Watson stretched out his hand to press the bowl, looked at him and nodded, saying, "Go, why not? When my hand stops hurting, I will go catch fish in the creek with my eldest brother and eldest sister."
Huang Yuanfang looked at him and smiled: "Wait until your hands are better before you go, otherwise you won't even have the strength to catch fish."
Ms. Liu served the three children with food and said with a smile: "You have no words to eat, and you have no words to sleep with. If your father is in the room, he will curse again. Let's chat after eating!"
When Watson heard this, he stuck out his tongue and made a face, then held the bowl and said nothing.
Huang Yushu was eating at home and no one was allowed to speak, not even the Liu family, who said this was the Huang family's rule.
You are not allowed to leave the table while eating, you are not allowed to drop your chopsticks on the floor, and you are not allowed to speak or make any noise while eating. This is Huang Yushu's "eating without words" and "sleeping without words".
Huang Yuanfang looked at Watson's honest appearance, lowered her head, and looked carefully into her bowl.
Only Yi Sheng didn't need to be taught, because he was the most obedient of the children in the family.
Sister Hong glanced at Mrs. Liu, and she was speechless. She thought that the rules of this family were really strange, but even if she was not happy, she had to abide by them.
...
Watson did not go upstairs. It was hot, so he slept on the bamboo bed in the main room at noon.
Every household in the small town has several bamboo beds to cope with the scorching heat of the dog days. When night comes, a bamboo bed and a cattail leaf fan can cope with the scorching heat of the summer.
Mrs. Liu wanted to take care of her children and went back to the house to rest after dinner. Sister Hong followed her back to the house to chat. Huang Yuanfang and Huang Yisheng both went into the house to sleep, leaving the entire hall to Watson.
I worked hard for a long time in the blacksmith's backyard in the morning. I was so tired that I fell asleep soon.
Not long after midnight, Huang Yushu came back from outside. Uncle Liu had already cooked a pot of herbal tea and was waiting for him to return. The two of them stayed at the counter and chatted.
But before the two of them had chatted for a quarter of an hour, Watson's snoring and teeth grinding could be heard from behind the store.
Uncle Liu looked at Huang Yushu and said with a smile: "This little guy has been busy across the street for a long time in the morning. He is probably too tired and just fell asleep now."
Huang Yushu laughed when he heard this, looked at him and said, "He went to the other side to help others blacksmith? Is it so hard?"
"How could he have the strength to help others with blacksmithing? He went to the backyard of the blacksmith's house to learn archery. After practicing all morning, he came back complaining that his hand hurts. Sister Hong said to give him a hot water compress in the afternoon to try!"
After speaking, Uncle Liu glanced behind the room and said with a smile.
Huang Yushu thought for a while, looked at the teacup in his hand and said, "That's okay. Let him suffer some hardships, just like sharpening his muscles and bones, and let him learn some knowledge from the blacksmith."
Uncle Liu looked at him and smiled and said: "Shopkeeper, you may not have noticed that the children on this street went to play at the blacksmith's door, and he forced him to drive him away countless times, leaving only Watson who did not drive away..."
Huang Yushu was stunned, pointed to the blacksmith shop in front of him and said with a smile: "Is it because we have ordered a lot of goods from him?"
Uncle Liu shook his head and replied softly: "Probably not. He probably likes Watson, otherwise there would be no need to teach him archery! I heard from Watson that the blacksmith is an excellent archer."
Huang Yushu was stunned after hearing this, and stared blankly at the young blacksmith opposite who was sweating profusely, and said quietly: "I can't tell, but this blacksmith turns out to be a powerful character!"
"As a craftsman, if you don't have any skills, who would dare to venture out into the world?" Uncle Liu picked up the teapot and poured some herbal tea for Huang Yushu.
"Go over tomorrow when there are fewer people around, and give him a pound of spring tea before tomorrow this year. Don't let Watson see it, just say it's a little thought from me."
Huang Yushu sighed softly. The two families had financial contacts, so it was definitely not appropriate to give money, so he had to give some specialties. At least the blacksmiths couldn't live without a large vat of tea.
Uncle Liu smiled and said, "I want this!"
The two chatted for half an hour amid Watson's snoring and teeth grinding.
When Watson woke up from his dream, he realized that the eldest sister had poured a few drops of cold water on his face. He frowned, looked at Huang Yuanfang and said, "Sister, the sun hasn't set yet?"
"Then do you want to get up and study? Or do you want dad to treat you with a bamboo board?" Huang Yuanfang looked at him and smiled.
"Whoa whoa whoa!"
Just as he was talking, Huang Laosan's cry came from Liu's house. Watson looked at her and smiled: "My brother is hungry, should we go see him first?"
Huang Yuanfang reached out and picked up his ears and said with a smile: "First memorize today's text and then talk!"
...
After getting up in the morning, Watson did not see his eldest sister and brother. He only saw a bowl of white porridge and two eggs on the table. Mrs. Liu felt sorry for her son and asked Sister Hong to cook two more eggs for him.
After my sister applied hot water to Watson's arm last night, he felt better when he got up this morning. He thought he would be able to cope with it and continue practicing archery today.
Strive to move forward, even if you can make an inch of progress, it is worth it in Watson's opinion.
After breakfast today, Watson did not go to the blacksmith shop opposite immediately. Instead, he slowly wandered to the grain drying field on the hillside, where he played with Ergou and Xiaolian for a while. He made an appointment with his brother and sister to go to the small shop. It was a big deal to catch fish in the stream, so he turned around and ran down the mountain.
He needs to practice his physical strength before practicing archery, which is also what the blacksmith knows when training him.
Watson couldn't run very fast along the way, so he had to save his energy for a while to practice archery.
When he ran to his house, the blacksmith was already open for business. I slipped into the main room and drank a bowl of herbal tea before walking to the opposite side.
"Does your hand hurt today? Do you want me to apply some medicine for you?" Tiejiang Hu looked at Watson and asked.
Watson smiled and shook his head, and replied softly: "Sister Hong helped me apply hot water on it last night. It seems to be better. I'll try again. If it still hurts tomorrow, I'll ask the master for help."
"Since you are not in pain, go in and continue practicing. Remember the key points I taught you! Your waist must be straight, do you hear me?" Hu Tiejiang looked at Watson and said seriously.
"I know!" Before he could finish his words, the person had disappeared.
Looking at the small wooden board on the courtyard wall, Tiansheng stepped back a few feet and stopped when he felt that he was almost nine feet away.
Draw the bow, nock the arrow, aim, loosen the string...
The sound of the string and the arrow were exactly the distance he wanted. Although the shot missed and missed the target, the arrow had already hit the wall and was very close to the small wooden board.
This is a stupid idea that Watson came up with while lying in bed last night. He would start practicing from a distance of nine feet, and then go back to ten feet when he is almost there, and then go back...
Taking another two steps back, Watson shot another arrow, and another bamboo arrow hit the edge of the small wooden board.
Watson liked it in his heart and took two steps back. Shoot again, and the arrow hits the length of the wall again.
Directly approaching yesterday's position, still one or two feet away from the ten feet away, the arrow Tiantian shot no longer hit the wall, but the arrow he shot had already fallen on the ground of the courtyard wall.
"Almost!" Watson murmured.
There is a distance of nearly ten feet from where he stands. With his current strength, it is not enough to complete the task of ten feet, so let's start from a place that is a little farther away than nine feet!
Hu Tiejiang taught him that there is a secret to archery, that is, power can only grow slowly through continuous condensation. It is not possible to reach that level in a day or two.
Because he was too small to complete the task of being ten feet tall, he had to stand closer to practice his archery accuracy first!
...
After practicing for who knows how many days, Watson can now run to the grain drying field in one breath, run home from above, rest in the house for a while, and then go to the blacksmith shop opposite to practice archery.
Even though Sister Hong helped him apply hot water several times, the effect was still not satisfactory. Later, the blacksmith applied herbal medicine on him several times, which relieved him a lot.
"Buzz!"
The bamboo arrow hit the wooden board on the courtyard wall at a strange speed, although it had not yet hit the red heart.
It's hard to imagine that the arrow he shot didn't follow a straight line, but an arc that people can't figure out. As long as the arrow is fast enough and powerful enough, no beast can escape it.
There is a skill called practice makes perfect. This is what Huang Yushu told him when he taught him how to learn a slingshot.
After Watson shot an unknown number of bamboo arrows, he finally hit the target with one arrow. Although he was still far away from hitting the red heart with one arrow, he believed that he would be able to hit the turtle dove in the snow in winter.
Not to mention that... Watson smiled proudly.
Reading, archery, nothing is difficult for me.
At noon that day, Watson, who was less than six years old, was in the backyard of the blacksmith shop. He shot an arrow from ten feet to a small wooden board on the courtyard wall.
After returning to the house and washing his face, seeing that his eldest sister was not there, Watson came to sit behind the counter, looked at the green patch of mountains in the distance, and made a slingshot gesture.
I can!
...
"Buzz!" The sound of an arrow startled the birds flying by the stream.
A gust of wind came, the shadows of the trees were dancing, and there was endless laughter in the creek.
"I said, Watson, your skills are not good enough. The arrows haven't even reached the birds on the tree. They probably scared you to death!"
Ergou, who was standing in the stream, looked at him and laughed.
"Brother Watson, don't pay attention to him. Just practice a few more times." Xiaolian stood on the shore and watched Watson waving his little hands to cheer.
The bamboo arrow held in Watson's hand crossed the water, and a drop of water fell down. It fell on the stream and broke into countless small droplets.
Watson saw clearly, and saw every movement of the bird, the changes when it fell and when it flew out, as if everything around it was slowing down.
But what he saw in front of him was powerless, so what if he just saw it with his eyes? In the end, his strength was not enough, and the bamboo arrow he shot flew in front of the bird and lost its power.
Watson closed his eyes and felt his breathing carefully, not just his own breathing, but as if he could feel the breathing of everything around him.
After a while, he placed the wooden bow and bamboo arrows on the rocks on the shore. Since he was not strong enough, he would catch fish with Ergou today and do what he wanted to do.
As for archery, just wait until you get stronger.
Xiao Lian, who had two braids, reached out to pick up the bow and arrow and looked at it again and again. After a long time, she looked at Watson and asked: "Brother Watson, when you learn how to do it, can you teach Xiao Lian too?"
Watson looked at her and smiled: "Don't worry, I will teach you when I can shoot the bird!"
When Xiaolian heard this, she took her bow and arrow and hid under the shade of a tree by the stream. She looked at him and replied, "Then I'll wait for you! You can't lie to Xiaolian?"
Watson looked at her and waved his hand and smiled: "No! It's not that difficult."
Ergou, who was standing in the water, looked at him and shouted: "Come down quickly, while the light is good, let's net more small fish, and each of us will get half of them later!"
Every time Ergou and Watson came to catch shrimps, each of them would get half the shrimp. Whatever delicious food Hua Zaisheng gets at home, he will leave some for Ergou and Xiaolian.
After taking off his clothes, Watson and Ergou waded into the creek.
I feel like a lot of cool water is coming out of my body. These springs are slowly flowing through my body, and I feel a lightness under my feet.
...
