Chapter 7: Talent

Some individuals are born with abilities that exceed those of ordinary people. Generally speaking, this is called talent, and those prone to exaggeration call them geniuses.

On this day, in the forest along the foothills of the Lüliang Mountains, Li Po encountered someone who seemed born with the instincts of a wild beast.

Li Po leaned against a tree, quietly watching the elusive figure not far away. It was a child. Ever since he left the valley, this child had been trailing him, keeping a distance that was neither too close nor too far. A day and a night had passed, and this tiny shadow was still there.

At this point, Li Po realized that the little pursuer must possess considerable skill in tracking. Therefore, he chose to turn around...

However, to his surprise, the one who had been tracking him was nothing more than an underdeveloped child. Of course, in this day and age, a child who looked to be in their early teens, regardless of gender, was already at an age where marriage could be discussed. Li Po did not have a profound understanding of this; in his eyes, the small figure stumbling through the jungle, exhausted by the mountain chill and the rugged path, was just a child.

After being followed for a while, Li Po understood that while the child lacked any experience in jungle survival, they possessed a talent that made him envious: a keen premonition of danger, or what one might call intuition. This gift ensured that, before any danger arrived, the child could always safely avoid the wild beasts desperate to find food for the coming winter.

Moreover, this child, whom Li Po already viewed as a monstrous prodigy, soon gave him another surprise. Following his tracks, the child actually circled around him and then began to scrutinize the path they had previously traveled with a puzzled expression...

Having confirmed that this child could not have undergone specialized training like himself to achieve such seemingly miraculous feats, Li Po lit a campfire that evening. It was no surprise when the child soon found his way over. The aroma of food and the warmth of the fire were an irresistible temptation for a child who had been living in fear and suffering from hunger and cold. When the child crawled out of the brush and reached the campfire, he finally realized that the place had an owner.

The child naturally lacked the imposing air of the Turkic girl he had encountered earlier; after hesitating for a long time, he gingerly looked at Li Po and sat by the fire, making himself as small as possible. The flames flickered in the silence, accompanied only by the chirping of insects and the rising northern wind.

The two were equally filthy, resembling beggars; both were equally exhausted and weary; and neither was very old. In a sense, they were both children of the mountain forest. They huddled by the campfire, soaking in the warmth and staring at the food over the flames, their throats swallowing hard from time to time.

The firelight shone on their faces and bodies, bringing them warmth, and it seemed as if an invisible connection, perhaps even a tacit understanding, had formed between them. Li Po acted as if he were unaware of the extra person beside him, turning the food from time to time. His hands seemed capable of producing strange things, which he sprinkled over the roasted meat.

This time, the meal was exceptionally lavish. He had brought back several fat fish from a nearby stream. Furthermore, like a hospitable host wanting to treat his guest perfectly, he had caught a rabbit and raided two rodent nests. Under his magical touch, all of these emitted an alluring fragrance. Finally, he judged that the food was cooked enough, though in his eyes, the only drawback was that a campfire could never match the quality of a kitchen stove.

He took a skewer off the rack and handed it to the side. The uninvited guest, having waited impatiently, managed to restrain himself, knelt on the ground, and bowed his head before accepting the food. He began to eat ravenously, and despite his mouth being scorched, he devoured the meat in an instant.

Before long, the two, one large and one small, had finished all the food. Li Po let out a satisfied burp. For the first time in many days, he had eaten a peaceful meal. What reassured him most was that the howling of wolves had finally ceased, which meant he had moved out of the wolves' hunting grounds.

He turned his head to look and couldn't help but smile. The person beside him was lying on his back, having fallen into a deep sleep at some point. They had said nothing, yet it felt as if they had said a great deal. The child clearly had some upbringing, though there were no signs of great wealth or status. What satisfied Li Po most was that the boy did not talk much. Li Po himself was not a man of many words, so he had never liked those who were.

Li Po extinguished the campfire, covered the embers with a layer of soil, grabbed the child, and tossed him onto it. The child had endured much hardship; after a full meal, he was nearly comatose. Even being moved around like this only made him mutter a few times; there was no sign of him waking up.

Trust is a difficult thing to explain in words, yet here in the mountain forest, two strangers had established a preliminary sense of it. Even to Li Po, it didn't feel particularly abrupt.

Li Po sat down against a tree, placed his short blade across his knees, and gradually, his breathing became long and steady as he entered a state of semi-sleep. This was a special skill; with such ability, one could maintain their body temperature in freezing conditions without any external aids for a long time. It was similar to hibernation, yet he remained highly alert.

"Once we cross this ridge, we will be able to see the village."

The two, one large and one small, walked along a mountain path. Since there was a road, they could consider themselves back in civilized territory. Li Po felt he was lucky; he had made it out of the forest before the heavy snow arrived.

The child following him was named Qing, born in the spring, so he was called Qingchun. He was born in a village at the foot of Hutou Mountain. The refugees on the mountain were all former residents of this village. The village was not small, originally consisting of over twenty households and nearly a hundred people. But by the sixth year of the Daye era, only fifty or so remained.

The village had migrated en masse not only because the government was tyrannical and the labor levies were too urgent, but also because two wealthy families in the village had offended the tax collectors. This was not as simple as merely offending people; these tax collectors represented the local clan powers. They wanted to use the threat of forced labor to extract the land deeds for the Hutou Mountain forests from the villagers.

The villagers naturally could not agree. Especially since, at the end of the sixth year of the Daye era, taxes were to be increased. It was said that the labor levies and land taxes for the following year would all be doubled. The villagers naturally did not know that this was because the Great Sui was about to campaign against Goguryeo in the Liaodong region. From the sixth year of the Daye era onwards, not only the common folk but even the great clans and prominent families across the land, from the Yangtze to the Yellow River, would be subjected to increased taxes.

In border areas like Mayi, it was relatively mild, but in places like Hebei and Shandong, the burden of taxes and labor had already exceeded what the local population could bear. This was a critical turning point for the once-prosperous Great Sui. From the end of Emperor Wen’s reign to the beginning of the Daye era, all the accumulated contradictions were about to erupt completely.