But after Zhang Xiaohua finished reading those few books, he discovered that they seemed far too basic. They left him with the feeling of a thirst not yet quenched. Trying to use what he had learned from those books to solve the problem of medicinal herb seeds failing to sprout was simply wishful thinking.
With no other choice, Zhang Xiaohua tossed the books onto the head of the kang bed, planning to flip through them again whenever he was bored.
With no new books to read, Zhang Xiaohua returned to his monotonous life of working and practicing martial arts. Reading was certainly a good habit, but buying books just for the sake of reading them was something Zhang Xiaohua would never do. As the ancients said, "Books cannot be truly read unless borrowed." Zhang Xiaohua felt the saying deeply.
He Tianshu, meanwhile, had grown used to seeing Zhang Xiaohua running about with books in hand. Before long, he noticed something unusual about him. Intrigued, he asked about it, thinking Zhang Xiaohua had retreated in the face of difficulty and given up his research. Yet when he heard Zhang Xiaohua's reason, he did not quite believe it at first. Then he remembered that this boy had used Shuowen Jiezi as his primer, and his furrowed brows relaxed. He snapped the fingers of his right hand and said, "Isn't that easy?"
Then he whispered into Nie Xiao Er's ear for a while. As Nie Xiao Er listened, he kept sizing Zhang Xiaohua up from the corner of his eye, making Zhang Xiaohua's skin crawl. What was this about? Once the whispering ended, Nie Xiao Er accepted the order and left. He Tianshu smiled at Zhang Xiaohua. "All right, just wait. In a while, I'll show you what I can do."
Zhang Xiaohua