Cangmang Asks the Way 1: Guardian of the Lamp

The good news from Cang Tianci quickly reached the ears of Cang Zhenye's sons through Cang Houde's mouth. The eldest uncle, Cang Jianguo, the second uncle, Cang Yuanzhi, and the third uncle, Cang Shouzheng, all rushed to Cang Zhenye's house one after another.

Uncle Cang Jianguo's voice boomed, carrying the hearty pride of the family head: "Tianci! Good lad! You've truly brought glory to our Cang family! With a scholar and a warrior as the top scholar, I wonder who in Xiqiao Village will dare to look down on our family from now on! Study hard, train hard, the future of the Cang family rests on your shoulders!"

Uncle Cang Yuanzhi, leaning on a single crutch, was flushed with excitement, his empty trouser leg seemingly swaying slightly with his emotions: "Tianci! Well done! Better than your second uncle! Better than all of us! This gifted youth program is the seed of university! They're bound to have a bright future! They'll bring glory to our Cang family! Absolutely glory!"

Uncle Cang Shouzheng didn't say much, but he rubbed his hands together and said in a strong voice, "Tianci, well done, keep it up!"

The small room was filled with the simple yet heartfelt congratulations and expectations of the men in the family. Looking at his uncles' faces, each etched with the marks of time yet radiant with joy, Tianci felt a profound sense of family cohesion and support.

Just as the lively atmosphere subsided slightly, a slender figure appeared at the courtyard gate—it was Wang Xiuzhu. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, but finally mustered up the courage to walk in. A faint blush graced her face.

"Tianci...congratulations." Her voice was clear and crisp, with a hint of barely perceptible nervousness. "I heard from my dad...you're amazing! You won the provincial gold medal, and...first place in the county!" She already knew these two pieces of news; her father, who worked at the Ji County Education Bureau, had told her. At the time, she was shocked and couldn't believe it. That shy, stuttering boy who had once made her feel sorry for him and wanted to protect him had transformed into someone so dazzling in just two or three years. This tremendous change aroused her deep curiosity and desire to explore, which was why she overcame her shyness and took the initiative to come and talk to Cang Tianci.

"Thank you!" Tianci nodded politely to her when he saw her. He remained grateful to the girl who had saved him.

"I also got into the gifted youth program," Wang Xiuzhu said, her eyes shining as she looked at him. "Next time... we can be classmates again." She cleverly only mentioned herself, avoiding the name that might make both of them feel awkward—Wang Yaowu. Then, she paused and added, "Also... my family is moving out of Xiqiao Village. My father is being demobilized from the army and assigned to work at the Jixian County Education Bureau. From now on... we'll probably be living in the county town for a long time."

The news startled Tianci slightly. He looked at Wang Xiuzhu; her eyes held anticipation for the future, and perhaps a hint of reluctance to leave her familiar village. This meant that in the wider world of the county town, he would meet many more people, and some of the people and events of Xiqiao Village were quietly changing, becoming part of his memories. He nodded and simply replied, "That's great, congratulations!"

Wang Xiuzhu smiled, turned and left, her slender figure disappearing into the bright sunlight outside the courtyard gate. Tianci stared at the empty gate and suddenly realized: this girl, who shared his childhood memories of Xiqiao Village, was about to carry those memories with her, stepping into the new world of the county town before him. Some things were irreversibly changing, and he was about to take everything from here to embrace that more unknown world.

After returning home, Wang Xiuzhu told her fellow villagers about Cang Tianci's "top scholar in both civil and military affairs," and they, in turn, told their parents. Thus, this astonishing news spread like wildfire throughout Xiqiao Village, like a boulder thrown into a calm pond. "Top scholar in both civil and military affairs"—this ancient yet weighty title quickly replaced "stuttering simpleton" as the new name for Cang Tianci in the villagers' mouths.

Shock, disbelief, and then a complex sense of awe quickly spread through the village. People talked about it constantly, even during their leisure time.

"Have you heard? That kid from the Cang family... you know, the one from before... cough, he became the provincial martial arts champion and also ranked first in the county in his studies!"

"Really? In just a few years? Even a complete transformation doesn't happen that fast, does it?"

"It's absolutely true. Xiuzhu got the news from her father, how could it be false? I heard she was directly recruited by the best junior program in the county."

"Incredible... truly incredible... the Cang family is likely to turn the tables..."

These whispers eventually reached Wang Zhenkun's ears. He sat in the armchair in his main room, picked up the long-cold teacup, then put it down, his expression shifting between light and shadow. His fingers tapped unconsciously on the table, his mind churning. How had that stuttering boy, once bullied by his son and considered the most useless member of the Cang family, suddenly become a "top scholar in both literature and martial arts" whom even he had to look up to? This stark contrast sent a chill down his spine. He suddenly remembered the silent gaze of Cang Tianci's father, Cang Zhenye, looking over from the edge of the field. At the time, he had only thought it was dull and unresponsive; now, in retrospect, he realized that it must have held the weight of ice.

He had a vague feeling that a powerful force was accumulating and erupting within the Cang family, an unstoppable force. The resurgence of the Cang family seemed inevitable. A strong sense of crisis gripped him. Fortunately… fortunately, in the past year or two, he had acted quickly, restraining his suppression of the Cang family in time, and even occasionally showing a bit of goodwill. This made him feel both relieved and apprehensive.

"Fortunately...fortunately, Yaowu lived up to expectations and got into the gifted youth program..." he murmured to himself, trying to find a sliver of balance and comfort. But then, a more sobering thought surfaced: his son and that Cang Tianci were about to compete on a much bigger stage in the county town. Given his son's spoiled nature and his old grudge against Cang Tianci...

Wang Zhenkun sat bolt upright, his face turning incredibly serious. He decided he had to give his son a serious warning: "When you get to the county town, you'd better keep a low profile! Especially towards Cang Tianci..."

He realized that the old rules might no longer be effective, and in the new landscape, forbearance and lying low might be a wiser choice...

During his last few days of leave at home, Cang Tianci neither practiced martial arts nor picked up his textbooks. Every day, he would go to the fields with his father before dawn and only return home exhausted when the sun set.

Every day, the scorching sun baked his back, sweat blurred his vision, the heavy burden rubbed his shoulders raw and swollen, and his back ached as if it were about to break… Whenever his back felt like it was going to split open and his shoulders felt like they were on fire, he would silently circulate the Hidden Dragon Technique, not to fight against the hardship, but to guide his breath to adapt to and connect with those aching points. He was surprised to find that this was subtly connected to the principle of resisting heavy blows on the arena and healing old injuries. His father's "Tao" was in the soil, it was survival; his "Tao" was in his bones, it was transcendence.

But at this moment, the weight of the soil, through the most primal labor, is violently rubbing and forging against the very essence flowing through his bones, ultimately becoming the most inseparable cornerstone on his path to transcendence. The strength he seeks has, for the first time, taken on such a concrete and weighty texture—it is not just the power of his fists, but the strength to shoulder life and still stand tall.

He truly understood the hardships his parents endured day after day, year after year. This backbreaking labor, working from dawn till dusk, offered no cheers from the arena, no glory from exam scores, only silent sacrifice and the heavy pressure of survival. In comparison, being able to focus wholeheartedly on martial arts and studies was such a luxury. This realization was etched into his very being more profoundly than any preaching.

A few days later, Tianci sat on the bus heading to Jixian County, the fields and villages outside the window rushing past. The reluctant looks of his parents at the village entrance, his father's hunched back, the tears in his mother's eyes, his grandfather's trembling hands, his uncles' heavy expectations, and that land soaked with the endless sweat of his family... all these things intertwined in his mind.

His blurred face was reflected in the car window, overlapping with the rapidly receding land outside, where his father still "bent over." He suddenly understood completely: what his father and grandfather had struggled through the mud was a way for their family to survive; what he had to struggle through from a more complex world was for his family to "stand tall." Not just materially, but also in terms of dignity and destiny. From that moment on, his martial arts had a clear enemy—any force that dared to make those he cherished "bend over" again.

He clenched his fists tightly, his gaze fixed on the road stretching out the window, a resolute light shining in his clear eyes.

"Father, Mother, Grandfather, Uncles... wait for me." He silently vowed in his heart, "I will definitely become stronger! With my fists, with all my knowledge, I will fight for you, for our Cang family, to create a happy and bright future where we will never have to bow down in poverty or be looked down upon again!"

The bus roared, carrying the boy's firm determination, heading towards a new journey, and towards a different tomorrow that he vowed to create with his own hands.