Chen Shi returned home and still felt disoriented. When Grandpa called him to eat, he only managed two bites before setting down his chopsticks and stumbling back to his room. He collapsed on his bed face up and stared straight at the ceiling beams.
"Stinky boy, aren't you eating? If not, I'll feed it to the dog!"
Grandpa tossed the food in front of Black Pot.
Black Pot sniffed it, shook its head, and walked away.
"Our own dog doesn't even know if it's tasty or not..."
Upon hearing this, Black Pot returned with a wagging tail and a sheepish grin, sniffed again, opened its mouth to eat, but found it too hard to swallow and, tail between its legs, turned and left.
"Today's food really was a bit much, almost entirely medicinal herbs with nothing palatable."
Grandpa frowned slightly and reflected on his cooking, "I need to restrain myself next time, at least to the point where the dog can eat it. If the dog would rather die than eat it, Scholar definitely won't eat it either."
By dinner time, Chen Shi got out of bed, looking listless.
An abandoned temple in the wilderness was the only place he had found suitable for proper cultivation. Now, that place had been destroyed by a meteorite. If he had to rely solely on cultivating with starlight, he didn't know how long it would take to free himself from being a cripple.
He wanted to retest for Scholar and advance to Scholar again, to escape his current life and at the very least earn plenty of money to provide for Grandpa in his old age.
Grandpa was getting older, and he didn't want Grandpa to have to run around caring for him in his old age.
Now, an unexpected meteorite from the sky had shattered his dreams into an illusionary bubble.
Nevertheless, life had to go on, and Chen Shi soon snapped out of his state because Grandpa had prepared a lavish dinner.
This time the meal didn't contain any strange-tasting medicinal herbs, although it was too salty, which was the only flaw.
For the first time in two years, Chen Shi tasted a meal that was fairly normal and, after a couple of bites, couldn't help but tear up slightly.
Grandpa stood with his back to him at the altar, a watchful eye over his shoulder fixating on Chen Shi, and asked, seeing the look on his face, "I can't taste it; it might be too salty."
He had lost all sense of taste, to the point of relishing eating a candle.
Chen Shi shook his head, "No, it's delicious."
Grandpa showed a smile, "To suffer is to ascend. Tonight, I'll double the medicine."
Chen Shi lowered his head and continued eating. After a while, he looked up and said, "Grandpa, the ruined temple we stayed at that night got destroyed. A stone from the sky broke the mountain."
"These sorts of things are as common as hairs on a bull in the West Bull New Continent. Why fuss about it?" Grandpa leisurely ate his candle, his tone indifferent.
"Has this happened a lot?"
After dinner, without needing Grandpa's instruction, Chen Shi voluntarily cleaned up the pots and pans, quite diligently.
As usual after his medicinal bath, Chen Shi practiced cultivating the Righteous Qi. From the next room came Grandpa's voice using the Thousand-Mile Communication Talisman to contact his father Chen Tang, repeating his old refrain, telling him he was old and didn't have many days left, hoping for Chen Tang to take Chen Shi to the city.
However, there were always excuses from the other end of the talisman.
Grandpa again asked Chen Tang if he would come back for New Year.
The reply was another excuse.
The Thousand-Mile Communication Talisman burned down completely, darkening the room, leaving only a long, lingering sigh.
"Ah Tang, I really don't have much longer, I'm worried about Scholar..."
Outside, Chen Shi felt gloomy and continued to immerse himself in his cultivation, though his progress was significantly slower than it had been in the ruined temple on the desolate mountain.
Late at night, he returned to his bed, staring at the dark ceiling beams for a long time before finally falling into a deep sleep.
Black Pot heard noises from Chen Shi's room and couldn't help but listen intently.
"Grandpa, don't worry about me, I can take care of myself..."
Black Pot was puzzled, Grandpa had clearly gone out, who was Chen Shi talking to?
It quickly stood up, quietly pushed open Chen Shi's door, and peeked inside.
"Grandpa, I'm not useless, I won't fall ill again, I'll get better, I'll pass the Scholar exam, pass the higher Scholar exam."
On the bed, Chen Shi was restless in his sleep talking, "I'll provide a good life for you... I don't like dad, I haven't even met him, please don't send me away, Grandpa... don't send me away, I'll take good care of you..."
Black Pot watched for a while, Chen Shi turned over in his sleep, and stopped talking.
Black Pot came forward, covered him with the blanket that had been kicked off, quietly left the room, and gently closed the door with the handle in its mouth.
The next morning, Grandpa was already preparing the wooden cart for departure, making Chen Shi a bit nervous, asking, "Grandpa, where are you going?"
"I'm going to town to buy medicine; we've run out at home."
Chen Shi thought for a moment and said, "Is the reason yesterday's dinner was delicious because we ran out of medicine?"
"Yes. I'll be back in the afternoon, don't wander off."
The old man sat in the cart, holding Compass, "If you get hungry, then just be hungry. I'll bring back something good for you to eat from town."
Chen Shi was quite looking forward.