Chapter 7: Mysterious Substance

  Yue Yu left the pharmacy humming a tune. It was a song that had once swept the entire human world, sung by a great singer of the 23rd century. Unfortunately, Yue Yu's pitch was slightly off, which detracted from the overall effect. However, this did not prevent others from judging his extremely happy mood from the cheerful tone and melody.

  "Little master, Old Master De just said that you are no longer allowed to go to the pharmacy from now on!"

  Ran Li tried to remind him, but he was now somewhat confused and couldn't understand why Yue Yu was so cheerful after being scolded like that. He didn't understand the English song Yue Yu was singing now, but it sounded pretty good.

  "If I don't go, then I won't go; probably won't need to go again in the future either."

  Yue Yu smiled indifferently, but in fact he still had some small regrets in his heart. This means that it will be difficult for him to get the opportunity to identify medicinal materials for free again, and besides, the varieties in that medicine warehouse are also the most complete.

  Unfortunately, a few minutes ago, he overturned the drawer containing the winged mouse bones in his emotional turmoil. This gave Yue Youde a reason to refuse him. The friendship left by the parents had an expiration date and limitations after all. In a situation where there was an excuse, his 'close friends' would not only not speak ill of him but instead praise him for being righteous.

  Of course, this doesn't mean that Uncle De is a cold-blooded person. On the contrary, Yue Yu is still thinking of finding an opportunity to thank him for his help. Letting him freely identify medicines in the pharmacy would put immense pressure on Yue Youde himself.

  In comparison, today's losses are insignificant compared to his gains. Yue Yu never thought that he would find what he needed most in the most hopeless medicinal materials.

  The so-called winged mouse is a very common and widespread low-level demon beast. It resembles a rodent, with a pair of wings on its back, looking very much like a bat, but the wings have feathers instead of just skin membranes. It often appears in fields, stealing rice ears, wheat ears, and the roots of crops. If it weren't for the fact that it has natural enemies, it could be considered humanity's greatest enemy.

  The bones of this flying squirrel can also be used as medicine, but they are mostly used for bone injuries. So Yue Yu didn't hold out much hope and simply planned to record the material composition of the flying squirrel's bones out of habit.

  However, it was in this seemingly most unlikely medicinal material that he analyzed a very small amount of what he himself named 'Bismuth Essence' - a substance that he had never seen before or after his rebirth, and which could not be included in the periodic table. The reason for this naming is because the atomic structure of this thing has some similarities with bismuth in the periodic table.

  "So Master won't be going to the pharmacy anymore?"

  Ran Li heard the words, and his face showed a few points of joy. For him, that boring place was better to visit less often. Just then, his stomach let out a loud growl, and Ran Li's attention was quickly drawn to another thing. It was noon now, and he had already felt hungry.

  Yue Yu also heard the cry and chuckled to himself as he quickened his pace back home.

  When he returned to the four-in-one courtyard, the main hall had already prepared food. Ruan Li almost sat down on the chair and ate hastily as soon as he entered the door. This world also attaches importance to etiquette and has rules that slaves cannot share a table with their masters. However, Ruan Li's identity is different, and as long as he is willing, he can be absorbed into the Yue family at any time. Moreover, since Yue Yu's father's time, they have regarded the Ruan father and son as brothers and nephews, this affection is not trivial. Therefore, no one paid attention to Ruan Li's behavior.

  Yue Yu couldn't be as casual as Ruan Li, the more he was a young master of a big clan, the more he emphasized etiquette to show his nobility. He first bowed with his hands clasped together in the direction of his mother, Yue Zhangshi, seventy degrees, then sat down. Until Yue Zhangshi picked up her chopsticks, did he pick up his own, and even in his movements, he tried his best to maintain a refined demeanor.

  This was the etiquette he had learned in these two months, and at first, he didn't pay attention to it. Then, he was taught by Yue Zhangshi, who had been instructed by his family for a long time. Afterwards, he became extremely careful about this aspect, following the information he had gathered. Yue Zhangshi also came from a large clan that was said to be several times more powerful than the Yue family, and was known for being extremely strict about etiquette. Fortunately, in this world, martial artists were respected, so even if there were some tedious rules, they wouldn't be too complicated. In just a few days, Yue Yu had already learned them by rote.

  Although Yue Yu was eating elegantly and slowly, his eating speed was not slower than Rong Li's at all. And the total amount of food he ate was even more than the latter.

  The auxiliary intelligent parasitic system consumes a lot of brain power and nutrients every day when it is calculating. Fortunately, this system has the function of assisting the human body in digesting food in addition to its computing ability, and can accurately absorb the nutrients needed by the body, excluding unnecessary things. In the 23rd century, it was not only frequently used by soldiers and martial artists, but also loved by women who were losing weight.

  However, today's meal was only eaten halfway when Yue Yu felt a little restless. Yue Zhangshi seemed to have no appetite and put down her chopsticks after just a few bites, then kept staring in this direction with a pair of eyes that made him feel like there were thorns on his back.

  "Mother, is there something wrong?" In this world, there was also a rule of not speaking while eating, so Yue Yu put down her bowl and chopsticks when she spoke.

  "Have you been eating more lately?" Zhang's wife shook her head. "Normally two bowls were enough, now six bowls are barely enough? You must be going through a growth spurt—"

  "Hmm! The child doesn't know why either, but recently just wants to eat more."

  Yue Yu's heart skipped a beat as he secretly wiped away cold sweat, knowing that this would arouse suspicion. In this era, there were no high-pressure nutrient supplements, and the only source of nutrition he could obtain was food. However, at first, Yue Yu restrained himself and didn't dare to overdo it, until these days, when his body's stored heat and nutrients really couldn't hold on anymore, that he began to gradually increase his food intake.

  He had been worried about this for days, and only now did he let out a sigh of relief. However, Yue Yu instinctively felt that his unease should not have come from this matter.

  "These two days seem to have really grown taller and thinner!"

  Yue Zhang looked at Yue Yu's head, and his eyes dimmed. "You only stayed for a little over an hour on the martial arts training grounds today, then ran off to the pharmacy again, and were even scolded by your uncle De, right?"

  "Mother——"

  Yue Yu suddenly felt a pang of guilt, and he didn't know why, but when he saw the woman's expression in front of him, his heart surged with a huge sense of remorse.

  "Never mind! I was wrong too. I knew you weren't interested in martial arts, but I still forced you."

  Yue Zhang shook her head, and her words carried a hint of despair. "Yu'er, you're probably tired of hearing those sarcastic comments at the training grounds too, right? If you really don't want to learn martial arts, then just do as you please from now on, just be careful not to break any clan rules. And about the pharmacy, I'll ask Uncle De for a favor and let you follow him around to learn sometime."

  Yue Yu smiled wryly in his heart, who said he had no interest in martial arts? Whether it was ending practice early or going to the pharmacy, there were reasons for everything. However, these reasons could not be clearly explained to Yue Zhangshi.

  Actually, what Yue Zhangshi said at this moment was in line with Yue Yu's intentions. However, the other party's tightly knitted eyebrows and eyes full of worry made him unable to feel at ease.

  Yue Yu clearly understood Yue Zhangshi's expectations for herself and knew the importance of those fields and this house to this family.

  "Mother, are you worried about what's going to happen later?"

  "My little one actually knows how to care about others now."

  Mrs. Yue was startled at first, then seemed to realize that showing such an expression in front of her child was not quite right, so she quickly put away her worries and smiled as usual, patting Yue Yu's head. "But this matter doesn't need you to worry about it, your mother has a way!"

  Yue Yu's eyebrows furrowed, and he detected that Yue Zhangshi's words were not entirely comforting, but also contained a hint of determination. However, as a man of seven feet tall, how could he bear to see a delicate woman come to shield him from the wind and rain?

  At this time, Rong Li also lifted his head from the bowl that was as big as a face basin, and a hint of strangeness flashed in his eyes.