Chapter 104: Life-Buying Money Part 2

In the afternoon, Jianlong Middle School had a two-hour activity period.
It was for students to exercise.
Students who couldn’t participate in sports could also join club activities.
Of course, more students treated this as a break time or playtime.

I used to find it strange why the school would allocate a full two hours for students’ free activities and never, ever used this time for classes, not even under any circumstances.
At most, the PE teacher would come to guide the students in playing ball.

Now I could guess some of the reasons.
First, it was to let the students build up their physical strength so that they wouldn’t be disturbed by ghosts and monsters.
Second, it was to let the students maintain an optimistic mindset and not harbor resentment in their hearts.

As a school bully, Cao Bao usually led a group of underlings to run rampant in the school during activity time.
Perhaps because of some connections in his family, the teachers didn’t dare to control him.
The students he bullied were angry but dared not speak out, so they could only swallow their anger or pay some protection money to ask him to let them go.

But ever since a large number of his underlings were killed by the Painted Skin Ghost, rumors spread that their disappearance was retribution for following Cao Bao.
The remaining surviving underlings no longer dared to get close to him.

He had now become a loner, walking alone on the school path with a gloomy expression.
Other students avoided him for fear of provoking him.
The school bully, who used to throw his weight around, was now isolated by all the students.

When I approached him, I saw that the aura around him was the same: gray, chaotic, his mood extremely low and unstable, as if he would explode at any moment.
Approaching him at this time would probably easily anger him.

After confirming that there were no surveillance cameras on this school path, I walked up to him.
Cao Bao, who noticed me coming, showed a surprised expression.
He might have guessed that my words yesterday were just to deal with him and brush him off.
He didn’t expect me to actually come and find him today.

Cao Bao squeezed out an ugly smile on his gloomy face.
He didn’t know what to say and could only laugh dryly, “Yubing, you came to find me?”

Although he wasn’t calling my real name, just hearing him call me Yubing made me feel a wave of disgust and rejection.
But I endured it all and instead showed a smile, “Brother Cao, I came to find you.”

“Oh haha, it’s good that Yubing is here.”
“I knew you would come,” Cao Bao’s face was left with only a silly grin, as if he didn’t even know how to speak.

“I wonder, has Brother Cao prepared a gift for me?”
I squeezed out a coquettish voice that even I found a bit disgusting.
If Cao Bao had even a little bit of intelligence or calm thinking ability, he shouldn’t think that the previously aloof Xia Yubing would speak to him in such a flirtatious way.

“A g-gift?” Cao Bao was stunned.
He wasn’t even sure if I would come to find him, so how could he have prepared a gift in advance?
And this was the first time he had met a girl who so straightforwardly asked for a gift in front of him.

“Hehe, what do you want, Yubing?”
“Brother Cao will buy it for you.”
If it were a normal time, he would definitely have told his underlings to go and buy it immediately, but now he didn’t have that option, so he could only make a casual promise first.

“I do want to receive a gift from Brother Cao, but I don’t want Brother Cao to spend too much.”
“How about this…”
I took out ten banknotes from my wallet and handed them over, “Here is a thousand yuan.”
“Brother Cao, go and buy a gift that you think I will like.”

“Huh?! This, how can I take Yubing’s money?”
Cao Bao didn’t even dare to take the money I handed over.
This was too strange.
How could a girl give money to a boy?

“Its okay, it’s only a thousand yuan.”
“And this is a test, you see.”
“To see if Brother Cao can choose a gift that I like.”
“Besides, the gift will end up back in my hands anyway, right?” I said with a smile.

“That’s true.”
“I’ll do my best,” Cao Bao said, taking the ten one-hundred-yuan bills.
‘For a young lady like Xia Yubing, a thousand yuan really is nothing,’ he thought.
‘Besides, the gift will come back to her in the end.’
‘Treating it as a game is actually a good idea.’

“Well then, do your best, Brother Cao.”
“I’ll be looking forward to your gift,” I said, turning and walking away.

“Oh! I’ll definitely do my best,” Cao Bao said excitedly, already seriously pondering in his mind what kind of things Xia Yubing would like.

In his eyes, this was undoubtedly the school beauty showing him affection.
As long as he bought the gift, Xia Yubing would basically agree to date him.

After leaving Cao Bao, I deliberately bypassed the areas Mo Qingyan had marked for me as having surveillance coverage.
Doing this for the first time made me extremely nervous, but when I thought of Cao Bao’s past bullying, I also felt an impatient surge of excitement and anticipation.

After making sure I probably wouldn’t arouse suspicion or attract attention, I headed to Yi Zhiqiu’s office.
I was going to tell him the news I had learned from the Bixian.
After entering the office, I saw Yi Zhiqiu meditating.

He had spread a carpet on the floor and was sitting on it, his hands forming a seal.
His face alternated between shades of blue and red, a faint green smoke rose from his head, and yin and yang qi were entwined around his body.
‘Is this what cultivation is?’

Seeing that he was practicing, I didn’t dare to make a sound and just watched quietly.
But Yi Zhiqiu seemed to have sensed me.
He opened his eyes and said with a smile, “Back to see me so soon?”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t disturb your practice, did I?” I asked, feeling a little nervous.

“It’s alright, relax.”
“I’m not in deep seclusion.”
“If I was afraid of being disturbed, I wouldn’t be practicing here,” Yi Zhiqiu said as he stood up.

“I see.”
“You’re really diligent, practicing even in the school office,” I said, composing myself to chat with him casually.

“Hehe, it’s because I have some free time, so I took the opportunity to practice for a bit.”
“Besides, cultivating the Dao requires hard work.”
“You must practice daily and frequently to see any real effect,” Yi Zhiqiu said with a smile.

“Oh, is that so?”
“I guess you can’t teach me then,” I said, probing slightly.
Yi Zhiqiu was so powerful; if he could teach me some Daoist arts, I would never have to be afraid of those demons and ghosts again.

“Well, it’s difficult.”
“If you don’t start cultivating from a young age, you might not be able to generate any qi even after eight or ten years.”
“However, if there are some practical methods that ordinary people can use, I can teach you those,” Yi Zhiqiu said.

“So, you’ve been cultivating since you were a child?” I asked curiously, also trying to draw out more information.

“Mm, my grandfather was good friends with a Daoist Master.”
“He taught my grandfather some qi-nurturing techniques.”
“I practiced along with my grandfather and unexpectedly showed some talent, so the Daoist Master gradually taught me more Daoist arts,” Yi Zhiqiu said, his tone extremely respectful when he mentioned the Daoist Master.

“You don’t call him ‘Master’?”
“He never took you as a disciple?” I noticed this detail.

“That’s right, the Daoist Master never formally took me as his disciple.”
“Although in my heart, he is no different from a Master,” Yi Zhiqiu said.