Chapter 16: The Clumsy Boy
The next day, at dawn, Mu Zilei got up, and he planned to go to Shashi Town, the town closest to the Stone Belt, to buy school supplies today.
"Mother, aren't we dreaming?" Mu Zilei said, he was still in a dream and excited about his exceptional admission.
"Silly boy, how can it be a dream, that's true. Although Mu Wan'er said this, she pinched her slender waist hard when Mu Zilei was not paying attention, and the pain from there made her feel a little relieved.
Just last night, she had that strange dream again, in which she turned into a bird with bright feathers, chasing and flying over the Titan Ancient Forest with a large butterfly with gold stripes on a green background. The dream was so real, even the sound of the wind from the constant flapping of her wings while hovering was so real that she could even tell which one was the dream, the bird or Mu Wan'er?
"Mother, what are you thinking?" Mu Zilei's voice came from his ears, as if he was in another world.
"Oh," Mu Wan'er came back to her senses, "this is the list that the village chief brought us, and it contains all the things we need to enter the Bacon Academy"
She handed Mu Zilei a piece of paper, pulled his clothes and tidied them up, and put on a wooden leg band for him. Mu Zilei unfolded the list and silently read the words inside:
Spiritual Clothing: Four sets of white standard practice spiritual clothing.
Books: All first-grade students are expected to have each of the books listed below.
"The Basics of Spiritual Fighting Techniques" (Volume 1) by Spartacus, "A Brief History of the Soul" by Sima Qian, "Spiritual Power Exploration" by Jing Wang, "Dangerous Creatures and Self-Protection" by Shu Yining, "Illustrations and Introduction of Strange Animals and Plants" by Shangguan Yu, "The Geographical History of the Doro Empire" by Bai Zihua, "The Power of Runes" by Leibniz.
Equipment: A pair of goggles, a pair of thickened gloves.
"Old woman, I thought about it all night last night, and I always felt that something was wrong. Xiao Lei was not in the top five in the village exam, but now he was told that Lingzhi had never heard of any special recommended places in the Bacon Academy for so many years in Stone Village. Mu Li frowned and said.
"Don't be suspicious," Shi Lan is now like Mu Wan'er, immersed in the joy that Mu Zilei can enter the Bacon Academy, and he didn't take Mu Li's words seriously at all, "Do you think that Shi Youdao is the ghost of that Shi Fat Man?" His words can be faked, but the letter with the root pattern on the seal he brought yesterday can't be fake, besides, he doesn't dare to tease us two old men even if he has ten guts." β
After she finished speaking, she no longer paid attention to Mu Li, turned her head to Mu Zilei and said, "Xiao Lei, is it really okay for you to go alone?" β
"Grandma, don't worry, I'm twelve years old, and in three years, I will be able to participate in the crown ceremony of the head of the village. I've been to the Fang Market in Shashi Town several times with my grandfather," Mu Zilei shook his head and said, "Besides, Uncle Mu who went into the city to transport goods sent me back and forth this time." β
"Have you brought everything with you? Uncle Mu's tough voice came from outside the door, mixed with a cow gasping sound.
"Right away!" Mu Wan'er replied loudly.
"Xiao Lei, this is a steamed bun and a water bladder, if you are hungry on the road, just eat it with the water of the water bladder, this is the cloth backpack made by my mother for you, used to hold the items you bought, and the most important thing is this," she took out a money bag decorated with the word "Lei" from her chest pocket, "There are a total of 50 bakers and 8 bellas in it, be careful not to get rid of it." β
Mu Zilei nodded, he knew that this was all the money left in the family. He took the heavy money bag, got into the ox cart of Master Mu, and slowly left under the eyes of his family.
Soon after the ox cart left the entrance of the village, it passed by the boulder that had fallen from the sky twelve years earlier. It is also strange to say that every time Mu Zilei passes by this so-called "divine stone", he has an inexplicable sense of intimacy.
After a long journey, they finally arrived at Sandstone Town. After Mu Zilei made an appointment with Uncle Mu to go back and the meeting place, he got out of the car and walked towards the Fang Market in the center of the town. Mu Zilei plans to buy spiritual clothes first according to the requirements on the list. After several inquiries, he finally found the only specialty store in the entire Sandstone Town that sold spiritual clothes.
It's a big shop, and it's especially grand in a small town like Sandstone. There is a sign hanging on the door of the store, and several golden characters of "Hengfa Lingshi Cloth Clothes Shop" are particularly eye-catching, and there are several small characters engraved in the lower right corner of the brand, which reads "Wan Chamber of Commerce No. 2497 Branch".
Mu Zilei walked into the store and found that the store's business was even more hot than expected. The store was crowded with customers, and the shopkeepers were busy and couldn't wait for a few more hands to deal with it. Mu Zilei looked around curiously and found that the walls were covered with clothes of various colors, including white (this color is the most and the most people buying), a small amount of yellow, a few red, and two orange. Although the colors of the clothes are different, they are all the same spiritual clothes.
"Guest, do you want to buy a spiritual costume?" a tall shopkeeper walked over and greeted him.
Mu Zilei nodded a little unnaturally, because he found that the shopkeeper's eyes were falling on his wooden leg band, and he immediately found a topic: "Why are there several colors of spiritual costumes on the wall? β
"Of course not, the ones hanging on the walls correspond to the realm of spirit fighters, like white, which is the exclusive color of the spirit or below level, and recently because the school is approaching, there are more new students, so white is also sold the most. Yellow represents the realm of the spirit master, and it is also sold a lot, but like the spirit king represented by red, it is extremely rare in our area, and the last time the red one was sold I don't know how many years ago, so there are only a few pieces. After all, he was well-trained, and the shopkeeper no longer paid attention to Mu Zilei's strange pair of "wooden shoes".
"What's the matter with those two clothes?" Mu Zilei pointed to the two orange clothes in the middle that were carefully framed in the wooden frame, although they were a little old, but they were finely made, and they were as proud as kings among all the clothes.
"That's the orange spirit costume that represents the Spirit Sect, it can be said to be the treasure of our town store, these two spirit clothes were purchased by our shopkeeper decades ago from a pair of talented and beautiful couples who passed by the town, they are not for sale, and they are hung out purely to fill the faΓ§ade," the shopkeeper obviously didn't want to explain more on this topic, she smiled instead, "You will find that you will definitely buy suitable spirit clothes here, in fact, many students often buy clothes here." β
"Oh, then I've come to the right place, I'm going to buy four sets of white standard practice suits for school. Mu Zilei said.
"I understand, then let's measure the size first, please come here" The shopkeeper has obviously received a lot of freshmen like Mu Zilei, and he easily brought Mu Zilei to the side of the store.
"Please stand on the bench and wait for a while, someone will measure your size in no time. The shopkeeper politely explained and left.
Mu Zilei put down his cloth backpack on the side, lifted his wooden leg band, and stood on the bench with a click.
"Are you standing here?" a small voice came in an uncertain tone, "she told me to come here and wait." β
In front of Mu Zilei was a boy who was about the same height as him and looked round. He had a big belly like a wine barrel, and a pair of small eyes on his fat face were turning around nervously, if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he couldn't believe that there was someone in the world who looked fatter than Shi Chisha.
"Yes, you stand up," Mu Zilei nodded, "Did you also go to school in the Bacon Academy?"
"Yes. The boy awkwardly stood on the bench.
He took out a large bun from his arms, licked his mouth, and was about to take a bite. At this time, someone came to measure the size, and he panicked and stuffed the big bun into his mouth, almost without chewing it, swallowing it whole into his stomach, which made him squeeze out tears.
"My name is Duanmuan," he finally recovered, and patted his big belly with satisfaction, "I'm from Shashi Town...... I mean...... I'm from here......"
"I'm Mu Zilei, from Stone Village. Mu Zilei said, with a click, he turned around, and the shopkeeper began to measure his front.
"I ...... If you want, you can call me An An, and everyone calls me that. Duanmuan also turned around, "What is on your leg?"
He stared intently at Mu Zilei's wooden leg band, and finally added, "It seems to be very ...... Interesting. β
"That's a wooden leg band," Mu Zilei explained kindly, "to correct my back." My back was naturally bad, and everyone said that my back was more curved than that of the oldest woman in the village. β
"I ...... I'm sorry," Duanmu looked at the ground, "I didn't mean to say funny, I think I'm really a clumsy person, my dad...... I mean, before my dad died...... My dad used to say that about me, am I cured?"
Mu Zilei was stunned, and he didn't know how to talk for a while, and then the voice of the shopkeeper came, "Guest, we have measured your height and size, and you can get your clothes next, please here." β
Mu Zilei was very glad to find an opportunity to stop talking to the boy, and planned to leave quickly with the shopkeeper.
"Thank you, I'm happy to talk to you, I mean, people don't like to talk to me usually," Duanmuan said, "Can I still talk to you in the future?"
Hearing this, Mu Zilei, who was deeply touched, turned around again, looked at the cowardly and unconfident boy and said seriously: "Of course you can, then we will be friends from now on." Hope to see you again at Beacon Academy. β
"Thank you, I...... I mean, you're so nice. Duanmu An scratched his head and laughed stupidly.