Seizing the opportunity, the homeroom teacher briefly told the principal that Li Ming might transfer next semester. Though regretful, the principal had no choice but to nod in agreement. The child had the right to transfer; they couldn’t forcibly stop him.
“Li Ming, the teachers don’t want you to transfer, but we won’t force you. If you really must transfer, then in this last semester, we hope you can set an example for the school.”
Li Ming’s eyes brightened. He loved this school, the teachers, and his classmates. Now that he was eight, he could fully take care of himself.
He decided not to transfer. Even if his grandmother went to care for his aunt, he wouldn’t transfer. With his mother’s grocery store here, if he couldn’t manage this, he didn’t deserve to be Cheng Qiao and Li Huan’s son.
Even if something happened, with Aunt Zheng Qing and Uncle Shouhou around, they were people who could help him. In an instant, this little boy grew up rapidly.
Cheng Qiao had no idea about Li Ming’s plans. She had too much to do to worry about the small schemes in a child’s heart.
A week passed quickly. Cheng Qiao was very satisfied with Zheng Ning—she was meticulous, patient, diligent, and lively in her work.
Most importantly, Mother Li was pleased with Zheng Ning. Many things didn’t require her to speak; Zheng Ning already knew what to do, keeping Mother Li comfortable without taking away her freedom.
“Sister Zheng, my mother and I are very pleased with you. If you’re willing to stay, I’ll give you twenty yuan a month, with the same benefits as other grocery store staff. How does that sound?”
Hearing she had passed the test, Zheng Ning couldn’t hold back tears of joy. Twenty yuan a month—that was even two yuan more than her husband’s salary!
This meant the girls in the family could go to school, and meals would improve. At least now, when they ate meat, each of the seven daughters could have a piece.
And the benefits were the same as for other store staff—bonuses at the end of the year, plus rice, flour, and oil. She was like a child in a rice barrel.
Cheng Qiao left on schedule. Li Ming and Mother Li reluctantly saw them off at the train station. Mother Li held Ye Jing with one hand and Li Nuan with the other, muttering reminders about dressing warmly and watching out for child traffickers.
The two little ones nodded repeatedly. Once on the train, Ye Jun relaxed completely. He realized the older you get, the more you cling to your children; Mother Li was a perfect example.
He glanced at Ye Jing. Once on the train, he pulled out a medical book to read—a good habit, but maybe a bit too much, leaving him hardly like a child at all.
Then he looked at Li Nuan, snuggled in Cheng Qiao’s arms, wanting to be remade—a proper child’s demeanor.
But imagining if Ye Jing were clingy like Li Nuan, he shuddered. It was better this way—independent personality, more reliable in the future.
“Ye Jing, Grandpa will test you this time. If you pass, the next step is learning to recognize acupoints and practice acupuncture.”
Ye Jing’s eyes lit up. He admired his grandfather’s acupuncture skills—fast, accurate, and highly effective.
Li Huan patted Ye Jing’s head, shaking his confidence:
“How’s your qigong practice? Without a solid foundation, how can you perform acupuncture? Even if you find the right acupoints, your results will be nowhere near Grandpa’s.”
Ye Jing: “…”
He had forgotten about this! Suddenly, he looked at Cheng Qiao hesitantly: “Mom, do you have qigong?”
Cheng Qiao nodded. True Chinese medicine masters possessed a kind of energy called “qi.” With sufficient “qi,” both bone-setting and acupuncture were far more effective.
As long as your “qi” is strong and pure, you can eliminate pathogenic energy from the body. So-called “medicine that cures the disease” relies heavily on “qi.”
“Girl, try to sense your qi. See how far it can reach now.”
Ye Jun was also curious about the disciple’s level of qigong. The faster the “qi” flows and the more meridians it passes through, the higher the acupuncture skill.
Cheng Qiao closed her eyes, regulated her breathing, and slowly produced a warm energy inside her body. She concentrated, guiding the qi toward her dantian.
Strangely, today the qi didn’t settle in her dantian but flowed toward her eyes. Cheng Qiao felt uneasy but didn’t obstruct the qi’s path.
Soon, her eyes felt hot, as if a steaming towel had been pressed against them, warming the eyeballs and completely relaxing them.
Gradually, Cheng Qiao grew astonished. She could see her own internal organs and a steadily beating heart—even with her eyes closed!
She dared not open her eyes, fearing all the visions would vanish. She had never seen her own insides before and wanted to examine carefully.
First, she observed the qi. All her meridians had opened, and the qi had transformed into a faint mist, flowing through them mainly toward her eyes.
Her eyes, enveloped by the qi like in a hot spring, continued observing her organs. When her gaze reached her fallopian tubes, the qi paused, sealing them. She had already had five children—no need for more.
Satisfied with her own qi, Cheng Qiao then looked toward Li Huan. His internal organs were now visible to her eyes as well.
Li Huan’s dantian contained a fist-sized white mass—that was cold poison. He had already learned to compress all the cold poison in his body into his dantian to refine it, converting it into the energy he needed.
Cheng Qiao, noticing Li Huan’s vas deferens, suddenly felt mischievous. A silver needle appeared in her hand, and in a flash, she pierced his wrist. A surge of energy entered Li Huan’s body, directly sealing his vas deferens.
A warm current covered the chill coursing through Li Huan’s body, relaxing him completely. Unfortunately, that warmth vanished in an instant.
Li Huan wanted to speak, but seeing Cheng Qiao still had her eyes closed, he didn’t dare disturb her. After pulling out the silver needle, Cheng Qiao turned her attention to the twin siblings and Ye Jun.
Ye Jing and Li Nuan’s bodies were perfectly clean, with no traces of any color, while Ye Jun had a black mark on his sternum—a remnant of a past injury. Though it had healed, the mark remained indelible.

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