27. "Using the speech spirit"
After Cheng Yun finished, he had the two of them repeat the steps and key points that he had demonstrated.
Cheng Bao'er first said what he had paid close attention to, memorized every detail, and had went through it once without making any mistakes.
Wang Liang was not as careful as Cheng Bao'er, but luckily, he had watched Cheng Yun do it once yesterday and had just heard Cheng Bao'er repeat it again. So he managed to muddle through without making too many mistakes.
Cheng Yun nodded and said, "Don't think that my requirements are too demanding. We don't have a lot of materials, so we can't waste them."
Cheng Bao'er naturally understood this principle and thought the arrangement was good. Once he became familiar with the process, he would feel more at ease. When Cheng Yun actually let them do it on their own, he was a bit scared and worried that he would waste the materials.
Cheng Yun poured the sour plum soup they had made earlier, freeing up space for them to work, while he stood behind and watched. Cheng Bao'er, who had just recited the recipe perfectly, became flustered as soon as he started to work.
"Don't be nervous, I'm here watching," Cheng Yun patted his shoulder to encourage him, "And you, Xia'er, don't just stand there, discuss and work together."
Cheng Bao'er looked up at Wang Liang, who suddenly became nervous when he wasn't before, "I, I..."
Seeing someone even more nervous than he was, Cheng Bao'er secretly breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, revealing a small dimple, then took the initiative to invite, "Let's do it together."
"Okay!" Wang Liang's eyes lit up, and he straightened up, looking at Cheng Bao'er with a burning gaze.
If Cheng Yun couldn't see that Wang Liang had some feelings for Cheng Bao'er at this point, he would have wasted many years as a human being.
He stood behind them, as if watching a show, and rubbed his chin as he carefully considered the matter.
He knew quite a bit about Wang Liang's family. They had good living conditions, but with his sister having married out, Wang Liang was the only child left in the family. Wang Daniu and his wife were also friendly, so there shouldn't be any major problems with in-law relationships if Cheng Bao'er were to marry into their family.
Wang Liang was now learning woodworking from that idiot, and in the future, he would have a skill to earn a living and support Cheng Bao'er. He himself could also take care of Cheng's family, with a little help here and there. With all this, he could bring Wang Liang's family along and get rich together.
Upon reflection, pairing these two together isn't a bad idea. From Wang Liang's reaction, it seems he quite likes Cheng Bao'er. Wang Liang is also a simple person, with good family education, and with Cheng Yun watching from behind, he doesn't have to worry that Cheng Bao'er will be treated badly in the future.
For now, he can't tell if Cheng Bao'er has feelings for Wang Liang, but with effort, anything can be achieved as long as he doesn't dislike him.
Cheng Yun takes care of Yang Hongjin as a "mother", and now he's taking care of Cheng Bao'er as a "father". He unexpectedly felt the burden of being a parent, but surprisingly, he felt pretty good about it.
He silently watched the two interact, Cheng Bao'er was cautious in every step he took, fearing that he would make a mistake, while Wang Liang wasn't worried. Cheng Bao'er stood next to him, whispering softly, making Wang Liang's ears itch and causing him to scratch his head and rub his nose, appearing even more nervous than Cheng Bao'er.
Cheng Yun didn't say anything to them. As long as the steps weren't wrong, he let them carry on. They fiddled with it for almost half an hour before they were finally able to put the ingredients in the pot.
Cheng Bao'er turned his head and secretly glanced at Cheng Yun. Cheng Yun smiled at him and praised, "Not bad, you didn't make any mistakes in the steps. Now we just have to wait for it to boil."
Cheng Bao'er breathed a sigh of relief at his words, and looked up at Wang Liang with a smile. The latter was dazzled by his smile and blushed, silly smiling along with him.
Cheng Yun shook his head and smiled, letting them rest for a while. When the soup was almost ready, he would extinguish it and add rock sugar. After giving instructions, he went to the backyard to busy himself with his own matters.
It had been more than a month since he last used the speech spirit. Recently, Cheng Yun had been thinking about where to use this precious speech spirit.
There were still many seeds at home, bought for one cent each from the seed store in town when he first arrived with Aunt Wang. There were about twenty different crops in total. Cheng Yun was thinking whether he should plant all of them at once, or use the speech spirit directly on Yang Hongjin to help him improve his intelligence a little.
He opened the illustration book and saw that there was a crop called Sharp Onion in the second-level system. If he upgraded, Cheng Yun's first priority would definitely be to exchange for this crop.
Although his ultimate goal was to make that fool smarter, he also quite liked Yang Hongjin's current state. He could occasionally talk to him about his thoughts without worrying about being treated as an oddball. He could even bully him with a clear conscience.
After weighing the pros and cons, Cheng Yun decided to plant the seeds first, and upgrade a few levels at once. This way, he could earn points, level up the speech spirit, and harvest crops to eat, killing three birds with one stone.
Of course, he secretly hoped that Yang Hongjin could maintain this state a little longer, so he could depend on him a bit more.
Cheng Yun harvested all the matured Chinese cabbage that he had previously planted, lit up the icon of Chinese cabbage in his plant collection, added the mung bean sprouts he grew earlier and the points he had left over from previous exchanges. At this point, he had twelve points left, and he was only three points away from upgrading to level two.
He then planted all the seeds he had been saving up at once. Just as he was about to start "chanting the spell," there was a loud bang from the front yard.
"What's going on?" Cheng Yun frowned and stood up. He heard Cheng Bao'er gasp and Wang Liang shout "ah" before he even entered the main hall.
Cheng Yun's frown deepened as he took three quick steps forward. He smelled the rusty, bloody odor before he even stepped into the hall. He saw Yang Hongjin pressing hard on his left arm with his right hand, which had a large cut on it. The blood was staining the wood on the ground red, and the injured man had red eyes and a furrowed brow. When he saw Cheng Yun, he cried out with a hint of grievance, "Wife..."
Cheng Yun's face sank as he hurried over, telling Cheng Bao'er to fetch a basin of clean water. When he approached Yang Hongjin, he saw that blood was still dripping down his arm, and his heart ached. "What happened? How did you get hurt?" Yang Hongjin was usually very careful, and nothing like this had ever happened before. At most, he had accidentally scratched himself with some poorly sanded wood, but nothing like this serious injury.
Cheng Bao'er moved quickly, bringing over a basin of water. Cheng Yun washed his hands and then pressed down on the injured area on Yang Hongjin's arm, letting Bao'er wash a towel and wrap it tightly around the wound.
"Wife..." Yang Hongjin called out cautiously, like a child who had done something wrong, "The wood can't be used anymore..."
Cheng Yun was already feeling sorry for Yang Hongjin's injured hand, and his heart ached even more when he heard these words. He touched Yang Hongjin's head with his empty hand and comforted him softly, "It's okay. We can find new wood. Does your hand hurt?"
Yang Hongjin shook his head, but after a while, he whispered, "It hurts."
Cheng Yun said, "Let me blow on it for you, and it won't hurt anymore."
He glanced at Wang Liang and Cheng Bao'er, who also looked worried. Cheng Yun asked them to go to the kitchen and wait, and once they had left, he took a deep breath and used the power of speech spirit on Yang Hongjin's arm:
"The injured area on Yang Hongjin's arm is instantly healed!"
The first-level system effect was only one-tenth, but Cheng Yun had observed the growth progress of plants affected by language magic in the past, and overall they grew better and faster than other plants. Therefore, even with only a one-tenth effect, it was still stronger than no effect at all.
Yang Hongjin's arm was still oozing blood, but with the help of Cheng Yun's words, the bleeding stopped and the wound began to heal.
Cheng Yun carefully unwrapped the cloth bandage that was wrapped around his arm. The wound, which had been as long as a finger, had stopped bleeding and was visibly healing at a remarkable speed.
Yang Hongjin stared in amazement, looked down at his hand, and then up at his wife.
He remained silent for a moment, but his fingers couldn't help but curl up uncomfortably, and he moved restlessly.
Cheng Yun noticed his discomfort and asked worriedly, "What's wrong? Is your hand still hurting? Are you feeling unwell anywhere?"
Yang Hongjin's face turned red and he spoke with a look of aggrievedness, "Wife, I'm itchy!"
Author's note:
The younger brother is silly and sweet, Wang Liang is a rash and impulsive person. I suddenly feel that this kind of CP is inexplicably charming!
Every time the protagonist reads a spiritual chant, I feel so embarrassed, how can I break through this (laughs).
28. "Damn blacklash"
Cheng Yun："......"
Alright, so it's because the wound is really healing that it's itching," said Cheng Yun.
Seeing the shocking blood stains on the ground, Cheng Yun felt a wave of fear. If he had used his words to manipulate the crops when Yang Hongjin was in danger just now, Yang Hongjin's hand might not have healed so quickly. He might still be bleeding now.
There was no medicine at home, so Cheng Yun asked Yang Hongjin to sit still and went to Aunt Wang's next door to borrow some gauze and hemostatic powder. He cleaned Yang Hongjin's wound and carefully applied the medicine.
While he was working, Cheng Yun asked Yang Hongjin, "What happened just now? How did you get hurt so suddenly?"
After a while, Cheng Yun still hadn't heard Yang Hongjin's answer, and he couldn't help but look at him in confusion. "Hmm?"
Yang Hongjin was rarely at a loss for words, but being looked at by Cheng Yun made him automatically confess, "I was thinking about something."
Now Cheng Yun was surprised. He didn't expect to hear the words "thinking about something" from this simple-minded man.
Cheng Yun didn't think deeply about the meaning behind it, he just found it funny. When he heard this sentence in his ear, it was like a four or five-year-old child talking about contemplating life. He joked, "What are you thinking about? You're so lost in thought that you don't even need your hand?" with a tone full of teasing.
However, Yang Hongjin couldn't make sense of it at all. His brows furrowed as he tried hard to think.
Cheng Yun had seen this expression on Yang Hongjin's face too many times. Whenever he got stuck on something or didn't understand something Cheng Yun said, he would make this expression. So Cheng Yun couldn't help but smile when he saw it.
He reached out and pinched Yang Hongjin's face. "Okay, okay, stop thinking about it. Otherwise, you'll hurt yourself again later."
"Forget about these blood-stained pieces of wood. Let them dry in the sun and burn them as firewood if they can be burned. If not, just throw them away," he stood up and looked at the stained wood. There weren't many of them, so he added, "I think the remaining wood should be enough for now. You can start working on it, and if it's not enough later, we can go to the back mountain and cut some more."
After checking Yang Hongjin's hand, the wound had become much smaller thanks to the power of his language. But Cheng Yun was afraid that he would aggravate the wound, so he told him, "Don't work on this for the next few days until your wound is completely healed."
As for the progress of making sour plum soup today, Cheng Bao'er was quick to get started and had finished all the materials in his hand. He left two small jars for tomorrow's meeting with Liu Wen to discuss cooperation and kept the rest for himself to drink. If he wanted to make more, he would have to buy materials from the town.
He had kept an eye on their previous business transactions and had also tried to boost Cheng Bao'er's confidence. Now that everything was going smoothly, he could entrust everything to him. For the first few days, he would accompany him to the town, which would give the idiot a chance to rest.
So he paused for a moment and said, "I happen to be going to town to see Liu Wen tomorrow. Come with me..."
Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly felt weak and unable to move. Cheng Yun's face changed, and his breathing became shallow.
This damn backlash!
"Wife?" Yang Hongjin looked at him fixedly, his curious eyes making Cheng Yun suddenly feel at a loss.
Enduring the weakness and soreness of his body, Cheng Yun asked Yang Hongjin to take the dirty water away first, while he quickly sat down and leaned against the back of the chair, panting heavily.
He didn't want Yang Hongjin to see him like this, because even facing the dumbfounded Yang Hongjin, he couldn't explain why he suddenly became like this.
When Yang Hongjin turned his head and walked away, Cheng Yun slowly and painfully crawled to the wall, leaning against it and breathing heavily.
Yang Hongjin quickly came back and saw that Cheng Yun had changed his position. He walked a few steps forward and squatted in front of him, asking, "Wife?"
Cheng Yun pretended to be asleep with his eyes closed and didn't respond. After calling out a few times, Yang Hongjin didn't dare to disturb him anymore and quietly sat beside him.
After about half an hour like this, Cheng Yun felt that his strength was gradually recovering. He carefully moved his fingers a little, confirmed that he had returned to normal, and then pretended to wake up and opened his eyes.
"Wife!"
As soon as Yang Hongjin saw him move, he immediately stood up straight, his eyes shining as he stared at Cheng Yun.
Cheng Yun smiled and pretended to yawn, asking, "I was so sleepy just now, where did we leave off?"
Yang Hongjin immediately replied, "We're going to town together tomorrow!"
"Mmm." Cheng Yun nodded, looked at the front yard, saw that Yang Hongjin had packed everything up, and let him sit and play by himself or follow him without running around.
So Yang Hongjin followed obediently behind Cheng Yun like a good little tail.
Since Yang Hongjin needed to rest for a while, Wang Liang could only rest with him. In order not to delay his time, Cheng Yun still told him his plan.
As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Bao'er became nervous and asked in a soft voice, "Big brother, are we going to Yueqiong Tower tomorrow? Do we need to practice a few more times?"
Wang Liang became even more anxious when he heard about Yueqiong Tower. "Yes, that's the Yueqiong Tower. What if something goes wrong..." He glanced at Cheng Bao'er and saw that he was frowning with a worried expression, so he immediately stopped talking.
Cheng Yun comforted him, "Don't worry, I'll talk to Boss Liu about it when the time comes. I've worked with him before, and he's easy to talk to."
He paused for a moment and added, "I'll be with you all the way through the first few times, and I'll go to town with you. I'll hand over this matter to you when you're ready to handle it on your own."
Wang Liang listened carefully and realized that he had nothing to do with it. He thought he would have plenty of time to build a relationship with Cheng Bao'er when he came to learn how to make sour plum soup at Cheng-Ge'er's house. But Cheng-Ge'er didn't give him the chance at all!
Cheng Yun knew what he was thinking when he looked at him.
Although he wanted to match them up, he didn't expect this to happen.
Strictly speaking, Wang Liang and Bao'er had no relationship. In this feudal era, Cheng Yun would never let an unmarried man and his unmarrried brother go out to sell things together. Moreover, Bao'er had no thoughts about this relationship at all. It seemed that Wang Liang was the only one who was passionate about it. Cheng Yun needed to check with Bao'er to see if he liked Wang Liang. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time.
Fortunately, this accident separated the two of them for a while. First, it allowed Wang Liang to cool down and think things through. Second, it gave Cheng Yun the opportunity to ask Bao'er directly.
After thinking it through, Cheng Yun said, "Hongjin has caused you a delay in your studies, which is really unfair to you. So, I'll have Hongjin pick a few pieces of wood later, and you can take them home and try making them yourself based on what Hongjin has done in the last two days. If there's anything you don't understand, you can come and ask me anytime after we get back. Once we've sorted everything out in a few days, and Hongjin's hands are better, I'll call you over to continue your studies."
Wang Liang wanted to refuse instinctively, but he realized that Bao'er would be busy at Cheng Yun's house for the next few days. Cheng Yun had also said that if he had any questions, he could come and ask him. In this way, he still had a chance to meet Bao'er.
After realizing this, Wang Liang's eyes lit up, and he agreed eagerly. He didn't forget to encourage Bao'er, "You have to work hard too!"
Bao'er was surprised by the sudden encouragement and blinked his eyes, looking at him confusedly, "Oh, okay..."
Author's note:
Cheng Yun: Love comes too fast like a tornado.