"Clatter!" A cup crashed to the floor. It was the old-fashioned iron teacup of the father, Ouyang Fan. Tea leaves and water spilled everywhere. The handsome face of the father, nearing fifty, widened in shock, lips tightly pressed, breathing turning heavy as an astonished expression settled over him.
Ouyang Can and Ouyang Rui also found their breathing instantly growing heavy.
Mother Wan Feng's eyes instantly blurred with tears. She eagerly grabbed Ye Lingtian's right arm and said, "Xiaotian, you must have a way, don't you? You have to save Yanan, save my daughter. She's still so young... How can she only have two years left to live?" With that, she could no longer hold back and burst into tears.
Father Ouyang Fan grasped Ye Lingtian's left hand with trembling hands and said, "Xiaotian, since you can see our illnesses, it shows your medical skills are extraordinary. You must have a way, right?"
"That's right! Brother-in-law, you like my sister, don't you? You should have a way!" older sister Ouyang Can said with a frown.
"Second brother-in-law, you have to find a way to help my second sister. She's my only second sister," Ouyang Rui pleaded.
Although Ouyang Rui was afraid of his second sister, deep down he liked her very much. Even though she sometimes acted like a tough woman, she treated him extremely well.
Despite her own modest salary, his second sister still bought him expensive brain-boosting oral liquids, hoping it would help him stay focused while studying, reduce his academic stress, and achieve good grades.
Since childhood, his second sister would always take him to buy delicious treats in secret, and their sibling bond had been nurtured since they were young. Sometimes, when he woke up hungry in the middle of the night, his second sister would get up and cook him a fragrant bowl of minced pork noodles.
He still remembered when he was five years old and went swimming. A three-year-old girl, backed by her eighteen-year-old older brother, acted maliciously and intentionally pushed him into the water. He had choked on several mouthfuls of water before managing to climb out. When his second sister found out, she went storming furiously to find the girl. Ouyang Rui still remembered how their cousins had tried to persuade her to let it go, saying the girl had a big brother and she wouldn't be able to beat him. But his second sister resolutely pushed the girl's head into the water three times, saying as she did so, "Aren't you bullying the younger with your age? Well, I'm a few years older than you, so let me give you a taste of what it feels like to be bullied! So what if you have an older brother? If you dare to bully my younger brother at will, you'd better be prepared to be bullied back! And so what if your brother's here? If he dares to help, I'll dunk him right along with you!"
That scene—it warmed the heart, and the feeling of being protected remained fresh in his memory even years later!
He wondered if that girl's older brother had been so terrified by the fierce, tomboyish aura of his second sister, Ouyang Yanan, that he didn't dare let out even a single fart the entire time.
Afterward, his second sister led them away with an imposing air. He asked her, "Aren't you scared? You couldn't beat that older brother, right?" His second sister smiled and said, "You're my younger brother!" That feeling of being protected by his second sister was engraved in his memory for a lifetime.
Even now, his second sister would usually buy clothes for him to wear and give him pocket money. It could be said that while his second sister seemed fierce on the surface, there was no denying how well she treated him. Compared to Ouyang Can, his relationship with his second sister, Ouyang Yanan, was much closer, and naturally he did not want anything to happen to her.
Ouyang Yanan, however, was not all that sorrowful. Life and death are up to fate; she only felt a bit of regret that she had yet to achieve success and renown to let her family live a good life!
"You don't need to be so nervous!" Ye Lingtian said sheepishly.
The whole family looked at Ye Lingtian with hopeful eyes, waiting for him to continue.
Ye Lingtian smiled smugly. "Didn't I say 'barring any accidents'? That accident is meeting me! Yanan's constitution is naturally cold and yin, to the point where the cold yin has penetrated her bones. Right now it's still mild, and aside from her whole body feeling icy, nothing else shows. But in another year, her bones will be corroded by the cold yin, causing pain as if her bones were shattering. Her hands won't be able to move, her feet won't be able to walk, and life will be worse than death.
"To cure Yanan's condition, we do need a medicinal herb to act as a catalyst—spirit bone grass. This medicine doesn't currently exist in the mortal realm; I need to go to a special place to gather it, and that place is not something ordinary people can reach. However, I can use acupuncture first to ease Yanan's condition and buy three more years."
"Spirit bone grass? I've read in novels that such spirit herbs grow in deep mountains and old forests rich in spiritual energy. Places like that are so secret that even the state has never set foot in them. Moreover, venomous snakes and fierce beasts run rampant there, fraught with crises. One slip and you become a beast's meal. Second brother-in-law, is the spirit bone grass you mentioned something that grows in a place like that?" younger brother Ouyang Rui asked with concern.
At these words, the whole family looked anxiously at Ye Lingtian once more, waiting for him to deny it. After all, if anyone were to enter a place like that, wouldn't it be like "an old longevity god eating arsenic—pure suicide"?
Ye Lingtian thought to himself: My brother-in-law has hit the nail on the head.
It seemed this novel was written very close to the realities of the Cultivation world. In truth, the place where spirit bone grass grew was practically identical to what Ouyang Rui described, but the dangers were even a cut above. One had to worry not only about venomous snakes and fierce beasts, but also guard against the most terrifying thing of all: human nature. The person fighting side-by-side with you the moment before might be the one stabbing you in the back the next second. In the Cultivation world, killing people for their treasures and destroying their corpses without a trace was the most normal thing in the world.
"That's right! There is indeed danger, but there is always hope!" Ye Lingtian said with a solemn expression.
"Oh! How could things turn out like this?" Mrs. Wan Feng hugged her second daughter and said sorrowfully.
The family sighed in silence.
"Second brother-in-law, I'll go with you!" Ouyang Rui suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence.
"No!" said father Ouyang Fan.
"No," said mother Wan Feng.
"No," said Ouyang Can.
"No," said Ouyang Yanan.
The whole family spoke in unison, once again displaying perfect tacit accord.
The mother scolded, "You're the only heir of the Ouyang Family, how can you go court danger? Your sister is already like this—if anything happens to you as well, how do you expect your father and me to live?" With that, her eyes welled up with tears.
Ouyang Fan said, "You stay safely at home. We'll figure something out for your sister's sake."
Ouyang Yanan knew it wasn't right to blame her parents for favoring boys over girls. Though there was a trace of discomfort in her heart, she didn't want her younger brother to take risks either. She immediately said, "Little brother, I know you're worried about me, but life and death are up to fate, and I'm not afraid. You're my only younger brother, and I don't want you taking risks for me."
"Little sister..." eldest sister Ouyang Can said with worry.
"Second sister!" Ouyang Rui said with reddened eyes.
"You don't need to worry. I will temporarily suppress Yanan's condition. For now, I don't dare easily set foot in that place either, but I promise you, I will definitely cure Yanan within three years!" Ye Lingtian solemnly promised.
"Xiaotian, thank goodness for you!" Mrs. Wan Feng said with gratitude.
Ye Lingtian took out the Taiyi Divine Needles and said, "Let's handle what's in front of us first. Little brother, you suffered a head injury when you were young. Although nothing shows now, it left behind sequelae—several meridians in your head are blocked. I'll use acupuncture first to clear the meridians in your head."
As he spoke, Ye Lingtian's right hand hovered lightly over a three-centimeter-long golden needle, and the needle levitated into his palm. Then, using his vital energy to guide the needle, Ye Lingtian sank half of the golden needle into an acupoint on Ouyang Rui's head. Using the same method, he retrieved four more golden needles and inserted them into acupoints in turn. With the five fingers of his right hand formed into a claw facing the five golden needles, the tails of the needles kept vibrating. For a full three minutes, the needle tails, which had been vibrating just a second before, abruptly stopped. Ye Lingtian let out a light breath and, with a sweep of his right hand, withdrew the five needles.
This feat shocked everyone present all over again. He truly was a divine doctor!
"Whew~ My head feels so clear right now, refreshed and thoroughly enlightened!" Ouyang Rui exclaimed excitedly.
Ouyang Rui looked at Ye Lingtian with eyes full of gratitude and said, "Thank you, second brother-in-law!"
The family also cast grateful gazes toward Ye Lingtian.
"Just a small matter!"
Afterward, Ye Lingtian retrieved a palm-sized white jade bottle from his storage ring and handed it to Ouyang Rui, saying, "In Traditional Chinese Medicine, nourishing the brain requires nourishing the kidneys; when the kidneys are not deficient, the brain is bound to be robust. The brain is the sea of marrow, the kidneys govern bones and generate marrow, and kidney deficiency leads to unsolid marrow, thus producing symptoms such as neurasthenia, insomnia, memory loss, deafness, tinnitus, blurred vision, and dizziness.
"You suffered a head injury in your youth and lost too much blood. These pills—the Clarity Pill—are refined from eight treasures, angelica, four herbs [angelica root, white peony root, prepared rehmannia root, and astragalus], black wolfberries, ginseng, and the precious brain-nourishing medicinal herb fleeceflower root. They are just right for you. This bottle of pills condenses the full essence of these Chinese medicinal herbs and has potent medicinal effects. There are fifty pills in total; take one in the morning and one at night to consolidate for a month and a half.
"From now on, you should be able to achieve a photographic memory. If you don't rank first in your grade, you'll be doing a great injustice to this precious bottle of medicine I gave you!" Ye Lingtian said with a smile.
"Hehe, with a cheating artifact like a photographic memory, won't ranking first in the grade be as easy as reaching out and taking it?" Ouyang Rui said confidently.
"Hahaha~" Their laughter rang out heartily among the family.
Next, Ye Lingtian performed acupuncture on Ouyang Can and produced several fresh Chinese medicinal herbs—houttuynia, centipeda minima, litsea flowers, water lilies, and others—handing them to Ouyang Can with the instruction: "This is a seven-day supply. Decoct the medicine in three batches, with each batch's amount lasting two days. Bring it to a boil over cold water, then turn to low heat for ten minutes. Just pour out a small half-bowl and drink it while it's hot. Twice a day, avoid spicy food."
Ouyang Can took a deep breath and said, "Brother-in-law, thank you so much! Right after you gave me acupuncture, I instantly felt my nose clear up and my breathing become smooth. My rhinitis has troubled me for five years, and it's finally going to be completely cured!"
"Mm!"
Next, employing the Taiyi Divine Needles, Ye Lingtian administered acupuncture to Ouyang Fan and Mrs. Wan Feng in turn, and produced two palm-sized jade bottles, saying, "Uncle and Auntie still need six more acupuncture sessions, once a day, paired with these meridians-activating pills. Take one pill each morning and evening, and after consolidating for a month, you will be completely healed."
With that, he handed the bottles to Ouyang Fan and Mrs. Wan Feng.
Ouyang Fan said gratefully, "Xiaotian, thank you. After your acupuncture, my whole body feels comfortable and my backache is gone! At such a young age, your medical skills are actually this good! You truly have a boundless future!" In his heart, he thought: I've accepted this son-in-law!
Mrs. Wan Feng smiled and said, "That's right! My sciatica doesn't hurt much anymore, and my legs feel much more agile when walking. Xiaotian is young and talented, our Yanan is truly blessed!" She had better make sure to snap this son-in-law up fast.
"Mom! Things haven't even been settled yet!" Though Ouyang Yanan felt grateful in her heart, she was not about to concede.
Ye Lingtian put his left arm around Ouyang Yanan's left shoulder and smiled, saying, "Auntie, Yanan is just shy!" He thought to himself: Heh! Uncle and Auntie both approve of me, so winning you over is just a matter of time!
Ouyang Yanan turned her head to look at the cheeky hand resting on her left shoulder, glared at Ye Lingtian, and said through clenched teeth in a low voice, "I'm very grateful that you treated my parents and my sibling, and I will repay you in the future, but that doesn't mean I'll offer myself to you in marriage. I won't use my feelings as a bargaining chip."
Yanan deeply doubted Ye Lingtian's motives for approaching her. A stranger wouldn't be good to her and her family for no reason; he was showing excessive hospitality for either treachery or theft—this scoundrel definitely harbored malicious intent. But what on earth did she have that was worth him going to such great lengths to obtain?
If Ye Lingtian had heard what Yanan was thinking, he definitely would have said: This girl really has her guard up against people; she's failing to appreciate my pure, sincere heart, which is just too unlovable.
"I know. I'll wait—until the day you fall in love with me!" A magnetic voice sounded in Yanan's right ear.