[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-cultivating-for-a-hundred-lifetimes":3,"chapter-cultivating-for-a-hundred-lifetimes-cultivating-for-a-hundred-lifetimes-chapter-2":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Cultivating for a Hundred Lifetimes",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":12,"novelImage":21},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2364662,4624,"Chapter 2: The Neighbors","cultivating-for-a-hundred-lifetimes-chapter-2",2,"\u003Cp>Another ten-plus days passed; Bai Ziqi's original soul and his true spirit's memories had merged into one, and he now roughly understood the events of this life his original self had experienced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this life, his mother, Li Shi, had married Bai Ziqi's father and taken the surname Bai, becoming Bai-Li Shi. His father died early, and his mother struggled to raise him alone; in his youth, he had attended a private school for a few years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, after his father passed away, he gradually stopped going to school. After all, with his mother solely supporting the household, it was impossible to continue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if he did not study, due to his young age he could not help much anyway, only lending a hand when his mother was busy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not studying meant saving the expense for the teacher, though that cost was merely a few pieces of cured meat sent during festivals and some grain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he and his mother had not eaten meat for who knew how long. In truth, they survived daily on wild vegetables and coarse grains, living in considerable hardship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ziqi himself could read and write, so neighbors sometimes asked him to write letters for them, occasionally sending some food to his home, which somewhat eased their predicament.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This continued until he fell into a coma and returned home, precisely at the age of eighteen. To speak plainly, Bai Ziqi's original self was nearly a bookish fool, rarely interacting closely with others in daily life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coupled with the family's dire financial straits, he became even more taciturn; moreover, others likely looked down on his thin, frail frame, which seemed ready to be blown over by a strong wind. The cause of his collapse was quite possibly long-term malnutrition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the causes and consequences were now clear, he could only accept his circumstances and make the best of them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After this period of recuperation, Bai Ziqi could walk normally again; apart from occasional headaches, he was essentially fine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At eighteen, his body was still so weak, although his reading and writing skills were adequate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could write letters, but neighbors might not need one written even once a year, especially since others who could read were available to do it. However, with his true spirit awakened, he was no pedant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Over this past month and more, he had spent nearly most of his time lying in bed recovering, and his mother's aged face had grown even more haggard. This filled him with extreme anxiety, fearing she might collapse from overwork and fall ill, unable to rise again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since his body had basically returned to normal, he decided not to stay at home any longer; only by going out and finding a way could he ease the family's difficult livelihood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During this period of rest at home, taking advantage of his improving health and free time, he prepared a fishing rod, asked his mother for a broken sewing needle without an eye, and borrowed some fishing line from Old Li the Fisherman in the east of the village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He heated the eyeless sewing needle red over the stove fire, used the brick cracks in the wall corner to bend it into a fishhook shape, then threaded the fishing line through the hook, and went to the vegetable garden's muddy soil to dig up some earthworms; if he could catch fish, it would improve the family's meals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fishing float was a small section of hollow bamboo; the bamboo stalk he cut had many nodes, and the remainder was all taken to be burned as firewood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His home consisted of only three dilapidated single-story rooms: Bai Ziqi lived in the side room, his parents always resided in the main room, and there was a storage room specifically for keeping various sundries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In front of the house stood a shed, beneath which was a stove along with some piles of dry firewood. A coarse earthenware vat, large enough to require two arms to encircle, was used to store water for cooking, covered with a wooden lid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside the water vat, leaning against the shed, was a wooden carrying pole with buckets; when his father was alive, he used the bucket pole to fetch water for the vat, but he and his mother were too weak to carry full loads, so they could only carry half-buckets at a time to slowly fill it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nevertheless, one vat of water lasted them several days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ziqi picked up an empty wooden bucket, took his self-made fishing rod, and headed toward the riverbank, the earthworms wrapped in a lotus leaf.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His mother was not at home; she had said she went to the riverside to wash clothes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The stretch of river he intended to visit was some distance from the small town where they lived; in the nearer areas, the fish had already been caught by Old Li the Fisherman and others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During these days while he was recuperating and making the fishing rod, his mother naturally knew about it but said nothing, tacitly approving his actions; after all, the family's life was truly tight, with food and drink being a serious problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without food to sustain them, his mother would lack the strength even to wash clothes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After walking for the time it takes to burn three sticks of incense, he was already nearly ten li away from the town where they lived, a place even the village's mischievous children rarely visited.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ziqi found a spot where the river flowed slowly and widened, moved some stones to pile on the bank for a firm footing, took off his shoes and socks, and set the wooden bucket aside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He baited the fishhook with a live earthworm, exerted force with both hands to cast, and the line with the hook fell into the distant river, leaving only the hollow bamboo float bobbing on the surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Until the evening glow faded, Bai Ziqi returned home carrying a bucket less than half full of fish. Inside were seven or eight large fish, each one or two chi long; the smaller ones he had released back into the river.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon arriving home, he found his mother sitting inside the house resting, evidently exhausted from a day's labor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing him carrying the water bucket, she hurried out to meet him, \"Qi'er, where have you been? Why are you returning so late?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ziqi did not hide the truth from his mother; smiling indifferently, he said, \"I went to the riverside to fish. Sitting idly for half a day, I only managed to catch seven or eight fish. I didn't keep the tiny ones; I threw them back into the river. Besides being troublesome to prepare, they would just waste seasoning.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, his mother's expression softened, and she retracted the words of reproach she had been about to utter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His mother was kind-hearted; although the family was already suffering greatly, she still remembered the neighbors who had often helped them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Qi'er, you have quite a lot of fish here. Two would be enough for us for one meal; would it be alright to send some of the rest to Sister Wang next door?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His mother did not decide on her own but instead sought his opinion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ziqi placed the wooden bucket of fish beside the stove under the shed next to the house.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing her suggestion, he replied, \"Child also had exactly that intention. Aunt Wang's family has cared for ours for many years. We cannot eat all these fish in one meal, so let us send three large ones over as a token of our gratitude.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His mother listened with great joy, \"Then go and deliver them now! After all, we are in the same town, it is not far! Come back and rest properly; Mother will clean the fish and make steamed fish for dinner!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ziqi took the wooden bucket, put three fish inside, and was about to head out, thinking to himself, \"The house has no sesame oil, nor any sauce. Apart from steaming them plain with some green salt and adding scallions, ginger, and garlic when taking them out of the pot, there is nothing else we can do.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as he was about to exit the bamboo fence and firewood gate of the courtyard, he said to his mother again, \"Mother, do not rush to prepare the fish. Wait until I return, and we will steam the fish together.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ziqi feared tiring his mother; cleaning the fish was a simple task for him. His mother had been exhausted these past days, taking care of him as well; it was time for her to rest, eat something good, and nourish her body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aunt Wang's family lived at the western end of the village, not far from his home. Usually, she often helped his mother wash clothes and sometimes brought over some food, such as a few coarse flour cakes or mixed-grain vegetable buns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, Bai Ziqi's family had nearly run out of food, so naturally, it was impossible for them to reciprocate with gifts to repay the kindness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among neighbors, mutual courtesy is valued; if help flows only one way with nothing returned, the other party may not complain, showing their propriety, but if one's own family truly ignores this, the relationship cannot last long, and the bond of friendship may be hurt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aunt Wang's husband was a woodcutter who often chopped firewood and carried it to the county town to sell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was said his surname was Wang; Aunt Wang took her husband's surname, and her own maiden name was never mentioned. Occasionally, she also sent over some leftover firewood from his sales to their family.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arriving at Aunt Wang's gate at the west end of the village, which was also a bamboo fence with a firewood gate, he saw a small vegetable plot planted in the courtyard and chickens and ducks raised behind the house. At that moment, a yellow dog inside the yard began to bark softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon seeing it was him, the dog stopped barking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its tail wagged intermittently; Bai Ziqi had never fed this yellow dog, so its lack of enthusiasm was only natural.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, when there was not even enough food for people, how could there be any extra to feed a dog? Still, the dog deserved some acknowledgment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Big Yellow!\" Bai Ziqi called out to the dog.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Big Yellow still seemed not very enthusiastic, though its tail wagged slightly faster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this, Bai Ziqi could only helplessly chuckle dryly, \"Hehe!\"\u003C\u002Fp>",1760,"2026-06-21T08:23:48.149Z",1,"Qwen3.5 397B","adee852185862817d91dab5ff80da70d3a984ba1cd559ae066a855f4a3679897",null,"cultivating-for-a-hundred-lifetimes-chapter-1","https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fcultivating-for-a-hundred-lifetimes-cover.jpg"]