Master and Disciples Reunited

"What if we combine the two?"

Yang Tianzheng covered his mouth and chuckled.

No one is perfect. Even someone as accomplished as Mr. Mengfei is not perfect, nor is he an all-rounder.

Mr. Mengfei has no expertise in massage; his knowledge of it is limited to understanding the principles, and Mr. Mengfei has never practiced it.

In Mr. Mengfei's words, I might as well just treat the inner skin and then the outer skin to help him clear his meridians.

Knowing that Mr. Mengfei was ignorant in this area, Su Ziyang and Yang Tianzheng stirred things up and teased Mr. Mengfei.

"Combined?"

Mr. Mengfei stroked his chin. "Whatever the 'love' thing is, I won't do anything to you. Are you planning a rebellion? And you dare to make things difficult for your master!"

Snap

Su Ziyang got another slap on the neck.

"Stop it!"

Su Ziyang quickly took two steps back and hid by the window of the examination room. "If I mess around with you guys, I'm always the one who gets hurt. I'm not playing with you anymore!"

"Aren't you two bullying a child? Are you both crazy?"

Daoist Jin appeared at the door without anyone noticing.

"Hey! Lao Jin, Mengfei was the one who lied. Mengfei was also the one who hit someone. Why are you including the two of us in this?"

Yang Tianzheng was unhappy.

You two are no good!

Daoist Jin his eyes at Yang Tianzheng, making Yang Tianzheng look incredibly aggrieved.

"Let's go find a place to eat. Vegetarian food!"

Seeing that Daoist Jin seemed to have finished his work, Mr. Mengfei suggested that they go eat.

Let's go!

Daoist Jin did not refuse, and after work, the group went straight to a vegetarian restaurant.

After emerging from seclusion, Daoist Jin barely ate anything, only drinking some water and eating a little bit of vegetables.

Mr. Mengfei and Yang Tianzheng seemed to know about Daoist Jin, so the group simply ordered a few dishes and sat down to drink tea and chat.

"Ziyang was so worried about you."

Mr. Mengfei said to Daoist Jin with a smile.

"I'm perfectly fine. Seclusion isn't like a death trap. Kids don't understand, Mengfei, why don't you explain it to him?"

Daoist Jin sipped his tea and chuckled as he spoke.

"Teach him? I'll tell him everything! He has to figure it out himself. Hahaha!"

Mr. Mengfei laughed heartily, then suddenly noticed the prayer beads in Daoist Jin's hand.

"Hey, Lao Jin, your prayer beads are really nice. They're made of rosewood and paired with red agate. You've really gone all out on yourself, putting together such a fine string of prayer beads!"

It would have been better if Mr. Mengfei hadn't mentioned it, because now that he had, Daoist Jin's smile was quite smug.

Master Daoist Jin calmly stroked his beard and said, "I didn't do this myself. My disciple gave it to me."

"Your apprentice!?" Mr. Mengfei and Yang Tianzheng were a little surprised, not quite understanding for a moment. "When did you take on an apprentice?"

After saying that, the two realized something was wrong, and all four eyes turned to Su Ziyang was shoveling bean sprouts into his mouth.

"Isn't your apprentice this little brat!"

Upon hearing Mr. Mengfei's words, Su Ziyang lowered his head even further and began to sift through the bean sprouts even faster.

"Masters, please enjoy your meal. I have to take my leave now!"

Su Ziyang clasped his hands in a fist salute and was about to run away, but Yang Tianzheng, with quick eyes and hands, pressed him down into a chair.

"Hey, Lao Jin got a gift, but we didn't?"

Yang Tianzheng was holding Su Ziyang down when Mr. Mengfei raised an eyebrow and questioned him.

Yes, yes, yes!

Su Ziyang chuckled, "Master, Master, don't choke me! Let go of me, let go of me! I'll get it for you both!"

Only after hearing Su Ziyang say this did Yang Tianzheng slowly release his grip on Su Ziyang.

Mr. Mengfei and Yang Tianzheng just watched helplessly as Su Ziyang rummaged through his inner pocket for quite a while.

Half a day later, Su Ziyang still hadn't produced anything. Yang Tianzheng glared at him, then snapped and grabbed Su Ziyang's neck again, "Are you kidding us?"

"Master, why are you so angry? Let go, or I'll really take it!"

Su Ziyang told Yang Tianzheng to let go, then turned around and took out two small brocade pouches from his backpack.

Su Ziyang opened a brocade pouch and looked inside. "Master, this is for you!"

The brocade pouch was handed to Mr. Mengfei, Mr. Mengfei opened it and found a string of agarwood bracelets inside.

"It smells good! Thank you Ziyang."

Mr. Mengfei sniffed the bracelet lightly and put it back into the brocade pouch.

Su Ziyang handed another brocade pouch to Yang Tianzheng.

Yang Tianzheng took the brocade pouch, but before even opening it, he weighed it in his hand and found it heavy. "Mine is good. It's heavy, and it looks much better than yours."

Opening the brocade pouch, Yang Tianzheng lifted it up and took out a string of white, metallic beads.

"What is that? Platinum?"

The beads were white, gleaming with a metallic luster, and Yang Tianzheng felt how heavy they were.

"Hehe, Master, please don't nitpick. This bead—the Buddha head and the boundary bead are platinum, and there are four silver accent beads. The rest are... pure steel. Gold is too expensive; I can't afford something all gold!"

Su Ziyang smiled a little sheepishly, afraid that Yang Tianzheng would find fault with him.

Surprisingly, Yang Tianzheng wasn't angry. He ran his fingers through the bracelet made of gold, silver, and steel, then put it around his neck. "Okay, very good. I like it. It can even be used as a weapon! Thank you, Ziyang, for your thoughtfulness!"

Seeing that Yang Tianzheng happily accepted it, Su Ziyang's worries disappeared.

Three masters and one apprentice chatted enthusiastically over a meal.

The next morning, to Su Ziyang's utter surprise, Daoist Jin and Yang Tianzheng took turns practicing a set of techniques on Su Ziyang.

Su Ziyang was left breathless...

Having regained his senses after the thrilling experience, Su Ziyang began his day of work and study.

Daoist Jin said that teaching Su Ziyang pediatric massage was the true teaching, and he acted swiftly and decisively.