Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

"Okay." Zhuang Xing picked her up again.

Having a younger sister is great, but she's a bit clingy and noisy. As soon as I get home, all I can hear is her voice.

But the thought of not being able to hear her voice again once I got back to the mountain made me feel a little lonely.

All matters down the mountain have been settled. The wheat and cotton have been taken over by the imperial court, and there is no shortage of dozens of Taoist priests from Xuanqing Temple farming down the mountain.

Master Qingxuzi was calling him back to the mountain.

That evening, he talked about the matter while having dinner with his parents.

"When are you leaving?" Zhu He asked with concern.

"They said they'd wait another half month, until the winter wheat had sprouted and grown into seedlings, before going back to Guan," Zhuang Xing said. "If I go back this time, I probably won't be able to return until the end of next year."

"I see..." Zhu He nodded and said, "It would be nice to be able to go home once a year from now on."

"Son, go ahead and learn some skills from the Taoist priest," the father said while cooking. "Your father will take care of things at home."

The younger sister seemed unable to understand the conversation at the table; she was struggling with the noodles in her bowl while holding her chopsticks.

In her hands were just two wooden sticks; she was still diligently learning how to use chopsticks.

She fiddled with it for a while, but still couldn't pick up the noodles.

"Well..."

"Brother, help me."

She looked at Zhuang Xing, who had no choice but to take her chopsticks and feed her.

Her bitter face then turned into a smile.

The next morning, after practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard, my younger sister, who had just woken up, ran out.

"Brother, play with me!"

Zhuang Xing was thinking that he was about to leave, so he wanted to make her a swing in the yard.

That way, when she's not around, she can wander around by herself, or have her mother or father push her.

"How about I make you a swing, brother?" Zhuang Xing picked her up.

"What's a swing?" she asked, puzzled. "Can you eat it?"

"It's not something to eat," Zhuang Xing said, both amused and exasperated. "It's something fun."

"Then I want ten swings!" the little girl said excitedly.

"I can only make you a swing."

"it is good!"

"Shall we do it together?"

"it is good!"

After telling his mother, Zhuang Xing took his younger sister, who was about to turn three, and went out to collect materials.

His younger sister followed him closely. He first went to the village market and bought several strong hemp ropes.

"Come on, help your brother keep these ropes safe."

To give his younger sister a sense of involvement, Zhuang Xing handed her the rope.

"Mmm." The younger sister carefully held the rope to her chest.

Afterwards, he took his sister to a place not far from home and chopped down some wood.

The two carried the wood and rope home, and he found a hammer and nails and got busy in the yard.

There were only him and his sister in the house. Zhuang Xing was taking care of the children, and it seemed that their parents had gone out to find someone to have tea with.

They busied themselves for a while. Actually, he could have done it faster by himself, but he couldn't resist his sister's desire to try everything.

It took him all morning to finish making that little swing.

"Brother, is this a swing?"

"Yes," Zhuang Xing said. "Do you like it?"

"like!"

This is a small swing that was made specifically for my little sister. She sat on the swing chair and grabbed the ropes on both sides.

Zhuang Xing gave a slight push, and his sister's dangling legs began to sway back and forth.

A tiny little sister and a tiny little swing—the two little things together are just so adorable.

"Brother, come and play on the swings too!" the little sister said.

"This swing was made for my little sister; my brother can't sit on it," Zhuang Xing said.

Why can't I get on?

"Because it's too small to fit my brother."

"Then how about I make a bigger one for my brother?"

"You'll have to wait until you grow up to make it for your brother."

"Can't we do it now?"

"You can wait until you grow up."

What does it mean to grow up?

"When this swing can no longer hold you, you will have grown up."

"Oh..." the younger sister said, seemingly understanding but not quite.

Zhuang Xing pushed her forward again, and she immediately forgot all about it, letting out a silvery laugh.

"Brother, the swing is so much fun!"

That afternoon, Zhuang Xing spent the whole time playing on the swing with her.

Late at night, when all was quiet, he heard the sound of a swing outside.

The next day, while the little sister was playing on the swing, she found two tufts of fine white hair.

Zhuang Xing thought to himself, "So even platinum rats like to swing."

He spent more than ten days peacefully at home, spending a lot of time with his sister every day.

"Brother is leaving soon," Zhuang Xing said to his sister in front of the swing.

“Then I’ll wait for my brother at home,” the younger sister said.

"My brother will be gone for a long time this time."

"It will take a long time to walk."

"I won't be able to come back until next year."

"I will miss my brother."

She seemed to think that Zhuang Xing would be back after a few days away, just like before.

"It will be many days before my brother comes back," Zhuang Xing continued. "It will take many sunrises before he can come back and play with you."

She asked, puzzled, "How many is 'many'?"

"More than all your fingers and toes combined."

She looked at her little hands and feet for a while, then suddenly jumped off the swing and hugged Zhuang Xing's leg.

"Brother, play with me," she said.

"I can only play with you when I get back," Zhuang Xing said.

"Play with me..." she said stubbornly.

Zhuang Xing could tolerate her in the past, but this time it really wasn't possible.

Seeing that Zhuang Xing ignored her, tears suddenly welled up in her eyes.

Zhuang Xing bent down and wiped away her tears.

"How about we wait at home for your brother to come home?"

"do not want!"

She burst into tears, cried loudly, and cried so hard it was devastating.

Zhuang Xing simply wiped away her tears, but didn't say anything nice to comfort her as usual.

This is an essential lesson in her journey of growth.

Chapter 144 My brother is the best!

Zhuang Xing tidied up the room, folded the bed, and put it in the cabinet.

He packed all the pots and pans he had brought, his mother packed two pieces of cured meat for him, his father packed some dry food for him, and also brought him a straw hat and raincoat to keep out the rain.

However, it wasn't packed in his bamboo box with a rain cover, but rather in the horse bag on the back of his black horse.

The straw hat, raincoat, and saddlebag were all bought at the market. When the prefect presented the horse, Wuzhui only had a saddle, unlike the horses ridden by officials, which had saddlebags for carrying things.

Wuzhui was a descendant of the famous horse Jueying, a noble among horses, and could not be a mule or horse used for carrying things, so the prefect did not provide it with a saddlebag.

Zhuang Xing had raised Wuzhui for a year, but he hadn't noticed anything particularly noble about it; it was just a playful and lively foal.

However, Wuzhui's ancestor was indeed very famous.

Jueying was originally the warhorse of Wu Jing'an, a founding general.

Warhorses in the army generally do not leave offspring.

Because male warhorses had to be castrated before going to the battlefield, these castrated horses had a very cultured name: gelding.

The reason for castrating stallions is to prevent them from becoming unruly on the battlefield. In the past, some people used mares to seduce other people's stallions, causing chaos in the enemy's formation. After that, no one used stallions with their genitals intact as warhorses anymore.

But Jueying is different. Legend has it that General Wu's Jueying was originally a monster causing trouble in a certain place. It was General Wu who used his supernatural powers to subdue the horse, which enabled it to repeatedly achieve merit on the battlefield.

There are many stories about Jueying and Wu Jing'an, some of which inevitably contain exaggerations. One version of the story even says that Jueying was transformed from a black dragon, which is obviously a secondary creation embellished by later generations.