This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 96: Can't I just give it to you as I please?

Chapter 96: Can't I just give it to you as I please?
After more than half a month of sunny skies, it finally started to drizzle on the day of White Dew.

Modern people rarely pay attention to the lunar calendar's solar terms except for major holidays and festivals.

However, Chen Shi'an remembered, and had always been accustomed to using the lunar calendar to record dates.

White Dew is the fifteenth of the twenty-four solar terms. It marks the end of the Shen month and the beginning of the You month in the Chinese sexagenary cycle. After White Dew, the cold air begins to shift from defense to offense, the weather gradually turns cooler, and dew begins to condense.

As the saying goes, "Collect the autumn dew on the tops of all herbs before it dries; it can cure all diseases, quench thirst, make one feel light and not hungry, and leave one's muscles smooth and supple."

When they were in the mountains, every time the White Dew solar term arrived, Chen Shi'an and his master would collect dew in the mountains in the early morning.

The mountain is covered with vegetation and is shrouded in mist. It doesn't take much effort to collect enough dew to fill several large wooden basins. We usually save it for medicine or to make tea.

Now that I'm not on the mountain, even the experience of the White Dew solar term has become less noticeable.

The fog was indeed thicker than usual, but the dew collected from it was too mixed with too much smog and other pollutants and was therefore unusable.

Chen Shi'an still got up at five o'clock as usual.

The White Dew season coincides with overcast and rainy weather. At five in the morning, the city seems to have been transported to the misty, rainy Jiangnan region.

Because of the lower altitude and the urban heat island effect, the temperature difference between day and night is not as great as in the mountains. If it were in the mountains, even if Chen Shi'an was not afraid of the cold, he would add a light coat with great ceremony. But in the city, he is still only wearing his summer school uniform. It is estimated that he will have to wait until the autumn equinox to add a new coat.

"Meow."

The black cat jumped onto the balcony, looking at the misty sky and the drizzling rain outside.

The rain started in the latter half of the night, and the edges of the balcony were slightly damp. The cat stood carefully, pawing at the dry spots.

These days, Fei Mo would go out to patrol its territory every morning, but today it was raining and it didn't want to go out. Occasionally, a few raindrops would drift in and land on its whiskers, and it would immediately shake them off in disgust.

Chen Shian didn't go out for parkour this morning either.

He first went to wash up and make breakfast. After eating, he took advantage of the hour he had free to organize the herbs he had bought that day.

The beauty and health-preserving tea that Chen Shi'an promised to prepare for Wen Zhixia mainly focuses on regulating qi and blood internally and moisturizing the skin externally. Considering the girl's own constitution, Chen Shi'an already had a clear idea in mind and began to prepare the tea for her with considerable skill.

While preparing the medicine, Chen Shi'an used his magic to enhance its properties. However, this did not fundamentally enhance the efficacy of the medicine; it only maximized the medicinal effects of the herbs themselves. After all, the brewing time for everyday tea is limited, and the best way to use each medicine is not exactly the same. Simply brewing and drinking it haphazardly would have very limited medicinal value.

Similarly, the stomach-nourishing tea promised to Lin Mengqiu and the calming tea promised to Li Wanyin were also prepared in the same way, with different medicinal materials combined according to each person's different constitution.

So-called "symptomatic treatment" is something that very few doctors can truly achieve, and it is also a very luxurious and laborious task. They either use a uniform formula based on general symptoms or directly use commercially available drugs. Without a deep understanding of individual symptoms and pharmacology, it is very difficult to truly achieve symptomatic treatment.

When Chen Shi'an was dispensing medicine, he didn't have any prescriptions on hand, or even any weighing tools.

Grab a handful here, a few pieces there, and at most occasionally bring the herbs to your nose for a deep sniff, or simply put some in your mouth to taste them, calculating the most suitable dosage based on the quality of these herbs.

He prepared medicines extremely quickly, giving the impression that he had spent eighteen years not cultivating Taoism on the mountain, but rather dispensing medicines in a pharmacy.

A full basket of various medicinal herbs was quickly divided into ninety small piles by his hands, which moved so fast they seemed to leave afterimages.

A small pile of herbs is enough for one brew of tea. For the three girls, each of them needs thirty brews, which will last them for a month.

Chen Shi'an went back to her room and took out the tea bags she had specially bought that day to wrap the medicinal herbs. She put the herbs into the tea bags one by one, then took a needle and thread and sewed the opening of the tea bags closed, leaving a long thread so that they could easily pick up the tea bags after brewing.

For Chen Shi'an, preparing medicine, making incense, carving, and playing musical instruments are all processes of cultivating his mind and spirit.

It requires complete focus to do this one thing, using the corresponding senses to 'see,' 'smell,' 'hear,' 'touch,' and 'taste.' To do it well, you can't be distracted at all; ultimately, it all comes down to stillness.

An hour was neither a long nor a short time. When Chen Shi'an came out of his focused state, it was almost 6:10 in the morning.

He took three clean bags and put the tea bags corresponding to the three people into them.

He put the tea bags he brought for Wen Zhixia and Lin Mengqiu into his backpack, and left the one for Li Wanyin on the dining table.

Li Wanyin goes to work at nine o'clock every day. She usually gets up at seven-fifty and leaves the house around eight-two. Including the time spent waiting for the bus, she arrives at the company around eight-fifty.

His sister was still asleep, and Chen Shi'an had no reason to wake her. He took out his phone and sent her a message on WeChat:

Chen Shi'an: [Sister Wanyin, those tea bags on the table are calming tea for you. Just brew one cup a day with boiling water, and you can brew it twice.]
While sending messages, Chen Shi'an went into the room, grabbed a large black umbrella that he had used for many years, changed his shoes, put on his backpack, and went out.

……

Around six o'clock, the fog in the city had dissipated considerably.

The sky was still drizzling, and there was no sunshine, but the whole world was already bright.

Raindrops pattered on his umbrella, but thankfully the rain wasn't heavy. However, after a while, the rainwater gathered on the umbrella and turned into beads that flowed down the ribs.

Rainy weather is much cooler than usual. The wind carries moisture across the skin, giving pedestrians a feeling of autumn.

Most of the city is now paved with cement. Unlike soil, cement doesn't allow rainwater to seep in easily, so the roads are damp, and occasionally, uneven spots will accumulate puddles.

If someone observes carefully, they might discover something quite amazing—

With each step the young Taoist priest, holding a black umbrella, took, the shallow pool of water along the edge of his shoes would be avoided as if dish soap had fallen into oily soup, never wetting his canvas shoes in the slightest.

On a rainy day, most pedestrians with umbrellas subconsciously quickened their pace, but Chen Shi'an maintained his unhurried movements and arrived at the intersection where he had agreed to meet Wen Zhixia at 6:15 sharp.

The girl's face was nowhere to be found; instead, a splash of pink and blue caught my eye first.

That was her little umbrella, which she draped over her shoulder like a light little flag. The edge of the umbrella was decorated with a ring of white, transparent raindrops, which swayed gently and dripped down when the wind blew.

She stood by the lamppost, her toes seemingly tiptoeing, her head turned in another direction, staring curiously at something, her shoulders slightly hunched forward, like a little squirrel peeking out to see what was happening.

The umbrella she carried on her shoulder swayed from side to side with her small movements. When the umbrella brushed against the lamppost, it made a soft 'tap' sound. Then, the water droplets on the umbrella were shaken off, some landing on her arm and some on her backpack. Only then did she turn her gaze away from the other side and hurriedly pat the rain off her body.

Yu Guangzhong and Wen Zhixia finally saw Chen Shi'an walking over with a black umbrella.

"Taoist priest!"

"What are you looking at?"

"Over there just now! A scooter slipped and almost fell. It was so dangerous! It's raining and they weren't wearing raincoats, just riding the scooter with one hand holding an umbrella..."

The two met and started walking and talking together.

It was raining, and a large black umbrella and a small pink and blue umbrella walked side by side.

Chen Shi'an stood a little further away from her. The girl was short, and if he got too close to her, the water droplets dripping from the edge of her umbrella would fall onto him.

Even on a rainy day like this, Wen Zhixia didn't forget to bring breakfast for her classmates. She carried a large bag of breakfast in one hand, and although there were some water droplets on the white bag, the inside was not wet.

"Taoist priest, your umbrella is way too big."

"This is how you keep out the rain? Your umbrella is way too small."

"A typical folding umbrella is about this size."

Why are you carrying an umbrella like a child?

"Mind your own business~ The rain isn't heavy, so I won't get tired. Otherwise, my arms will get sore from holding them up for too long."

As she spoke, the girl, feeling mischievous, deliberately turned the umbrella handle, causing the umbrella surface to rotate as well. The raindrops on it transformed into weapons, flying out along the tangent.

Chen Shi'an reacted quickly, immediately tilting the umbrella to block the attack.

Immediately afterwards, he also rotated the umbrella. The tilted umbrella rotated, and the raindrops on it flew out at an angle!
"what!"

"Ugh! You got me wet!"

Wen Zhixia was embarrassed and annoyed. She grabbed her small umbrella and tapped his big umbrella, so that all the water droplets on their umbrellas were wiped off.

"It's so cool today after the rain."

Wen Zhixia calmed down and sighed. There were still some water droplets on her face. She wiped them off without caring at all. The water droplets on her arms were from Chen Shi'an's mess. She stretched out her arms and wiped them clean on him.

Chen Shi'an didn't argue with her. Seeing the girl's obviously good mood, he asked:

"What, do you really like rain?" "No, but rain like this is actually quite nice. When it rains, we don't have to do morning exercises, and we have twenty-five minutes of free time!"

"So that's what you were thinking about."

"The weather forecast says it might rain for several days."

"Hmm, it shouldn't take that long, probably two or three days."

"You also know?"

"You can tell by looking at the sky."

"That's good too, at least we don't have to do morning exercises for two or three days!"

"this is for you."

Chen Shi'an tilted his neck to hold the umbrella, freeing his hands to take out the beauty and health tea from his backpack.

“What is this…” Wen Zhixia blinked.

"I've prepared the beauty and health tea I promised you."

"So fast!"

A hint of surprise appeared on the girl's face. She was carrying breakfast in one hand and an umbrella in the other, so she couldn't take it with her free hand and leaned over to look.

"Hey...your umbrella! It's going to poke my eye!"

"hey-hey."

Wen Zhixia smiled sheepishly, but she didn't understand pharmacology, and couldn't tell what kind of medicinal herbs were inside the semi-transparent plastic bag and tea bag.

If any of her classmates had said they made it themselves, she would never have dared to drink it, but since it was made by Chen Shi'an, she had to at least try it.

"What's inside...?"

"Astragalus, Poria, white peony root, longan, mulberry, wolfberry... there are nine medicinal herbs."

"Will it be bitter?"

"No, you can add some honey if you have it."

"I have it! How do I brew it?"

"One packet a day. There are thirty packets here. Just brew them with boiling water. You can brew them twice. If you find them effective, I'll make you some more next time I have time."

"Thank you, Taoist priest!"

The girl's voice was sweeter than honey, making Chen Shi'an's ears itch.

She stopped and turned around, showing him her backpack.

"Then please put it in my backpack for me."

Where should we put it?

"In the largest grid position."

Chen Shi'an unzipped her backpack. Inside, there was her book, and there was still quite a bit of space. He tidied it up a bit, put the thirty packets of beauty and health tea from the bag inside, and then zipped the backpack up for her.

Wen Zhixia had her back to him and didn't know what he was fiddling with. The movement of the backpack was transmitted to her shoulder through the backpack strap. The feeling of it moving was very strange, as if her heart was also moving along with it.

"All right."

Hearing him say that from behind, Wen Zhixia turned around, and the two continued walking forward.

I'll treat you to lunch.

"How about you buy me all the sausages for this week?"

"Then I'll treat you to lunch and buy you all the sausages for this week!"

Wen Zhixia readily agreed.

"Did you set this up last night?" she asked curiously.

"No, it was just prepared."

"I saw the video you posted on Douyin last night about making pine nut candy."

"You saw it?"

"I've followed you."

Wen Zhixia blinked and casually asked, "Is the girl who filmed you the one who shares an apartment with you?"

"correct."

Wen Zhixia felt relieved.

It's perfectly normal for my roommate to help me film a video.

As Chen Shi'an spoke, he took out his phone from his pocket. He rarely cared about the data after the video was posted; it was just a casual sharing.

When Wen Zhixia mentioned it, he looked at the two posts he had made yesterday. The mountain-hopping photo series had over 800 likes, and the video of making pine nut candy he posted last night had even more likes, over 900, and over 100 comments.

Although Douyin's backend can show which user liked and commented, Chen Shi'an didn't really care who these users were; he guessed that many of them were his classmates.

"So you can get this many likes just by posting anything?"

"Where is that!"

Chen Shi'an doesn't understand the internet, but Wen Zhixia understands it all too well.

Is it because the video of making pine nut candy is well-made? It's because you're good-looking, a high school student, and a Taoist priest. That's why there's so much buzz about 'a high school student who's so good-looking is actually a Taoist priest and makes pine nut candy with such experience'.

"Did you like my post?"

"Okay, I gave you a like, so don't you want to thank me?"

"Thanks, Xiaozhi. Which one are you?"

Chen Shi'an moved his phone over to show her the bunch of users who had liked the post.

"...I won't tell you."

"I'm here to follow you."

"I don't want you to pay attention."

"Let me see what you usually post."

"Do not show you."

"Then you're not allowed to look at me normally either."

"I want to see... Pshaw, who cares to see you!"

"..."