Li Qing'er walked out, turning her head to steal glances at Zhang Yao. Unfortunately, even by the time she had left his room, he still looked exactly as he had before, without the slightest change. Standing in the doorway, she glared fiercely at his back, stamped her foot hard, then spun around and left.
"Whew!" Zhang Yao let out a long breath, walked over to shut the door, and suddenly felt drained of all strength. He slumped onto the bed despite himself, thinking, Dealing with Li Qing'er is more exhausting than fighting someone!
"Knock, knock..." A little later, someone knocked on the door, followed by his mother's voice. "Yao, come out and get ready for dinner!"
"Coming, Mom!" Zhang Yao rolled off the bed, put on his shoes, and opened the door to leave his room.
"Yao, were you bullying Qing'er again just now?" His mother asked the moment he stepped outside.
"Uh, no! I wouldn't dare bully her!" Zhang Yao froze. Did Li Qing'er really go complain to my parents? That can't be right! With her temperament, she wouldn't just go running to them like that. Without evidence that could finish me off completely, she'd never make a move.
"Then why did I see Qing'er coming out of your room all by herself, looking so upset?" His mother looked at him in puzzlement.
"How should I know? Never mind her! Maybe she'll be fine in a bit. Mom, let's hurry up and eat!" Zhang Yao shrugged, dropped the subject of Li Qing'er, and tugged his mother toward the main hall.
Everyone was already in the main hall. In accordance with seniority, Zhang Yao's grandfather sat at the head of the table, with Zhang Yao's family on one side and his aunt's family on the other. Zhang Yao's seat happened to be right next to Li Qing'er's.
"Yao, why did you run off so fast earlier? Don't you want your uncle's New Year's money?" His uncle teased him as soon as he saw him. Zhang Yao's uncle, Li Tian, was an orphan. After leaving the orphanage, he had worked to support himself while attending school. Everything he had achieved today had been built through his own hard work. Rumor had it that Zhang Yao's aunt had married Li Tian entirely because she had been moved by his indomitable spirit. That was why she had done something that left everyone stunned-marrying the penniless Li Tian after graduating from college. That bold act had broken the hearts of who knew how many of her suitors.
Although Li Tian had achieved great success in his career, neither his early hardships nor the luxury that followed had changed his character or his attitude toward life. He remained just as frugal, modest, and irreverent as ever.
If anyone asked whom Zhang Yao admired most, his uncle Li Tian would undoubtedly be among them.
"How could I not want it? This chance only comes once a year. Wouldn't it be a shame to pass it up?" As he spoke, Zhang Yao quickly snatched the New Year's money from Li Tian's hand.
"Hehe, this boy! Come on, everyone, let's eat!" Zhang Yao's mother gave her son an indulgent look, then rose to invite everyone to begin.
"Hmph, money grubber!" Li Qing'er muttered beside Zhang Yao as everyone ate.
"Tch, aren't you greedy for money too? If you think you're so noble, you can give me your New Year's money. I certainly wouldn't mind!" Zhang Yao countered without batting an eye as he continued eating.
"Hmph!" Left speechless by his retort, Li Qing'er turned her head away and ignored him, devoting all her attention to the grand undertaking of demolishing the food before her. Zhang Yao could not have been happier that she was leaving him alone. With peace restored to his ears, he even ate considerably faster.
At the table, Zhang Yao's grandfather, father, and uncle held their glasses and slowly savored their drinks. His mother and aunt sat together, chatting about family matters. Time slipped by unnoticed, and the midnight bells were about to ring.
Out in the courtyard, Zhang Yao unpacked the firecrackers he had bought earlier and spread them on the ground, ready to wait for the bells.
"Dong, dong." Amid everyone's anticipation, the deep tolling of the bells rang across the sky. The instant they sounded, Zhang Yao reached out and lit the firecrackers.
"Crackle, bang!" The explosions immediately joined into an unbroken chorus, and countless people shouted joyfully, "It's the New Year!"
The firecrackers outside were still going off, but Zhang Yao returned to his room. In previous years, this would have been the moment when he celebrated most boisterously. Unfortunately, this year was different. He now had a trial of life and death he had to face-Rodos.
As soon as Zhang Yao returned to his room, he began his cultivation for the day. The moment he started, he felt the difference between this place and the Rodos World.
There was far too little spiritual energy here! Although he had already prepared himself for it, Zhang Yao still felt the truth of the saying: compare goods and you'll throw some away; compare people and you'll die of frustration. In Rodos, the moment he entered a cultivation state, he could feel spiritual energy so dense it seemed impossible to disperse. Here, it was so thin he could barely sense it.
Sigh, looks like I'll have to change my cultivation plan! Zhang Yao sighed helplessly. His original routine had been to fill his dantian with true qi, then consume it by using skills, repeating the process over and over. But the scarcity of spiritual energy here forced him to change his plans. By his estimate, even a full day and night of cultivation here would probably not be enough to fill his dantian with true qi. In Rodos, he could have done it in under two hours.
In the end, Zhang Yao decided to spend these next few days cultivating the Nine Nether Art and refining his true qi. He would set the skills aside for now and work hard on them once he returned to Rodos. After all, in his eyes, the Nine Nether Art was far more important than the skills he had obtained from Rodos.
"Sigh!" Feeling the faint, almost imperceptible spiritual energy flow into his body, Zhang Yao could not help sighing again. Still, even a mosquito had meat on it. He could hardly spend these six days doing nothing but resting, so he could only rally his spirits and continue cultivating.
At some point, snowflakes began drifting down outside, slowly wrapping all of South City in silver.
In the morning, when Zhang Yao emerged from his cultivation, he looked through the window at a world cloaked in silver and white. It snowed? Excitement stirred in his heart, and he put on his shoes and ran outside.
Once in the courtyard, Zhang Yao stepped onto the thick snow and listened to it squeak beneath his feet. Suddenly inspired, he settled into a stance and began practicing.
There was no particular system to what Zhang Yao practiced; it was a motley assortment of just about everything! Previously, his physical limitations had prevented him from executing certain moves. Now, after leveling up in Rodos, his physical capabilities had multiplied several times over, and those moves came readily to him! He could not claim they were especially practical, but at the very least, they swept through the air with a tiger's vigor and looked splendid!
The longer Zhang Yao practiced, the more excited he became, especially when he managed to execute moves he had never been able to perform no matter how much he practiced. But just as he was getting into it, he suddenly heard something cutting through the air behind his head. Without a second thought, he immediately bent at the waist and prepared to draw his dagger and charge.
(PS: The older I get, the less it feels like New Year~ All this dejected author can do is write a little to console himself~~)
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