The Cultivator's Reborn to 1970s
Chapter 86 - 73

Chapter 86: 73

Parents know their own children best. Their boy can be such a chatterbox that even his own wife would get annoyed, yet Grandma Sun’s granddaughter is good-natured, not showing a trace of impatience on her face.

To reach the school in the township, one must go over the mountain in front. It takes over two hours to reach the school, which is quite crowded with students, mostly from nearby villages. Parents accompany their children to enroll, mainly to pay the tuition fees, as it is not safe for children to carry money in case it gets lost and they have to find more. Others, like Lan Tian, come from villages where the local primary school only goes up to the third grade, so they have to attend school elsewhere starting from the fourth grade.

After enrolling and paying the tuition fees, a slip of paper with the payer’s name is given, which must be taken to another classroom to collect the textbooks.

When it was their turn, Lan Tian stepped up, actually pulling money out from the Sleeve Universe in his pocket to pay the tuition. The teacher collecting the fees took the money and reviewed his transcript. After looking at the transcript and then at Lan Tian, noticing there were no parents behind him and then glancing at Uncle Dazhuang, the teacher asked Lan Tian, "Where are your parents?"

"My leg is injured, so I’m resting at home. I came with Uncle Dazhuang from the village. Do you have any questions, Teacher?" Lan Tian answered obediently, pointing to Uncle Dazhuang who smiled shyly as the teacher looked his way. The teacher just asked casually, glanced at Uncle Dazhuang, and handed Lan Tian a slip of paper.

Lan Tian waited with the slip while Shitou and Uncle Dazhuang finished paying. There was much work to be done in the fields, so Uncle Dazhuang hurried back after giving them a few instructions.

The two of them went to collect their books with the others and then needed to find their classroom and meet their homeroom teacher, which meant they couldn’t leave just yet. After some inquiry, they finally found the fourth-grade class. The class was filled with many students, around sixty or seventy, mostly those who had advanced from the lower grades of the same school, chatting in small groups.

Lan Tian and Shitou, being mid-year transfers, sat wherever there were empty seats. Lan Tian scanned the front of the class, and seeing the front rows were full, headed towards the empty back rows. The back seats were mostly occupied by taller boys who stared straight at the two unfamiliar faces.

Most of those gazes were directed at Lan Tian, out of curiosity, but it was as if Lan Tian didn’t notice the stares of her classmates, taking Shitou with her to pick two adjacent seats. Shitou was quite pleased to sit next to Lan Tian. The period passed amidst the playful ruckus of the other students.

During the second period, the homeroom teacher, Mr. Chen, arrived. He introduced himself, stating that he would be their homeroom teacher for the next three years and expressed a hope that everyone would progress and learn together. Then he introduced the new students. When a student was called upon, they were to stand up and introduce themselves.

Aside from Lan Tian and Shitou, there were several other transfer students. Faced with their new classmates, the newcomers hesitantly stood up after some delay, their restrained voices barely audible like whispers, not even the nearby students could hear them. Mr. Chen continued to encourage them, but to little avail, so he let them sit back down.

A few introductions followed in a mere formality, just enough for the class to notice the new faces.

The class erupted in laughter at the sight of this, and the carefree Shitou joined in. When it was his turn, he sprang up and shouted, "I’m Mo Anping from Mo Village, that’s it."

After introducing himself, he playfully gestured towards Lan Tian, "Her name is Lan Tian, she’s from Mo Village just like me."

Lan Tian stood up, nodded to Mr. Chen, glanced over the class, and then sat down. Shitou had already introduced her, so there was no need for her to repeat it.

That morning, they only had two periods. In the afternoon, they didn’t attend classes but headed home with their backpacks. They hadn’t had lunch and were both hungry and tired by the time they reached home around three o’clock.

The consequence of such hunger led Lan Tian and Shitou to start bringing lunch to school. While other students went home to eat, the two were fine eating their cold packed lunches, even in hot weather. The other new students, who hadn’t brought lunch, had to endure hunger during class, while Shitou praised Lan Tian for the smart idea.

The next day, their classmates also started bringing lunches like Lan Tian and Shitou did.

Every morning they had to wake up before five, while it was still dark. Zhao Li had to call her every morning to get up, meet up with Shitou at the village entrance, both still half asleep, and travel by the light of the moon.

Shitou was a lively presence, and in just a few days, he blended well with the other students in the class. Lan Tian was still her usual self, conversing if someone initiated it, otherwise contentedly sitting quietly and reading.

The only girl in the class who was good-looking without the curse of Taohua was Lan Tian, and all the girls liked to socialize with her.

Upon arriving in a new environment, Lan Tian acted with restraint, her manners no different from her classmates. The village primary school was not like the township school, where gossip spread quickly due to a larger crowd; Lan Tian could do as she pleased in the village. Meditating during class was something Lan Tian would not do.

Her classmate Shitou frequently looked at her during class time, unable to resist his curiosity, and asked Lan Tian why she didn’t meditate? Having been in the same class for four years, he had grown accustomed to Lan Tian’s meditating posture and found it awkward to suddenly see her sitting so obediently.

Lan Tian looked at him coldly and did not speak, her gaze sending chills down Shitou’s spine. He dared not ask again; during class, he couldn’t sit still as if there were needles under his buttocks, twisting and turning, his gaze occasionally stealing glances at Lan Tian.

After attending school for a while being dropped off by her brother, Taohua, for some unknown reason, suddenly stopped having her family send her and began walking to school with Lan Tian and Shitou. Lan Tian hadn’t seen her for a long while and had forgotten that such a person existed in the village. She scorned the sight of the two carrying their lunches to school.

The two didn’t get along with even half a sentence’s worth of conversation. When Lan Tian saw Taohua arriving, she acknowledged her indifferently with a nod and turned her gaze away. Shitou couldn’t stand Taohua’s attitude and sarcastically remarked, "Oh, isn’t this Miss Taohua? Why are you walking like us?"

Shitou glanced around the village, not seeing her brother or his bicycle, "Where’s your bike? It’s broken?" He was gleefully schadenfreudian, fearing she didn’t comprehend.

Taohua’s face turned red with anger, glaring fiercely at Lan Tian, and bellowed at Shitou, "I just like walking, none of your damn business, and this road isn’t owned by your family, hmph," she said, walking away with her head held high.

From that day on, it became a trio’s journey to school.

In the blink of an eye, it was November. Fourth Grandpa’s seventieth birthday had arrived. Lan Tian had asked for a day off from school yesterday, claiming a family matter prevented her from attending, but in reality, she wanted to skip school. As she was usually obedient and at the top of her class, Mr. Chen did not suspect Lan Tian of being lazy or skipping school and granted her leave.

Shitou followed suit, asking for time off with the same excuse of family matters, only to be sternly lectured by Mr. Chen. He looked dejected, like a frostbitten eggplant. His melancholy wasn’t due to the reprimand but because he had failed to get the leave; he spent the entire day in that woebegone state, which Lan Tian was accustomed to.

After a long time, she slept so soundly, waking up naturally to a foggy outdoors. The distant mountains and nearby waters appeared veiled in a thin layer of gauze, giving off an air of mystique as if peering at flowers through the fog.

Taking a deep breath, even the air felt fresher than usual. Lan Tian felt that today the Spiritual Energy was much denser than normal; she wondered if it was related to the fog. After washing up with water, she went to the kitchen to have her warm breakfast. After eating, she returned to her room to meditate and practice Cultivation.

After completing the final Circulation, Lan Tian finished her Cultivation practice and it was now noon, with sunlight shining brightly outside the window. Nobody was home, as they had all gone to Fourth Grandpa’s house to help out. Mo Yuanle’s foot had healed after a month, and he had gone into the mountains to gather herbs recently. With winter approaching, not much could be harvested from the mountains.

Lan Tian estimated that the house’s peaches and grapes were nearly finished and decided to take a trip to Taohua Valley to pick some. The valley got its name from Little Tao’s birthplace, and it was Lan Tian who had named it Taohua Valley. She left a note on the table, infused some Spiritual Energy into the Gathering Spirit Grass in the backyard, and headed into the mountains.

The Spiritual Energy in Taohua Valley was still rich; every time Lan Tian entered, it felt as though she was soaking in a Spiritual Spring, experiencing a blissful sensation throughout her body. The grapevines were nearly stripped bare, with at most three more baskets to be picked, and the peaches had been plucked from one tree. Lan Tian hadn’t paid attention before; only today did she notice the trees were budding, with buds the size of peanuts, promising blooms in days to come.

She collected a basket each of peaches and grapes into her Sleeve Universe and dug up a ginseng root. Not disturbing other herbs, she settled down in her regular meditation spot. Her Cultivation had not advanced, but her realm at the Qi Cultivation Seventh Level became more stable, and the Spiritual Energy in her Dantian grew increasingly concentrated. After meditating, Lan Tian practiced various Spell techniques in Taohua Valley until almost three o’clock before heading back.

Grandma Sun came home at noon, saw the note on the table, and knowing Lan Tian wouldn’t return from the mountains so quickly, went over to Mo’s fourth son’s house to help, estimating that the girl would soon return and told Zhao Li she would go home to wait.

"Grandma, you didn’t go help?" Lan Tian was surprised to see Grandma Sun at home.

"I just got back, waiting for you at home; tidy up, it’s almost time to eat," Lan Tian washed up while Grandma Sun reminded her of various things to pay attention to.

Lan Tian listened and nodded along.