Chapter 3 The Art of Drawing Circles

At night, Chu Ning had a dream.

In the dream, I met the little Taoist boy in Sanqing Mountain.

At this moment, the little Taoist boy had a look of grievance on his face as he was being scolded by an old Taoist.

"Two longevity fruits. An ordinary person can live ten thousand years longer if he takes one. Although his life span will not increase any more if he takes the second one, the energy of the longevity fruit will be stored in his body and increase his strength day by day. You are harming this person."

"The snake spirit was subdued by my master and was responsible for guarding the mountain gate. It only dared to devour the essence of heaven and earth and did not dare to do such a heinous thing as eating people. This person rashly broke in, and the snake spirit could at most scare him away. But you gave this person these two longevity fruits, and the snake spirit became murderous. If it swallowed this person, it would be able to achieve ten thousand years of cultivation and escape from the cave."

Chu Ning was stunned when he heard this.

Did the giant snake swallow me because I ate two longevity fruits?

So the little Taoist boy meant well but did something bad?

"Master, I know I was wrong."

"This man is a mortal who accidentally stumbled into a blessed land. One day in the blessed land is equivalent to ten years in the mortal world. If you are kind, give him a drink of spiritual spring water to add ten years to his life.

"You gave him two longevity fruits. It was originally a chance encounter, but this person is unlucky and cannot enjoy it. It is also destined by fate. Don't make the same mistake again."

"Disciple understands."

…

…

"Fuck your uncle's fate!"

Chu Ning woke up with a flickering look in his eyes. The old Taoist priest was cursing behind him. If the contents of the dream were true, then after his soul had traveled through time and space, would this body inherit the effect of the longevity fruit?

Logically, there is no such thing as soul traveling across time and space, but when Chu Ning thought about the first day he traveled across time and space, his strength increased by dozens of pounds.

What if I inherit it?

Its strength increases day by day.

It is not difficult to verify.

…

…

Outside the door.

The rain is falling heavily.

Inside the door.

Chu Ning sat on the doorstep.

He is the only one at home.

The old aunt went out to pick wild vegetables, carrying a bamboo basket on her back.

He followed his old aunt to pick them several times, but each time he was persuaded to go back after a while by his old aunt.

After a thunderstorm, thunder god shit, a kind of algae plant, will grow on the grass and stone surfaces. It is somewhat similar to wood ear and tastes extremely delicious when used to make soup.

He has eaten it several times.

Seven days have passed since he traveled through time.

Four days ago, Daning County finally welcomed a rainfall, ending the drought. Then, as if to compensate the people, God made it rain for three consecutive days.

Although food prices have not dropped much, at least some wild vegetables are slowly growing.

Now he knew what the object wrapped in red paper was that his old aunt took out from the earthen stove that day.

A pair of bracelets that my father bought for my aunt after he became a constable.

Before, when the family had no food to eat, my aunt didn't pawn the jade bracelet. It was not only to keep it as a memory, but also to regard the jade bracelet as life-saving money.

I have been weak since I was a child and often fall ill. If I keep this jade bracelet, in case I fall ill again one day, I will have money to buy medicine to save my life.

In the end, it was pawned by my aunt in exchange for a bag of brown rice and two pounds of meat.

The jade bracelet worth twenty taels of silver was only exchanged for a bag of brown rice and two kilograms of meat. To be honest, Chu Ning felt a little distressed.

But my aunt did it anyway.

Because the registration time for the school is approaching.

Let Chu Ning at least have enough to eat every day so that he will have the strength to pass the school assessment.

After seven days, Chu Ning verified his guess and found that the effect of the longevity fruit was inherited by this body.

His strength was indeed increasing dramatically every day.

Since the strength is inherited, the lifespan should be inherited as well.

This verification gave him a glimmer of hope, although his strength increased little every day, just about one kilogram.

Sometimes it’s more than a pound, sometimes it’s less than a pound.

He also figured out the reasons for the instability.

If you eat more, you will grow more.

If you eat better, you will grow more.

If you don't eat anything for a day, the growth power will be almost negligible.

If you eat the same thing two days in a row, you will gain more strength after exercising than without exercising.

Chu Ning judged that the energy contained in the longevity fruit was like the water in a reservoir, stored in his body and blocked by a dam. How much water could be released each time depended on how wide he could open the gate.

Factors that affect the size of the gate are exercise and food. As for whether it is related to his growth at this stage, there may be some relationship, but the proportion should be very small.

…

…

After the rain, the sky cleared up and the sun rose.

Today, Chu Ning changed into freshly washed clothes early in the morning.

I drank two bowls of rice porridge, ate three eggs, and left home under the expectant gaze of my old aunt.

Today is the day for Daning County School to enroll students.

The school is in the east of the city, which is also the area where the powerful and wealthy people in the city live. Compared with the low houses in other places, the east of the city is full of high-rise courtyards. Captain Huang’s home is also in the east of the city.

When Chu Ning rushed to the school, there were already many parents bringing their children to register at the entrance. The entire school gate was bustling with activity. With the addition of some people who came to watch the fun, the street in front of the school was packed with people.

After finally squeezing to the school entrance, they saw two soldiers guarding the door, holding spears and with sharp eyes. The people around did not dare to get within ten feet of them.

“No one except those who have registered is allowed to enter.”

As the soldiers glanced around, many of the people who were pushed to the front tried their best to retreat. In previous years, some people were too blind to get too close and were stabbed by spears.

Seeing this, Chu Ning walked towards the door. The two soldiers glanced at Chu Ning but did not stop him.

With their eyesight, they could tell that Chu Ning was under seventeen years old. As for whether he had enough strength, they would have to take an assessment in school to find out.

As you step into the school gate, you will see a martial arts arena.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

The martial arts arena occupies most of the front yard of the school. It is extremely spacious, with blue-grey stone slabs neatly laid on the ground. There are weapon racks on both sides, and each weapon gleams coldly in the sun.

Solemn and solemn.

There were already dozens of teenagers on the field at this moment, but most of them looked excited and nervous. They stood separately and rarely talked to each other.

No one was in the mood to chat before facing a major exam that could change their lives.

On one side of the martial arts arena, some teenagers were queuing in front of a table. Two middle-aged men were sitting behind the table. One man was responsible for asking questions, and the other was responsible for writing down the registration.

Chu Ning also consciously lined up at the back and waited for registration, but he was thinking in his heart, where should he go to find Instructor Liu?

Ask someone at the school? Wouldn't that be too obvious?

While Chu Ning was thinking, the candidates in front of him had finished registering.

"What's your name and where is your home?"

"Chu Ning, my home is in the alley of Si Hutong in the south of the city."

Chu Ning answered quickly, and asked the man casually, "Are there any living martial artists among your elders or relatives?"

"My father Chu Ping was a martial arts master and a former police chief, but he passed away five years ago."

The man who was asking questions did not ask any more questions, and the person on the right who was responsible for taking notes put down the pen after writing Chu Ning's name.

Chu Ning glanced at the ranking words on the paper and quickly added, "However, my father was also a good friend of Captain Huang. Captain Huang was very happy to know that I would like to attend the school and asked me to find Instructor Liu after I enter the school."

At this moment, Chu Ning no longer cared whether there would be any trouble if he said it so directly, because he had seen through the trick of this registration.

The paper had the names of the candidates taking the test this time, but Chu Ning found that some of these people had dots behind their names and some did not.

The dot is very small, just like a period. Other candidates might not notice anything. However, as the CEO of a listed company in his previous life, Chu Ning had dealt with many leaders and heard many interesting stories about them.

Among them is an interesting story about approving documents.

There are usually hidden secrets in the documents that leaders approve, and only their subordinates can understand these secrets.

One of the secrets is to add a period after the written comments.

The leader's instructions include "agree, please speed up the process" or "settle the balance as soon as possible." It seems that he is asking the people below to hurry up, but when the people below see that there is no period, they know that the leader is not serious about the matter and will continue to delay it.

Of course, the main reason why leaders engage in such secrets is to get rid of those who come to them by dragging their connections and favors.

Using this method not only makes the person who is doing the work happy when reading the words, but the people below can also understand the leader's thoughts and avoid actually violating the rules.

It is absolutely impossible to say that there is nothing fishy about the registration paper in front of me.

Sure enough, after hearing Chu Ning's words, the man holding the pen put the pen up again.

The man on the left asked: "Which Captain Huang?"

"Uncle Huang Zhongtai."

The two men looked at each other with an inexplicable look in their eyes, and the next moment the man holding the pen put a small dot behind Chu Ning's name.

Although this dot is not as big as the ones behind some people’s names, it’s still okay compared to those who don’t have dots.

He has now figured it out. Those with big dots after their names should be those with strong connections and need special care, while people like him are the ones who need general care.

"No matter what your background is, the martial arts test is to select successors for the court. No one can cheat for personal gain. If you can't pass the test, it will be useless even if you know the head instructor. Go line up over there and wait for the group test."

The man on the left suddenly shouted loudly with a righteous look on his face. Chu Ning turned pale and quickly apologized, but he was secretly complaining in his heart. If I hadn't seen the circle behind the name, I would have almost believed it.

The reason why the teacher did this was that there were people queuing behind him, and the conversation just now was also heard by the candidates behind him. He wanted to show the school's impartiality and fairness.

Chu Ning walked towards the martial arts arena with a terrified expression on his face, and the candidates waiting in line gave him angry and contemptuous looks.

These people all heard the loud scolding from the instructor in charge of registration, and in their minds they already regarded Chu Ning as someone who wanted to take advantage of others.

Fortunately, the teacher was very fair, which gave them more confidence.

Chu Ning felt helpless when he saw the looks in these teenagers’ eyes. They were really a bunch of naive kids.

…

…

Half an hour later, the school door was closed and all candidates had completed registration.

The two teachers also put away the list and walked towards the inside of the academy, talking in low voices as they walked.

"This year, there are several candidates with good family backgrounds."

"In terms of background, Chief Huang should have the most power, but I'm afraid that Chu Ning doesn't have a very close relationship with Chief Huang."

"Chief Huang was promoted to Chief Patrolman last year, but Chu Ning still addresses him as Captain Huang, which shows that they are not close friends. Since his father was also a captain, I think he must have asked for help from Chief Huang's family, and Chief Huang might have decided to help out out of kindness."

"Yes, that's my guess. Although Chu Ning and Chief Huang don't have a very close relationship, Chief Huang has done him a favor, so let him pass. If there is no successor, he will be eliminated in three months."

(End of this chapter)