Xuanbao had achieved her goal. Clutching her Five-Colored Stone, she slid off the stool. "I'm going back to sleep!"
As Xuanbao ran out, she purposefully passed by Ruo He's side. With one hand cradling the stone and the other touching the medicine on his eyes, she said, "Uncle, take good care of your eyes. You'll be able to see very soon."
After speaking, she dashed out.
Ruo He felt a faint coolness on his eyes, assuming it was from his niece's small hand pressing the medicated pack and the medicine dripping down. He didn't think much of it.
Ruo Chuan watched his niece's disappearing figure in amazement. "Xuanbao is that strong? She can lift such a large stone at the age of three?"
Ruo Shui had just found out as well. After watching his daughter enter his own mother's room, he said with joy, "Xuanbao is like me, incredibly strong!"
Among the Ruo Family brothers, the eldest and the fourth had inherited their old man's incredible strength.
Of course, the fourth was even more impressive, truly talented in both literary and martial arts.
If it weren't for the family's consecutive misfortunes and the decline of their household, given that every one of the Ruo Family's six sons was extraordinary, the Ruo Family would be in a very different, glorious situation now.
For a moment, the Ruo Family brothers, reminded of the past, all fell silent, each quietly focusing on their own tasks.
The Ruo Family would surely rise again.
Ruo Shui picked up his writing brush, dipped it in ink, and continued to copy down the text. He had not read this book before, and its content was profound and difficult to understand, so his copying was slow.
The reason the brothers took up this time-consuming and low-paying job of copying books was simply to take the opportunity to read more books and gain more knowledge.
To avoid making mistakes, they copied sentence by sentence, and when they encountered something unclear, they would stop to think about it.
The faint scent of ink wafted into their noses, and their minds became clearer and clearer. Although they didn't quite understand the content when they read it, as soon as they finished copying a sentence, enlightenment struck and they understood.
Even their thoughts became like a bubbling spring, leading to profound reflections...
*
Carrying a stone, Xuanbao arrived at Granny Lei's house and knocked on the door. "Granny, I want to sleep with you."
Granny Lei had just divided her silver into two parts and hidden them well. The larger portion was the dowry she had saved for Xuanbao, tucked away under the bed.
Hearing Xuanbao's voice, she hurried to open the door, carried Xuanbao into the house, and placed her on the bed. "Why does Xuanbao want to sleep with Granny tonight?"
Xuanbao whispered, "To pick jujubes early tomorrow morning."
Granny Lei's heart skipped a beat. She calmed herself down and asked again, "Is this the stone your father called the treasure of the shop? Shall Granny put it away for you?"
"Mm, this is my protection stone. I can take care of it myself." With a thought from Xuanbao, the stone vanished.
This was the life-sustaining stone that had nourished her. It was her haven, so she could easily store it within her body.
Inside the Five-Colored Stone was a small space that held her collection of the past hundred years, including the Pen-Washing Water from Lord Literary Star, an old book bag, a discarded Medicine Cauldron from Medicine King, fur shed by a millennium-old fox spirit, the Four Great Spiritual Waters, and other items belonging to deities.
Because Ruo Shui's waters could purify all things, carrying the weight of neither goose feather nor dirt, many honored deities would discard their unwanted items into the Ruoshui River, letting them sink to the bottom to be cleansed and eliminated by the Ruo Shui.
But she found life too boring, and since those items all contained precious spiritual energy, she asked for them and played with them.
Over time, she had gathered quite a collection.
As the stone disappeared into thin air, Granny Lei's heart raced!
"Granny, let's go to sleep!" said Xuanbao, and right after speaking, she rolled under the moonlight, closed her eyes, and began to cultivate.
Just now, treating her uncle's eyes had completely drained her spiritual power.
Being human is truly difficult!
Soon, Xuanbao's small body fell asleep, but her little soul busied itself digging within her Dantian...
Watching the precious granddaughter asleep by her side, Granny Lei tucked her in tighter. Her heart was still racing, and she even felt anxious. With Xuanbao being so incredible, what should they do? Could the Ruo Family keep her safe her entire life?
That night, Granny Lei's heartbeat never left the fast lane.
Dawn was still far off when Xuanbao filled the little pit in her Dantian and woke up.
At the slightest movement from Xuanbao, Granny Lei awoke.
Though she went to bed late and worried all night, upon waking, she found herself feeling refreshed and lighter than ever.
She knew this must have been her granddaughter's doing, and her feelings became even more complex.
"Granny, the jujubes are ripe,"
Granny Lei's heart raced again! She tried to remain calm and said, "I'll ask your dad to get up and pick the jujubes. Xuanbao, continue sleeping, don't get up."
Ruo Xuan shook her head, "No, Granny, let's go to the field and take a look. I still have a little bit of Spiritual Energy left."
Granny Lei's heart nearly stopped!
"No, you can't go outside!" she sternly refused.
"It's okay, Granny, don't worry, it's not noticeable. This amount of Spiritual Energy is only enough to enhance the yield a little, you can't tell at all," Ruo Xuan jumped out of bed and ran out.
Granny Lei had no choice but to follow. As soon as she stepped out of the house, she saw a tree full of ripe, big, and red jujubes!
She was so shocked that her footsteps, just like her heartbeat, hurriedly ran to wake up the fourth daughter-in-law's couple in the west wing.
When the Ruo Shui couple got up and saw the tree laden with ripe jujubes, they were already mentally prepared and were still shocked!
Granny Lei: "Your dad came to me in a dream, you two hurry!"
It was better to let the old man take the blame! How could so many deities show their favor?
The couple sprang into action quickly.
After giving instructions to the couple, Granny Lei took Xuanbao out.
She feared that if they left any later, they would encounter people from the village when they returned.
Madam Liu wanted to ask Granny Lei why she was taking Xuanbao to the fields?
But upon seeing the tree full of jujubes, she decisively gave up.
~
The Ruo Family's fields were located at the foot of the mountain behind the village, and since they didn't have to go through the village, there was no fear of waking the villagers with barking dogs.
The fields were especially dark at dawn, yet one could faintly see the dark mountain standing like a giant, with endless fields at its feet.
It was early autumn, and the rice was nearly ripe, so Ruo Xuan could smell the faint scent of the rice.
Soon, Granny Lei carried Ruo Xuan on her back to the Ruo Family's fields.
Ruo Xuan clearly felt that the rice in the Ruo Family's field was not growing well.
If the crops were not good, it was because the soil was not good.
Ruo Xuan stretched out her little paw and grabbed a handful of soil from the field, smelling it.
Plants rely on soil and water for growth, and, being a flower herself, she knew the land best.
This soil must have been contaminated by grass and wood ash with evil energy.
"Granny, have we spread grass and wood ash on our land?"
"Yes, we have! Every year we do. Without grass and wood ash, the soil isn't fertile, and the crops won't grow well. Every household uses it as fertilizer. What's wrong?"
In that era, grass and wood ash mixed with animal manure was considered the best fertilizer.
"It must have been grass and wood ash from the past that was tainted with ash used for evil magic, probably seven or eight years ago! That's why the rice in the field isn't growing well."
Granny Lei: "..."
All the grass and wood ash came from burning the firewood and straw at home, so how could there be ash used for evil magic?
Then Granny Lei remembered that their fields started having problems indeed from seven or eight years ago, the old man had passed away around seven or eight years ago, and the Ruo Family had begun to face continuous misfortune since then.
So the misfortune of her family was because of this reason?
Who would be so wicked?
Was someone trying to ruin and devastate the Ruo Family?
Granny Lei felt chills run through her, her entire body turning cold, "Does Xuanbao have a way to solve this?"