Chapter 72: Can You Afford to Raise It?

While “Little Useless in the Cultivation World” was scheming against Lan Mo, Lan Mo was also scheming against her. After all, these items were originally obtained without any effort on her part.

If you want the horse to run, you must let it graze. This time, she decided to be generous. Perhaps, seeing how well she handled things, this little useless might casually let slip something next time that could make her a fortune.

She was just an ordinary mortal; most of those Spiritual Medicines and Immortal Medicines were of no use to her. It could be said that they each had their own needs, mutually beneficial and cooperative, achieving a win-win situation.

Isn’t this what so-called friends are like? If one side constantly gives while the other relentlessly takes advantage, no one could bear it.

Friendship is about give and take!

[Miss, it’s settled then. Let’s start the exchange now!]

The sooner she got her hands on those treasures, the sooner she could complete the soul binding. Once she regained her strength, she would take those treasures and use dream entry again to visit her parents.

[Poor little thing, let’s put the treasures into the Gift Box at the same time. Don’t you dare play tricks on me! If you dare, I’ll hunt you down to the ends of the earth, and I’ll throw you to the gluttonous beast to devour.]

With interests at stake, “Little Useless in the Cultivation World” fiercely threatened Lan Mo, leaving Lan Mo fuming with anger.

This little useless has such a terrible temper. Could it be that she’s hundreds of years old and has never practiced dual cultivation? This must be due to an imbalance of yin and yang!

[Miss, rest assured. We mortals are honest, trustworthy, and uphold martial virtue! You cultivators from the Cultivation World even dare to kill your own mothers and never adhere to martial virtue.

Alright, enough idle talk. I’ve placed all the treasures into the box. Remember to check them! But if you don’t send your treasures over, I still have other treasures from the Immortal Realm in my possession, and I won’t trade with you next time.]

After all, she couldn’t see whether those treasures were real or not. If she wanted to continue cooperating, it was best not to play any tricks.

Threatening people? Who couldn’t do that?

Lan Mo sent the Gift Box over, and soon, the Phoenix True Blood and Fire Phoenix Feather were sent back.

Beep beep beep…

Friendly reminder: Host, would you like to proceed with soul binding to the space? After binding, the host can manipulate the space with their soul. To bind, please enter “Confirm Binding”!

Lan Mo quickly typed the words “Confirm Binding” on the screen.

Friendly reminder: Consuming two drops of Phoenix True Blood and three Fire Phoenix Feathers. Soul binding in progress. The host will fall into a deep sleep for six shichen.

Consuming? What a joke. This must be some big shot behind the scenes swindling treasures, right?

Ah… six shichen of sleep? Isn’t that twelve hours?

It’s already 8:30 now. Does that mean she’ll be late tomorrow morning?

Why didn’t she think of this earlier?

Forget it. With the soul binding to the space, she needed to leave the space quickly now. If she’s late tomorrow, so be it!

“Bang!”

Just as she thought about leaving, she was a step too slow and was forcefully ejected from the space.

Moreover, her soul seemed to be restrained by something, unable to move at all.

Now, she truly had no one to turn to, with heaven and earth offering no help.

The next morning at 8:20, Lan Mo still hadn’t shown up for work. At first, no one paid much attention until Ouyang Zhiqiang wanted to borrow a medical book from Lan Mo.

“Doctor Wang, why hasn’t Doctor Lan come to work today?”

“I’m not sure. Her complexion didn’t look good yesterday. Maybe she’s fallen ill? Should I write a leave request for her and submit it?”

“I’ll go, but you’d better send a female comrade to her dormitory to check on her. If someone falls ill while living alone, it’s easy for accidents to happen.”

Considering they were both doctors from the same hospital who had come to provide support, and colleagues should help each other, Wang Min decided to personally go to the dormitory to find Lan Mo.

She hurried to the dormitory door and knocked, thump thump thump!

“Is Doctor Lan there?”

“…”

Seeing no response to her knocking, Wang Min quickly ran to knock on the window, shouting loudly, “Doctor Lan, what’s wrong with you? If you’re feeling unwell anywhere, say something!”

Lan Mo’s soul had actually awakened and could hear the commotion outside. But her soul was still trapped, confined in a place shrouded in white mist.

Wang Min’s heart skipped a beat—could Doctor Lan have fainted? Fainting would be one thing, but if she had died, that would be disastrous.

Wang Min ran back and banged heavily on the door, bang bang bang! Each strike hit Lan Mo’s heart.

Boom! The confinement shattered, and Lan Mo’s soul instantly returned to her body. She scrambled up in one swift motion.

“Doctor Wang, stop knocking, I’m fine.”

“Then open the door!”

Lan Mo walked over and quickly opened the door. “Doctor Wang, come in and sit!”

“Doctor Lan, what happened to you? Your complexion looks even worse than yesterday’s.”

“Maybe I caught a cold. I’ll take some medicine later and I’ll be fine.”

Soul binding with a space—as a mere mortal, it certainly wasn’t that easy.

It seemed she would have to ask her friends if they had any soul-nourishing pills or the like. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to handle the next dream entry.

“Doctor Lan, Doctor Ouyang has asked for leave on your behalf. You should rest well today.”

“Alright, thank you all!”

Noticing some snacks on the cabinet, Wang Min said, “The cafeteria is out of breakfast. Have something to eat before going back to sleep! I’ll leave now.”

Lan Mo was indeed very tired now and had no time to entertain Wang Min. She would bring them some food tomorrow when she felt better.

After Wang Min left, Lan Mo bolted the door again and lay back on the bed, trying to use her will to retrieve something from the space.

In the end, she could only take out one apple at a time. It seemed her mental strength still wasn’t sufficient. For now, she should rest properly and try again at noon.

If it remained like this, she would go ask “Little Useless in the Cultivation World” if there were any elixirs that could strengthen mental power.

…

Pan Huijuan brought the dishes to the table and called Old Gu and the children to eat.

At the dinner table, Pan Huijuan asked, “Yannan, you’ve been going for runs before dawn these past two days, right?”

“Mom, you know I go for morning runs whenever I have free time.”

Pan Huijuan glanced at Gu Yannan, her face full of gossip. “I heard you’ve been exercising with the youngest daughter of the Bai family. Uncle Wang from the compound saw you running together during his morning workout.”

Gu Yannan would be a fool not to catch on now. “Mom, what do you mean ‘running together’? The road wasn’t built by our family—are we supposed to stop others from using it?”

Gu Wenlin looked at Gu Yannan with a smile and said earnestly, “Yannan, you’re a year and a half younger than Yan’an. Two months ago, you turned twenty-three, right?

Since your elder brother has already found a partner, you can also settle on one.

I think the youngest daughter of the Bai family is quite good. She has a round face—looks very fortunate at first glance.”

Pan Huijuan said irritably, “Old Gu, that Bai Zhi seems a bit disrespectful and lacks manners. She doesn’t know how to be polite, and her words aren’t very pleasant either…”

“What do you know? She’s straightforward and honest, so what if she’s a bit blunt? What? Are you not used to her not pestering you?

As for that Bai Wei you like, didn’t you say she had liked Yan’an for so many years?

Look at her—she barely knew a male comrade for two days before getting into a relationship with him. This afternoon, the man even brought a matchmaker to their home to deliver the bride price.”

Bai Wei being in a relationship actually made Gu Wenlin quite happy, but he still wanted to take his wife down a peg.

He wanted her to understand that appearances can be deceiving, that many people are not what they seem on the surface. One must judge others with their heart and use their mind to discern what kind of person they truly are.

“I gave up on Bai Wei a long time ago… Yannan, if you really like Bai Zhi, Mom won’t oppose it anymore! I don’t want you to end up resenting me like your elder brother.”

Gu Yannan’s eyes darkened. What nonsense was his mom spouting?

They had just run into each other while jogging. When had he ever said he wanted to date that little chubby girl?

“Mom, I’m not planning on dating anyone for now! Bai Zhi is indeed a good girl, but we’re not suitable for each other! If we got together, wouldn’t it be like lighting a match to a firecracker?”

Gu Wenlin chuckled, “Lighting a match to a firecracker—it would explode instantly, and the house would be as lively as Chinese New Year every day. How wonderful!”

Upon hearing this, Gu Yannan was stunned and speechless. Forget it, his dad was an old fool too.

Let them say whatever they wanted! Anyway, as long as his elder brother wasn’t married, he had no plans to look for a partner.

As for that little chubby girl, was she really suitable to be his partner?

She ate so much and loved to argue. Could his meager salary even support her? It would be like raising a grandmother!