Chapter 52
Chapter 52
Xia Sheng cut through the crowd and walked up to him under the curious stares of everyone around them.
“You only brought one umbrella?”
Shen Yanchen’s expression didn’t change. “Mm. This was the only one in the car.”
Even if there had been others, he had taken care of them in advance.
Hearing that, Xia Sheng didn’t say anything more. “Then let’s go.”
Shen Yanchen nodded and walked with her to the entrance. He opened the umbrella, and the two of them stepped side by side into the curtain of rain.
The rain was rather heavy today. Almost the instant they left the shelter of the teaching building, rain splattered onto Shen Yanchen’s trouser legs, turning the fabric a deep black.
After they went down the steps, muddy droplets even splashed onto them.
The stains didn’t match his refined, distinguished air in the slightest.
Xia Sheng couldn’t help saying, “Actually, you could’ve just had Lu Ren come pick me up.”
Shen Yanchen lowered his eyes to look at her. “Why?”
Xia Sheng fell silent.
She wasn’t sure why she had suddenly said that either.
After a few seconds, she finally found a suitable answer. “That suit of yours can’t be cheap. If it gets dirty, the dry-cleaning fee will be expensive.”
Shen Yanchen was visibly startled for a moment, then let out a low laugh.
“It’s fine. It won’t cost much.”
The two of them were sharing one umbrella, their arms almost touching.
When the man laughed, the vibration in his chest traveled through his shoulder. A faint, subtle itch stirred in Xia Sheng’s heart.
Shen Yanchen’s car was parked at the school gate, and it took them nearly ten minutes to get there.
After getting in the car, Xia Sheng said to the man seated beside her, “Next time, you can just drive the car straight onto the road beside the teaching building. Our school allows cars from outside to enter.”
After walking in the rain for so long, both of their trouser legs were basically soaked.
Shen Yanchen said calmly, “I didn’t know before. I’ll keep it in mind next time.”
Sitting in the driver’s seat, Lu Ren almost couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes.
Didn’t know, my foot.
He had clearly reminded him!
His Ninth Master really was getting addicted to tricking the Little Celestial Master!
It was only because the Little Celestial Master was so pure-minded that she hadn’t seen through his Ninth Master’s little schemes.
The car started. Xia Sheng opened her slightly damp backpack and took out the books inside so they wouldn’t get soaked and ruined.
At the very bottom of the bag was the medicine she had refined last night. She took it out casually and asked Shen Yanchen, “The Great Tonic Pill I told you about the day before yesterday is ready. Do you want to try it?”
“Sure.”
After getting an affirmative answer, Xia Sheng poured a pill out of the bottle and handed it to Shen Yanchen.
“For now, I don’t have a good grasp on how much ginseng root fiber to add, and I don’t know whether the medicinal effect is too strong or too weak.
“But this medicine has no side effects, so you can eat it without worry. Give me feedback after you take it in a bit, and I’ll see whether I should add a little more ginseng root fiber later or a little less.”
Shen Yanchen nodded, took the pill from her hand, and swallowed it with water.
The pill was faintly bitter as it entered his mouth. Shen Yanchen didn’t bite into it and swallowed it directly.
Very soon, he felt a stream of heat spread through his intestines, slowly expanding to his limbs and bones.
In the end, it gathered in a certain place.
Sensing that something was wrong with his body, Shen Yanchen’s expression shifted slightly. Only then did he realize exactly what aspect Xia Sheng had meant when she said “tonic.”
The last time he told the little girl he was physically weak, could she have misunderstood and thought he was incapable?
At that thought, Shen Yanchen’s expression darkened a little.
The problem was, this was something he had no way to prove to the little girl directly. He could only let her keep misunderstanding.
After so many years dominating the business world, this was the first time Shen Ninth Master truly understood what it meant to feel aggrieved.
Feeling his body grow increasingly off, Shen Yanchen said in a low voice, “Stop the car.”
Lu Ren was caught so off guard that he slammed on the brakes.
“Ninth Master, what’s wrong?”
Shen Yanchen didn’t answer. He simply pulled open the car door, got out, and moved into the front passenger seat.
Xia Sheng asked in confusion, “Uncle Nine, why did you suddenly move up front?”
The rain outside still hadn’t stopped. Just from changing seats, Shen Yanchen got a little wetter.
His voice was slightly hoarse. “The view is better up front.”
Lu Ren found his master’s answer rather strange and turned his head to glance at Shen Yanchen.
His eyes drifted downward-and then he saw something he absolutely should not have seen.
Good heavens!
They were on the road!
How had this man suddenly gotten so… so…
Was it just because the Little Celestial Master had been sitting beside him that the Ninth Master ended up like this?
What a beast!
Lu Ren had never seen such an “impressive” situation in his life. Stammering, he reminded him, “N-Ninth Master, the Little Celestial Master only just came of age this year. She’s only eighteen…”
“I know.” Shen Yanchen’s expression was dark.
A piece of meat had delivered itself to his door, but he could only look and not eat.
If he hadn’t been afraid of scaring the little girl, why would he have gone to the trouble of changing seats in the rain?
“Drive.”
Lu Ren also realized that his master had suddenly moved to the passenger seat to keep the Little Celestial Master from noticing his abnormal state, so he said nothing more and continued driving.
Xia Sheng listened to their baffling exchange, unable to figure out what they were talking about.
“Assistant Lu, what are you two talking about?”
Lu Ren wiped the sweat from his forehead and said awkwardly, “Nothing. I just suddenly wanted to confirm how old you are this year, Little Celestial Master.”
Xia Sheng answered honestly, “I’m eighteen this year.”
“Oh, oh, got it. Got it. Eighteen. Eighteen.”
As Lu Ren spoke, he kept glancing at Shen Yanchen, repeatedly reminding him of the Little Celestial Master’s age.
Shen Yanchen had no attention to spare for him. He leaned back against the seat with his eyes closed, the veins at his temples bulging as he desperately endured something.
More than ten minutes had passed since Shen Yanchen swallowed that pill, yet Xia Sheng still hadn’t heard any feedback from him. She took the initiative to ask, “Uncle Nine, how do you feel now? Is the medicine working?”
Shen Yanchen opened his eyes. His voice was low and hoarse as he said with difficulty, “I’m not sure.”
Xia Sheng pressed, “Does that mean it hasn’t taken effect yet?”
“…Mm.”
“So my medicine failed? But I clearly prepared it according to the prescription Master left behind. It’s specifically meant to replenish yang and treat kidney deficiency. It shouldn’t be ineffective…”
As Xia Sheng muttered to herself, Lu Ren listened to their conversation with his heart pounding wildly.
It seemed that although the Little Celestial Master knew a bit about this subject, her understanding wasn’t exactly accurate.
She didn’t even know what it looked like when the deficiency was fixed.
“Little Celestial Master, didn’t you say before that the Ninth Master has Baleful Qi on him? Is it possible that because he has Baleful Qi, ordinary medicine doesn’t work on him, so that’s why it had no effect?”
“Is that so?”
Xia Sheng didn’t know anyone else who was born with Baleful Qi, so for the moment, she couldn’t tell whether the medicine simply didn’t work on Shen Yanchen or truly had no effect at all.
Lu Ren hurriedly nodded. “It must be. Why don’t you find someone else to test the medicine on?”
No sooner had he finished speaking than he felt Xia Sheng’s gaze land on his back.
Goosebumps rose all over Lu Ren. He quickly said, “Little Celestial Master, I’m in perfectly good health. You’d be better off finding someone who actually needs it to test the medicine. Otherwise, it’s easy to overdo the supplements.”
After saying that, he shot his master a sympathetic look.
There was a living, breathing example of someone who had been over-supplemented right here.