Half-Leisure Hall.
A clever, adorable little girl in a red padded jacket walked into the hall.
Aaron, reclining in a rattan chair with slightly graying hair, smiled. "Astragalus... you're here to get medicine for your father again? What a filial girl!"
The little girl pouted in displeasure and called out in a clear voice, "Grandpa Fang, my name is Li Qi, not Astragalus!"
"Mhm, mhm. Someone, hurry and fetch medicine for Miss Astragalus!"
Aaron gave a shout, and a young medicine boy promptly came over, leading Astragalus—oh, no, Li Qi—to collect her medicine.
At the entrance, a couple in their thirties waited with smiling faces. They were none other than Li Yao and his wife!
Ten years had passed since the two had settled in Yukang. They had few children, raising only one daughter, whom they treasured like the jewel in their palm.
After Li Yao had fathered a daughter, his health had worsened considerably. He had become a frequent visitor to Half-Leisure Hall, though he possessed medical skills himself and mainly came to buy medicine.
One of the herbs, astragalus, replenished qi and nourished the blood, and was often used.
Aaron was being mischievous, calling little Li Qi that way and putting on the act of a senile old man. Nobody was inclined to argue with him over it.
He could even focus his inner power into his ears and hear Li Yao's suppressed coughing and voice. "Sigh... Great-Uncle Fang has grown old too. Back then, he was practically a generation older than even my father! Cough, cough... If Father were still alive, he would probably look much the same—perhaps a little younger..."
His words were filled with regret.
"Who's old?"
Aaron touched the human-skin mask on his face and grumbled inwardly, *If it weren't for maintaining this persona,