As in previous years, the Great Ming Palace had also prepared a banquet for this year’s new students of the Academic Palace.
Emperor Yu and the courtiers warmly received the new students from the Academic Palace. They delivered a speech about loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, which sent waves of excitement through the new students. This dispelled any psychological shadows left from the final exams, making them almost wish they could recite the poem "Leading the jade dragon to die for my lord" on the spot.
By the time Li Leqing’s carriage brought Chai Chai back, it was already deep into the night. Rarely staying up late, Li Leqing was both exhausted and sleepy. She said a brief goodbye and returned to the Great Ming Palace.
As for Chai Chai, she was full, tired, and sleepy. Having finally attended a banquet at the Imperial Palace, and honoring the dignity of a food lover, she felt she had to try every dish served at the state banquet.
The result was that she had overeaten and was now burping nonstop.
"Which one of us is taking care of whom, exactly?"
Li Ang helped the intermittently hiccuping Chai Chai sit down and rubbed her belly. He shook his head helplessly. "The pharmacy is closed. Tomorrow, we’ll have to buy some ingredients like Ginseng, dried tangerine peel, yam, and hawthorn."
Being modestly reserved, Chai Chai covered her mouth with her palm, trying to stop the hiccups, but burps still escaped from her stomach.
Blushing, she hastily changed the subject, whispering, "Uh? What do we need these ingredients for?"
"To make digestive tablets."
Li Ang rolled his eyes and said, "They’re specifically for treating a weak spleen and stomach causing food stagnation, loss of appetite, foul sour belching, and abdominal bloating."
"Foul sour belching?"
Chai Chai initially thought Li Ang was implying she had bad breath. She quickly blew into her palm but only smelled the scent of grape juice in her mouth. "There’s no smell."
"If you overeat a few more times and develop gastrointestinal problems, we’ll see if there’s a smell then."
Li Ang stood behind Chai Chai. With four fingers, he gently pressed points by her ears and the sides of her nose. Then, using Telekinesis, he poured a glass of warm water and brought it to her. "Here," he said, "drink it in seven small sips, and don’t breathe while drinking."
Chai Chai followed the instructions exactly. After finishing the water, her hiccups immediately eased a lot. She exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? They really stopped! How did that happen?" Original content can be found at noveⅼfire.net
Li Ang released his hands and casually explained, "Hiccupping is essentially a spasm of the diaphragm. This causes a rapid influx of air into the lungs, bringing the two vocal cords tightly together to produce the hiccup sound. It can be relieved through methods like taking several deep breaths, drinking warm water, repeatedly breathing into a paper bag to re-inhale carbon dioxide, or other ways to ease the diaphragm spasm."
Chai Chai nodded as if she understood. As usual, she automatically ignored strange terms such as ’carbon dioxide’—once she started asking, she would fall into an endless spiral of questions about what causes what.
"By the way, where did we put the household registration papers?" Li Ang casually asked while locking the courtyard gate. "I need them tomorrow."
"In the bottom drawer of the bedside table in the bedroom."
Chai Chai, holding a celadon water cup, curiously asked, "What’s going on? Do you need to modify the household registration?"
"Yes. You’ve been admitted to the Academic Palace, so your registration can no longer list you as a servant. I need to go to Chang’an County to change your registration."
Just as Li Ang finished locking the courtyard gate, he heard a clattering sound. Turning his head, he saw that Chai Chai, startled and astonished, had not held the teacup firmly, allowing it to fall to the ground and shatter into several pieces.
"How careless. You didn’t cut yourself, did you?"
Li Ang used Telekinesis to sweep away the teacup shards from the floor and then got a broom to clean up the tiny fragments.
Chai Chai, supporting herself on the edge of the chair, looked down at the tips of her shoes and asked softly, "Young Master, why do you need to change the registration?"
"After all, we need to consider the reputation of the Academic Palace."
Li Ang cleaned up the shattered teacup pieces, spread his hands, and said, "Academic Palace Disciples could be clerks, merchants, craftsmen, or even farmers, but they absolutely could not serve as servants. Even those predecessors from the Academic Palace who worked for high officials, dignitaries, or noble families held the title of ’Guest Elder.’"
He paused for a moment, scratching his head. "It’s kind of an unspoken rule, I guess. Although there’s no official regulation, if the household registration isn’t changed, there will always be gossip."
Chai Chai nodded slowly, sitting in the chair without uttering a word.
Li Ang curiously asked, "What’s wrong?"
Chai Chai looked up, her shining eyes reflecting Li Ang’s face. "Young Master," she asked, "after my registration is changed, can I still live here?"
"What are you talking about? This is your home. Where else would you move?"
Li Ang smiled and stretched out a finger, lightly flicking Chai Chai’s forehead. "It’s just a change in the registry information. Nothing else changes. It’s still the same as before."
Having said that, he paused.
In Yu Country, the management of household registration was relatively strict; ordinary people might never change their registrations in their lifetime. Furthermore, once a servant under a long-term contract became a free person, it legally meant there was no longer any connection with the former master.
If the household registration is changed, and Chai Chai and I are no longer master and servant, what would our relationship be? Childhood friends? Siblings from different parents? Or...
Li Ang’s hand hovered in mid-air, uncertain whether to pull it back. Ultimately, just as before, he tousled Chai Chai’s bangs amid her protests, laughing as he said, "Alright, don’t think too much. Go wash up and sleep."
Maybe it was because they had spent too much time together and were excessively familiar; Li Ang instinctively didn’t want to think about his future with Chai Chai. Besides, one needed to possess strength before one could change the future. Jun Qianzi, Zhao Ming, Mo Si, Sword Immortal Tomb, Pure Thought Sect... There were too many matters to deal with.
Li Ang finished washing up and lay on his bed. He looked at Chai Chai, who was huddled under her blanket on the other side of the room, only her face visible. He smiled, used Telekinesis to snuff out the candle on the desk, and then focused his consciousness on the Ink Silk Clone.
Inside the mountain caverns east of Chang’an City, the Ink Silk Clone, which had been spread out on the ground, reformed into a human shape. It walked towards a chest in the corner of the cave. The chest was neatly filled with the five hundred taels of Fine Gold, the reward from the Taiyuan Wang Family, which he had sent the Ink Silk Clone to retrieve some time ago.
Li Ang’s own cultivation progress had reached the Mid Stage of the Body Concealing Realm. It was almost time to let Mo Si absorb some of the precious metals.
As Li Ang’s thoughts directed it, the Ink Silk Clone extended a palm. It slowly extracted a stack of Fine Gold ingots from the chest. Threads spreading from its palm quietly sliced the ingots into countless fragments and absorbed them.
Soft slicing sounds echoed through the cave. By the time the stack of Fine Gold ingots completely disappeared, the surface of the Ink Silk Clone’s palm had turned a dark golden color.
A portion of the Mo Si has changed color... Li Ang focused his consciousness, keenly feeling the changes in the Mo Si. This part of the Mo Si—its sensitivity, toughness, and strength—has all improved significantly, almost as if it has evolved. Moreover, compared to before, it is also much denser, allowing for more Mo Si to be compressed into a smaller volume.
He observed the dark gold area on the back of the Ink Silk Clone’s hand, a sense of déjà vu washing over him. If all the Mo Si turned dark gold, perhaps it would become another type of existence...