Chapter 10

Wu Jie, of course, had no idea about Du Ruo's situation. He only knew that Du Ruo seemed to be listless lately and appeared somewhat uncomfortable whenever she saw him.

He didn't take it to heart. At his level, trivial matters were not worth worrying about.

Cultivation knows no time. After settling his family, he would go in search of immortals and the Dao. This journey could take several decades or at least a few years. By the time he returned, everything might have changed.

Whatever Du Ruo was thinking about was meaningless to him. They were already from different worlds.

So when Du Ruo, seemingly idle, dragged Lin Lushan to find him and suggested they go shopping together, he was indeed a bit surprised.

"What's so good about shopping in Anfeng County?" he asked.

"Usually, there's nothing interesting, but today is different!" Du Ruo said enthusiastically. "Today is the third day of the third month, the day to worship the Dragon God. There will be opera performances and a market at the Dragon King Temple in the west of the city. Many merchants will come, and there will be lots of fun and delicious things!"

"The last three words are the key, right?" Wu Jie keenly grasped the crux of the matter.

"Don't be so fussy, Fourth Brother. Haven't you been making money lately?"

Wu Jie laughed heartily and took out his money bag as they left together.

The city was indeed bustling today. Vendors of all kinds seemed to have emerged from nowhere, and many shops seized the opportunity to offer discounts, freebies, and other promotions. Some truly rare items appeared, like the honey-sweet osmanthus cake at the stall in front of them.

This area had few osmanthus trees and did not produce osmanthus cakes. It also seemed that no one kept bees. The honey-sweet osmanthus cake was undoubtedly from elsewhere, and it must have come from a distant place.

Well, the price told the story.

One liang (about 50 grams) of osmanthus cake cost five fen of silver.

When they first asked the price, the three of them were so shocked that their mouths dropped open like frogs. If one liang of osmanthus cake cost five fen of silver, then two jin (about 1 kilogram) would cost one tael of silver! How could there be such expensive cakes in the world! One tael of silver could buy a hundred jin of rice!

However, the aroma of the osmanthus cake was too enticing, sweet and soft, like an invisible large fishhook that firmly caught the young people, making it impossible to break free.

Du Ruo stared at the newly baked osmanthus cake without blinking; Lin Lushan forced himself to close his eyes and not look, but his nose couldn't help but twitch, as if trying to inhale all the fragrance; most of the people around them were the same—such delicacies were indeed rare in this small county!

Wu Jie's reaction was different. He stared at the osmanthus cake, then closed his eyes to smell the fragrance, and his eyes became moist.

Although the appearance was different, the fragrance was too familiar!

Before he came to this world, he lived in a small town in the Jianghuai region, where there were many osmanthus trees. Every autumn, the town was filled with the fragrance of osmanthus, and the street snacks always included the traditional honey-sweet osmanthus cake, with the sweetness of honey and the fragrance of osmanthus blending into the softness of the glutinous rice...

So he generously took out his money bag and picked up a small ingot of two taels of silver.

"Give me four jin!"

There wasn't much osmanthus cake on the stall, and four jin would not only buy out the existing stock but also require more to be made. However, Du Ruo and Lin Lushan had no objections—since Fourth Brother Wu had money, it wasn't unreasonable to treat them once in a while.

Wu Jie held the osmanthus cake, smelling the familiar fragrance, and his nose tingled. Tears finally couldn't be held back and streamed down his face.

It had been sixteen years since he came to this world, and he rarely dreamed of Earth. He thought he had forgotten and let go, but a piece of osmanthus cake had stirred his homesickness.

"Probably can't go back..." he sighed inwardly, just as he was about to take a bite, he heard an embarrassed scolding and a child's crying nearby.

Looking in that direction, he saw Joen leading a boy who looked about six or seven parts like him.

"I want to eat osmanthus cake! I want to eat osmanthus cake!" the little boy cried, "Father, you have money!"

"Nonsense! That money is for Uncle Ma's medicine!"

"Uncle Ma said he can't get better... He told you not to buy medicine..."

"Do you want a beating?"

Wu Jie was taken aback, then noticed similar situations nearby.

Blame it on the osmanthus cake being too fragrant, the honey too sweet, and the soft, sweet appearance too attractive, so much so that almost every child passing by was drawn to it, crying and demanding to eat it.

But the price of the osmanthus cake was indeed too high!

In those days, if a common farmer had ten mu of land, working hard through the cold and heat, rain and shine, they could harvest at most three thousand jin of rice a year, which would be worth about thirty taels of silver. After deducting the daily expenses for the family, saving three to five taels would be considered good management.

City dwellers naturally earned more than farmers, but even so, most families couldn't afford to buy such expensive treats for their children—just a few bites of osmanthus cake would cost fifty jin of rice, and most families couldn't make that decision.

Wu Jie thought for a moment and smiled.

Then he did something that left everyone speechless—he actually divided the osmanthus cake among the children around him.

Although each child only got a small piece, children were easily satisfied, and a small piece of osmanthus cake was enough to make them happy.

The adults thanked him repeatedly, but Wu Jie just smiled.

He had eaten countless osmanthus cakes when he was strolling around in the past, and in the future, once he achieved cultivation, he could eat as much as he wanted.

"What are you trying to do, Master?" Jasmine asked, "Even if you want to win people's hearts, you don't need to win the hearts of mortals. They have no value to be won!"

"Winning people's hearts? I'm just expressing my homesickness."

"What is homesickness?"

"You'll understand someday..."

As he distributed the last of the osmanthus cake, he came to Joen.

"Joen, taking your child for a walk?" he asked with a friendly smile, "This child is so strong, what's his name?"

"Jiao Feng!"

Wu Jie coughed a couple of times, ignoring the overly heroic name, and handed the last piece of osmanthus cake to Jiao Feng.

Joen looked embarrassed, as if he wanted to pay, but his tattered clothes showed he wasn't wealthy. After some hesitation, he let out a long sigh.

"Thank you, Young Hero Wu!"

Wu Jie smiled and asked, "I heard you were buying medicine. For whom?"

"Ma Shouzi. He hasn't recovered since you hit him, and he caught a cold these past two days..." Joen's face darkened, "I'm afraid he won't make it..."

Wu Jie was taken aback. He clearly remembered that the thin man would recover in two or three months, so how could he be on the brink of death?

"Ma Shouzi is a restless person. After resting for a month, he was eager to work again. He exerted himself and sweated, which worsened his condition," Joen sighed, full of helplessness, "I advised him to rest, but he said the poor have cheap lives, and it's up to heaven. He kept delaying..."

Wu Jie couldn't help but shake his head. After some thought, he had an idea.

"Joen, your Divine Power Gang is quite familiar with the city and has extensive connections, right?"

"More or less, but we don't have the connections of the wealthy..."

"I'm going to seek immortals soon. My father is old, and the shop needs help and apprentices..."

Wu Jie was somewhat vague, but his meaning was clear. Joen was overjoyed, thanked him repeatedly, and Wu Jie felt a bit embarrassed.

After this incident, he had no interest in shopping anymore. Lin Lushan had also remembered he had a poem to write... Du Ruo wanted to shop more, but considering that the osmanthus cake might be shared with other children, she decisively chose to go home—there was still about half a jin of osmanthus cake left, and neither Wu Jie nor Lin Lushan would fight her for it. Eating it alone at home would be much better!

It wasn't until she finished the osmanthus cake that she remembered her main goal.

"Hey?! I wanted to find an opportunity to show Fourth Brother my great martial arts! How did I end up just eating osmanthus cake!"

Du Ruo exclaimed, seeing that it was still early, she rushed out of the door and hurried to the pharmacy.

Coincidentally, when she arrived at the pharmacy, Wu Jie was there, getting medicine for the thin man he had hit.

"Your surname is Ma, right? I'll call you Old Ma... Old Ma, you can't be like this. You need to treat your illness! Your illness isn't serious. I only used seven or eight parts of my strength, just breaking your collarbone. My father already set it for you, and with a few months of rest, you would have fully recovered... But look at you now! If it weren't for some high-quality herbs we have, you would have lost your life!"

Ma Shouzi, supported by Joen, sat listlessly, nodding obediently and promising to rest well and take the medicine on time.

Wu Jie's hands moved quickly, and because he had mastered the skill of grabbing medicine without a scale, he quickly prepared a dozen packets. He gave detailed instructions before letting Joen take Ma Shouzi away, completing the treatment.

Before he could catch his breath, Du Ruo suddenly walked in, smiling slyly.

"Fourth Brother, the thin man... was injured by you, right?"

Wu Jie was taken aback and nodded.

"From the look of it, his chest bone was broken, and he exerted himself before it healed, catching a cold and damaging his vital energy, right?"

"Speaking of bone injuries, you're more skilled than I am. Why ask me?"

"I just wanted to confirm—earlier, you said you only used one punch and held back seven or eight parts of your strength, right?" Du Ruo finally got to the point, "Using only two or three parts of your strength to break someone's chest bone—Fourth Brother, your skills have really improved!"

Wu Jie realized he had let slip his true strength.

As Du Ruo said, using only two or three parts of his strength to break someone's chest bone was indeed quite impressive, perhaps even on par with the so-called "invincible fist" or "one punch to break a mountain" in the martial world.

With his strength when he left home last autumn, it would have been impossible to have such power!

He frowned, trying to find an explanation, but Du Ruo had already pulled him to a table in the hall, insisting on testing his strength in an arm-wrestling match, regardless of whether he had other things to do.

Wu Jie sighed, unable to resist the unreasonable tigress, and squatted in front of the table, holding her hand.