The crowing of cocks in the early morning dispelled the tranquility of the night. As the sky brightened, Lu Liangsheng got up early, had his meal, and followed Lu Laoshi to the fields. He washed the pot of strange soup made by his master, and a faint fragrance emanated from his body, not the cloyingly strong one, but a light and refreshing one.
Swinging the hoe was no longer as strenuous as before. He dug trenches along the edge of the field by himself, almost catching up with Lu Laoshi.
"Liangsheng, you should also take a break..."
Lu Laoshi sat on the edge of the field, put the hoe beside him, looked at his son who was still waving farm tools a little further away and shouted. Over there, Lu Liangsheng paused, wiped the sweat from his forehead, then came over and sat down, poured a bowl of cold water and drank it directly.
"Why have you been working harder and harder these past two days?"
“… I don’t know either.” Liangsheng wiped the water drops from his chin. Lu Laoshi on the other side did not continue to ask, probably because he thought that his son was still young and growing, so it was normal for him to become stronger and stronger.
There are still some doubts, such as the big toad lying in a ball not far away.
"Liangsheng, what did you bring this toad out for?"
The young man picked up the hoe and walked a few steps back, saying with a smile, "I'm worried about leaving it at home. What if a cat or dog takes it away? It's not like a toad can grow this big. It would be a pity to throw it away."
"It's up to you."
Lu Laoshi could not refute his son's words. After a rest, he went to the other side of the field to turn the soil. Not far from the pottery pot, Taoist Zixing, who was crawling on all fours on the ground, slowly opened his eyelids, glanced at the boy working over there, shrank his webbed feet, and crushed the small piece of mud.
Thinking back to last night, the bones in my spine still ache slightly. If that guy hadn't suddenly turned over, I might have died from his own poisonous smoke.
"How can I not avenge this..."
The crawling limbs moved, digging up some soil, staring at the boy's back, slowly opened up the frog webs, increased the speed, spread the limbs, then stood up and ran wildly!
In the morning light, the densely packed black pimples on his back appeared to be spotted with light purple.
"I will let your father send you off right in front of him..."
The running short figure suddenly squatted, kicked the ground with its toad legs, and jumped up—
"Liangsheng!" Lu Laoshi's voice rang out from the other side. He lowered his head and rubbed his eyes: "There's sand in your eyes. Come and help Dad blow it out."
“Here I come.”
Lu Liangsheng put down the hoe and ran towards his father. A black shadow swooped down from the air behind him, but the boy had already left. The ground below him widened his view and he saw a hoe leaning against the ridge of the field with the slightly tilted end facing upwards.
Taoist Zixing: "... This."
The toad's body fell down and hit the hoe. The handle flipped back and hit him on the forehead with a bang. He stumbled a few steps and fell to the ground with a bang. The sky he was looking at was spinning and his limbs were twitching slightly from time to time.
In the distance, the conversation between the father and son could be faintly heard.
"Dad, what's wrong with your eyes?"
"There's sand stuck in there. It's a bit uncomfortable. I can't get it out. Please help me blow it out."
…
Taoist Zixing blinked his frog eyes and turned over with difficulty: "I won't give up." Then he looked at the clay pot placed on the ridge of the field, opened his eyes slightly, chuckled, and climbed over there with his belly pressing on the soil.
"I will poison you and your son to death!"
As he walked towards the pottery pot, at the other side of the field, Lu Laoshi rubbed his eyes, which seemed to have gotten much better. He blinked a few times, looked around, and suddenly ran out.
"father?!"
"Liangsheng, your toad is stealing water to drink--" Lu Laoshi yelled.
Taoist Zixing, who had just opened the lid of the pot, heard the sound and tilted his head. A foot in straw sandals enlarged in his field of vision. With a bang, the frog's mouth tilted, and its long tongue spurted out. The huge frog body flew out and fell to the ground, rolling twice before stopping.
Lu Laoshi put his hands on his waist, looked at the clay pot on the ground, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Luckily we found it in time. If you, a toad, had drunk this water, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to keep the pot anymore."
Lu Liangsheng squatted next to the toad lying on the ground: "Master, if you are thirsty, just make a sound..."
"Master, I'm not thirsty... I'm just tired. Let me lie down for a while."
"Then Master, you take a rest. I'll do some more work with my father and call you when I leave."
The young man went back and took the still cursing Lu Laoshi with him to continue working in the fields. It was almost noon when they packed up and returned to the village. However, they found that many of the village's older men and women had gathered together, filled with righteous indignation and shouting curses.
"They said we cut off the river water and left the people in the village below with no way to survive. This is too much, and they even went to the government to file a complaint!"
"… The people in the northern village are all useless people. They don't know how to go to Qixia Mountain to have a look."
"It's just that... the water flowing down from the mountain this year is so shallow... the township chief actually believed what they said."
There are only two villages at the foot of Mount Qixia, one in the south and one in the north. The village where Lu Liangsheng lives is on the south side. The water from the mountains gathers and flows through here, and then goes to the north. The farmers rely on the land for their livelihood and often make a fuss about water sources. This time, they ran to the county government to file a complaint.
Lu Laoshi stayed behind to discuss countermeasures with everyone. Lu Liangsheng returned home first with two hoes. His mother was also in the kitchen cursing the people of North Village. The whole yard could hear it. The conflict between the two villages was not a day or two. He had no other choice, unless he turned the one river into two...
Thinking of this, Lu Liangsheng almost laughed out loud. With his level of cultivation, it would be difficult to even divert a small stream to the field, let alone split the river into two. It would not be as fast as using a hoe.
"Xiao Xian, call me when it's time for dinner." Liangsheng put down the hoe and reminded his sister who was in a daze under the eaves. He went back to the house, picked up pen and ink and started practicing calligraphy. The content he wrote was also from "Nan Shui Shi Yi". On the one hand, he practiced writing and recognizing words, and on the other hand, it could also strengthen his memory of the magic techniques in the book.
If you encounter an emergency, you can't just flip through the book.
At lunch time, Lu Laoshi came back angrily, sat down by the stove with his head down, holding the bowl but not putting down his chopsticks. When he thought of what made him angry, he put the bowl down heavily with a bang.
"… If those rascals from North Village succeed in suing the officials, every household in our village will suffer when the verdict is handed down… If we don't make up for their harvest this year, what will we eat?!"
"The villain filed the complaint first, but the big shot from the county government didn't even come down to take a look! It's so infuriating!"
Li Jinhua put her hand on her husband's back and said, "It's good to breathe well. What if you get angry and make yourself sick? They are just bullying us because we can't read. You guys can go hunting in the mountains, but standing in the county government office, you can't even fart."
"Hey, are you trying to comfort me, or..."
"My brother can read."
Before Lu Laoshi finished saying, "It's embarrassing for us," he suddenly stopped. Even Li Jinhua, who was ready to argue with her husband to the end, turned her head, and both of them looked at Lu Xiaoxian who was speaking.
The little girl raised her hand and pointed to the side. Lu Liangsheng, who was thinking about the magic in "Nanshui Shiyi", raised his head and looked at the three people, "Why are you looking at me?"
"Xiao Xian just said that you can read?"
"The child is just lying..." Lu Liangsheng didn't want people to know so soon that he could read and write. After all, it had only been a short time. If people knew, he was afraid that someone would say he was a monster.
Lu Laoshi and Li Jinhua turned their eyes to Lu Xiaoxian. The little girl stood up and held her head high: "My brother wrote the words in the temple and read them to me."
Over there, Lu Laoshi suddenly slammed the stove, and without asking his son when he would learn it, he rubbed his hands happily and said, "That's good. We said no one would go to court to reason with those rascals. Liangsheng, let's go to Fushui County tomorrow!"
Without waiting for Lu Liangsheng's response, he clapped his hands and made the decision. He stood up and ran out to inform others.
Beside the vegetable garden, the giant toad crawling on the ground blinked its eyelids.
The frog's mouth is slightly open, as if it is laughing.
"It's better to go out, but don't even think about coming back once you go out. I will definitely avenge this old man..."
Coo coo coo…
A gray-haired figure came over, and Taoist Zixing felt like he was pecked. He turned his crawling body and looked at the other party with his bean-sized eyes.
"You dare to bully me, you beast? I'll stew you!"
The hen tilted her head, cooed twice, spread her wings and flew over.
Inside the courtyard, a chicken and a toad were fighting fiercely, with no clear winner...