032 Gaining Attribute Points Bit by Bit (Please Keep Reading!)

"Alright, I'm coming up now!" Chen Anquan quickly adjusted his state of mind, ran over to the firebricks, and discovered that both baskets were already filled to the brim.

He walked up to the old man called Old Liu, who was silently crouched on the ground, his withered hands swiftly grabbing firebricks from the earth, stacking them into the baskets.

"Let me help you, sir," Chen Anquan said with a smile, crouching down as well, imitating Old Liu’s movements as he began placing brick after brick into the baskets.

Old Liu worked quickly, his thin frame stacking bricks at a speed that soon filled both baskets.

"Thank you, sir," Chen Anquan said with a smile, casually picking up the bamboo carrying pole from the ground, preparing to shoulder the two baskets.

He set the bamboo pole across his shoulders, hooking the ropes tied to each side onto the baskets. Just then, a hand blocked his way.

Chen Anquan looked at Old Liu in confusion. “What’s wrong, sir?”

Expressionless, Old Liu gazed at him coolly. “They’re not full yet.”

“Not full?” Chen Anquan found this odd.

The bricks in each basket already rose halfway up the handles—surely a hundred pounds or more. How could they not be full?

“That’s right, not full. Here, we load them to this height.” Old Liu gestured with his bony hand, indicating a height two fists below the basket handles. “Only when it reaches here is it full.”

“Alright then.” This was Chen Anquan’s first time working as a laborer on a construction site; he had no experience at all.

Old Liu continued loading bricks, while Chen Anquan waited for the final step.

“Are you done yet? What’s taking you two so long down there? We need those bricks up here!” An impatient voice called from above.

“Alright!” Chen Anquan replied with a laugh.

“Young man, it’s ready now,” Old Liu said coldly.

Chen Anquan looked at the baskets—loaded until they could take no more, likely well over a hundred pounds each.

Gritting his teeth, he straightened up slowly, the two baskets—each over a hundred pounds—rising with him. “So heavy!”

Even Chen Anquan, whose attributes far surpassed the average person, felt tremendous pressure.

Old Liu, still stacking bricks, paused as he watched Chen Anquan walk away, then quickly masked his surprise with indifference.

This young man didn’t look like a laborer at all. A load of three hundred pounds would be difficult even for a strong man.

“This is ridiculously heavy! I’m starting to think it’s three hundred pounds!” Chen Anquan muttered as he carried the load, tilting his head to expose more of his shoulder. “My shoulder feels like it’s being sliced by knives!”

Chen Anquan wanted to give up. Never in his life had he done such grueling work.

This was even harder than harvesting rice!

Pain aside, Chen Anquan managed to keep his steps steady as he approached the stairs, taking a deep breath.

The stairs were only thirty centimeters high, but a single misstep could mean losing his balance and tumbling down.

“Young man, can you manage or not?” The man upstairs called out again impatiently. “If you can’t, get lost and stop holding us up!”

Chen Anquan looked up at the second floor, speechless, but couldn’t see the man speaking.

He walked slowly, not wanting to risk falling from the second floor with the baskets.

When he finally stepped onto the platform, passing the scaffolding and appearing on the second floor, he drew almost everyone’s attention.

“Hey, kid, why are you so honest? Those baskets are packed so tight you can barely fit another brick—you’re just torturing yourself!” The same man from before grinned.

“That’s right! Young man, you can’t keep this up. Your body won’t hold out!” someone else chimed in.

“Anquan, what’s going on?” Suddenly, his second uncle appeared. “I was working inside and heard the commotion. Why are you carrying so much all at once?”

At last, Chen Anquan realized he’d been set up by the old man downstairs.

But why would the old man do that?

“It’s fine, Uncle, I’m young and strong, I can handle it,” Chen Anquan could only smile. No way he’d tell them Old Liu had tricked him.

After all, he wasn’t just here to earn money—he also wanted to train his body.

Carrying such heavy loads puts a lot of strain on the body, especially the bones; the knees are particularly vulnerable. Many old-timers who carried hundreds of pounds when they were young end up with knee pain as they age, often diagnosed with meniscus injuries, tears, or severe wear, sometimes even requiring surgery.

That welfare recipient Lai Zi from Ao Bei Village probably ruined his knees carrying loads in his youth.

“As long as you’re careful,” his uncle said, seeing Chen Anquan could handle it and choosing not to press further before returning to his work.

Soon, Chen Anquan came down from the second floor and walked up to Old Liu. “Sir, that last load was still too light. Do you have any bigger baskets here?”

Old Liu’s practiced hand paused mid-motion. He stared at Chen Anquan as if he were looking at a tiger or a lion in the zoo—suddenly a little afraid.

Was this young man threatening him?

He shook his head stiffly...

“No matter, let’s keep going!” Chen Anquan smiled, rolling his aching shoulders. This time, he switched to his other shoulder and continued carrying loads.

Time flew by. Around one in the afternoon, all the workers on the second floor put down their tools and headed downstairs.

“Anquan, stop carrying for now. It’s time to go home for lunch—we’ll continue this afternoon,” his uncle Chen Jintang called out.

By then, Chen Anquan had just lifted two overflowing baskets of firebricks, ready to head upstairs. “Uncle, wait for me. Let me carry this one up first.”

His uncle whispered in his ear, “Don’t be a fool. No one’s paying you overtime for doing extra work.”

“I know.” Chen Anquan smiled, preparing to climb the stairs.

His uncle was at his wits’ end. He wanted to stop him but was afraid Chen Anquan might fall from the second floor—and that would be a disaster.

Chen Anquan climbed to the second floor, set the load down, and said to himself, “Carrying bricks really is tough, but I like it!”

At that moment, several numbers on his attribute panel shifted.

His achievements for the morning:

Name: Chen Anquan
Age: 24
Strength: 1.68
Agility: 1.44
Spirit: 2
Constitution: 1.81
Unused Attribute Points: 0.08
Skills: (abbreviated)

Strength and agility each increased by 0.04, constitution by 0.08—the rate of improvement was almost on par with harvesting rice!