Wang Shitou ran up to them and said with a smile, "I have wild mountain fruits here, for you to eat."
"Alright, little Shitou." The boy named Tie Zhu's eyes lit up, and he said, "You picked fruits again."
"Brother Tie Zhu, here." Wang Shitou stuffed a handful into Tie Zhu's hand, and then gave a handful to each of the other children.
As for Wang Jialing, the village chief's granddaughter, she received three handfuls.
The children ate the wild mountain fruits, and their mouths were simply delighted.
"Here, little Shitou, this is for you." Wang Jialing opened her beautiful red cloth bag, took out a cloth-wrapped package, and when she opened it, there were three coarse flour cakes inside.
This group of children went to a private school in the nearby large village, and they all carried food for their journey and lunch.
Wang Jialing gave one flour cake to Wang Shitou.
"Thank you, Ling-jie!" Wang Shitou quickly took it with both hands.
"I have some too." The other children also took out their meals, and each gave Wang Shitou a piece of bran cake.
"Thank you, thank you…" Wang Shitou thanked them while taking the bran cakes. These bran cakes were all clean, and some were even warm.
This was not the first time Wang Shitou had done this, and this group of children had become accustomed to this method.
Although wild mountain fruits were delicious, they were ultimately not as filling as bran cakes. Wang Shitou picked the mountain fruits but was reluctant to eat them, feeling that his survival was the most important thing.
He turned to look at Wang Jialing again and said with a fawning smile, "Ling-jie, can you teach me one more character?"
Wang Jialing ate a fruit, spat the pit onto the roadside, and said, "Didn't we agree on one pretty little stone for one character? You didn't bring me a pretty little stone yesterday."
Wang Shitou said with a fawning smile, "But I picked a lot of fruits, Ling-jie, look, I gave you three handfuls."
"Hmm…" Wang Jialing ate another mountain fruit, thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "Alright then, come over here."
They walked to the roadside, and Wang Jialing picked up a branch from the ground, drew a few strokes, and wrote a character.
"Yesterday, Mr. Li taught us a line: 'The sword is called Juque, the pearl is called Moonlight.' This character is pronounced 'jian' (sword)."
"Jian…" Wang Shitou murmured, and also used a branch to write the character 'jian' next to it.
"It's quite well-written, isn't it?" Wang Jialing nodded like a teacher.
"What does this 'jian' mean?" Wang Shitou asked.
"A sword, well, it's a weapon used by soldiers, great heroes, and Immortals." Wang Dali, who was nearby, walked over and said excitedly, "Have you heard of sword heroes? One person, one sword, killing one person in ten steps, traveling a thousand li without leaving a trace. So cool!"
"And Immortals, there's a type called Sword Immortal. When the Immortal sword comes out, it takes the enemy's head from a thousand li away. Oh my god, so cool!"
"These have all been performed in plays."
As Wang Dali spoke, there was a look of longing in his eyes.
"A sword, is it that powerful?" Wang Shitou listened, and couldn't help but show a look of anticipation, asking, "What does a sword look like?"
"Looks? It probably looks like this." Wang Dali took the branch from Wang Shitou's hand and drew on the ground.
One vertical stroke, two horizontal strokes, a bit like the character 'shi' (scholar). But the vertical stroke was particularly long, and the horizontal strokes were particularly short.
"This is a sword." Wang Shitou stared at the "sword" on the ground.
"Alright, let's hurry up, or we'll be late and get hit on the palm with the ruler again." Wang Jialing threw the branch and said.
"Brother Dali, take care, Ling-jie, have a safe journey." Wang Shitou waved his hand.
The group of children left again, and only then did Wang Shitou walk towards the mountains.
With five cakes in hand, he could eat one now and three at noon.
Unconsciously, the sun was setting again. Wang Shitou carried firewood and returned to the stream, rummaging for a long time.
Hmm, there was a small red stone with patterns, the village chief's granddaughter would definitely like it.
He put away this stone, and seeing no one around, he had a thought and entered that cave again.
The bran cakes were still there, unchanged.
"It seems it can last at least a day." Wang Shitou thought.
Coming out of the cave, Wang Shitou carried the firewood back to the village.
He had picked up quite a lot today, and he also picked some for the village chief's grandfather.
He knocked on the village chief's door, and the village chief's grandfather came out to greet him.
"Little Shitou, you picked up a lot of firewood again today?"
"Yes, Village Chief Grandfather, this bundle is for you."
"You're truly a good child, come in."
As usual, little Shitou helped the village chief put the firewood in the woodshed, and the village chief gave him a coarse flour cake.
"Little Shitou, did you pick up any stones today?" Wang Jialing ran out again.
"Yes, Ling-jie, yes." Wang Shitou's eyes lit up, and he took out the small red stone from his tattered cloth bag.
"Oh, it's so beautiful!" Wang Jialing held the small stone, her eyes narrowed with a smile, which made the village chief's grandfather shake his head with a smile.
The little girl liked pretty little stones, which was a hobby, and although it was useless, there was no harm in it.
Only families who had enough to eat were qualified to have such a small hobby.
Wang Shitou did not mention learning characters at this time; Wang Jialing would naturally teach him when she went to school tomorrow morning.
"Little Shitou, you…" The village chief thought for a moment and said, "People from Chaoyang City came today and said that an Immortal would come to our Qingxi Village tomorrow to examine the Aptitude of children of suitable age in our village, to see if they have the Aptitude to become an Immortal."
"Tomorrow, you… don't go pick firewood, just wait at home for the Immortal to come."
"Become an Immortal? Really?" Wang Shitou's eyes lit up.
"Hah, it's just a formality." The old village chief shook his head with a smile and said, "Let alone a small village like ours, even in Chaoyang City, there might not be a single person with cultivation Aptitude."
"Is that so?" The light in Wang Shitou's eyes faded, and he said, "Then I'll still go pick firewood. If I don't pick firewood, Wang Shitou's Aunt won't give me bran cakes to eat."
"Alas, poor child." The old village chief shook his head and said, "It's alright, I'll give you a few cakes to eat tomorrow. Just go through the motions, even though there's little chance, what if you're chosen?"
"Alright." Wang Shitou nodded and said, "Thank you, Village Chief Grandfather."
"Hmm, hurry back. If it's late, Wang Shitou's Aunt won't leave you anything to eat."
"Village Chief Grandfather, then I'm leaving."
Wang Shitou carried the firewood on his back and returned to Wang Shitou's Aunt's house.
In the evening, they left him one bran cake, still making him eat it outside. If he hadn't found a way to earn so many cakes himself, this one certainly wouldn't have been enough.
Returning to his small wooden house, late at night, Wang Shitou entered the cave again.
The bran cakes were still there.
"It's been a day and they're fine." Wang Shitou smiled and took out a flour cake from his embrace.
"Since it's fine, then I'll sleep here tonight." He thought to himself.
This cave was much warmer than his small wooden house.
He found a relatively flat spot, lay down, and slowly closed his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, he felt comfortable all over.
"What time is it?" He rubbed his eyes and looked at the cave.
Above was the cave ceiling, with no sun, moon, or stars.
"Hmm, I'll go out and see, I still have to carry water." Wang Shitou had a thought and arrived in the real world.
He was still in the small wooden house, but the light through the cracks made him realize that it was already broad daylight.
"Oh no, I slept too comfortably in the cave and overslept."
He quickly crawled out of the wooden house and found that Wang Shitou's Aunt were not there; his cousin must have gone to school.
Oh, no, the village chief's grandfather said that an Immortal would come today, so they must have gone to take his cousin to the Immortal for Aptitude testing.
"That's right, Immortal Aptitude!"
Wang Shitou immediately ran, not bothering with picking firewood or carrying water, and ran towards the village chief's grandfather's house.
Outside the old village chief's house, villagers had already gathered. Most were adults with young children, some even holding infants.
"Shitou?" Wang Shitou's Aunt in the crowd looked back, saw Wang Shitou, and shouted, "Didn't you go pick firewood? What are you doing running here?"
At this moment, three young men wearing purple and white robes, jade crowns on their heads, and long swords on their backs walked out, all smiling.
Beside the leading handsome man was the old village chief's granddaughter, Wang Jialing.
Wang Shitou's gaze was immediately drawn to them.
"This must be the Immortal, right?"