Yu Ran wrung out the last piece of clothing.
Carrying the basin, she hung them one by one on the bamboo poles.
Granny Sun had already brought dinner to the table.
There were dozens of people in the Hall of Salvation, including the children, the grannies who cared for them, and some with disabilities.
The seven or eight dishes on the table were barely enough to fill their stomachs, but they were all very content. If Madam Ye had not been kind enough to establish this Hall of Salvation, these helpless, old, weak, sick, and disabled people would have likely perished long ago, turning into a pile of dry bones.
Now, they had a place to live, three reliable meals a day, and could occasionally taste a bit of meat.
To them, this was a life fit for the gods.
“Ran, eat before you go,” Granny Sun said, resting her chopsticks on the rim of her bowl. “You're still growing, so you need to eat more to have the strength to read and write with the teachers.”
Yu Ran smiled and shook her head. Then, she pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil from her cloth pouch, bowed her head to write a few lines, and handed it over.
“Granny, my classmates said they would save some food for me earlier. I will just head back and eat there. You all should eat.”
Having grown up in the Hall of Salvation, she naturally knew its situation and would never stay to eat.
Granny Sun used to be a nanny in a wealthy household and had learned a few characters from them, so she was literate.
However, her master's family later fell on hard times, and with nowhere else to go, she became a refugee. She had even injured one of her legs while fleeing the famine, which left her with a permanent limp.
Fortunately, Madam Ye did not look down on her and gave her a job taking care of the children, allowing her to settle down.
She looked at the words on the paper and turned into the inner room.
When she came out, she held a coarse cloth bag, which she stuffed into Yu Ran's arms, instructing, “Take this. The bag is full of peaches I grew myself on the back mountain. They're very sweet. Take them back to the academy and share them with your classmates.”
Yu Ran was about to decline, but Granny Sun had already tied the bag of peaches firmly to her waist belt, gently patting the back of her hand. “Be a good girl, and be careful on the road.”
These words made Yu Ran's nose sting. She quickly lowered her head, bowed deeply to Granny Sun, and turned to leave.
She crossed the courtyard of the Hall of Salvation.
The wooden gate creaked shut behind her.
She had walked this road from the Hall of Salvation back to Yecheng Academy countless times over the years; she knew it like the back of her hand.
There was hardly anyone on the official road in the evening. The willows by the river hung long branches, tracing ripples on the water.
Yu Ran walked slowly, the peaches in her cloth bag gently bumping against her hip with every step, releasing a sweet, fruity fragrance.
Suddenly, a muffled splash came from ahead, followed by the sound of churning water.
Yu Ran was startled and looked toward the sound.
In the next second, she saw someone struggling in the middle of the river.
Grayish-white hair bobbed up and down on the water, and two arms flailed wildly, looking completely helpless.
It was an elderly person who seemed to have slipped and fallen into the river.
Yu Ran desperately opened her mouth to call for help, but she could only produce a few raspy gasps.
In her desperation, she ran to the riverbank and stretched out her arms, trying to pull the elderly person up, but she could not reach at all.
And she did not know how to swim, making it impossible to jump into the river.
Seeing the elderly person's struggles grow weaker as they gradually sank, Yu Ran broke into a cold sweat of anxiety.
She looked around.
The official road was completely deserted.
The nearest farmhouse was half a mile away.
Yu Ran's face grew paler. Her nails dug into her palms, and the words of her academy teacher suddenly flashed through her mind: “Entering the Dao through scholarly arts is not limited to pen and ink. When the heart feels it, the written word generates power. Where sincerity lies, metal and stone part.”
Thinking of this, she took out her pocket paper and pencil, took a deep breath, calmed her mind, and wrote down a poem she had memorized.
As she wrote the final character, the neat handwriting on the paper suddenly lit up.
Immediately after, with a splash, a small wooden boat rose out of thin air on the river, with a bamboo pole tied to its bow.
Yu Ran was stunned.
Reacting quickly, she leaped onto the boat.
She did not know how to row, but the moment the bamboo pole hit the water, the small boat seemed to be guided by something, drifting straight toward the elderly person.
Just as the elderly person was about to sink, she leaned over the gunwale and grabbed their collar.
They were so heavy.
But she clenched her teeth and dragged the person up.
The elderly person was pulled onto the boat and coughed up several mouthfuls of water. After leaning against the gunwale for a long time, they slowly sat up, their white hair blown aside by the wind to reveal a kind and gentle face.
She looked at the startled Yu Ran.
Then, she smiled.
Yu Ran snapped out of her daze. Unable to speak, she could only gesture to the elderly woman, trying to communicate that the boat was conjured from a line of poetry and she did not know how long it would last. They had to get to shore as quickly as possible, or they would be in danger.
Without caring if the elderly woman understood her, she picked up the bamboo pole and began to row toward the shore.
Before long, the boat reached the bank, and she quickly gestured as she helped the elderly person up.
As soon as they stood firm on the bank, the boat in the river turned into countless tiny characters and vanished without a trace.
Yu Ran watched this scene in shock.
Was... Was this entering the Dao through scholarly arts?
Before she could make sense of it, the elderly person beside her also changed. Her coarse clothes faded away, replaced by a gold-and-red long dress, and she held a jade-and-emerald Coin-Leaf Branch.
She stood on the shore, enveloped in a layer of clear light, looking not at all disheveled like she had when she fell into the water.
Seeing this, Yu Ran was struck with awe.
The elderly person she had saved... was actually the Divine Lady in disguise?!
“Good child,” the Divine Lady suddenly spoke, her voice like a mountain stream, falling clearly into Yu Ran's ears. “You cannot swim, and you cannot speak, yet you relied on your own knowledge, intelligence, and courage to save a drowning elder.”
“This deed deserves to be rewarded.”
She stretched out her hand, and in her pale palm, a green pill appeared out of thin air, faintly emitting the fresh scent of vegetation.
“This is a Body-Tempering Pill. Since you have already grasped the essence of entering the Dao through scholarly arts, taking this will surely be of great benefit to you.” She placed the green pill in Yu Ran's palm.
“Go on, your classmates are still waiting for you at the academy.”
Yu Ran looked down at the pill in her palm.
When she looked up again, the Divine Lady's figure had already dissolved into points of silver light, merging into the evening twilight.
River was calm, as if nothing had ever happened.
Only the pill in her hand reminded her that everything that had just occurred was real!
The invisible Yun Shu watched Yu Ran walk away, a trace of admiration flashing in her eyes. To be able to grasp the concept of turning written poetry into reality in such a short time, she was indeed a promising seed.
Unfortunately, the healing of the Floating Dream Set could only treat injuries and alleviate physical discomfort. She could not cure a congenital defect like Yu Ran's muteness.
“Host, you definitely have a thing for ugly things,” the little fox said, curling up in Yun Shu's arms. “You clearly could have used the Formless Myriad Set to create a beautiful face, but you just had to make an old face to play an old granny.”
“System, I've noticed you're getting heavier and heavier,” Yun Shu retorted as she walked. “Holding you is like holding two dumbbells.”
“Kind words build good relationships; harsh words break a system's heart,” the little fox said, looking utterly aggrieved.
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