Guter walked toward Serie and called out softly.
"Teacher."
"Hmm?"
Serie glanced sideways at her disciple approaching her, with not the slightest desire to move in her eyes.
When he reached his teacher, Guter bent his knees and crouched down, lowering himself until his gaze was level with hers.
"Thank you for helping me maintain that state of rapid magical growth, Teacher. In return, please let your disciple do something for you."
"What do you... want to do?"
Serie asked her disciple in confusion.
However, Guter did not answer her question. Instead, he sat down on the bench beside Serie, looked at the pair of feet within arm's reach, and placed his hand over them.
"Mm???"
Even an elf as slow to react as Serie turned to look at her disciple.
"Teacher, don't move. Just let me do the moving."
As he spoke, Guter slid his hand slightly upward, grasped Serie's ankle, and gently drew her toward himself until her entire lower leg rested on his thigh.
Then Guter spread his hands, breathed warm air into his palms, and quickly rubbed them together.
Because of his martial arts training, Guter's blood and vitality had always been stronger than those of ordinary people. After rubbing them like that, his palms quickly warmed up.
The moment those heated palms rested on her calf, the sensation changed at once.
"Mm~"
Lying flat on her back, Serie instinctively let out a comfortable hum. The body that had tensed from being touched at such close range instantly relaxed somewhat.
His palms glided over her fair, delicate skin. Feeling the muscles beneath begin to loosen, Guter sighed in relief, a trace of reminiscence and confidence appearing in his eyes.
It had been a long time since he had used this massage technique.
It was called the Huanglian Ancient Massage Technique, a national Intangible Cultural Heritage practice that had emerged in Huanglian, Shunde during the Qing dynasty in his previous life. Its founders included both the renowned Qing physician Ye Tianshi and the martial artist Wong Fei Hung. It was a massage technique that combined martial arts practice with traditional Chinese medicinal wellness.
It had miraculous effects in relaxing the tendons and unblocking the channels, making it perfectly suited for Teacher Serie's current condition.
As for why Guter, a modern college student in his previous life, had mastered this Intangible Cultural Heritage skill, that was due to a very down-to-earth story.
During his senior year in his previous life, the school required students to intern off campus for the entire semester. But Guter was too lazy to start slaving away that early, so he simply found a place to live outside the school.
It was just a different place, a different bed, where he could scroll on his phone and play games.
Then, after living that heavenly life for a while, Guter stretched lazily one morning after getting up and successfully wrenched his neck.
With no other choice, he called a cab and headed for the nearest massage clinic.
While an old master treated him, the two began chatting. They got along better and better, and after the massage was over, the old master casually asked, "Young man, what kind of work do you do now?"
The next day, a young comrade joined the organization for the Intangible Cultural Heritage Huanglian Ancient Massage Technique.
The patients under his hands went flying.
When the old master saw Guter use the technique he had taught him to massage a patient with a slight muscle strain so hard that the patient went into muscle spasms and fainted from pain, his expression became exceedingly complicated.
Fortunately, that customer had come in with a 9.9 group-buy coupon. Dissatisfied customers received triple compensation, so the shop did not lose much money.
Of course, to keep the Intangible Cultural Heritage brand from being ruined in his generation, the old master first used his technique to wake the customer up, then called Guter over to watch closely.
The old master personally stepped in. While undoing the consequences caused by Guter, that quack, he explained where Guter's technique had gone wrong and what taboos he had violated.
After properly treating the group-buy customer, the old master even threw in a comfortable full-body massage before the patient was finally willing to leave.
"Well, kid? Massage therapy isn't so simple, is it?"
"Yeah. Every push and press takes skill."
"Tsk, now that sounds like something worth saying." After speaking, the old master clasped his hands behind his back and walked into the shop. His traditional Chinese outfit and thin silhouette gave him a certain air of mastery.
"Hey! Xiao Liu, I've got a group-buy order here. He'll probably leave a bad review. Keep an eye on it for me. The order number is XXXXXXX."
The corner of Guter's eye twitched. The old master's lofty image as a master craftsman instantly collapsed.
After the old master came back out, Guter pulled up the ratings on the group-buy app and asked, "Is this how your shop gets all its high ratings?"
The old master shot Guter an irritated look and asked in return, "Kid, don't tell me you think you can get high ratings nowadays with skill alone?"
"Every month, I have to deal with several malicious complaints from competitors and people trying to extort me with bad reviews. But someone like you, who genuinely failed to serve the customer properly, that's a first."
"Kid, be glad you live in this society." The old master clasped his hands behind his back again and sighed. "Back in my day, if some genius apprentice dared to massage a customer into the state you did, his teacher would knead his whole body apart to vent the customer's anger."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Seeing Guter pack up his things as though he were about to leave, the old master shook his head, a hint of regret seemingly in his eyes.
"Hey, old man."
Suddenly, Guter, who had been fiddling with his belongings, stopped and asked the old master.
"What is it, kid?"
"Your shop's security deposit should be pretty high, right?"
As he spoke, Guter pulled a blank internship certificate from his bag and handed it to the old master.
"Here. My contract of indenture."
"Forget about wages. If I massage a customer into an illness, you can pay the compensation."
The old master's eye twitched. He silently calculated his shop's security deposit and his retirement savings, gritted his teeth, steeled his heart, and picked up a pen to sign Guter's internship contract.
After that came the growth journey of the legendary masseur Guter. Thanks to the old master watching over him, the patients under Guter's hands finally stopped flying.
Because anyone who started flying was swiftly pressed back down by the old master beside him.
Thanks to more than a dozen customer complaints per month, Guter's massage technique improved by leaps and bounds. Strangely enough, the rating of the old master's massage shop on the group-buy platform actually rose? It even made the city's trending massage rankings?
That day, Guter and the old master stared at the phone screen in silence for a long time.
At last, the internship ended, and Guter's skill had been forged through sheer effort.
Fortunately, the old master's shop security deposit had not been depleted, and he still had plenty of retirement savings left. The improved shop rating had even brought in more business.
In that sense, it was a fortunate connection.
When Guter returned to school for his graduation defense, he had planned to go back to the massage shop and find the old master after it was over.
Who could have expected life's twists? During the all-night celebration after passing his defense, Guter played a match of the recently returned Overwatch, got so angry that he snapped, and transmigrated to another world.
The memory ended.
Guter changed his palms into fingers and explored up and down Serie's calves. He quickly found the proper bones and acupoints, then began therapeutic treatment for Teacher Serie using kneading and rolling techniques.
"Don't throw that brute strength around with your hands, and find the acupoints more accurately."
Vaguely, Guter seemed to hear the old master's earnest reminder by his ear.
Guter smiled, and his movements became even more precise.
"Understood, Master."
"Mm?"
Serie let out a puzzled hum, thinking Guter was speaking to her.
But the comfort spreading from her calves instantly overwhelmed that feeling the next moment.
Serie's ten fingers gripped the leather cushion of the bench tightly, unable to suppress the soft moans slipping from her lips.
Outside the carriage.
After a long silence, the uncle driving the carriage finally sighed helplessly.
"Young people these days."
Some readers said it was padded, so there will be three updates today, with an extra chapter.
Also, thanks to the friends who spotted the meditation bug in the previous chapter. That was my mistake, and it has now all been corrected. I would like to personally express my thanks here.
Note: This story is purely fictional and has no connection to reality.
It depicts an imaginary parallel world and is unrelated to the real world.
Before you continue