Chapter 41
"From now on, she won't scold you, and I can't scold you either. Not only will you avoid being scolded, but you'll also have a pretty young girl as your teacher, along with me, who’s just here to work for you."
Zheng Fa smiled, "Sounds about right."
"And I, not only do I have to work for you, but I've also lost the joy of scolding you?"
This line of reasoning was so flawless that it left the old man Bai in despair.
"At least you’ve learned your lesson," Zheng Fa patted Bai's shoulder. "Next time, don’t throw a fit about dropping out."
...
Since he needed to teach Tang Lingwu how to practice, Bai's home was no longer suitable.
The group made their way to the small clearing where Bai had witnessed Zheng Fa practicing the Songhe Post.
Bai continued to practice the Songhe Post with a serious expression, much more focused than before.
Zheng Fa stood in front of Tang Lingwu, guiding her stance. They were very close, and the tips of their noses brushed against each other’s hair, which carried a faint, delicate fragrance.
He wasn’t distracted, quickly centering his mind, and soon noticed a difference in this world—after mastering the Linghe Body, whenever he circulated his internal energy, he felt a force in the Xuanwei Realm responding to him.
But in this world, there was none!
This difference made Zheng Fa ponder.
"Zheng Fa, you... smell so good!"
Huh?
Tang Lingwu seemed to think her words were too inappropriate, her gaze darting around.
Zheng Fa's serious eyes fell on her, probing, as if he wanted to see another familiar face in hers:
...Gao Yuan, is that you?
...
"Zheng Fa! I’ve discovered something strange!" Gao Yuan ran up to him, leaning in as if to share a secret.
"Stop, keep your distance," Zheng Fa closed his eyes.
"?"
"I’m not used to you suddenly looking so ugly."
Gao Yuan touched his own confused face, quickly shaking off the bewilderment. He whispered, "I haven’t changed; the Seventh Young Master has!"
"Changed? Changed into what?" Zheng Fa asked, curious.
"Changed to... a bit like me," Gao Yuan scratched his head, struggling to find the right words.
...What a coincidence, I know someone who has also become a bit like you.
---
**Chapter 47: Favor**
Zheng Fa quickly understood why Gao Yuan said the Seventh Young Master had become like him.
That day, the morning light had just begun to illuminate the eaves of the house, and dew still clung to the grass by the roadside.
As Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan entered the study, they found the Seventh Young Master sitting upright, engrossed in a book titled "Complete Explanation of Talismans," diligently sketching with a brush while reading.
Zheng Fa turned to Gao Yuan, who nodded slightly in response.
"How long has he been like this?"
"Two days," Gao Yuan replied.
"This is quite a shock!"
Zheng Fa frowned; the Seventh Young Master’s behavior was indeed abnormal.
Among the three of them, it was hard to say who was the most diligent, but the laziest was definitely the Seventh Young Master.
Usually, when they arrived in the morning, the Seventh Young Master was still in bed, let alone sitting at the table studying so earnestly.
Gao Yuan's description of the Seventh Young Master was quite accurate:
Zheng Fa was used to memorizing what was in the books and then slowly understanding it. To others, it often looked like he was daydreaming rather than reading.
Gao Yuan, on the other hand, liked to ponder deeply over the text, taking notes as he went along, often scratching his head in frustration—just like the Seventh Young Master was doing now.
Bang!
The Seventh Young Master angrily tossed his brush aside, stood up, and glared at the open book, as if he wanted to battle it for three hundred rounds.
After a moment of sulking, he finally noticed Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan at the door.
"Young Master, what’s going on?" Zheng Fa asked.
"Ugh... My mother told me my sister is coming back," the Seventh Young Master sighed.
"Miss? Isn’t she at the Immortal Gate? Why is she coming back?"
Having grown up in the manor, Zheng Fa wasn’t as familiar with the family dynamics as Gao Yuan. It was only through Gao Yuan that he learned about the legendary elder sister of the Seventh Young Master, the current Zhao family’s prodigy, who ranked first among the Zhao family.
"But what does her return have to do with your hard work, Seventh Young Master?" Zheng Fa still didn’t quite understand the change in him.
"Even though my sister went to the Immortal Gate, she writes to my mother every ten days or so, urging her to make sure I study talismans seriously, saying she’ll test me when she returns."
Ah, now it made sense; the Seventh Young Master was experiencing pre-exam anxiety.
"But if she’s going to test you, just let her. Why are you so worried?" Gao Yuan asked.
Zheng Fa understood his point; if the Seventh Young Master had any respect for exams or a sense of shame about his grades, he wouldn’t be the secret disciple of Mr. Shen, whom no one wanted to mention.
"You don’t understand my sister," the Seventh Young Master’s expression turned pained. "When I was a kid, I used to mess around with my brothers in the front courtyard, and my sister found us with a stick and beat them up so badly they couldn’t get out of bed for three days."
"She was only ten at the time."
Zheng Fa had heard some rumors about the Zhao family’s structure. The real power lay with the matriarch, while the front courtyard was under the control of the Zhao family’s patriarch, the Seventh Young Master’s father, who rarely involved himself in family matters.
The front and back courtyards were distinctly separate; the master of the front courtyard was known for his indulgent lifestyle, often lost in wine and women, and had many concubines and illegitimate children.
The Seventh Young Master’s so-called brothers were probably among those, and the "messing around" was likely some internal family antics.
Gao Yuan, who understood the situation better, sighed, "A sister is like a mother; the eldest lady truly cares for the Young Master."
The Seventh Young Master grimaced, "When she returned to the back courtyard, she gave me a beating too. I was bedridden for three months. If she knew I’ve been a bit lazy these past ten years..."
Zheng Fa: ...So she’s a tiger mom. No wonder the Seventh Young Master is so anxious.
...
At lunchtime, Zheng Fa left the study and headed home. Ever since his mother and sister moved to the Zhao manor, he almost always returned home for meals.
Watching his distant figure, the Seventh Young Master let out a soft sigh, leaning back in his chair, seemingly relieved.
"Young Master?" Gao Yuan glanced at him, then at the departing Zheng Fa.
"Gao Yuan..." The Seventh Young Master stood up and walked over to Gao Yuan, patting his shoulder. "I used to be too hard on you."
His sudden display of sincerity left Gao Yuan looking terrified. "Young Master, if the eldest lady wants to hit you, I can’t stop her!"
"Get lost!"
While his gaze lingered on Zheng Fa’s retreating figure, the Seventh Young Master recalled what his mother had said to him earlier.
Zheng Fa... if he didn’t have a Yuanying Zhenren (Nascent Soul True Person) backing him, how could he have cultivated the Linghe Body?
As for why Zheng Fa didn’t tell him, his mother had also mentioned: he’s just a mere mortal, a servant, how could he dare to reveal the whereabouts of a Yuanying Zhenren?
In fact, the Seventh Young Master wasn’t too worried about what the Yuanying Zhenren might want from their family.
The Zhao family really didn’t have anything worth coveting by a Yuanying Zhenren. If there were any intentions, with the strength of a Yuanying Zhenren, why go through so much trouble?
After speculating with his mother for a while, they concluded that the most likely scenario was—Zheng Fa was exceptionally gifted and had caught the eye of the Yuanying Zhenren, who intended to take him as a disciple.
"I used to think you were a bit petty, always wanting to compete with others, full of schemes, not straightforward at all," the Seventh Young Master said with a hint of nostalgia to Gao Yuan. "I really looked down on you a bit."
Gao Yuan: "..."
"Now I finally understand you. Being around Zheng Fa, it’s only natural to have a few schemes of your own."
"Young Master, I’m really not like you say..."
Gao Yuan tried to defend himself.
"Don’t say anything; I get you! Sigh, now that Zheng Fa is valued by the Yuanying... by someone important," the Seventh Young Master caught himself before saying "Yuanying," mumbling instead, "I used to be the Young Master, and he was just a servant. No matter how talented he was, it didn’t matter much to me."
The Seventh Young Master recalled how, no matter how gifted Zheng Fa was, he had always looked down on him with a sense of superiority.
After all, no matter what, Zheng Fa was still his servant. Even if he had the potential to ascend to the Immortal Gate, he still needed the Zhao family to pave the way for him.
But now...
"Now he can easily go to the Immortal Gate, and I suddenly feel so out of place beside him." The Seventh Young Master’s face was filled with conflict. "Just thinking about my sister going to the Immortal Gate and Zheng Fa following her... leaves me all alone. Doesn’t that make me look like a total failure? I haven’t been able to sleep well these past few days!"
Gao Yuan didn’t fully understand, but he grasped one thing.
The Seventh Young Master had become so diligent not only because the eldest lady was returning but also because Zheng Fa’s exceptional talent was making him anxious.
He even didn’t want to be around Zheng Fa anymore!
Feeling the trust and warmth the Seventh Young Master had for himself, which was so different from before, Gao Yuan smiled broadly, his heart uplifted:
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