She pulled the blanket over the sister before she put on a jacket
and went outside. She found Zheng Yuan practicing the horse stand squat in the
backyard and next to him was none other than their own mother!
Horse stance squat
Photo credit: baike.com
What was going on?
She paused for a bit and approached the two. Baffled, she asked,
“Mom, Zheng Yuan is practicing martial art?”
“Yes, Zheng Yuan has been too lazy so I had to watch over him.”
Said Mrs. Cheng gently, “Since you are up, you can watch him for me, and I can
go prepare breakfast!”
“Ohhh….” Replied the still confused Cheng Xiao Xiao.
Sitting down in the yard, Cheng Xiao Xiao rubbed her eyes. She
looked at the brother who was squatting in the yard motionlessly and was quite
impressed. He had a solemn look, his thighs spread at a 15-degree angle, same
width as his shoulders; both feet pointing forward, center of gravity moved
downward; both feet spread of two to three feet apart, both arms went from a
circular formation to palm down, much like what martial artists look like in
the kung fu movies she had seen in the past.
She was very curious about the background of this family.
Normal farmers didn’t teach their kids to read and practice
martial arts. Without any memory of her “past”, she has been wondering about
this. She could tell her parents didn’t come across as regular villagers, nor
did her siblings look like they grew up in a remote village. Now that she had
seen her parents teaching her siblings reading and martial art, she wondered if
all these have something to do with her father’s injury?
She pondered for quite a while, but couldn’t figure out anything.
After breakfast the next morning, Cheng Xiao Xiao was just about
to take her brother Zheng Yuan up into the mountains. After all, if she wanted
to level up the dimension, she’d need to find and collect more precious items
into the dimension. She didn’t expect visitors at her front door.
“Xiao Xiao, you and Zheng Yuan going up the mountain?”
The slightly hoarse voice carried a hint of nervousness. The owner
of this voice was Liu Danhang, a resident of Willow Village. He was about 17
year old. A slight blush was visible on his still slightly childish and honest
face. He looked both of longing and infatuation.
The corner of Cheng Xiao Xiao’s mouth twitched a bit. She was
wordless. It was obvious that this boy was fond of the original Cheng Xiao
Xiao, but without the memories between the two of them, she didn’t have too
much fondness toward him.
She didn’t respond to him right away. Zheng Yuan, who was standing
nearby, tugged at her sleeve, “Big sister, if Danhang ge1 accompany us into the mountain, we won’t have to be
worried about running into dangers!”
Suddenly remembering her previous encounter with the banded krait,
Cheng Xiao Xiao nodded slightly, then turned and led the way.
Cheng Zheng Yuan gave Liu Danhang a smile then dashed to follow
his older sister.
Liu Danhang recovered after a slight pause. A happy smile spread
on his plain face. He quickly followed behind Cheng Xiao Xiao and her brother.
“Big sister, are we going to gather firewood or herb first?” Zheng
Yuan knew that they were there to gather herbs for their father, so he decided
to ask her for her decision first.
After trekking through an entire mountain, Cheng Xiao Xiao was
exhausted and taking a break in a shadow of a tree. Liu Danhang was not far
away, but he didn’t catch up to chat with the two of them.
Wiping her sweat away, Cheng Xiao Xiao took a look around and
replied, “We still have quite a bit of firewood left at home. Let’s go gather
some herbs!”
“Okay!” Replied Cheng Zheng Yuan obediently.
Liu Danhang noticed the two of them continuing on, he resumed
follow them after a slight hesitation.
“Big sister, is this an herb?”
“Big sister, what’s the name of this? What kind of effects does it
have?”
“Big sister, why does this herb have so much spines?”
“Big sister, how much longer are we going to be gathering herbs!”
___
1. Ge
– literal meaning is
“older brother”. Here Zheng Yuan was using that as a respectful form for
someone older than him, not that they are actually related.
___
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Ty
ReplyDeletegracias
ReplyDeleteShe should try putting herbs into the space.
ReplyDeletei also thought so.
DeleteThank you
ReplyDelete