Li Yuechan, the younger stepsister, was ultimately driven away by Li Muyang.
Well… it can’t exactly be said that he drove her away.
Li Muyang’s attitude was indeed poor, but it wasn’t terribly fierce. Rather, the young girl sat down to rest for a while, left the items her aunt and uncle had entrusted her to bring, and then she obediently left.
She was very astute in understanding when to come and go.
Watching Li Yuechan’s retreating figure, Li Muyang sighed internally.
Perhaps because she had grown up dependent on the kindness of others, although this young girl was young, she was very adept at reading people’s expressions and had a high emotional intelligence.
Her optimistic and cheerful personality made it hard for people to dislike her.
Even if Li Muyang was harsh with her, she didn’t get angry.
This level of emotional intelligence and temperance, present in a sixteen-year-old girl, utterly outshone the original self-absorbed, juvenile brat.
No wonder the original host disliked this stepsister so much.
A self-righteous, adolescent boy coming face to face with a peer who entirely outclasses him—it would be strange if he liked her.
After driving away the stepsister, Li Muyang checked the belongings she had left behind.
Aside from a box of pastries brought from Jiuyuan City, there was also a bundle containing two new sets of winter clothes, freshly made boots, a family letter, and a purse.
Although in front of the neighbors, the original body had shouted “don’t despise the young for being poor” to his parents, having been away from home for so long, his mother still worried about her son.
Since it was only late summer, she had prepared winter clothes well in advance, delivering them through the foster daughter, fearing her son might freeze at Refinement Demon Sect.
The silver coins in the purse were a significant amount for the currently destitute Li Muyang, enough for his expenses for a long time.
Finally, looking at the family letter in his hand, Li Muyang hesitated for a moment, lacking the courage to open it.
The words of his younger stepsister Li Yuechan had already caused a huge emotional impact on Li Muyang, the transmigrator from Earth.
He really dared not read the family letter sent by his biological parents now.
The original body was a reckless adolescent, but he was not.
He couldn’t accept the love of a mother unknown to him; it was too intensely terrifying for him.
Li Muyang was determined to give up all the social ties of the original body.
Luckily, given the poor relationship between the original host and his stepsister, Li Yuechan, no matter how unresentful she was, this act of warmly approaching a cold shoulder should mean she wouldn’t bother him again.
… That should have been the case.
The next afternoon, when Li Muyang had finished that afternoon’s rain-making over the spirit fields and was sitting beneath a tree on the ridge to rest, he entered the game again.
He continued to act as the kind big brother in Black Cloud Fort, looking after Little Wild Grass.
But the sound of the girl’s footsteps arose at dusk.
When Li Muyang opened his eyes, he saw a young girl in a light white dress appearing under the sunset with a cheery smile.
In her hands, she carried a food box, hopping and walking along the small mountain path, her hands behind her back, looking completely innocent.
Seeing Li Muyang open his eyes, the young girl cheerfully spoke.
“Brother, I’ve cooked some food, would you like to eat together?”
The girl opened the lid of the food box she was holding, allowing Li Muyang to see the steaming hot dishes within.
Three dishes—one vegetarian and two meat dishes—aromatic and inviting.
The appearance of the two meat dishes made Li Muyang swallow unconsciously—having eaten too much pickled vegetables, it had been a long time since he had tasted meat dishes.
But after hesitating for a moment, Li Muyang still didn’t show a pleasant face to the girl, grimacing as he told her to get lost.
“Don’t bother me!”
Currently, Li Muyang had too many secrets and he needed to maintain distance from others; not even a bit of soft-heartedness would suffice.
If Li Yuechan discovered the endless jar of Spirit Rice in his room, who knew what thoughts this sixteen-year-old girl might have?
Li Muyang wouldn’t stake his own safety on the conscience of others.
After Li Muyang scolded her harshly, the girl holding the lunchbox blinked innocently.
“Okay then…”
She didn’t argue with Li Muyang, seemingly without any temper at all.
Instead, she simply placed the lunchbox where it was and turned to leave.
Li Muyang called for her to take the lunchbox with her, but she acted as if she hadn’t heard.
Finally, the girl disappeared under the sunset.
Watching the girl’s retreating figure, Li Muyang, who had just played the villain, sighed.
Glancing at the leftover lunchbox… Li Muyang had initially planned not to waste it. But what if the girl came back tomorrow and saw the food eaten, and got up in his face about it?
So, Li Muyang forced himself to ignore the tempting lunchbox and turned away, continuing his meager life of rice with pickled vegetables.
As for that box of food, it just sat outdoors for a day and a night.
Until the next evening, when the girl with the lunchbox reappeared. She saw the lunchbox that had been left untouched in the same spot.
The girl hesitated for a moment and then looked towards Li Muyang who was sitting under an old tree in the distance, his eyes closed. In the end, she said nothing and quietly brought today’s lunchbox to the doorstep of Li Muyang’s tile-roofed house, taking away the uneaten food from the day before.
The third day, at the same time of dusk, she came again to the side of Li Muyang’s Spirit Rice field, and saw Li Muyang resting with his eyes closed under the tree, and the untouched lunchbox at the doorstep of the tile-roofed house.
This time, the girl didn’t speak a word, walked familiarly to the doorstep, and put down the lunchbox filled with freshly cooked hot dishes, taking away the lunchbox from last night that no one had touched.
Then came the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day…
This younger sister, it seemed, was not letting up with Li Muyang.
Even though Li Muyang never touched the food she brought, she still delivered meals every evening.
This standoff lasted for nine days, and finally on the ninth day, when the girl came again, she saw that the lunchbox was empty, only the bowls and dishes washed clean remained.
Seeing this, the girl’s eyebrows curved into a beautiful crescent and she smiled.
She hummed a cheerful tune, took away last night’s lunchbox, and left today’s lunchbox behind.
As for Li Muyang sitting under the old tree by the field, she didn’t disturb him and left on her own.
Thus, Li Muyang’s life was brightened a bit.
He no longer had to eat his rice with just pickled vegetables every day.
Every day, in addition to the fragrant Spirit Rice, there was hot food sent over by his younger sister.
With both meat and vegetables, every day she made different dishes, Li Muyang had to admit that his younger sister’s cooking skills were very good.
And Li Yuechan never disturbed him, maintaining a good sense of boundaries.
This strangely related brother and sister maintained a peculiar balance.
Both parties were at peace and got along fairly well.
As for Li Muyang, the one-sided recipient of the “useless brother”, he was not ashamed at all.
He had already figured out that this younger sister wasn’t simple at all.
Without fuss or clamor, yet more challenging than those pestering young girls, she wouldn’t give up until she achieved her goal.
Although Li Muyang didn’t know why she was so eager to feed him, as long as she didn’t further disturb his life, he didn’t mind giving her some credit.
By then, Li Muyang, after a long period of cultivation, had successfully raised Little Wild Grass’s favorability to [36].
This Second Phase of cultivation, just as Li Muyang had guessed, indeed required spending time with Little Wild Grass.
Two years later in the game, the favorability of Little Wild Grass for Li Muyang was slowly increasing, and it was on the verge of breaking through the significant mark of [40].
Li Muyang was now looking forward to what rewards he could claim after the end of this Second Phase of cultivation.