After crushing the medicinal pill into powder, Yi You carefully poured it into Grandfather Five’s mouth, bit by bit, following each spoonful with water. She continued this until all the medicine was administered. The young girl wasn't sure if it would work, but this method was the conclusion of all the analyses of the texts she had read.

    She read ten books every day, amounting to three hundred over a month. Yet, this was still less than a tenth of the collection in the library, and her primary interest remained in medical texts.

    Frankly, Grandfather Five had been examined by doctors repeatedly each month, but none could determine why his vital points were blocked. To anyone else, he seemed merely asleep, his life force ebbing away unnoticed.

    As Yi You looked at him stretched out on the bed, Grandfather Five appeared much younger than Grandfather Three.

    She detected a slow, gradual release in one of his Yintang [1]point today. His life force, once diminishing, was now stable. Given three to five more years, he would survive, and by then, she hoped to find a better cure.

    Yi You sighed, covered the old man with a blanket, and walked away.

    "Did you see your grandfather, Seventeen?" an elderly but vigorous voice called out eagerly.

    ‘With how he is right now, hopefully he’s not hungry again,’ Yi You chuckled in her mind, ‘The older you get, the more childish you become, this might be true.’

    "Yes, Grandfather Three," she replied with a bright, cheerful smile. Initially, Grandfather Three had only wanted to help the little girl out of pity, but after spending a month together, he discovered she was an excellent cook. Given a recipe, she could prepare delicious meals.

    Moreover, the girl was incredibly intelligent. He couldn't help feeling regretful—had she been able to activate even one Qi point per year, she could at least live a decent life as an alchemist.

    “I would like some Hong Tao Guo[2],” the old man requested, scratching his head with a shy smile.

Knew it…

    "Of course, I'll make some for you," she replied, smiling hesitantly before asking, "Grandfather Three, may I go out of the manor?"

    Hearing this, the old man couldn’t help but be curious.

    "Why would you want to go outside?"

    "I’ve painted some pictures. I’d like to try selling them."

    In her past life, she supported herself by drawing for a living. In this life, she was struggling with money and resources. Plus, it would not be possible to always bother Grandfather Three with the herbs to help cure her Grandfather Five as he had to use those herbs for his family. For someone who could not cultivate Qi like her was not worth a mention. This led her to have to stand on her own feet, and of course, she also had that hungry worm.

    She could only feed it common leaves, which it always complained about.

    "What kind of pictures? Can I see them?"

    "Just a sec, please," she said and hurried into another room, leaving Grandfather Three puzzled.

    A sec? What's a sec? Doesn’t matter. She probably meant for me to wait to see the picture. She probbaly said it wrong.

    He dismissed the odd term and watched the little figure disappear, his heart swelling with compassion. The young girl had never asked for anything but a few herbs, which, though not difficult to find, were expensive. He had only so many.

    And it was necessary to refine Qi medicine for the family. It was manageable to allocate her a few herbs, but any more might create issues with others.

    However, he didn't realize that the young girl understood this better than he thought.

    As soon as she walked back into the room, she was greeted by the sharp voice of the little creature complaining:

    "Stinky face, I can't stand it anymore! You can't keep starving me like this. When I was with that crazy Liu Fuzhen, I lived much better than this."

    Hearing this, she couldn't help but be surprised. Hadn't they made a pact yet?

    "Before this, you were an egg. How could you eat?"

    "Ugh, I mean before I became an egg, of course."

    "Before you were an egg, what were you?" the girl asked, raising an eyebrow.

    "I must have been a dragon," the tiny voice declared proudly, leaving Yi You too exasperated to argue further. She simply went to pick up a scroll that was lying in one corner of the room and reminded the little worm,

    "Stay here in this room and be good. If I can sell this, you'll have something good to eat." With that, she turned and left.

    The little figure spread out the scroll on the table.

    It was a drawing of an autumnal garden; every tree was orange, the leaves falling around a small girl who was petting a tiny horse, with fireflies swirling around her.

    "Where is this place?" the old man asked in wonder.

    "Nowhere I just drew it for fun. Do you think it could sell, Grandfather Three?"

    "It certainly will sell. Such a beautiful picture surely will," the old man nodded vigorously, then looked up from the drawing to gaze at the young girl with admiration.

    "Take it to the Sai Heng Tong auction house tomorrow."

    "Where is this Sai Heng Tong auction house?" the little girl tilted her head curiously.

    "It's only the most reputable auction house there is," the old man smiled delightedly at the young girl, who smiled broadly back.

    At least her skills were not wasted.

    The medicine from the worm was still uncertain; she needed to test it more before it could be sold haphazardly. But her artwork was genuinely her own, and no one could take that away.

    After a long conversation, the old man went off to work, and Yi You returned to the house.

    As soon as she entered the bedroom, she was again greeted by complaints:

    "Stinky face, if you can't find me Qi herbs, at least bring me some Qi fruits or leaves," the little worm seemed to be sulking even though it had no arms.

    "Don't you understand I am still a child?" she sighed, sitting down on a chair and staring at the tiny creature.

    "So what if you're a child? I've been with Liu Fuzhen since we were young. He always had good things for me to eat," the delusional worm pouted.

    "And where did my father get them from?"

    "It's just the silly gourd that guy carried around all the time. I remember before he disappeared, he took the gourd off and stored it. Now it's rolling around in that wooden box."

    Yi You frowned; there seemed to indeed be a gourd in the wooden box.

    She briskly walked over and dragged the box out from under the bed, opening it to find a dusty old gourd hanging from a frayed cord. No wonder no one else had bothered with it.

    "Yes, yes, that's the one! Come on, give me a sip."

    "A sip of what?" the girl looked confused between the worm and the gourd.

    "Oi, stop dawdling and pour me a drink!"

    "This, this… is this alcohol?" the little girl exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Of course, the gourd is for storing alcohol. What else would it be used for?"

    Yi You didn't argue with the little worm any further. Upon opening the gourd and pouring it into a teacup, she realized it indeed was real liquor.

    The little worm didn't hesitate; it climbed up to the teacup, and soon, the liquor was gone.

    The girl stared at the gourd in her hand, her eyes sparkling.

    "But how does being alcohol relate to eating good food?"

    "Oi… do you think this is just ordinary alcohol?" the worm climbed back down to the table.

    Upon closer observation, it seemed to stagger a bit.

    "So, what kind of alcohol is it?"

    "It's Master Liquor."

[1] ‘Yintang’ or the Yintang point is a pressure point between the human eyebrows.

[2] ‘Hong Tao Guo’ (Chinese red peach cake or Chinese heart cake)