Nine Transformations of the True Spirit

The next morning, Chen Yuan woke up from his sleep, got dressed, and pushed the door open.

It was still early, the sun was rising, and the Chimang Mountains in the distance were shrouded in a thin layer of morning mist. The green mountains were faintly visible, and the ancient trees were lush, like a fairyland.

According to legend, someone once saw immortals in the Chimang Mountains, flying in the sky and hiding in the ground, moving mountains and taking peaks.

Until now, there are still old people who worship the immortals in the mountains every year and ask for their blessings.

The smoke from cooking in the village was curling, and the voices of people could be heard vaguely.

The excitement of yesterday's wedding had dissipated, and the farmers began a new day of busyness.

Chen Li was busy in front of the stove in the yard. When she saw Chen Yuan coming out, she called out:

"Erniu, wake up my little sister, it's time to eat."

"Okay."

Chen Yuan agreed and went back to the house to wake up my little sister.

My little sister didn't have a real name, so she was called Chen Xiaomei.

All the girls in the farmers' families were like this, with only a nickname for easy address.

After Chen Yuan woke up his younger sister, he moved the yellow wooden table out of the big thatched house and put it in the yard.

Chen Li brought four bowls of freshly cooked porridge, Chen Tiezhu took out a coarse flour cake from the cabinet, and scooped out a bowl of pickles from the pickle jar in front of the house. The family sat around the table and started to eat breakfast.

After Chen Yuan accepted the starlight infusion, his appetite became larger and larger. He spent a night half-hungry and half-full, and was extremely hungry. He picked up the coarse flour cake and gobbled it with pickles.

Not long after, one cake was eaten, and Chen Yuan reached for the second cake.

But when he touched the cake, he paused and turned to look at Chen Tiezhu.

Chen Tiezhu had only eaten a small half of the cake in his hand.

When he saw Chen Yuan's action, the wrinkles on his face seemed to deepen, and he said:

"Eat it."

Chen Yuan then picked up the second cake and ate it in big mouthfuls.

When he finished the second cake, the other three were almost full.

Chen Tiezhu ate a pancake, Chen Li ate most of it, and the little sister had the smallest appetite and only ate half of it.

Chen Li picked up the porridge in front of her and asked with concern:

"Erniu, are you full?"

Chen Yuan was not full, of course, but he did not ask for more. He also picked up the porridge and said:

"Mom, I'm full."

He knew that if he asked, his parents would definitely not let him go hungry.

But he did nothing in the morning and ate three coarse flour pancakes, which was too shocking.

He could only endure the hunger in his stomach and pretend to be full.

...

After the family finished breakfast, Chen Li cleaned the stove and washed the dishes.

After feeding the only old hen in the family, Chen Yuan picked up the farm tools and followed Chen Tiezhu to the fields to tend the crops.

The Chen family planted five acres of land and dug for food in the fields all day long.

The little sister was not idle either. She followed Chen Yuan and Chen Tiezhu out to find familiar children of the same age, and then went to the river to pick pig grass together.

Chen Yuan's family was poor and could not afford piglets, but there were several wealthy families in Chenjia Village who raised pigs.

The younger sister helped the children of those families to pick grass for the pigs, which could be exchanged for food at noon to reduce the burden on the family.

Chen Yuan sent the younger sister to the river, and then went to the field with Chen Tiezhu. Taking advantage of the cool weather, they began to weed and loosen the land.

Chen Yuan was strong and had good endurance, so he worked much faster than Chen Tiezhu.

A quarter of an hour later, Chen Li also came to the field, picked up farm tools, and joined the two.

The three worked until almost noon, and before the sun rose above their heads, they went home.

At lunch, Chen Yuan ate three cakes.

The wrinkles on Chen Tiezhu's face deepened.

In the afternoon, when the hottest time was over, Chen Yuan followed his parents and continued to work in the fields.

The three did not return home until the sun set in the west.

The younger sister had already prepared the meal, which was the same as in the morning and noon, still porridge, coarse flour cakes and pickles.

Farmers can't afford better food, so it's not easy to barely fill their stomachs.

Chen Yuan ate two cakes, and the feeling of half-hunger and half-fullness that lasted for a day finally disappeared.

Ordinary people only eat one coarse flour cake for a meal. Chen Yuan ate seven today and five last night.

It took an ordinary person four days of food to fully digest the benefits brought by the starlight infusion.

After dinner, Chen Yuan went to chop wood as usual. Feeling a little stronger than yesterday, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Crack! Crack!

Chen Yuan chopped one piece of firewood after another, and didn't feel tired at all.

The little sister watched with relish and told the interesting things that happened during the day:

"Second brother, look, the flowers I picked are beautiful..."

Chen Yuan looked over, and the little sister smiled and tilted her head. A bright red flower was inserted in her slightly dry hair.

Chen Yuan felt a little distressed, but he praised:

"Pretty, my little sister is the prettiest, even with dogtail grass on her head, she'd still be pretty."

"Hmph, second brother is lying, dogtail grass is the ugliest..."

In the big thatched cottage, Chen Tiezhu sat in front of the yellow wooden table, watching the brothers and sisters laughing and talking in the yard, silent.

He held the pipe in his hand, opened it, took a deep breath of the smell of the dry tobacco leaves, and then slowly exhaled a long breath.

The Chen family was too poor, so he only smoked dry tobacco every few days, and usually could only smell the tobacco leaves to satisfy his craving.

Chen Li sat on the other side of the yellow wooden table, opened her eyes wide, and used the last ray of sunlight to sew the soles of her coarse cloth shoes.

Chen Tiezhu suddenly said:

"Mother, when I went to Dahua's house for a banquet yesterday, I sat at the same table with his second son and talked for a while. Chen's second son is doing well in the county, and he specializes in finding apprentices for the shop. Why don't we ask him to help Erniu find a job..."

Chen Li stopped her movements, rubbed her eyes, and said:

"Let Erniu go to the city? No! He is so young, what should he do if he is bullied?"

"When you are young, people accept you. When you get older, your temper becomes wild, and people still don't want you."

Chen Li still refuses:

"The shopkeepers and managers in those shops are all evil-minded. The third son of Chen Huaishu's family went to the county to be an apprentice and was beaten half to death. How can Er Niu endure this suffering?"

Chen Tiezhu knocked his cigarette stick and sighed:

"Er Niu's appetite is getting bigger and bigger. He ate seven pancakes in one day today. He is not allowed to go out to find a way to survive. He follows us to dig food in the fields and can't even have a full meal. That's called suffering!"

Mrs. Chen Li's face darkened, and she spoke after a long while:

"Are you willing to accept Erniu as an apprentice?"

Chen Tiezhu breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his mother-in-law relenting:

"Take it! Chen Laoer knows that Er Niu is very strong, so he made a guarantee with me. As long as Er Niu is handed over to him, he won't have to worry about finding a job."

Chen Li held the coarse cloth soles full of patches in her hands and said softly:

"Then give it a try."

"Okay, I'll go find Chen Laoer tomorrow and finalize the matter..."

Chen Li was silent, suddenly stood up, took a wooden box from the bedside, counted twenty clean copper plates from it, handed it to Chen Tiezhu, and said:

"Give this money to Chen Laoer and ask him to help Erniu find a good job so that Erniu will suffer less."

Chen Tiezhu took the copper plate, put it into the coarse cloth bag he carried with him, and said:

"This time Dahua's son got married and built a house. Erniu and I did a lot of work. Chen Laoer is his uncle, so he has to admit his love. If he gives me some money, he will definitely not treat Erniu badly."

Mrs. Chen Li picked up the coarse cloth sole again, sighed and said:

"It depends on Er Niu's fate. I just ask him not to blame me for being such a cruel mother."

…

Click——click——

In the yard, Chen Yuan lowered his head, pursed his lips, and chopped firewood much slower.

Although Chen Tiezhu and Chen Li deliberately lowered their voices, he still listened to their conversation word for word.

After twenty-two starlight injections, Chen Yuan's physical body was improved in all aspects. Not only was his strength greatly increased, but his five senses were also far superior to ordinary people.

Hearing that his parents were going to send him to be an apprentice, Chen Yuan had mixed feelings in his heart.

Since time travel, Chen Tiezhu and Chen Li have been very good to him, and he really regards them as his parents.

In the past three years, Chen Yuan has repeatedly wanted to change his destiny and let his family live a prosperous life.

His first thought was naturally to do business, but the Chen family was poor and had no capital.

Computers and finance, which Chen Yuan is most proficient in, have no use in this era.

He also didn’t understand how to make glass, liquor, and soap. Even if he did, he wouldn’t dare to use them.

All profitable businesses have been taken over by powerful landlords and official gangs.

Chen Yuan is a commoner, so don't get involved, otherwise you will definitely be eaten alive.

Unable to succeed in business, Chen Yuan thought of studying, literacy, and becoming an official through the imperial examination, which were also his strengths.

There is a private school in Chenjia Village, which was funded and established by Chen Rongcai, the only landowner in the village, and an old boy over fifty years old was hired to teach.

Chen Yuan went to ask Lao Tongsheng to teach him how to read and digit.

But he couldn't come up with Shu Xiu, so Lao Tongsheng remained unmoved.

The Chen family was so poor that after paying the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, it was difficult to maintain food and clothing, let alone repair.

Unable to get into private school, Chen Yuan wanted to learn writing secretly.

But he couldn't afford books, and it was impossible for anyone to lend them to him.

Later, after being infused with starlight, Chen Yuan became light and healthy, and climbed over the wall in the middle of the night to steal old Tongsheng's books.

But no one helped him get started, and there were no auxiliary books such as dictionaries. He couldn't even pass the threshold, and he still couldn't learn to write.

There is no way to study, and it is even less feasible to learn martial arts.

He was poor in literature but rich in martial arts, so the money he paid to practice martial arts as a disciple was far more than Shu Xiu. It often cost dozens of taels of silver, but Chen Yuan simply couldn't afford it.

In feudal society, there was a strict hierarchy, and poor people had no choice but to accept their fate.

However, Chen Yuan actually has one last way to change his destiny, which is to become a bandit in the Chimang Mountains and block roads.

With his strength, he should be able to get through even if he doesn't know martial arts.

But he was too young, just a child. Even if he wanted to be a bandit, no one would want him.

With all roads blocked, Chen Yuan once again thought of going into the mountains to hunt in order to fill his stomach.

But hunting is not that simple. Although he has great strength, he can't trace the traces or set up nooses. This is the key to whether he can catch the prey.

Wild animals are hidden in the vast mountains and forests, and they are extremely vigilant, making it extremely difficult to find them.

There are only a few hunters in Chenjia Village, and they will not spread their eating skills to others.

There are only so many wild animals in the nearby mountains and forests. They can't catch enough by themselves, so how can they allow others to get involved.

In desperation, Chen Yuan could only put aside all his thoughts and wait until he grew up in a few years before making any plans.

Given the opportunity to live a new life and the magical jade, he would never be willing to farm the land for the rest of his life.

When he heard that his parents were going to send him to be an apprentice, he felt reluctant to leave his family but at the same time, he was also looking forward to it.

No matter what you do, it is better than staying in Chenjiacun and farming.

At the very least, he had to eat enough first so that he could safely perform the starlight injection.

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