"Y-You..."
"Who are you? What do you want?"
The rider on horseback now looked at Fang Hu with apprehension, all of his previous arrogance gone.
There was even a hint of terror in his eyes.
"I'm a hunter from the village. You just scared the village children."
Fang Hu withdrew his hand and scratched his head, smiling simple-mindedly.
"Hmph, get out of the way!"
"We're in a hurry. We'll let it slide this time."
Hearing this, the rider seemed to regain some courage. His voice grew a little louder.
But in the end, he made no other moves, simply calling to his companion as they headed into the village.
~~~~~~
"Mr. Fang Hu, you really know Martial Arts!"
By now, Fang Yue had walked closer. He looked at the burly, broad-shouldered man with a bow and arrows on his back, a clear question in his eyes.
"What Martial Arts? It's just some simple country moves, nothing fancy."
Fang Hu chuckled and quickly waved his hands dismissively.
Then, seeing the longing in Fang Yue's eyes, he added, "Your Talent isn't good enough. You can't learn it."
"Alright, hurry on home now.
Next time you see something like this, don't rush in recklessly. If you got hurt, your parents would be devastated."
Fang Hu then ruffled Fang Yue's hair and left with a smile.
'My Talent isn't good enough?'
'I can't learn it?'
Fang Yue was a bit discouraged at first, but then he remembered that he had just awakened his Golden Finger.
His Talent increased by one point every day.
Every day, his Talent would be better than the day before.
'If my Talent isn't good enough to learn now, then in ten days, twenty days, a hundred days, or even a year, it will eventually meet the requirements.'
What transmigrator wouldn't be interested in this kind of supernatural power?
Fang Yue was no exception!
Originally, Fang Yue's plan had been to find an opportunity to make a living in Xiahe County Town.
He was literate and knew arithmetic; if he stayed in Da Liushu Village, he could only be a farmer for the rest of his life.
But if he went to the county town, he might be able to find other work. Anything would be better than farming.
But now, after seeing Fang Hu's incredible strength, he had changed his mind.
'So, I have to find a way to learn Martial Arts!'
~~~~~~
That evening, during dinner.
"Dad, today I saw Mr. Fang Hu stop two galloping horses with his bare hands," Fang Yue said.
His ulterior motive, of course, was to ask his father about Mr. Fang Hu's martial arts training.
He even wanted to know if Martial Arts truly existed in this world.
'Perhaps this world isn't what I originally thought it was.'
"Oh, your Mr. Fang Hu studied martial arts before. He never passed the Martial Examination, but he's incredibly strong."
Fang Mu said in a low, muffled voice.
He took a sip of soup, then looked directly at Fang Yue.
"Zhi'Er, do you have any idea how much land your Mr. Fang Hu's family used to have?"
Fang Yue shook his head.
"Your Mr. Fang Hu didn't use to live in the village. He lived in Xiahe County Town. Outside the town, his family owned a full three hundred acres of land."
"You want to ask why your Mr. Fang Hu came back to the village, why he doesn't live in the county town anymore."
"It's because he studied martial arts."
Fang Mu began to explain, one sentence at a time. He had known Fang Hu well since they were children.
Although Fang Hu lived in Xiahe County Town back then, he would return to Da Liushu Village during the summer when he was young.
Naturally, he ended up playing with Fang Mu, who was the same age and from the same clan.
With such a family background, the Fang Hu family should have been wealthy for generations.
But then, Fang Hu became obsessed with the Martial Dao.
As the saying goes, 'poverty for scholars, wealth for warriors.' Fang Hu poured a huge amount of resources into the Martial Dao, to the point where he gradually squandered his vast family fortune.
What's more regrettable is that Fang Hu took the Military Examination several times but never passed.
Later, for some unknown reason, he returned to his ancestral home and has been here ever since.
~~~~~~
「The next day, early in the morning.」
Fang Yue didn't rush out to graze the ox. Instead, he searched the house for a needle.
He had to wheedle and pester Fang Lan to get it from her sewing box, of course.
Naturally, he also asked her for some thread.
They already had a bamboo pole at home. After assembling these items into a simple fishing rod, Fang Yue finally led the old water buffalo out to graze.
Arriving at the usual spot, he didn't have to pay much attention to the old water buffalo; it would graze on its own nearby.
Fang Yue, meanwhile, dug up a good number of earthworms for bait and pulled up some ryegrass from nearby.
It was seeing this ryegrass that solidified Fang Yue's idea to improve their lives by fishing.
After all, to fish successfully, you couldn't just dangle a baited hook and hope for the best. You had to chum the water first.
Chumming would gather the nearby fish, thus increasing the efficiency of his fishing.
This would prevent him from having terrible luck and ending up empty-handed.
Of course, conditions in this ancient era were limited. Although Fang Yue knew many highly efficient and fast methods for chumming, in this era of scarcity, it was hard enough to get a full meal, let alone use grain for chum.
Fortunately, Fang Yue also knew several ways to chum using grass.
One of these was a method using ryegrass, which was perfect for today.
After half an hour, Fang Yue had divided a large bundle of ryegrass into dozens of smaller bundles, tied them to rocks, and thrown them into the cove in front of him, completing the chumming process.
Next, he waited for another hour.
Feeling that enough time had passed, he picked up his fishing rod, hooked the bait, and began to cast his line.
Perhaps no one in Da Liushu Village had ever fished like this before.
Or perhaps, his luck was just good today.
Just a few minutes after he cast his line, Fang Yue felt a bite.
The fishing rod was pulled downward.
Fang Yue immediately began to reel it in, but he had to be careful not to be too hasty.
After all, the fishing rod in his hand was extremely crude.
If he moved too violently, the line might snap.
After about fifteen minutes, feeling that the prey on his hook had exhausted itself, Fang Yue slowly reeled in his rod.
"It's a two-pound grass carp!"
Fang Yue couldn't help but exclaim in amazement as he saw his struggling prey exposed to the air.
A grass carp weighing over two pounds, about a foot long.
The thought that they would have meat to eat today instantly put Fang Yue in a great mood.
With a catch in hand, he naturally had to press his advantage.
However, it seemed his luck had run out.
Another hour passed, and he caught nothing.
Checking the time, Fang Yue was just about to pack up his rod and go home.
But at that moment, a line of text flashed before his eyes.
[Time flies, heaven rewards the diligent. Talent +1]
[Current Talent: 2 points]
The next moment, Fang Yue felt a weight on his fishing rod.
Another fish was on the hook.
~~~~~~~
「Half an hour later,」
Fang Yue gazed at the puddle by the cove where five grass carp were thrashing about, their mouths breaking the surface, opening and closing.
'My Talent just increased by one point. Why does it feel like my fishing skill has improved?'
Fang Yue thought back on what had just happened and clearly felt that as his Talent increased, when he was fishing, he would subconsciously correct his minor mistakes, allowing him to handle the crude fishing rod with ever-increasing ease.
His fishing skill had also improved considerably.