Chapter 2: A Beautiful Childhood

  Xiao Longbo was three and a half years old when Grandpa Qi started teaching him to recognize characters. What made Grandpa Qi feel incredible was that this little guy had a natural understanding of book knowledge, especially the structure of words, which was simply amazing.

  Grandfather Qi wanted him to understand the meaning of Chinese characters, so he always told him how ancient people created Chinese characters based on things like shape, sound, meaning, indication, and pictorial representation. As a result, after four months, he could basically break down Chinese characters. Grandfather Qi always complained that modern simplified characters had simplified away the true essence of Chinese characters, so he refused to teach Longbiao to recognize simplified characters. Moreover, he strongly rejected things like fountain pens, pencils, and ballpoint pens, insisting from the start that Longbiao use a brush to write. Poor three-year-old Longbiao's chubby little hands grasped the brush as if it were a heavy burden. In the end, Grandfather Qi temporarily gave up teaching him to write with a brush and instead had him practice writing in the dirt with a stick. It wasn't until Longbiao was five years old that he began to use a brush to write.

  Xiao Longbao has always had a strong interest in this interesting game. Every time Grandpa Qi works, he writes and draws on the ground by himself. When other children in the mountain village only know one, two, three, four, he is already familiar with nearly six thousand Chinese characters before the age of seven. His brush calligraphy is also good enough. Of course, Grandpa Qi's rural accent is absolutely unable to teach Longbao pronunciation.

  Long Bo's greatest hobby is to flip through the books in Grandpa Qi's bookcase. After completing his study tasks every day, he would turn over and look at those books with great interest, even though he didn't fully understand their meaning.

  To ensure that Xiaolong had sufficient nutrition, Grandpa Qi raised two pigs and several chickens. He had to feed the pigs, tend to the land, grow vegetables, and take care of the child. This was a difficult life for a man over sixty years old. Therefore, Xiaolong never bothered Grandpa Qi with unnecessary things. At the age of five, he already knew how to cut grass for the pigs, water the vegetable garden, sweep the house, and feed the chickens. While other children in the village were playing and making noise, he was always busy doing chores.

  Everyone in the village couldn't help but praise and admire the child, while also lamenting his inevitably doomed fate. Some kind-hearted women secretly burned incense and prayed to Buddha, begging heaven not to let that tragic fate befall this poor orphan again.

  When Longbiao was six years old, Grandpa Qi began to take him up the mountain to dig for medicinal herbs. Xiongshan used to be a paradise for rare birds and beasts, strange flowers and grasses. Although the Great Leap Forward disaster 30 or 40 years ago caused irreparable losses, there were still some precious medicinal materials left. The medicinal herbs dug from the mountain were processed according to ancient methods and sold to Chinese medicine shops in the market town, which was a source of income for the year. Digging medicinal herbs required attention to seasons, and it was crucial to dig at the right time; if the timing was wrong, the efficacy of the medicine would be greatly reduced. Liu Dexu, an old Chinese doctor from Tianlei Township's Chinese medicine shop, was a major customer of Grandpa Qi's medicinal materials. Sometimes, when Liu needed fresh medicinal herbs, he would ask someone to send a message to Grandpa Qi, who never failed to deliver. Liu's medical skills were well-known throughout the region, and he had treated countless people.

  The top of the mountain is very beautiful, and looking far away, you can even see the pagoda in the northwest corner of the county town. Such scenery always makes people linger and forget to return. However, there is no road to the summit, and everywhere is overgrown with dense shrubs and weeds, where snakes, insects, rats, and ants are unavoidable, many of which are highly toxic. Many of these toxic creatures are actually good medicinal materials.

  Long Bao learned to identify and make medicine in less than a year while picking herbs with his grandfather. He also learned some simple methods for preventing and treating poisoning. During their herb-picking trips, Grandfather Qi often found dens of small animals like badgers, hedgehogs, pangolins, and wild boars, which were relatively easy to catch. Grandfather Qi and Long Bao would use leaves to start a fire and smoke them out alive. These animals could be sold for a good price at the market as game meat.

  Seven-year-old Longbiao is a freak in the eyes of his peers, an exceptionally good child in the eyes of adults, and a rare genius in the eyes of Grandpa Qi and Old Man Liu. Once, Grandpa Qi had a drink at Old Man Liu's house and told him that Longbiao had learned 8,000 Chinese characters before he was seven years old and had read dozens of ancient books, leaving Old Man Liu speechless for half a day, until he verified it with Longbiao and couldn't help but praise him.

  In the lunar calendar of 1993, on July 16th, it was again a market day in Tianlei Township. Longbiao and Grandfather Qi got up early, ate some sweet potatoes that had been cooked overnight in the stove, fed the pigs, and then set off down the mountain with their medicine and a raccoon dog they had caught two days ago on the mountain. Grandfather was already over 60 years old, his body not as strong as before, walking and resting, taking nearly two hours to cover ten or so miles, arriving at the market after 9 o'clock.

  At the entrance of Liu's traditional Chinese medicine shop, a wooden board was set up, and the four treasures of the study were arranged neatly. The crowd in the market grew larger and larger. Grandfather's calligraphy was famous far and wide, and customers often came to admire his work. Today, many people came to buy couplets, and not a few were old customers. Grandfather only charged a little money for paper and ink, and a pair of couplets cost only one dollar.

  The weather in midsummer was unbearably hot, Grandpa felt dizzy and couldn't take it anymore. Liu, the old Chinese doctor, took his pulse and diagnosed him with heatstroke. He was rushed into the house to take some medicine, but unfortunately, he could no longer continue writing couplets.

  Seeing many people still waiting beside his grandfather, Long Bao picked up the brush and finished what his grandfather had not written. He handed it over to the villager. The villager was very surprised, how could an eight-year-old child write so well? This made it hard for the villagers to believe, their enthusiasm suddenly rose, and they surrounded Long Bao to watch him write, many of whom did not need couplets also prepared to buy a pair to take back to educate their children.

  Only to see Longbiao's chest had a successful operation, his brush flying as he wrote the couplets everyone needed, amidst the villagers' unanimous praise. As a result, the income from writing couplets that day was more than double the usual amount, and the fruit raccoon dog sold for 40 yuan. Longbiao ran to the supply and marketing association to buy a bag of milk powder and a catty of red sugar, and at Liu's old Chinese medicine house, he made a cup of thick milk with boiling water and placed it in front of Grandpa Qi's bed. Grandpa Qi drank the milk with tears in his eyes, one mouthful at a time, while Little Longbiao gently stroked Grandpa Qi's chest with his hand stained with ink.

  Liu Lao watched all this in silence, his heart filled with emotion: "Is this an eight-year-old child? Is this an eight-year-old child?"

  When the market dispersed, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon, and Grandpa Qi's expression finally returned to normal. After having lunch with Old Doctor Liu, Long Bao went to help Old Lady Liu clean up things. Old Doctor Liu asked Grandpa Qi, "Old Qi, isn't Little Dragon eight years old this year?"

  Uncle Zhi thought for a moment and said: "He's already eight years old, his birthday was last month."

  The old Chinese doctor paused for a moment: "You see, before you know it, they're already at school age."

  Grandpa Qi took out his pipe, tapped it on the sole of his shoe, and said while filling his tobacco pouch: "You're eight years old, it's about time you started school."

  The old Chinese doctor pulled out a cigarette from the pack and handed it to Grandpa Qi, saying: "Smoke mine, yours is too strong! Old buddy, what plans do you have for Xiaolong? You don't want him to do this line of work for his whole life, do you?"

  Uncle Qi frowned: "Old buddy, I know, but look at this kid, he doesn't understand any less than me, do you want him to start school from first grade?"

  The old Chinese doctor laughed and said, "Don't worry about this, my son is a teacher at Tianlei Middle School. I can help with this matter, and it's possible that even Xiaolong's tuition fees will be waived! You come down from the mountain tomorrow, and I'll take you to meet the teachers."

  "Uncle Qi exclaimed in surprise: 'Is this really true?'"

  The old doctor laughed and said, "Old ghost! Xiaolong is an orphan, this school will take care of him. Xiaolong is also a genius from our Tianlei Township, who wouldn't want to accept such a student? Just wait and see!"

  The next day, Uncle Qi, Long Bao and the old Chinese doctor came to Tianlei Middle School together to find the old Chinese doctor's son. The old Chinese doctor's son had long heard about Long Bao's talent from his father, so he hurriedly took him to Zhongxin Primary School to find Principal Wu Zhonghua, introduced Long Bao's basic situation and asked the principal to organize several teachers for an interview.

  Several teachers at school heard that there was such a prodigy and gathered together to ask the principal to conduct an on-the-spot examination. The principal, who did not want to believe this kind of fantasy, reluctantly agreed under public pressure. Under everyone's watchful eyes, Long Bao first spread out the newspaper and wrote a poem in Tang Dynasty style: "The grass on the mountain is sparse, one year withers and flourishes. Wildfires cannot burn it all, spring winds blow and it grows again." Then he took out Grandpa Qi's thread-bound book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and began to read aloud in Grandpa Qi's own voice. Everyone watched as a child less than four feet tall shook his head and read ancient books, and they all burst out laughing in amazement, carefully savoring Long Bao's brush-written characters, which, although slightly childish, still had the power to penetrate the paper.

  After a comprehensive assessment, everyone unanimously agreed that Long Bao is a rare child prodigy. For such a child, ordinary education cannot be adopted, and special educational methods must be used. He will start reading from the third grade, and several top-level teachers will tutor him in first and second-grade courses. Considering his special situation, not only are all his tuition fees waived, but also his lunch expenses are fully exempted, and he can dine for free in the teacher's cafeteria.

  For Long Bo and Grandpa Qi, this sudden good fortune seemed to have brought them into heaven.