Chapter 2 Part III

    She returned to where Miss Zhou and her husband were anxiously looking around for her.

    "Aunt Zhou!"

    "Zhu’er! Where have you been? We've been looking for you. We thought you got lost. And what's that?" They sighed in relief upon seeing her safe, thinking they had lost someone else’s child.

    "A book, someone gave it to me," she said, implying it was more of thrust upon her than given.

    "Who gave it to you?"

    "The old man from the Zhi bookstore down that street," she pointed out.

    "Oh dear, next time don't accept things from strangers so readily, Zhenzhu. If they mean no good, it could bring you trouble," Miss Zhou warned, worried the child might unwittingly accept something dangerous or illegal.

    "Understood, Aunt Zhou."

    "Let's go. We've sold all the vegetables. Do you want to buy anything else before we head home?"

    "I want to buy some sweets for Yu'er," she mentioned, having saved her 3 brass coins for this purpose. Planning to treat herself to a mantou as her lunch and use the rest for sweets for her younger brother.

    "Go on, I'll wait here."

    After purchasing the desired treats, she walked back, biting into her mantou, as they all made their way back to the Dongshan Village under the scorching midday sun. The journey back was more challenging than the morning's walk due to the intense heat, nearly overwhelming her.

    “Aunt Zhou, can I visit you again in the future?” she asked while sitting and resting on the way.

    “Of course, as long as your parents don’t mind.”

    “Thank you, Aunt Zhou.”

    San Su, Miss Zhou's husband, took off his woven hat to shade the child from the sun. They stopped to rest three times before reaching the village.

    “Has sister returned yet?” Little child shouted out.

    “I’m home. Look, I bought something back for you, Yu’er” she lifted a bag of sweets she bought for two brass coins.

    “Yay, sweets!” He Yu ran around her adorably.

    “Zhu’er, come inside quickly. Look, your face is all red,” Miss Wang, who was weaving bamboo fence under the shade, called out. See, walking in the sun until your cheeks are red and you’re sweating all over.

    “It’s okay, mother. A bit of sunlight will make me stronger,” she smiled in response.

    “Ah, Zhu’er, what did you bring back with you?” He Lei asked from the bamboo bed when he saw Zhenzhu still holding a thin bundle.

    “A book, father. Someone gave it to me.”

    She went to the bamboo bed and unwrapped the cloth to show the book to her father. When He Lei saw the thick book, he was surprised. He asked Zhenzhu to open it, and it appeared that every page was in ancient language, some understandable and some not, with some pages filled with line drawings and characters she didn’t understand.

    “This is a script,” He Lei said.

    “Father, do you recognize this script?”

    “I’ve never studied, but I’ve seen it before. It just looks familiar.”

    How could he recognize it? He was merely familiar. Not many have studied the art of character drawing, aside from being spirit cultivators, one must also be quick-witted, understand the lines, and have excellent concentration. Drawing characters requires high concentration, any mistake, and the spirit-imbued object could be destroyed immediately. Therefore, only a few are capable of inscribing characters, and those who wish to learn must have the money to pay for expensive lessons. Very few skilled inscribers would teach the general public.

    “Father, could you tell me about the characters?”

    She said while opening the thick book. She couldn’t read any of the letters in the book, and there were many designs similar to talismans. Fortunately, she liked designing fabric patterns. In her previous life when she was studying, she designed fabric patterns and even won awards for them. So, she could discern these complex patterns.

    “You’re interested in drawing characters? But you’re not a spirit cultivator. Even if you can draw characters, you can’t inscribe them onto objects.”

    “I asked just out of curiosity,” the art of character drawing was beyond her reach.

    “Father doesn’t know much, just what he’s heard from the older generation.”

    The profession of character drawing originated from a blacksmith named Tao Shaotou. He was from the Qin Region, famous for his skills in iron weaponry and carpentry. Born into a family of blacksmiths, from a young age, Tao Shaotou learned the art of blacksmithing from his ancestors. His daily forging made him the best blacksmith in town. His skill was so renowned throughout the region that the emperor of Qin Region hired his family to forge his personal sword. Tao Shaotou was overjoyed that the emperor honored his family with such a task. He strived to find a way to make a sword with superior effectiveness. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t forge a sword that satisfied him. He couldn’t offer the emperor such low-quality swords.

    When he consulted his sword-forging master, the master suggested using spiritual power to forge the sword with the power of the character. Many blacksmiths had attempted this method but failed. He applied his master’s method and experimented, taking three years to create a character-engraved sword. This sword could cut through steel just by laying the blade on it and could enhance the user's spiritual power. It was the first object to be engraved with characters.

    Later, this sword became invaluable to the city. Future generations called it the Jianyang Sword or the Sun-Cutting Sword, passed down through the Qin dynasty.

    After creating the Jianyang sword, Tao Shaotou became fascinated with the art of inscribing characters. He studied and developed his own patterns and characters, creating various useful inscriptions. These included engraving on armor to enhance protection, on carriages to reduce shock, on teacups to preserve the fragrant taste of tea, and on food containers to maintain the freshness of the food. He spent over 40 years experimenting and learning through trial and error. He also took on students interested in the art of inscribing characters. From this beginning, the practice of character inscription spread to different regions.

    However, the characters of later generations became complex and of much lower quality, leading to very few high-tier character drawers today. Drawing characters requires high concentration and nourishing spiritual power simultaneously.

    “If that’s the case, anyone who is a character drawer could engrave characters on everything,” she mused.

    Must be nice to be character drawer.

    “Who would waste their physical and mental strength on engraving ordinary objects?”

    He Lei laughed at her naive thought.

    “As I said, each engraving uses a lot of concentration and spiritual power. So, even a high-tier spiritual practitioner needs to rest at least a month after a single engraving to avoid losing spiritual power and overwhelming their body. Some need to rest for two months.”

    “Wow, that sounds complicated,” she frowned.

    “That’s why there are few character drawers. Most people can’t grasp the art of character drawing, lacking concentration and spiritual power. Thus, character drawing became a highly esteemed profession. Even the Emperor respects a high-tier character drawer.”

    “Father, have you ever seen a character drawer?”

    “Back then, in the town where father used to live, there was only one character drawer, and he was only of the blue tier. But even with just that, he could live like a Jun Wang. Even the town’s governor had to bow his head to him.”

    The more Zhenzhu heard, the more she felt that being a character drawer was beyond her reach. She lacked both the spiritual power and a master to teach her character drawing.

    Well, being a farmer is fine too.

    “It’s been quite fun, but it’s getting late. I’ll go water the vegetables.”

    “Go ahead, child.”

    Zhenzhu walked to the several vegetable plots her He family had planted. The bok choy had grown past half their size, and other vegetables were gradually sprouting, their spiritual power growing stronger. Now that the fence was nearly completed, it could conceal the plots from the villagers' eyes for a while until they found a solution to this problem.

    “Grow quickly, my little vegetables.”

    She scooped water from the stream, dipping a golden fish scale into it every time before watering the plants, blessing each vegetable with pure spiritual energized water.

    “Ah, how beautiful.”

    Being a farmer isn’t so bad.

    “What’s that?”

    Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a creature wriggling in the bushes nearby before it slithered over to the bok choy plot, sticking out its forked tongue to lick the succulent stems of the plants.

    “Eek!!!”

    She turned to run away, but the newly watered ground was too slippery, causing her small frame to slip and fall onto the vegetable plot.

    “Zhu’er! What happened?”

    Miss Wang, who was weaving bamboo fence, hurried over, followed by He Ming and He Yu, all wearing shocked expressions.

    “What happened, sister?!”

    He looked at Sister sitting on the vegetable plot, some of the sprouting vegetables damaged.

    Zhenzhu, trembling, pointed towards the giant snake that was ravaging her vegetables.

    “A...snake!”

    The creature wasn’t eating the plants but was licking the spiritual power-laden moisture on the stems and leaves of the bok choy.

    The entire He family was too shocked to move.

    “Get...get a stick. Hurry, we need to kill it. It’s dangerous.”

    He Ming was the first to regain his composure despite his trembling voice. As a man, he felt it was his duty to protect his mother and sister. He shouted to He Yu to fetch a stick so they could beat the snake to death.

    “It doesn’t seem to be attacking, big brother. Look, it’s not aggressive at all,”

    Little Yu, who was hiding behind his mother, peeked out to observe the giant snake with trepidation.

    The giant snake, after licking the spiritual power-infused dew, seemed dissatisfied with the scant amount of fragrant energy. It slithered closer to the trembling girl sitting on the vegetable plot.

    “Be careful, sister!”

    “Sister!”

    “Zhu’er!”

    Everyone was so scared that their legs shook, especially the little girl sitting on the vegetable plot. She was so frightened that she couldn’t move her body to run away. Her body wouldn’t respond, and her heart thudded so loudly she could hear it clearly.

    Oh, don’t eat me, I'm so tiny, hardly any flesh on me, won't taste good at all.

    For a moment, it was as if time slowed down. She envisioned herself meeting Qin Guang Wang , having been in this place for less than a month, and now facing death. She closed her eyes in resignation, thinking, if death was inevitable, let it not be too painful. She felt the weight of the giant snake coiling around her, every hair on her body stood on end.

    “Eh?” A surprised voice from He Yu rose.

    “Sister, it seems to like you. Look, it’s lying on your lap.”

    Really? Zhenzhu slowly opened her eyes. The giant snake was lying still on her lap, peacefully, but she still trembled uncontrollably.

    Not to be disrespectful, but with a look like yours, even if you act as cute as a kitten, I can't find it in me to feel fondness.

    As if sensing her disgust and fear, the giant snake gently tightened its coils around her a bit more and then slowly licked her palm with its tongue, as if to say,

    “See, I’m this adorable. Love me, love me.”

    The Wang family, acting as spectators, was too shocked to move, wondering if the snake would strangle Zhenzhu to death.

    Meanwhile, the one being coiled closed her eyes again, tremblingly saying,

    “Go... go away first. Go away, and then I’ll talk to you.”

    She tried to negotiate as if it would understand her language, but unexpectedly, the giant snake acted as if it truly understood. It slowly uncoiled itself and then slithered to position itself in front of her instead.

    “It understands!” exclaimed He Ming.

    “Wow, that snake is really smart,”

    He Yu said excitedly, slowly stepping out from behind his mother.

    It might be smart, but she wasn’t keen on befriending reptiles.

    When she was younger, a friend pranked her by putting a green snake in her school bag. When she opened the bag, the little green snake quickly slithered around her hand. Since then, she was scared of reptiles, especially snakes.