21 – Meeting Old Doctor Chen Again

That night, Lu Qing slept exceptionally well, without even dreaming.

Xiao Yan also didn’t wake up in the middle of the night as usual, crying out for him to comfort her.

The siblings both had a good night’s sleep.

In fact, Lu Qing slept so deeply that it was Xiao Yan who woke him up in the morning.

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he helped Xiao Yan put on her outer clothes, then assisted her with brushing her teeth and washing her face. He tied her hair into two simple buns before starting his own washing up.

Using a willow twig brush to clean his teeth lazily, Lu Qing’s eyes wandered aimlessly around the room.

After brushing for a while, he suddenly felt something was amiss. His eyes gradually focused.

Walking up, he looked at the two empty bamboo hoops hanging on the bamboo rod, his eyes widening.

Damn it, which bastard stole his two big pieces of fish?

Was it someone from the village?

Lu Qing immediately had this thought.

But he quickly dismissed it.

Although the villagers were not well-off nowadays, none were so poor as to steal two pieces of fish.

Yesterday, when he invited everyone to eat fish, they all politely declined, one by one.

Besides, if someone really wanted to steal, wouldn’t they take the whole pot? Why just two pieces?

More importantly, he noticed that some scraps of fish were still left on the bamboo hoops.

It was obvious the two pieces of fish were forcefully yanked away.

What kind of thief would make such a loud noise while stealing, not afraid of waking people up?

Unfortunately, he slept too soundly last night and didn’t notice any noise outside.

Lu Qing carefully searched the nearby area and finally found several flower-shaped mud prints on the wall.

Each print had a few small holes in it.

He even found similar prints on the ground.

He quietly observed these mud prints.

Soon, a faint white light emerged from them.

White light?

Lu Qing was slightly startled.

He hurriedly looked at the notes that appeared.

【Mud Footprints: Judging by their shape, they seem to belong to some kind of mysterious small beast.】

【From the small holes in the footprints, this is a creature with sharp claws.】

Looking at the description on the notes, a scene instantly appeared in Lu Qing’s mind.

A mysterious and nimble unknown small beast, using its legs to push off the wall, leaped at the fish on the bamboo rod and forcefully yanked it down.

What could it be, a cat?

By the way, are there cats in this world?

A question popped into Lu Qing’s mind.

Anyway, he hadn’t seen any. Nobody in the village kept a cat.

But since it was confirmed not to be a person stealing, it was fine.

Lu Qing breathed a sigh of relief.

If it had been a villager stealing, that wouldn’t be good news for him.

Fortunately, it was just a wild animal. Judging by the footprints, it wasn’t large.

His village was not far from the mountains, so it wasn’t unusual for wild animals to occasionally wander down.

However, from now on, he needed to close the doors and windows more tightly when sleeping.

Otherwise, if a wild animal sneaked in at night and hurt Xiao Yan, it would be bad.

After figuring out what happened, Lu Qing didn’t worry much about it.

After all, there’s not much he could do against a wild animal. He could only store things properly after nightfall.

Thinking of this, Lu Qing suddenly remembered something, widened his eyes, and hurried to the kitchen.

After a while, he walked out with a look of relief on his face.

Fortunately, he had kept the Red Moon Carp in a wooden basin in the kitchen the night before. To prevent the fish from jumping out, he had covered the wooden basin tightly with a wooden board and a stone.

Otherwise, it might have been taken away by that beast.

After this little incident, Lu Qing was fully awake.

He didn’t tell Xiao Yan about it, but went to make breakfast. After the siblings had finished eating, they carried the Red Moon Carp in a wooden bucket and headed toward the small hill where Old Doctor Chen lived.

This time, Lu Qing deliberately delayed a bit before setting off to Old Doctor Chen’s place.

Because he was afraid that if he went too early and saw the old doctor practicing martial arts again, he would be unable to resist using his powers to mimic the old man’s techniques.

The old doctor was so kind to their siblings that he couldn’t do such an ungrateful thing.

So he simply eliminated that possibility, avoiding testing his own moral boundaries.

Lu Qing’s strategy proved to be quite effective.

When he and Xiao Yan arrived at the small courtyard halfway up the hill, they saw Old Doctor Chen slowly finishing his practice. Clearly, he had just completed his martial arts routine.

“Grandpa Chen, we’ve come to see you!”

Xiao Yan ran forward happily when she saw the old doctor.

“Oh, Xiao Yan is here!”

Old Doctor Chen picked her up with his arms, his old face beaming like a blossoming chrysanthemum.

“Good morning, Grandpa Chen,” Lu Qing stepped forward to greet him.

“You’re here, why are you later than the last time?” Old Doctor Chen asked.

“Because my brother slept in!” Xiao Yan giggled, “It was Xiao Yan who woke him up this morning!”

Lu Qing blushed a little, “I went fishing by the river all morning yesterday and was a bit tired, so I slept a little more heavily.”

“Sleeping more is good.” Old Doctor Chen nodded, “You are both at an age where you’re still growing; plenty of rest is necessary.”

The old doctor looked at the complexion of Lu Qing and Xiao Yan. Compared to a few days ago, they looked much better.

Knowing they must have been doing well these past few days, he felt quite satisfied.

“Grandpa Chen, yesterday my brother went fishing with me, and he caught a really, really huge fish!”

At this point, Xiao Yan began to show off to the old doctor.

“Oh, how big was it?” Old Doctor Chen smiled.

“So big, as big as Xiao Yan!” The little girl gestured vigorously.

“That big?” Old Doctor Chen was now a bit surprised.

He had thought that when Xiao Yan said ‘big fish,’ it would be at most two or three jin in weight. If it was really as she described, it would be much more than that.

“Mm-hmm, and the big fish not only tasted good but also had a very beautiful stone on it! My brother made it into a pendant and gave it to Xiao Yan. Grandpa Chen, look, isn’t it pretty?”

Xiao Yan pulled out the fish stone pendant from around her neck and showed it to Old Doctor Chen.

“This is… the Green Armored Fish Stone?”

Old Doctor Chen, seeing the shape of the pendant on Xiao Yan’s neck clearly, was even more surprised.

Hearing this, Lu Qing was stirred.

He also pretended to be surprised and said, “Grandpa Chen, you know what this stone is?”

“What, you don’t know it?”

“I don’t know.” Lu Qing shook his head, “I discovered this stone in the throat of that big fish when I was gutting it. It looked pretty, so I made it into a pendant for Xiao Yan to wear.”

“Your luck is quite good; this fish stone is quite a rare item, and you happened to find it.”

Old Doctor Chen picked up the pendant and examined it carefully.

“The big fish you caught should be a Green Armored Fish, and an old one at that, given how long it took to grow.”

“Otherwise, it wouldn’t have produced such a fine fish stone.”

“This Green Armored Fish Stone, once it transforms into jade, has a rather magical function of calming the mind. Additionally, it is a rare herb. Its powder can be mixed with water and ingested to soothe children’s nightmares.”

“By the way, where did you catch this Green Armored Fish?”