The boy was quiet for a long mont, then stepped forward and accepted the bamboo container, saying with a serious expression, "Thank you, brother."
Then he turned to Little Yingzi, who was visibly younger than him, and bowed his head, "Thank you, elder sister."
He left Little Yingzi's face bright red, then turned and fled.
Li Qiuchen was also about to go back, when the boy grabbed hold of him, "Brother, you still haven't told
what the other possibilities are!"
Li Qiuchen shook his head and said, "I think your skin is still too thin. It wouldn't be appropriate to say."
"It's not that thin, actually. Please tell , brother!"
"Eat your fill first. Then we'll talk."
The boy had been practicing the sword since childhood and was soone with genuine perseverance.
For several days running, Li Qiuchen saw him sitting directly across from the county school gate, clutching the bamboo container and slowly working his way through the frozen sesa cakes, one bite at a ti.
Two jin of sesa cakes, and he was making them last.
Even so, by the third day, only an empty basket remained.
Today, Little Yingzi had made a full two jin of sesa cakes again and was looking at Li Qiuchen with obvious expectation.
"Mr. Li, co and try my cooking."
"Your cooking is good. Your young miss shared so with
already."
Little Yingzi said nothing, just fixed him with her large eyes blinking steadily.
Li Qiuchen understood imdiately, "You can give
the rest?"
"Of course."
Li Qiuchen took the basket and walked across the street to where the boy was keeping his vigil.
At the sight of the sesa cakes, the boy flushed red and scrambled to his feet to leave, but at precisely that mont, his stomach let out a loud rumbling sound.
He was a boy who cared about his dignity. His stomach, however, did not appear to share that concern.
"Have you thought of anything?"
Li Qiuchen had not answered his question three days earlier. Part of it was to spare the boy's feelings, and part of it was a hope that he would work sothing out with his own mind.
Cultivation was not sothing you could expect the heavens to deliver into your mouth.
What reason would the heavens have for not feeding others instead?
The county school's inner hall certainly had requirents for entry, but those requirents were not absolute. Hadn't Li Qiuchen himself found his way in?
If you couldn't even co up with an idea, then what were you going to cultivate? You might as well go ho and raise pigs.
"I thought about it. I couldn't co up with anything."
The boy sighed, "I spent the past couple of days asking around as well. It really is as hard to get into the inner hall as people say. When I first set out I had no idea it would be this complicated. I assud that as long as I had talent..."
"What talent do you have?"
"My sword is fast."
"Have you ever killed anyone?"
The boy blinked in surprise, then shook his head quickly.
"If you've never even killed a person, what use is a fast sword?"
Li Qiuchen said, puzzled, "Who taught you to practice the sword? Looking at you, it seems like you had no teacher?"
The boy said in a serious tone, "When I was young, bandits broke into our ho and killed my parents. They took
and my brother to dig in a black mine. If a sword immortal with the surna Bai hadn't happened to pass by and help, I wouldn't be alive today. Right then I swore I would beco like that sword immortal, develop a true sword art, and beco a great hero who stands tall under heaven."
"Bai... the Bai family? You weren't originally surnad Bai?"
"I heard the Bai family has always punished the wicked and helped the innocent, so I changed my own surna to Bai, hoping they might one day acknowledge ."
"I also have a friend with the surna Bai."
"Really?"
The boy's excitent flared imdiately, "Is it the legendary Bai family? Where are they? Could you introduce , brother?"
"I can't make an introduction. It loves watching excitent and sticking its nose into other people's business, and nearly got shot to death by an arrow."
"How could you call that sticking its nose in? It must have been ambushed by bad people while doing sothing good."
"That's right. And the person who shot it was a very, very bad person."
"Who was it?"
The expression on the boy's face suddenly turned serious, "I'll go and kill them!"
Li Qiuchen smiled, "You were just saying you'd never killed anyone."
"If it's a very, very bad person, I can try!"
"Co on now. With that rusty scrap of iron you're carrying, who are you going to kill?"
Li Qiuchen hadn't originally intended to get involved in this business. He had more than enough of his own affairs to manage, and his acquaintance with this fool amounted to one basket, no, two baskets of sesa cakes at most.
But since the boy claid the surna Bai...
"I have a way to help you, but it isn't very dignified."
The boy raised an eyebrow and said, "Never mind the dignity for now. This thod must be worth at least a hundred taels. You can see I have nothing to my na and nothing to offer in return. Just tell
directly what you need
to do."
Li Qiuchen smiled, "Don't you think you have a talent for the sword? I may have use for that sword of yours soday."
The boy thought for a mont and said, "I've made a vow. This sword can only be used to cut down those who deserve it."
"I just told you I have a friend with the surna Bai."
"You did."
"So I know very well who the sword of the Bai family falls on."
Li Qiuchen raised his head and t the boy's gaze directly, "If there ever cos a day when I truly need your help, I can promise you that person will absolutely be a very, very bad person."
The boy grinned wide, "Then that's enough for . I trust you!"
A few more days passed. When school was letting out one afternoon, the boy with the surna Bai stood alone at the gate, a brick in his hand.
At first nobody paid him any attention, not knowing whose child he was.
The bell rang inside the county school, and the inner hall students filed out in a stream, each heading ho to their respective households.
Zeng Mingming, who had been making quite a show of himself over the past couple of days, had barely stepped out the door when a stranger ca lunging straight at him, brick in hand, and swung it directly at his face.
Zeng Mingming was startled for a mont, then broke into a broad laugh.
Now this was more like it! Had all his hard work cultivating been just so he could put on a fire-breathing performance for people at the county school?
Every protagonist in those novels walked wherever they pleased and fought wherever they went, grinding every villain underfoot.
He had no idea what grudge this person had against him, but since you've co all this way, let's see what you've got.
The brick cracked in two pieces against Zeng Mingming's head. Zeng Mingming looked at the boy in front of him with confusion, "Did you skip breakfast?"
"You don't even have enough strength to hit soone!"
With that he shot out a kick, landing it squarely in the boy's chest and sending him crashing to the ground.
Before the boy could get back up, Zeng Mingming was on him in two steps, grabbing him by the collar and shouting, "Who sent you as an assassin? Coming to attack
with this level of ability?"
The boy raised his head and spat directly in Zeng Mingming's face, yelling furiously, "I heard you've been throwing your weight around at the county school and bullying your fellow students. I ca here specifically to beat you!"
Zeng Mingming drove a fist into his face, roaring, "Who the hell has been throwing their weight around?"
He turned his head toward his classmates standing nearby and snorted coldly, "What's the matter? Soone not happy with ? Too gutless to say it to my face, so you send soone to ambush
at the school gate? Which little rat did this? Anyone with any guts, step forward and let
see you!"
No one responded.
Zeng Mingming grew even more furious, landing two more punches on the boy's head. Seeing no resistance, he got back to his feet and threw in one more kick for good asure.
"What kind of worthless thing are you! Don't you know that I, the great master, have already drawn qi into my body and achieved divine power? Coming at
with a brick? Who do you think you're scaring?"
He turned to leave. The boy suddenly leaped up from the ground, wrapping both arms around Zeng Mingming's neck and trying to wrestle him down.
Zeng Mingming's fury erupted. He ducked his head, flipped the boy over from behind, pinned him to the ground, and delivered another thorough beating.
This was getting rather loud.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
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