12: You're amazing!

In fact, when Chu Yuan showed her the red jujube, Zhang Yan realized something was wrong.

The color and the faint fragrance emanating from it were completely different from the one she had given him.

Although she did not know how Chu Yuan had done it, Zhang Yan did not want to ask anything.

There seemed to be a light in her eyes; she lightly bit her pink lip and leaned closer.

"Brother Chu Yuan, you don't need to say anything. Yaner will keep your secret."

Chu Yuan's expression struggled for a moment, but he said nothing, gently stroking her head.

"Sister Yaner, thank you!"

"You're welcome!"

Zhang Yan leaned lightly on Chu Yuan's shoulder, her small face full of smiles, seemingly very happy.

Chu Yuan looked down at her, a hint of tenderness flashing in his eyes.

It was just a small anomaly. This girl was kind-hearted; since she promised secrecy, there shouldn't be any issues.

Chu Yuan thought this, but internally, he became secretly vigilant.

In the future, he absolutely could not make such detailed mistakes again.

A little while later.

Chu Yuan thought of something and then asked, "Sister Yaner, can you read?"

"I can!"

Zhang Yan looked up and smiled, "Brother Chu Yuan, do you want to learn? I can teach you!"

Looking at her slightly smug, smiling face, Chu Yuan couldn't help but chuckle internally.

She was only a twelve-year-old girl, after all; this little bit of smugness was clearly displayed on her face.

But what was that strange light in this girl's eyes?

Why did it make him feel slightly flustered?

Chu Yuan secretly shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

"Then I thank Sister Yaner very much!"

"Hehe, you're welcome!"

Zhang Yan chuckled, pulled Chu Yuan to squat down beside her, and casually picked up a stone.

She scratched a few times on the ground, writing two characters.

When Chu Yuan saw those two characters, his pupils constricted slightly.

Sure enough... he didn't recognize them!

He should have realized this earlier; after all, the language he was currently speaking was not Chinese.

If he didn't possess the memories of this lifetime, he probably would have had to pretend to be mute when he woke up.

At this moment, Zhang Yan softly said, "Brother Chu Yuan, let's learn these two characters first. They are 'Chu Yuan'—they are your name!"

Chu Yuan nodded, closed his eyes slightly, and quickly recalled the stroke order Zhang Yan had just used.

Afterward, he also picked up a small stone and copied the characters, drawing a tiger using a cat as a model.

Although they were crooked, they could still be initially recognized as the two characters 'Chu Yuan'.

Seeing this, Zhang Yan's eyes sparkled with admiration, and she exclaimed, "Brother Chu Yuan, you are amazing! You wrote them out on your first try."

"Back when I first learned to write with Father, I had to practice many times before I could write my own name!"

Chu Yuan's expression was somewhat strange. What was with this look of admiration?

Why was he inexplicably happy?

Or rather, it should be pride—that feeling of smugness after being praised?

However, why did he feel that besides admiration, there was also a hint of disappointment in Zhang Yan's gaze?

Strange!

Chu Yuan smiled, shaking his head slightly, "I don't know what happened either. I just saw Sister Yaner write it once and copied it."

"That is still very impressive!"

Zhang Yan chuckled, her tone filled with admiration, and a barely noticeable hint of pride.

Following this, she deliberately slowed down and neatly wrote two more characters.

"Brother Chu Yuan, this is my name. Try to see if you can write it."

After speaking, she stared intently at Chu Yuan, her eyes full of anticipation.

Chu Yuan closed his eyes slightly, quickly recalled the characters, and then did his best to write them out.

"Wow, Brother Chu Yuan, you are truly amazing!"

Seeing that Chu Yuan had indeed written them out, Zhang Yan gasped softly, her eyes full of surprise.

The two characters he replicated were almost identical to the ones she had written.

How could she not be surprised by this situation?

Chu Yuan smiled, wiped away what he had just written, and rewrote both of their names again.

This time, the speed was slightly smoother, and the characters were slightly neater.

One couldn't exactly call them neat, but they were closer to what Zhang Yan had just written.

"It looks like Brother Chu Yuan has already memorized them. Then I will teach you other characters."

Zhang Yan chuckled, tirelessly teaching Chu Yuan.

More than an hour quickly passed, and Zhang Yan had taught Chu Yuan over a hundred characters.

Chu Yuan was able to quickly grasp them every time, causing Zhang Yan to gasp repeatedly in astonishment.

If Zhang Yan hadn't insisted that he practice a few times each time to familiarize himself with the characters, Chu Yuan might have learned even more.

"Brother Chu Yuan, let's stop here today. Father often says that biting off more than you can chew is bad!"

Zhang Yan stood up and patted her small hands.

Chu Yuan smiled and nodded, "Thank you very much, Sister Yaner, for today."

"You're welcome!"

Zhang Yan shook her head and chuckled, then lightly bit her pink lip, "Brother Chu Yuan, when do you think Father and the others will return?"

Chu Yuan looked up and glanced out the window, "It's not even noon yet. If everything goes smoothly, it should still take quite a while, right?"

Zhang Yan nodded, "Then let's hope everything goes smoothly for them!"

... Time rewinds to an hour ago.

Inside the Medical Hall, two middle-aged men lay on beds, their faces pale, their eyes filled with fury.

"It's been quiet for a long time. I wonder what those two scoundrels did?"

One of them said, "Xiang Wen has sacrificed so much for the village. If his daughter..."

"What can we do about it?"

The other man said, "We are both like this, struggling even to speak. Alas..."

"Listening to the sounds earlier, it must have been that kid Ergou over there. I'm afraid..."

"Forget it, don't talk about it!"

"Alas..."

The two men sighed softly, but their eyes were full of rage.

If they hadn't been severely injured and unable to move, they would have gone and twisted off the heads of those two scoundrels to use as chamber pots.

People, at the very least, should not be like this!

People also shouldn't be so ungrateful!

"Speaking of which, do you feel like the Demonic Evil Qi in your body has weakened somewhat?"

One of the men seemed to have thought of something, his expression uncertain and surprised.

The other man heard this, his expression equally uncertain and surprised, "I feel like at least ten percent is gone."

"That's very strange. I've never heard that Demonic Evil Qi can decrease on its own."

"I heard before that Ergou was injured by Yin Fiend Qi, but he didn't have any Yin Fiend Qi inside his body. Do you think we might also..."

"This..."

The two men looked at each other, a hint of expectation flickering in their eyes.

But thinking of something, their eyes dimmed again... Outside Xiao Huang Village.

Two li away from Xiao Huang Village, there was a stretch of golden-yellow rice paddies mixed with a little green.

Around the paddies, more than twenty people vigilantly watched the surroundings, preventing danger from approaching without being noticed.

Inside the rice paddies, a group of people were rapidly harvesting the rice.

Another seven or eight strong men were transporting the rice back and forth to the village entrance.

Time passed slowly.

Everyone was starving and drenched in sweat, yet they dared not slack off in the slightest.

Even eight-year-old children were working hard to help, without a single complaint.

Seeing the sun setting in the west, the sun would completely set in half an hour at most.

But at this moment, a cry of alarm suddenly rang out, "Run, it's a Fire Fox Demon!"