In Stone Village, Little Nonpoint stood solemnly before Meng Chuan as Meng Chuan straightened his clothes.
"Uncle Meng, I'll make sure I do well!" Little Nonpoint promised.
Meng Chuan patted his head. "You're going to Martial King Manor with that goal in mind, and you still want to do well? Are you planning to turn the whole manor upside down?"
The better he did at something like this, the more damage he would cause.
"Then should I do badly?" Little Nonpoint scratched his head.
"Hahaha." Meng Chuan laughed and smoothed down the hair Little Nonpoint had mussed.
He was going to settle an old grievance. Neither doing well nor doing badly sounded quite right.
"Just follow your heart. Do what you want, however you want."
"And stop scratching your head. You're messing up your hair. Do it again and I'll tie your hands up." Meng Chuan addressed him with great solemnity. "Your head may be severed—wait, no, that won't do."
"Your head must stay on your shoulders. Your blood may flow, but your hairstyle must stay in place!"
"Understand?"
"Understood!" Little Nonpoint declared. "Today I'll be mighty and handsome!"
"I'll show them that I'm not only alive, I'm living well!"
You've already shown them how well you're living...
Meng Chuan kept that to himself and patted Little Nonpoint on the shoulder.
"We should start calling you Shi Hao, too. You're a big kid now."
Little Nonpoint raised a hand to scratch his head again, but Meng Chuan's look stopped him.
Scratch it again and I'll take your head off!
"Uncle Meng, please keep calling me Little Nonpoint. Hearing you use my name feels strange. It isn't close at all."
Little Nonpoint imagined Uncle Meng calling him by name and found he couldn't bear it.
It sounded distant. Far too distant.