A Leisurely and Extravagant Life - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Character’s Miraculous Effect

After Luo Tianwang formed one character, he noticed there was still another drop of emerald-green liquid. He tried guiding it with his will again, shaping it into another green character. But the moment the new glyph formed, the earlier one shattered instantly into countless specks of green light, scattered apart, and quickly condensed back into a single drop of liquid again.

When Tianwang woke up, the courtyard was already piled high with rice stalks, filling the air with a fragrant grain scent. The golden rice ears gleamed like heaps of treasure.

Luo Baolin beamed at his grandson. “Tianwang, you’re awake. All the rice stalks have been carried back. Today you and your grandma really did a lot. At this pace, we’ll have everything harvested in just seven or eight more days.”

“Where’s Grandma?” Tianwang looked around, but there was no sign of Xiao Chunxiu.

“She’s out cutting more rice. Are you still sleepy? If you are, just rest some more.” Luo Baolin’s gaze fell on the towering heap of rice, and his smile faltered. With his injured leg, he was a burden this harvest season, and the thought stung deeply.

“I’m not sleepy anymore.” Tianwang grabbed a sickle and ran toward the golden fields.

Looking around, he soon spotted Xiao Chunxiu. She straightened her back, wiped the sweat from her brow, and turned—just in time to see her grandson dashing toward her.

“Slow down! Don’t fall!” she called out quickly.

“Moo!” The ox grazing nearby let out a cheerful call toward Tianwang. After working hard all day, it showed no complaint.

Tianwang walked over, rubbing its forehead. “You did a great job today.”

“Yes, Old Yellow earned his keep today. Tonight we’ll feed him some grain as a reward,” Xiao Chunxiu said with a smile.

Tianwang eagerly began swinging the sickle. But unlike his grandmother, who cut the stalks neatly at the base, he left tall stubble sticking up everywhere. She noticed but said nothing. After all, he was just a child—other children his age were still playing at home. If her husband hadn’t been injured, she would never have let her grandson toil like a grown man.

“Be careful. Don’t cut your hand,” she warned.

The words had barely left her mouth when Tianwang yelped. He had sliced his finger on the sharp sickle, and a spurt of blood shot out.

“Oh no! I told you to be careful. What do we do now?” Xiao Chunxiu was so anxious she nearly cried.

Tianwang glanced down. The sickle, freshly honed before harvest, had cut deep—he could almost see bone. Blood poured down like a faucet.

At that moment, a glowing character shot out from the hidden space within him and merged directly into his wound. Something miraculous happened—the bleeding stopped instantly, and the wound closed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In the blink of an eye, it was completely healed. Tianwang stared in shock. So the character could heal injuries!

Xiao Chunxiu rushed over, panicked. “Where are you hurt? Let Grandma see.”

She grabbed his hand and examined it. His hand was smeared with blood, yet there was no wound to be found. “Where is it? Where did you cut yourself?”

She turned his hand this way and that, baffled. His palm dripped with blood, and the ground beneath them was stained as well. The cut had been deep… so how could there be no trace at all?

“It’s healed,” Tianwang murmured.

“Healed? How could it heal? You lost so much blood!” Xiao Chunxiu refused to believe it. She had clearly seen the blood dripping from his hand just moments ago. The wound couldn’t have just vanished.

“A character flew out and went into my hand. Then it healed.” Tianwang himself still hadn’t recovered from the shock.

“What character?” she asked.

“There are lots and lots of light-dots everywhere. They can form into a character. It hid inside me, and just now it came out. Then my cut was gone.” Tianwang struggled to explain.

Xiao Chunxiu’s heart clenched as she stared at her grandson. From this moment on, she was certain—he carried something extraordinary within him.

She carefully searched his hand again, but still found no wound. That only confirmed her suspicion.

“Grandma, let’s go back. I know how to heal Grandpa’s leg now!” Tianwang said excitedly. He finally understood the character’s purpose—it could heal wounds. If only he had known earlier, his grandfather’s injury could have been cured long ago. The thought left him a little regretful.

“Tianwang, don’t tell anyone else about this, do you understand?” Xiao Chunxiu warned firmly.

Though he didn’t understand why, he nodded obediently. “I won’t tell anyone. Only Grandpa and Grandma.”

Satisfied, she smiled and ruffled his hair.

Before they even reached home, Tianwang was already nodding off. Perhaps using the character had drained him. Xiao Chunxiu put down her sickle and carried him back on her back.

“Tianwang fell asleep? That child, I told him not to go out,” Luo Baolin said as he hobbled up, his face full of concern as he looked at his grandson.

“Old man, I have something to tell you,” Xiao Chunxiu said, pulling him inside and recounting everything that had happened in the field.

“Are you sure you didn’t see wrong?” Luo Baolin’s eyes widened. The news was too incredible. He had never heard of such a thing.

“There’s still a pool of blood in the field! I saw with my own eyes—blood dripping nonstop from his hand. Look, there are still stains.” She grabbed Tianwang’s hand again, where dried blood remained.

This time, Tianwang had truly fallen into deep sleep. In the mysterious inner space, all the green droplets had been consumed. Only a few scattered motes of light lingered. Outside, more green light kept streaming in, slowly gathering, though most drifted away again. Only a small portion stayed behind.

When Tianwang finally woke, it was already dark. The weak white incandescent bulb flickered faintly—the evening peak in electricity use made the voltage unstable. Its fifteen watts barely lit the room.

He had slept for hours, longer than usual these past few days. Worried for him, Luo Baolin and Xiao Chunxiu had finished their work early and now sat by his bedside, watching over him.

“Tianwang, you’re awake?” Luo Baolin’s gaze was filled with tenderness.

“Are you hungry? I’ll bring you food right away,” Xiao Chunxiu said, hurrying off toward the kitchen.

Tianwang sat up and looked regretfully at his grandfather. “Grandpa, I can’t heal your leg yet. The light inside me is used up. I’ll have to wait until more gathers into liquid before I can treat you.”