The woman raised the washboard, already prepared to storm out and kill someone. Xu Yuan hurriedly said, "I came back on my own."
She paused. "You came back on your own..."
He'd come back on his own after just over half a month. Couldn't he bear the hardships of the countryside? Had he run back on his own?
But if he'd really come back because he couldn't bear the hardship... then the poor boy must have suffered already. How could she bring herself to scold him?
The woman put down the washboard and muttered, "Qiao Zi'ang really did treat our boy like a little errand runner."
Then she said, "Never mind. You're back, and that's that."
She wiped her hands on her apron. "Have you eaten lunch? I'll make you something."
"I've eaten." Xu Yuan meant more than one thing.
His stepmother's heart stirred as she caught his meaning. "You've eaten... You really have?"
Xu Yuan nodded. "I'm a Fate Cultivator now."
Then he smiled and studied his stepmother.
The moment he'd first seen her, Xu Yuan had realized she was the first person he'd encountered since becoming a Fate Cultivator who possessed a "fate mark"!
Her fate mark shone brilliant gold and was called "Jade Hidden in Blue."
She was a peerless piece of jade, blessed with exceptional talent, yet beset by hardships and unknown to the world. Fortunately, her fortune ran deep, and she could always turn danger into safety.
Whatever she sought, she would obtain, but the road there would be rough.
Whatever she plotted, she would gain, but not without twists and turns.
His stepmother froze for a moment, then hurried into the main room without a word.
Xu Yuan followed her in and saw his father's memorial tablet enshrined on the table in the middle of the room. His stepmother was respectfully bowing three times and offering incense.
Xu Yuan's eyes stung. He, too, bowed before his father's tablet.
His stepmother stood dazed beneath the tablet for quite a while before sitting down nearby and speaking slowly. "It's true that I got word that the June Bug would emerge on Ghost Witch Mountain, which is why I sent you to Qihetan Town. I only meant for you to give it a try. I never expected you to actually succeed!"
When she said "succeed," she couldn't help getting a little worked up.
As for the hardships she'd endured to obtain the Old Year Grain, there was no need to tell Xu Yuan.
After a pause, she added, "Even though you've become a Fate Cultivator, you can't let your guard down. Progress in this discipline is slow at first..."
"I'm already an Eighth Stream Fate Cultivator," Xu Yuan interrupted.
His stepmother stared. "What did you say?"
"I'm already an Eighth Stream Fate Cultivator and an Eighth Stream Pill Cultivator."
His stepmother's mouth fell open. She struggled to speak. "You've only been gone a few days. You ate a June Bug and advanced to Eighth Stream this quickly?"
Xu Yuan then poured out everything that had happened to him in Qihetan Town.
After all, Xu Yuan was only a sixteen-year-old boy. He'd spent the last few days calculating every move, teetering on the brink of death time and again. The exhaustion in his heart was beyond imagining.
Now that he'd seen the only person in this world he could trust completely, he poured everything out without holding back. A weight lifted from his shoulders, and he felt lighter from head to toe.
When he finished, Xu Yuan patted his chest like a real man. "I'm an Eighth Stream Fate Cultivator and an Eighth Stream Pill Cultivator now. That's strong enough, right? Can you tell me what's going on at home?"
His stepmother didn't say a word after hearing him out. Xu Yuan glanced at her, then broke into a grin. "Lin Wanmo, are you feeling sorry for me? You look like you're about to cry. Hahaha!"
His stepmother's eyes were red. She really did feel sorry for him:
For over half a month, he'd been doing rough work as that damn Qiao Zi'ang's little errand boy, then he'd gone back and forth through the Ghost Gate Pass... When had her boy ever suffered like that?
But at Xu Yuan's teasing, all the sympathy in her heart vanished in an instant.
"You're asking for a beating!" his stepmother grumbled.
In the past, she would have grabbed a broom and chased the boy around the courtyard.
But she still felt a little sorry for him, so she couldn't bring herself to lay a hand on him.
Fine, let him sleep tonight. She'd beat him tomorrow!
Lin Wanmo was only four years older than Xu Yuan. Though she was his stepmother, she was more like his older sister.
So whenever Xu Yuan was around her, he was subject to an inexplicable bloodline suppression.
They'd been bickering and tussling ever since they were children.
Xu Yuan had never been a match for her, but he kept provoking her anyway.
You may have bloodline suppression, but I have an older brother's immortal body!
Lin Wanmo pondered for a while, then said, "Don't worry about the family's affairs. First, tell me everything about your second uncle."
Xu Yuan explained his suspicions, then added, "That Zheng Rongkui hasn't left yet. I don't think Second Uncle will give up easily."
His stepmother furrowed her delicate brows and thought for a moment. "You're right. Stay home for the next few days. Don't go anywhere."
"I need to go to Master Qiao's house," Xu Yuan said. He was still thinking about the gunpowder that might be stored there.
Taking the opportunity, Xu Yuan finally asked the question that had been bothering him for a long time. "Why wouldn't my father let me apprentice?"
Xu Yuan's father had been an Artisan Cultivator. Xu Yuan had wanted to learn from him ever since he was little, but his father had never taught him. Instead, he'd taken Lin Wanmo as his apprentice—and then married his apprentice as his second wife.
Lin Wanmo had learned her Artisan Cultivator skills from Xu Yuan's father.
And she might well have surpassed her master, far outstripping his skill.
Lin Wanmo shook her head. "I don't know either. If you want to know, go ask your father."
Xu Yuan rolled his eyes.
She obviously didn't want to tell him, so she was passing the buck to his father, who was already underground.
Xu Yuan decided to secretly stir up a little trouble.
"Lin Wanmo."
"Hmm?"
Xu Yuan put on a concerned expression. "I've got news about Second Uncle now, so if there was anything fishy about my father's death, I advise you to turn yourself in at the County Office as soon as possible..."
His young stepmother looked confused. At first, she didn't understand what he meant.
When she did, she instantly bristled and lunged at him, reaching for Xu Yuan's ear with her snow-white, icy-cold hand.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed? Are you comparing me to Pan Jinlian and your father to Wu Dalang?"
Xu Yuan ducked beneath her fingers and leaped straight out the door. Standing in the courtyard with his hands on his hips, he laughed triumphantly. "Lin Wanmo, let it be known: I'm not the same Wu Xia A Meng I used to be!"
Lin Wanmo ground her teeth in frustration, then pointed into the courtyard. "Go wash the rest of the clothes."
"Why should I?" Xu Yuan sprang up. "I've been through life and death countless times, and the moment I get back, you make me wash your clothes?"
Lin Wanmo gave a smug little laugh. "But you're perfectly fine, aren't you? Besides..." She raised her hands. "Look at this. It's so cold, and washing clothes has turned my hands red. You're a Pill Cultivator, and you have Inner Fire, so you don't feel the cold. Of course you should do it."
That crooked reasoning... was impossible to refute.
Xu Yuan refused. "I'm not washing them!"
"Wash the clothes or make dinner. Pick one." Lin Wanmo folded her arms.
Xu Yuan gave in. "I'll wash the clothes."
Xu Yuan sat on a low stool, snatched a garment from the wooden tub, and scrubbed it fiercely against the washboard.
After a while, his stepmother came out humming, freshly dressed. She'd added a round-collared, front-fastening, sapphire-blue satin jacket over her padded coat, and now she strolled toward the door. "I'm going over to Aunt Wang's. I'll be back to make dinner in a bit."
Xu Yuan grinned to himself: Aunt Wang really was surnamed Wang!
His stepmother gave him a puzzled look. "What are you smiling about?"
"Nothing. Go and come back soon. I want winter bamboo shoots stir-fried with cured meat tonight."
His stepmother left, and Xu Yuan quickly finished washing the clothes and hung them up.
His stepmother had made a boy do the laundry. She was sure to regret it tomorrow.
When his stepmother washed clothes, she coated each garment with soapberry powder, scrubbed it carefully, then rinsed it thoroughly.
When Xu Yuan washed clothes, he dumped soapberry powder into the whole tub, then gave the entire batch a Tai Chi push-hands routine: three circles clockwise, three counterclockwise, and done—out of the pot!
Of course they were clean!
If they didn't smell of sweat, they were clean.
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