A farmer has a shrewish wife; he's busy making money every day.

The next day, Tianyao brought Ye Qingxue, who had disguised herself, to the pharmacy.

"Xiao Yao is here?" A man in a white robe greeted her with a smile.

The robes should be their uniform, white for men and yellow for women.

Tianyao nodded slightly at the person, which was her way of responding.

Ye Qingxue found this indifferent reaction even stranger, while the man who greeted her didn't react in any particular way, as if Tian Yao was just habitually indifferent.

Realizing this, Ye Qingxue glanced at her a couple more times.

Tianyao led her to the back of the pharmacy, where an old man in a red robe sat in front of a locked door—he seemed to be a higher-ranking pharmacist.

"Mr. Shan, I'm sorry to trouble you. I've brought my sister to the pharmacy to get the medicine."

The old man had droopy eye bags and struggled to lift his eyelids to look at Ye Qingxue, but he couldn't see her very clearly. He seemed a little impatient with Tianyao's disturbance.

"My sister can finally get out of bed? She's been sick for so many years, why bother with all this?"

The implication is that the person is about to die, so there's no point in continuing treatment.

A flash of disgust crossed Tianyao's eyes, but her tone remained calm: "This is troublesome."

The old man surnamed Shan clicked his tongue, seemingly wanting to say something, when Ye Qingxue suddenly coughed beside him.

"Cough-cough-"

The old man, as if facing a formidable enemy, rose with a speed rarely seen for his age and unlocked the lock behind him.

"Behave yourself, don't bring anyone into the secret room."

The old man surnamed Shan quickly rattled off this string of words and then let the two of them go inside.

The moment the door closed, Tianyao led Ye Qingxue deeper into the room: "The secret chamber is ahead. This is the drug testing area. Our medicinal materials are somewhat special. For patients who are particularly concerned, we will come here to test the materials repeatedly to see if there will be any adverse reactions."

As I was explaining, another iron gate appeared in front of me.

The door appears to be locked with a mechanism; there is a gear-shaped object on the door, similar to a modern safe.

Ye Qingxue looked at her: "Isn't anyone watching over here?"

Tianyao smiled at her: "Only I and a few senior pharmacists know how to enter the secret room. We take turns on duty, and the amount of medicine in the secret room must be counted every day. If there is a shortage on any day, the senior pharmacist on duty that day will be fully responsible. Generally speaking, we will not go looking for trouble."

Ye Qingxue nodded.

Surprisingly, the management here is quite good.

Click click click.

Tianyao walked to the iron gate and turned the gears a few times, and the secret room door opened smoothly.

Ye Qingxue went inside and opened each medicine drawer one by one to look at them. Since there were few medicinal herbs, it didn't take her long to finish looking at them.

"Have you found anything?" Tianyao asked.

Ye Qingxue shook her head.

Although the herbs here are precious, they are not rare. There are at least three of each kind, and even Ye Qingxue can recognize what they are. These herbs are not enough to deceive the Martial Emperor.

Tianyao's expression showed a moment of disappointment: "Then we can only try our luck at the Goddess Palace."

Ye Qingxue looked at her and nodded.

Since they didn't steal any herbs from the secret room, it didn't affect Tianyao much. The two casually picked up a few herbs from the medicine shelf in the outer room and then went out.

Yunlai gently placed the medicine packet in front of the old man surnamed Shan for him to examine, and then put down a few copper coins beside him, waiting quietly.

The old man stared intently at the magnifying glass for a long time before waving them away.

"For such ordinary medicinal herbs, my sister has to make such a long trip to test them. The great pharmacist is keeping a close eye on his own sister, haha."

These were words laced with sarcasm, which made Ye Qingxue extremely uncomfortable, let alone her own sister Tianyao.

But she simply nodded faintly, grabbed the medicine bag, and walked out.

Ye Qingxue lowered her eyes and followed behind, pretending to be a good girl. In reality, she flicked her hand, which was hidden in her sleeve, and a faint glimmer of water scattered in all directions, unnoticed by anyone.

When they reached the front of the pharmacy, Tianyao asked Ye Qingxue to wait while she went to fill out a herb collection application.

The backyard of the Goddess Temple is a medicinal herb garden, where only advanced pharmacists can apply to harvest herbs, and they are restricted to the backyard.

"Yaoyao! When did you arrive? Why didn't you come to play with me?"

A clear female voice came from afar, and Ye Qingxue could hear it clearly even standing at the entrance of the pharmacy. She looked in that direction.

A girl with pigtails jumped excitedly from the table and bounced towards Tianyao.

Tianyao didn't push her away and let her hug her. A faint smile appeared in her eyes, but she didn't respond to her enthusiasm. She just gave a soft reply and continued filling out the application.

Ye Qingxue stared at Tian Yao's back for a long time before she finally understood why she had felt something was off since arriving here.

Because of Tianyao.

Whether someone tries to be friendly to her or speaks sarcastically, she never initiates a conversation or talks much.

But starting yesterday, Tianyao started talking to this stranger a lot more.

He proactively asked if she needed help and inquired whether she had noticed anything.

She always seemed very anxious when facing herself.

That's right, it's eagerness.

In fact, Tianyao's reaction wouldn't be anything special for others, but it seemed quite different when it came to Tianyao.

The person who usually barely speaks a word to Ye Qingxue was talking non-stop, and his behavior seemed to be—eager.

Seeing Tianyao walking towards her, Ye Qingxue looked away.

"Let's go. The people at the Goddess Temple probably won't let you in, but I know someone who should be able to let you in for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Is that enough?"

Ye Qingxue nodded: "That's enough, I'll just go in and take a look."

Tianyao nodded and led her toward the Goddess Palace.

Walking along the road, he turned his head to explain: "Most of the herbs in the herb garden are no different from those in the secret chamber. A small portion were planted by the goddess before, which are more precious. Some have already been harvested and are stored in the goddess's temple. If you still can't find them by then, then they can only be found in the goddess's temple or the wizard's temple."

After she finished speaking, Ye Qingxue turned her head and coughed lightly twice, seemingly unaccustomed to saying so much.

"Does your sister have any friends here? What do you like to do on weekdays?"

This seemingly random question startled Tianyao: "What's wrong? Does it have anything to do with what you're doing?"

Ye Qingxue smiled and said, "I was just asking."

Tianyao: "Oh... I don't have many friends, and there's nothing I like to do."

"Okay." Ye Qingxue nodded gently and didn't ask any more questions.

It turns out that what Tianyao was truly anxious about was what she needed to do.

Ye Qingxue pondered this in her heart.

Although Tianyao seemed a bit strange, overall she didn't seem like she would harm her, so Ye Qingxue didn't plan to pry into her affairs so quickly.

With each of them harboring their own thoughts, they arrived at the Goddess Palace.

Tianyao spoke a few words to the maid outside the door, glanced at Ye Qingxue a few times, and then beckoned her over.

With Tianyao's help, the two managed to get inside, but... it's easy to guess that they didn't find anything.

Ye Qingxue and Tianyao came out soon after.

Once they reached a secluded spot, Tianyao's expression grew anxious: "I can't come to the Goddess Palace often, is there anything else I can do to help?"

Ye Qingxue smiled and patted her shoulder: "It's okay. Although I can't enter the Goddess Palace, I left something inside. You just need to show up on time every day, and that will be enough to help me."

"..." Tianyao's gaze suddenly became somewhat blank.

What? When was something left behind? How come she didn't know?