Immortal Cultivation and Life-Saving Guide

Chapter 243 Homecoming
After hearing the word "brother", Wei Dong was sure that the monk in front of him who had changed his appearance was his sister.

"You've grown so big! You've become so beautiful! I didn't even recognize you in the store just now," Wei Dong said, his emotions agitated. After all, the two siblings hadn't seen each other for four years. "How come you can speak? Did the Immortal Sect heal you?"

Wei Xi himself didn't understand, so he could only point at Ling Yin, who looked curious, and said, "This is the spirit beast I raised, and it's also my mouth."

"This isn't the place to chat," Wei Xi told his brother to leave. "Why are you in the county?"

"The mine assigned me to deliver the goods. I thought you looked familiar, but I wasn't sure. I asked the foreman for two days' leave and finally tracked you down."

"I didn't recognize you either. You looked like a skinny monkey before," Wei Xi thought of Wei Dong when he was twelve or thirteen. If the facial features weren't similar, she wouldn't have dared to recognize him. "You were running around the village, and even your mother couldn't catch you!"

"You said you used to be like a big-headed doll, lifeless. Now you look more impressive than the mining team leader's daughter," Wei Dong smiled, revealing his white teeth, but his eyes kept looking at Wei Xi's hands. "Your parents must be very happy to see you!"

Wei Xi found a small restaurant, which was full of miners who had just returned from the mine, and it was very lively.

Wei Dong asked the proprietress to cook some dishes. Worried that his sister would not eat well, he ordered four taels of white rice and five pancakes for himself.

While cooking, Wei Dong asked Wei Xi about her life outside these past few years, whether anyone bullied her, and whether cultivating immortality was fun...

Wei Xi was quite talkative in front of people close to him. He told his brother about his interesting experiences, but never mentioned the several serious injuries and the time he spent in jail.

"You left in such a hurry that I didn't have time to see you off," Wei Dong said apologetically. "I finally woke up and realized I might never see you again. I didn't think much of it at the time."

"Then I found the bread you left behind under my blanket. When my mother saw it, she couldn't stop crying, and I started crying too..."

"You were so swollen that you were twice as big as me. I secretly poked you twice, but you didn't react." Wei Xi still felt a little scared when she thought about it: if it had really been punctured, she would probably have become an only child.

After all, the conditions at home at the time made it impossible to treat any possible infection.

While eating, Wei Dong talked about the changes in his family in recent years.

"After you left, Mom and Dad always cried behind people's backs. That winter, Dad's legs healed, and he went to the county to help a wealthy family build a house. He inquired about those immortal masters. No one in the county knew about them, and they talked about all sorts of nonsense. Dad got blisters from listening to them..."

"I'm old enough to work as a waiter in a county restaurant. One day, a monk came to see me and asked if I had a sister. He confirmed the information and gave me the package."

"I rushed home overnight. My parents couldn't read, and I only understood the general idea. I didn't dare show it to others and cause trouble, so I could only write down the words I didn't know and ask people in the county. Only then did I understand your letter, and my parents felt relieved."

"But when my mother was altering the clothes, she discovered it..." The Wei family was cautious. Wei Dong swallowed the word "silver" and said, "Life at home has been much better since then."

Wei Xi nodded: She put the small change away for this reason, otherwise her parents might bury the neatly-packed official silver in the ground, which would be of no use in improving their lives.

"You worked in a restaurant before, so why did you end up working in the mining team? I remember the mining team was a good job..."

Wei Dong chuckled, "It's because the Emperor is fighting a war and has recruited a lot of soldiers. I don't have a wife or brothers, so I don't meet the recruitment requirements. A lot of people from the mine have been drafted, so I'll fill in."

To ensure sustainable exploitation, Jucheng's conscription system still left some room for maneuver. Males had to be married before the age of 18, and only sons could enlist only after their wives became pregnant.

Half of Ju's arable land was freely transferable, while the other half was allocated to the counties (state-owned). State-owned land was divided according to population. The more male adults a commoner had, the more land they could cultivate, and the more men they could serve on the battlefield and earn military merit.

The official calculation system originally served this land system. It can be said that the State of Ju was a country that would do anything to fight wars.

The land in Tianshui Village is barren, and Wei Laosan is a hunter who can supplement the family income, so he only raises two children.

"By the way, what are you doing at the slag shop? Is this an errand assigned to you by the sect?"

"I want to buy some wheat flour."

"Slag?" As a miner, Wei Dong was quite familiar with the county's mineral resources. "What kind do you want?"

Hearing this, Wei Xi described the burning wheat and jade chips.

Sure enough, Wei Dong smiled and said, "How much do you want? I might have a connection. We have a lot of this red slag in our mine. The manager had someone come to take a look before, and they said it was 'emitting spiritual energy.'" "Although I don't understand all this, but after a few deliveries, I can feel that the slag is getting colder. If you want it, come with me to the mine and take a look. Maybe we'll find something unexpected!"

Wei Xi was very tempted. "Will you get into trouble if you take me with you? The more low-key I am here, the better..."

"Change your clothes, and I'll take you to see the manager." Wei Dong, who was born to the same mother as Wei Xi, also had a tendency to be bold. "They have a lot of them, so they can sell them to you right here and save them money..."

Thinking about this, the two of them ate their meal at a fast pace. Wei Dong paid for the meal and also asked for a roast chicken to be picked up tomorrow.

The brother and sister went to the mine. Wei Dong was smart and got along well in the mine. He successfully took Wei Xi to find the manager.

The manager usually traded in some ore, but he didn't expect that his miners would bring people to the mine, so he was a little unhappy for a while.

Wei Xi rubbed a flame, and the manager's face suddenly brightened up, and he enthusiastically introduced the slag to the immortal master.

Sure enough, this kind of burning wheat jade dust contained a lot of fire-attributed spiritual energy when it was just mined. Wei Xi, who had already established his foundation, could feel the spiritual energy floating in the air.

This was caused by a sudden change in the material environment. Wei Xi used his spiritual power to help stabilize the spiritual energy in the slag. After withdrawing the spiritual power, the spiritual energy in the slag was much denser than that in the store, and the barrier effect was better.

The manager of this business is trying to get something for nothing, and he just wants to sell it quickly, so the price is two medium-grade spirit stones cheaper than the store.

Wei Xi didn't hesitate to buy 480 kilograms of slag, packed it with his spiritual power and threw it into his Qiankun bag. He also gave the manager an extra five taels of silver, just to help him establish a relationship with Wei Dong.

The manager was very happy and gave Wei Dong two more days off so that he could have a good rest.

After leaving the mine, Wei Dong felt a little embarrassed, as he always felt that he had made his sister spend money.

"I'm away from home all year round, and it's unlikely I'll be back in the future. Mom and Dad still need your care," Wei Xi said, not caring. Although she was also extremely poor, she was still a cultivator after all. "If you have the opportunity to learn a craft in the mines, perhaps you won't have to go to the battlefield."

"If you give me this ingot of silver today, I will probably be on the list of blacksmith apprentices reported next month. In the future, we won't draft craftsmen who can make weapons when we go to war." Wei Dong had no hope of being awarded a military title, so he thought it would be better to learn a craft to support his parents.

After returning to the county, Wei Dong refused to book an extra guest room and insisted on sleeping in a large dormitory. Wei Xi couldn't persuade him and had to go along with him.

The next day, the two of them went into the rolling mountains and followed the deserted mountain road to Tianshui Village.

The scenery before him overlapped with his fragmented memories, and Wei Xi became more and more eager.

Entering Tianshui Village, you can see the Wei family's tiled house from afar. Wei Laosan returned home after completing his military service in the logistics corps and went out to live alone with Wei Lishi. The couple worked hard and saved up enough money to build two tiled houses.

Wei Dong pushed open the door and shouted, "Mom! Mom! Look who's back?"

Before Wei Xi saw her mother, she heard her mother complaining, "How old are you? You're not steady at all..."

Wei Li held the basin full of clothes in one hand and lifted the cloth curtain that had turned white from washing with the other hand. She saw a girl standing next to her son. When she took another look, she was stunned.

"This... this is my daughter? Arya!"

Wei Li was ecstatic when she recognized her own flesh and blood. She threw the basin on the ground and ran to Wei Xi. She stretched out her hand halfway and quickly wiped it on her apron. Then she pulled Wei Xi to look at it again and again.

"Da Lang! Go to the fields and call your father back," Wei Li came to her senses and told her son to go and call someone. "And go to Sixth Aunt's house and buy two bowls of soybeans. Erya likes to drink soybean milk."

"Why isn't Dad in the mountains at this time of year?" In previous years, Wei's father always wandered around the mountains, hunting to supplement the family's income. Wei Xi suspected that his father's leg had not healed well, so he asked this question.

Unexpectedly, Wei Li was frightened: Wei Xi had never cried since she was born. She was staring at her hands and expression just now, but was suddenly stunned by Wei Xi's words.

Wei Xi felt quite helpless. He touched the doll around his waist and felt a lot of emotions.

　Hahaha, Wei Xi is not just going home to visit relatives this time.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)