novelraw Chapter 104: Pride Is a Useless Thing
Chapter 104: Pride Is a Useless Thing
The boy was quiet for a long moment, 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 me 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 me, brother!"
"Eat your fill first. Then we'll talk."
The boy had been practicing the sword since childhood and was someone 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 sesame cakes, one bite at a time.
Two jin of sesame 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 sesame cakes again and was looking at Li Qiuchen with obvious expectation.
"Mr. Li, come and try my cooking."
"Your cooking is good. Your young miss shared some with me already."
Little Yingzi said nothing, just fixed him with her large eyes blinking steadily.
Li Qiuchen understood immediately, "You can give me 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 sesame cakes, the boy flushed red and scrambled to his feet to leave, but at precisely that moment, 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 something out with his own mind.
Cultivation was not something 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 requirements for entry, but those requirements were not absolute. Hadn't Li Qiuchen himself found his way in?
If you couldn't even come up with an idea, then what were you going to cultivate? You might as well go home and raise pigs.
"I thought about it. I couldn't come 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 assumed 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 home and killed my parents. They took me and my brother to dig in a black mine. If a sword immortal with the surname Bai hadn't happened to pass by and help, I wouldn't be alive today. Right then I swore I would become like that sword immortal, develop a true sword art, and become a great hero who stands tall under heaven."
"Bai... the Bai family? You weren't originally surnamed Bai?"
"I heard the Bai family has always punished the wicked and helped the innocent, so I changed my own surname to Bai, hoping they might one day acknowledge me."
"I also have a friend with the surname Bai."
"Really?"
The boy's excitement flared immediately, "Is it the legendary Bai family? Where are they? Could you introduce me, brother?"
"I can't make an introduction. It loves watching excitement 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 something 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!"
"Come 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 sesame cakes at most.
But since the boy claimed the surname 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 method must be worth at least a hundred taels. You can see I have nothing to my name and nothing to offer in return. Just tell me directly what you need me 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 someday."
The boy thought for a moment 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 surname Bai."
"You did."
"So I know very well who the sword of the Bai family falls on."
Li Qiuchen raised his head and met the boy's gaze directly, "If there ever comes 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 me. I trust you!"
A few more days passed. When school was letting out one afternoon, the boy with the surname 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 home 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 came lunging straight at him, brick in hand, and swung it directly at his face.
Zeng Mingming was startled for a moment, 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 come 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 someone!"
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 me 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 came 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? Someone not happy with me? Too gutless to say it to my face, so you send someone to ambush me at the school gate? Which little rat did this? Anyone with any guts, step forward and let me 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 measure.
"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 me 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.
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