Chapter 71: The Great Female Protagonist Wants to Become Stronger
After enjoying several days of attentive treatment at the Xuan Xing Sect Medical Clinic, Ye Anping returned to the Physiotherapy Center in the marketplace. He had expected Si Xuanji to find him while he was staying at the clinic, but that Loli Old Woman seemed determined to keep him guessing, sending a parrot instead of showing herself before him even once. According to his memory, the Heavenly Sky Spring Return Pavilion’s annual winter promotion was about to begin. He planned to take Pei Lianxue there, so he needed to save more money during this period. Thus, he put aside thoughts of Si Xuanji and diligently reopened his shop to resume business.
Perhaps the news of a Xuan Xing Sect Disciple named Xu, brought by Bai Yuexin, breaking through had spread. On his first day back, as soon as he opened, quite a few cultivators came to patronize his Physiotherapy Center.
“Young Master Ye, I haven’t had your physiotherapy for these few days, and I’m finding even Qi Cultivation to be sluggish.”
“Senior is joking. My physiotherapy techniques aren’t that miraculous.”
“But they are quite effective, much more so than Spirit Gathering Pills.” Another Senior Sister chimed in, “By the way, is your body alright? I heard Doctor Zhou tied you up like a bandaged ball. Are your injuries all healed? If not, I have some healing Pills here.”
“No, no need…”
This group of people was practically treating him like an old friend. Since he opened his shop, almost every Xuan Xing Sect Disciple who came in would exchange a few pleasantries with him and even brought him many small gifts. There were homemade pastries, some mid-grade and low-grade Pills, and the like… Although the prices weren’t high, he accepted their thoughtfulness. However, there were simply too many people today. He hadn’t had a moment to rest all morning.
It wasn’t until midday, during the mealtime, that Ye Anping finally had a chance to catch his breath.
“Hoo—” Ye Anping stretched his neck and then lay down on the recliner in the lobby, intending to take a short nap. As soon as he closed his eyes, he heard a shouting match between a person and a bird from the inner room.
“Silly girl!! Silly girl!!”
“Who are you calling silly?! You silly bird!! Believe it or not, I’ll… Get down here!! If you have the guts, don’t stand on the beam!!”
“Hit me!! Hit me!!”
Ye Anping immediately pinched the bridge of his nose, let out a soft sigh, stood up, and walked into the inner room. As soon as he opened the door, a feather duster shot towards his forehead like an arrow. Fortunately, his reaction was quick, and he dodged it with a quick crouch. Otherwise, he would have grown a new bump on his forehead.
“Sister…”
“Ah~ Anping.” Bai Yuexin immediately calmed down, smiled sheepishly, and apologized, “Sorry! This bird has been provoking me, it’s so annoying.”
“Silly girl!! Silly girl!!” The tiger-striped parrot on the beam, seeing Ye Anping enter, cursed a couple more times before spreading its wings and landing on his shoulder. It rubbed its head crest against his face.
Ye Anping looked at it with some helplessness and reprimanded, “You too, don’t provoke Senior Bai.”
“Wish you prosperity! Wish you prosperity!!”
“…” After speaking, he turned to Bai Yuexin and said, “And Sister, why are you arguing with a parrot?”
“That’s not…” Bai Yuexin felt a surge of unfairness listening to him. Back on the day Bai Yuexin caught this parrot and brought it over, after exchanging a few curses with it, she went back to her morning class. During class, Mr. Qi suddenly called her name and assigned her to clean the bird cages for five days. Ye Anping knew without thinking that this was likely due to her remark at the time, “I wonder which ill-mannered disciple in the Sect raised it, to teach a bird to curse?”
However, Bai Yuexin didn’t know it belonged to Si Xuanji. Upon returning, she blamed the bird cages cleaning task on this tiger-striped parrot. The two of them had been at odds ever since, cursing each other whenever they met. Ye Anping shrugged helplessly and walked to the table, looking at the Spirit Stones of various sizes spread across it. He asked, “How was the day’s earnings?”
“Very good.” Bai Yuexin quickly came back to her senses, took out the ledger, and did some calculations. “There were thirty customers this morning alone, bringing in nearly two thousand Spirit Stones in total.”
“After deducting rent, medicinal ingredient costs, and taxes?”
*Clatter clatter—* Bai Yuexin worked the abacus and said, “That still leaves over five hundred.”
“Mmm…” An income of over five hundred Spirit Stones a day was actually quite considerable for an ordinary shop, and this was just for the morning. However, Ye Anping was exhausted after just one morning. His physiotherapy technique required him to guide Spiritual Energy through the meridians like threading a needle. For ordinary customers, he wouldn’t go too deep, but he still needed to examine their meridians and control his Spiritual Energy. These two tasks consumed a great deal of energy. For an ordinary cultivator, they would likely lose focus within half an hour.
Bai Yuexin also noticed the fatigue on Ye Anping’s face and asked, “Anping, are you tired?”
“To be honest, a little.” Ye Anping let out a heavy sigh and said, “How about this, help me put up a sign at the door later, saying we’re only accepting thirty customers a day for now. I can’t handle more.”
“I told you long ago to teach me, I can help share the burden.”
Ye Anping thought for a moment and said, “Then Sister, go buy a few live chickens later. Try it out. If we mess up, we can just eat roasted chicken tonight.”
“Alright!!” Bai Yuexin nodded in agreement. Ye Anping then placed the tiger-striped parrot, which was perched on his shoulder, back onto its nearby stand and turned to go out for his nap.
Just as he stepped out of the inner room, he suddenly saw a suspicious figure in the lobby of the Physiotherapy Center. The person’s facial features were very asymmetrical. One eye was larger than the other, their nose was crooked by thirty degrees, and they had fiery red lips. They possessed a kind of Picasso-esque beauty. Ye Anping looked at the person for two breaths before immediately realizing that this face was likely from some kind of face-changing Magical Artifact. He quickly released his Spiritual Sense and scanned the person warily.
The next moment, Ye Anping’s tightly furrowed brows relaxed. He asked, “Senior Sister Xiao?”
“Ah?!” Xiao Yunluo was slightly taken aback, a flicker of disbelief in her eyes. She reached up and touched her face, “Young Master Ye, how did you recognize me?”
“…” Ye Anping sighed softly, walked up to her, and gently twisted her nose. *Click—* Her nose, which had been crooked by thirty degrees, straightened.
“Senior Sister Xiao, now you look like a person.”
“…” Xiao Yunluo touched her nose, looking embarrassed. Finally, she simply reached up and peeled off the facial prosthetic, revealing her original, bright-eyed and white-toothed face. She looked at Ye Anping and said softly, “Young Master Ye, can you not tell Lian Xue that I came to see you secretly?”
“What’s wrong? Did you quarrel with my Junior Sister?”
“No, no!! We didn’t quarrel.” Xiao Yunluo pursed her lips and said, “In any case, don’t tell her. If you tell her, she’ll definitely get angry with me. I just wanted to ask you some questions, and if possible…”
Ye Anping pondered, having roughly guessed her intention. In the game, after Feng Yu Die boosted her favorability, she would have Feng Yu Die teach her how to cultivate. Now that Junior Sister’s favorability was high, Xiao Yunluo must want Junior Sister to guide her in cultivation. However, Junior Sister was good at dancing but not at teaching. To be precise, Junior Sister wasn’t unintelligent, but she was very poor at articulating. She couldn’t translate what she understood into words to tell others. Ultimately, since he had chosen to interact with Si Xuanji, and his Junior Sister couldn’t handle this, it had to be him, as the Senior Brother, to do it.
Ye Anping nodded and extended his hand, “Let’s go inside and talk.”
“Ah… Okay.”
