Er Xi woke up in the evening of the next day to find Ling still unconscious. She couldn't figure out what had happened to Ling inside the cave. "You are awake," said the pharmacist, who was boiling some medicine. He carried the pot of medicine, which he had been boiling for some hours, towards Ling's bed. "Is he going to be okay?" Er Xi, who could only support herself with objects around her, walked to Ling's bed to confirm. Her soles were injured yesterday, and even the pharmacist was surprised by how she had carried someone with that. "Your young master should be lucky to have you. His life force is barely noticeable, but I think he will survive," the pharmacist, who Er Xi just noticed how young he is, said as he started feeding Ling the medicine.
Staggering toward Ling's bed, Er Xi knelt beside the bed as she caressed Ling's hair lovingly. Her expression was just like that of a mother looking at her poor little child. "Give him the best treatment. I will pay you any amount. If I don't have the amount you charge, I can pay you with whatever you want," Er Xi said with determination. She had actually paid the young pharmacist all the money she had gathered before they left the barren land and was afraid it wouldn't be enough. Hearing this, the young pharmacist was surprised. He was only a young cultivator who had decided to gain knowledge and experience treating others since he find it hard having a breakthrough, his master has actually been the one that advice that. Who would have thought he would come across something like this? It was beginning to look awkward. "Wait, is the girl thinking I might want to take advantage of her? Wait a minute," the young pharmacist thought to himself, as a hopeless smile appeared on his face. "He will wake up; his meridians are the only thing that seems not right. You don't have to pay with anything again," the young pharmacist said, trying hard to emphasize on the 'anything' line. "Is it that serious?" Er Xi asked, even without understanding what meridian means. "It seems transparent and totally damaged. There seems to be this cold air wrapping around it too. It is the reason why he can't take in the natural qi of heaven and earth and wake up faster. It will also be the reason why he might not be able to cultivate in the future. You see, all humans are able to take in the qi of heaven and earth. What makes cultivators different is the ability to harness the power of the qi of heaven and earth. A human that couldn't even harness the powers is deemed unworthy to cultivate, and his case now is even far from that. He can't pick up the qi at all, let alone harnessing it. He will still wake up though, just that it will take a day or two since the medicine will be working alone instead of getting aid from Qi to fasten his recovery," the young pharmacist said.
Hearing all this, Er Xi could only pick up one thing, and that is he will recover. "Thanks," Er Xi said, bowing her head as tears started dripping down uncontrollably. Seeing this reaction, the young pharmacist actually felt bad that he can't treat Ling's Meridian.
It took the next day for Er Xi to fully recover and set out to go claim Ling Inn. Three servants had made it with them to Weixen, so they all followed her. Reaching the inn, Er Xi couldn't believe her eyes. Ling's parents must have spent all they had on it. Now she could see the reason why they had less. The inn was bustling under the charge of the caretaker. Meeting with the caretaker, Er Xi showed the paper of ownership and was actually treated well. She had followed all Ling's parents had told her. They had once told her that when she went to Weixen to claim the property, that she should say her master from Qin State, Mr. Lan, had sent her to take charge of the inn and use it as a place to help his son gain knowledge. She had not yet known how Master Lan Muyu got the identity of Qin, but since the Qin identity worked on the soldiers at the gate, it would totally work on the inn caretaker.
"Oh, I have been waiting for this day. Where is the young master?" the inn caretaker asked. "There was a little mishap on the way, and he fell sick. He is being treated now," Er Xi said. She was really wise, and that was one of the reasons Ling's parents confided in her more. "He needs to be given the best treatment then. I don't know what I can tell Master Lan if something were to happen to his son on his first visit," the caretaker said, standing up immediately. He seemed visibly shaken.
Seeing this reaction, Er Xi immediately connected the dots. Ling's parents had acquired a new identity to conceal the fact that Ling belonged to the Ming tribe. Humans can't be trusted; they couldn't trust the caretaker not to harm Ling. Therefore, they claimed to be from Qin, the capital of the southern continent, just to instill fear in the caretaker.
"I made sure I took him to the best. I also won't have an excuse for the master if anything happens to him when he trusted me enough to leave him under my care," Er Xi said.
"What shall I do now?" the caretaker, who was a chubby man, asked.
"You know the inn better. You should manage it with us. We will start preparing for a banquet to welcome the young master when he wakes up," Er Xi said. Speaking about the banquet, Er Xi had suggested it only because she thought since Ling's parents had tried to create a rich profile for him, it would be appropriate to follow up and also a banquet will be fastest way to introduce Ling to the other businesses owner and get him integrated faster into the status of a young master .
"Okay, ma'am," the chubby caretaker said.
"I will be going back to see how the young master is doing," Er Xi said, standing up and leaving.
*****
"What do you think, master?" someone came out from the shadows just after Er Xi left.
"I say we keep a low profile. Our last five years of checks have always confirmed that a Lan Clan exists in Qin, and they are actually a very large clan that the Qin government won't offend. Even if I wanted to usurp and take over the inn, I think we should tread carefully. Besides, I think the girl they sent is young but will be quite difficult to deal with. The excuse of the young master being sick should be totally made up," the chubby caretaker said.
"Should I follow back to confirm?" the guy that walked out of the shadow asked.
"No, putting ourselves at risk of exposure is not worth it. We will prepare a banquet and follow up one step at a time. Let's hope the young master is a useless, spoiled brat," the chubby caretaker said.
Er Xi was walking down the street with the three other servants. She had no idea that the caretaker was overthinking things. Upon reaching the pharmacist's place, her face immediately brightened up as she rushed forward to hug Ling, who had woken up and was sitting outside the pharmacy.
"You scared me," Er Xi said, hugging Ling as tears started dripping down her cheeks.
"Young master is strong. What do you take me for? I can't die that easily. Besides, Dad said one should always leave with a bang," Ling said as he flashed a smile.
The young pharmacist walked out to see this and could only smile.
"We will bother you by staying here tonight too, hope you don't mind," Er Xi said, releasing Ling and looking at the young pharmacist.
"Sure, I don't. I don't get patients anyway," the young pharmacist said with a smile.
"Lin Dong, go back to the inn and tell the caretaker the young master's banquet will be tomorrow," Er Xi immediately gave instructions to one of the three servants who had followed them. He was twelve.
"Okay, ma'am," the servant called Lin Dong said as he hurried off to pass the message.
*****
After Lin Dong passed the message to the chubby caretaker, he smiled once he left. "I said it. The young master being sick must have been all made up." He didn't know that it was all true and Ling had just recovered.
The next day, the banquet proceeded normally, and Ling began living fully in the Inn. Before the banquet, Er Xi had explained many things to him, and with a bit of her guidance and his own intelligence, he understood and prepared himself for the future.