"I'll catch you a fish to eat next time!"
Lu Chang'sheng patted little Heitu on the head.
The little girl was two years younger than him, the youngest in the family.
Lu Chang'sheng also had an older brother, named Lu Haozi, just turned sixteen, main breadwinner of the house.
Sturdy and honest, though nothing like the nickname Haozi.
Diligent in his work.
If it weren't for him, their aged parents might have abandoned little Heitu, or sold her to a rich family in Black Mountain Prefecture as a maid.
All in all, hard luck for her!
"What a pity—my golden finger is a waiting game, so I can't use it for now!"
At present, the only advantage Lu Chang'sheng could see was that his golden finger showed his talents in words.
That gave him a little prep for what lay ahead.
"High-end talent—such a waste if I don't put it to use!"
"Not even sure what dynasty this is!"
The memories of his past self had zero concept of dynasties.
Poor mountain village—every day was just about filling stomachs.
As for whether the emperor's surname was Wang, Tang, or Zhao, none of that mattered to them.
But one thing he did know.
No matter the dynasty, scholars always made for a good career.
At the top, you could become an official in the grand hall; at least, you could run accounts with a calculator, be one of the bearded guys.
Worst case, sneak off to some backwater town and get work teaching kids in secret.
In a time like this, you didn't even need certification—life wouldn't be that bad.
"Alright! I'll study for now and try for some honors!"
With first-class root bone, getting the Child Scholar degree in three to five years isn't asking too much, right?
"I remember—the Wang Heihou family seems to have a book—"
"But borrowing it to read will be tricky!"
Here in the sticks, books are rare as treasure.
Wang Heihou was always showing off his family's book, saying he even slept with it and got soaked up with Book Qi—made all the other kids jealous.
But when anyone asked to see, he'd just stubbornly refuse.
"If I want to study, gotta learn characters first!"
Lu Chang'sheng mused.
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Evening.
The old folks and big brother came back from working the fields.
"Didn't catch any fish?"
"Nope! Those fish are slippery!"
Lu Chang'sheng replied.
Normally, the parents wouldn't even ask, but today Wang Heihou was showing off so much around the village, everyone was kind of hoping for a catch.
The three came home, skin dark and sweaty.
Lu Chang'sheng sighed to himself and went up to help put away the farm tools.
The parents almost seemed used to this; seeing him, they cleaned up quick and started making food.
Still small for his age, and malnourished, Lu Chang'sheng wasn't strong; tools weighing fifteen or twenty pounds gave him a rough time.
Seeing this, Lu Haozi came over to help.
"Hey bro, you know where I might get any books?"
A good two seconds passed before Lu Haozi realized what he asked and looked at Lu Chang'sheng.
"Books? Like the one at Wang Heihou's house?"
"Yep!"
"Uh... I... dunno! They say Mr. Wang found his on the road! You wanna start learning to read?"
Lu Haozi stared at Lu Chang'sheng in surprise.
"Yeah!"
"Then... You should probably ask Dad, but, well... I dunno, I dunno..."
Lu Chang'sheng didn't push further.
He wasn't counting on the family to have any answers anyway.
For them, reading and writing was high society stuff.
"Guess I'll have to figure it out myself."
After the tools were put away, Lu Chang'sheng thought quietly to himself.
As someone who'd come from another life, he knew: only folks who lived easy had long lives.
Well—only if you had a healthy body to begin with; folks with chronic issues didn't count.
Living stress-free, nothing to worry about, easy mindset—that's how you lasted.
His golden finger was all about waiting it out—the longer he lasted, the stronger he'd get.
"But even if I make it to a hundred, it's only twenty points at Root Bone Value! Tops, I'd hit genius level!"
End of day, everybody dies!
So what's the point of all those locked features later?
Lu Chang'sheng puzzled over this, figuring he'd just have to hope his golden finger pulled some surprises later on.
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"Dinner's ready!"
Soon enough, Heitu's clear little voice rang out.
Not long after, Lu Chang'sheng sat down at the table and looked over the food—felt the hardship all over again.
Two battered bowls, filled up with plenty of broth.
Not a trace of oil.
Although there was plenty of wild greens—straight from nature.
"How you supposed to work on stuff like this?"
Lu Chang'sheng glanced at his parents and brother, cheeks sunken to the bone, and quietly put down his chopsticks.
"Not eating?"
"I didn't work today, not hungry!"
"Me neither! Dad, Mom, you eat!"
Surprisingly, Heitu, sitting at the side, blinked her big eyes and spoke up too.
This little girl was way more sensible than he'd expected!
Lu Chang'sheng hesitated but decided not to bring up learning words or reading books with the parents for now.
The next morning, stomach rumbling like crazy, he stepped outside.
Busy season for hard labor—best way to help was to eat and move as little as possible.
In a few days, he'd be dragged off to the fields, too.
"Black Monkey! Could I borrow your book for a bit? Promise, you can watch over me—I'll guard it like gold!"
Lu Chang'sheng tracked down Black Monkey.
The kid was still riding high off yesterday's triumph.
Any kid who caught a fish was the coolest in the village.
Just now, he overheard Mrs. Wang in the village saying Black Monkey's dad walked a loop with the fish last night, showing off to everyone.
If Old Li hadn't smelled fish and warned the father and son, they probably would've kept parading around.
The Wang family were famous for Slacking Off with fish.
Definitely a family tradition.
"What book? No way! Forget it! If I lent it to you, you'd suck up all the Book Qi. Then how am I supposed to learn to read?" Black Monkey didn't hesitate—just shot him down.
Lu Chang'sheng: 0.0!
Looking at Black Monkey's serious face, Lu Chang'sheng considered it and backed off.
"Let's go! Time for some Slacking Off! Today, I'll catch another fish! No—two! My dad says, if I catch two, I can cuddle the book tonight!"
Black Monkey led the mob of kids like a king, heading down to the river.
"Forget it—better fill my stomach first."
Lu Chang'sheng thought to himself.
Honestly, he didn't think he had much talent for Slacking Off.
"I'm cut out for studying!"
"Back home I nearly snagged the top score on the college entrance exam!"
Soon enough, they reached the river.
A swarm of little kids dropped their pants and dove right in.
Lu Chang'sheng had to admit, these kids—even young—had serious river skills.
The talented ones, like the Monkey Wang, could hold their breath for a minute or two—really blew Lu Chang'sheng's mind.
"Do what I can, I guess."
Lu Chang'sheng thought, looked around, made sure nobody was watching, slowly stripped off, and slipped into the water.
No idea why, but today, his hands felt really nimble!
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