Old Domain Bizarre

Chapter 45 Growth
Being called out by the teacher and made to stand as punishment, Pan Dongzi gave Zhang Wenda a resentful look before walking to the back of the classroom amidst the snickering gazes of the others.

Seeing the old man on the podium, whose head was several times larger than his own, glaring at him angrily, Zhang Wenda didn't want to provoke him, so he smiled awkwardly, picked up his book, and walked to the back.

Being punished by standing, Zhang Wenda couldn't ask any questions. Fortunately, there were still 10 minutes left before get out of class ended, so he could only wait patiently.

As the bell rang signaling the end of get out of class, the teacher left with her textbooks. Pan Dongzi immediately complained, "It's all your fault! My legs are sore from standing."

Knowing this guy's weakness, Zhang Wenda immediately slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Come on, I'll treat you to something good to eat."

Pan Dongzi, who had just been huddled up like a steamed bun, immediately beamed upon hearing this. "Great! You're treating me to something to eat? Then you're still my good buddy! What do you want to treat me to?"

Soon, outside the school's white walls, in front of a small vendor holding a stainless steel pot filled with snacks, he inserted two sticks into the crystal-clear maltose, stirred it, and finally turned it into a small candy ball, which was then stuffed into Pan Dongzi's mouth.

The mild and lingering maltose melts in your mouth like silk, instantly filling it with the warm, sweet aroma of grains.

"Mmm! So sweet! So delicious!" His eyes lit up and he couldn't help but exclaim.

Zhang Wenda, standing to the side, watched the other person's exaggerated performance with some embarrassment.

"Sweet, isn't it? Now can you tell me where Teacher Ouyang lives?" Zhang Wenda continued the topic that hadn't been finished during the break.

Pan Dongzi pointed to the small clam soup in a transparent disposable cup on the bicycle next to her, "I'm making you stand as punishment for this. I still want to eat this. I'll tell you after I finish eating it."

When Zhang Wenda saw that a serving only cost 3 cents, he immediately said generously, "Eat up, it's on me."

When Zhang Wenda pulled out a whole dollar bill from his pocket, it immediately drew envious glances from the other students nearby.

Zhang Wenda bought two cups of clam soup, one for Fatty and one for himself. He was hungry too, perhaps because he was growing, he was getting hungry very quickly now.

The clam shell soup uses clam shells that are only the size of a little fingernail, and the meat is also very small, but the meat is very tender and the soup is especially delicious, far better than any soup Zhang Wenda had in those high-end restaurants.

"This...this tastes good." Zhang Wenda looked at the clam shell in his hand with some surprise.

"Right? Don't worry, everything I pick is delicious. I can be sloppy with everything else, but I absolutely cannot be sloppy with the food," Pan Dongzi said proudly.

Just as the two were gulping down their soup, Zhang Wenda suddenly noticed a little girl in patched clothes walking slowly beside them, swallowing hard as she secretly watched them.

When Zhang Wenda saw the longing in the other person's eyes and that look, he was suddenly stunned. At that moment, he seemed to see his former self.

He had almost forgotten that there was a time when he, like the other person, would secretly drool while watching others buy food.

His memory was too blurry; he only remembered that he was very, very young at the time, so young that he had almost forgotten what he longed for back then.

"Do you... want some?" Zhang Wenda handed over the soup in his hand, and the other person was clearly startled.

When he saw that Zhang Wenda was telling the truth and showed no sign of disgust, he happily accepted it. He sucked on the clam shell as he walked home.

Seeing how happy the other person was, Zhang Wenda suddenly smiled softly. He didn't know what he was smiling about, but he suddenly felt very happy, as if he had drunk liquid happiness.

"Mouse, why are you giving it to her? Aren't you going to eat it? If you're not going to eat it, give it to me," Pan Dongzi complained from the side. The fat man's words pulled Zhang Wenda's thoughts back to the present. He looked at the small vendors along the wall outside the school, each stall displaying various tempting foods in the students' eyes: Dingding cake, fried rice cake, dried plum and vegetable pancakes, sour plum powder, Tang Seng meat (a type of fried dough), and Huahua Dan (a type of herbal drink).

Previously, he considered these things as just roadside snacks, and the unhygienic kind at that.

But at this moment, this thing gradually became clearer in his eyes, becoming more and more tempting and even brighter.

It was as if these things had completely changed their appearance in front of Zhang Wenda at this moment.

"Come on, I'll take you to eat your way through the whole street!" Zhang Wenda grabbed the fat man and headed towards the nearby stalls. These things were very cheap and even unhygienic, but Zhang Wenda had never tasted anything so delicious.

Zhang Wenda tried all sorts of snacks one by one. He had eaten good food before after he started working, but at this moment he realized that those things couldn't compare to these roadside stalls.

When he stuffed a handful of Tang Monk flesh mixed with sour plum powder into his mouth, Zhang Wenda felt incredibly satisfied.

The chubby boy next to him was also thoroughly enjoying his meal. "This is so satisfying! This is so delicious! Mouse, you're like my own brother!"

Zhang Wenda ignored the other person and quietly savored the satisfaction in his heart.

Suddenly he felt the satisfaction in his heart shifting towards his wrist.

He then saw his yellow kernel slowly growing, eventually reaching about one-tenth of its original size.

Zhang Wenda gradually recovered from his satisfaction and looked at the yellow kernels on his arm in surprise. At that moment, he suddenly realized that he seemed to have found a way to increase his strength.

"Is it to satisfy my own desires? Or something else?"

"Mouse, come on, I'll take you to find Teacher Ouyang! You're such a good buddy!" Pan Dongzi, with something stuffed in his mouth, tried to pull Zhang Wenda away, but couldn't.

"You can go back now. I've realized I don't need to look for Teacher Ouyang anymore," Zhang Wenda said, before heading back to the other food stalls and eating heartily once more.

Unexpectedly, he found what he was looking for.

The increase in yellow kernels will definitely be of great use to my strength, and I need to try more things.

He tried everything he hadn't eaten before, and by the end he was almost stuffed.

But this time was different from before. Even though Zhang Wenda was eating food he had never tried before, the yellow kernels did not change at all, as if he were experiencing an illusion.

"What's going on?" Zhang Wenda stared blankly at the yellow kernel. "Does it have to be genuinely satisfied for it to be effective? Why is the growth method of the yellow kernel so strange?"

He experimented with various methods to utilize the yellow seed without any instruction from a teacher.

Zhang Wenda sat on the steps and pondered. "Hmm... so how do I satisfy my inner desires to increase my yellow core?"

(End of this chapter)