"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
Before six, a few rooster calls had roused Chen Village from its morning slumber. Chen Jue opened his eyes, feeling sore all over. It was probably because he had not exercised in so long, coupled with practicing Boat Boxing rather late the night before.
Still, after more than seven hours of sleep, his mind felt exceptionally clear, without any of the grogginess he used to experience when going to work.
He instinctively glanced at his attribute panel. To his surprise, after just one night, his constitution had quietly increased by another 0.01, rising from 1.05 to 1.06! His other attributes remained unchanged.
"What's going on?"
"Sleeping can raise my attributes too?" Puzzled, Chen Jue went downstairs to wash up, then opened his laptop and searched online.
After reading some tips shared by fitness enthusiasts, he learned that this unexplained increase in constitution was probably because the body continued burning calories after strenuous exercise, gradually improving physical fitness in the process.
"So that's it!"
"I was wondering how my constitution could increase while I slept. It must be related to practicing Boat Boxing before bed." With his question answered, Chen Jue grabbed his phone, tucked a few hundred-yuan bills into his pocket, and headed out to find breakfast.
While working in Hangzhou, he had developed the habit of not cooking, eating most of his three daily meals out.
Now that he had suddenly returned to the countryside, he found it rather hard to adjust.
There was not a single breakfast shop to be found in all of Chen Village!
With no other choice, Chen Jue strode along the concrete road, treating the walk as exercise.
After a little over ten minutes, he finally reached neighboring Lin Family Village, farther down the road.
Lin Family Village had a larger population, with over a thousand households. It also had more commercial activity than Chen Village, including a small produce market and a few eateries.
He could see breakfast shops steaming away by the roadside. Quite a few villagers heading into town or to factories on the outskirts were sitting inside eating breakfast.
Chen Jue glanced around one shop and breathed in its familiar, old-fashioned aromas. He ordered a large bowl of sticky rice and a bowl of seaweed and egg drop soup.
Feeling that was not quite enough, he added two large meat buns.
Sticky rice was a signature breakfast in the Wenzhou area. A bowl of steamed glutinous rice, topped with chopped fried dough sticks, a ladle of meat broth, and a sprinkling of chopped scallions, was utterly delicious.
Still, eating sticky rice first thing in the morning really gave the stomach a workout, since it took so long to digest. For someone who did not do physical labor, even a small bowl could probably keep them full for half a day.
But Chen Jue had practiced Boat Boxing for a long time the night before and burned plenty of energy. Before long, he had polished off everything he ordered.
Rubbing his bulging belly, Chen Jue felt thoroughly satisfied, but also realized he really needed to lose weight.
At 178 centimeters tall, he weighed over 80 kilograms-more than ten kilograms heavier than when he had first graduated from college!
That was the result of years spent sitting in an office, compounded by poor eating and lifestyle habits.
But now that he had awakened this attribute panel, Chen Jue was confident he could restore his body to peak condition. Even surpassing his former self would not be difficult!
Breakfast cost 9.5 yuan: 1.5 yuan for each large meat bun, five yuan for the large bowl of sticky rice, and 1.5 yuan for the seaweed and egg drop soup.
That was just breakfast in the countryside. In the county town, it would probably have cost a few yuan more.
After all, Wenzhou was notorious for its high prices. Every breakfast vendor was a business owner hiding in plain sight.
Still, selling breakfast was hard-earned money. Chen Jue made no comment, scanned the code to pay, then slowly walked through Lin Family Village toward the national highway more than two kilometers away.
"I've walked at least four or five kilometers in one go!"
"I used to take this road all the time when I went to high school in the county town. I never thought I'd get the chance to revisit it after so many years." Chen Jue did not flag down any of the little vans speeding along the roadside.
After his experience the night before, he had gained a profound appreciation for the importance of a healthy body.
Besides, watching his physical attributes visibly increase was incredibly addictive! He had no intention of spending a few yuan to ride one of those little vans that shuttled between the villages.
Reaching National Highway 104, Chen Jue watched the cars and buses speeding back and forth along the asphalt, feeling as though he could see one ordinary, familiar figure after another.
Whether they were heading into town or out to the countryside, anyone setting off this early was surely rushing to work or school. Just like Chen Jue before, they were toiling for a little money, for their livelihoods and futures, leaving home to struggle in the city.
But as of yesterday, Chen Jue had decided to say goodbye to that rootless, drifting life.
The city was nice, but it was not where he belonged. The countryside might be simple, but living there put him at ease and left him utterly relaxed.
Maybe I'm just a country boy at heart! Chen Jue thought as he followed National Highway 104 toward Panlong Town.
After another ten-plus minutes and roughly a kilometer of walking, he finally spotted the town's shopping street. He found a shop selling inexpensive furniture and asked whether it had any square wooden eight-immortals tables.
From the videos he had studied the previous night, Chen Jue had learned that the Eight Immortals Stake Skill accompanying Boat Boxing was best practiced on an eight-immortals table.
Boat Boxing had originated aboard fishing boats, after all. Without recreating the cramped conditions of a boat's cabin, it would probably be difficult to truly refine his skill.
There was a dining table in Chen Jue's old family home, but it was a simple folding table that could not bear much weight. It would tip over as soon as someone stood on it, so buying an eight-immortals table would be more suitable.
What Chen Jue had not expected was that the furniture shop in town did not have that kind of wooden eight-immortals table either.
Society had advanced. Even homes in the countryside were now decorated just like those in the city. Who still needed such an old-fashioned, outdated table for meals?
Only people deliberately choosing traditional Chinese decor would pick a solid-wood dining table. Otherwise, everyone bought sintered-stone or marble tables, or at the very least, a plastic one.
With no other option, Chen Jue used the furniture shop owner's circle of contacts to order a better-quality square solid-wood table from a furniture market in town.
The table cost more than two thousand yuan, even after bargaining.
Ordered today, it could be delivered the next day. Another two hundred yuan was added for delivery and handling, but at least Chen Jue would not have to move it himself, saving him quite a bit of trouble.
After leaving the furniture shop, Chen Jue walked to Panlong Town's produce market.
It was not yet nine, and the market was already bustling with voices. The smells of seafood, local produce, vegetables, and the blood from freshly slaughtered animals mingled into a pungent assault on the nose.
Since leaving to make a living in the city, Chen Jue had not visited a market like this in a long time. He wandered around, looking here and there and asking questions, buying plenty of seafood, meat, vegetables, and eggs.
He also stopped at the cooked-food stall by the market entrance and had them chop up half a crispy-skinned duck.
There was no getting around it. Training consumed a great deal of energy, and his nutrition had to keep up.
Fortunately, because his family had struggled financially when he was young, Chen Jue had helped with the cooking for several years. His food might only taste average, but satisfying his own palate should not be much of a problem.
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