Chapter 11: Clever Heads Grow Hair

Ding Ling picked out a large vat and a small basin.

She planned to set the small basin on the windowsill, while the large vat would go on the balcony.

Chen Dahai assumed Ding Ling was homesick. “Having a hobby like planting things is good. If you need to collect seeds or soil in the future, go straight to Teacher Miao. He’s your instructor for spiritual herbology.”

“Okay!” Ding Ling gave a firm nod.

Chen Dahai brought Ding Ling to the girls’ dormitory so Auntie Liu, the dorm manager, could get a look at her face. “This is Ding Ling.”

Auntie Liu had already received word that an injured student was arriving. Smiling, she nodded. “Ding Ling, right? My surname is Liu. If you ever need anything… wait, what are you doing with such a huge vat?”

Pickling cabbage? Summer break had only just ended; it was far too early to start pickling cabbage for the winter.

“No, it’s for her to plant a few things.”

The notice Auntie Liu had received stated that the student had suffered a closed brain injury. Auntie Liu’s understanding was about the same as everyone else’s: Ding Ling had become a bit simple.

When someone wasn’t right in the head, nothing they did was surprising.

A quiet simpleton was far better than a violent one. Seeing that Ding Ling, though looking dusty and grey, was at least clean, didn’t drool, and didn’t giggle foolishly, taking care of her wouldn’t be too hard of a chore.

Chen Dahai did not enter the girls’ dormitory, leaving Auntie Liu to take Ding Ling upstairs.

“This entire building is for girls. You’ll be staying in a two-person room with a private bathroom. Though everyone is moving next semester anyway, and the new dorm building will have private bathrooms in every room.”

The Ye family had donated another large sum of money, and construction on the new dorm building had been rushed through over the summer break. Next semester, all the students would move into the new building.

“The bed by the window is yours; I’ve already made it for you. This other one belongs to your roommate.” There were only two girls in Class F. Officially, it was for ease of class management, but in truth, it was arranged to look after Ding Ling.

In her current state, having to shower and wash up alongside other girls might be inconvenient for her.

In truth, Ding Ling didn’t mind either way, but having fewer people around made cultivation easier. Besides… Yao Beibei was someone with a genuinely pure heart.

Simply put, she was easy to fool.

Auntie Liu offered to help carry the vat out to the balcony, but Ding Ling declined.

Rubbing her hands together, Auntie Liu asked, “What do you plan to plant? Pea shoots or chives?”

…

She was planting herself.

Seeing Ding Ling remain silent, Auntie Liu assumed the child’s foolish spell was acting up again. She smiled and said, “Get some rest. There are still two days before school starts, so during these two days, you… have fun!”

With that, Auntie Liu glanced at the large vat.

Once Auntie Liu left, Ding Ling locked the door.

Taking off her shoes and rolling up her pant legs, she stepped both feet into the vat.

The soil first covered the tops of her feet, then rose to her calves, as a steady stream of spiritual energy radiated from the earth. Ding Ling stood in the vat just like that, continuously absorbing spiritual energy and nutrients like a plant.

Her spiritual root had been blasted charred and withered, with only a faint trace of green remaining at its very base.

The food she ate each day had to be converted into spiritual energy through her taicang before being sent to nourish her spiritual manor, which added an extra step no matter how one looked at it.

Now that spiritual energy entered her spiritual manor directly, the moment she stepped in, it felt as though she had become a seedling soaking in spring rain.

Even the small flame in her chest danced gently, as if thoroughly content.

Ding Ling stood in the soil for a shichen^[1], absorbing her fill of spiritual energy while basking under the moonlight.

Only when spiritual energy overflowed from her spiritual manor and coursed through her limbs and bones did she finally pull her feet out.

This physical body was still weak; it could no longer absorb any more spiritual energy today.

Sated at last, Ding Ling flopped lazily onto the bed.

Before pulling up the blanket, she glanced at the ball of grass planted in the small basin. She still had two clumps left, and had taken a risk planting one of them, unsure if it would sprout.

If the spiritual plant could sprout, then with an ample supply of spiritual soil and spiritual plants in the future, she would never have to worry about lacking spiritual energy again.

Before dawn the next day, Ding Ling stood in the soil for another half shichen. Only then did she shower, change her clothes, and follow the directions on the map to head to the cafeteria for breakfast.

School wouldn’t officially start until tomorrow, making today the final day of the break.

Nurse Xiao Xu was already having porridge. The moment she saw Ding Ling, she smiled. It had only been one night, yet how had Ding Ling’s complexion improved so much?

Sure enough, coming into contact with things from her hometown had put her in a great mood.

Ding Ling went back to Master Wang at Window One.

Spotting her, Master Wang chuckled and served her two steamer baskets of xiaolongbao. “These are a rare treat, only made when there aren’t many people around. When the crowds come, we can’t wrap this many.”

In addition to the small buns, there were fried flatbreads and deep-fried dough sticks, along with two large bowls of soy milk alone.

“Red date flavor, to replenish your blood.” Master Wang was convinced that suffering such a severe injury meant she must have lost a lot of blood. “My daughter loves this.”

Ding Ling carried the tray with one hand as Nurse Xiao Xu waved to her. “Over here!”

Ding Ling sat down and ate seven or eight buns.

Nurse Xiao Xu asked her, “Your complexion looks so much better. How did you sleep last night?”

“Extremely well.” It was the most satisfying sleep she had had since arriving in this world.

Nurse Xiao Xu smiled and lowered her head, daintily taking a sip of porridge. Suddenly, she covered her mouth and looked up to stare at Ding Ling’s face, nearly spitting out her porridge.

“You! You’ve grown eyebrows!” She hadn’t looked closely earlier, but Ding Ling’s skin was slightly fairer, and the greyish hue had faded even more!

Ding Ling raised her eyebrows. Heh, this time she really did have eyebrows.

Nurse Xiao Xu took out a small round pocket mirror and handed it to her. Sure enough, a faint layer of eyebrows had sprouted above her eyes. Because they were soft and downy, they were hard to make out without looking closely.

Ding Ling furrowed her brows slightly. Careless.

The spiritual energy in that soil yesterday had been too abundant. She hadn’t channeled all of it into her spiritual manor, and her charred, withered spiritual root couldn’t drink that much “water” at once.

The surplus had been siphoned off by her skin and hair. What an absolute waste!

“You’ve grown eyebrows, so why are you still unhappy?” Nurse Xiao Xu wanted to return to school to pursue further studies, and Ding Ling was an excellent case under her care.

At first, she had merely been doing her basic duties, but over time, she had begun writing down her nursing reflections.

Cultivation medicine also included psychotherapy as a branch, which Nurse Xiao Xu found quite interesting. Seeing that merely planting things had brought new progress to Ding Ling’s treatment, she immediately reported it to Professor Song.

She even suggested letting Ding Ling continue to be involved in planting spiritual plants.

Professor Song agreed that whenever Ding Ling had free time, she could go to Greenhouse No. 1.

For the rest of the day, Ding Ling buried herself in Herb Greenhouse No. 1.

There, she met the spiritual herbology instructor, Teacher Miao, ahead of time.

Teacher Miao was tall and slender, dressed in work clothes. He had a fair, clean complexion and wore gold-rimmed glasses; if not for the small trowel in his hand, he wouldn’t have looked like a spiritual herbology teacher at all.

The teachers at the school all knew about Ding Ling’s situation. Teacher Miao said amiably, “If I’m not in my office, I’m usually here in Herb Greenhouse No. 1. If there’s anything you don’t understand or don’t know how to do, feel free to ask me.”

“By the way, you’re from Nanzhou. I’ve heard that Nanzhou has many unrecorded spiritual plants.”

Ding Ling didn’t know whether Nanzhou did, but as far as she knew, there were many that had never been recorded in this world.

“Yes. If there’s anything you don’t understand or don’t know how to do, you can ask me, too.”

Teacher Miao was a young teacher and was momentarily taken aback by Ding Ling’s response, but he smiled good-naturedly. “Alright, we can learn from each other then.”

Seeing Ding Ling take off her shoes and step into the soil to work, he had intended to tell her to put on shoe covers.

Nurse Xiao Xu quickly stopped him. “Teacher Miao, just let her do things whichever way she’s most used to.” She had helped Ding Ling pack her things before; Ding Ling only had that one pair of shoes, so she probably didn’t want to get them dirty.

Throughout the entire day, even her meals were brought over from the cafeteria by Nurse Xiao Xu in takeout boxes.

Since Ding Ling didn’t leave, Teacher Miao didn’t dare leave first either. Greenhouse No. 1 held spiritual plants he had meticulously cared for, and he worried she might accidentally damage them.

When Nurse Xiao Xu walked over from the cafeteria carrying two full lunchboxes, Teacher Miao waved his hands repeatedly. “Nurse Xu, that’s too much, too much. I can’t eat that much.”

Nurse Xiao Xu chuckled. “These aren’t for you! This small portion is yours. Both of these boxes are hers.”

“Master Wang’s specialty sweet and sour pork! Come and get it!”

Ding Ling hadn’t spoken another word all day. She needed to touch the spiritual soil, and since she couldn’t just stand idly in the dirt, she had to work.

In just half a day, she cleared a plot of ground, planted three different types of spiritual plants, and watered them.

Hearing Nurse Xiao Xu call her, she snapped back to her senses, trotted across the spiritual soil over to Nurse Xiao Xu, opened a lunchbox, and started eating.

By nightfall, Nurse Xiao Xu was examining the top of Ding Ling’s head with a magnifying glass. “It’s growing, it’s growing! Really! There’s hair!” It was sprouting up like tiny seedlings.

Ding Ling immediately probed her spiritual manor. Just moments ago, that single inch of her spiritual root that still held a trace of green had sprouted a layer of fuzzy white down.