Not long after he laid down on the bed, the headache began.
This time, Lu Heng tried his best to quantify the pain, as he wanted to see if the headache had really become less intense.
Time passed quickly.
The pain in his head gradually intensified but, just as it was about to supersede the intensity of his previous headache, it suddenly stopped entirely.
It was not only that. Lu Heng found that his consciousness was still relatively clear. Although he felt a little groggy, he could still clearly sense his surroundings and think.
Just like that, he laid on the bed for a full quarter of an hour. He did not fall unconscious this time.
He had even become more and more clear-headed.
Lu Heng slowly sat up, turning his head to look at the alarm clock.
"Could it be that my body developed resistance to the flower poison ginseng?"
He had not slept for an entire night and morning, so he had already been sleepy before taking the first flower poison ginseng. Logically speaking, he should not have been able to wake up for quite some time after fainting.
In the end, after taking the flower poison ginseng twice, the combined duration of his unconsciousness was far less than the first time.
In fact, this time, the pain had only lasted for a short period of time, and he had been awake the entire time.
"I don't know if eating these two flower poison ginseng plants will help me to increase my talent, and I won't be able to test things out for the time being."
If he wanted to know if his talent had improved once again, he would have to practice martial arts for an extended period of time before he could come to a conclusion.
It was impossible to measure within a short period of time.
'Let's just assume that my talent has improved again,' Lu Heng thought to himself.
After taking the flower poison ginseng the first time, his talent had improved, so there was a high probability that the same process would yield a similar result.
"However, why does the flower poison ginseng improve my talent?"
Rubbing his chin, Lu Heng fell into deep thought.
His body's reaction to the consumption of flower poison ginseng was completely different from others. There were no signs of muscle spasms or convulsions.
At that time, He Bing had made it very clear that the plant's poison acted upon the muscles and fascia.
If what he said was true, then the plant's poison had likely not affected his body.
The fact that his muscles had not been strengthened and his strength had not risen also proved this conjecture.
In other words, he had not been poisoned after eating the flower poison ginseng.
There were two possible explanations for this. The first was that his body was extremely resistant to poison, and the second was that there was something that helped his body resist the corrosion of the poison.
The former could be ruled out. After all, if his body was special, it would have been discovered during the school's physical examination.
Of course, Lu Heng was not entirely certain about this since he did not know what aspects the physical examination covered.
No matter what though, the possibility of it being the former was very small.
In that case, the second explanation was most likely the right one. Something had helped him resist the poison.
"Could it be that while resisting the poison, it released some kind of energy that stimulated my brain and body, causing my talent to evolve?"
Lu Heng pondered on the possibilities.
After thinking about it, he realized that this was the only possible explanation.
After all, based on what he knew, a person's talent would not change after birth.
The word 'talent' implied that it was something one was born with and that it was determined by nature. If talent could be changed after birth, it would not be called talent then.
Therefore, the fact that his talent could evolve was simply unbelievable. It had most likely been caused by external factors.
Moreover, this line of thinking was completely logical; it made complete sense.
Following this line of thinking, Lu Heng continued to ponder, "If such a thing exists, is it inside my head?"
All three times he took flower poison ginseng, he had experienced headaches. He even fainted the first two times.
Therefore, Lu Heng had every reason to suspect that, if such a thing existed, it was probably inside his head.
As for what that thing actually was, he had no clue.
Lu Heng frowned and fell into a state of deep thought.
Unfortunately, this was the extent of his knowledge. He was greatly lacking in terms of practical and theoretical knowledge.
The conclusions he had just reached were just unproven conjectures, too.
"If only I could get into university."
"The university library could be called an ocean of knowledge. The knowledge I seek is definitely in there."
Thinking this, Lu Heng shook his head.
He no longer had any chance of getting into university. Thinking about such implausible matters would only add to his worries.
Instead, he would be better off thinking about what benefits he would be able to obtain if his talent could continue to evolve; at least this would make him happier.
"Martial arts talent not only affects the rate of a martial artist's progress, but also determines the upper limit of a martial artist's strength."
Lu Heng recalled a sentence that he had heard many times.
This sentence was very easy to understand. If one was blessed with good talent, one would naturally learn quickly. Moreover, under the same conditions, one's achievements would be greater than that of others.
It was just like the physical differences between men and women. Everyone ate the same things, but men's strength was generally greater than women's. This was an example of an upper limit determined by physique.
Does this mean that I will gain a larger increase in strength than others when I consume those energy drugs?
My body's adaptability to qi should also influence how well my body absorbs the energy drug, right?
Lu Heng suddenly recalled the energy drugs that Instructor Wu had mentioned earlier.
He wondered if he would be able to instantly achieve the level of strength required to become a martial artist after consuming the energy drugs, which would allow him to successfully pass the martial arts assessment even earlier.
"When I have the chance, I should ask Senior Brother He later. He probably has some understanding of this matter."
"I'll also ask him about the ginseng again."
"I just don't know if he will tell me anything..."
Lu Heng looked at the alarm clock and realized that it was getting late. He put away the iron box by the bedside and immediately fell asleep.
Time passed quickly.
By the time Lu Heng was woken up by the alarm clock, it was already 4.30pm. There was only one and a half hours remaining before his shift started.
He quickly got up, grabbed his work clothes, and headed to the public bathhouse to take a shower.
Jiangnan City's water reserves were plentiful, so there were no restrictions on bathing, and it was similar to the old era.
It was just that the water was a little cold in the winter, which tested people's endurance.
Lu Heng moved quickly and, in less than ten minutes, he came back with a basin.
However, as soon as he entered the door, he found that Xiaoxiao was behaving strangely.
Originally, Xiaoxiao would have taken the initiative to greet him, but she now seemed evasive and even appeared to have tears in her eyes.
Lu Heng was a little puzzled about what was going on, so he closed the door, put down the basin, and went over to Xiaoxiao's side.
"Xiaoxiao, what's wrong?" Lu Heng asked gently.
"Second brother, you should... Throw Xiaoxiao away!"
Lu Xiaoxiao said with a sobbing voice.
Lu Heng was stunned. Why would Xiaoxiao suddenly say something like this out of the blue? He was a little confused.
Although he knew that Xiaoxiao had always felt that she was a burden to him and the family, there had to be other reasons behind her sudden outburst of emotions.