The Cultivator's Reborn to 1970s
Chapter 30th

Chapter 30: 30th

"What are you running for? Didn’t you hear me calling you?" As soon as Lan Tian sat down, Shitou ran over, panting and flopped onto his seat like a fish out of water.

"Did you call me? I didn’t hear you. Here’s an orange for you, it’s really tasty, a little tart and sweet." Lan Tian’s expression didn’t change, she remained unperturbed and handed Shitou an orange from her bag, then turned around to remember that she was too busy avoiding Mo Junhua’s gaze earlier to pay attention to anything else.

"Lan Tian, I like you the best." Shitou said as he peeled the orange, not forgetting to express his feelings.

Lan Tian pretended not to hear and popped a date into her mouth, then casually gave a few to Shitou, and turned around to see Cha Hua staring at the orange in Shitou’s hand. She took out an orange from her bag and gave it to her.

Cha Hua looked at Shitou and then at Lan Tian, her gaze settled on the orange in Lan Tian’s hand, indecisive. She was Taohua’s ally, and she swore never to eat the enemy’s offerings.

Shitou, with his mouth full of juice, saw the determined look on Cha Hua’s face and wailed, "Lan Tian, Cha Hua often bullies you with Taohua, and you still give her your oranges. She is an ingrate, it’s wasted on her, better to give it to me."

"You can’t even keep your mouth shut when you’re eating," said Lan Tian as she stuffed a date into his mouth, then impatiently turned back to Cha Hua, "You gonna eat it or not? If not, I’ll give it to Shitou." She really had no patience for coddling like this.

Cha Hua glanced at Shitou who was making faces at her, and feeling aggrieved, took Lan Tian’s orange and peeled it to eat.

Lan Tian didn’t bother with their squabbling; she took the remaining two oranges from her bag and handed them to Shitou, "One for Tie Jun, one for Black Dog. Shitou, you give it to them."

"Okay!" Shitou hopped out of the classroom to look for Tie Jun and Black Dog.

The homeroom teacher of Lan Tian’s class was Teacher Su, a teacher freshly assigned from above. Apart from being the homeroom teacher, she also taught other subjects. As Teacher Su was lecturing, Lan Tian was downstairs memorizing the herbal medicine chart, and after memorizing it, she sat cross-legged and practiced Cultivation—her strange sitting posture drawing frequent glances from the classmates next to her.

Teacher Su came down from the platform and stood in front of Lan Tian with a friendly smile, "Classmate Lan Tian, could you please put down your legs during class?"

Lan Tian glanced at Teacher Su, then at her own crossed legs, and asked innocently, "Teacher, am I disturbing your lesson?"

Teacher Su shook her head.

"Am I disturbing the other students’ lessons?"

Teacher Su shook her head again.

"Does the school have a rule against sitting like this?"

After thinking, Teacher Su shook her head yet again.

"I’m not disturbing the teacher or the other students’ lessons, and I’m not breaking any school rules, so why can’t I sit like this?"

"..." Her logic was sound, and Teacher Su found herself at a loss for words.

Teacher Su was on the verge of tears, wondering why kids from the countryside were so strange, and tried to reason with Lan Tian: "But the other students will look at you, and it’s hard for the teacher to teach properly."

This matter concerned her Cultivation, and Lan Tian stood her ground, resolutely and righteously debating, "That’s because they’re not concentrating on the lesson. If you ask them to sit like this, see if I even glance at them."

The problem was, you’re sitting like that with your eyes closed! Teacher Su was defeated by Lan Tian’s innocent look and withdrew.

Having no idea what to do, Teacher Su challenged Shitou, who immediately followed Lan Tian’s example and crossed his legs. A few other naughty boys in class acted likewise, and Lan Tian saw this, her mouth curling into a sly smile.

Within minutes of crossing their legs, they found their legs both sore and numb. Shitou and the others learned their lesson and uncrossed their legs, sitting properly and no longer glancing at Lan Tian, allowing Teacher Su to teach uninterrupted once more.

The minor interlude was over, and Teacher Su cheerfully continued the class. School ended promptly at two o’clock, and Lan Tian waved goodbye to her friends at the fork in the road.

Entering the yard and seeing Yanhua coming out of the Medicine House, Lan Tian paused, shocked, thinking they wouldn’t come after yesterday’s incident.

Coming back to her senses upon seeing her aunt washing herbs under the camphor tree, she slung off her bag and rushed over, "Auntie, I’m back."

Zhao Li looked up at Lan Tian, "There are sweet potatoes roasting in the kitchen, they should be about ready. Go check on them." Then she continued washing the herbs.

"Lan Tian’s done with school," Yanhua said as she came over with a winnowing basket, flashing Lan Tian a smile. Lan Tian nodded and, with her bag in tow, headed back inside. After stowing her bag, she went to the kitchen to dig out sweet potatoes. Freshly roasted, they were fragrant and scorching hot, so hot that just looking at them felt burning. Lan Tian ate them, poking at it with chopsticks.

Stepping out of the hall, she glanced at Yanhua who was drying herbs and headed to the consultation room. The medicine recipe book was locked in Mo Yuanle’s drawer. Mo Yuanle once tested Lan Tian on the herbal medicine chart, randomly asking for a few herbs; Lan Tian responded immediately, her proficiency as natural as eating and drinking.

Imagining the possibilities, Mo Yuanle was overjoyed and tested her from start to finish. Lan Tian didn’t miss a single word.

Mo Yuanle grilled her on how she memorized it all. Lan Tian shifted the credit to her Grandpa who had become an Immortal. Whether others believed it or not, Lan Tian saw that Mo Yuanle did.

Lan Tian found the Immortal Grandpa to be quite useful, and casually mentioned that Grandpa taught her to read in her dreams. Mo Yuanle was puzzled then; his uncle was illiterate, so how could he have taught Lan Tian?

Lan Tian retorted, "What can’t an Immortal do?"

"... " Mo Yuanle found himself unable to respond.

Lan Tian was anxious to prepare the marrow-cleansing herbal medicine and did not have the heart to dwell on other matters. Using the Immortal skin of Grandpa to bluff, she decided that she must follow Grandpa’s instructions for future medical studies. Mo Yuanle, in an effort to accommodate his uncle’s plans, did not interfere with Lan Tian’s medical learning.

To facilitate Lan Tian’s access to the herbal medicine chart at any time, Mo Yuanle gave her a spare key. The key hung around Lan Tian’s neck; she opened the drawer, took out the herbal medicine chart, and read it while eating her sweet potato.

Now she could memorize up to thirty herbs at a time. After finishing the sweet potato and memorizing the herbs, she carefully wiped her hands with cloth, cleaning even under her fingernails, before carefully flipping to the place she had left off and continued memorizing.

Lan Tian read each word slowly, immersing herself in the book, with her Sea of Consciousness feeling as lively and interesting as watching a 3D movie.