Upon receiving the letter and looking at the smiling Third Young Master Xie before her, An Ning was not surprised in the slightest.

Knowing how to adapt to the times is the survival principle that has allowed any interest group to endure until today.

If a family head lacked even this level of decisiveness, she wouldn’t be interested in cooperating with them!

Just before departing, and right in front of her little nephew, An Ning deliberately handed a jade bottle containing a Superior Rejuvenation Pill to this knight-errant, Sir Yan.

The Revival Spring Pill, as its name suggests, can rapidly repair injuries and is also remarkably effective against old, lingering internal injuries.

A single Superior Rejuvenation Pill could completely eliminate all the long-accumulated internal injuries within this man.

Although his actions were indeed somewhat problematic, his kindness and righteousness, both in her past life and this one, were genuine and substantial.

The two should not be conflated.

Naturally, An Ning was not stingy either.

At first, this gentleman was absolutely unwilling to accept it. It was only after An Ning added:

“If Sir Yan unfortunately meets with disaster, how many injustices in this world, how many innocent people, would remain unsaved?”

That he reluctantly accepted the medicine.

What can you say? Well, this gentleman’s temperament… was within expectations!

An Ning even specifically watched him swallow it.

No other reason—she was repaying the kindness he had shown the little one over these years, not repaying a grudge. Given his temperament, once he left this door, who knew where this pill might end up being used? If the news leaked…

And attracted some calamity, that would be even worse.

This was also why she absolutely would not give more.

Just before leaving, apart from bidding farewell to his little disciple, Yan Xing specifically sought her out one more time.

Having shed the large beard that concealed his appearance and changed back into the simple blue robes commonly worn by cultivators, it was undeniable that this Sir Yan was indeed quite handsome and upright. More importantly, his brows and eyes naturally carried an air of stern righteousness. Even in a crowd, he would be a rather striking presence at first glance.

Only now, his expression could not conceal its gloom. After a long silence, Yan Xing finally spoke in a hoarse voice:

“Qing… Qingyu, is there truly no hope that she is still alive?”

In response, An Ning did not answer directly. Instead, she took out the compass. “Before I left, my master told me that the Family-Finding Compass is based on blood ties. As long as a person with close blood relations exists in this world, even if the connection is faint, the spiritual tool will react.”

However, now, on the compass, the only red dot pointed unmistakably to where Xiao Yi was located.

The moment he saw this clearly, the last glimmer of light in Yan Xing’s eyes was completely extinguished. For a moment, his always tall and sturdy frame even seemed to stagger…

Early the next morning, watching his master’s figure completely disappear from sight, the six-year-old Xiao Yi also reddened his eyes, his small hands tightly clutching An Ning, unwilling to let go.

On the way back, he was unusually quiet.

It’s just that…

On this day, her gaze pausing on the little one’s still slightly dusky face, An Ning found it somewhat strange:

“Yi’er, regarding the Marrow-Cleansing Pills Auntie gave you earlier, how come… Ah Yi hasn’t used the entire pill yet?”

It doesn’t seem like it, though. He’s gotten quite a bit fairer. But…

“Ah, Auntie, I did use the whole pill!”

“Auntie, you were there that day too. I used up several big buckets of water!”

Recalling the scene from that day, little Ah Yi felt a rare shyness. Although from start to finish, “Auntie” was only outside confirming his condition and didn’t come in.

But…

“Auntie, Auntie, that medicine is so amazing!”

The little one soon had starry eyes, chattering excitedly about various things. Although using it was indeed a bit uncomfortable, it felt really good afterward!

He felt his whole body had become much lighter. Most importantly, he had secretly looked in a mirror before. After getting fairer, he thought his current clothes looked even better now!

Hehe!

An Ning: “…”

Her gaze paused on his face for a moment. Ignoring her little nephew’s suddenly flushed cheeks, An Ning quickly reached out, rolling up the crimson sleeve before her.

Hmm? Apart from his hands and face, isn’t the rest quite fair and tender?

That’s what I thought! A Superior Marrow-Cleansing Pill—my elixirs couldn’t be wrong.

As for his face… well… perhaps the accumulated damage was too deep. Being kissed by the scorching sun daily for these past few years was too much for a single pill to instantly reverse!

After all, this isn’t a whitening pill; the specialty isn’t quite aligned.

Even so, after returning to their residence, getting settled, and checking his body, An Ning decisively stuffed a jar of whitening moisturizing cream she had casually concocted while alchemizing recently into his hands.

Without looking too much at the little one’s sparkling, bright eyes:

“Ahem, autumn is coming soon. The climate has been particularly dry lately. Using this will make you feel better.”

“Wow, Auntie is so amazing!”

Little Ah Yi, unaware of the truth, immediately accepted it happily, accompanied by another long string of flattering praise. Then he hugged the small jade jar and hopped away happily.

Here, aunt and nephew were both delighted.

Meanwhile, the various Xie Family elders particularly skilled in this field were still staring at the formation diagram before them. For over ten consecutive days, they had strained their eyes until they were blurry, yet they remained utterly stumped, scratching their heads in frustration.

“Sigh, Family Head, young masters, it’s not that we aren’t trying our best. It’s just that this formation diagram is excessively complex and difficult to comprehend…”

The Xie Family members: “…”

Not long after An Ning had just settled her newly-arrived little nephew, news arrived at Lotus Garden that the Family Head requested her presence.

Inside the room, the current Xie Family Head, Xie Mubai, had already been waiting for some time. He didn’t immediately inquire about the formation matter. After some polite greetings and small talk, Xie Mubai soon smiled and extended an olive branch:

“I heard from Xuan’er earlier that the young master has now reached the age for formal schooling. If Miss Shen does not mind, the Xie Family has a dedicated school. There are quite a few children there around the young master’s age…”

As expected of a great family, they know how things are done.

An Ning nodded inwardly. The reasons for coming here were, firstly, safety, comfort, and avoiding constant travel or seclusion, but more importantly, it was the school here.

Not just the traditional Six Arts of the Gentleman—ritual, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics—and courses like music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

What’s important is that in these great families, while they appear harmonious on the surface, there’s no shortage of overt and covert struggles within for resource allocation.

As the saying goes, practice yields true knowledge!

Having a group of little companions to play with while also observing and learning more about human relationships and worldly affairs—what’s not to like?

Of course, what An Ning didn’t want to admit was that teaching all those various subjects to a child herself was simply too troublesome.

Since this was one of the purposes of coming here, An Ning didn’t stand on ceremony and quickly nodded. She then took out a jade bottle the size of a thumb from her storage ring:

“Thank you for your kind offer, Family Head. This is an elixir I refined during my leisure time recently. It has the effect of cleansing marrow and cleansing meridians. May this serve as Ah Yi’s tuition fee for this time?”

Marrow-Cleansing Pills?

“This… this is far too valuable, isn’t it?”

Now, even someone as composed as the Xie Family Head couldn’t help but show a look of astonishment.

But the most important thing was that this Miss Shen before him was actually a formidable alchemist!

One must know that elixirs are scarce nowadays, and formidable alchemists are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, typically enshrined by major sects. Even the Xie Family, with their decent foundation, mostly uses medicinal baths for their younger generation’s foundational training.

Only successive generations of young masters or direct descendants with exceptional innate talent are qualified to use Marrow-Cleansing Pills.

And this lady could produce a full eight pills in one go.

It was evident that these pills were not rare items for her.

But then again, considering this Miss Shen’s young age and her medical skills, which even the Third Elder admired, her being a formidable alchemist wasn’t surprising.

Ah, as expected of the beloved disciple of a reclusive master!

Feeling that his family was implicitly diminished by more than just a notch, the Xie Family Head couldn’t help but feel immensely grateful. Good thing, good thing…

Fortunately, a family head is ultimately a family head, and he maintained the composure required. After several rounds of polite refusals, Family Head Xie ultimately chose to accept this rather valuable tuition.

He then immediately ordered someone to fetch a jade plaque:

“This is a token for the family treasury. I have already given the order. Miss Shen is an honored guest of our Xie Family. In the future, if you have any needs, just have someone fetch them…”

Since the other party was being sensible, An Ning didn’t stand on ceremony either and quickly reached out to take it.

At most, after each batch of refining, those mid and low-grade ones could also serve as payment!

In short, this round was mutually beneficial and pleasing to both sides.

After another round of pleasantries, Family Head Xie finally broached the topic:

“By the way, to be frank with you, Miss Shen, the spiritual materials you mentioned earlier, the Xie Family has long since prepared them. It’s just that formation diagram…”

***

After a mentally taxing discussion, by the time An Ning returned to Lotus Courtyard, it was already quite late. Under the pear tree, after finishing his cultivation practice, Xiao Yi was diligently practicing the swordsmanship An Ning had taught him earlier.

Seeing An Ning return, he hurriedly sheathed his wooden sword and rushed over.

“Ah! School? Me… me?”

Hearing the news, Xiao Yi was clearly overjoyed. Though young, having spent years hiding from people, he still knew about schools.

He had even secretly peeked at one from above before!

However, after a brief moment of happiness, as if thinking of something else, the smile on his face soon turned into a look of conflict:

“Auntie, what precious thing did you give up this time?”

Xiao Yi wasn’t foolish. An Ning hadn’t hidden things from him, so the little one naturally knew that the reason the Xie Family was willing to keep him was because Auntie had exchanged something very valuable.

Now it was school again…

He remembered school tuition seemed very expensive!

Besides, this place was different from where he had stayed before. Xiao Yi couldn’t help but purse his lips:

“That’s right. The tuition is the pills you took before. A total of eight Marrow-Cleansing Pills.”

This time was the same. An Ning didn’t hide it from him. Instead, she looked directly at the little one before her and spoke straightforwardly:

“Auntie has already paid the tuition. From the very beginning, it was a fair exchange of goods for payment. So you don’t need to feel embarrassed, and you definitely don’t need to feel indebted to others…”

Ah, eight pills! Silently suppressing the tears that were about to well up, Xiao Yi sniffled and nodded heavily.

In his heart, he couldn’t help but think:

That kind of pill must be very precious, right? Before, Master took a very long time just to gather the medicinal herbs for my medicinal baths!

As if seeing through the little one’s thoughts, An Ning couldn’t help but gently pat his head:

“These pills are indeed very precious to them. But Yi’er, you must remember, the most expensive thing in the world is accepting a favor. The price one often has to pay for the latter is a hundred times higher than the former.”

This is especially true for those who value favors and relationships deeply.

“In future interactions with people, especially with these great families, if you can have an equivalent exchange, a fair trade of goods for payment, never accept favors or kindness.”

“Of course, the prerequisite is that you clearly understand the value of what you are giving…”

“Mhm, mhm! Auntie, Yi’er remembers!”

On the small stool, the six-year-old little boy in red with a small ponytail nodded vigorously.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep