The Silly Child Who Starved to Death

On the way back to Danfeng, Qin Ran felt a strange feeling in his heart. It was probably because there was someone waiting for him to come home, and it was a woman...a girl. This feeling was really wonderful. It even made his footsteps lighter as he walked on the stone road in the Danfeng Forest. In his heart, he unexpectedly felt a longing for home...something he had not felt for many years.

But when he walked out of the forest and stood at the edge, looking at the muddy figure in the middle of the lawn ahead, his excitement instantly calmed down.

Li Shiyin was very well-behaved and obedient. As soon as she received the order, she would not slack off. In just one day, she had dug a very large pit out of thin air. And she did not dig in the wrong place either. After all, she had only been digging for one day, so even if she was off, it would not be by much.

However...

Qin Ran sat on the grass at the edge of the pit, looking at the lifeless muddy figure next to him. He thought of the coldly beautiful Tian Wenjin. Why did he think this silly, dirty girl could form a peerless double beauty with her?!!!

"Have you eaten lunch?" he asked.

Li Shiyin's whole body ached. She felt like she couldn't even lift a finger and weakly replied, "Master, you weren't here, so where could I go eat?"

"Hmm?" Qin Ran only felt his blood pressure rising.

So this silly girl didn't even know how to cook. There were so many things in the fridge in the kitchen, all kinds of mountain delicacies, seafood, exotic beasts and the like, yet she didn't know how to cook and had not eaten lunch!

Heavens!

It was settled then, he should send her away. Otherwise, sooner or later she would anger him to death.

Jianfeng Sect? No no no, she was too silly, unworthy of learning the sword. It would be better to find a physique cultivation sect, that would suit her well.

"There is a story from my hometown..." Qin Ran also lay down, looking at the clouds in the sky, and slowly said,

"A family had a silly son. Once, when the parents had to go away on a long trip, worried that their silly son would starve to death at home without food, they made him a very large pancake and hung it around his neck, so that as long as he lowered his head, he could eat the pancake and not go hungry. But when they returned after their trip, they found that their son had still starved to death. Do you know why?"

Li Shiyin thought about it carefully, and asked, "Was it because the pancake wasn't enough to eat?"

"Sigh..." Qin Ran lightly exhaled, trying hard to keep his blood pressure down, and said, "It was because he was a fool who only knew to eat the front and did not know to eat the back."

"Oh!" Li Shiyin tilted her head and suddenly understood, "Oh oh... I see, Master, you're saying I'm silly! There's food in the kitchen but I don't know how to cook."

Qin Ran was silent, because he didn't know what to say. Should he praise her for being smart?

The master and disciple lay stretched out on the grass for a good while. Suddenly, Li Shiyin's stomach let out a "gulu gulu" sound. She was actually a little embarrassed and weakly said, "Mas...Master...I'm hungry..."

Qin Ran closed his eyes, and finally got up to head towards the residence. He said to Li Shiyin, "I'll go cook, you go take a bath."

Li Shiyin obeyed and scrambled up to follow behind Qin Ran.

After dinner, Qin Ran went to the storage room and rummaged around, taking out a large wooden bucket, the kind used for soaking baths.

Before the bathtub was built in the bathroom, he liked to use this bucket to soak in. Now he took it out to prepare for Li Shiyin to use.

Carrying the bucket, he went out to the riverbank to rinse it with river water.

Seeing this, Li Shiyin ran over curiously, "Master, why are you washing this?"

"For you to soak in and bathe," Qin Ran replied casually while controlling the water flow.

"Ah?" Li Shiyin didn't quite understand. "Isn't there a bathtub in the bathroom?"

"Medicated bath," Qin Ran explained.

"Oh!" Now Li Shiyin understood a bit. She had dug a whole lake yesterday and her whole body now ached. No wonder the master, as a proper alchemist, would use medicines to aid in cultivation. It made perfect sense.

She watched as Qin Ran controlled the water flow, washing the inside and outside of the wooden bucket clean. Suddenly, she remembered something and looked towards the storage room, asking, "Master, is that a flying sword in the storage room?"

"Which one?" Qin Ran was so startled he almost dropped the bucket into the river.

"That big iron sword with guard rails." Li Shiyin gestured as she spoke.

"What guard rail big iron sword, and flying sword..." Qin Ran pretended to stay calm. "You're so young but your eyes are already no good, you're seeing things!"

"No..." Li Shiyin argued and ran into the storage room to look, but after circling around, she couldn't find the big flying sword with guard rails she had seen during the day. She ran out again, scratching her head in confusion, "How come it's gone?"

Qin Ran heaved half a sigh of relief and said, "Didn't I say you saw wrong?"

He rinsed the bucket clean, then carried it to Li Shiyin's room, moving the table to the window and placing the bucket in the middle of the room.

"Why put it right in the middle?" Seeing Qin Ran carefully measuring the position, Li Shiyin curiously asked again.

Really, this girl with learning disabilities asked too many questions. Li Shiyin's ten thousand whys.

Qin Ran kept a wooden face and replied, "Although it's useless now, when your foundation is built and your cultivation level is higher, medicated baths will need to be used together with spell formations to be effective."

"Oh!" Li Shiyin nodded. The master was thinking so far ahead.

"Alright, come with me..." Qin Ran put the bucket in place and secured it, calling Li Shiyin to go with him.

Going downstairs, Qin Ran fitted Li Shiyin with a pair of water shoulder poles, then led her towards the research building.

He had Li Shiyin wait downstairs in the pill refining room while he went upstairs to gather medicines. Soon he came down holding piles of medicinal ingredients.

There was a pill furnace in the pill refining room with earth fire burning beneath. Although Qin Ran mostly used water refining methods, fire refining pills was more orthodox and he naturally also studied it.

Moreover, pill furnaces were mostly used for fire refining pills, as fire refining allowed for more versatility in techniques.

As Qin Ran refined pills, he also taught Li Shiyin, explaining to her what each medicinal ingredient was called and what effects it had, when to put it in the furnace, when to use water refining, and when to use fire refining. He explained everything to her in detail.

Clearly though, it was in one ear and out the other for Li Shiyin. In just over ten minutes refining a bath of medicinal liquids, she nearly fell asleep listening.

After refining the medicine, it was all poured into the bucket. Li Shiyin carried it herself from the research building back to the residence.

"Soak yourself..." Qin Ran poured the medicine into the wooden bucket, adding in a few more supplemental medicines that didn't need refining. He said to Li Shiyin, "Soak for as long as you feel necessary. Note that first, don't drown..."

"How could I drown from taking a bath?" Li Shiyin laughed.

"I'm telling you to listen, interrupting someone is very rude." Qin Ran glared at her and continued, "During a medicated bath, as the medicine takes effect and repairs your body, it's easy to fall asleep. Falling asleep means it's easy to drown."

Li Shiyin thought about it carefully, and it did seem to make sense. But drowning while bathing was rather ridiculous. She held in her laugh and nodded.

"Second, if you feel uncomfortable anywhere, get out immediately, don't soak anymore. Go rinse off thoroughly with clean water in the shower. Then tell me carefully tomorrow and I'll adjust the prescription," Qin Ran exhorted.

"Okay."

"Third, pay attention not to catch a cold." Qin Ran said, "Soaking too long when the water gets cold can easily cause a cold. Pay attention yourself."

After explaining everything, he turned to leave, but still worried about his silly disciple, said before closing the door, "If anything really feels off, you can call me. I'll be in the study."

"Got it!" Li Shiyin replied loudly, feeling that the master nagged even more than her own mother.

Qin Ran left and went straight to the study.

Li Shiyin closed the door and windows. She sniffed next to the tub, there was a bit of an unpleasant smell, but she was not fussy and took off her clothes to get in.