Immortal Travel of Longevity

The conversation flowed easily, the table filled with soft chatter.

Only Dong Chiyu seemed a little at a loss, likely because the company was still unfamiliar to her.

She had never been good at interacting with strangers anyway.

Fortunately, having Ruyi by her side helped her settle in.

As they talked, Ruyi brought up the issue of Dong Chiyu's meridians with Doctor Tong.

"Perhaps I could take a look?"

Ruyi nudged Dong Chiyu and said bluntly, "Hold out your hand."

Dong Chiyu snapped back to her senses and immediately offered her hand.

Tong Zhihuan offered a warm smile. "No need to be nervous," he said.

He withdrew his hand a moment later. "The young lady's meridians are indeed blocked, but it isn't overly severe. From the looks of it, this condition has persisted for quite a long time. It likely wasn't caused by anything Post-Heaven; it should be a Pre-Heaven deficiency."

Dong Chiyu thought for a moment before asking, "Can it be treated?"

Tong Zhihuan smiled. "That won't be difficult. I suffered from a similar condition in my early years. Later, while wandering the world, I received guidance from an expert. By using a qi and blood technique to continuously wash through my meridians for about a year, the blockages vanished entirely whenever I circulated my qi and blood."

"Wait here a moment, I will go fetch it."

Tong Zhihuan returned shortly with a manual titled Treatise on Pre-Heaven Meridian Blockages and handed it to Dong Chiyu.

The book was quite detailed. It was not merely a qi and blood technique, but more akin to a medical text. It heavily emphasized the various meridian pathways and acupoints, explaining exactly why the method worked with sound logic and solid evidence for every claim.

Dong Chiyu flipped through the pages and hastily cupped her hands in a salute. "Thank you, Doctor Tong."

Tong Zhihuan gave a warm smile. "You are most welcome."

...

In the days that followed, the two families visited each other frequently.

They would often chat together. Meanwhile, Tong Nianyi had reached the age where she was allowed out of the house on her own, and she frequently went looking for Big Cat to play. The girl and the cat would run wild all throughout Qiuyue Fang. Within just a few days, everyone in the neighborhood knew that Doctor Tong's little daughter, Tong Nianyi, was now accompanied by Mao'er.

Some people jokingly gave Tong Nianyi the nickname "Civet Cat King." She couldn't be bothered to argue with them; she simply loved Big Cat.

"Big Cat, Big Cat, they're just jealous of me," Tong Nianyi declared, stroking Big Cat's head.

Lihua blinked. "Why are they jealous?" it asked.

"Because they don't have a Big Cat to play with."

"Meow."

Lihua blinked and said, "You're much smarter than Ruyi."

"Aunt Ruyi?"

"Yeah."

"Is Aunt Ruyi not smart?"

"Yeah, she's dumb as a rock. At any rate, not as smart as you."

"Oh, oh! Then I'll have to ask Aunt Ruyi later if she's really that dumb."

"..."

Lihua looked at Tong Nianyi's completely serious little face. It paused for a moment before saying, "Shh, you can't tell anyone. This is a secret between the two of us."

"A secret?" Tong Nianyi blinked. In all her innocent naivety, she completely bought Mao'er's nonsense.

Lihua asked, "Do you have any secrets?"

"Secrets..."

Tong Nianyi thought about it and said, "I can see Grandpa City God. Does that count?"

Lihua looked into her eyes. It didn't find this surprising in the slightest; after all, neither of the girl's parents were mortals.

"What else?"

"What else..."

Tong Nianyi pondered for a moment, let out a soft hum, and said, "Does having a tree inside my head count? Oh, right, there's also an old grandpa who often comes by to chop down the tree. He's super mean. Every time he comes, he chops that tree all to pieces. And it makes me hurt too, it hurts so bad! Once, it hurt so much I even fainted right on the spot. My mom and dad were worried sick."

"Huh?"

Lihua blinked. "A tree? Growing in your head?"

Tong Nianyi nodded earnestly, then said to Big Cat, "But you can't tell anyone else, Big Cat. This is Nianyi's secret."

"Can I take a look?"

"Ah..."

Tong Nianyi said, "How can you look? Nianyi can't crack her head open."

"Hold my paw."

"Like this?"

"Yeah."

"Eh..."

As she spoke, Tong Nianyi felt as though something extra had slipped into her mind.

Lihua's divine sense had already entered her Sea of Consciousness.

Sweeping its gaze around, it indeed spotted a modestly sized peach tree sapling. The tree looked as though it had been planted there, yet it also felt like the true master of this domain. Sitting cross-legged beneath the tree was a figure—it was none other than Tong Nianyi's divine sense.

Tong Nianyi's divine sense was constantly absorbing nutrients from the peach tree to prevent it from growing larger. However, because of this, the majority of her divine sense remained in a state of deep slumber.

Lihua withdrew from Tong Nianyi's Sea of Consciousness and said, "I didn't see any old grandpa anywhere."

"He's not there right now."

Tong Nianyi counted on her fingers and said, "He only comes occasionally. Probably once every two three years or so."

"It's 'two or three years,' not 'two three years.'"

"Isn't it the same?"

"The meaning is about the same, but it's just different."

"I don't get it."

Lihua looked at her blinking in confusion and didn't know what to say for a moment.

It couldn't help but lower its head, recalling the past. It seemed that in its earlier years, it used to be exactly like this...

It really didn't have the nerve to point it out anymore.

Simply shifting the topic, Lihua asked, "What does that old grandpa look like?"

"White beard, white hair, and he wears a set of cyan robes. He always shows up right when the tree is about to bear fruit. He swings an axe and just hacks away, and he won't stop until he's sheared off all the leaves and branches. He's super, super mean..."

"White beard, white hair..."

"Cyan robes?"

Lihua muttered, as if suddenly remembering something.

Tong Nianyi thought for a moment and added, "He looks just like the teaching Mister in the schoolhouse, except he's way too fierce."

Lihua froze for a second before realization suddenly dawned on it.

"Isn't that Chen the Good Man?"

In Lihua's memory, there was only one person who fit that description. An older version of Chen the Good Man would look exactly like what Tong Nianyi was describing.

"Who is Chen the Good Man?"

"He's a forgetful scatterbrain."

"Ah... doesn't that mean he's really dumb?"

"Not quite..." Lihua thought about it, but then changed its tune. "Actually, I also think he's not very smart."

"Big Cat is the smartest."

"Hehehe..."

Lihua gave a silly laugh. It felt the exact same way.

However, judging solely by the way it giggled foolishly after just one compliment, it truly didn't look smart at all.

It had to be said, Tong Nianyi was a wonderful match for Mao'er. She got along with it fabulously. Perhaps it was because neither of them was particularly brilliant, so they could always keep a conversation going. It was constantly baffling, yet somehow absolutely perfect.

A perfectly balanced lack of smarts.

"Let's go, let's go! Let's go buy some candied fruit to eat. Does Big Cat like candied fruit?"

"I like it."

"Ah, I've noticed other cats don't eat candied fruit."

"Lihua wants to eat it. Lihua eats everything."

"Then let's go buy some! I'll buy a whole bunch, and later Big Cat can help me secretly hide it. My mom won't let me buy too much, she says it'll ruin my teeth. I had so much confiscated before, and in the end, my mom secretly ate it all herself. Mommy is so mean, secretly eating it all on her own! Will Big Cat's teeth get ruined?"

"Lihua won't. Lihua's teeth are good."

"Ah, that's so nice. I'm so jealous. I've already lost three teeth."

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