Sister-in-Law's Troubles

"Sister-in-law?"

Carrying a large bag of medicinal ingredients, Li Feng pushed open the courtyard gate and called out toward the house.

The courtyard was quiet, with no response.

He walked through the two rooms and the kitchen to take a look around, but didn't see a trace of his sister-in-law. The bamboo basket that had originally been kept in the kitchen for carrying vegetables was also missing.

She must have gone out to buy groceries.

Li Feng thought to himself.

Last night, his sister-in-law had insisted that she was going out today to buy groceries and get some fresh air. She must have taken advantage of the morning sun before it became too scorching and left early.

It was just as well that no one was home, as it allowed him to focus on his cultivation.

Carrying the medicinal ingredients into the kitchen, Li Feng took out a dose of medicine, poured it into a bowl, added a little warm water, and stirred it thoroughly with a wooden stick.

A moment later, the medicinal ingredients were ground into a thick, black, paste-like ointment.

Afterward, he took off his upper garment and evenly applied the black ointment all over his body.

The swelling and redness left over from last night's forcible kneading had not yet completely subsided and still ached faintly. The moment the ointment was applied, a wave of coolness instantly swept over his skin, and the stinging pain faded away by a large margin.

Li Feng took a deep breath, picked up a piece of coarse linen, pressed it against his chest, and began to forcefully rub according to the breathing rhythm recorded in the Iron Robe Skin-Grinding Method.

"Hiss..."

The rough linen rubbed against his skin, and the familiar stinging pain struck once again.

Yet unlike last night, this time, just as the skin was on the verge of breaking, a warm medicinal force slowly seeped through the pores and damaged areas, driven by his own Qi and blood to rapidly nourish the injured skin, making the pain much more bearable.

Destruction followed by creation!

Every instance of abrasion caused by the rubbing underwent a minute transformation in the newly formed skin film under the repair of this medicinal force.

This was what it felt like to properly practice the Skin-Grinding Method!

No wonder they say literature requires poverty while martial arts require wealth. Without this medicinal aid, relying solely on brute force to rub the flesh would not only be extremely inefficient, but it would also leave behind a host of hidden injuries.

Li Feng gritted his teeth, rubbing faster and faster with increasingly greater force.

Half an hour later.

"Hoo..."

Li Feng let out a long breath and slowly stopped the movements of his hands.

He looked down to see that most of the ointment applied to his body had been absorbed by his skin, while the remainder had dried into black medicinal dregs clinging to his skin.

Although the previously swollen and inflamed skin was still congested at the moment, it had not ruptured like it did last night. When pressed gently with his hand, the stinging pain was greatly reduced, and whether it was his imagination or not, the skin film seemed a bit tougher than yesterday.

He walked over to the water vat in the courtyard, drew cold water, and began to rinse off the stains on his body.

After drying himself off, Li Feng could clearly feel that the topically applied ointment had not only protected his skin film, but the medicinal force that had seeped into his body was also slowly nourishing his skin.

This subtle improvement was solid, tangible accumulation.

After resting for a moment, Li Feng summoned the Heavenly Dao Advance Panel in his mind:

[Heavenly Dao Advance Panel]
[Pre-advanced Item 1: Archery Mastery (100% completed)]
[Pre-advanced Item 2: "Water-Cutting Saber Art" Consummation (Completed: 100%)]
[Current Available Pre-advance Items: 1]
[Pending Unlock Pre-advance: Bedroom Arts, Culinary Arts...]
[Current Realm: Qi-Blood First Stage]

It seems that even with the aid of medicinal drugs, reaching the threshold of entry is no easy feat.

Li Feng understood this in his heart, but he did not feel discouraged.

He had a full thirty doses of medicinal ingredients on hand. At a frequency of once-a-day cultivation, it would be enough for him to cultivate for a month. As long as he persisted step-by-step with his cultivation every day, there would eventually come a day when he crossed the threshold. If one month wasn't enough, he would take two; if two weren't enough, three.

No matter how poor this body's talent was, under the slow-grinding cultivation method, it should enter the threshold in half a year at most. The moment he crossed the threshold, he could immediately use the Heavenly Dao Panel to directly pre-advance to consummation, and then slowly pay off the debt afterwards.

There's no need to rush for this moment.

Li Feng thought to himself.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

At that moment, a knock came from outside the courtyard.

Sister-in-law must be back from buying groceries.

Li Feng reined in his thoughts, changed into a set of clean clothes, and strode over to open the courtyard gate.

He saw Lin Yanqiu holding a bamboo basket in her left hand, filled to the brim with vegetables; she had clearly bought quite a lot of things.

"Sister-in-law, let me take that."

Li Feng hastily reached out to take the bamboo basket, which felt quite heavy in his hand. Looking down, he saw pork belly, spare ribs, green vegetables, and several meat-filled sesame flatbreads.

"You must be hungry from martial arts practice, right?" Lin Yanqiu walked into the courtyard. "There are a few flatbreads inside that I bought when passing by Wang's Sesame Flatbread Shop. They just came out of the oven and are still hot. Eat a couple first to tide yourself over, and I'll go boil water and make dinner right away."

"You got it."

Li Feng stood on no ceremony, picking up a flatbread and taking a bite. It was crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and overflowing with meat juices.

As he ate, he followed Lin Yanqiu into the kitchen: "Sister-in-law, I'll help you prep."

The kitchen was already small to begin with, and with two people squeezed inside, the space instantly felt somewhat cramped.

Lin Yanqiu used her left hand to clumsily wash the cutting board, preparing to chop the vegetables.

Seeing her struggling appearance, Li Feng stuffed the rest of the flatbread into his mouth in two or three bites, stepped forward, and took hold of her hand that was holding the knife.

"Sister-in-law, I'll handle the meat-chopping."

The moment their skin touched, Lin Yanqiu's hand trembled slightly, and a blush visibly spread to the tips of her ears.

"Th... Then you chop it. I'll wash the vegetables."

Lin Yanqiu's voice softened a fraction as she flurriedly released the knife handle, keeping her head slightly lowered as she squeezed past Li Feng's side.

As they brushed past each other, Li Feng caught a whiff of a mature woman's unique, tender fragrance, causing the movement of his knife-chopping to pause involuntarily, and his heart to skip a beat for no apparent reason.

The atmosphere in the kitchen instantly turned somewhat delicate, leaving only the sound of Li Feng chopping vegetables and the sound of Lin Yanqiu washing them.

After a busy spell, the dishes were quickly served on the table.

Today's lunch: a large bowl of thick sparerib soup, a plate of fragrant braised pork, and a plate of stir-fried seasonal vegetables, served alongside two large bowls of white, fluffy rice.

"Eat up. Eat more meat to build up your Qi and blood."

Lin Yanqiu picked up several pieces of the fattest braised pork and vigorously loaded them into Li Feng's bowl, covering his rice completely in the blink of an eye.

"Sister-in-law, I can serve myself."

Li Feng looked at the meat piled high in his bowl, warmth welling up in his chest. He also picked up two pieces of lean meat and placed them into Lin Yanqiu's bowl. "Sister-in-law, you should eat more meat too. The family isn't short on meat money anymore, and we'll have meat every single meal from now on."

Looking at the meat in her bowl, Lin Yanqiu grew somewhat troubled, her willow brows knitting together slightly.

Seeing that Li Feng was about to continue piling meat into her bowl, she hurriedly used her chopsticks to block his hand, chiding, "Oh my, I can't eat this much. Hurry up and eat your own."

"Why can't you eat it?" Li Feng asked, uncomprehending.

"I haven't practiced martial arts in a long time, nor have I been doing much heavy work..."

With that, Lin Yanqiu shot him a sidelong glance, saying softly, "Eating so much greasy meat every day-if I get fat and can't fit into my old clothes anymore, wouldn't I have to go buy new ones all over again?"

Hearing this, Li Feng's hand froze mid-air, a look of astonishment on his face.

Get fat?

Li Feng looked at his sister-in-law's fair face and graceful figure, an unusual feeling welling up in his heart.

In his subconscious, his sister-in-law had always been the backbone of this family and a resolute, capable chief constable, always carrying an aura of tenacity and efficiency.

Yet setting aside those identities, this year his sister-in-law was merely a young woman in her early twenties.

What young woman in her prime didn't love beauty?

What woman didn't care about her figure?

I didn't expect sister-in-law to have such a girlish side to her...

Li Feng thought to himself, though he couldn't hide the smile at the corners of his mouth.

He naturally withdrew his chopsticks and joked, "Fine, fine, then sister-in-law, you eat your greens. But even if you get fat, sister-in-law is still the most beautiful woman in this outer city."

"Such a smooth-talking tongue!"

A flush spread across Lin Yanqiu's face as she glared at him with exasperated affection.