Tang San, Taken for a Ride

Phew, Big Brother and Dad both love me. I just accidentally knocked the food over. Even so, Dad and Big Brother still put me in bed so I could rest and recover.

Tang San lay in his bedding, his body slowly recovering as the Mysterious Heaven Skill circulated. He was deeply grateful to Tang Hao and Han Yu. Worried that his cries of pain would disturb his father's rest, he buried his entire body under the covers, hoping to muffle his voice completely.

Time passed quickly. When mealtime came, Tang Hao showed no intention of getting up to cook, and Han Yu had yet to return. Old Jack had invited him over to eat the old hen.

It was not until evening that Han Yu returned, wiping the grease from his lips. The smithy was pitch-black, without a glimmer of light, and so quiet that it seemed uninhabited.

Han Yu went straight to sleep when he got home, but poor Tang San had gone hungry all day. The filial boy had lain in his bedding all day, too afraid to trouble his father Tang Hao to cook for him. He also felt deeply guilty that he could not get up and cook for Tang Hao.

When Han Yu returned to the room to sleep, Tang San pulled the covers even tighter around himself to keep his cries of pain from disturbing his brother's rest. He nearly became the first Soul Master on the Douluo Continent to be smothered to death by his own bedding.

"Ha, hah."

Having gone too far, Tang San pulled his little face, red from holding his breath, out of his stinking quilt and carefully gasped for air. The Mysterious Heaven Skill was slowly healing every part of his body. If he was not mistaken, he would be able to get out of bed and rest by tomorrow morning at the latest.

While Tang San had been unconscious, Tang Hao had only slapped his face a few times with his hand. But he had not expected his big foot to accidentally tread on Tang San's still-unhealed knee, leaving Tang San unable to recover even after a whole day in bed.

"Grrr, grrr."

Tang San, whose stomach had long been rumbling with hunger, endured his bodily discomfort and closed his eyes, hoping to fall asleep quickly.

As long as I fall asleep, I won't feel hungry. Everything will be fine tomorrow morning.

That was what he thought.

But anyone who had felt hungry late at night knew that, in such circumstances, every delicious thing one had ever eaten would involuntarily flash through one's mind.

Tang San was no exception. One delicacy after another flashed through his mind like a slideshow.

The more he tried to fall asleep, the more delicious the food in his mind seemed, and his stomach kept going "grrr."

Bang! Tang Hao once again slammed his palm against the wall. Tang San, who had yet to fall asleep, instinctively wrapped the covers even more tightly around himself, saliva constantly pooling in his mouth.

How could he control the sounds coming from his ravenous stomach? After an unknown length of time, Tang San felt a large hand seize him by the collar and lift him straight up. Before he could come to his senses, Tang Hao had thrown him outside the smithy. Tang Hao then carefully shut the door tight, because Han Yu was still asleep.

A light breeze blew outside, and dark clouds filled the sky. A heavy rainstorm looked imminent.

As Tang San shivered and watched expectantly, the smithy door opened, and his own stinking bedding was tossed onto him. He looked up, only to see Tang Hao's tall figure hidden in the darkness inside the smithy.

"You're sleeping outside tonight."

With those words, Tang Hao slowly closed the door again.

Just as the hope in Tang San's eyes was fading, Tang Hao opened the smithy door once more.

Tang Hao looked at Tang San like a loving father gazing at his child. Finally, he sighed and said,

"Little San, you know that your dad and brother are light sleepers. If we don't sleep well at night, we won't have any spirit the next day. Little San, you're the most sensible child in our family. I hope you can understand."

Taken in by Tang Hao's spiel, Tang San nodded solemnly, tears in his eyes, and accepted this arduous task.

Having shut the door tight again, Tang Hao curled his lips into a smile, secretly pleased.

A mere hundred-thousand-year-old Blue Silver Grass really is easy to fool.

Listening to Tang Hao's footsteps as he returned to his room to rest, Tang San resolutely wrapped the bedding around himself and used his body to brace the smithy's rickety door.

The weather changed just that quickly. One moment, there had only been a light breeze; the next, a fierce wind sprang up, bringing a sudden downpour.

The awning at the smithy's entrance, meant to shield it from wind and rain, was small to begin with. Battered by the raging storm, it was soon on the verge of collapse. Though it would not be blown away, Tang San, sheltering beneath it, might as well have been out in the open.

The fierce wind drove great drops of rain against Tang San again and again, yet it could never extinguish the hot blood in his heart, devoted to his father and brother. With a determined gaze, he wrapped himself in his already sodden bedding. Like a mortal defying the might of heaven, he seemed so small, yet so brave.

The weather cleared the next day. The storm had raged all night, which was relatively rare in the area around Holy Soul Village. Many people had gone to check on their crops as soon as the rain stopped, before dawn had even broken.

Although Tang San was curled up at the smithy's entrance, it was still dark, and the villagers were worried about their crops. Who had time to notice someone curled up outside the smithy?

When Han Yu finally got up, yawning, he felt that he had slept exceptionally well. Nor had he smelled the stench of Tang San, who disliked bathing, and his long-blackened bedding. When he opened his eyes and looked, he found that there was no one beside him, and even the bedding was gone.

"Huh? Did I transmigrate again?"

He tilted his head and pondered for a long while before his mind finally cleared. He had not transmigrated again; Tang San's pillow was still on the bed.

"That kid wasn't well-behaved in his last life, and now he's even taken his quilt out and stopped coming home to sleep."

After grumbling about Tang San, Han Yu got dressed. The moment he opened the smithy door, a pitch-black object rolled inside.

The object was black as soot, like an enormous caterpillar. It was soaking wet all over and even wriggling.

"A ghost!!!!"

Han Yu was shocked. In an instant, a small hammer appeared in his hand, and a black Soul Ring circled up and down around his body. The next second, he gripped the hammer handle tightly with both hands and, using every ounce of strength he had, smashed it toward the head of the "caterpillar."

"Han Yu! Stop! That's Little San!"

Tang Hao, who had also awakened in the inner room, saw this and hurriedly shouted. He moved swiftly, leaving an afterimage in his wake. Seeing that he could not stop the blow in time, he could only put his thick arm above Tang San's head and firmly block Han Yu's hammer.