The original repairer

Shi Chen walked very fast. He knew the dangers of being outdoors at night, so his brisk walk gradually turned into a jog, then slowly picked up speed. He still had good stamina, at least from the years he'd been exercising at school. In half an hour, he reached the mountain gate.

The white jade mountain, more than ten meters high, was engraved with three large gilded characters of the Five Elements Sect. Compared with Yu Chenzi's memory, it no longer had any charm. The mountain gate archway had collapsed, and the stone pillars lay horizontally, creating a picture of a ruined sect.

The sect's protective formation has become ineffective, and weeds are overgrown outside the mountain gate, with tall and dense trees.

……

Shi Chen walked out of the dense forest. The sun was already setting. It took him almost four hours to reach the fishing village in front of him.

They live on a hillside, with curling smoke from cooking fires and rows of wooden houses. A few hundred meters away from the slope is a big river, and on the bank of the river there is a bay of about a hundred acres. There are three low houses on the bank of the bay, and a few dozen meters away from the low houses there is a rocky river embankment, with seven or eight fishing boats on the surface of the river embankment.

The fishing village was quiet, with only the occasional barking of dogs and crowing of chickens. Shi Chen quietly approached the three low houses, which were surrounded by a bamboo fence as tall as a person. In the open space in front of the houses, a hen and her chicks were pecking at food. An old dog was tied to the fence gate. It smelled a strange smell and was about to roar.

Hearing the barking of the dog, a girl about eight or nine years old with pigtails and the size of a little girl came out of the thatched cottage. She saw Shi Chen standing not far from the door, walked to the gate of the fence, comforted the old dog, and then asked the stranger, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Shi Chen walked up to the girl and listened to her questions, which were surprisingly similar to Chinese. She said, "I came from a very far place. I encountered a wild beast in the mountains and got separated from my group. May I ask what area this is?"

The girl looked around curiously and said, "Our village is called Fisherwoman Village. If you want to know more, you have to wait for my grandfather to come back."

"Okay," Shi Chen found a stone to sit on and said, "I'll wait outside for your parents to come back."

……

Through communication, he roughly learned some of the situation: the girl's family was out working and was not at home. Shi Chen did not enter the fence gate, but sat in front of the fence gate, waiting for the girl's family to return.

After sitting in front of the fence for about half an hour, an old man carrying a fishing net and a dozen fish in his hands walked up to Shi Chen and said, "Stranger, what brings you to my house?"

Shi Chen said, "Hello, old man! I come from a distant country. My team encountered wild beasts in the mountains and was separated. I hope you can take me in for a while."

Looking at Shi Chen's dress, which was different from what he had seen before, and seeing Shi Chen's respectful attitude, the old man took him into the courtyard.

Shi Chen followed the old man into the thatched house in the middle. A little girl was sitting in the house, and next to the girl was a boy, about four or five years old, with childish hair tied up and wearing a small bellyband. He looked at Shi Chen curiously.

Sitting at the only low table in the room, the two children surrounded Shi Chen, occasionally touching and bumping into him. About half an hour later, the old man came into the room carrying a large earthenware basin containing fish soup and placed it on the low table.

The two children immediately gathered around the table, their eyes shining and their throats rolling as they looked at the fish soup in the earthenware basin.

The old man left and returned a short while later with a bamboo basket, which he placed beside the low table. Inside were four gray-black dumplings and four earthenware bowls. He poured a bowl of fish soup from the earthenware basin, placed a fish head in each bowl, and placed it in front of Shi Chen. He then poured three more bowls of fish soup and gave them to the two children, half a bowl of fish meat in each child's bowl and a fish head in the old man's bowl. He then gave each of the four gray-black dumplings one each. The old man gestured, then picked up the dumplings and began to eat with the fish soup.

The sun had already set, leaving only a glimmer of light on the horizon. The meal was brief; in less than ten minutes, the old man had collected the dishes. Shi Chen didn't eat much, just a bowl of fish soup and half a gray dumpling.

I don’t know what the gray ball is made of, but I can taste that it is mixed with wild vegetables, starch paste and the like.

After a brief conversation after dinner, the old man looked at the night outside, arranged Shi Chen in the woodshed, laid a thick layer of thatch, indicated that Shi Chen could only sleep there, and emphasized that he should not go out at night.

Shi Chen, who was used to going to bed at eleven or twelve o'clock every night, fell asleep early today.

The old man is called He Laosan, he is fifty-three years old, his wife has passed away, and he has two sons and a daughter. His eldest son and his wife drowned in the river while fishing three years ago, leaving behind a pair of children. His second son works as a waiter in a tavern in a big city three hundred miles away, and his youngest daughter has married in a neighboring village.

He Laosan emphasized that people were not allowed to go out at night because there were wild animals outside the village. Even without the old man's kind reminder, Shi Chen would not go out at night.

According to Yu Chenzi's memories, in the human dynasty, demonic beasts and spirits generally did not attack villages and towns. As long as a village or town was formed, it would be protected by the dynasty's luck. Spirits and demonic beasts were affected by the dynasty's luck, making the path of cultivation difficult. Unless the human dynasty could be destroyed, the dynasty's luck would dissipate, and cultivation would naturally be unaffected by the dynasty's luck.

The next morning, Shi Chen got up at daybreak and walked out of the woodshed to see the old man spreading out his fishing nets. He stepped forward to help him, and together they worked to put up the nets.

"Sir, there's no need to help. I can do it myself. I won't go into the river today. A big fish escaped yesterday and made a big hole in the net. I have to fix the hole today and can't go into the river tomorrow." He Laosan hurriedly stopped Shi Chen from helping him and said.

Since He Laosan stopped him, Shi Chen had no choice but to sit beside him and watch him drying and mending the nets, threading the wooden needles, and tying the nets with hemp rope.

While He Laosan was mending the net, Shi Chen chatted with him about recent events in the village, and then asked about nearby villages and towns, stories of cultivating immortals, and anecdotes of dynasties.

Around eight or nine o'clock, seeing the two children get up, He Laosan put down his work and went to the kitchen to prepare food. Shi Chen sat by the door, thinking about what to do next.

Regarding the Five Elements Sect, He Laosan said he didn't know and had never heard of it. The nearest big city was three hundred miles away from here, with two big towns and seven or eight villages in between. The nearest immortal market was about a hundred miles away from here. Most mortals would not go near the immortal market, and He Laosan didn't know anything about the immortal city.

Every three years, the immortals would come to the village to test the children’s spiritual roots for cultivating immortality. Those who passed the test could follow the immortals to cultivate.

In another four months, the three-year period will be up again.

He Laosan carried the pottery basin into the middle room and called Shi Chen and the two children.

The breakfast was simple, a porridge made of some unknown substance mixed with wild vegetables. Each person was given a large ceramic bowl. Looking at the gray porridge, Shi Chen had no appetite at all. He had not eaten enough last night, and now his stomach was protesting, so he had to close his eyes and swallow it.

In a small village where the human dynasty has declined, each household only eats two meals a day, and some even only have one meal in the morning.

After everyone finished eating and cleared away their bowls, He Lao San hesitated and said, "Sir, you're staying at my house, but there's no good place to stay, and no good food to entertain you. I'm treating you badly. Why don't you go to another village and ask for accommodation?"

"Old man, you are worrying too much. There is no such thing as despising people in trouble. It is a great favor for you not to drive me away. If you need anything, please tell me directly. I will not refuse." Shi Chen said sincerely.

He Laosan looked at the two children and said, "My family is indeed poor. We used to rely on fishing to make a living, which was barely enough for the three of us. Now that the young master is staying with us, I should have treated him well, but unfortunately, we have nothing..."