"What's the matter? Say it. I'm in a good mood today," Ye Mo said. He had just collected some herb seeds and turned Silverheart Grass into a medicinal soup, so his mood was indeed quite good.
"Lend me two thousand yuan," Ning Qingxue said calmly. For her, asking Ye Mo for two thousand should not be a problem, since his money was essentially hers anyway.
"No money." Ye Mo's good mood instantly soured. He only had about three thousand yuan in his pocket, and Ning Qingxue wanted to borrow two thousand at once!
"You…" Ning Qingxue was quite annoyed. How could he be such a miser? He took fifty thousand from her, yet refused to lend two thousand? What kind of person was this?
"You could have squeezed some interest out of the fifty thousand, and that would cover this two thousand. You're a man, and you have many things to do in the future. How can you be like this?" Ning Qingxue said what she was thinking, and somehow it sounded quite reasonable.
Seeing Ning Qingxue trying to reason with him, Ye Mo quickly raised his hand: "Stop, stop, stop." Then he took out a roll of bills from his pocket, counted twenty notes, and handed them to Ning Qingxue: "This is the last time. Don't ask me for money again. My money isn't easy to come by."
Ning Qingxue curled her lips but did not argue. Deep down, she thought if his money was so hard-earned, then nobody's money was easy-earned. Just renting a place for herself cost fifty thousand.
Ning Qingxue wanted to borrow two thousand because she had no money on her, her phone balance was gone, and she needed to buy some personal items, which made things inconvenient.
That night, after Xu Wei and Ning Qingxue had fallen asleep, Ye Mo went to the big tree in the backyard, drank a whole bowl of medicinal soup at once, and began cultivation.
The powerful medicinal energy suddenly exploded in Ye Mo's chest, rapidly adjusting the width and strength of his meridians along with his circulating true energy. Ye Mo was ecstatic—he hadn't expected such good effects from a single Silverheart Grass. It looked like advancing to Qi Refinement level two was within reach.
Four hours later, Ye Mo felt his true energy rapidly increasing, but then something felt wrong.
His true energy stopped increasing and instead began burning his meridians. Ye Mo panicked—if this continued, he might become a cripple!
The burning in his meridians grew worse, and the pain intensified. In desperation, Ye Mo bit his wrist.
"Pfft!" Blood spurted out, releasing the pent-up heat. Ye Mo breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for his quick thinking—otherwise, it would have been a disaster. Apparently, he shouldn't have drunk a whole bowl at once. The soup was missing several original precious herbs, replaced with ordinary ingredients, which likely caused side effects.
Once the burning subsided, Ye Mo immediately used his internal energy to stop the bleeding.
Though he lost quite a bit of blood, Ye Mo had reached late stage of Qi Refinement level one. This was a breakthrough for his first cultivation. He felt the medicinal power in his body hadn't been fully consumed. If he kept cultivating, he might be able to fully reach Qi Refinement level two.
The next day, after breakfast, Ye Mo felt the burning in his meridians again while preparing to go to school. He was secretly annoyed—did he have to bleed out all his blood to calm his internal energy? Losing blood like this made his heart ache.
But this didn't trouble Ye Mo much. He went straight to the hospital to sell blood. After an unknown amount was drawn, Ye Mo finally felt his true energy calm down and breathed a sigh of relief. He skipped the library at school and found a quiet place to cultivate.
These days were critical. He had to fully refine the medicinal liquid to avoid wasting the Silverheart Grass.
In the following days, Ning Qingxue kept in contact with Li Mu Mei. The scandal involving the Ning family was too overwhelming for her to consider. Although Ninghai had also reported her marriage with Ye Mo, it was far less sensational than in Yanjing.
The only small comfort was that after her news appeared online and in newspapers, the Song family seemed to back off, no longer mentioning her or Song Shaowen.
Ye Mo's days were a mix of pain and joy. His cultivation progressed steadily, but he had to donate blood daily. Fortunately, though the compensation was small, it was still some income.
On the sixth night after drinking the medicinal soup, as Ye Mo cultivated, he heard a few soft cracking sounds inside his body, as if something suddenly cleared. His entire body felt comfortable. The residual medicinal liquid completely dissipated, his true energy multiplied several times, and his consciousness began to expand outward.
He had finally reached Qi Refinement level two. It hadn't been easy. He no longer needed to go to the hospital for blood. At that moment, Ye Mo almost wanted to stand up and shout, but it was midnight—if he yelled, people might think he'd gone mad. Still, his joy was indescribable.
The next day, Ye Mo bought breakfast for Ning Qingxue and planned to go to school. He wanted to keep a few medicinal pills for Shi Xiu. Now that he had reached level two, he would soon leave. Shi Xiu was his friend, and before leaving Ninghai, Ye Mo wanted to give him some pills in case of emergency.
Originally, Ye Mo thought after marrying Ning Qingxue and taking some photos, there would be troubles, but nearly half a month had passed without incident. He was beginning to relax.
"Ning Qingxue." For the first time, Ning Qingxue called out to Ye Mo as he was leaving.
Ye Mo immediately felt uneasy. Last time she called him, he lost two thousand yuan. What could she want this time? But since she called, he couldn't just ignore her.
He turned to look at Ning Qingxue, smiling wryly. She still looked like a fairy, only now a bit plumper—probably thanks to his cooking. Someone who didn't know might think she was on vacation, not hiding from trouble.
"What is it?" Ye Mo said, a little helpless.
Seeing his helpless expression, Ning Qingxue felt annoyed. Was she not good enough for him? Even if it was a fake marriage, she should at least deserve someone like him. Fortunately, she was aloof by nature; otherwise, she couldn't have quietly stayed with Ye Mo for half a month.
"I have a classmate coming over today. She's a reporter, and you should know why. Although I don't want to have dinner with her, I'm still under people's watchful eyes. Could you please accompany me for dinner tonight?" Ning Qingxue said calmly.
"I can cook, why go out to eat?" Ye Mo's first reaction was to save money by cooking himself.
"You…" Ning Qingxue was so annoyed she nearly choked. She didn't care about face, but wanted to appear more like a real married couple to others.
"Fine, I'll go tonight," Ye Mo said weakly and turned to leave.