Chapter 136 - 135: Lele
In the villa’s tea room.
The dim light stretched their two shadows long.
Ye Qingyao’s gaze fixed on Jin Wu. "You don’t think my Martial Arts Realm is low because I lack a means of Source Supplement, do you? I have no interest in practicing Martial Arts. No amount of Qi and Blood Value is useful to me."
Jin Wu sneered inwardly. ’If you can’t handle the hardship of practicing martial arts, just say so.’ As someone who sold medicine, he had seen far too many people like this.
Himself included. Now middle-aged and successful, he only focused on wellness, not on martial training.
The only difference was that he had truly put in the effort when he was young, so he had some foundation.
Jin Wu smiled. "Like I said, it’s a treasure, so of course it’s special. The substance in this Moon Gu isn’t just pure Qi and Blood Value—which isn’t a physical substance to begin with. This is ’Qi Blood Transformation.’ To use an old Yanhua term, it would be called ’Life Origin’..."
"It can directly improve a Martial Artist’s physical strength without you needing to go through arduous Body Forging. I heard the Yanhua Officials were once interested in the ’Moon Gu,’ but they gave up on it because the refinement method was incomplete and the process itself was too despicable."
"I have no idea how to Refine it, but I can figure out how to use it correctly. If you’re willing, I can make the arrangements. It’s just that the price..."
This thing was impossible to price, and its origins were shady.
He’d found it the day the main store was destroyed, so it was definitely tangled up in the mess with the Exotic Realm insurgents. He was afraid of the officials confiscating it and of the insurgents coming to cause trouble, so he could only try to sell it to someone he knew.
But that wouldn’t stop Jin Wu from taking a huge bite for himself.
He wouldn’t budge for anything less than 10 million!
Having mentally prepared his script, Jin Wu waited for Ye Qingyao to take the bait. Instead, she asked a strange question.
"It can only be used on women, correct?"
"Yes... both for harvesting and for nourishing."
"Is there an age limit?"
"Er... they must at least be of an age where they’ve reached puberty."
"How is it used?"
Jin Wu recalled the information he’d looked up:
"There are two methods. One is to absorb it gradually in conjunction with a Secret Technique. The other is a minor surgery to embed it in the body... Of course, in President Ye’s case, the first method is much safer. The second is faster, but who wants to go under the knife if they don’t have to?"
But Ye Qingyao gave a strange smile. "I need the fast one. The faster, the better..."
Now it was Jin Wu who was caught off guard.
In truth, he wasn’t fully prepared... The old documents he found were, at best, an introductory pamphlet!
A businessman’s words are seventy percent truth and thirty percent lies. He was still asking around; it had been difficult enough just to identify the thing. How to actually use it was a secret of the Si Realm.
He had originally hoped to just get a deposit today to solve his urgent financial crisis. He never expected Ye Qingyao to look like she wanted to use it on the spot!
But to avoid bankruptcy, he had to bite the bullet. "Rest assured, once we agree on a price, I’ll get on it at top speed! I’ll have everything ready for President Ye within a month."
Ye Qingyao shook her head. "No... a month is too slow. Can you do it within a week?"
"What? A week?!"
Jin Wu’s jaw dropped. "There’s no need for that, is there, President Ye? Why?"
Ye Qingyao tapped the sandalwood box. "I want to use it on my daughter. And her college entrance exams are coming up."
"From what I know... doesn’t your daughter have excellent grades? I even thought about asking her to be a spokesperson once... She has a good chance of reaching the Innate realm in her lifetime. Why the rush?"
Ye Qingyao shook her head. "Whether she reaches the Innate realm is a matter for the future... But she *must* get into Jiangti in the college entrance exams... which means there are only twenty days left."
Jin Wu muttered, "Jiangti is hard to get into, but with your daughter’s grades, she should have a chance, right?"
"I don’t want a chance. I want a guarantee!"
’This woman really is a Ghost Mother...’ Jin Wu thought.
But thinking of his own precarious situation, he gritted his teeth and agreed.
If Ye Qingyao was willing to gamble, what the hell was he afraid of?
What if he got lucky... the implant had no side effects, and everyone lived happily ever after?
Even if problems arose, at worst it would be a lawsuit. That could be dragged out for a year or so, and by then, maybe this money would have helped him get back on his feet!
"Give me a little time to prepare. I’ll arrange it!"
Ye Qingyao showed a satisfied smile.
Completely unconcerned about the potential risks....
——————
「Half an hour earlier, on the third floor.」
The young man and woman were lying on the bed, Xu Bamboo curled up with her head buried in Yang Shen’s arms.
Yang Shen held her gently, feeling the warmth of her body.
Warmer than he had imagined, and more fragile.
Xu Bamboo was silent for a moment before speaking softly. "It’s not much of a story, really. Just some mundane things..."
"Ever since I can remember... I was locked in a small room..."
For some reason, Xu Bamboo laughed...
The memories in her mind tumbled past like images.
...
"Lele! Mommy’s going out. Be a good girl and stay home today, okay~?"
The little girl, missing a tooth and as cute as a porcelain doll, beamed. "Don’t worry, Mommy! Lele will be good!"
The exquisitely dressed city woman with a beautiful face closed the door, leaving the messy rental apartment.
The girl, nicknamed Lele, was already three years old. She had never left this two-bedroom apartment, doing nothing but wait day after day for her mother to return.
That was when she was happiest.
The little girl waited until the sound of her mother’s high heels faded into the distance before turning around and beginning to clumsily tidy up the room her mother had messed up.
Her mother didn’t care about the mess, as long as she herself looked exquisite when she went out. But occasionally, when she came back to a clean room, she would praise Lele a little.
Lele took this to heart. Since she couldn’t go out anyway, she could at least do something for her mother.
Tidying the room, wiping the floor with a rag—her small, clumsy hands took a very, very long time.
When she accidentally fell, Lele’s nose turned red. She held back her tears for a long time, wiped her eyes, and kept on trying!
It took a full three hours to wipe the small apartment spotless.
She stood on her tiptoes to get leftovers from the fridge, heated them up, and gobbled them down. Then she washed the dishes, played with her toys, and flipped through her wrinkled children’s books...
Day after day passed just like this.
Her world was only this big; she could memorize the shape of the mold in the corner.
But sometimes, when she leaned against the window and watched children her own age getting out of kindergarten, Lele would still feel curious.
When her mother came home late at night, she would ask:
"Mommy, why don’t I have to go to school?"
Her mother, smelling of alcohol, replied impatiently, "How could you go to a normal kindergarten like that! You are the eldest daughter of the main branch of the Xu Family! You’re destined to attend a prestigious private kindergarten!"
Lele looked around their rented apartment. She couldn’t yet distinguish between rich and poor; all her knowledge of the outside world came from her mother. So, she cheered happily:
"Yay! I want to go to a prestigious kindergarten! Mommy, when are we going?"
Her mother irritably tossed her phone aside, apparently not seeing the message she was hoping for. She turned to her daughter, crouched down, and said solemnly:
"Remember, Lele, you’re different from other people. Don’t envy those commoners. You were born superior—you’re the young miss of a Martial Arts Clan."
Lele broke into a wide, sweet smile. "Yay~! I’m a young miss! I’m a young miss!"
Back then, Lele had no idea what that term meant. She just thought it was a sign of her mother’s love.
And so, the days went on, one after another.
Lele lived her life in that tiny rented apartment...
She became better and better at keeping the house tidy, taught herself simple characters from her children’s books, and no longer looked out the window with envy.
’Mother said I’m a young miss... I don’t need to envy them.’
’I’ll go to kindergarten too. A bigger, prettier kindergarten! Hmph~!’
It wasn’t until many years later, when Lele had taken on a new name, that she finally understood.
Those years she was locked in the rental apartment.
It was only because her mother was afraid of her being taken away and was deliberately cultivating her daughter’s dependence...
And the reason she didn’t go to kindergarten was because...
she was a child without even a name, a child not born in a hospital, but in a rented apartment.
A child who shouldn’t have existed.