After sweeping for half an hour, He Xiaoyao sat down to rest, quietly watching Li Dahai sweep the floor.
He Xiaoyao said, "Why are you sweeping so slowly? Hurry up and sweep."
Li Dahai retorted, "You have the nerve to lecture me. You sit and rest under the tree while leaving all the work to me. Look at me, I am completely soaked in sweat, absolutely drenched."
He Xiaoyao said, "I sweep every day, yet you are already complaining on your very first day. Isn't a little sweat a good thing? Sweating helps you lose weight. Your teacher told you to listen to me, and if you disobey, I will go report you."
Li Dahai scoffed, "Oh, please! Going to my teacher to tell on me? Let me tell you, you might be scared of him, and others might be scared of him, but I am certainly not scared of my teacher. Besides, isn't it your job to sweep every day? You're a handyman, and handymen are supposed to sweep floors. I am an Immortal Sect disciple—all I need to do is attend classes, not do manual labor."
This infuriated He Xiaoyao, who nearly jumped to his feet.
After a moment, He Xiaoyao asked, "Brother Dahai, when it comes to losing weight, do you want to take it slow day by day, or do you want to try something intense?"
Li Dahai raised his head, looked at He Xiaoyao, and said firmly, "Of course I want something intense! Extremely intense—fiercer than a fierce tiger, fiercer even than Mencius!"
He Xiaoyao smiled and said, "What are you even talking about? If you want that, be a good boy and listen to me: sweep the floor for three days and do chores for three days. If you perform well, I'll give you some very potent medicine after three days."
Li Dahai said, "Deal. It's a promise."
Over the next three days, Li Dahai obediently swept the floor and tended the vegetable garden. He even managed to ruthlessly cut his food intake by a third, reducing his extra helpings from two per day to just one every other day.
The Public Academy had a scale for weighing oneself. Over these three days, he had lost another three pounds.
*I still need to lose weight faster,* Li Dahai thought to himself.
Just then, Li Dahai saw He Xiaoyao and Zhang Susu approaching from a distance, walking toward each other.
One was heading left, the other right, yet they walked straight toward one another, closing the distance with every step.
Zhang Susu spoke first. "Oh, Brother Xiaoyao, we meet again. How have you been lately?"
He Xiaoyao said, "Same as always, doing chores and acting as a handyman every single day."
Zhang Susu said, "A handyman who understands medicine is quite a rare sight—truly unprecedented."
He Xiaoyao said, "I only know the bare basics."
Zhang Susu asked, "What have you been busy with lately?"
He Xiaoyao pointed at Li Dahai not far away and said, "See that big fatty over there? My current mission is to help him lose weight. This task was personally assigned to me by our Valley Master."
Zhang Susu burst out laughing. "That is quite a unique mission. Is there a bounty?"
He Xiaoyao shook his head with a helpless expression.
Zhang Susu said, "Let's go over."
Zhang Susu walked up to Li Dahai and said, "Hello, are you Li Dahai?"
Li Dahai replied, "Yes, hello, are you the legendary Zhang Susu?"
Zhang Susu blushed slightly and said, "Yes, I am Zhang Susu."
Li Dahai deliberately swayed his head from side to side, inspecting Zhang Susu's blushing face from every angle. "Haha, it seems the rumors are true! Did you make a special trip here today to find our handyman He?"
He Xiaoyao quickly interjected, "A coincidence! It was purely a chance encounter."
Zhang Susu said, "That's right, I just came over to take care of some business. I won't disturb you two; I'll be leaving now."
He Xiaoyao waved and said, "Farewell."
Then Li Dahai, acting like a complete nuisance once again, swayed his head from side to side, inspecting He Xiaoyao's face from all angles.
He Xiaoyao demanded, "What are you doing? Have you lost your mind? Do you need me to treat you with some acupuncture?"
Li Dahai said with a malicious grin, "Well? Her figure is pretty good, she should be able to bear a boy."
He Xiaoyao was once again left speechless.
The two of them entered the Scripture Pavilion.
He Xiaoyao found two cultivation formulas for Li Dahai: one for cultivating the Foot Taiyin Spleen Meridian, and the other for the Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian.
These two formulas were quite ordinary and simple, and usually, few people bothered to read them, leaving them gathering dust on high shelves.
However, they were well-suited for Li Dahai's current state of cultivation. Strengthening his spleen and stomach would effectively reduce phlegm-dampness and help him lose weight.
As for He Xiaoyao himself, he naturally went looking for the second volume of the Five Mountains Great Technique. It was kept on the second floor, and he had to pay five Immortal Coins for it. A single cultivation formula spread across multiple floors—truly impressive!
For ten consecutive days, the two immersed themselves in the Scripture Pavilion every day, finally managing to memorize the required formulas.
Despite being fat, Li Dahai was not lacking in memory. The two formulas were also simple enough that he could cultivate them to a decent level within three months.
The Five Mountains Great Technique was not particularly difficult either; its difficulty was only slightly greater than the first volume, but for He Xiaoyao, it was still manageable.
Li Dahai simply moved into He Xiaoyao's courtyard, Qilu Garden, and slept in the utility room at night.
Thus, their routine fell into place: they woke up in the morning for breakfast, cleaned around the lake, attended classes at the Public Academy, ate lunch at the cafeteria, went to the vegetable garden in the afternoon to farm, and returned to the courtyard to practice their respective cultivation formulas.
The days were full and fulfilling.
On their days off, they would head up the mountain to hunt and gather herbs.
The medicine had already been prepared.
He Xiaoyao asked Li Dahai once more, "Are you sure you want something intense? While the effect is good, it's going to be a bit agonizing over the next few days."
Li Dahai nodded and said, "Yes, I want it intense—very intense."
After drinking the medicine, Li Dahai suffered from diarrhea for five days straight, truly flowing like a thousand miles of rushing water.
He was so weak he had to hold onto the walls just to walk; his entire body was completely drained and exhausted.
Li Dahai weakly wailed, "What on earth did you feed me? What kind of medicine is this? Is it poison? I feel like I'm about to ride a crane into the afterlife."
He Xiaoyao replied, "Didn't you say you wanted it intense, extremely intense? I just prepared the medicine according to your demands."
Li Dahai protested, "There's no way to lose weight like this! What kind of medicine was it?"
He Xiaoyao calmly answered, "Croton beans."
Upon hearing this, Li Dahai lunged at He Xiaoyao, hands outstretched, wanting to strangle him. He Xiaoyao bolted away in a flash. In his weakened state, catching him was simply out of the question.
Li Dahai had only come up the mountain in his teens, but he knew very well what croton beans were—they were a strong laxative.
He Xiaoyao shouted from afar, "Every medicine is three parts poison! Tonics are medicine, poisons are medicine, and laxatives are medicine too. In short, any medicine that helps you lose weight is the right prescription!"
Li Dahai muttered, "Sophistry and heresy."
Afterward, Li Dahai continued to suffer from diarrhea for another two days. When he finally dragged himself to the Public Academy to weigh himself, to his surprise, he had lost ten pounds.
Altogether, he had lost sixteen pounds. His goal was no longer far away, even though the process had been brutally cruel.
Li Dahai said, "The results are good, but you cannot feed me that stuff anymore. I want to change prescriptions."
He Xiaoyao said, "Even if you wanted to eat it, I wouldn't give it to you. You can't take too much of it; too much will ruin you."
So, He Xiaoyao prepared a new decoction—the Bu Zhong Yi Qi formula. It used Atractylodes macrocephala, Bupleurum, tangerine peel, Chinese dates, Angelica sinensis, Codonopsis, licorice, Astragalus, fresh ginger, and Cimicifuga.
This formula supplemented the middle jiao and replenished qi, strengthening the spleen and drying dampness. It was targeted at Li Dahai's pulse condition, where the guan position was slightly weak.
This treatment method was based on the principle that the human body is an integral whole. Li Dahai's middle jiao was currently out of balance, and his spleen and stomach were weak. This was what they called applying medicine according to the condition.
Li Dahai took two doses of this medicine every day, and gradually, his body stopped feeling weak.
One day.
As the two of them were cleaning by the lake, a beautiful woman dressed in a turquoise long dress walked toward them.
Li Dahai rubbed his eyes and said, "Oh! Isn't this the renowned fairy of East Peak, Zhang Susu?"
Zhang Susu walked over with a smile and said, "Why are you here too? Have you been demoted to a handyman because of your overweight status?"
Li Dahai retorted, "You're the one demoted to a handyman! Your whole family has been demoted to handymen!"
Although He Xiaoyao felt a bit awkward, he helplessly walked over and greeted her.
Zhang Susu said, "I actually brought an umbrella today."
He Xiaoyao said, "I didn't bring an umbrella today, but it shouldn't rain."
Li Dahai asked, "What are you here for?"
Zhang Susu said, "Can't I come to enjoy the scenery?"
Li Dahai said, "Of course, of course. You two go ahead and chat while enjoying the scenery; I'm going over there to sweep. Don't litter randomly, or else I'll have the Immortal Sect fine you fifty Immortal Coins and post a public notice criticizing you! Then I'll demand five extra meal portions as compensation—haha, just thinking about it makes it wonderful, my mouth is watering."
After Li Dahai had walked far away, Zhang Susu asked, "How have things been recently? Still helping this fatty lose weight? I see he has indeed lost weight quite noticeably. You really have a talent for this."
He Xiaoyao said, "He follows me around doing handyman work every day, climbs mountains to gather herbs and hunt, and has cut down on his food intake—how could he not lose weight?"
Zhang Susu said, "Well, at least he's willing to listen to you. If he had done this earlier, he wouldn't have gotten so fat. Didn't you prescribe some medicine for him?"
He Xiaoyao said, "Of course I gave him medicine. But medicine is only for the short term; in the long run, he still has to rely on himself."
Zhang Susu said, "I think he looks a bit more handsome now that he's thinner. As long as he keeps getting more handsome, he'll definitely keep it up."
He Xiaoyao said, "Handsome? Why do I think he's becoming more and more hideous-looking? You haven't taken a fancy to this kid, have you? The more you look at him, the more handsome he seems—beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or should I say, Pan An?"
Zhang Susu hurriedly waved her hands and said, "Don't talk nonsense! Next thing you know, the whole Immortal Sect will be gossiping that I like him."
She had used the word "again," which carried a subtle implication. He Xiaoyao noticed it, and the atmosphere grew slightly awkward.
Zhang Susu realized it too. She said, "Right now, the whole sect is saying that you and I are deeply in love. Everywhere I go, people ask me if it's true, and I don't even know what to do."
He Xiaoyao said, "Rumors stop at the wise. Truth cleanses itself; before long, they will naturally dissipate into thin air."
Zhang Susu said, "I know that, but it takes too long."
He Xiaoyao said, "Then what can we do? Should we duel right here so people can see that our relationship is actually terrible—that we are irreconcilable enemies?"
Zhang Susu joked, "If we did that, I'd just kick you over with one foot. What's left to duel about? Hehe."
He Xiaoyao said, "Kick me over with one foot? That's hard to say—it might take you two feet."
Zhang Susu burst out laughing.
He Xiaoyao quickly motioned for her to quiet down and said, "Don't laugh, don't laugh! If you laugh too loudly, you'll attract others over here again, and they'll say we're laughing and chatting, completely smitten with each other."
Zhang Susu covered her mouth, looking genuinely worried.
He Xiaoyao suggested, "How about this: you go find some other guy, or I'll find some other girl, and we pretend to be close with them. That way, the rumors will collapse on their own."
Zhang Susu said, "What terrible advice! If I go pretend to be close with another guy, people will just start gossiping about me and that guy, and same for you. Besides, people will say our hearts change faster than the weather, that we're fickle and flighty, which would ruin our reputations."
He Xiaoyao said, "I don't really care; people already say a handyman like me is punching above my weight by hanging around you. It probably affects your reputation a lot more."
Zhang Susu said, "Never mind, let's drop it. By the way, do you know how to treat lung diseases? The really severe kind."
He Xiaoyao replied, "Severe lung diseases depend on the specific condition; it's not guaranteed that they can be treated. First, the disease must be treatable, and second, it must be something I know how to cure. I can take a look."
Zhang Susu said, "My uncle, Zhang Tianming, fell ill a few months ago. At first, it was just a cough, but later it kept getting worse. People at the Immortal Medical Hall have examined him, but there hasn't been any improvement."
He Xiaoyao said, "The Immortal Medical Hall has extraordinary therapeutic effects for blocked or damaged meridians, and they heal things extremely quickly. That means his illness isn't in his meridians; it's likely in his internal organs."
Zhang Susu said, "Yes, the immortal doctor said the same thing, but no matter what, they just couldn't cure him."
He Xiaoyao asked, "Is your uncle Zhang Tianming the headmaster Zhang of the Public Academy?"
Zhang Susu said, "Yes, do you know him?"
He Xiaoyao replied, "How could a handyman like me know him? It's just that back then, he and Valley Master Meng Daoran came to our village to recruit us and bring us up the mountain, so I crossed paths with him twice."
Zhang Susu gave an "oh" of recognition and said, "That's the reason why I've been running over to this side so often recently."
He Xiaoyao said, "I've observed his facial complexion; his face and hands have a reddish tint. Could it be that he cultivates a rather overbearing yang- or fire-based technique?"
Zhang Susu said, "Yes, he does practice a fire-related technique. You could tell just by looking at him—are you that familiar with cultivation formulas?"
He Xiaoyao said, "What would a handyman like me know about cultivation formulas? I only understand a bit of medicine and analyze things from a medical perspective. He stoked the fire of this cultivation technique far too fiercely, causing his heart-fire to blaze out of control. It's likely that the fire overcame metal and injured his lungs."
Zhang Susu's eyes lit up. She grabbed He Xiaoyao's hand, swaying it as she said, "Wow, you figured out what illness he has just by looking at him once—you're truly amazing! You must have a way to cure him! Please hurry and help save him; he's my only relative, I'll be your beast of burden if I have to."
A beast of burden? Such a beautiful fairy acting as a beast of burden would be far too wasteful.
He Xiaoyao said, "Don't get too excited or nervous. I might not necessarily be able to cure him either, but I can go with you and take a look."
The task of cleaning was left to Li Dahai.
However, Li Dahai insisted on tagging along, saying, "If you two dog—ah no, you two young people hold hands and swagger openly through the streets, it'll just raise more suspicions and make the rumors fly even higher." It sounded surprisingly logical.
Zhang Susu said, "Then hurry up and finish cleaning, and we'll go together." With that, Zhang Susu snatched the broom right out of He Xiaoyao's hands and started sweeping.
He Xiaoyao sighed inwardly: *She really is willing to be a beast of burden.*
People with Three-Star and Four-Star cultivation stages worked fast; in less than half an hour, the task was completed. The three of them hurried toward Zhang Tianming's residence, arriving within a quarter of an hour.
Zhang Tianming was lying in bed, his face pale, and he was no longer coughing much.
He Xiaoyao signaled for Li Dahai to stand back.
Zhang Susu said, "Uncle, I've brought a doctor here—Doctor He—to examine you."
Knowing it was an expression of her filial piety, Zhang Tianming nodded and said, "Alright, go ahead and examine me then!" Though in his heart, he held no hope.
He Xiaoyao took his pulse. The cun pulse on the right wrist was very weak and deep, but the cun pulse on the left wrist was somewhat rapid and hurried, while the guan position was weak and his body felt feverish.
It seemed that his rising heart-fire had blazed too fiercely, overcoming metal and injuring his lungs. Because it hadn't healed in time, dragging on for a long time made it increasingly severe. His lungs were filled with thick phlegm, and internal heat and fire were stagnating within.
His lung yin was damaged, but his yangming was also somewhat weak. This illness was difficult to treat; it presented symptoms of both yin and yang deficiency—tonifying yin would worsen the yang condition, while tonifying yang would further damage the yin.
However, judging by his symptoms, the lung injury was the primary issue and severely threatened his life; he had to clear his lungs first.
Therefore, He Xiaoyao said, "Immortal Zhang, the situation is somewhat similar to what I told you, but there are also some differences. Other parts of his body are also relatively weak, likely because his prolonged illness has affected other organs."
Zhang Susu asked anxiously, "Then what should we do? Is there a way to cure him?"
He Xiaoyao said, "Our top priority is to try treating the lung condition first. Because this illness has dragged on for a long time and has already become extremely life-threatening, if we don't treat it now, it might soon pass the point of no return."
Zhang Susu said, "Then let's treat the lung condition first, just as you said."
He Xiaoyao cautioned, "However, clearing the lungs now might cause him to suffer from diarrhea. You must monitor this closely and report it to me immediately if it happens. If that occurs, we will think of another method."
Zhang Susu said, "Understood."
He Xiaoyao said, "Then I'll head back to gather some medicine and check if my supplies are enough. If not, I'll have to go up the mountain to forage for more."