Chapter 14

At noon, Xiang Dagen left and returned to the military camp, and the family of the main house felt particularly reluctant to see him go.

But for Mrs. Xiang and the people from the second and third houses, they couldn’t wait for him to leave quickly.

In the following days, Pear Blossom followed Xiang Dagen’s instructions, practicing horse stance and the two types of punches and dodging techniques her father had taught her. She didn’t try to do too much but stuck to the basics: punch, dodge, punch, dodge.

She repeated it over and over, tirelessly.

With Xiang Dagen now gone, every time she practiced her horse stance, Mrs. Xiang would come over and mock her with sarcastic comments. However, Pear Blossom, no longer afraid of her, found her words annoying. 

Following the system’s advice, she simply changed her training location.

As usual, Pear Blossom worked in the fields with her mother. There, she would practice horse stance and punch. 

Mrs. Xiang and the others from the second and third houses rarely went to the fields, so they didn’t know what she was doing. Even if they did, they couldn’t come and scold her every time. Gradually, Mrs. Xiang got tired of it and left her to her own devices.

At first, Pear Blossom’s legs were sore and difficult to bear from squatting in the horse stance, but since her father had instructed her to practice daily, and the system also mentioned that this method would greatly benefit her physique, she persevered. Unexpectedly, the more she practiced, the easier it became, so she started extending the time she spent in the horse stance.

As the time spent in the stance grew longer, she felt that the techniques her father had taught her became steadier and more powerful, and she even gained a stat point.

After half a month, Pear Blossom had come to understand the concepts of “wisdom” and “physique.” Without hesitation, she allocated this point to her physique.

The system had now accepted Pear Blossom’s focus on building her physique over wisdom and followed her lead.

“Host, your current total attribute points are 8, with 6 in physique and 2 in wisdom. Please continue working hard. The maximum for each attribute is 100 points. For every 50 points accumulated, you’ll reach a new level. 

There are 10 levels in total, and each level comes with a reward that you can draw from the shop.”

When Pear Blossom first heard that the maximum for each attribute was 100 points, she nearly fainted. But hearing about the rewards, she perked up.

“What kind of rewards are there?”

“Duozi Pills, Whitening Pills, Lingxi Perfume, Heavenly Voice Throat Lozenges…” The system continued, seeing Pear Blossom’s increasingly furrowed brow and quickly added, “There are also Tianyan Talismans, Duofu Pills, Strength Stones, Wind Boots—”

Pear Blossom interrupted, clearly intrigued: “What are the Tianyan Talisman and the Duofu Pills?”

“The Tianyan Talisman allows you to see others’ true intentions, detect lies, and see through disguises. However, it’s a one-time use item. Once used, it’s gone. The Duofu Pills bring you good luck for a day after consumption.”

Pear Blossom’s eyes brightened. “And what about the Strength Stones and Wind Boots?”

“The Strength Stone enhances your strength, giving you an advantage in combat. The Wind Boots increase agility, making you faster, with higher evasion rates. You can travel a thousand miles in a day. Both of these items are effective for only one day.”

“These last few sound really good. I want them, but I only have eight points now. I need fifty to draw a reward.”

“Don’t be discouraged, Host. You’ve only been bound to me for half a month, and you’ve already earned eight points just from eating, drinking, and training. In the future, if you accomplish big things, you could gain ten or twenty points from one event. It’s not impossible.”

Pear Blossom was motivated. “When will I be able to do something big?”

“Host, don’t rush. It’s better to focus on building your foundation and learning to read. Right now, your basics are too weak. If something big happens, you won’t be able to handle it.”

Pear Blossom thought this made sense, so she patiently responded, “Alright, I’ll listen to you.”

The system encouraged her, “Host, please keep it up.”

Pear Blossom became more determined and focused on her horse stance and the techniques her father had taught her.

Building her physique was just one part of life. Pear Blossom also had an important task: to find food for the family of the main house. One of the main reasons she bound the system was to ensure that she and her family could live better than before, so this could not be neglected.

With the system’s help, she emptied out the rabbit and field mouse holes around the village.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Xiang and the others from the second and third houses found it puzzling. Since Xiang Dagen left, the main house’s meals had returned to their usual standard—thin porridge with barely any oil and wild vegetables. But the faces of the Xiong family and the children had become rosier, which was quite perplexing.

Pear Blossom and Daniu were at the stage of rapid growth, and the wild game they had found provided them with a great deal of nutrition. Their physical condition changed significantly, especially Pear Blossom, whose height visibly increased.

In recent days, due to needing to cook wild game, Pear Blossom had been in frequent contact with Dong Yun. One day, she was walking towards Dong Yun’s small courtyard with a plump mountain chicken in hand when she saw a suspicious figure sneaking around the yard. 

The figure seemed to sense no one was nearby and started trying to climb the wall.

Pear Blossom felt a surge of anger instantly upon seeing this.

Dong Yun had moved to their village, Daliushu Village, over a year ago with her infant, Fubao. 

The men and ruffians in the village, having never seen such celestial beauty, would frequently hang around near her home. Dong Yun’s mother-in-law didn’t like her but couldn’t tolerate anyone causing a scandal that would damage her son’s reputation. Though the old woman had poor legs, her hearing and vision were sharp. Whenever someone got too close, she would shout, causing them to scatter. Thanks to this, Dong Yun had been able to enjoy a peaceful year.

However, in the past few days, the old woman had gone to visit relatives, and some in the village had started to stir again.

Pear Blossom saw the person climbing the wall and immediately threw the mountain chicken down, rushing toward the wall.

Just as the person was about to reach the top, they suddenly heard hurried footsteps and quickly turned around, seeing Pear Blossom. 

They sighed in relief, then bared their teeth and shook their fist at her, wearing a fierce expression.

Pear Blossom quickly recognized the person on the wall—it was her useless cousin Xiang Dalang, the eldest son of Xiang Laoer.

Xiang Dalang was nearly twenty years old, but because he was lazy and good for nothing, no girls wanted to marry him. Pear Blossom never expected him to target Dong Yun, and her chest burned with anger. She shouted at him, “Xiang Dalang, get down here now!”

Xiang Dalang, seeing that Pear Blossom was ignoring his threatening fist and shouting loudly, picked up a stone from the wall and threw it at her viciously.

Pear Blossom nimbly dodged it and immediately sprinted forward, jumping up in one fluid motion.

Having been eating meat almost every day recently, Pear Blossom’s physical condition had reached an excellent level. 

After practicing horse stances and boxing, her lower body was stable, and when she jumped, her body was light. She grabbed onto a protruding stone on the wall and leaped again, using her momentum to grab Xiang Dalang’s dangling left leg, pulling it down with force.

With a scream, Xiang Dalang fell off the wall and hit the ground hard.

“Worthless girl, what are you doing?!”

“Are you blind? Didn’t you see I’m beating you?” Pear Blossom kicked him hard in the back.

“Stinky woman, how dare you hit me?” Xiang Dalang, gritting his teeth from the pain, scrambled to his feet and charged at Pear Blossom in a rage.

Pear Blossom quickly dodged, and Xiang Dalang missed, falling flat on his face.

This scene was witnessed by Dong Yun and her daughter, Fubao, who had just peeked out from the courtyard. Fubao clapped her hands and shouted excitedly, “Pear Blossom—beat him, beat him—”

Seeing Dong Yun appear and Fubao cheering her on, Pear Blossom suddenly felt full of strength. She clenched her fists and charged at the still-standing Xiang Dalang.

Xiang Dalang had just gotten up and hadn’t regained his balance when a left hook sent him stumbling to the right, followed by a right hook that sent him back the other way. His vision blurred, and he fell backward, dazed.

Fubao cheered, “Pear Blossom is amazing.”

Pear Blossom waved at Fubao with a smile.

On the ground, Xiang Dalang came to his senses and viciously cursed, “Little slut, who are you siding with?”

Pear Blossom shot back without hesitation, “You’re the one who’s worthless, climbing someone else’s wall, shameless.”

“You bitch, how dare you curse at me!” Enraged, Xiang Dalang grabbed a stone from the ground and threw it at Pear Blossom.

It was too close; Pear Blossom couldn’t dodge in time, but she turned her body to shield her head. The stone hit her back with a dull thud, causing a sharp pain that almost brought tears to her eyes.

Unable to hold back any longer, she lunged at Xiang Dalang, knocking him to the ground. She pressed her knee to his chest and pounded his face with one punch after another until Dong Yun rushed over to stop her.

By then, Xiang Dalang’s face had swollen into a huge mess.

Dong Yun’s face was soft, but there was a sharpness in her eyes, though Pear Blossom didn’t notice. Thinking she might have killed him, she said, “Don’t worry, Dong Jie. I’ll take him back and make sure he doesn’t dirty your family yard.”

Dong Yun glanced at Xiang Dalang, seeing that he was merely unconscious and didn’t pay him much attention. She said, “He won’t die. But you, come inside and let’s check if the stone hit you. You might be injured.”

Pear Blossom moved her arm slightly, feeling the pain in her muscles. It wasn’t unbearable, just a little sore. She grinned and said, “It’s fine, just a couple of days and it’ll heal. When I was little, he hit me even harder than this, and it was fine after a few days.”

“He used to bully you like this?”

“Yeah, the kids from the second and third branches often bullied our family. Grandma didn’t care and sometimes even defended them. But now, he can’t beat me anymore. It feels so good to get back at him.”

Dong Yun took her hand and said, “You’ve really grown. Come inside. I have some herbal medicine for bruises. Let me rub it for you so it heals faster.”

Pear Blossom was about to shake her head, but when she heard Dong Yun say she’d rub it for her, she couldn’t refuse. She was dizzily dragged into the courtyard.