After walking for about an hour, The Boy arrived at his home. By this time, the two The Girl had almost recovered and could settle accounts with him, but after seeing The Boy's home, they were momentarily at a loss for words.

"This is your home?" Grace Bennett asked.

"Yes, this is our home," The Boy replied.

"……"

The so-called home of The Boy was clearly a dilapidated temple, also on the mountain, with no other households nearby. But at least this way, no one would disturb them, making it a decent place to recuperate—certainly better than the wilderness.

After entering the ruined temple—no, The Boy's home—the two found that it was actually quite clean inside. Although the signs of patching and repairing were obvious, it still seemed habitable.

"Mother, I picked up two wives in the mountains today," The Boy said, leaving the two The Girl speechless. Picked up...

Chapter 4: The Illiterate Bumpkin (Part One)

"……"

"This time, I had a pretty good harvest gathering herbs. I found a stalk of dragon tongue grass. The owner of the pharmacy in the county is buying it. I'll take it to him tomorrow and buy you something nice to eat."

"……"

The two The Girl found it odd that they only heard The Boy speaking, but couldn't hear his mother's voice. When they listened carefully, they couldn't even hear a fourth person's breathing. Could his mother be a master? That seemed a bit far-fetched.

Very soon, they discovered the truth of the matter, because they saw that The Boy was talking to a spirit tablet—a rather crude one—alongside several other spirit tablets.

From the information on these tablets, it turned out that The Boy was an orphan, at least for now, and his mother must have passed away in recent years, as the newness of her tablet was noticeably different from the others.

They then learned a bit about The Boy's background: his father had died in the mountains gathering herbs when The Boy was young, and his mother had passed away a few years ago from overwork and illness.

When he said he was going to buy something for his mother to eat, he must have meant buying offerings...

Originally, The Boy had a house in the village below, but his uncles and aunts took it over and drove him out. Not only did they refuse to raise him, they didn't even give him food, so he had to rely on himself.

Fortunately, he had already learned how to gather herbs and could support himself that way.

Listening to The Boy's story, the two The Girl couldn't help but feel a rare twinge of sympathy. Normally, there were too many such stories, and they thought themselves immune to pity, but perhaps because it was The Boy, they felt it this time.

"You must be hungry. I'll make you some porridge."

After saying this, The Boy went to the kitchen to cook. Although the temple was dilapidated, it was quite spacious, and under The Boy's care, it had everything it needed.

Although The Boy's background was a bit pitiful, he knew how to be self-reliant and create opportunities with his own hands. If the roof leaked, he fixed it himself; if there was no furniture, he made it himself...

Cooking porridge is different from simmering it; as long as it's cooked through, it doesn't take much time. Then The Boy added some vegetables he grew himself. The good thing about the mountains is there's plenty of space to plant vegetables. He also took out some preserved wild boar meat, cut it in, and added some edible herbs and homemade seasonings.

After cooking for a while longer, the aroma of the porridge filled the air—it was ready to serve.

The two The Girl didn't know if it was because they were hungry or if the porridge was just that delicious, but they each ate several big bowls, and the taste of this porridge was deeply imprinted in their memories.

By this time, they could already move around. They ate the porridge themselves, without needing The Boy to serve them. Their internal energy was slowly recovering, and after a few bowls of porridge, their strength returned quickly. They weren't sure if it was the effect of the herbs in the porridge or their own constitutions.

"Little brother, I see your foundation is pretty good. Why can't you cultivate inner strength?" Grace Bennett asked with a smile. They planned to give The Boy some guidance as a small way to repay his life-saving kindness.

When The Boy carried them here earlier, he hadn't even been out of breath after an hour, and his agility on the mountain paths was impressive. From this, it was clear his foundation was quite solid.

Although he might not become a peerless master, becoming a skilled martial artist shouldn't be a problem, and that would change his life.

"I just can't learn those things. I only know some basic moves. Mike Clark taught me many times, but I just can't get it. Everyone says I'm stupid! But it's okay, those basic moves are enough for me. After learning them, my body got much stronger, and climbing mountains became much easier," The Boy replied.

The Boy's wishes seemed simple—he just wanted to live a good life. Although his current life was a bit plain, he could still live well.

Since he couldn't learn those things, there was no need to force it. At least he could pick up some skills, which were much simpler.

"We'll teach you. Do you want to learn?" Grace Bennett asked. This could be considered repaying a favor, and what she intended to teach was certainly not something simple. This was a great opportunity, one that most people could only dream of, though The Boy had no idea.