“Going to school?” Yin Ling hesitated a bit.
“Pack your schoolbag.” Xia Yu found his granddaughter’s hesitation odd. “Is someone bullying you at school?”
While city children generally dislike going to school, for rural children, attending school is more comfortable than working at home, and there are also people to play with at school.
“But what about Mom?” Yin Ling replied.
“Your grandma is at home; what could happen to your mother?” Seeing the girl was only worried about her bedridden mother, Xia Yu relaxed.
Once Yin Ling got her schoolbag ready, Xia Yu took out a helmet and placed it on her little head.
He bought two helmets, both adult-sized, which were a bit too big for Yin Ling, meaning he would need to buy another one.
After the girl was seated and holding onto him tightly, Xia Yu started the engine.
He intentionally drove slowly, taking half an hour to arrive at her school.
With a sudden brake, Xia Yu stopped at the entrance.
Two security guards in the booth tensed and stood up.
Riding a motorcycle is common, but wearing a leather jacket while doing so is not.
They were afraid he might be there to cause trouble until they saw him take off his helmet, revealing his white hair, and then they relaxed.
Seeing the girl getting off from the back, they realized it was just an elderly woman bringing her granddaughter to school.
This elderly woman was quite stylish, giving them a bit of a scare.
Speaking of which, the leather jacket looked pretty cool on her—why does it seem so tacky when young people wear it?
This was because Xia Yu had obtained “Fashion Sense LV3” from Xu Youxiang.
By this time, class had started five minutes ago, and the gate was closed as Yin Ling entered through the security room.
Xia Yu didn’t follow. He turned his head toward the motorcycle shop, bought another small pink helmet for Yin Ling, then went to the market and bought five rabbits.
“Are you hosting a banquet at your place?” The rabbit seller recognized Xia Yu, as buying five at once was quite rare.
“No, I bought them for experiments.” He had them provide a mesh bag, hung the rabbits on the motorcycle, and drove back.
The rabbit seller scratched his chin: “Can rabbits even be used for experiments?”
Fifteen minutes later, Xia Yu continued his experiments with the new rabbits.
Skill upgrades required experience; looking at herbal records granted him experience, and even failed experiments contributed to gaining experience.
In the real world, skipping the basics and going straight into experiments would lead to no progress even if one failed repeatedly, but in this game, accumulating enough experience was sufficient.
Conducting experiments was far more interesting than memorizing herbal records.
By three o’clock in the afternoon, he finally received a prompt indicating his skill had improved.
Besides successfully creating the insect-repellent medicine, and being unsure about the bone-healing medicine’s effects, all other herbal attempts were failures.
After obtaining the “Herbal Medicine LV1” skill, a wealth of herbal knowledge appeared in Xia Yu’s mind. Randomly picking an herb from the bag, Xia Yu could now identify its name and know which part had what function without consulting Yin Shulan.
It was as if an herbal encyclopedia had been added to his mind.
Yin Shulan’s knowledge of herbs was now surpassed by Xia Yu; even globally, no one knew more than him. These basic records weren’t something people would memorize entirely; they usually referred to the records only when needed.
In addition to herbs, animal-based and mineral-based medicinal components also appeared in his mind.
This was exactly as Xia Yu had anticipated; the skill granted comprehensive knowledge related to it.
Checking the time, he had half an hour left before the deadline. Xia Yu tidied up the yard, burned the unused rabbits, and properly stored the rabbits whose experiments were incomplete.
With five minutes still remaining, everything done, Xia Yu hesitated slightly before entering the west wing room.
In the west wing room lived Yin Ling’s bedridden mother, also Yin Shulan’s daughter.
Upon entering the room, Xia Yu smelled a strong medicinal scent.
In the dimly lit room, a figure was lying in bed, coughing softly.
Seeing Xia Yu come in, the figure sat up: “Mom.”
Being called “Mom,” Xia Yu felt a complex emotion.
The room was a bit dark, so he turned on the light and looked at the daughter in bed.
It was a woman roughly in her early thirties, bearing a fivefold resemblance to Yin Ling.
Yin Ling shared five points of similarity with An Siyao, and three of those five points were inherited from her mother.
The woman before him bore three points of similarity to An Siyao.
Looking at her, one would feel that An Siyao, after another decade or so, should resemble this woman.
Searching his memory, Xia Yu recalled his daughter’s name—she was named Yin Wan.
Yin Wan’s face was somewhat pale, and her spirit was listless; her illness had been successfully cured, but she had only undergone surgery two weeks ago, so her body was still weak.
And she might remain weak in the future.
“Just watch some TV; don’t keep lying there motionless,” Xia Yu said, turning on the television.
Besides physical weakness, mental state was also closely related to one’s vitality.
When one’s mood was high, even if physically weak, one would still be energetic.
“I know, you go do your thing,” Yin Wan said listlessly, staring at the TV.
Handing her the remote control, Xia Yu walked out of the room. His “adopted” daughter seemed to have some emotional burden.
Most likely due to financial issues; next time, he’d show her how rich he was, and all problems would be resolved.
He went to the kitchen again, where the washbasin was located, with a mirror above it.
After gazing in the mirror for a while, Xia Yu sighed in relief: “Thankfully, neither Yin Wan nor Yin Ling resemble me.”
Both Yin Wan and Yin Ling resembled An Siyao; if they also resembled Yin Shulan, it would mean that An Siyao, in fifty years, would look like Yin Shulan.
Thankfully, they didn’t.
“I heard that, you brat!” Knowing Xia Yu was criticizing her looks, Yin Shulan huffed. “When I was young, I was the beauty of the village; I only turned out like this after growing old.”
Xia Yu pretended to believe her.
At four in the afternoon, the eight-hour period ended, and Xia Yu returned to his own body.
At this moment, he was on a high-speed train, about to arrive in Zilang.
Picking up the diary of the bodyguard Yu, Xia Yu noticed two events.
Xu Youxiang had called, asking him not to send her messages anymore?
What was this girl upset about this time?
Recalling, Xia Yu remembered something he had neglected.
He picked up his phone and sent a message to Xu Youxiang:
“That gift—I was initially hesitant about giving it to you, but then there was a little situation.”
Xu Youxiang didn’t reply.
Thinking for a moment, Xia Yu sent another message:
“The one who answered your call earlier was a robot.”
Xia Yu looked at the second note recorded by the bodyguard Yu.
Gao Zixiao had called, but the bodyguard Yu hung up directly.
This was a requirement from Xia Yu. Since Xu Youxiang already knew the situation, she could be used for experiments, so he gave the bodyguard Yu permission to answer Xu Youxiang’s calls. But Gao Zixiao didn’t know, and if something was said carelessly, it would be problematic.
Finding Gao Zixiao’s number, Xia Yu dialed.
“Brother Yu, what are you doing now? I called you but you didn’t answer,” Gao Zixiao answered quickly.
“I’m out of town, on the high-speed train back to Zilang. I was just busy with something,” Xia Yu brushed it off.
“I know, you artists don’t like to be disturbed, right?” Gao Zixiao made an excuse for him.
Xia Yu thought this excuse was pretty good and decided to use it as a future alibi.
“Do you have time tomorrow? Our senior class is organizing a basketball game, and we’re currently short one person,” Gao Zixiao revealed his purpose.
“No time,” Xia Yu refused directly.
“Then forget it, we have other substitutes. It’s our own class, so maybe you can come take a look?” Gao Zixiao said nervously.
Xia Yu hesitated for a moment and agreed.
After hanging up, Gao Zixiao, on the basketball court, loudly told his teammates who were waiting for news: “Xia Yu agreed!”
“Yay!” The group of boys became excited.
It was their collective idea to have Gao Zixiao invite Xia Yu. Gao Zixiao had long known that Xia Yu wouldn’t agree to play basketball; his goal was simply to have Xia Yu come and watch.
With Xia Yu standing there, a group of girls would definitely gather around.
Watching basketball with the girls around was one hundred percent manly romance!
At that time, perhaps a few girls would be attracted, and in the final days of senior high, they might experience a brief but dazzling twilight romance!
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