An Encounter with Tang San

When Zhou Qing first happened to meet Tang San, Tang San saw a child picking mushrooms and stopped to watch for quite a while before leaving.

After a while, Tang San returned with a basket to pick mushrooms as well.

Tang San's family was poor. All three meals were rice porridge, so thin that one could count every grain of rice in it!

Seeing Zhou Qing picking mushrooms, Tang San, who devoted himself to training, naturally understood the importance of filling one's stomach. He began picking mushrooms alongside Zhou Qing.

"What's your name? How come I've never seen you in the village?"

Zhou Qing still remembered that, when he was two, he had looked at Tang San, who was even thinner and smaller than himself, and asked that question.

"Tang San." Tang San answered as he picked mushrooms.

"Oh, I'm Zhou Qing."

Zhou Qing gave his name as well, then asked, "Can I go play at your house?"

That really was the sort of thing a two-year-old would say.

"You can, but my house is rather messy."

Tang San was silent for quite a while before giving a definite answer, thinking to himself, Once he goes back and gets scolded by his parents, he probably won't come again.

Any village child who had gone near Tang San's home would be scolded by their parents, then never come back again...

That was Zhou Qing and Tang San's first meeting—plain and uneventful.

Their second meeting was at Tang San's home.

Narrow and cramped.

The first time Zhou Qing saw the legendary Tang Hao, the Clear Sky Douluo, he was actually a little nervous. Yet Tang Hao merely glanced at him without saying a word, then returned to his room to sleep.

For a dignified Clear Sky Douluo to have fallen so low—he really was fragile enough.

"This is my home. Pretty messy, right?" Tang San began tidying up—

It was easy to imagine that Tang San cleaned every day, but each time Tang Hao came out of the bedroom, he would turn the already cramped living room into a complete mess.

"It's not too bad."

Zhou Qing took the initiative to help as well.

Tang San's eyes flickered. Country children grew up early, but being able to help clean at such a young age was definitely a sign of unusual maturity.

"You should head home."

Still, Tang San intended to send Zhou Qing away. In a joking tone, he said, "Otherwise, if your parents come looking for you, your butt's going to get smacked."

That line made Zhou Qing even more certain that Tang San was a Transmigrator just like in the original story, because a child could not imitate such a flippant tone.

But Zhou Qing casually said, "I'd like to get smacked, but unfortunately, circumstances don't allow it. I live alone."

An orphan?

Tang San froze for a moment. Thinking of his own circumstances, he inexplicably felt a sense of kinship with Zhou Qing.

He had a father, but it was almost as if he did not.

As for this Transmigrator from ancient times, Tang San did not think Zhou Qing's situation was the same as his own. He only assumed Zhou Qing had been alone since childhood, which was why he possessed the maturity of an eleven- or twelve-year-old at just two years old.

This was the result of the different ways ancient and modern Transmigrators thought.

And so—

From the age of two onward, one orphan and one half-orphan began spending more and more time together.

Tang San, someone deprived of affection in his previous life and deprived of it again in this one, naturally hoped to have someone to talk to.

And Zhou Qing?

It could only be said that, as an adult Transmigrator, the limits of his mindset meant that, in most situations, he truly could not fit in with the other children of Holy Soul Village.

During this time, Zhou Qing would also show Tang San some little survival tricks, such as which plants in the woods could be used as wild vegetables.

Although Tang San came from the Tang Sect and knew all kinds of poisons, he knew little about wild vegetables. After learning how to distinguish wild vegetables from weeds, he felt even closer to Zhou Qing.

After all, his family was truly poor, and they mostly relied on Old Jack's assistance.

And after learning to dig up wild vegetables... although he still could not eat his fill at home, they could at least help fill his stomach a little.

Besides that, Zhou Qing would probe Tang San from the side, trying to see how he viewed his current life after being reborn.

This would make it easier for Zhou Qing to decide how to treat Tang San in the future.

For example, the three ultimate questions of life: "Who am I?" "Where did I come from?" "Where am I going?"

Of course, he would not ask so directly.

Instead, during a break from picking mushrooms and digging wild vegetables with Tang San, they lay on a hillside outside Holy Soul Village, overlooking the entire village. Zhou Qing spoke to himself, yet also seemed to be asking Tang San, "Little San, do you know? Sometimes I wonder who I really am. After all, I don't even have parents. And if I can cultivate in the future, should I leave Holy Soul Village and go out to become a Soul Master?"

Tang San was silent for a long time.

Perhaps he was surprised that a two-year-old child could be so mature.

Or perhaps he was considering who he truly was—

In his previous life, he had been Tang San, a disciple of the Tang Sect.

In this life, he was... Tang Hao's son?

At that moment, Zhou Qing clearly saw a trace of confusion appear in Tang San's eyes, only for it to quickly turn into resolve. In an extremely soft murmur, Tang San said, "I am Tang San. Whether in my previous life or this one, I am Tang San. Family affection... is what I long for, but what I miss more is the Tang Sect that raised me, so—"

Tang San did not say the rest.

But Zhou Qing already knew that Tang San had recognized who he truly was through that question, and the unspoken second half had to be:

Rebuild the Tang Sect on the Douluo Continent!

"What are you muttering about?" Though Zhou Qing had heard every word at that moment, he pretended not to have heard. With wide, puzzled eyes, he asked curiously.

"Nothing."

Tang San immediately came back to himself and covered it up with a laugh. "I was just thinking that when I grow up, I have to leave Holy Soul Village, go... somewhere bigger, and fulfill my dream."

"What dream?" Zhou Qing noticed Tang San's distraction and realized something: even with the consciousness of an adult soul, it was difficult to completely conceal one's emotions when the body and brain of a child had not fully developed.

He was much the same.

"Of course, to become a Soul Master!"

"Me too!"

Zhou Qing smiled.

Tang San smiled as well. Having resolved to rebuild the Tang Sect and made it his primary goal, he understood one thing deeply: establishing a sect was not something one person could do alone. It required disciples.

Zhou Qing wanted to make use of Tang San—

Tang San, meanwhile, had his eye on Zhou Qing, someone whose background he knew and who was mature and clever—

It truly was a "mutual pursuit."

Although Tang San had shown no intention of revealing the Mysterious Heaven Skill over the past two years, Zhou Qing no longer cared. Their relationship had risen to the level of friendship, and that was already enough...

Back to the present.

Zhou Qing invited Tang San, asking, "Want to come to my house for breakfast later?"

"Sure."

As sparing with words as ever, Tang San agreed.

After Tang San finished picking mushrooms, Zhou Qing went down the mountain with him.

He pushed open the door to his home.

Zhou Qing led Tang San inside.

The living room was not large, but compared with the cramped blacksmith shop in Tang San's home, it was far more spacious. It was also cleaner and tidier, with no strange odors at all—

Tang San was fairly familiar with the place.

Still, Zhou Qing began preparing breakfast first, while Tang San helped at the side.

Before long, steaming-hot rice porridge was ready.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Once Zhou Qing brought out mushrooms coated in chili sauce, Tang San started eating.

"When have you ever stood on ceremony?"

Zhou Qing rolled his eyes. Holding his bowl and chopsticks, he picked up a thick clump of rice porridge and put it into his mouth. "It's a little too thick."

Tang San was speechless. "If I could eat porridge like this every day at home, I'd be overjoyed!"

After breakfast.

Zhou Qing and Tang San had something they needed to do together...