Only after exerting the strength of nine oxen and two tigers did Xiao Yan manage to drag Xiao Yi back to his chaotic room and dump him onto the bed.
Panting heavily, he looked around. The room was even more of a mess than the courtyard, with sheets covered in strange symbols scattered across the table and several iron pipes of varying lengths piled in a corner.
Xiao Yan could not be bothered to examine them. He turned and ran out to the kitchen, lifted a large kettle of hot water off a small earthen stove, and hurried back. Once inside, he uncorked the blue-green jade bottle, looked at the thick, dark green medicinal paste within, then glanced at the unconscious Xiao Yi and his cracked lips, frowning.
If I pour something this sticky straight down his throat, won't it just get stuck there? Xiao Yan found a coarse porcelain bowl and poured in some hot water, then emptied the entire bottle of Snake Gall Clear Dew Paste into it. He stirred carefully with a chopstick until the paste dissolved completely in the hot water, becoming a bowl of liquid that gave off a fresh, sweet medicinal fragrance.
Just as he carried the bowl over to administer the medicine, Yao Lao's figure drifted out soundlessly. Hovering in midair, he looked at the unconscious Xiao Yi on the bed, then at Xiao Yan bustling about. His aged voice carried a mischievous note of mockery:
"Tsk, tsk, boy, this is an opportunity that comes once in a thousand years. This fellow usually gives you no end of trouble, and now he's at your mercy. Aren't you going to take the chance to get even? Draw a turtle on his face in ink, for instance, or try something else. Wouldn't that be satisfying?"