Chapter 53
"That's right," Zheng Fa nodded.
"Give me another difficult question!"
Zheng Fa: "..."
He wrote down another problem.
"Is there anything else?"
"......"
"One last question!"
"......"
"Question!"
Faced with the insatiable girl, Zheng Fa rubbed his forehead, feeling as if his mind had gone blank.
For the first time, he encountered an addict who could drain others dry!
...
Miss Zhao rushed to the Seventh Young Master’s courtyard after meeting with her mother.
"Zhao Jingfan!"
She burst into the Seventh Young Master's study, shouting loudly.
At the desk, a disheveled head lifted in confusion.
"Where's Zhao Jingfan?" the young lady asked.
"Big sis?"
"Who are you? Zhao Jingfan!" The young lady widened her eyes, staring at the somewhat familiar face before her. "What happened to you?"
"Big sis! You finally came!" The Seventh Young Master rushed over, grabbing his sister's arm, ready to cry. "I called for you before, why didn’t you respond?"
The young lady extended a hand, pushing away the snot-covered face of the Seventh Young Master, seemingly afraid that his tears and mucus would stain her clothes.
She looked him up and down, frowning as if she couldn't recognize him.
"Are you really my brother?"
"Big sis! After all these years, you’ve forgotten my face?" The Seventh Young Master felt a bit hurt.
"I can recognize that ugly face of yours," the young lady shook her head, glancing at the desk piled high with talismans. "But I can’t recognize you working so hard at studying!"
Upon hearing this, the Seventh Young Master felt even more aggrieved.
"Big sis! I was calling for you to save me, and you only just arrived!" he complained. "Zheng Fa is forcing me to study these talismans with the rattan stick mom gave him... If you had come back two days later, I would have either died or gone crazy!"
"I didn’t know you were suffering so much..."
The young lady shook her head regretfully.
"If I had known, would you have come back sooner to save me?" The Seventh Young Master asked hopefully.
"If I had known, I would have stayed at Qingmu Sect a few more days!" The young lady sighed, patting the Seventh Young Master on the shoulder. "Mom said Zheng Fa is talented, and I didn’t believe it at first, but now I do. He has done great things for our Zhao family and deserves a reward!"
The Seventh Young Master: "?"
"Enough! Forget about Zheng Fa for now. I’ve brought back Sister Zhang for you. She’s an expert in talisman arts, and you need to learn from her properly over the next two months, got it?" The young lady got down to business.
"An expert in talisman arts?" The Seventh Young Master looked a bit confused, turning to the unfinished talismans on the desk. "What about these talismans?"
"Don’t worry about those!" The young lady waved her hand. "I’ll take you to listen to Sister Zhang’s teachings. It’ll definitely be better than how you’re learning now. With her guidance, you’ll improve much faster!"
The Seventh Young Master began to understand. "So, I don’t need Zheng Fa to teach me anymore, and Sister Zhang will teach me instead?"
"Exactly!" The young lady smiled and asked, "Doesn’t that mean you can escape this sea of suffering? Aren’t you happy?"
"I’m not going!" To her surprise, the Seventh Young Master, who had just been lamenting, flatly refused.
---
Chapter 60: No Love for Laughter
"You’re not going?" The young lady narrowed her eyes, looking at her brother, speaking each word slowly. "I went through so much trouble, leveraging our family connections to bring Sister Zhang back for you, and you say you’re not going? I’m giving you a chance to answer again!"
"I’m not going!" The Seventh Young Master shrank his neck, still refusing.
"Zhao! Jing! Fan!" The young lady clenched her fists. "Don’t make me come back and hit you!"
Hearing that familiar cadence, the Seventh Young Master seemed to recall some painful memories, his voice dropping significantly. "Zheng Fa brings back a pile of books every day, staying up late to draw these talismans for me..."
The young lady’s expression froze for a moment, her anger slowly dissipating as she seemed taken aback by his reason.
Listening to the Seventh Young Master continue, "He’s working so hard. If I stop letting him teach me now, won’t he feel like all his efforts were in vain? Wouldn’t he think I look down on him? I can’t be so ungrateful!"
"This is your reason?"
The Seventh Young Master nodded, his tone a bit gloomy. "If it weren’t for how hard he’s working, I would have run away long ago. A little rattan stick can’t stop me!"
The young lady looked at her brother, her anger gradually fading, replaced by a hint of a smile. "It’s been ten years since we last met, and I was worried you’d grown up wrong. But it seems you’re more sensible than I thought."
"I’m not stupid. I know who treats me well," the Seventh Young Master huffed proudly at his sister’s praise. "Anyway, let Zheng Fa teach me! I think I’m making great progress! I don’t want that Sister Zhang!"
Seeing him like this, the young lady softened her tone. "He may be struggling, but don’t throw a tantrum. Learning from Sister Zhang will be better for you!"
"No!"
"Zhao Jingfan! Do you really think you’ve grown up enough to ignore my words?" The young lady saw that he was unyielding and clearly was getting angry. She glanced around, picked up the rattan stick Zheng Fa had left behind, and pretended to discipline her brother.
"Even if you beat me and I have to lie in bed for three more months, I still won’t go!" The Seventh Young Master said defiantly.
Looking at her brother who was standing his ground, the young lady raised the rattan stick. The Seventh Young Master closed his eyes, not flinching or dodging.
With a flick of her wrist, the rattan stick struck his arm.
"Ouch!" The Seventh Young Master cried out, his tone pitiful.
"Enough! What are you pretending for? You’ve always been like this. You scream before the stick even touches you, and there’s not a mark on your backside, but your voice is hoarse." The young lady rolled her eyes.
"Big sis! I knew you wouldn’t hit me hard!" The Seventh Young Master chuckled.
"You..." The young lady tossed the rattan stick aside, shaking her head. "Whether you learn from Sister Zhang or not is not up to you. This is about whether you can pass the Immortal Quality Conference and enter the Immortal Gate."
After seeing the Seventh Young Master about to speak again, the young lady continued, "This time, the standards for the Immortal Quality Conference are stricter than before. Dual spirit roots might not even qualify as top quality."
The Seventh Young Master’s expression shifted slightly.
"If you can’t pass the Immortal Quality Conference to enter Qingmu Sect, then I can only use my personal quota to take you with me." The young lady looked at him. "At that time, the quota promised to Zheng Fa by our mother can only go to you, not him. Do you understand?"
The Seventh Young Master fell silent, and the young lady knew he had taken her words to heart.
"Go learn well from Sister Zhang. If you successfully enter the Immortal Gate, he can also be brought to Qingmu Sect by me. It’s good for you and for him."
After a long pause, she finally saw her brother nodding. Just as she was about to give him a reassuring smile, the Seventh Young Master said:
"But I need to go tell Zheng Fa first, so he doesn’t misunderstand!"
"......"
As they walked along the path to the Zheng family’s small courtyard, the young lady furrowed her brow and asked her brother, "As soon as I returned, I kept hearing Zheng Fa’s name. It’s like there’s no one else in the house. Mother mentioned him to me, and you value him so much. Who exactly is he?"
"Zheng Fa..." The Seventh Young Master scratched his head, seemingly unsure how to describe him. After a long pause, he finally spoke:
"He’s really smart. He started learning talismans from me, and in half a month, he learned more than I did in years."
The young lady nodded. "Anything else?"
"Also, he has good martial arts talent. Mother gave him 'Linghe Body,' saying no one from the mundane world could possibly master it, but he did."
The young lady remained expressionless, only saying, "Is that all? Is that why you care so much?"
"He’s not very respectful to me, not like a servant at all... but he treats me well," the Seventh Young Master said, pursing his lips. "Mother has plotted against him and scared him, but it was all for my sake. He’s so smart; he shouldn’t be unable to see through it."
"But he never took his anger out on me. He still stays up late to draw talismans for me and is willing to teach me those secret methods..." The Seventh Young Master turned back, grinning at his sister. "Big sis, don’t worry. Your brother has grown up; he’s really not stupid."
The young lady sighed. "You’ve always had a nature of wanting those you love to live and those you hate to die. Haven’t you suffered enough because of that? How can I not worry?"
The Seventh Young Master pouted, wanting to argue.
"What kind of person Zheng Fa is, you don’t get to decide. I’ll see for myself," the young lady said, not commenting on whether she believed her brother. "Just know that whether he treats you well or poorly, he’s just one of the Zhao family’s servants."
"Big sis?"
"The Zhao family may seem large, but compared to Qingmu Sect, what is it? Compared to the Hundred Immortal Alliance? Compared to the entire cultivation world?" The young lady turned to her brother. "His talent might be outstanding in the Zhao family, but how does it compare to those geniuses in the cultivation world? Not to mention, in front of Sister Zhang, his talents are insignificant."
The Seventh Young Master stared at her in a daze.
"The cultivation world is vast. Perhaps when you go, you’ll find that Zheng Fa is nothing special, just like I once fantasized about being exceptionally gifted..."
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