"Mom, it's me, Jingwen. Can you hear me, Mom?" Su Jingwen excitedly grabbed the hand of the woman sleeping on the bed, calling out repeatedly.
The woman on the bed moved her hand slightly, then furrowed her brows, and slowly opened her eyes. She looked around bewildered and saw her tearful daughter, about to speak. Su Jingwen, overwhelmed with emotion, threw herself into her mother's arms and cried, "Mom, you're finally awake, I—"
"Jingwen." The woman on the bed gradually regained full consciousness. She felt a faint, fresh energy flowing through her body, gradually restoring her vitality.
"What happened to me, Jingwen?" The woman tried to sit up, but after lying down for so long, her limbs were numb and she couldn't rise immediately. She could still feel that fresh energy helping to restore her limbs.
Su Jianzhong stood there with his mouth wide open, stunned by what he was witnessing. He even forgot to speak. For the first time, he realized that there might really be some inexplicable things in this world. Was this a hallucination?
Ye Mo was very satisfied with his new place. He still had several tens of thousands of yuan on him and didn't need to go out to earn money for the time being. Every day he stayed in the courtyard to cultivate and carefully transplanted the single Silver Heart Herb into a separate flower bed.
After a month, Xie Xing learned that a woman in her twenties lived in the western room. Ye Mo practiced martial arts in the morning and evening in the courtyard. The woman on the opposite side seemed to leave for work early every day, and by the time she returned, Ye Mo had already started his training indoors. After a whole month, they had not met even once.
Ye Mo didn't care who the woman in the western room was. His life was simple, and he never had time to gossip because he was busy cultivating.
Xu Wei knew the landlord had rented out the eastern room, but didn't know who had moved in. She only knew it was a young man around her age. She left for work at six every morning and returned near seven in the evening, rarely seeing the tenant. Due to inspections from the health center's leadership, she had no days off even on weekends.
This young man never appeared before or after her shifts. If it weren't for changes in the courtyard's plants, she might have thought he didn't exist. Over time, she realized that this guy living across from her was a true homebody—an extreme homebody.
There were only two weeks left before school reopened. The month of training only made Ye Mo's vital energy more refined. He was still far from reaching the second stage of Qi cultivation, proving how vital the essence of heaven and earth was to cultivation. However, he hadn't abandoned his secular martial arts, which grew increasingly skillful.
Ye Mo knew that reaching the second Qi stage here was impossible without external help. None of the Chinese herbs from the medicine shop could help him advance. His only hope was the Silver Heart Herb in the courtyard.
Since there was only one Silver Heart Herb, Ye Mo wanted to keep it alive and eventually get it to produce seeds for mass cultivation.
The Silver Heart Herb took two years to mature. This particular herb was likely self-grown and only about one year old. Even with careful nurturing, it would take at least three more years before it matured and produced seeds to plant more. But hope was better than none.
One day, Ye Mo stepped out and saw a woman in her twenties washing clothes in the courtyard. He immediately recognized her as the woman living next door. She usually washed clothes at night. Why was she washing clothes during the day today?
When Xu Wei saw Ye Mo come out, a faint smile appeared on her lips. This homebody had lived under the same roof for a month, and no one had seen him until a colleague asked her to cover a few evening shifts recently. He really was a serious homebody. But he wasn't ugly—why didn't he ever come out? She wondered what kind of job he had.
"Hello, I'm Xu Wei, your neighbor. I work at Likang Hospital," she said warmly.
Ye Mo smiled and nodded, "I'm Ye Mo, an unemployed bum."
This was Ye Mo's first time meeting Xu Wei. She was gentle and pleasant, her smile sincere. Her hair was tied up so it was hard to tell its length. Her skin was fair. Though not as beautiful as the woman who bought Ye Mo's talisman, she was still a delicate, lovely girl.
"You don't work?" Hearing Ye Mo say he was unemployed made Xu Wei nervous. A young man in his prime renting a place but not working and staying home all day? There was no broadband either, so he wasn't playing games. She looked at him carefully, thinking he wasn't the typical homebody who avoided eye contact. Was he some kind of criminal?
Her heart started pounding.
Ye Mo ignored Xu Wei's thoughts and first checked on his Silver Heart Herb before tidying the other plants. He was about to practice a set of martial arts when he paused and greeted Xu Wei, then went out.
Watching him leave, Xu Wei finally relaxed. Remembering how focused he was tending to the plants, she thought to herself that she had been overthinking. Who could be a criminal and still have time to care for plants?
He didn't look wealthy either. She wondered what he did every day.
Qingdu Lake Park was the closest park to Ye Mo's residence. It was spacious with a clear water lake. Many elderly or fitness enthusiasts came here. Ye Mo had been here before but usually preferred to practice in his courtyard. Today was his first time practicing at Qingdu Lake Park.
The air was good, and the environment was clearly better than the small courtyard. After finishing his routine, Ye Mo was very satisfied. His vital energy had become even more refined, though reaching the second stage was still far off. Any progress was good.
"Friend, good boxing technique. I've seen many styles but can't tell which style you're practicing. I'm ashamed," said a man in his thirties approaching as Ye Mo finished.