After driving away Bai Yuexin who stubbornly wanted to stay and have dinner with him and closing the door of the physiotherapy center, Ye Anping went back to the bedroom to revise the things he was going to give to his sister and make calculations.
Spirit stones, pills, talismans, and so on...
When his sister and Feng Yu Die left the Hundred Lotus, he put some things in her storage bag, but two months passed, and they should be almost finished.
His sister was the kind of person who wouldn't ask for anything unless you asked her what she needed.
Take, for example, the mixture of spiritual pills that were practically essential in the stage of Qi Refining cultivation.
He had to give it to her personally after every meal because she wouldn't ask him for it.
Otherwise, every time she finished eating, she would go to the mountains to dig the herbs and boil the medicine by herself rather than take the initiative to mention it to him.
There was even a time in the past when Ye Anping had forgotten that she had run out of fire and water stones, and as a result, in order to save her spirit stones, she went to bathe in the lake of the mountain next to the Hundred Lotus Sect on a daily basis for a few days.
Ye Anping felt somewhat helpless after finding out about this, so now he had to calculate things clearly, lest she did those embarrassing things in order to save spirit stones.
After counting carefully, Ye Anping wrote everything down.
Then, he moved a deck chair to the backyard and sat cross-legged on it to meditate, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon while waiting for his sister to come over.
He didn't know how long it was until suddenly, the sound of footsteps reached his ears.
Ye Anping alertly perked up his ears and deduced that the person's feet were about seven inches long, and it weighed no more than eighty-seven pounds, so he was also a little more at ease.
The next moment, two small hands covered his eyes.
"Brother, guess who I am?"
"Ai---" Ye Anping grabbed her hands and sighed somewhat helplessly. "How could I have such a stupid little sister? You called me brother, then asked me to guess."
"Hehe..."
Pei Lianxue giggled foolishly, then sat directly on the side of the recliner, leaned on his shoulder, and asked. "How long have you been waiting for me, brother?"
"I've waited..." Ye Anping thought for a moment and then saw the half-moon shining brightly above his head.
It turned out that he had been meditating for three hours straight.
It would be dark in a little while.
After a pause, he replied. "It didn't take long. I just closed the shop and rested. Have you and Xiao Yunluo wandered around the market until now?"
"No, we went back to the sect compound after dinner. I took a shower, changed my clothes, and returned here."
With that said, Pei Lianxue shoved her hands in Ye Anping's face.
"Smell it. Does it smell good?"
"Sniff~" Ye Anping brought his nose to the side of her neck and nodded. "Rose dew?"
Pei Lianxue blushed but didn't shy away and replied absent-mindedly. "So it's called rose dew? Sister Xiao gave me a bottle and said it would smell good after pouring in the bathtub, so I tried it."
Ye Anping smiled wryly; the market price of rose dew was five or six hundred spirit stones, which was considered a luxury.
From the intensity of the scent he smelled, if his sister had a bottle, she must have poured more than half of it. It almost smelled like a blooming Snow Pear.
However, hearing what Pei Lianxue said, he suddenly felt a little nervous again.
This Xiao Yunluo had lived a luxurious life since she was born. Now that she had become friends with his sister, if she had also gotten used to this life in the future, how would he be able to support her?
It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality!
However, seeing that she seemed very happy, Ye Anping could not spoil her fun. He only hoped she would be sensible and not become a four-legged gold-swallowing beast*.
Ye Anping then stood up. "Sit down and let me massage your feet."
"Oh..."
"I'll take this opportunity to check if you have been lazy in the past two months, or have you practiced with the sword and meditated on time every day?"
"Of course I did."
Ye Anping smiled and went to the room to bring a wooden basin, filled it with hot water, knelt down on one knee beside the recliner, and lifted his sister's little feet before taking off her embroidered shoes and socks.
Just like in the past, after soaking them in hot water for a while, Ye Anping held her feet in his palms, circulated his spiritual power to the tip of his thumb, and gently moved it along the meridians at the center of her foot.
Usually, entertaining customers who came to the physiotherapy center was about earning spirit stones, so the guests' comfort was the highest priority.
But when treating his sister, Ye Anping used more strength and spiritual power.
This way of unblocking the meridians was actually very dangerous, equivalent to using a small knife to remove those excess lumps in the meridians and cleansing the blood vessels, and the slightest carelessness could result in the destruction of the meridians.
But his younger sister grew up under his watch, so he knew exactly how many energy clogs were inside her meridians.
After massaging her for a while, he saw Pei Lianxue holding her skirt tightly with her small hands, gritting her teeth, and forcibly restraining her expression, so he spoke to distract her attention. "Does it hurt?"
"I'm getting used to it, it's fine."
"Just bear with it for a little while."
...
After about a quarter of an hour of massage, Pei Lianxue's forehead was covered in cold sweat. After Ye Anping let go of her feet, she let out a big breath of relief.
Sitting on the recliner with her knees bent, she hugged her legs, put her chin on her knees, and looked at her brother with a sweet smile.
"Brother, how did you know that Sister Bai?"
Ye Anping poured the foot-washing water under the willow tree in the backyard and replied. "She helped me with the shop's application form."
"And then?"
"Then?" Ye Anping sat back down next to Pei Lianxue. "Then, you and Feng Yu Die beat her to the point of depression at the sword test, so I comforted her for a bit, and then we got to know each other. And she started to come over to help voluntarily when she is free."
"So... do you want to marry her?"
?
Ye Anping glanced at her and wondered. "Why are you thinking so far ahead? What does this have to do with marriage?"
"Ah... well..." Pei Lianxue looked away nervously and said, "A single man and a single woman staying together like this, doesn't that mean you want to marry her?"
Ye Anping raised his eyebrows and retorted. "Why would it mean that? We also used to be together every day."
"..."
What's that supposed to mean?!
Pei Lianxue buried her face in her thighs, hooked her locks with her index finger, and rubbed her huddled little feet against each other.
She was both relieved and unsettled...
She felt relieved because her brother's remark seemed to affirm that he was not interested in that sister Bai.
But if that's what he meant, did that mean he's not interested in her either?
After hesitating, Pei Lianxue plucked up the courage to ask. "So... you won't marry?"--- she was asking, thinking of herself.
"Of course not."--- Ye Anping answered, thinking of Bai Yuexin.
"..."
Pei Lianxue lowered her head with eyes full of disappointment.
Seeing that the sky was darkening, Ye Anping prepared to send Pei Lianxue back.
He went to his bedroom, put the things he had prepared before into a storage bag, and gave it to Pei Lianxue.
"Apart from the elixirs you usually take every day, there are also two thousand spirit stones in this bag."
"Two... two thousand?!" Pei Lianxue took the storage bag in fear and took a look inside.
"Well, it's your tuition fees. You entered the Black Star Sect as a companion, so you have to pay tuition fees. When the selection exam results come out, you will pay the spirit stones to the main peak. In addition, there are food expenses and the like. You don't have to save too much; when you finish these, come to me and let me know. I can afford to support you to cultivate in the Black Star Sect."
"...Then, won't I owe you a lot of money again?"
"What do you owe? I am willing to give them to you."
Ye Anping smiled helplessly, it seemed that when he joked with her last time, she took it seriously, so he quickly explained. "Last time, when I said you spent your brother's money, I was just joking with you. I am not that stingy. Don't think about paying me back. Cultivating hard is the reward I want from you."
"...Oh."
"Okay, it's getting late. Go back to the compound. If I want to find you in the future, I will ask sister Bai to call you as I can't enter the mountain gate."
Pei Lianxue grabbed the corner of Ye Anping's clothes and said, "Brother, I want to spend more time with you. I haven't seen you in two months."
"Hey, you're almost fifteen. Why are you still acting like a baby?"
Looking at her, Ye Anping shook his head, sighed, and patted her head.
Pei Lianxue puffed up her cheeks. "So what if I act like a baby? Can't I?"
"Of course, of course. How can a big brother not let his little sister act like a spoiled baby? Come on, I'll show you around the city."