"Your grandmother loved looking beautiful when she was younger. According to your aunt, she’s aged really fast these past years, and she just doesn’t have the spark she used to..."
As she spoke, Joy Zheng’s eyes shimmered with tears.
Evan Lin had never, ever seen his mom cry before.
Joy Zheng always put on a bright, positive act in front of Evan—she’d never let him see her stressed or weighed down, scared he’d worry about her.
"Got it, Mom. The Youth-Preserving Beauty Pill isn’t expensive at all. If you want more, I’ll hit up my master and get a batch—you can hand them out however you want!" (Note: The Youth-Preserving Beauty Pill is a low-tier beauty pill that makes the skin younger and smoother for a few years, but isn’t a true longevity elixir.)
Evan stepped forward, pulled out a few tissues, and handed them to Joy Zheng.
"It won’t trouble your master, will it?" Joy Zheng asked, a little worried.
"Not at all. For him, this is a piece of cake." Evan smiled, reassuring her.
Joy Zheng headed off to work at school. As an elementary teacher, she had to finish grading all the papers and writing comments for each student’s report card within a week. Only after handing out all the report cards would her winter break officially begin.
Once Joy left, Evan called Warren Wu and asked him to prepare several century-old ginseng and Polygonum multiflorum roots, then send them to Brightsea City.
Warren Wu agreed immediately and sent people out to search right away.
Afterward, Evan arranged for Big Tank to pick up the herbs in Brightsea City and deliver them to Whitewood Dam.
The next afternoon, Big Tank drove a Mercedes to the dam and handed the herbs to Evan.
That night, Evan began refining pills.
“This batch of ginseng and Polygonum multiflorum isn’t as old as last time, so the medicinal effect might not be as strong, but honestly, for regular folks, it’s still way more than enough.”
In his room, Evan took a deep breath and slowly exhaled—a tongue of flame shot out from his mouth.
The burst of flame quickly reduced the century-old ginseng and Polygonum multiflorum to pools of liquid—the purest essence of the herbs.
With a flick of his finger, Evan made the droplets of liquid slowly merge into little Youth-Preserving Beauty Pills, each one giving off a chill, clean scent.
Soon, ten Youth-Preserving Beauty Pills appeared in Evan’s palm.
"These ten Youth-Preserving Beauty Pills aren’t quite as potent as the last batch, but for normal people? They’re basically miracle pills."
The Youth-Preserving Beauty Pill is honestly just a low-tier beauty pill—it freshens up your skin and knocks a few years off your look. If I had better ingredients, I could’ve cooked up a Nine-Turn Heavenly Beauty Pill, which is basically legendary: it can totally revamp your vitality and keep you young for ages. Too bad the stuff Warren Wu found isn’t enough for that.
For Evan, making pills like these barely takes any effort. It’s almost too easy.
Evan shook his head, cleared his mind, and put the pills away. The next day, he handed them straight to Joy Zheng.
Joy Zheng was genuinely delighted when she got the pills.
Over the next few days, a cold front hit and the weather got even chillier.
Evan mostly hung out with Hank Chu and Ken Feng. Ivy Deng came by once looking for him, but Evan didn’t meet her. Ken, though, was busy sweet-talking his long-distance crush Mandy Yu in Jinnan every day—their romance was heating up fast.
Big Tank called once—apparently the Zuo clan from Riverton sent people over to Brightsea to investigate Jason Zuo’s accident, but they didn’t find anything.
Aside from grading papers, Joy Zheng spent all her free time sticking close to Claire Zheng. The two sisters hadn’t seen each other in years, but they quickly got close again.
Evan hadn’t seen his mom this happy in a long, long time.
The day of Evan’s duel with Master Morgan was getting closer. All sorts of experts were gathering in Seacrest, and every hotel in Brightsea City was packed.
But while the outside world was buzzing with rumors, Evan stayed totally calm from start to finish.
That day, Joy Zheng handed out all the report cards at school—her winter break officially started.
"Xiao Yi, we’re eating at Whitewood Grand Restaurant again tonight. Your aunt said Faye Zheng wants to apologize to you."
That afternoon, Joy Zheng was all smiles as she looked at Evan.
"She wants to apologize to me?"
Evan raised an eyebrow when he heard that.
Could someone like Faye Zheng—a pampered second-generation heir—really bow her head and apologize?
Evan wasn’t buying it. Like a single chair-leg beating could actually make those spoiled brats back down for real.
"Last time I went over there, Faye said it herself—she admitted she was wrong. Plus, she’s older than you and knows how to behave." Joy Zheng said, glancing at Evan. "If you don’t want to go, I’ll call your aunt and let her know. It’s really no big deal."
Joy Zheng looked at Evan hopefully.
Of course, Joy Zheng hoped Evan could get along well with the Zheng family. After all, they were family.
"Okay."
Evan didn’t really understand what Faye Zheng was thinking, but whatever—it was just a meal, and he was curious to see what would happen.
When Joy Zheng and Evan arrived at Whitewood Grand Restaurant, three people were already waiting in the private room.
Claire Zheng, Gavin Pan, and Faye Zheng were there—Faye was wearing a black down jacket.
Faye Zheng was clearly dressed up, with light makeup. Compared to before, she looked even more radiant—like a flower in full bloom.
Claire’s skin was way smoother—she honestly looked five or six years younger. As soon as Evan and Joy walked in, she jumped up with a huge smile: "Evan, thank you so much for hooking me up with that Youth-Preserving Beauty Pill. This stuff blows every beauty product out of the water!"
Women always love beauty.
Last time, Evan had swung a chair leg right in front of Claire, scaring off a bunch of Oceanport heirs. To her, he still seemed like a wild kid from the countryside.
But now that she’d gotten the Youth-Preserving Beauty Pill, Claire felt nothing but gratitude toward Evan. No matter how she looked at him, he seemed more and more lovable.
"As long as you like it."
Evan nodded.
"Ah, right—take a seat!" Gavin Pan finally reacted and hurried to greet them. Then he shouted to the waiter, "Hey, waiter! Bring out the food!"
"Start with the seafood! Hurry up!"
After yelling, Gavin turned to Evan and coughed: "Be careful when you eat—the tables and chairs here are pretty flimsy. Last time one almost smashed me!"
Gavin rubbed his hands together, smiling from ear to ear. The way he looked at Evan was practically glowing, like he’d found a treasure.
"Eat whatever you like—just help yourself!"
Gavin even poured Evan a cup of tea.
Faye Zheng quietly poured two glasses of red wine, got up, and handed one to Evan. She took the other, flashed a bright smile, and said, "I’m Faye Zheng. About last time—I’m here to apologize for Leo and the gang!"