Wounds Were Strange!

"Zhang Xiaojun, shall we go to the latrine together? I don't accept. Li Ming, shall we go eat Jinjiang cuisine at noon? I don't accept. Chen Chong, could you bring me some pastries?—Sorry, I don't accept. Even funnier, Wang Ping from our class fell asleep during lessons. When the teacher made him stand up to answer a question, he just lay on his desk and said, 'I don't accept.' The teacher was so furious that she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him out—heeheehee, bro, do you know how much influence you have at school now? It's a shame you're not going anymore. Otherwise, lots of people would treat you as their idol."

Li Mu Yang hadn't expected that incident to have such a huge impact. He shook his head and said, "Wrong is wrong, right is right. Whenever I fell asleep in class and the teacher told me to leave, I never argued or talked back. Because I knew I had done something wrong. My condition would affect the other students, and my behavior was disrespectful to the teacher—"

"But being falsely accused of cheating really did make me feel wronged. Still, it's all in the past now. I should focus on how to make up for my grades. Although I can learn some things now, my foundation is simply too weak. Xiao Xin has been helping me review everything from the beginning, and that's been hard on her too. I'm afraid there isn't enough time—"

"Bro, there's something I want to ask you too." Li Sinian tugged at Li Mu Yang's arm and said, "Sister Xiao Xin said there are many things she never taught you, yet you can somehow solve them—knowing without learning. What's going on? Could it be that you used to study secretly?"

Li Mu Yang shook his head. "I don't know either. It just feels like a lot of inexplicable things have appeared in my mind. Sometimes I feel as though I've already lived through an entire lifetime. Whenever I see something for the first time, I can blurt out what sort of background and history it has. It's the same with those exercises in the textbooks. Xiao Xin explained some of them to me, but others already existed in my mind. The process of thinking was a little difficult, and they were hidden a little deeper, but in the end, I could still dig them out."

"Could you have been possessed by a celestial?" Li Sinian said with a grin. "Why would a celestial be so stupid as to possess a Black Charcoal?"

"—"

"All right, all right, my brother is the handsomest among all the black people—" Li Sinian studied Li Mu Yang's face and said, "Actually, your features are quite well-defined. You inherited your parents' excellent genes. Just look at how beautiful I am. Once your skin gets a little fairer, you'll be a handsome devil too. How about I apply a layer of Hundred Flower Powder to you before you go out next time?"

"Wouldn't you have to apply it all over my body?" Li Mu Yang gave a bitter laugh. "Never mind how much Hundred Flower Powder you'd waste every time I went out. It would take several hours just to cover my whole body, wouldn't it?"

"Just your face is enough. Who's going to cover your whole body?" Li Sinian said crossly. "Bro, don't change the subject. Let's get back to the serious matter—"

"—" Li Mu Yang looked deeply aggrieved. When had he changed the subject?

"Bro, I didn't want to say these things to you. At least, I shouldn't be saying them now. But I think it's better to say them sooner, so you won't have to suffer an even heavier blow later. You know Sister Xiao Xin's grades. Her goal is Xifeng University, and from what I know of her, that really isn't difficult. But what about you? Can you get into Xifeng? Can you follow her to Tiandu? Even if you go to Tiandu, even if you get into Xifeng University—with their family background and our origins, do you really have any hope?"

"I know," Li Mu Yang said in a low voice.

"What?" Li Sinian stared at him with wide eyes.

"I understand everything you said." Li Mu Yang grinned and said, "When I went out to see her off just now, I saw someone come to pick her up. That carriage she rode in probably cost several years of our mother's pastry shop's income, didn't it?"

"Bro—"

"I'm fine." Li Mu Yang put an arm around his little sister's shoulders. "Think about it. Did the old me ever have a chance to become friends with Cui Xiaoxin?"

Li Sinian shook her head.

"Exactly. Before, I didn't even have the chance to speak with her or become her friend. But now I've done it, and she even helps me make up my lessons every day. Compared with before, things have already changed a great deal, haven't they?"

"Mhm." Li Sinian nodded seriously. "Bro, you'll become smarter and more handsome. When the time comes, Sister Xiao Xin might even fall in love with you."

Li Mu Yang nodded seriously. "Of course. By then, I'll be the most handsome man under heaven."

The siblings looked at each other and burst out laughing. Li Sinian laughed with a heartache, while Li Mu Yang laughed with sorrow.

Actually, that sentence wasn't funny at all.

Li Sinian climbed out of bed and looked at her brother. "Bro, it's late. I'm going back to my room to sleep. You should rest early too. Sister Xiao Xin is coming to tutor you tomorrow. Don't you dare doze off then."

"All right. Good night." Li Mu Yang smiled.

Li Sinian waved, then turned and left Li Mu Yang's room.

Li Mu Yang lay in bed for a long time, unable to sleep. His mood grew increasingly restless.

He got up and filled a large tub with water, then submerged himself in the hot water. Only then did he finally feel a little more at ease.

Sleeping in class and soaking in the tub after returning home—those were the two things Li Mu Yang did most often.

His right hand was still wrapped in bandages because it had been pierced, so he couldn't put his right arm into the water. It caused him a little inconvenience.

Li Mu Yang looked at his arm. This fist, which had once been too weak to even truss a chicken, had sent Zhang Chen flying. It had even sent Killer Crow flying. One had to remember that the knife in Crow's hand had flared with silver light like a gigantic sword of light—

His fist had met that sword light head-on. Shouldn't the sharp blade have severed his fist? How had one punch sent Crow flying instead?

Li Mu Yang stared blankly at his fist for a while. Driven by a powerful curiosity, he prepared to peel off the bandages and see how his wound was doing.

The bandages came loose layer by layer, and the dark, bruised bloodstains inside grew increasingly thick.

When he removed the bandages, his injured palm appeared before his eyes.

He washed his palm clean in the hot water, then raised it beneath the candlelight to examine it.

Perfectly intact!

He remembered clearly that the killer's sharp blade had pierced straight through his palm.

But how could there be no trace of it now?

There was no wound, no scar—not even the slightest red mark.

"What's going on?" Li Mu Yang cried out.

He leaped from the bathtub and picked up a mirror, carefully examining and searching his body.

The killer had clearly smashed a fruit plate onto his head. Li Mu Yang had been beaten until blood streamed down his face, yet now he couldn't find the slightest injury on his forehead.

What had happened?

Only then did Li Mu Yang truly realize that some strange and unfathomable changes had occurred in his body.

"I'm about to transform." Li Mu Yang said this to himself.

--

Li Mu Yang rose just as dawn was breaking. Ever since he had been injured, he had broken his bad habit of sleeping late every morning.

Perhaps because he had slept too much in the past, he now felt refreshed after only a few hours of sleep each day.

After a simple wash, he copied the "Body-Breaking Technique" postures his sister practiced every day and walked a few circuits around the room. Then he took out a book, sat by the window, and read silently.

A little while later, his parents got up. His father exercised in the courtyard wearing only a thin shirt, while his mother busied herself in the kitchen preparing breakfast for the family.

Half an hour later, movement finally came from Li Sinian's room.

Li Mu Yang smiled. Only then did the family's day truly begin.

They were all trivial little things, yet they made Li Mu Yang feel happy and fulfilled.

When he had been plagued by illness and possessed by the God of Sleep, he had rarely possessed the state of mind or mood to observe everything happening around him.

At this moment, he finally discovered just how much he actually had.

Cui Xiaoxin still came every day to tutor Li Mu Yang. She still chatted and joked with Li Sinian after she returned from school, sharing fruit with her as though nothing had ever happened.

What Li Mu Yang had seen that night, together with his conversation with Li Sinian, made him realize that the gap between himself and Cui Xiaoxin was simply too vast.

He now devoted all his time and energy to studying. He needed to grasp as much knowledge as possible within this extremely limited time.

While studying, he would occasionally raise his head and meet Cui Xiaoxin's gaze, smiling as he felt the faint warmth of her smile. At those times, this thought would inevitably surface in his heart: A young man and woman walked side by side along the shores of Weiming Lake at Xifeng University. The setting sun was red as blood, stretching their entwined shadows endlessly, as though they could reach all the way to the ends of the world.

He had merely hidden it more deeply.

Cui Xiaoxin didn't come over today. They had agreed on it the day before. A family elder was going to Yongqing Temple to worship Buddha, and she needed to accompany them.

Li Mu Yang did a practice paper at home, then suddenly remembered that Cui Xiaoxin had said there was a certain reference book that was extremely important and that he absolutely had to find it and read it.

Li Mu Yang immediately left the house and headed toward the library at the end of Hubu Lane.

The library was plain and simple, clearly quite old. An old man in a traditional front-buttoned gown sat at the entrance, smoking a water pipe and basking in the sun.

"Old sir, do you have a book called The Sayings of Zi?"

"Go in and look for it yourself," the old man replied without raising his head.

Li Mu Yang entered the bookshop and began searching through the rows of bookshelves.

"Do you think reading is useful?" a voice suddenly rang out behind him.

Li Mu Yang turned around and saw a graceful young gentleman standing behind him.

"Are you talking to me?" Li Mu Yang asked uncertainly, scanning the surroundings.

"Of course." The young gentleman smiled. "Tell me, is reading useful?"

"It is." Li Mu Yang answered. He had no idea why this strange person was asking him such a strange question.

"There are golden houses in books, and jade-like beauties in books. They can lead one into commerce or office, let one climb high and gaze far. Reading is immensely useful." The young gentleman's smile became inscrutable. "But sometimes, reading only brings disaster. What do you think?"