Something Felt Off

Jiang Wu noticed that Wang Dong'er's bed was bare and asked, "Didn't you bring any bedding?"

Wang Dong'er instinctively reached for her Storage Soul Tool. Then she seemed to remember something and said, looking aggrieved, "No. First Daddy and the others wouldn't buy me any."

Jiang Wu: "?"

Niu Tian: "?"

Tai Tan: "?"

Tang San: "?"

Wait, did she hear herself?

Tai Tan and Niu Tian both felt wronged. Before Wang Dong'er left, the two of them had prepared everything for her, including two chests of Gold Soul Coins.

Jiang Wu fell silent for a moment. He truly hadn't expected Wang Dong'er to spout such nonsense.

A boy of seven or eight was just about to say something when Wang Dong'er silenced him with a glare.

Seeing this, the others quietly looked away.

They didn't know whether Jiang Wu would beat them, but they did know that if they upset Wang Dong'er, she would deal with every one of them.

"Come on, let's go out and look around together." Sensing that the atmosphere had turned a little strange, Wang Dong'er took Jiang Wu's hand and led him outside.

After leaving the academy, Jiang Wu and Wang Dong'er went into the city.

Wang Dong'er looked around curiously. It was her first time here, and she was curious about everything.

Beside her, Jiang Wu was thinking about what he could do to make money.

After thinking it over, Jiang Wu came up with a job that suited him.

Blacksmithing.

The first seal on the Golden Dragon King had been released, and he was tremendously strong. Blacksmithing would be easy for him.

With that in mind, Jiang Wu took Wang Dong'er to the blacksmiths.

Dongxing City's smithies were clustered along a narrow street in the south of the city. The clang of hammers could be heard from the entrance to the street.

Jiang Wu walked down the street with Wang Dong'er. Finished ironware hung outside several shops: hoes, woodcutting knives, horseshoes, and the occasional crude Soul Tool component.

Wang Dong'er followed behind, looking this way and that. Everything was new to her.

"Xiao Wu, what are we doing at the smithy?"

"Looking for work."

Wang Dong'er stopped short, then hurried to catch up with him. "Looking for work? Are you short on money?"

Jiang Wu didn't hide it from her. "My family's poor, and my mom's in poor health. Her medicine costs money. The academy's allowance is only enough for food, so I have to find a way to cover the rest myself."

Wang Dong'er opened her mouth, then swallowed whatever she had been about to say.

She looked down at her own finely made clothes, then at Jiang Wu's sleeves, faded white from washing. Suddenly, she felt uncomfortable all over.

Tang San nodded slightly, unable to help recalling his own childhood.

His childhood had been much the same. He went to school in the morning, then went to work at a smithy to make money after finishing his cleaning duties.

Tang San felt that something was off, though he couldn't quite say what.

Jiang Wu didn't notice her expression. He scanned the shops and went into the one with the largest storefront and the hottest fire.

Heat washed over them inside. A great furnace blazed in the center of the shop, and a lean, muscular, bare-chested man was swinging a hammer at a red-hot iron billet. Each blow rang out with a deep, powerful clang.

Two boys who looked like apprentices worked the bellows and passed him tools.

The man heard their footsteps and glanced up. Seeing two young children, he paid them no mind and struck a few more blows before stopping.

"Buying ironware or getting something repaired?"

Jiang Wu shook his head. "Master, are you taking on apprentices?"

The man set his hammer on the anvil and looked Jiang Wu up and down.

The boy wasn't particularly sturdy, but he stood steadily, and his gaze didn't wander.

"An apprentice? You're so little. Can you even swing a hammer?"

"Let me try."

The man snorted, hauled a sledgehammer out of the corner, and held it out. Its head was bigger than Jiang Wu's own. "All right, swing it a couple of times and let me see. If you can lift it, I'll think about it."

Wang Dong'er's eyes widened. The hammer looked heavy, and she doubted Jiang Wu could even pick it up.

Jiang Wu reached out and took it.

The sledgehammer was indeed heavy, but that weight was nothing to him. Jiang Wu

gripped the handle with one hand and lifted it with ease, even hefting it a couple of times.

The man's smile froze on his face.

Jiang Wu didn't rush to swing. He walked up to the anvil, aimed at a scrap iron billet on top, and brought the hammer down with his right hand, the wind whistling in its wake.

"Clang-!"

With a tremendous crash, the billet on the anvil flattened. Sparks flew, and even the flames in the furnace flickered.

The two apprentices nearly dropped the tongs in their hands.

The man's mouth fell open and stayed that way for a long while.

He hurried over to the anvil, picked up the flattened billet, and turned it over. The metal at the break had been hammered tight and solid in a single blow, better than his two apprentices could have managed after pounding away at it for ages.

"You..." The man looked up at Jiang Wu, his expression utterly changed. "What did you eat growing up, kid?"

Jiang Wu put the sledgehammer back where it belonged. "Master, do you think I'm good enough?" he asked calmly.

The man was silent for two seconds, then suddenly broke into a grin and slapped Jiang Wu on the shoulder. "Good enough? You're more than good enough! Thirty Copper Soul Coins a day, with two meals included."

Jiang Wu thought it over and agreed.

He was new to the trade. Earning that much in a day was already pretty good.

Wang Dong'er watched from the side, dumbstruck.

Though she didn't know much about blacksmithing, the man's expression told her just how outrageous Jiang Wu's hammer blow had been.

Wang Dong'er leaned close to Jiang Wu's ear and whispered, "How are you so strong?"

"Born this way," Jiang Wu said without a change of expression.

By the time they came out of the smithy, it was already getting dark. Food stalls were going up along the street, and hot steam drifted over, mingled with the aroma of cooking oil.

Jiang Wu took out a few Copper Soul Coins and bought two bowls of wontons from a roadside stall, along with a meat pie for Wang Dong'er.

The two sat at a small table in the corner of the stall. Wang Dong'er held the meat pie in both hands and took a bite, then asked indistinctly, her cheeks bulging, "Are you really going to work at the smithy tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Then when will you cultivate?"

Jiang Wu took a sip of wonton soup. "I'll go back to the dorm and cultivate after I finish at the smithy in the evening."

Wang Dong'er tilted her head and looked at Jiang Wu. Suddenly, the person who had pinned her to the bed earlier seemed a little different from what she had imagined.

"Does your sister know?"

"No." Jiang Wu paused. "Don't tell her."

"Why not?"

"If she finds out, she definitely won't let me go. She'll worry I'll wear myself out."

"All right, I'll keep it a secret for you." Wang Dong'er stuffed the last bite of meat pie into her mouth and brushed the crumbs off her hands. "But you have to promise me one thing."

"What?"

"Next time we fight, you have to take me seriously. No brushing me off like you did today."

Jiang Wu glanced at her. The girl was still hung up on that dorm boss business.

"Fine."

Wang Dong'er nodded in satisfaction.

After dinner, the two headed back. Dongxing City's streets were much quieter than they had been during the day, and dim yellow lamplight shone through the windows of the houses along the road.

By the time they returned to the dorm, quite a few people were already asleep.

Jiang Wu glanced at Wang Dong'er's bare bed. "What are you going to do tonight?"

Wang Dong'er thought for a moment and said, "We can squeeze into one bed. You don't want your sister finding out about your smithing job, do you?"

Jiang Wu: "..."

Something felt off.