3 Different

“God...immortal?”

“Yes.”

“Then you…” Jiang Zhu didn’t say more, but his gaze fixed unmistakably on Shen Qingyue’s right leg—how could you have your leg stuck by a rock?

Shen Qingyue’s smile remained unchanged. “Exactly. A god who descends to the mortal realm to undergo trials. During these trials, I can’t use magic. I have to experience birth, aging, sickness, injury, and even fractures just like ordinary people.”

“...”

“If you save me, good fortune will come your way.”

“...”

Shen Qingyue smiled at him without a hint of guilt.

“...” Jiang Zhu was stunned.

He stared at Shen Qingyue, his expression shifting from disbelief to deep frowning.

An immortal?

This man was nothing like the gods enshrined in the temples.

Besides, immortals could summon wind and rain—who was as weak as him? And even crying...

Yet he was unlike anyone Jiang Zhu had ever met.

If he weren’t so tall, an adult, and a bit thin, he might have resembled one of those white-clad child attendants said to serve the Immortal Granny.

His eyes involuntarily drifted to Shen Qingyue’s backpack, water bottle, and his entire set of gear.

He couldn’t make sense of most of it, but those shoes alone shattered all the knowledge he had about weaving, crafting, and handiwork over his short life of just over ten years.

This person was definitely different.

Jiang Zhu’s face filled with inner conflict.

Could he really have fallen from the heavens?

He looked again at the rock he had chipped away by hand.

His expression grew even more serious; no one could possibly get themselves stuck inside a crevice like that.

Could it be, really...

“So, why did you fall into my home?”

Seeing Jiang Zhu standing there torn between belief and doubt, his expression flickering crazily, finally asking this question, Shen Qingyue nearly laughed out loud.

Ah, children without basic education are so easy to fool.

“Probably because…” Shen Qingyue glanced toward the rolling mountains in the distance and made up a story, “Your local mountain gods and earth spirits said you’re kind-hearted, so they sent me to test if it’s true.”

Jiang Zhu’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Mountain gods?”

“Hm? Yes…”

The once suspicious child now looked shocked, then after a moment, actually... believed it?

Shen Qingyue was surprised too. “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Zhu quickly shook his head, feeling a bit guilty as he looked at him.

He dared not say that he had previously made a wish to the mountain god for a pet—one like the beautiful white dog owned by the wealthy Wang family in town. Unexpectedly, the mountain god had truly manifested, granting him a pet that matched in color, appearance (pretty), and even susceptibility to illness, just like Wang’s dog.

Jiang Zhu took a deep breath. “I’ll carry you to see the doctor!”

“Wait.” Shen Qingyue hesitated slightly.

The doctor was in town, where there were surely many people. Adults wouldn’t be as easily deceived as a child who had never seen the world beyond the mountains.

If he suddenly went to town dressed like this, making up some story about a god descending to the mortal realm would probably not convince anyone.

“Is it far to the town?” Shen Qingyue asked cautiously.

Jiang Zhu shook his head. “If you walk down the mountain, it takes a bit over an hour.”

Shen Qingyue asked carefully, “At the speed you just showed?”

Jiang Zhu looked at Shen Qingyue’s leg. “I’ll carry you down the mountain, then borrow a donkey cart in the village. That way it’ll take only an hour.”

Shen Qingyue: “How long would you take carrying me down?”

Jiang Zhu considered his condition for a moment. “...Half an hour?”

Shen Qingyue: “...”

Half an hour or an hour.

This child looked about a head shorter and thinner than him. Was Shen Qingyue overestimating his own strength or underestimating his own weight?

Moreover, after bouncing on a donkey cart to town, even a god in trial would probably have his leg shattered.

Shen Qingyue pointed to his now more swollen leg and obviously swollen ankle. “It probably can’t make it down the mountain like this. Also, with a broken leg, it’s best not to move it. Is your home far? Maybe I should go there first?”

“My home?” Jiang Zhu’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Yes. Out here in the wild mountains, there’s no good way to stay. If I stay here, I can’t even run if a wild beast appears.”

Jiang Zhu’s lips moved, wanting to say there were no wild beasts in his bamboo forest—at most bamboo partridges, bamboo rats, and snakes—but for some reason he swallowed the words back. Looking at Shen Qingyue’s handsome, radiant face, his cheeks warmed. “I’ll carry you.”

“No need. You help me cut some bamboo, bind my leg to it, and cut a thinner bamboo stick for a crutch.”

Jiang Zhu, half understanding, used a chisel to cut and split bamboo, making bamboo slats. After Shen Qingyue wrapped his foot with bandages, Jiang Zhu tied the bamboo slats onto his leg with rope.

They bound two layers: the first wrapped the still painful calf, the second outside, covering from shoe sole up to thigh, providing extra support to reduce strain on the injured ankle and calf while walking.

“Is this okay?”

“Tighten it a bit more.”

“Hiss…”

This child was genuinely earnest—look how tightly he tied it.

Shen Qingyue gripped a bamboo stick, took a deep breath to distract himself, and glanced at Jiang Zhu’s rope-tying. Despite the pain, he praised, “Your craftsmanship is really good. Now I believe all this bamboo must be from your home.”

Using such simple tools to split bamboo so evenly and neatly, and so quickly—it was clear the child was very familiar with bamboo, likely splitting lots of it in daily work.

But unexpectedly, after this casual praise, the boy’s careful rope-tying became even more stiff, and he accidentally tied a dead knot.

Jiang Zhu: “...”

Shen Qingyue: “...”

Shen Qingyue laughed heartily. “You’re way too sensitive to compliments.”

Jiang Zhu lowered his head, untied the wrong knot, tied it again, and kept his head down without speaking.

Shen Qingyue continued to chuckle quietly.

After a while, leaning on his fresh green bamboo crutch, he painfully limped up the mountain, his right leg feeling incredibly heavy. He thought to himself, everyone else had a light bamboo staff and straw sandals, but why did he feel so weighed down?

Jiang Zhu carried his heavy backpack, appearing all around him, sometimes lending a hand, kicking away stones blocking the path, pressing down tall grass, and when facing steep slopes, setting down the backpack to pull from the front and support from behind.

As the sun passed overhead and began tilting westward, they finally saw Jiang Zhu’s home.

“Here?”

“Yes.”

Both breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously.

Jiang Zhu untied the bamboo gate and helped Shen Qingyue inside.

Shen Qingyue fully demonstrated what it meant to use sheer willpower to walk three more miles after seeing the destination, only to have no strength left upon arrival.

His “jade green staff” clattered to the ground as his whole body collapsed onto Jiang Zhu.

Caught off guard, Jiang Zhu was stunned.

He hurried to pick up the crutch, but Shen Qingyue, drenched in cold sweat and trembling with heavy breath, was sprawled on him. Jiang Zhu had no time for the crutch and quickly supported him forward.

From the gate to the small house, only a few dozen meters, Shen Qingyue was dragged inside, weighed down on Jiang Zhu’s body.

“Thank heavens, finally arrived.”

Shen Qingyue was soaked in sweat, almost collapsing into a bamboo chair.

The pain he could endure on the way was now unbearable. He gave up completely and said, “Just knock me out!”

Jiang Zhu: “...”