Chapter 149: Gaokao

Having a meal with Teacher He was a very pleasant experience—the old lady introduced by Old Bai bore the surname Tian; she joked that it was precisely this surname that had made her farm fields for a lifetime.

She was not someone one could call beautiful.

Probably for ease of upkeep, her hair reached only to her earlobes, and her skin was not Bai Xi; instead, it was somewhat dark from farm work, mixed with a sickly waxen yellow.

It was clear that even in her youth, she probably did not count as a beauty.

But when she smiled, she possessed a different kind of infectiousness.

It was that kind of cheerful, somewhat bold, even somewhat unladylike smile—her mouth opened wide, and when she laughed, her head would tilt up slightly, sometimes revealing her upper palate.

Tian Laoshi was very talkative.

With Old Bai, a close friend, that went without saying.

With Tang Lingwu, she also had things to discuss; the two could talk from what milk tea they liked to what styles of skirts were currently popular.

She seemed to have a very youthful mindset.

After hearing that Zheng Fa's parents had passed away long ago, Tian Laoshi's reaction was also unlike that of ordinary people—she did not display the condescending sympathy common among ordinary people, but instead said in a gentle voice: "Things will get better and better in the future."

Although it was just that one sentence.

But Zheng Fa could also see that the words themselves implied the most simple blessing.

This old lady also had a large appetite; at first, when Zheng Fa and the other two saw her order so many dishes, they thought she was a wasteful person by nature—but it turned out this old lady could eat from the first dish to the last.

It seemed she noticed the surprise of Zheng Fa and the other two.

Tian Laoshi smiled and said, not minding much: "In the past, I did a lot of work, so my appetite grew large and became a habit... Now, well, every extra bite counts."

The smile on Old Bai's face slowly faded, and there was some worry in his gaze.

"What exactly is the illness?"

"Something grew on my liver; it was cut out once, but later grew back again." Tian Laoshi explained a sentence, shrugged and said: "Even the doctors dare not treat it anymore, saying that at my age, there might be an accident... I shouldn't make things difficult for them, right?"

Old Bai looked at Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa nodded lightly.

He had already thought of several spiritual talismans to dispel the illness; as for whether they would work, he would still need to check further in the Xuanwei Realm.

Tian Laoshi looked at Old Bai, then suddenly said: "Whether I live or die, I cannot decide that; there is only one thing I want to entrust to you."

"Hmm?"

"My mother..."

Old Bai was stunned.

"After I got this illness, the one who suffered the most was not me, but my mother... Since I met you, I will have to go back and accompany my mother for her final days." Tian Laoshi said slowly: "I am not worried about the money for her old age; I have saved a sum for her, plus her pension and such, which should be enough. There is only one thing—if you have time, please visit her more often."

"... Okay."

Tian Laoshi smiled and said: "I originally thought I would be able to see my mother off in this life, but I didn't expect she would have to see me off. I actually don't feel that dying is anything special, but my mother lost her husband and then her daughter; in the future, she will be all alone... I have no relatives or friends, so I can only entrust this to a few friends."

Old Bai nodded lightly.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore; talking about life and death is not good for the two children to hear." Tian Laoshi smiled, raised the drink in her cup toward Zheng Fa and said: "I heard you are taking the Gaokao?"

"Yes."

"Then let me wish you success on the golden list first!"

Looking at Tian Laoshi's eyes full of smiles, Zheng Fa paused for a moment, then drained the drink in his cup.

Sitting in the car, watching Tian Laoshi standing at the hotel entrance waving goodbye to them, Old Bai looked at Zheng Fa and asked:

"Is there a way?"

"We can try."

Zheng Fa thought for a moment and replied.

They did not mention treating Tian Laoshi's illness today; first, it was their first meeting, and she had no such idea.

Second, and actually more important—

Accepting Tian Laoshi into the nursing home was actually stricter than with Aunt Ye.

The secret of cultivation must not be hidden from Tian Laoshi; otherwise, it would be hard to bring out her talents.

"Today I brought you here because I wanted you to talk with her." Old Bai spoke his own idea: "Regarding the several conditions you mentioned earlier for recruiting people to the nursing home, I thought about it, and actually there is one more point."

Zheng Fa looked at Old Bai.

"Compatibility of temperaments."

"..." Zheng Fa nodded.

This was indeed something he had not thought of.

"In a team, even if everyone is good, if personalities do not match, trouble can easily arise; our current situation is quite good." Old Bai shook his head and said: "If someone else comes in and cannot get along, it will ruin everything, so I wanted you to meet her; what do you think?"

Zheng Fa thought about the various details of having a meal with Tian Laoshi and said with a smile: "For now, it is quite good."

He finally understood why Old Bai wanted him and Tang Lingwu to come and meet Tian Laoshi first.

It was mainly to let the two of them see what kind of person Tian Laoshi was and whether she was easy to get along with.

"Yes, she is indeed a good person; otherwise, I would not have this idea." Old Bai nodded and said: "As for professional ability, although she is not among the very top tier, she has led national-level major projects; I do not understand her specialty well, but it should not be bad."

"Hmm."

"Finally, character..." Old Bai fell silent for a while before speaking slowly: "Regarding character, I actually think it is the most difficult... I have lived for so many years, to say whose character I truly trust."

"There are only one or two people."

"..." Hearing this, Zheng Fa's expression became more solemn.

"They all say mathematics is difficult, but in my view, the human heart is even more difficult."

Even after returning home, Zheng Fa was still thinking about Old Bai's previous words.

Among the four spiritual talismans to be condensed next, there must be a slot for a medical talisman—even if he doesn't meet Tian Laoshi, he still has to condense this type of talisman.

This is the foundation Zheng Fa uses to maintain the nursing home.

On the way back, Old Bai probably didn't want to put Zheng Fa in a difficult position, so he didn't ask him again.

But his words, both inside and out, were pleading on Tian Laoshi's behalf.

Setting aside the value of Tian Laoshi as a person, just consider his relationship with Old Bai and the help Old Bai gave him—even if one only looks at the Three Sons Talisman Formula that the old man stayed up several late nights last month to create just to give him a gift.

Zheng Fa was also willing to lend a hand.

What made Zheng Fa think was Old Bai's argument about character.

Old Bai has seen quite a few people in his life, and there are many academic giants, but when it comes to character, it is indeed hard to say.

His recommendation of Tian Laoshi was, on one hand, naturally to give Tian Laoshi a chance to be treated.

But on the other hand, it was truly that no one else could be recommended.

Zheng Fa understood Old Bai's caution—this was taking responsibility for their small group.

But on the other hand, he also understood that this matter couldn't rely entirely on Old Bai.

Zheng Fa must have some means to test human nature or guard against leaks.

"Illusion Talisman."

This was the first choice that popped into his mind—after all, as the sect master's only disciple, he was quite familiar with the Illusion Talisman.

Thinking this way, in the Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method, among the remaining four sub-talismans, two were already decided—the Healing Talisman and the Illusion Talisman.

On the third day after returning from the provincial capital, the college entrance examination began.

Zheng Fa's exam venue was not at Qingshui High School, but at Experimental Middle School.

This was a junior high school, not far from Qingshui High School; taking the bus from home took twenty minutes to arrive.

On the morning of the first day of the exam, Zheng Fa held a transparent document bag, checked the admission ticket and stationery inside, and then boarded the bus to Experimental Middle School.

On this day, the entire city seemed to be making way for the college entrance examination.

The road in front of Qingshui High School was closed.

Passing vehicles hardly honked their horns.

On the bus Zheng Fa was riding, there were only parents sending off examinees and students preparing for the exam.

The bus driver was quite thoughtful—the whole way, an inspirational song was playing inside the bus.

It was just that Zheng Fa could clearly see that the expressions on the faces of the students on the bus were even more nervous.

Arriving at Experimental Middle School, it was not yet time to enter the exam venue.

Zheng Fa stood at the school gate of Experimental Middle School, waiting to enter with other examinees.

Soon, he realized he seemed quite conspicuous—other examinees were accompanied by parents sending them off, but he was alone, holding a document bag by himself.

It appeared somewhat lonely.

Zheng Fa didn't mind; a rather thin boy stood beside him, acting very familiar, and after looking at him twice, suddenly asked: "Bro, did you come alone?"

"Mm."

"Where are your parents?"

"They can't make it." Zheng Fa answered calmly.

"Your parents are so good..." That boy seemed to envy Zheng Fa's freedom, yet also subtly showed off being spoiled, saying to Zheng Fa: "Unlike my parents, they got up at five or six in the morning to fuss around, more nervous than me... See, even my grandparents came."

Zheng Fa looked in the direction his finger pointed; over there, four adults were indeed watching this place, and when they saw him looking, they nodded and smiled kindly at him.

"Zheng Fa, why didn't you reply to Tang Lingwu's message in the group?"

While the two were chatting idly, a female classmate of Zheng Fa passed by, as if she was also taking the exam at this school.

Seeing Zheng Fa, she immediately shouted at him.

"Message?" Zheng Fa was stunned: "I didn't bring my phone."

He found it inconvenient to hand over items upon entering the exam venue, so he simply brought nothing except exam supplies; anyway, he didn't need to contact anyone, and could just go straight home after leaving the exam venue.

"Didn't bring your phone?" That female classmate of Zheng Fa said: "Then I'll tell her you're here."

After a moment, Zheng Fa saw Tang Lingwu come running over.

He had never seen Tang Lingwu like this; at school, Tang Lingwu's clothing was very ordinary.

Most of the time it was just regular T-shirts or shirts, and sometimes the kind of school uniform that was least popular among boys and girls.

For the lower body, most of the time it was jeans; she rarely wore skirts.

But today, Tang Lingwu wore a small cheongsam; whether due to her own talent or because the clothes were tailored very finely, her figure was incredibly graceful.

When she ran over, she attracted quite a few gazes.

The boy beside Zheng Fa couldn't help but stare at her the whole way, and only when Tang Lingwu approached did he shyly avert his eyes.

"I came to send you off for the exam!" Tang Lingwu walked up close, looked up at Zheng Fa with a smile, and deliberately spun around, saying: "Look, may you win the first battle!"

Zheng Fa saw the boy beside him turn his head to look at his rather huge send-off party, then look at Tang Lingwu—as if he wanted to switch.