Chapter 35 : The Grain
The next morning, Yan woke up with a heavy headache.
Alert : Memory Altered
White letters were already present in front of his eyes.
Yan had barely opened his eyes, before he could read white letters completely, hurried footsteps approached behind him, instinctively, the letters disappeared.
“Bad… bad. This is bad.”
Ren rushed...and halted beside Yan and breathed heavily.
He moved his lips and wanted to speak something..
"No.." Yan said while pointing his finger towards the table where the old ledger keeper sat with the account book open across his lap, turning its pages slowly.
Ran looked over, and nodded his head then slipped something into Yan’s hand.
A folded letter.
Yan opened it slightly.His eyes moved across the page once but expression did not change.
Ren waited beside him, breathing unevenly.
“Don’t worry,” Yan said quietly.Ren blinked.
Yan folded the letter again.
“Let me think of something. Go back to the hall and continue your cultivation.”
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
Ren frowned.
“But… this is serious. Will you be able to—”
“I will try my best.”Yan’s voice remained calm.
“For now, give me some time.”
Ren hesitated. The worry did not leave his face, but he finally nodded.
“Alright…”
He turned and walked toward the training hall.
Yan watched him disappear beyond the storehouse gate.
Only then did he unfold the letter again and read it once more.
The paper remained still in his hand.
After a moment, Yan folded it carefully.
Without hesitation, he placed it into his mouth and swallowed it.
Yan walked toward the sheep pen and stopped there.But he was not looking at the sheep.
Behind him, the old ledger keeper spoke without lifting his head “Boy.”
Yan turned.
“Sweep the courtyard.”
“Yes.”
Yan picked up the broom and began cleaning.
Time passed.
The courtyard remained mostly unchanged.
The broom moved but Yan’s eyes were fixed somewhere far away.
Suddenly, a sharp sting tore at his leg making him glance down.
An ant had bitten his ankle.
His gaze shifted toward the stone edge of the courtyard floor.Several ants struggled around a single grain.
Yan watched.
Three ants clung to the grain. Each pulled in a different direction as the grain trembled between them.
None moved far.
One ant suddenly dragged the grain a short distance away.
But only for a moment.
The other two rushed forward together.
Now two ants pulled in the same direction.
The third resisted briefly.
Then the grain shifted.
Slowly.
Inevitably.
Not toward the strongest ant.
Toward the side with two.
"Thud"
Yan’s broom slipped from his hand.
The grain moved again.
The two ants dragged it steadily toward a narrow crack between the stones as the third ant lost its grip.
Yan watched the grain disappear into the gap.
For a long time he did not move.
Then slowly, A faint understanding appeared in his eyes
Then he bent down and picked up the broom.
The courtyard was still full of dust but something inside his mind had settled.