In his daze, Shi Tiexin drifted into a dream as well.
He heard Shi Tie Zhu's deep voice.
"My story should begin in 2013."
"That year, I was ten."
Within the hazy illusion, Shi Tiexin saw an orphanage through Shi Tie Zhu's first-person perspective, and saw a young boy who would occasionally stroke his Jade Pendant.
He saw the orphanage director. It was not Baldy Situ, but another elderly gentleman, thin and gaunt.
"With your build, joining the army will be a good way out for you in the future." The old gentleman adjusted the glasses on his nose, his hand trembling as he wrote three characters on a sheet of white paper. "Remember this. These three characters are your name."
The words written on that paper were Shi Tie Zhu.
"I hope you can be as sturdy and dependable as a pillar holding up the sky. Kind-hearted people in society donated money to raise you. When you grow up, remember to repay society properly." The old gentleman took out an old dictionary. "It's already good enough that our orphanage can put food on the table. We truly have no money to send you to school. Read through this. You need to learn to read and write; you'll need to be literate when you apply to enlist. Never tell anyone you're illiterate."
The scene sped forward. The boy quickly grew up, taller and stronger by the day. He envied peers who could attend school, yet could only secretly teach himself by leafing through the dictionary.
In 2019, Shi Tie Zhu was sixteen.
"I pulled some strings and found a way to send you into the army. Then you'll be able to eat from the public coffers." The director had grown much older. Looking at the orphanage full of children, he