Back in his room, Cheng Xiaoyu saw a woman sitting on a stool, a fruit basket resting on her lap.
"Xiao Ke-jie?"
At the sound of his voice, Xiao Ke turned toward the door. She looked at Cheng Xiaoyu, standing there dumbfounded, and managed a faint smile.
"Xiao Yu, I'm so glad to see you're all right."
"Xiao Ke-jie, thank you for coming to see me."
Cheng Xiaoyu wiped the sweat from his forehead, sat on the edge of the bed facing Xiao Ke, and smiled.
Xiao Ke gave him a small smile, then took an envelope from her pocket. It looked quite thick, as though it held a lot. She held it out to him.
"Here."
"What's this...?"
Cheng Xiaoyu took the envelope and opened it. After glancing inside, he stared at Xiao Ke in astonishment and asked, confused,
"Xiao Ke-jie, why are you giving me so much?"
Xiao Ke lowered her eyes and explained, her voice tinged with sadness,
"The total reward for the commission was 250,000. The captain and the others all died. The Hunter Union provides compensation for their families, and I gave each family 30,000 myself. We split the commission money that was left."
Hearing this, Cheng Xiaoyu fell silent. The envelope in his hand suddenly felt much heavier.
"Xiao Yu..."
Xiao Ke lifted her head, her eyes full of heartfelt gratitude. She bowed deeply to Cheng Xiaoyu.
"Thank you for saving my life. If you hadn't drawn the Demon Beast away, I might have..."
Cheng Xiaoyu helped Xiao Ke back up, his expression serious.
"Xiao Ke-jie, life and death are up to fate. I chose to save you, and you survived because it was your destiny. We don't owe each other anything."
He had never regretted any of the choices he'd made. There was no such thing as a pill for regret in this world, and bringing it up again would just be melodramatic.
Xiao Ke was deeply moved. After all, they'd only known each other for a few months, yet this young man had been willing to make such a choice. It was almost unbelievable.
"Still, I have to thank you!"
She hesitated for a moment, then said,
"Xiao Yu, if you want to join the City Demon Hunter Squad, I can put in a good word for you."
Cheng Xiaoyu neither accepted nor refused. He hadn't decided what he wanted to do in the future yet. For now, he just wanted to focus on training.
"Hey, hey, did you see him?"
"I did, I did... That young mage, right?"
Behind the nurses' station, three nurses were chatting away, and their conversation was all about Cheng Xiaoyu.
"His build's gotten really solid, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, and he's still growing. He's kind of cute, too!"
"He hasn't gone overboard with the muscles, but for his age, he's incredible. You'd be shocked if you saw him with his shirt off."
"When did our hospital get such a handsome guy? I never noticed him before!"
"He wasn't that eye-catching at first, but ever since he started working out, he's gotten more and more muscular."
"Seriously? How could anyone build muscle that fast...?"
Hearing the two nurses chatting, Nurse Tian shook her head with a smile. She hadn't expected the boy to change so much either.
"Sister Tian."
Just then, Cheng Xiaoyu walked over in his civilian clothes and tapped on the counter.
The two young nurses blushed the instant the subject of their conversation appeared. They lowered their heads and pretended to be busy.
Seeing this, Nurse Tian shook her head helplessly, stood up, and smiled at Cheng Xiaoyu.
"Xiao Yu, you're here to check out, right?"
"Yeah. Thank you for looking after me this past week, Sister Tian. And... I'll have to ask you to keep taking good care of my mom."
Cheng Xiaoyu gave her a warm smile, looking a little embarrassed as he spoke.
"Don't worry. I know."
After checking out, Cheng Xiaoyu headed for the hospital exit while calling Ye Xinxia.
"Yeah, I'm on my way home now. Want me to pick you up after school?"
"No need! School isn't far from home. I can get back by myself."
"It's fine. It's settled."
Once he'd arranged to pick up his little sister after school, Cheng Xiaoyu felt a little happier. He'd spent the past few days focused on working out and cultivating. It was time to treat himself.
He stopped by a barber shop for a trim, then went to a nearby supermarket to buy some groceries. After that, he headed home to wait for school to let out.
After school, Ye Xinxia walked toward the school gate, chatting and laughing with two of her classmates.
Suddenly, a commotion broke out ahead of them. All three looked over in confusion.
"Whoa, look! There's a handsome guy at the school gate!"
"Seriously! He looks so cool. He doesn't look very old, either."
"He's exactly my type... Hey, why don't you go ask for his contact info?"
"No way. There are so many people here. I'd die if they made fun of me."
When Ye Xinxia got a little closer, she finally saw the handsome boy standing at the school gate. But... why did he look so much like her brother?
Cheng Xiaoyu ignored the admiring looks from the girls around him and kept scanning the crowd. At last, he spotted Ye Xinxia and waved to her.
That confirmed Ye Xinxia's suspicions. She walked up to Cheng Xiaoyu and gave her brother an odd look, scrutinizing him as she asked,
"Brother, why have you changed so much?"
In just one week, he'd not only gotten taller, but much more muscular, too.
Cheng Xiaoyu scratched his head and smiled.
"Come on, I'm only sixteen. Did you think I'd stopped growing?"
Hearing that explanation, Ye Xinxia gave an embarrassed smile. Her brother had changed so much, after all.
"Are you... Xinxia's brother?"
Cheng Xiaoyu looked at the two girls beside Ye Xinxia and gave them a warm smile before nodding.
"Yeah. You're Xinxia's classmates, right? Thanks for looking after my sister."
"N-no problem. We're classmates, after all. It's... only natural!"
As many girls watched them go, Cheng Xiaoyu pushed Ye Xinxia home. The siblings chatted all the way, for once talking for quite a while.
Back at the apartment building, the two of them got into the elevator with another student. Cheng Xiaoyu noticed that the student kept glancing at them. He turned to look at him and recognized the uniform as belonging to Tianlan Magic High School.
When the student noticed Cheng Xiaoyu looking at him, he froze, then asked,
"Are you Ye Xinxia's brother?"
Cheng Xiaoyu furrowed his brows slightly, then nodded. He sized the student up and thought he looked vaguely familiar.
"My name's Mo Fan. We were in the same class in high school."
Ye Xinxia tugged at Cheng Xiaoyu's sleeve and explained,
"He's Aunt Mo Qing's nephew."
The Mo family lived next door to the siblings. Ever since Ye Chang fell into a coma, they had looked in on the two of them from time to time.
Cheng Xiaoyu wasn't close to Mo Fan. They'd attended the same elementary and middle schools, but in different classes, and hadn't become classmates until high school. Before this, Cheng Xiaoyu had only known that Mu Bai had a friend by that name.
Mo Fan, on the other hand, remembered the siblings quite well, and had often heard his aunt talk about them. His little sister, Ye Xinxia, had been in a wheelchair since she was young. She was delicate and cute, and everyone loved her. Her older brother, Cheng Xiaoyu, had taken a leave of absence early in high school. Apparently, he'd gone to Awaken Magic before starting high school, and no one had heard from him since.
But what was with this change? He hadn't looked like this at the start of the school year. If Ye Xinxia hadn't been standing beside him, Mo Fan wouldn't have recognized him...
The elevator doors opened. Cheng Xiaoyu nodded at Mo Fan in greeting, then pushed Ye Xinxia out.
In Cheng Xiaoyu's eyes, Mo Fan was just some so-called "bad boy," with designs on his little sister. He'd have to keep a close eye on him!
Before you continue