Chapter 33 Nostalgia

Contrary to what Xue Qingdai had imagined, the gentle and pleading tone from the letters sent by her senior brother and sister didn’t match reality at all. Seeing them in person gave her the distinct feeling of raw strength and a dangerous air about them. As the saying goes, “where there are people, there’s a jianghu.”

Her master had a kindly appearance and had always doted on her because of her young age. Xue Qingdai had originally planned to learn from them for a while and then quietly slip away. But the senior brother and sister were clearly a different matter.

Looking at senior sister in her white robe with strong, toned forearms and senior brother in black robes, veins bulging from his forehead… she realized—if she couldn’t beat them, she’d better join them. She gave up on trying to be the boss and sniffled inwardly.

In a sweet voice, she greeted:
“Good morning, Master.”
“Hello, Senior Sister.”
“Hello, Senior Brother.”

She bent down in a respectful bow, then stood up straight. Her innocent face, porcelain-like fair skin, and bright apricot eyes radiated a pure, harmless charm. She earnestly took up the posture of the obedient junior disciple.

Shen Shichun gently patted her head, not hiding the deep fondness in her eyes.
“You didn’t tell us the junior sister was…”—this pretty and adorable! Fan Hua thought.

She looked like a fragile porcelain doll. What if she accidentally broke her during bone setting practice?

“I’m Fan Hua—just call me Sister Hua. I specialize in massage, bone-setting, and manual therapy.”

Xue Qingdai shook her hand and immediately felt the strength radiating from her. Definitely the brute-force type.

Senior brother Yang Lin, wearing transparent glasses, walked over steadily from the medicine cabinet, footsteps silent.
“Qingdai, it’s our first meeting, so I didn’t prepare much. Here—take this pearl bracelet.”

“These are freshly stocked medicinal pearls, large and translucent. With your fair skin, they’ll look great on you.”

As she accepted the bracelet, she immediately assessed it for its medicinal value—as a true student of medicine would.

Then she heard Yang Lin’s soft voice say:
“I don’t have any special talents, but I do have endless patience for my junior sister. I even have lots of beauty formulas perfect for young girls. Learning to mix medicines is much easier than acupuncture, you know.”

Surrounded on both sides by her enthusiastic senior siblings, Xue Qingdai finally understood what all this warmth was about. They were fighting over who got to teach her—because they both wanted to save her from the difficulty of acupuncture.

Acupuncture was indeed a craft that required intense focus—fast, accurate, and precise. There were said to be 720 acupoints in the human body: 52 single points, 309 symmetrical ones, and 50 extra-meridian ones. Every single needle had to hit exactly right.

She’d tested them all on herself countless times during her studies. Each step had been a hard-won journey, and acupuncture held a unique place in her heart.

She was best at acupuncture but had also learned other techniques. Just not as well as a specialist. Still, she wouldn’t abandon her roots—but she could play peacemaker. After all, her senior brother and sister were only thinking of her well-being.

“Senior brother,” she smiled sweetly, “I’ve learned a few acupuncture techniques recently. Want to try one? I’ve got one for headaches.”

“And Sister Hua, your wrist has some dark bruising. Let me give you a few needles—that’ll help with the circulation.”

Fan Hua looked down and realized, yes, her wrist was a bit bruised. She never paid attention to these little injuries after practicing martial arts, but junior sister had noticed right away.

Yang Lin often strained his eyes while mixing medicine and subconsciously rubbed his temples—a detail junior sister had also caught.

The two of them were momentarily stunned—she’d only just started learning, and she already nailed their symptoms. Whether her needlework was accurate or not was yet to be seen, but her observational skills were outstanding for a new student.

Yang Lin smiled, “Junior sister is more attentive than me. Go ahead and try later. I’ll give you some of my all-natural herbal hair tonic to take home, too.”

Fan Hua realized she had nothing to give except her strength. Wanting junior sister to feel happy, she added, “I know massage. Let me work on you later—small aches and pains go away real quick with a good push.”

Shen Shichun, who had been watching quietly from the side, gave a warm, contented smile.
“You two should have more confidence in your junior sister. She’s more diligent than either of you when it comes to studying. She’s clever—learns theory and puts it into practice right away.”

“You two needed constant nagging back then just to get your noses in a book.”

“Only she could master acupuncture. You two can’t do it—your minds wander too much.”

“One minute it’s internal energy practice, the next minute it’s sparring—you scared off so many patients that way.”

Fan Hua and Yang Lin both ran to her side, each tugging on one of her arms.
“Master!”
“Maaaaster~!”

Half of Shen Shichun’s calmness came from age, the other half from needing absolute focus to diagnose patients properly.

When she first took in these two troublemakers, she hadn’t spared the rod—discipline was strict.

But this little disciple—Xue Qingdai—was so perfect it made her nervous.

She flipped through medical texts like they were light reading, and Shen Shichun had tested her on several books’ contents. Not only could she answer flawlessly, but she also offered her own insights—practical, reasoned, and spot on.

To have such a prodigy in her care made Shen Shichun nervous. One wrong step, and she could ruin her future. But if she raised her well, it would all be worth it.

“Alright, stop making a fool of yourselves. The two of you together are almost as old as I am, and still not half as mature as your little junior sister.”

Xue Qingdai, who used to be the local village tyrant: “…???”
Me? Mature?

She quietly sat down to read, only for Fan Hua to slam a thirty-jin (15 kg) sword down in front of her.

“Junior sister, I don’t have anything fancy to give you. Unlike Yang Lin with his sweet words, I only have this treasured sword—it’s yours now.”

…She had absolutely no use for this!

“Senior sister, I really can’t take this. I actually really admire your strong muscles. If I get bullied in the future, you can just show up and scare everyone off for me, okay?”

Senior Sister Fan Hua patted her chest. “Of course! I must protect our little junior sister.”

“Let me cook something good for you. My dad used to be a restaurant chef. How about iron pot stewed goose?”

Before Xue Qingdai could even respond, Fan Hua had already pulled a large black iron pot out from behind the medicine cabinet, easily waving a big ladle in her hand.

“We’ll add green beans, potatoes, eggplant, and stick a few cornmeal cakes around the side. Pork belly with just the right fat-to-lean ratio, big chunks of firm goose meat—so fragrant.”

“And we’ll throw in some dried beans too. There’s also sweet potato vermicelli at home. Stew it all together with my dad’s secret sauce. The cornmeal cakes are crispy when they’re fresh off the pan—or you can dip them in the broth.”

Listening to her senior sister’s vivid description, Xue Qingdai was already swallowing hungrily and nodding her head furiously. Goose and pork? So generous!

She had only intended to come learn the craft, but unexpectedly not only did her master remember to give her drumsticks, even her senior brother and sister were so kind and warm. Her heart felt cozy and full—it didn’t even feel like winter outside anymore.

Still, what she missed most was that warm room back in Pengyang Village, the one filled with love, and the family who constantly wanted to protect her. She had more people to worry about now. She wondered if her mother, Yang Xiaomin, was taking her medicine on time, or if Grandpa’s knees were feeling any better.

Being far from home, the hardest thing to overcome… was homesickness.

Her third brother hadn’t arrived to pick her up on time, so Xue Qingdai wandered aimlessly around the flower bed near the clinic out of boredom.

Meanwhile, Xie Yan hadn’t seen Xue Qingdai all day and had come out early to wait for her. He spotted her small figure squatting by the flower bed pulling weeds—so different from ordinary girls.

“Qingdai, what are you doing?”

Xue Qingdai looked up at Xie Yan against the light. She couldn’t even see his expression clearly, but somehow she just knew—he was definitely smiling at her.

Wasn’t male lead Xie Yan supposed to be all aloof and cold? Since when were his smiles this cheap?

Her legs were numb from squatting too long, and she tilted backwards slightly, still holding the herb she’d found by chance. Xie Yan caught her from behind.

“Stand up slowly.”

His hand was firmly at her waist. As she steadied herself, Xue Qingdai met Xie Yan’s deep, dark eyes.

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Xue Qingdai rarely dared to look directly into Xie Yan’s eyes, afraid her feelings would be exposed.

Now, looking into his intense black pupils, her heart thumped wildly.

When Xie Yan gazed at someone with such depth… it really did stir something in her.

Of course, since he was holding her so closely, she was the only one his eyes could reflect.

“Xie Yan, if my third brother asks you about our secret, remember to say there isn’t one.”

“And we’re heading back home soon. Remember to—”

Before she could finish, Xie Yan clamped his big hand over her mouth, as if he already knew exactly what she was about to say.