The Cultivator's Reborn to 1970s
Chapter 91 - 77

Chapter 91: 77

Others did not understand the conversation between the grandfather and grandchild; Mo Yuanle watched from beginning to end, a hint of amusement flickering across his eyes. In the courtyard, the siblings saw Great Grandpa Mo giving a pen to Lan Tian, and they were filled with all sorts of envy, jealousy, and resentment. The most annoying thing was Lan Tian’s pretense of treating the pen as a humble, second-hand gift, while also claiming it was valuable—a bunch of nonsense, pah!

Yanhong was so angry that her eyes turned red. Could Great Grandpa Mo be blind? Lan Tian was obviously putting on an act, yet he praised her and even promised her another substantial gift. Could he be senile? Hui Li glanced at Lan Tian, her gaze falling on the pen, and then discreetly glanced at the young man standing behind Great Grandpa Mo, wondering what he was thinking.

Great Grandpa Mo, Mo Yuanle’s granduncle, naturally lived at Grandma Sun’s house. After chatting the whole afternoon, Fourth Grandpa and his family bustled away. Grandma Sun and Zhao Li went off to cook, picking vegetables in the backyard. Zhao Li looked around at the different vegetables and eventually decided to pick long beans and Chinese spinach from Lan Tian’s plot.

Granduncle and nephew, Mo Yuanle and Great Grandpa Mo, headed to the hall, with the young man following them into the hall. Without the clutter of other people around, the uncle and nephew could finally have a proper conversation.

Lan Tian went to the back garden, hid in a secluded spot, set up an Array, and took out the hair of both Mo Yuanle and Great Grandpa Mo to ascertain if they truly were blood relatives. In the Cultivation World, there’s a minor Spell known as the Bloodline Exploration Technique. Highly skilled Cultivators can locate descendants in different realms just by using a drop of blood they hold.

Although Lan Tian’s Cultivation level was low, she had their hair, performed the finger gestures, and quickly got the results—the two were indeed blood relatives. No deceivers here; Lan Tian felt relieved, dismantled the Array, dusted off her bottom, and returned to sit next to Mo Yuanle in the hall.

Great Grandpa Mo slowly recounted the events of the years. The Mo family, under Great Grandpa Mo’s branch, had been doctors for generations. As a young man, not content with staying in Mo Village, he ran off seeking fame and fortune, disappearing without a trace. Mo Yuanle’s father was left to clean up his mess and take over his duties in the village.

The outside world was not as he expected, and gaining fame and fortune was not easy. With established families in Chinese medicine and Western-trained doctors returning from abroad, who would trust a barefoot doctor from a mountain village? After suffering much hardship and faring worse than an apprentice in a medical hall, he was too proud to return home, for fear of being ridiculed by the villagers.

Just a few years later, the country fell into ruin, and invaders wreaked havoc across Dragon Country, with murder and looting everywhere. He roamed from city to city until he could no longer sustain himself and joined the military as they were in desperate need of doctors and nurses. With no doctor available, he, a barefoot doctor, was welcomed; he ended up staying on with the military.

Following the war and during the national reconstruction, he busied himself with hospital affairs. When he finally had the opportunity to return home, he hesitated, and by the time he mustered the courage to revisit, he found his home empty and left heartbroken. He thought he would never return, but as people age, they long for home, so he came back to pay respects to the elders.

Luckily, he returned to find his nephew still alive; otherwise, he would have had no face to meet his parents in the afterlife. Great Grandpa Mo never married and had no descendants, but he couldn’t take the Mo family’s medical knowledge to the grave, so he took on a disciple.

His disciple, Wu Hongfei, was in Beijing, and Wu Zongyu was Wu Hongfei’s son—the young man in the hall, also Great Grandpa Mo’s grand-disciple. There was also a little grand-disciple, a girl named Qian Yulan, who had been taken in by his senior disciple a couple of years ago and was now following him in Beijing.

Mo Yuanle also shared the family’s story—when invaders raided, his father was killed by them, and he joined the military in a fit of rage. His second aunt took care of his elderly mother back home. After he left the military and found his mother had passed away, his second aunt helped with the funeral services. His second uncle was part of a guerilla squad and died on a mission with no descendants. He regarded his second aunt as his own mother and moved Zhao Li to live with and care for the elderly.

Zhao Li was infertile, so they adopted Lan Tian.

Lan Tian looked at Mo Yuanle in bewilderment; her uncle’s recounting deviated a bit from reality, but most of it was true. Mo Yuanle often spoke highly of Lan Tian, and anyone not blind could see the pride on his face, subtly weaving compliments about Lan Tian into his conversation, which even Lan Tian found overwhelming.

Had her uncle been drinking? He was already speaking nonsense. He even mentioned how Lan Tian had been abducted, how clever and intelligent she was, how she outsmarted traffickers, escaped their den, and worked with the police to raid the traffickers’ stronghold, capturing criminals and rescuing countless abducted children.

Was that clever, intelligent, heroic girl really her?

Lan Tian thought it over—on regular days, she and her friends were merely catching chickens, walking dogs, bird catching on the mountains, fishing in the river, secretly digging up sweet potatoes, stealing chicken eggs from several uncles and aunts, and pilfering fruits from other people’s gardens. The girl her uncle described was definitely not her.

Lan Tian mused that her uncle rarely had the opportunity to boast about his own child to others; she didn’t mind, even if his imagination was a bit exaggerated.

Great Grandpa Mo looked at the wall plastered with certificates, at the well-behaved girl sitting across from him, and compared it to what had happened during the day, strongly agreeing with Mo Yuanle’s words.

Wu Zongyu, however, had a profound look in his eyes as he watched Lan Tian, seemingly unreadable that this girl had been kidnapped and had escaped. Such a big event, the elders at home would definitely not talk about it casually, and one could find out simply by asking around.

How old was she at that time, six or seven years old? Truly, appearances can be deceiving. The little girl looked so delicate and adorable, not at all like a rural person, her demeanor is no less than that of the young ladies in Beijing, no wonder the traffickers targeted her.

Mo Yuanle also talked about Lan Tian learning medicine from him.

Great Grandpa Mo was astounded to hear that Lan Tian had memorized the herbal medicine chart at the age of seven or eight, and listened further as his nephew mentioned that she had also gone through several large boxes of medical books handed down in the family. Great Grandpa Mo was shocked, repeatedly asking Mo Yuanle if it was true, his eyes shining while looking at Lan Tian.

Being looked at like this, Lan Tian remained indifferent as if the person Mo Yuanle spoke about was not her. Watching calmly composed Lan Tian, Great Grandpa Mo grew even more satisfied, truly a worthy descendant of the Mo family.

Wu Zongyu didn’t expect the little girl opposite him to be so remarkable, having memorized the herbal medicine chart at such a young age. He had been following his grandfather in studying since he was young, and had only remembered eighty percent of it, feeling quite proud of himself. Now here was this little girl who could reel it off effortlessly. Though it was his uncle who said this, Wu Zongyu didn’t quite believe it, but if an elder dared to claim it, she must have some real skills.

Knowing medical books by heart did not mean one could treat illnesses.

Great Grandpa Mo decided to test Lan Tian, who rolled her eyes at him, ignoring him as if to say, "you think you can just decide to test me," then hopped off the stool to go find Grandma Sun in the kitchen. Mo Yuanle did not stop her, and as Lan Tian reached the door of the kitchen, she turned back to glance at Great Grandpa Mo and Wu Zongyu, then looked at Mo Yuanle’s smiling face, stomped her foot, and reluctantly returned to her seat.

It was rare for her uncle to smile so happily, and though reluctantly, Lan Tian said, "Go ahead and test me!"

Purely to amuse Mo Yuanle, Grandma Sun and Zhao Li in the kitchen cooking heard Lan Tian spill out a string of familiar medicinal names, exchanging a smile, wondering how long it had been since they last heard the girl recite these things.

In the hall, an old and a young person, one asking questions and the other answering, Great Grandpa Mo had just started questioning when Lan Tian started reeling off the answers like a barrage of bullets, speaking swiftly. The four people in the room were all trained in medicine and could keep up with Lan Tian’s rapid speech, but someone else might not understand what Lan Tian was saying.

Later, from reciting the herbal medicine chart to discussing various diseases, Lan Tian initially answered a few questions simply; the conversation turned to complicated medical problems, and she fell silent. Many issues she had never encountered herself; she had only read about them in the Mo family’s handbook. Specific diagnoses required specific analysis to treat effectively, not just idle discussion.

At first, Wu Zongyu did not pay much attention, but later, when he heard his grandfather discussing diseases with the little girl, he began to regard the girl across from him seriously, no longer underestimating her. Because several of the conditions mentioned by the girl, even he was helpless against. Enlightened by her words, he realized they could be treated that way!

Grandma Sun called for dinner, and Lan Tian breathed a sigh of relief, quickly jumping off the table to help with the dishes. Great Grandpa Mo was too inconsiderate, holding onto her and talking endlessly, not even letting go during meals. Great Grandpa Mo was anxious, the conversation wasn’t even finished yet, it could wait until after meals.

She wanted to continue questioning Lan Tian, Mo Yuanle hurriedly stopped him, not seeing how impatient the girl was looking, knowing that if it continued, she would indeed become angry.

"Uncle, the girl doesn’t like studying medicine," Mo Yuanle discovered this later after Lan Tian had memorized the herbal medicine chart; he pulled out several large boxes handed down by the Mo family for the girl to read. If he hadn’t unintentionally noticed that the boxes had never been opened, he wouldn’t have known she hadn’t read the books inside. Later, it was Mo Yuanle who had to request her to read them.

The girl was unique, different from other children, Mo Yuanle decided not to force her anymore. The fact that she spoke so much today was only due to his influence.

Great Grandpa Mo looked at Mo Yuanle with a critical eye, wishing he had fostered steel from iron—how could such excellent talent not pursue medical studies? This was not the way to indulge a child.

The girl’s exceptional nature couldn’t be explained to the uncle, Mo Yuanle could only excuse her young age.