Chapter 3: A Gloomy Future

  Due to his weak body, Wang Kuang was not strong enough to go out and move around. Even walking in a circle on the empty ground outside the Taoist temple would make him pale and sweaty. So for the next few days, Erzi went out to beg for food first, then ran to the wild fields outside the city to dig up wild vegetables. Wang Kuang also taught Erzi how to dig dandelions, so now they had two kinds of wild vegetables in their diet. As for other edible wild vegetables, since there were none on the grassland in front of the Taoist temple, Wang Kuang did not dare let Erzi go digging randomly.

  Actually, these two wild vegetables have been widely eaten for a long time. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were records of these two vegetables, but they weren't called "car front grass" and "dandelion". I forgot what they were specifically called, anyway, it was a more awkward name. As a five-year-old child, when food was still available at home, adults didn't have the leisure to teach him how to identify wild vegetables. Now that my second son is following me around, whatever I say something is, that's what it is.

  During that time, the barbarian Hu Ren suddenly heard that Wang Kuang had been unconscious for several days and woke up. He felt very surprised, thinking that a small beggar who had fainted for several days without money to see a doctor, not even a street doctor, let alone take medicine; Moreover, he was taken care of by a five or six-year-old little beggar, and he actually woke up, which is a miracle. Thinking in his heart, could this be a young nobleman blessed by heaven? With a mix of reverence and expectation that the young nobleman would prosper and help him in the future, every day he left a bowl of mutton soup with a few pieces of sheep oil that customers didn't like to eat, along with a piece of barbarian bread, for Erzi to bring to Wang Kuang.

  After being taken care of for a few days, Wang Kuang's body gradually recovered. Originally, the original dog was because his loved ones suddenly encountered changes and had little food and sleep, so his body collapsed. Now this body is controlled by Wang Kuang, except that he was suddenly brought over to what is now uncertain whether it is the Tang Dynasty or not, Wang Kuang has not encountered any major events; plus generally speaking, people who like good food are usually very good at selectively forgetting unpleasant past experiences, and when they relax, their body can quickly "plump up".

  For the past two days, Wang Kuang had been racking his brains over a problem - how to survive in this still unknown dynasty and live a good life. Becoming an official was out of the question; he had only heard of the names of the Four Books and Five Classics, and hadn't even read one book. As for classical Chinese, he could only understand a bit of its surface meaning, and that was thanks to his high school teacher who loved classical Chinese. At that time, Wang Kuang's class was considered hopeless by all the teachers in the school; if any student from this class managed to get into college, it would be a miracle. So the teacher didn't take their college entrance exams seriously, and since he was about to retire, he spent every class teaching classical Chinese. Wang Kuang wasn't interested, so he secretly memorized modern Chinese texts in class. One time, when he got to the text "Variations on Hamburg Port", for some reason, he loudly recited it out loud, and even misread it as "Variations on Hamburg Buns". This enraged the teacher, who immediately threw half a box of chalk and the blackboard eraser at Wang Kuang: "Don't think that just because you're about to graduate, I won't be able to deal with you! If you do this again, I'll make sure your graduation results are not passing!!" And so, Wang Kuang had no choice but to obediently listen to several months of classical Chinese lessons. It was only through these few months of "hard work" that he transformed from a complete "classical Chinese illiterate" into a "half-classical Chinese illiterate".

  Wang Kuang suddenly felt a little nostalgic for the old man: "Old man, if you have a spirit, use the Xianggu method to pour all your classical Chinese knowledge into me!"

  As for poetry, Wang Kuang can recite only a handful of poems, such as "Bedside Moonlight" and "Red Beans Grow in the South". These are the kind of poems that anyone who has read books can recite offhand. It's safe to say that most poems know Wang Kuang, but Wang Kuang doesn't know them. The reason is that many ancient poems, Wang Kuang needs to see on paper before recognizing, "Oh, I've memorized this one." Can't understand why so many people who traveled back in time had such good memory, they could recite poems from years or even decades ago without a single mistake, and knew who wrote them, no matter how obscure the poem was. Why don't I have such skills?

  As for the formula of glass cement and so on, Wang Kuang was depressed. Who would have nothing to do but remember these? Want glass? Go buy it! Want cement? Go buy it! Want soap? Also go buy it? What? You want a formula? Go check online... Moreover, Wang Kuang was the kind of person who excelled in middle school chemistry, and never did his homework on time. He would always rush to finish it just before class, but almost every chemistry test he took was perfect, so his teacher turned a blind eye to his lack of effort. "Even someone like me can't remember formulas, fellow seniors who have crossed over, how do you remember them?"

  After some thought, Wang felt that his future was bleak: no backing, no status, and even the lowest beggar identity; no knowledge (his master's degree in fluid mechanics was useless); no money...

  These days, Erzi is very happy to see that Gouzi's body is gradually recovering. He no longer sits on the steps in front of the house, staring blankly at the sky like he used to before fainting. There is often a smile on his face. Although Erzi doesn't understand how Gouzi has changed so much, it feels like he's become a stranger. But Erzi understands one thing: Gouzi is better now, and in the future, he won't have to be alone and worried all the time.

  On this day, Erzi again brought back mutton soup from the Huren Yaji, just like he did a few days ago. He was delighted to prepare "Mutton Soup Jade" for Gouziji to eat. Gouziji called it "Wild Vegetable Soaked in Mutton Broth". Although Erzi didn't know why it was called "Jade", or what "Jade" even was, he just thought the name sounded nice, just like the delicious soup itself. He also had no idea how Gouziji managed to make it so tasty. In the past, during New Year's celebrations at home, they would have mutton too, but his mother's cooking wasn't as good as Gouziji's, and he hadn't seen Gouziji use any special seasonings, just simple oil and salt. "Gouziji really knows a lot", Erzi thought to himself: "Days like these, even the gods in heaven probably haven't experienced them."

  He turned a corner and walked onto the small path in the thick weeds in front of the Taoist temple, but suddenly saw Dogzi Ge sitting on the steps again, staring at the sky with his head up, Erzi's heart was inexplicably flustered, and he hurriedly quickened his pace, not even caring if the sheep soup would spill over. He hastily arrived in front of the temple, put down the soup, sat down beside Wang Kuang, looked at Wang Kuang, Erzi was a bit afraid, and didn't dare to speak.

  "Alas!" Wang Kuang let out a soft sigh, never mind, he thought to himself, first find out what dynasty it is now and then talk about it later, one step at a time. Turning his head around, he saw Erzi staring at him with tears in her eyes, her young face filled with fear.

  "Second son, what's wrong? Have you been bullied?" Wang Kuang asked, stretching out his hand to rub Erzi's head.

  "Dogzi ge, ni shi bu shi you..." translates to "Doggie brother, are you again...".

  "Oh." Wang Kuang suddenly understood that Erzi was worried about him: "Nothing, I'm thinking of how we can get more food in the future."

  "Brother Dogzi, aren't we living a great life now? I think this is the life of an immortal, every day there's such delicious soup to drink." Erzi was very satisfied.

  "What's the big deal? Besides, we can't always go to the butcher and ask for mutton soup, right? And besides, eating the same thing every day will get boring after a while. Don't you want to try something different? Or at least have a different dish each meal?"

  "Wow, there are so many things to eat in the world? Every meal is different?" Erzi's eyes were instantly filled with little stars: "I'm afraid even Lao Da Ye from our village hasn't eaten this much before."

  "Let's go, let's go in. Tomorrow we'll take a look around the streets." Wang Juan picked up the mutton soup from the steps and pulled Erzi to enter the Wuzang Temple for worship.