The morning light was faint and gentle.
Wang Heihou crawled out of bed under his old man's sharp glare and scolding, sticking his butt out as he washed his face.
Suddenly, he heard voices not far away.
"Wow~ would you look at that, a Lu Family kid caught a fish too!"
"Sure did, Mrs. Liu!"
"Impressive, impressive!"
"Lu Family finally gets to eat meat tonight!"
······
Wang Heihou forgot about washing his face, and bolted outside shirtless. At the edge of the village, he saw a small figure striding along.
In her hand, she held a fish, about the width of three or four fingers.
It must've just been caught—still alive, its tail kept twitching now and then.
Wang Heihou rubbed his eyes, stepped a bit closer. Shielded by shadows under the eaves, he finally saw who it was.
"Er Dan! How'd you end up catching a fish!"
He yelled at the top of his lungs.
Chang'sheng paused his steps, walked over to Black Monkey grinning, "Just got lucky, ran into a school of little fish at the creek!"
Wang Heihou instantly felt jealous.
He knew a thing or two about catching fish, and understood that sometimes it was really just luck, so he didn't dwell on it long.
He hurried off to grab his pals and go fish for himself.
Chang'sheng chuckled, took the quieter path home, dodging the crowd.
Mrs. Lu was busy in the kitchen making breakfast.
Little Heitu wobbled across the floor, picking up bits of firewood to hand to Mrs. Lu.
Out of nowhere, the front door creaked open.
"Little Heitu!"
"Brother!"
Little Heitu didn't even look up, straining to lift a chunk of firewood off the floor.
Chang'sheng rushed over, feeling both worried and amused, so he dangled the fish right in front of Little Heitu.
Thump!
"Aiya! What just fell down?" Little Heitu squealed in surprise, dropping the stick she was hugging to her chest.
She bent down to hunt for the culprit, then stopped dead in her tracks.
"Whoa! A fish—wow!"
"Did a fish just fall from the sky?!"
Too excited to bother with the firewood, Little Heitu pounced forward, pressing the fish under her belly.
The fish, apparently panicked at the heavy weight, started wriggling fiercely, flipping wood chips all over Little Heitu's face.
But Little Heitu couldn't care less—she clung to that fish for dear life and lurched to her feet.
"Hey, Brother! A fish fell from the sky!"
She looked up at Chang'sheng, her eyes squinting into little crescent moons.
"Did it?"
"Of course! Look, it's right here in my arms! How about we ask Mom to make fish soup for dinner?"
"Sounds great!"
Little Heitu squealed with joy, clutching the fish and running off to the kitchen.
Soon after, laughter bubbled out from the kitchen—their mother chuckling away.
Chang'sheng glanced over, noting Mr. Lu's face relaxing as he prepped the farm tools.
"You worked hard enough, go ahead and rest at home! We'll handle the chores today!"
Chang'sheng didn't argue.
He was never the strongest kid, and if you measured his stats on a made-up panel, he'd barely have two-thirds what other kids his age had.
"If only I could go to school!"
Chang'sheng sighed.
"Eh~ First things first, focus on getting healthy. Even if you can't catch up all the way, at least don't let it get worse!"
······
After breakfast, Chang'sheng went out.
Just as he reached the village entrance, he saw a handful of folks standing around, like they were waiting for someone.
These people were sharply dressed, way fancier than the usual rough cotton clothes folks wore around here.
"Hey, it's Er Dan!"
"Mr. Zhao!"
A middle-aged man turned and glanced at Chang'sheng.
He nodded a hello, then went back to sit on the stone block beside him.
"So, it's someone from the Zhao Family,"
Chang'sheng thought to himself.
The Zhao Family ran things in Zhao Family Village.
Some of their households were top-notch, and half the girls in the village dreamed of marrying into the Zhao Family.
Not long ago, someone even tried to set Little Heitu up with a Zhao kid, wanting her to be a child bride over there.
But not every Zhao household had money, and after thinking it through, Mr. Lu and Mrs. Lu said no.
Little Heitu was a sweet, thoughtful kid, and she'd grown too precious for them to give away now.
"Mr. Zhao, who're you all waiting for?"
"Haha, waiting on someone important!" Stern-faced Zhao Deshui actually managed a smile.
Just then, a horse cart rolled in from outside the village.
It was the plainest red wood cart you could imagine, but it still made everyone in Zhao Family Village feel the difference.
A cart like that—even without the horse—cost several taels of silver, something a regular family would spend half their life saving for.
The Zhao Family folks walked up to greet it.
Chang'sheng leaned toward some onlookers and asked, "Uncle, who's in that horse cart?"
"It's Zhao Deshui's own sister—heard she married a scholar in Black Mountain Prefecture as his concubine. Damn, that's something! That scholar sure has the look; book learning's the real deal!"
"If only I could send my own kid to school—maybe one day they'd get to be a scholar too!"
······
The street buzzed with envy and speculation.
The horse cart looked fancy, rolled right into the village, and stopped at Zhao Deshui's house.
A young woman got down from the cart.
Calling her a woman was a stretch—Chang'sheng figured she was barely twenty, and not bad looking either.
At least she wasn't one of those loud village wives you could smell gossip on before she even opened her mouth.
You could tell right away, the Zhao Family had a different attitude compared to the rest of the village.
By sundown, the story was all over the village.
Zhao Deshui's sister left her family a pile of money and goods, and even offered to let the younger Zhao kids go study in Black Mountain Prefecture.
The news exploded across the village.
Before dark, folks started showing up at the Zhao house, bearing food and gifts.
"Er Dan! Heitu!"
Mr. Lu was getting ready, too.
He pulled out his stash of dry tobacco—took a few hard puffs then put it away. After thinking it over, he took a little cloth pouch off the bed, inside were some silver coins.
Out in the yard, he called for Chang'sheng and Lu Heitu.
"Coming, Dad!"
Chang'sheng grabbed Heitu, and they walked out together.
As they reached the gate, Mr. Lu glanced back and called for eldest brother Lu Haozi.
"You come, too. Be sharp when we get there!"
Mr. Lu shot Lu Haozi a meaningful look.
"Maybe…I shouldn't go?"
"No way! Who knows what that scholar's looking for—maybe he'll take a shine to you!"
Mr. Lu was adamant.
He ran things at home, so Lu Haozi had no choice but to tag along as they all headed to Zhao Deshui's place.
Chang'sheng knew the odds weren't great, but still—there was no harm in hoping, so he kept quiet.
Only, when they finally got to the house, he saw things probably weren't going to work out.
The whole crowd was crammed in front of Zhao Deshui's door, all villagers.
Evidently, everyone had the same idea as Mr. Lu—hoping for a little favor from the big-shot scholar.