying, “Then take me after you finish picking the Wupao.”
The little boy’s snot started dripping again.
“My ma and ba will beat me if they find out.”
If his parents found out he’d gone off to play, they’d definitely beat him along with it.