Chapter X. The Illustrated Book

　　Breakfast was just a bowl of clear porridge and a few pickles. 　　The two of them topped up with a watery fullness, and couldn't wait to continue practicing the Zen Pile, hoping to get started as soon as possible. 　　Only the pain on their shoulders seemed to have exploded by now, raw and incomparable, even lifting their arms was difficult to do, they really couldn't bear it, the two only had to ask Mr. Qian, and were finally permitted to walk out of the Blazing Sun Gang's branch and go to the nearby medical clinic to buy medicine. 　　North Street, as always, is bustling. 　　Muttering streams of people, constantly entering and exiting the stores on both sides, rich sons, rich women, and jianghu warriors, wandering among them. 　　Bai Ziyue and Zhang Guoyi, both dressed in coarse linen, seemed a bit out of place among them. 　　They tried their best to walk on the edge of the road, avoiding other pedestrians. 　　There were naturally medical centers in the meantime, but it was just that for the medical centers that could open on North Street, even the most basic medicine stores were not priced at a level that they could afford. 　　Therefore, it was only after almost going out of the range of North Street that the two of them were able to find a small medical center in a remote alleyway. 　　There were no other patients in the medical center at this time, a middle-aged physician was sitting inside, holding a book and leisurely looking at it, not far away there was also a medicine boy, carefully and earnestly grinding some kind of medicine. 　　"Physician, we ......" 　　Bai Ziyue and Zhang Guoyi stepped in with some apprehension. 　　Money is a person's guts, and with the three coins of silver that his mother had given him in his arms, Bai Ziyue was all a bit apprehensive. 　　"Power transmission injuries right, little boy, those two stickers of black paper cream for them." 　　That physician just swept his eyes over the two and directly made a judgment. 　　The medicine boy quickly put down the grinding stick in his hand and pulled out two black ointments wrapped in paper from a compartment. 　　"How much?" 　　Bai Ziyue asked busily. 　　"Two, thirty Wen. Paste them on for a day and the swelling will go down, and you'll recover in two to three days." 　　The medicine boy said skillfully. 　　"Here's your money." 　　Bai Ziyue sighed in relief, thirty Wen wasn't expensive, it was within his reach. 　　"Take off your clothes, I'll put them on for you." 　　The medicine boy found the money and said kindly. 　　"Thanks!" 　　Bai Ziyue was not polite and simply took off his clothes. 　　Only to see that on Bai Ziyue's skinny body, there were vaguely muscular lines that were slightly taut, and there were six muscles showing on his stomach alone. However, on his even figure, the blue and purple bruises on his shoulders were shocking. 　　Without much ado, the medicine boy ripped open the paper and slapped down the black paper paste with one hand. 　　Bai Ziyue sucked in a mouthful of cool air, and immediately afterward, he felt a steady stream of coolness coming from the ointment, and his arm, which was originally a bit tingly and difficult to move, suddenly became much more relaxed. 　　After a few breaths, he was already able to lift his arm slightly without it being as unbearable as before. 　　"So refreshing!" 　　Zhang Guoyi let out a strange cry and grinned widely. 　　After putting on his clothes, Bai Ziyue hesitated for a moment, walked over to the middle-aged physician, bowed and said, "Master Dafu, I want to be literate, do you think there are any books that can help me recognize words?" 　　"Oh?" 　　That middle-aged physician came a little interested, smiled and said, "Little age, have this kind of motivation is rare. Looking at your appearance, you should be the new apprentices of some place, right? You are also from a poor family, and you really don't have much money to go to a private school. 　　However, recognizing words have to be taught, how to read, how to write, what does it mean, all need someone to give you say. It's hard to acquire knowledge by self-learning." 　　"I don't have enough money for me to hire someone to teach me to recognize words, and besides, I don't have the time to dedicate to learning. That's why I want to rely on myself to learn how to recognize words on my own, so please recommend an enlightening reading book, and if there are words I don't know, I can ask someone else to teach me as well." 　　Bai Ziyue said sincerely. 　　As a matter of fact, with the schooling from his previous life where he had read to university, Bai Ziyue thought to himself that there wouldn't be any obstacles to understanding words and writing. Although the two worlds were different, there was always a place of acquaintance. 　　What he lacked was only the knowledge of the words of this world. 　　He was an extremely intelligent person, and had already learned roughly a dozen or so words by looking at the signboards of the stores around him along the way. 　　Under the touch, he believed that he would be able to master more and more words. 　　"Good, ambitious, three hundred meters to the right after going out, there is an Old Qin bookstore, ask the bookstore owner to take a copy of the Small Explanation of Graphic Writings, learning words according to the diagrams, it's just right for your kind of situation." 　　The middle-aged physician said with a smile. 　　If it was an orthodox child who read private school, naturally the Three Character Classic and the Hundred Surnames would apply as an initiation. 　　But for someone like Bai Ziyue who didn't have a teacher to teach him, the Tuwen Xiaojie's Learning Characters According to Diagrams was of course a bit more appropriate. 　　"Thank you, Master Dafu." 　　Bai Ziyue respectfully thanked him. 　　...... 　　"Ziyue, the money for the ointment, I'll return it to you later when I receive my wages." 　　Walking out of the medical center, Zhang Guoyi whispered. 　　"It's fine." 　　Bai Ziyue waved his hand, even though he didn't have much money on him, he didn't care that much about this small amount of money. 　　"But, are you really going to buy books? It's not like we can read, there's no need, right?" 　　Zhang Guoyi asked with some doubt. 　　"It's very necessary." 　　Bai Ziyue turned his head to look at him and said seriously, "Zhang Guoyi, we're from the same village, so we should take care of each other, but all the same, if you don't work hard yourself, no one can help you. 　　If you want to succeed here, martial arts are important, but literacy is also very important. 　　To use an analogy, if you were lucky enough to obtain a secret martial arts book, but you can't read or write, wouldn't you miss out?" 　　"Seems like it." 　　Zhang Guoyi nodded ignorantly, but still said with some distress, "I know reading is useful ah, when you're literate, you're better at finding a job, but I can't, my family hasn't been literate for eight generations, I can't do it." 　　Bai Ziyue shook his head helplessly and didn't try to persuade anymore. 　　Everyone has everyone's choice, if you don't work hard yourself, it's useless for others to be anxious. 　　Soon, a bookstore appeared in front of their eyes. 　　"Old Qin Book House!" 　　Bai Ziyue looked deeply at the signboard, and comparing it to the physician's words from that, he recognized just four more words. 　　Ten minutes later, Bai Ziyue walked out of the Old Qin Study House with satisfaction. 　　In his hand, he had an additional half-finger thick, illustrated book, which was exactly what the middle-aged physician had referred to as the Illustrated Little Explanation. 　　On the book, a certain picture would often be deliberately drawn, and then a few words would be written next to it for comparison. 　　For example, if a snake was drawn on the book, the one next to it would have the word 'snake' written on it, which could be described as a clear comparison at a glance. 　　"In this way, the speed at which I can read and write will increase drastically. 　　The only thing that's a bit helpless is that the price of this book, is indeed a bit too expensive." 　　On Bai Ziyue's face, a hint of flesh pain appeared. 　　The two pieces of black paper paste had only cost him thirty Wen, but a copy of the Illustrated Little Explanation, which was one hundred and twenty Wen, was indeed described as expensive. 　　It was just that books were traditionally more expensive, and there wasn't much he could do about it.