After all this commotion, Edward Brooks was wide awake. He got dressed, crawled under the bed to retrieve his shoes, and went to the playground to exercise. After working up a sweat, David Clark strolled leisurely from the side of the teaching building with his hands behind his back. Seeing Edward Brooks running again today, he smiled and nodded. It seemed that what he said yesterday had worked—young people who can persevere are truly promising.

In the morning, Edward Brooks had a full schedule of four classes. Normally, standing all morning would leave his back and legs aching, but today Edward Brooks noticed that he didn’t feel that way at all. Maybe it was because he had kept up his running these past two days; even now, he felt as energetic as he had in the morning, full of vigor, as if he could go through another four classes without getting tired.

After school in the afternoon, Edward Brooks did the same as yesterday: he first went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy four bottles of liquor, two jin of pig head meat, one jin of flatbread, and one jin of marinated dried tofu, then strolled slowly toward the Sanqing Taoist Temple. Before he even reached the same side room as yesterday, Edward Brooks heard someone inside. Not only was there the sound of breathing, but also the sizzling sound of drinking. One person immediately flashed through his mind, and he hurried his steps—sure enough, it was Unknown Elder.

Today, Unknown Elder truly looked radiant, and the table was not empty either. There was a plate of apples, a plate of flatbread, and a plate of peanuts. Most surprising of all, there was also a pot of liquor. The old Taoist was sitting there, pouring and drinking by himself, enjoying his little drink in leisure.

“Hey, not bad! Life has clearly improved,” Edward Brooks said with a cheerful smile as he put the things on the table.

“Of course! Don’t you know what day it is today?” Unknown Elder said proudly, grabbing the liquor pot and taking a swig.

“Today’s the twentieth, market day in the township. No wonder,” Edward Brooks immediately understood. Today was Unknown Elder’s “harvest day.” The Sanqing Taoist Temple only saw some visitors on market days that fell on the tenth, the first, and the fifteenth of each month, and on those days, Unknown Elder never had to worry about food and drink.

“Little brother, hurry and give me a bottle of your baigan. This homemade rice wine from the countryside is just too bland and tasteless,” Unknown Elder ignored Edward Brooks, his old eyes already fixed on the baigan in Edward Brooks’s hand.

“Here you go, as usual—two bottles!” Edward Brooks didn’t cut back on Unknown Elder’s share just because he had a windfall today, and pushed two bottles of baigan in front of him.

“Little brother, this rice wine is homemade by the villagers. Give it a try,” Unknown Elder generously pushed the nearly empty pot of rice wine toward Edward Brooks.

“You keep it for yourself. I’m used to baigan—if I drink rice wine now, it’s just like drinking water,” Edward Brooks shook his head. Now he could drink two jin of baigan without any problem; if it were rice wine, he could easily drink eight or ten jin—it really was like drinking water.

Chapter 6: The Divine Ear of the Qing Dynasty (Part 1)

For half a month straight, every afternoon Edward Brooks would bring four bottles of baigan to the Sanqing Taoist Temple to drink with Unknown Elder. Sometimes, if it was Sunday, he would spend the whole day at the temple, drinking and chatting idly with Unknown Elder. The only change in Edward Brooks over these two weeks was that he now had another wad of cotton in his ears. He didn’t know when it started, but he found that he couldn’t fall asleep at night—the outside world was just too noisy, which was the main reason. Even after drinking two jin of baigan, it didn’t help. In the end, he had no choice but to add another layer of cotton in each ear for “double soundproofing,” just to barely get some sleep at night. Even so, his hearing was still much sharper than that of ordinary people.

For half a month, Edward Brooks came every day, which made Unknown Elder’s table manners much more refined. Whether drinking or eating, he was no longer as anxious as before, as if afraid someone would snatch his food away. But no matter what, he still didn’t like using a cup for drinking, and chopsticks were still unnecessary when he ate.

“I’ve had a question bottled up for half a month—can I ask you? Of course, if it’s inconvenient for you to answer, just pretend I never said anything,” Unknown Elder suddenly said after taking a sip of wine.

“Go ahead,” Edward Brooks replied noncommittally. Never give a flat refusal—leaving room for maneuver is something he learned from Unknown Elder. A man without trust cannot stand, so one must be especially careful when making promises to others. Otherwise, you might end up doing thankless tasks. Sometimes, even if you want to help, you might not succeed, and in the end, not only will others not appreciate it, they might even hold a grudge. Who told you to promise you could do it in the first place?

“What’s with the cotton in your ears?” Unknown Elder might look old and frail, but his gaze was sharp. He had noticed right away that Edward Brooks had stuffed something in his ears.

“When did you notice?” Edward Brooks hadn’t expected Unknown Elder’s eyes to be so sharp. In the past half month, neither teachers nor students at school had discovered his little secret.

“Half a month ago,” Unknown Elder said blandly. Half a month ago, he and Edward Brooks were just drinking buddies. Although he was curious about the cotton in his ears, he had held back from asking. Now, Unknown Elder and Edward Brooks could be considered friends despite the age gap. It was only natural to care about a friend and probe a little into their privacy.