"What are you dawdling for?"
Run Sheng quickened his pace, then felt his consciousness stimulated by intense pain, nearly fainting.
But at that moment, Uncle Qin nudged with his toe, kicking a pebble on the pebbled road, which struck the back of Run Sheng’s head.
Run Sheng’s consciousness instantly cleared, and the clear result was that the terrible pain became clear again.
In this way, Run Sheng kept training; he would faint every now and then, but each time he was awakened by Uncle Qin.
Training on, soon, a large gap appeared on the pebble road under Uncle Qin’s feet.
This wasn’t training; it was truly top-level torture.
What Uncle Qin had said earlier about re-laying Run Sheng’s foundation was meant literally.
At dusk, Aunt Liu came back from that house to make dinner.
Upon entering the yard, she glanced at Run Sheng, who was practicing his punches.
Then, she gave Uncle Qin an incredulous questioning look.
Aunt Liu’s lips trembled slightly, emitting a very faint sound; she intended only for Uncle Qin to hear, but the person inside the house, with his superb hearing, also heard.
"You’re insane. You actually inflicted the Dragon Locking Pillar on him. Aren’t you afraid of killing him?"
Uncle Qin’s lips also trembled slightly:
"This lad’s physique is special; he won’t die."
"Does Xiao Yuan know?"
At this time, Uncle Qin flicked his toe again, and another pebble flew out, hitting the back of Run Sheng’s head again, awakening the staggering Run Sheng to continue punching.
"Ali, you are driving a wedge between the Dragon King family."
"It was Run Sheng himself who told me; he’s not smart and asked if there was any method that could work quickly. I mentioned this, and he agreed.
He said he wants to become strong as soon as possible to protect Xiao Yuan.
Do you think this method, driven by me waking him, could really succeed?
Mainly, it’s his own perseverance and belief that are keeping him going."
"Ali, next time, you should discuss it with Xiao Yuan in advance.
The mother, for Xiao Yuan’s sake, has not intervened in the old ways. With Xiao Yuan’s status now and his future relationship with Alii, according to the old ways, we should kneel and kowtow when we see Xiao Yuan."
"Ah Ting, you haven’t crossed the river; you don’t know that most of the time, just to come back alive to light the third lamp and announce the end of River Crossing is a luxury.
River Crossing really can be deadly."
"You should go and talk to Xiao Yuan again later."
"I will. By the way, the girl you brought, why hasn’t she come back?"
"I taught her to make West Lake vinegar fish.
There are twelve types of poison in it.
I had a bite, and she ate a whole plate.
Now she’s lying in that house, her skin turning over a dozen different colors.
I plan to let her fully experience the feeling of these poisons wreaking havoc inside her body first, and after I’ve had dinner, I’ll go back to that house to wake her up and teach her the steps to detoxify."
"Did you tell Xiao Yuan about this beforehand?"
"And you’re warning me?"
"I’m fine; that girl and Xiao Yuan aren’t as close as Run Sheng and Xiao Yuan are."
"Pity, our families are now so sparse that we can’t provide a platform for you to perform."
Aunt Liu entered the house, and first, she cut some fruits and came to Alii’s room.
At that time, Li Zhiyuan was not sitting in that chair but standing next to Alii, watching her draw.
Aunt Liu put down the fruit plate, then leaned against the door frame, watching the golden boy and jade girl for a while longer.
Only when she finally tasted sweetness in her mouth did she confirm that her taste had recovered after having a bite of the West Lake vinegar fish made by that girl.
Then she left the study to cook.
Uncle Qin also arrived, but as a man, he couldn’t just push the door and enter like Aunt Liu; he was just about to knock when the door was opened from inside.
"Xiao Yuan, about Run Sheng’s matter..."
Li Zhiyuan smiled, "I trust Uncle Qin’s expertise, and I also trust Run Sheng’s talent and perseverance."
"Then, it’s settled."
Uncle Qin turned and left; he didn’t go back to the yard immediately but entered the kitchen.
Aunt Liu was chopping vegetables, turned around to look at him, and asked, "Did you speak with Xiao Yuan?"
"Xiao Yuan expressed understanding and support." As he spoke, Uncle Qin pointed his finger towards Alii’s study, then pointed at his own ear.
Aunt Liu seemed to recall something, also pointed towards Alii’s study, then she picked up the kitchen knife to shield her own eyes.
Uncle Qin said, "Didn’t you tell me that Xiao Yuan has newly grasped another layer of Qin’s Jiao Observation Method? Where’s the new book?"
"Xiao Yuan has handed over the new insights of the two sets of books of the Qin Liu Family to the mother, but the mother hasn’t yet had time to translate even Liu’s Qi Observation Technique.
If you think you can understand that kind of cryptic script, I can go and get that set of Qin’s Jiao Observation Method for you to try."
"Forget it, did you forget what happened before? I’ve never been good at reading; I irritated the mother so much she starved me for ten days."
"Come on, didn’t I secretly bring you food? Do you think the mother didn’t know?"
"I’ll wait until the mother has translated it, then look at the plain text annotated version."
"Why don’t you go talk to Xiao Yuan about your past experience crossing the river?"
"Isn’t a failure experience even more important?"
"People and circumstances are different; everyone faces different situations when crossing the river. If I talked about mine, it would only affect him. Besides, I believe Xiao Yuan already knows what he’s facing."
Uncle Qin picked up a date from the table, took a bite, and leaving the kitchen to go into the yard, he tossed the date pit, hitting Run Sheng in the back of the head again, pulling Run Sheng back from the edge of unconsciousness once more.