Lu Changsheng and the other two waited outside for a while before seeing Zhao Deshui send Father Lu out.
"Old Lu, let's leave it at that for now. If an opportunity comes up, I'll put in a good word for you!"
"Alright, alright, alright!"
...
On the way home, the excitement on Father Lu's face had still not completely faded.
"Father, what did you and Uncle Zhao talk about?"
"About you boys going to school and learning to read!" Pride surfaced on Father Lu's face.
He felt a strong sense of accomplishment in successfully making this happen.
"What did he say specifically?"
"Your Uncle Zhao said the Master's class is full, but if any spot opens up, he'll let us know in advance! Whether you two get chosen then will depend on the Master!"
Go to school and learn to read?
A stirring of excitement rose in Lu Changsheng's heart.
Was his superior bone-structure about to start making its mark?
...
Dinner happened to be a fish-soup feast.
Lu Changsheng did not stand on ceremony and took a large, hearty gulp.
Lying on his cold, hard bed that night, he felt an incomparable sense of grounded peace.
"Seriously, for a time-traveler, I actually get my heart pounding over such a trivial matter!"
Lu Changsheng couldn't help but laugh at himself.
"Still, Heihou's book is something I can't give up!"
Judging from Father Lu's words, if a vacancy opened up, the Master would still select candidates based on talent.
True, he possessed superior talent, but others couldn't see it.
"If I can teach myself to read, it will be enough to demonstrate my superior talent!"
"I need to speed up the progress!"
As for Zhao Deshui taking money and failing to deliver results, he wasn't too worried.
They were all fellow villagers; if things really turned ugly, Zhao Deshui wouldn't be able to show his face in the village anymore.
...
In the days that followed, Lu Changsheng devoted every spare moment to honing his fish-catching technique.
During the day, he also frequently went out to work alongside Father Lu and Mother Lu.
Amidst this busy routine, two months passed unawares.
Still no word came from Zhao Deshui's end.
Nor did he feel anxious.
First, he was still very young, with decades left before his natural lifespan expired; there was no need to rush over a year or two.
Second, the Master naturally needed time to teach his students.
It was completely normal for no vacant spots to open up within a month or two.
"Even if I have to wait another two years, it doesn't matter!"
Lu Changsheng thought to himself.
Every five years granted 1 point of bone-structure value, and he was now less than half a year away from his second five-year milestone.
Once the year ended, he would gain his second point of bone-structure value.
At that time, his bone-structure talent would ascend to yet another level.
"Learning is a technical craft; you can't rush it!"
Lu Changsheng admonished himself.
The biggest change over these two months was that his success rate in catching fish kept getting higher and higher.
From catching one every two or three days at the very beginning, he was now catching one every single day.
Even when luck wasn't great, he could still reliably secure a fish, and on luckier days, he could bag two or three.
The next day.
Lu Changsheng got up early and sought out Mother Lu.
"Mother, can you sew a pouch for me?" He gestured with his hands to show the size.
"That will take quite a bit of fabric! Isn't it too wasteful to use it for holding fish?" Mother Lu hesitated upon hearing Lu Changsheng's plan.
In the past, had he asked to waste so much coarse cloth just to make a fish pouch, she would have instantly put on a stern face and told him to go play by himself.
Things were different now, however.
Over the past two months, Lu Changsheng had brought home plenty of fish from the river.
Almost every single night, the family got to enjoy a pot of fish soup.
The previously thin and frail family members had all put on some flesh.
Accordingly, Lu Changsheng's weight and influence in household matters had also skyrocketed.
"With this pouch, I'll do a lot better at catching fish! If that won't work, you can just cut up my tunic to make one!" Lu Changsheng said.
This was merely his excuse; in reality, he just wanted to keep a lower profile.
Lately, apart from intentionally showing off to Wang Heihou, he had been very discreet whenever he caught fish, even taking a huge detour on his way back to the village.
With this pouch, he wouldn't have to worry quite so much.
"Alright! I'll make it for you tomorrow night!"
Mother Lu did not refuse again.
Lu Changsheng stepped out of the house and walked over to the riverbank.
"Changsheng! Come over here with me!"
Wang Heihou ran out from behind a large tree and pulled Lu Changsheng back.
Over the past two months, Lu Changsheng had deliberately corrected this group of kids regarding his name.
Lu Erdan sounded too awful.
The adults originally gave cheap names so the kids would be easy to raise.
As a time-traveler, Lu Changsheng naturally didn't believe in such superstitions; sounding pleasant was what mattered most.
"What's going on, Heihou?" Lu Changsheng asked, feigning ignorance.
Wang Heihou stammered, "Can you—can you teach me how to catch fish?"
"Didn't I teach you already?" Lu Changsheng wasn't lying.
He had taught Wang Heihou everything he possibly could.
However, after practicing for over a month without reaching Lu Changsheng's level, Heihou assumed Lu Changsheng had been holding back his true skills.
It wasn't until Lu Changsheng personally demonstrated it for him a few times later on that he realized the truth: he simply couldn't learn it.
"Um—um—I want to catch fish too, can you—"
Wang Heihou lowered his head.
In the past, he certainly wouldn't have begged Lu Changsheng.
In his view, being able to catch fish meant the other person had good skills, and he just needed to practice hard himself.
Lately, however, the dim-witted Niu Dazhuang and the timid Li Nangua managed to harvest a fish every few days, which completely broke his composure.
It wasn't that those two had good skills; on the contrary, their fish-catching technique ranked near the bottom. But who told Lu Changsheng to come up with some "teamup" arrangement that dragged the two of them together?
Usually, the three of them went down to the river to fish as a team and split whatever they caught.
"My technique is much better than Dazhuang's and Nangua's. If the two of us team up, we'll definitely catch way more fish!" Saying this, Wang Heihou regained a bit of confidence.
Lu Changsheng, however, shook his head.
"Heihou, Dazhuang and Nangua are different from you. They trust me!"
"I—" Wang Heihou suddenly remembered something, hesitated for a moment, and blurted out, "Wait here!"
With that, he turned and ran back.
Before long, Wang Heihou came running back, panting heavily.
"Don't you want to soak up some book-qi? Here! But you can only soak it up for a short half-day at most, and then you have to return it to me completely intact!"
Wang Heihou looked utterly reluctant.
Just think how much book-qi he would miss out on absorbing!
Lu Changsheng found it amusing. "What book-qi is even out there? And even if there were, that's not how you soak it up!"
"Then how do you soak it up?" Wang Heihou asked nervously.
"Come, I'll teach you!"
Lu Changsheng said.
Learning to read and write.
Being able to read and write.
The characters of this world shared no common ground with those of his past life, but the method of learning remained the same.
Even if he couldn't read them yet or understand their meanings right now, memorizing them temporarily would definitely count as a very solid accumulation of knowledge for when he eventually entered the schoolhouse to study.
"If anyone else told me that's how you soak up book-qi, I'd definitely kick the living daylights out of them. But Changsheng, you're a capable guy, so I believe you!"
Lu Changsheng had originally wanted to pull Niu Dazhuang and Li Nangua in as well, but Wang Heihou objected with extreme vigilance.
"No way! Only the two of us can soak up the book-qi, those two aren't allowed!"
Left between laughter and tears, Lu Changsheng could only resolve to slowly change Wang Heihou's mindset in the future.
...