Fourteen Frames

Qiao Ranran weighed the Storage Points in her hand, looking every inch the money grubber. "That only covers this consultation. You'll have to pay separately next time." She said it as though it were only natural, without the slightest embarrassment.

Pei Ling's fingers twitched. "Do I need to pay in advance?"

Qiao Ranran tilted her head and thought for a moment. "We'll see when the time comes." Once her cultivation improved, the price would change. "Here's the list. Collect the Spirit Plants according to it. Make sure their age, medicinal properties, and preparation all meet the requirements. The slightest deviation can lead to a huge difference in the result, and I won't be able to guarantee it'll work."

Pei Ling: "..." When had she prepared that list?

"You can do it, junior brother!" Qiao Ranran pumped a fist in encouragement. "I'm off to refine medicine. You keep looking around."

Pei Ling had a feeling Qiao Ranran didn't want to refine medicine so much as get rid of him. After all, he was standing in her doorway.

"Senior sister really doesn't care, does she?"

Qiao Ranran: "Hm?"

Pei Ling smiled at last, but on that pretty face, the smile looked unsettling from every angle. "Senior sister never even asked my name."

Qiao Ranran was baffled. Was I supposed to? Doesn't everyone introduce themselves? Wouldn't it be strange to ask someone's name right away?

"Pei Ling. My name is Pei Ling. I hope you'll guide me from now on, senior sister."

Qiao Ranran cupped her hands. "Qiao Ranran. I only arrived a few days before you." She felt rather undeserving of the title of senior sister. "There isn't much I can help you with."

"It would help if senior sister stopped calling me 'little junior brother.'"

"Hm?"

"I'm not little at all."

Qiao Ranran: "..."

She knew the young man in front of her hadn't meant it that way, but she still felt as though an innuendo had run her over.

Chapter 14: Fourteen Frames

Three days later, Pei Ling stood before Qiao Ranran with the Spirit Plants he had collected. He didn't quite understand it himself. He had long grown used to the toxins as though they were part of his body, yet when Qiao Ranran said she could get rid of them, he still wanted to try.

He had given up in his previous life. He had even dealt with plenty of people who tried to use his health against him. They claimed they wanted to help him for his own good, but who knew what they were really after?

Yet this time, when Qiao Ranran said she could cure him, he felt his long-dead heart give a furtive beat before he even realized it. More than that, the medicinal fragrance that had surrounded him in the darkness for so long held his attention with a fatal pull.

Ordinarily, when something uncertain caught his attention like this, the best approach was to snuff it out before it could grow.

How did that saying go? Villains die because they talk too much.

That was why he never wasted words.

Perhaps Qiao Ranran was simply too weak. Snuffing her out would bring him no satisfaction. Pei Ling thought he might as well see how far she could go. Once she failed, he could snuff her out as a matter of course. Or he could wait until she grew strong enough to put up a fight before dealing with her. That didn't sound bad either.

Pei Ling watched Qiao Ranran with a dark gaze while she carefully examined every Spirit Plant he had brought. In his view, her cultivation was simply too low. Otherwise, a sweep of her spiritual sense would have told her whether they met the requirements. Besides, there was no chance anything he brought would fall short.

Then Qiao Ranran said, "These won't do."

Pei Ling: "..."

As Qiao Ranran pointed out several Spirit Plants and calmly explained what was wrong with each of them, Pei Ling thought perhaps he should snuff her out right now.

"But they won't affect the first stage of treatment. I can refine the pills for that stage with what we have. In the meantime, little junior—ah, junior brother, find suitable replacements. This is for your health, so you can't afford to be careless. Understand?"

Pei Ling: Hah.

Having finished her lecture, Qiao Ranran put away the Spirit Plants. When she looked up and met Pei Ling's eyes, she flinched for no reason she could name.

It was hard to explain. When the young man had first woken up, his eyes had been more frightening: pitch-black, his pupils impossible to make out, and so still that only despair seemed to remain. That despair had looked ready to swallow everything before him.

But to Qiao Ranran, that despair hadn't seemed particularly threatening. She hadn't been too worried, which was why she had dared face him then. Now, starlight had suddenly kindled in those dark eyes. It should have been dazzling, yet it filled her with a sense of danger and foreboding.

This young man seemed dangerous.

With the instincts of a small animal, Qiao Ranran quietly took a step back to keep a safe distance. She still had to tell him the rest, though. "I can have these Spirit Plants ready in three days. After that, you'll need a Medicinal Bath and Acupuncture, so you'd better find the Spirit Plants and settle anything you have to do before then. It'll take... mm, depending on your condition, anywhere from three to five days."

Qiao Ranran tilted her head and added, "You're already at the Foundation Establishment Stage, so I don't think you'll need to prepare any Grain-Bigone Pills."

Then she said, "I'll go get things ready. Good luck!" She turned and fled.

Pei Ling watched Qiao Ranran leave, deep in thought. Her reaction had surprised him. Had she sensed something just now? He was certain he was playing the part of an innocent, harmless young man. What had she sensed from him that made her back away?

Even in his previous life, not just anyone could see through him when he wanted to hide his true nature. How had Qiao Ranran managed it? Those instincts of hers were interesting.

Only after Qiao Ranran turned a corner and felt Pei Ling's gaze leave her did she press a hand to her chest and breathe a sigh of relief. She had always had instincts like that, but in her previous life, with that person around and her own supposed knowledge of the plot to rely on, she had rarely needed them.