Chapter 97: Inquiry into the Effects of Spring Water

If Li Daniu and Wang Xiaoqin were to have more children in the future, they would live with eight or nine people crammed into one single room. After entering, he placed the dowry bedding neatly, gave Wang Xiaoqin a quick rundown of the room's conditions, and then stepped back outside. The wedding should have been held in the courtyard with wine arranged, but given the current circumstances, that simply would not do. Li Daniu decided to step out and find a state-run restaurant where they could enjoy a proper meal, since only a few people needed to be invited anyway. Thus, taking Wang Xiaoqin and the three children along with Xiao Weiguo and Shi Guanglin made eight in total as they arrived at the restaurant. Yesterday Li Daniu had already contacted the restaurant staff in advance. After seating themselves at an empty round table, they began serving the dishes. Four hot dishes, four cold dishes, two soups, a large basin of steamed buns, a large basin of rice, and Li Daniu brought out two bottles of Xifeng wine. After opening the bottles, he said with deep emotion to Xiao Weiguo and Shi Guanglin, "Brothers, today say nothing more; everything is in the wine." He then drank three cups in quick succession. Xiao Weiguo immediately stopped him, saying, "Da Niu brother, drink slowly, no rush. Tonight we still have to enter the bridal chamber." Then the thought crossed his mind that there were still three children, and how to enter the bridal chamber tonight with them—um, that was an issue. The group then enjoyed the meal heartily, especially the three children who ate with great appetite, devouring it without restraint. It seemed their life there had not been easy. Looking at this family, Xiao Weiguo felt genuine concern for Li Daniu's future, all these burdens weighing heavily. Moreover, they were both employed, so these three children would inevitably require Li Daniu's parents to care for them, and given their current state, it was hard to imagine they could treat the children well. It would have to wait and see in the future. At most, Xiao Weiguo could support the food supply slightly over the next three years. At the dinner table, Li Daniu also introduced Wang Xiaoqin to the two of them. At the restaurant entrance, as they said their goodbyes, Li Daniu told Xiao Weiguo, "Weiguo, our section chief and others went to report on your brake water injection device invention to FAW and only just returned from the Northeast yesterday. It looks like your reward will soon be announced. First, congratulations, Weiguo." Hearing this news, Xiao Weiguo felt pleased, turning it over in his mind what reward he might receive and what he needed. Shi Guanglin beside him was also happy on Xiao Weiguo's behalf. The group chatted for a while before planning to return home separately. Since both lived in Nanluoguxiang, Xiao Weiguo and Shi Guanglin went home together. Xiao Weiguo placed his bicycle on the motorcycle, sat in the sidecar, and took a moment to appreciate the coolness of the ride. He then headed straight for Shi Guanglin's house, where a guard stood at the door and inside it appeared to be a rarely seen apartment building of this era. Shi Guanglin invited Xiao Weiguo in to sit, and Xiao Weiguo replied, "Lin brother, I still have matters at home. I'll visit your parents later after some time. Also, I brought nothing today." Shi Guanglin did not press the point and reminded him not to forget to go to work tomorrow for the department's regular meeting. After bidding farewell to Shi Guanglin, Xiao Weiguo returned home not long after, poured himself a cup of Zhang Yuan's jasmine tea, and savored it slowly. He pondered what he might accomplish in the remaining half day. Suddenly he recalled that the Eight Vajras Kung Fu he had practiced yesterday could increase his strength and refine his physique. He immediately entered the space and began training on the black soil. After four or five repetitions, he felt his body and noticed his strength had increased slightly, though not as markedly as the day before. It was probably because he had not used the spring water today and relied only on the soil, whose spiritual energy content was too low. Moreover, Xiao Weiguo discovered that the soil beneath his feet had turned white with no sign of returning to black. He vaguely remembered practicing on the black soil for a long time the previous day without it turning white. Was this the effect of the spring water as the spiritual energy battery of the entire space? Xiao Weiguo observed the livestock area and vegetable area, places that used more spiritual energy, and found some white soil indeed existed there. He could confirm that the spring water's role in the space was indeed that of a battery, as he had guessed. From the previous jade harvest, he selected some jade products of poor quality and threw them into the altar. The space rumbled, and before long spring water gushed forth from the well in the air. The white soil on the ground reverted to black. It seemed the jade stones would never cease to flow. He must frantically search for high-quality jade stones in the real world and throw them into the space to transform into spring water, which would nourish the entire space. He could use the spring water daily, forming a complete closed loop. Xiao Weiguo unconsciously stroked his little dog Wang Cai that came over and pondered how to harvest jade stones on a large scale. Now there were some in the space, but they were insufficient for long-term use, and the remaining ones were the highest quality with future values in the millions. Using them now would be a pity. He must take advantage of these few decades to frantically harvest jade stones, or after the reform and opening-up the prices would skyrocket, becoming an unbearable burden. As for the space, Xiao Weiguo had another discovery: the things he had stored in the thatched house warehouse before, when taken out today, were still hot, which was miraculous. This meant the thatched house warehouse existed in a state of temporal stasis—what was stored inside remained unchanged when taken out. Boiling water placed inside would still be boiling after any amount of time. It had once served as a medicine storage warehouse to prevent medicinal effects from dissipating and now benefited Xiao Weiguo greatly. In the future he could prepare a meal or more, put it in, and eat several portions at once. He could also buy more dishes from the restaurant and place them in the warehouse, taking them out anytime he wished. He gave some milk to Wang Cai, watching it drink, and thought perhaps he could first place Wang Cai at his grandparents' house, since in the space the little dog ate black soil and grew too fast. He would wait until next week. If not, he would have to send it to the hometown next week. He imagined his grandparents would like it. After drinking more spring water, Xiao Weiguo felt that Wang Cai was gradually becoming more intelligent, its fur shiny and slippery like water. It seemed the effect of spring water on animals was stronger than imagined. So he must drink more himself. In the future, if the chance arose, he would also give some spring water to his family to drink together. Xiao Weiguo came out of the space, added some spring water to the jasmine tea, and found the taste had upgraded. Thinking of how at Old Yang's yesterday he had only learned the Eight Vajras Kung Fu and still had not learned the Eight Longevity Kung Fu, he could go learn it later. The Vajras Kung Fu had a great effect on the body; he would have to practice the longevity kung fu to discover its efficacy. Thinking these things, he drank the tea in the cup in one gulp, took out a bag of vegetables from the space, went outside, tied it to the rear seat of his bicycle, and pushed toward the exit. He planned to visit Yang Moguang's house one more time today to learn the Eight Longevity Kung Fu.