Chapter 81: Going to Guo Er’s House

After finishing lunch, I went back to the classroom and wrote a leave slip, placed it on the lectern, packed my schoolbag, and then left the classroom.

Su Rou was already waiting outside for me, carrying a flat yellow military shoulder bag, probably with nothing inside except an empty lunch box.

“San Wa Er, aren’t you just making things difficult for yourself? You wrote a leave slip and still plan to climb the wall,” Su Rou shouted as soon as he saw me. In his view, skipping class was skipping class. You either just walked out, or if you wrote a leave slip, you should go through the main gate.

“The teacher has not approved it yet. I just left it on the lectern and came out. I do not feel like explaining things to the gate guard,” I replied casually. I was someone who hated trouble. The fewer people I had to explain myself to, the better.

“Look at your popularity. Not even a single person to approve your leave slip. With that pretty boy face of yours, you could just get some girl to take you out,” Su Rou said with a grin.

I was already too lazy to answer him with words, so I simply kicked him in the butt.

Su Rou brought me to a crooked-neck tree behind the dormitory. Then, biting his schoolbag strap, he hauled his fat body up with awkward twisting and squeezing before stepping on the tree and climbing over the wall.

Once on top of the wall, he proudly said, “See that? Su Ye is pretty agile, right? I am not bragging. This tree got bent crooked from how often I climbed it.”

I could not be bothered to respond. I grabbed the tree with one hand and climbed up easily. With a push from the branches, I stepped straight onto the wall.

Su Rou’s face immediately fell. “Damn it, San Wa Er, you really know how to hurt people.”

I smirked a little. I had some skills after all. Then I jumped down from the wall gracefully. Su Rou slid down the wall while holding on, but his landing was ugly. The moment he hit the ground, he fell flat on his backside with a loud Thud, then sprawled out in a completely undignified position.

“Accident, heh heh, accident,” Su Rou said thickly, clearly shameless.

I was used to it. I pulled him up and said, “Let’s go.”

Guo Er’s house was in the market town. Not close, but not far either, about twenty minutes away. While walking, I took something out of my schoolbag and tossed it to Su Rou.

It was a talisman folded into a triangle.

“What is this?” Su Rou asked, catching it hurriedly since he did not see clearly what I had thrown.

“What else could it be? A talisman,” I said.

“What is it for?” Su Rou asked. He often came up the mountain to find me and knew that Old Man Jiang could draw all kinds of strange talismans, each with different effects.

“It is just an ordinary warding talisman. It can block anything with a bit of evil nature. If Guo Er really has something on him, something unclean, it should help a little,” I explained.

“Drawn by Master Jiang?” Su Rou asked while stuffing it into his chest.

“I drew it,” I said.

After spending so many years on the mountain, my skills were still far from my master. According to my master, if not for my strong natural spiritual perception, cultivation, especially learning secret techniques, would not have come to me so quickly, and I would not have been able to draw real effective talismans on my own.

Even so, I could only draw two or three types, such as the simplest warding talisman, a house-protection talisman, and a Guanyin talisman, which had a very low success rate for me. That kind of talisman could only prevent minor illnesses. If everyone around you caught a cold, you would be spared.

The effectiveness of my talismans could not compare to Old Man Jiang’s. The difference in skill was obvious. But they still worked to some degree.

Upon hearing it was drawn by me, Su Rou’s expression changed instantly. He had originally been carefully trying to put it away, but now he casually stuffed it into his pocket instead.

“I thought it was drawn by Master Jiang. That would have been a treasure. Turns out it is just your junk,” he said, then added uneasily, “San Wa Er, this thing of yours can still block something, right? It is not completely useless, is it? I do not want to end up like Guo Er.”

My irritation hit its limit. He really had a knack for poking at a young man’s pride. Without a word, I grabbed him, pulled the talisman out of his pocket, and said, “Fine. If you do not want it, I do not want to give it anyway.”

“Hey, San Wa Er, Brother San, Third Uncle, Third Grandpa, I was wrong, okay? Give it back to me. It is like going out in the rain without an umbrella, you cannot just go out naked,” he quickly begged, then snatched it back.

Then he threw an arm around me and said, “San Wa Er, if I did not trust your ability, would I be here with you? Do not be petty, do not be petty.”

I felt a bit better after that. Along the way, as we bickered, we unknowingly arrived at Guo Er’s house.

Su Rou was about to walk straight in when I grabbed him.

“Do not be so impulsive. You need a reason to visit someone’s house,” I said.

“I have dealt with Guo Er before. We will just say we are here to visit him while he is sick. His family would not even remember who is who among our group,” Su Rou said, then pulled me along again. “San Wa Er, I really treat you like my brother. Coming here, I know exactly what you are thinking. You just learned a bit of skill and want to test it out. I am risking my life to accompany you. That is loyal enough, right?”

I glanced at him and could not help but feel my face heat slightly. What he said was not entirely wrong.

“You have read too many novels. You are bringing in all that martial world nonsense. What testing skills? What risking life? You are just scared and want me to be careful,” I said.

“Heh heh heh… Condor Heroes is really good,” Su Rou replied casually.

We stopped talking and let Su Rou go knock on the door.

After knocking for a long time, someone finally came to open it. The one who opened the door was Guo Er’s eleven-year-old daughter.

“Do you recognize me? I am your Brother Su Rou,” Su Rou greeted familiarly, immediately reaching out to pinch the little girl’s face. Then he realized she was already eleven and pulled his hand back awkwardly. He rummaged through his dirty schoolbag for a long time but could not find anything.

“Ah, I originally wanted to bring you some candy, but I forgot it in the classroom.”

He really had thick skin. He did not even have any candy to begin with. Even if he did, it would have gone straight into his stomach.

I did not want to waste time with the little girl, so I remembered the snacks my mother had packed for me from the county town. I reached into my bag, pulled out a handful of candy, and handed it to Su Rou.

“Hey, so it was on you!” Su Rou muttered, secretly pocketing some before handing the rest to the girl.

The girl’s face had been tense and wary, but after seeing the candy, she relaxed a little. Moreover, Su Rou had helped Guo Er before and had been to their house a few times, so she was somewhat familiar with him.

“What are you here for?” the girl asked. Her braids were messy, and her voice was hoarse, probably from crying.

“We heard your dad is not well, so we came to visit him,” Su Rou said with a sorrowful expression.

After thinking for a moment, the girl finally let us in, likely because of the candy.

As she closed the door, I put my arm around Su Rou’s shoulder and said quietly, “Hand it over. I saw you take it.”

“What did I take?” he asked innocently.

“You still have the nerve? The candy I gave that girl, and you dared to pocket it?”

“And I was about to ask you. You have food and you do not share. I really treated you like my brother,” Su Rou said angrily.

“Who said I was not going to give it to you? I planned to give it to you after school. Just give it to the girl first. Look at her, she is already in such a miserable state,” I lowered my voice.

“Fine, fine, you are the compassionate one. Tell me honestly, you always look all serious at school like a picture book character. Are you secretly using that to trick girls? No wonder so many girls like you,” he said.

I got angry and was about to hit him, but then I noticed the girl standing right in front of us asking, “Why are you not coming in?”