A dilapidated courtyard, no different from other buildings in the shantytown.

The outside is simply surrounded by a fence, and inside is a bungalow with several rooms separated by door panels. There are traces of patching everywhere.

Due to water leakage, there are some broken earthenware jars placed in the corners and under the eaves.

Although the house is shabby, it is still clean and the sundries are neatly arranged.

It can be seen that the hostess took great care in cleaning up.

Li Qinglin pushed aside the fence and before he entered the house, he heard the sound of a door being pushed open from the neighboring house.

"You are... Qinglin?"

A plump woman with a thick waist and wearing a large apron was holding a winnowing basket and looking at Li Qinglin with some confusion.

It is true that Li Qinglin today is very different from the last time he visited his relatives three months ago.

Although he is still a little thin, his appearance is basically the same.

But at this moment, he was full of energy and spirit, standing straight, with a pair of dark and bright eyes, even when he looked into his own eyes, there was no flickering in his eyes.

"Gou...sister-in-law?"

Li Qinglin searched his memory and barely remembered the woman in front of him.

Sister Gou's eyes suddenly widened, she grabbed Li Qinglin's hand and looked at it over and over again.

"Good, good, it seems that you have more energy and blood, and your body is stronger."

Sister Gou touched him all over, and Li Qinglin's face rarely turned red.

"Hmm? Sister Gou can't..."

Li Qinglin took a few steps back suddenly, feeling a little overwhelmed.

But just now, this Gou sister-in-law actually pinched her butt! "Haha, you've grown up and become distant!"

Sister Gou put her hands on her hips and laughed.

The unique straightforwardness and roughness of the slum dwellers are completely different from the cautiousness of those living in the royal residence.

Li Qinglin was a little dazed for a moment.

"Here, these are the newly dried radishes from this year. I'll give you two pounds of them, and some pickled mustard. Don't refuse, just take them!"

Sister Gou was busy picking up dried radishes from the winnowing basket.

“Cough cough cough…”

A weak cough came from the room, like an old windmill, accompanied by the tearing of water in the lungs.

"This is..." Li Qinglin was a little confused.

Sister Gou was stunned for a moment, and she managed to pull the corner of her mouth and said, "A few days ago, a few thugs from the Luluo Gang came to the stall to collect the first payment. My Dahu had an argument with them and his right leg was broken..."

"But Brother Lin has returned home?" Da Hu seemed to recognize Li Qinglin's voice and his coughing gradually subsided.

"Hey, Brother Huzi, it's me."

Li Qinglin responded and was about to go into the house to visit.

"Brother Lin, don't come in. The room smells of medicine. I can't see anyone in this state."

Da Hu refused, with a hint of stubbornness in his voice.

Li Qinglin stopped and said nothing more.

After a moment.

Li Qinglin had a few more heavy bags in his hands and staggered as he pushed open the door.

The heavier the bag got, the more upset Li Qinglin felt.

"Luzhuo Gang..." Li Qinglin whispered in his heart.

…

Walking into the side room, although Li Qinglin only went home once every three months, his bedroom was well kept.

The windows were propped open and the shaky table was propped up with wooden wedges.

The air smells like sunshine.

Li Qinglin touched the quilt. Although it had some patches and was not brand new, it was still thick and seemed to have just been dried in the sun.

Li Qinglin put down his luggage and began to clean the room inside and out.

There were dishes that hadn’t been washed in the sink, firewood piled up for the winter, spider webs in the corners of the beams…

As time passed, the sky gradually darkened.

There were sounds of fighting and scrambling on the path, and the sound of creaking fences turning.

"etc!"

A boy with tiger teeth and hair tied up in a high bun stopped the girl behind him.

The boy clearly had a childish face, but at this moment he frowned, looking like a little adult.

Hearing the noise in the house, he crouched down and looked inside carefully.

The boy's name is Li Qingjing. He is Li Qinglin's younger brother and the second child in the family.

The girl at the back had pigtails, dark, sparkling eyes, and some small spots on her face. She seemed to be a little underdeveloped, and her hair was a little yellow.

The girl's name is Li Qingqing. She is the third child in the family and is only eight years old this year.

They all studied in a private school a few streets away.

It was called a private school, but in fact, it was a poor scholar who failed the imperial examination. In order to make a living, he rented a shabby ancestral hall at a relatively low price and taught several children from the neighborhood.

When Li Qinglin was young, he also studied in this private school.

Li Qingjing frowned and looked up and down at Li Qinglin who was moving tables and chairs in the room.

Suddenly his eyes lit up.

"elder brother!"

Li Qingqing didn't recognize Li Qinglin, but when she saw her second brother calling him brother, she quickly called out as well.

“Brother!”

The two little guys threw down their school bags and jumped into Li Qinglin's arms, then hung on Li Qinglin one above and one below.

Li Qinglin was stunned.

I have lived two lives as a human being, and was an only child in my previous life.

There is more or less a gap in his heart towards this world.

But at this moment, looking at the two little guys hanging on his chest, his heart suddenly softened.

"Come down, I brought you gifts."

Amid exclamations, Li Qingjing and Li Qingqing excitedly picked up the carefully packaged cakes and toys.

After Li Qingjing became excited, he asked with some concern: "Brother, these things are very expensive, right?"

"Take it if I give it to you! Big brother can make money!" Li Qinglin smiled and rubbed Li Qingjing's head.

As he was speaking, Li Qinglin heard a noise coming from outside the door.

When I look up,

Then I saw a somewhat hunched figure standing blankly in the yard.

His hair was as gray as straw, the corners of his eyes were full of wrinkles, and his eyes were gray, as if he had some eye disease.

She looks, very ugly.

Li Xianshi, Li Qinglin's mother.

Li Xianshi was still holding a few pieces of unsold coarse cloth in her hands. She recognized Li Qinglin in the dim light.

Then he shouted in surprise and even dropped the cloth in his hand.

"Lin'er? My Lin'er is back home?"

Li Qinglin's heart was like being shot by a gentle bullet, and his lips moved.

"Well, mom, I'm back."

…

At night, the waning moon is pale yellow.

Outside the house the wind was biting cold and howling.

This work is organized and uploaded by Liujiu Book Bar~~

But inside the house, a stove was lit, and it was warm as spring.

The aroma of food wafted in, including seasonal vegetables, dried radish soup sent by Sister Gou, and even a stack of bacon that was half fat and half lean and looked very tempting.

What was in the bowl was not brown rice, but fragrant sorghum noodles.

Li Qingjing and Li Qingqing took a look at the food and felt like it was Chinese New Year. They swallowed their saliva subconsciously but looked at Li Qinglin obediently.

Li Qinglin smiled gently and picked up a large piece of bacon for each of Li Xianshi, his younger brother and sister.

"Have a meal!"

During the meal, Li Xian kept talking.

Talk about the trivia of neighbors, which family has a new baby, and how a warrior who passed by a few days ago bravely punished the ruffians of the Lulu Gang...

But he never mentioned any hardships he had experienced, let alone the fact that he was driven to a remote stall because of his ugly appearance.

Li Qinglin just kept eating and only responded with a few words occasionally.

He had never tasted food so delicious before.

Putting down his chopsticks, Li Qinglin looked at Li Xianshi and opened his mouth.

He went home to visit his family with a purpose.

He wanted to go to the training ground outside the Wang residence to practice martial arts, and he needed money.

But the bare walls of the house hurt his eyes a little.

But Li Xian on the opposite side seemed to have something to say and looked hesitant.

"Brother Lin?"

Li Xianshi put down her chopsticks. The flickering candlelight passed through her back, making it impossible to see her expression.

"Do you...want to learn martial arts?"

"Huh?" Li Qinglin looked up suddenly, very surprised.

Li Xianshi seemed to be afraid that Li Qinglin would think too much, so she continued, "You will be sixteen in half a year, and this is all registered in the official household registration, so it cannot be faked.

When you turn sixteen, you have to serve in the frontier service. Your father died in the frontier service in the autumn five years ago."

Every month in Feng County, soldiers would be recruited in the county. Anyone who was sixteen years old or above was obliged to perform the service of pioneering, leaving the county seat and away from the official roads to engage in land reclamation.

However, as far as Li Qinglin knew, pioneering seemed to be extremely dangerous. After each conscription, the county was filled with mourning.

Only warriors have a higher chance of surviving! Li Qinglin's father died in the pioneering campaign five years ago.

All he got in return was six taels of silver as compensation.

Li Qinglin didn't expect that Li Xian would take the initiative to bring up this matter.

Li Xianshi seemed to have been thinking about this matter for a long time, and she kept talking.

"Brother Lin, you have been sensible since you were young, and you have grown up. You usually come into contact with noble people."

Li Xian's voice was a little hoarse.

“Mother heard that those high-ranking warriors and martial arts instructors seemed to have a way to survive the pioneering war.

Several children from across the street, even Zhang Xiaochui, a strong boy from Zhang the Butcher's family, spent a lot of money to learn martial arts, hoping to catch up at the age of sixteen.

Although several of them failed and had to go into the military, the better ones just got sick, while the worse ones never came back.”

Li Xian raised her head, carefully looked at Li Qinglin's face, and said bitterly, "Don't blame me for selling you to the Wang residence. You were made a slave and signed a life contract. This is a shame for the family. After I die, I will ask your Li family ancestors to forgive me.

But my mother had no choice. The tuition fees for becoming an apprentice in those Taoist temples were often dozens of taels of silver, which my mother could not save up even if she weaved cloth for a lifetime.

Only by selling you to a wealthy family in the inner city, where you might have the chance to learn martial arts, can you... survive."

Li Xian's words broke Li Qinglin's inherent impression of this rural woman who had worked hard all her life and had never seen the world.

Having little knowledge does not prove ignorance, but rather it is full of ambition to survive.

Li Qinglin was silent for a moment, then told the guards in Wang's residence that they could teach the tenants martial arts.

"Eight taels, eight taels."

Li Xian kept repeating these two words.

He seemed a little happy, but also a little absent-minded, as if he was thinking about something.

"I'll take care of the money, don't worry about it."

…

The night is dark.

Li Qinglin lay alone in bed, smelling the faint scent of soapberry coming from the bedding.

I couldn't sleep.

The hunched figure of Li Xianshi always lingered in my mind.

He turned over, faced the wall, and exhaled to dispel the distracting thoughts in his mind.

Then his consciousness was withdrawn, his vision changed, and he appeared inside the body of the bell toad.

Wang's house.

Even though the well is pitch black, it does not affect the bell toad's perception at all.

The sense of smell and touch convey a large amount of information at all times.

The bell toad crawled out from the gap, twisted its strong hind legs, and turned its body upside down.

The bell toad stared at the calm water surface.

I don’t know how much time passed.

Suddenly, circles of lines spread out on the water surface.

A series of bubbles floated up.

A faint fishy smell wafted out.

Then I saw a small finger-sized fish swimming quickly across the water, turning over on its belly, waving its fins, and diving towards the well again.

Li Qinglin was a little surprised.

"There are actually fish at the bottom of this well?!"

(End of this chapter)