“Why are you standing there? Go wash up,” Lian Qing said, patting their shoulders. “Come out to eat after you’re done.”
“Okay.”
Ling Rui snapped out of it and entered his room to bathe.
As soon as he went in, Ah Wu headed to the room next door.
Once the doors were closed, Lian Qing, still smiling, turned to prepare their meal.
They had brought plenty of meat, which was perfect for making dishes.
After preparing the meal, Lian Qing went to see the old man in the valley.
The old man had no name, but he held the highest status in the Divine Doctor Valley.
When trouble had befallen the valley years ago, the outside world thought everyone in the Divine Doctor Valley had perished. But in truth, the valley had not been wiped out, largely thanks to the old man.
So when it came to finding long xing grass, Lian Qing immediately thought of him.
“Long xing grass is difficult to harvest. It grows on sheer cliffs, and it’s not something you can just pick at will,” the old man explained.
“Just tell me where it is, and I’ll take care of the harvesting,” Lian Qing said patiently. “Shui Shui needs it urgently. If we don’t deliver it soon, that child will get all grumpy again.”
When Emperor Ling went to Guan Shan Residence for treatment years ago, Shui Shui had accompanied him. Shui Shui was Ling Rui’s good friend, and he often visited Lian Qing as well.
Lian Qing treated him like his own child.
The old man, who had been drowsily rubbing his ears, suddenly opened his usually sleepy eyes a little when he heard Shui Shui’s name.
“Is it him who needs the long xing grass?”
“Yes, and the people of Yanzhou Prefecture are in trouble. The long xing grass is needed to save lives,” Lian Qing explained patiently. “If you know where the long xing grass is, please tell me, and I’ll hurry to get it to Yanzhou Prefecture.”
After Lian Qing finished speaking, the old man didn’t hesitate this time and promptly provided a location.
“Uncle, thank you,” Lian Qing expressed his gratitude before getting up to leave.
He went to find the spot the old man had mentioned, while Ling Rui, who was still soaking in the bath, was splashing water on himself and belatedly realized something.
He hadn’t seen Uncle Lian Qing in a long time, and he had grown a lot. However, Uncle Lian Qing still looked as young as ever.
“Is Uncle Lian Qing a monster?” Ling Rui, unable to hold back, let his thoughts wander.
But his mind quickly corrected itself: “No way, there aren’t that many monsters.”
Neither Uncle Lian Qing nor the Big Boss seemed like monsters.
The bathwater had some relaxing herbs mixed in. Ling Rui soaked for quite a while, and by the time he was done, most of his exhaustion had melted away.
He had brought clothes with him for the trip, so after his bath, he changed into fresh clothes and walked out feeling clean and refreshed.
He was looking for Ah Wu, but Ah Wu, who had been in the room next door, was already gone.
Ling Rui, confused, asked around, only to find out that Ah Wu had left with Uncle Lian Qing.
He had no idea where the two had gone.
Unable to find anyone, Ling Rui was left wandering the Divine Doctor Valley on his own.
“Hey, why is there a child in the valley?”
While aimlessly wandering around, Ling Rui came across a small child carrying a basket of herbs.
The child looked about seven or eight years old, had delicate features, but seemed timid.
As soon as Ling Rui tried to talk to him, the child took off running.
Instinctively, Ling Rui started to chase after him.
The two of them ran, one chasing the other, until they finally ended up inside the newly built library.
Once inside, the child hid behind a bookshelf, peeking cautiously at Ling Rui.
“I’m not a bad person,” Ling Rui said, standing a short distance away. “Why did you run away as soon as you saw me?”
“I—I don’t know you,” the child replied.
“I’m Ling Rui. What’s your name?” Ling Rui sat down, speaking to him from across the bookshelf.
After hesitating for a moment, the child replied, “My name is Danggui.”
Danggui was a medicinal herb.
Ling Rui rested his chin in his hand and began chatting casually with Danggui. “Who gave you that name? It sounds pretty nice.”
“I named myself… I found it in a book,” Danggui replied shyly.
“Wow, you’re pretty good at choosing names,” Ling Rui said, impressed that someone so young could pick such a nice name for themselves.
As they chatted, Danggui gradually relaxed.
“I was found and brought to the Divine Doctor Valley. If it hadn’t been for Grandpa and the others, I would’ve died outside.”
“I like it here. I’ll stay here forever.”
Danggui shared his background and his hopes for the future.
They continued talking until it was time for Danggui’s self-appointed reading hour.
“I’m going to read now. Do you want to read with me?”
“Sure, I can join you.”
Since Uncle Lian Qing and Ah Wu hadn’t returned yet, Ling Rui didn’t feel like wandering around by himself anymore.
The two of them stayed in the library, each picking up a book to read.
Danggui didn’t just read books; he also tried to make some medicines based on the recipes recorded in the texts.
“What are you making?” Ling Rui asked curiously.
“Golden Wind Jade Dew,” Danggui replied seriously, as he carefully mixed herbs from his basket in the correct proportions and pounded them together.
Ling Rui glanced at Danggui and then at the book in front of him. “What’s Golden Wind Jade Dew?”
He recalled a poem with the line, Golden Wind Jade Dew, once they meet, surpass countless human encounters.
Seeing Danggui trying to make something from the poem into medicine left Ling Rui baffled.
“It’s a medicine,” Danggui explained. “It can be sold outside, and it’s worth a lot.”
The Divine Doctor Valley wasn’t a mystical place like a fairyland; it had expenses. Sometimes, they would sell herbs or medicines they had made.
“I’m going to sell it to Lian Qing,” Danggui said, glancing up at Ling Rui. After hesitating for a few seconds, he pulled a bottle from his pocket and handed it to him.
“This is one I made. It’s a gift for you.”
Ling Rui accepted the gift happily without being overly modest, and in return, he gave Danggui a bracelet.
“This is jade and can help nourish your body. If you ever need money, you can sell it.”
Though the two gifts differed in value, their sentiments were equal.
After receiving the medicine bottle, Ling Rui suddenly remembered to ask, “What is this medicine for?”
Danggui continued working on his mix as he explained, “It has many uses.”
“You can add it to bathwater to help… enhance the experience, or it can be applied externally.”
Ling Rui: “?”
Ling Rui was dumbfounded. “Huh?”
Danggui, speaking casually, only made Ling Rui more confused.
“Enhance the experience… do you mean in the way I think you do?”
“Yes,” Danggui confirmed.
Ling Rui was left speechless, completely at a loss for words.
One of them continued working, while the other sat there, unsure of what to say.
After who knows how long, Ling Rui grew restless.
“Danggui, I’m going to check if Ah Wu has come back. Do you want to come with me?”
“No, I won’t go,” Danggui replied, shaking his head. He didn’t know who Ah Wu was and wasn’t interested in going along.
Ling Rui bid him farewell and walked out on his own.
Not long after he went out, Lian Qing and Ah Wu returned.
Ah Wu had brought back two large sacks of long xing grass. This grass grew on steep cliffs, and for an ordinary person to harvest it would be almost like risking their life. However, for Ah Wu, it was easy, and he effortlessly gathered two full sacks.
If Lian Qing hadn’t wanted to spare him from overworking, Ah Wu could have collected even more.
The two sacks of herbs had barely touched the ground before Ah Wu’s people were sent to immediately deliver them to Yanzhou. They sent the first batch right away. There was still long xing grass left on the cliffs nearby, so they would stay to harvest more.
Earlier, Ling Rui had gone to the library, while Ah Wu had been gathering herbs, and neither of them had eaten yet.
Lian Qing ruffled Ling Rui’s hair and took him to eat.
At the table, the group chatted while they ate, the atmosphere feeling warm and comforting.
“Uncle Lian Qing, when will the Big Boss come over?” Ling Rui asked.
“I don’t know yet.”
“Then will you come back to Yanzhou with me this time?” Ling Rui looked at Lian Qing hopefully, holding his bowl. He truly wanted to take Lian Qing back with him.
Lian Qing, now reunited with Ling Rui, also wanted to spend more time together, but going back to Yanzhou with him…
“I’ll think about it,” Lian Qing replied.
“Uncle Lian Qing, if you come back with me, I’ll take good care of you,” Ling Rui promised earnestly.
When Ling Rui was younger, he always told adults that he would take care of them when he grew up. Now that he had grown up, he was truly beginning to think about taking care of people.
After dinner, Lian Qing looked at Ling Rui and asked with a smile, “So, how do you plan to sleep tonight?”
Ling Rui blinked, and when he saw Lian Qing’s expression, he immediately understood what Lian Qing meant.
When he was younger, back at Guan Shan Residence, Ling Rui used to cling to Lian Qing or the Big Boss at bedtime.
Remembering that made Ling Rui’s cheeks flush slightly.
“I’m all grown up now; I can sleep alone,” he said, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Hearing that, Lian Qing smiled but also looked a bit regretful. “In the blink of an eye, you’ve grown so much.”
He truly felt sad for having missed so many of Ling Rui’s important growing-up moments.
“Uncle Lian Qing, if you want, I can sleep with you tonight,” Ling Rui offered, his heart softening when he saw the look in Lian Qing’s eyes.
Lian Qing playfully pinched Ling Rui’s cheek and said, “No need. Our Little Seven is all grown up now, and he can’t sleep with Uncle Lian Qing anymore.”
He continued, offering some advice: “By the way, if anyone ever asks you to sleep with them in the future, remember, you can’t just agree to anyone.”
“Got it?”
Ling Rui nodded. “I know. I won’t sleep with strangers.”
“Not just strangers. Even people you know well shouldn’t be asking you to sleep with them,” Lian Qing emphasized, repeating the point several times.
Back when they lived at Guan Shan Residence, Lian Qing already knew that Little Seven was a very good-looking kid. Now, after all these years, Little Seven wasn’t just a cute child anymore—he had grown into someone whose appearance could make others want to get close to him.
After finishing his lesson, the sky had darkened.
Lian Qing waved them off to bed.
Standing at the door to their adjacent rooms, Ling Rui, who had just been instructed not to let anyone sleep with him, reached out and took Ah Wu’s large hand.
“Ah Wu, can I sleep with you?” he asked.
Uncle Lian Qing had said others couldn’t sleep with him, but he hadn’t said anything about him choosing someone to sleep with!
ZAI ZAI!!!! 🤣