Chapter 2: The Special Ability

“Hey, don’t run away!”

In the small courtyard enclosed by a simple wooden fence, Xiao Yan was chasing a butterfly with her short little legs.

Lu Qing sat on a stone stool, holding a plant with small red flowers and examining it.

At this moment, in his field of vision, the plant with the small red flowers was glowing with a faint white light, and two lines of text floated above it.

[Ox Bone Grass: Ordinary quality, can be used for medicinal purposes.]
[Seems to be quite effective for bone injuries. Might be useful when injured.]

After spending some time, Lu Qing had more or less figured out what was going on with the text appearing before his eyes.

To put it simply, perhaps due to his transmigration, he had acquired a special ability.

Currently, the main manifestation of this ability was that whenever he focused his gaze on an item for a certain period, a glow and a simple text description would appear on the item.

Furthermore, the longer he focused his gaze, the more information he would receive, but this information wasn’t infinite; there seemed to be some kind of standard.

Lu Qing temporarily guessed that this standard was related to the light emanating from the item.

Items with a gray glow would only ever show one line of description, no matter how long he looked.

Items with a white glow, however, would show two or more lines of description.

The Ox Bone Grass in his hand was the only plant he had found around the small courtyard that emitted a white light.

What is this, a game interface?
Lu Qing was reminded of some of the open-world exploration games he had occasionally played in his past life.

After a moment’s thought, he beckoned with his hand. “Xiao Yan, come here for a second.”

“Brother, what is it?”

The little girl trotted over happily.

“Let me take a look at you.”

Lu Qing picked a dry blade of grass from the little girl’s hair and fixed his gaze on her face.

After a moment, a faint white light appeared on Xiao Yan’s body, and a line of text floated above her.

[Lu Xiaoyan: A human cub, female.]

What kind of useless description is that!
Several dark lines appeared on Lu Qing’s forehead.

But he continued to look.

After another moment, a second line of text appeared.

[A pitiful human cub, she seems to be somewhat malnourished.]

Lu Qing paused. He looked at the dull, yellowish hair on the little girl’s head and fell silent.

“Brother, are you done looking yet?”
Xiao Yan tilted her head up and asked with an innocent expression.

“Mhm, I’m done. When Xiao Yan grows up, she’ll definitely be a great beauty.”
Lu Qing rubbed the little girl’s hair, his heart filled with pity.

Xiao Yan tilted her head. “What’s a great beauty?”

“Haha, you’ll know when you grow up.”

Hearing the little girl’s innocent words, Lu Qing’s mood lightened considerably.

No matter what the future held, the most important thing right now was to take care of this little girl who depended on him.

This could be considered the greatest lingering obsession left by the original owner before he died.

And if he wanted to live well in this strange world, he would have to rely on this inexplicable special ability he possessed.

Thinking of this, Lu Qing picked up the Ox Bone Grass and held it in front of Xiao Yan.

“Xiao Yan, do you know what this plant is and what it’s used for?”

Xiao Yan looked at the plant with its small blue flowers, furrowed her little brow in deep thought, and then shook her head.

“I don’t know, but Grandpa Zhang’s big ox seems to really like eating this kind of grass.”

Seeing that Xiao Yan didn’t know, Lu Qing couldn’t help but laugh at himself. He must have been muddled.

Even the original owner’s memories had no information about Ox Bone Grass, yet he was expecting a child of only a few years to know.

However, Xiao Yan’s next words stunned him.

“Brother, if you want to know what this grass is, you can go ask Grandpa Chen! Grandpa Chen loves all these flowers and plants, and he likes to use them to boil bitter water for us to drink.”

As she said this, Xiao Yan’s entire little face scrunched up, as if she had remembered something unpleasant.

Grandpa Chen?
Lu Qing searched his memories, and soon, the image of a kind-faced, thin old man appeared in his mind.

Oh, it was the old doctor who was respected by the villagers.

A doctor?
A thought stirred in Lu Qing’s mind.

According to the text description, Ox Bone Grass was undoubtedly a medicinal herb. He wondered if Old Doctor Chen knew how to use it.

“Xiao Yan, when I was sick, did Grandpa Chen come over?”

“He did. Brother was sleeping the whole time, and you wouldn’t wake up no matter how I called you. I was scared, so I kept crying. Then Grandpa Chen came, and after looking at you, he said you were sick. I think he said it was something like a cold. He boiled some bitter medicine for you, and after you drank it, you woke up the next day.”

As Xiao Yan said this, she suddenly exclaimed in amazement, “Grandpa Chen is so amazing! Brother only drank one bowl of bitter water and got better!”

Lu Qing was silent.

Only he knew that the medicine Old Doctor Chen had prescribed had not saved the boy’s life.

But he now remembered that when he was unconscious, he had vaguely felt someone pouring something into his mouth, which brought a trace of warmth to his cold body, protecting his heart and allowing him to survive the difficult period of memory integration.

Otherwise, with this weak body, it was uncertain whether he would have woken up successfully.

In that sense, this Old Doctor Chen was indeed skilled and had done him a great favor.

As Lu Qing was pondering this, he suddenly felt a gaze on him. He looked down and saw Xiao Yan looking at him.

“What’s wrong, Xiao Yan?”

“Brother, Xiao Yan is hungry.”

Lu Qing felt hungry too.

He hadn’t eaten his fill to begin with, and the half-mantou he had eaten earlier had long since been digested.

He had checked earlier; there was absolutely no food left in the house.

The rice jar was so clean that even mice wouldn’t bother visiting. If it weren’t for the help of Grandpa Zhang next door, Xiao Yan would have probably starved during the two days he was unconscious.

Thinking of this, Lu Qing remembered that he should thank Grandpa Zhang and Old Doctor Chen. Without their care, he and his sister might not have survived.

But his family was truly too poor now. The house was empty, with four bare walls. He couldn’t even produce a small gift of thanks.

He had to find a way to fill their stomachs first. The matter of thanking them could wait.

But where could he get food?

Most of the family’s fields had been sold by the original owner to pay for his parents’ burial.

The small plot that remained was neglected and yielded almost nothing.

So, hoping to get food from the fields was a lost cause for now.

Distant water couldn’t quench a present thirst. It was too late to plant anything now; he and his sister would starve to death before the crops grew.

After thinking for a while, Lu Qing went into the room where the original owner’s parents had lived. He rummaged around for a bit and finally found an iron needle and some hemp thread in a small box.

The iron needle was much thicker than the embroidery needles of his previous life and looked quite sturdy.

Lu Qing took out the iron needle, heated it in the fire a few times, and then used a pair of wooden chopsticks to bend it into a hook shape. He then took out several strands of hemp thread and carefully twisted them into a slightly thicker, tougher line, then tied the iron hook securely.

Next, he cut a tough bamboo stalk from the grove behind the house and tied the other end of the hemp line to it.

Finally, he tied a piece of dry wood to the hemp line just above the iron hook to act as a float.

A simple fishing rod was thus made by Lu Qing.

(End of this chapter)