I just wanted to cultivate immortality, but I was forced to open a harem

He is the owner and doctor of this Chinese medicine pharmacy. He has good medical skills and enjoys a good reputation in the neighborhood.

"No need, I'm just here to buy some medicinal herbs." Lin Hezhen glanced at the labels on the medicine cabinet and found that the types of herbs were quite complete.

"Oh?" The old man looked at the young man in front of him. It was a stranger he had never seen nearby.

He said kindly, "Then I'll trouble you young man to bring the prescription. I'm not bragging, but our store has all the herbs, and they're of sufficient age. We can even get some unconventional prescriptions."

Being called a young man, Lin Hezhen couldn't help but smile. He had lived three lives as a human being, so he was not young at all.

But age does not equal experience.

Lin Hezhen was just a student before he traveled through time, and he had only lived in the world of immortal cultivation for more than 20 years. He did not recover his memory for the first 17 years of this life, but he was not considered old at all.

"I don't have a prescription. I'll dictate it to you and ask you to get the medicine for me."

After saying that, he ignored the old man's surprised expression and directly reported a string of medicine names and the required years and weights.

The old man was slightly stunned, then quickly turned around and asked his two apprentices to help him get the medicine.

In order to match their efficiency, Lin Hezhen deliberately slowed down his speech and repeated it several times to avoid mistakes.

Fortunately, the herbs he needed were not particularly precious or rare. They were just common qi-nourishing and blood-replenishing herbs, and he quickly gathered them together.

After paying the money, Lin Hezhen thanked him and went out with the herbs.

Turning on the navigation on his mobile phone, Lin Hezhen went to several other pharmacies and bought some medicinal materials from each one. Finally, he got all the medicines for the two prescriptions.

At the same time, he bought a few extra unrelated herbs in each store to confuse people and ensure that it would be difficult to piece together his real prescription.

No matter in which world, knowledge is priceless. Besides, he just wants to live in seclusion in the city and doesn't want others to easily notice his extraordinaryness.

In the last store, he bought a frying pan for decocting medicine and paid the store clerk to deliver it to his home.

After finishing these things, Lin Hezhen returned to the apartment carrying various shopping bags.

Because he had something to do in the evening, he was not in the mood to prepare dinner and just bought a curry beef bento at the convenience store.

After dinner, he did a little cleaning and then the doorbell rang. It turned out that the frying pan had arrived.

Lin Hezhen put the frying pan in the kitchen, put the herbs into the pan one by one, and started to boil the medicine.

Modern frying pans are equipped with thermometers and can set the required temperature independently, making it very convenient to adjust the heat. They will also automatically stir and tumble to prevent sticking to the pan.

After boiling over high heat, turn down the heat and simmer for two hours. After setting the time, Lin Hezhen left the kitchen, turned on the computer, browsed the web, and collected information about this world.

Almost an hour later, Lin Hezhen finally confirmed that this world was not the world he traveled through before, but a similar parallel world. The general historical trend was similar, but there were many differences in the details.

Lin Hezhen turned off the computer with a bit of regret, feeling lost.

How are your family members doing now? Are they healthy? Are they happy?

When he left, his sister was only 5 years old. Every day when she came back from kindergarten, she would always shout, "Brother, let's play hide-and-seek."

At that time, he just thought she was annoying. Now when he thinks back on it, all he has left is a lot of longing.

"Girl, I'm counting on you from now on. You have to take good care of mom, including me."

So many years have passed, and the past seems like a dream, a bubble, and a flash of lightning.

This feeling can be treated as a recollection, but it was lost at the time.

Chapter 5 Late Night Canteen

"Ding-ding-ding-ding-"

The frying pan timer alarm rang, and Lin Hezhen reluctantly put down "Hyouka" and went to the kitchen, poured out the medicine juice, and poured it into the bathtub in the bathroom.

While turning on the hot water tap and filling the bathtub with water, Lin Hezhen returned to the kitchen, cleaned up the medicine residue in the frying pan, poured in the medicinal materials for another prescription that had been prepared long ago, added water and began to cook.

After setting the time, Lin Hezhen returned to the bathroom. At this time, the bathtub was already half full of water. He took off his clothes and soaked in the water.

The hot water with white steam mixed with medicinal juice immediately surrounded him. Every pore on his body seemed to be opened in an instant, making him sigh with comfort.

Lin Hezhen sat down cross-legged, leaving only his head and neck above the water, allowing the "Three Purities Creation Mysterious Art" to automatically operate in his body to absorb the medicinal power.

In fact, even if you don't practice qigong, you can regulate your body by taking medicinal baths and drinking medicine for a long time. It's just that the efficiency of this way of energy absorption is too low, so the predecessors in the world of cultivation have developed various cultivation methods.

Later on, the practitioners even completely gave up eating, an inefficient way of obtaining energy, and instead practiced by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Soaking in the potion, as Lin Hezhen practiced his skills, the medicinal power absorbed by the skin condensed like water droplets, brewing strands of spiritual energy in the meridians that gradually gathered into streams.

He tried hard to control the stream of spiritual energy in his body, connecting it with the Nascent Soul, and using the Nascent Soul to enhance the effect of his cultivation.

His current situation is quite special. Since he already has a Nascent Soul, he does not need to start from scratch like ordinary cultivators. For him, the realms of physical training, Qi training, foundation building, elixir formation, and infant formation are all for him. does not exist.

However, his body is still that of a mortal, and he needs to improve his physical fitness and spiritual power step by step. As long as he has reached a certain level of cultivation, the improvement of his realm will be a natural result.

After countless cycles, the hot water in the tub gradually cooled down, and the originally brown potion became much lighter in color, as all the medicinal power was absorbed by him.

At the same time, a lot of dirt was discharged from the surface of Lin Hezhen's skin. Those were the impurities that had been hidden in the body in the past and were now forced out of the body by spiritual power.

Lin Hezhen got out of the bathtub, turned on the shower head, and washed the dirt off the surface of his body.

After draining the bathtub, he walked into the bedroom wrapped in a towel, dried himself, changed into casual clothes, and went into the kitchen.

At this time, the medicine in the frying pan was ready. He poured the medicine into a bowl and walked to the balcony with the bowl.

I opened the window and the April night breeze blew in my face. The colorful neon lights in the city were like stars in the sky falling into the earth, as bright as the Milky Way.

Although it is not as shocking as the naturally primitive, magnificent and majestic galaxy in the world of cultivation, it is very warm. Under each lamp is a family and a life. Every light is the human world, full of the flavor of the mundane world.

Lin Hezhen admired the night view for a while, then drank the medicine that had cooled down for a while and was no longer so hot in one gulp. After finishing one bowl, he was sweating all over.

"happy!"

He put down the bowl, turned back to the living room, and started boxing.

He was seen standing steadily like a bear guarding a cave, pouncing forward like a tiger searching the mountain, swinging his arms like a dragon bending its body, stepping on the ground like an eagle spreading its claws. His every move seemed to be effortless, combining hardness and softness, and tension and relaxation in moderation. Every gesture was full of beauty.

While practicing boxing, the spiritual energy in the body flows through the limbs and bones according to the trajectory of the exercises, transforming the body in all aspects.

After finishing a set of boxing, Lin Hezhen's face did not turn red or he was out of breath. Instead, he felt refreshed and he felt more energetic as he practiced.

This is the power of top-level martial arts. Combined with tonic medicine, Lin He is confident that he can transform this body completely in a short period of time.

Of course, if he does 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10-kilometer run every day, he can become stronger if he persists in this way for three years. However, he will over-strain his weak body and easily cause hair loss.

Lin Hezhen was not interested in converting to Buddhism, nor did he want to waste too much time on body training. He just hoped to recover his strength as soon as possible.

Therefore, while the effect of the medicine was still there, he practiced the body-building boxing over and over again, trying to maximize the effect of the medicine.

By the time the medicinal power was fully absorbed, it was almost midnight. After finishing his practice under the moonlight, Lin Hezhen ended his practice with great satisfaction and went to the bathroom to rinse his body again.

By the time he changed into clean clothes, his stomach started growling.

After all, I had just gone through strenuous exercise, and my body was far from reaching the state of fasting, so how could I not be hungry?

Unfortunately, there was nothing to eat at home. Lin Hezhen closed the empty refrigerator and went out to find food helplessly.

He wandered slowly through the streets, enjoying the feeling of being alone in a brightly lit metropolis at midnight.

The hustle and bustle of the day has ended. Even in a city that never sleeps like Dongdu, there are very few people walking on the streets at this time, with only a few pedestrians hurriedly walking on their way home.

Lin Hezhen strolled leisurely through the streets and alleys under the lights cast by street lamps and nearby high-rise buildings.

He walked alone through the alleys, some of which were deserted and some of which still had shops open, his eyes wandering around aimlessly, and a small shop came into his sight.

It is hidden in the corner of a quiet alley in a bustling city. The bright yellow light from the room can be vaguely seen through the gap in the door curtain. Its name is "A Small Shop".

Perhaps it was the simple name of the store or the familiar Chinese characters that touched his heart, but Lin Hezhen walked to the door of the store, opened the wooden sliding door, and then heard "Welcome" from inside.

The space of the shop is not very big. There is a circle of seats in the hall surrounding the counter where food is prepared, and then there are four tables and chairs placed next to the tables. There are also two small semi-open boxes separated by curtains around the walls.

There were already three customers sitting in the shop at this time.

A middle-aged man and a young man were talking in low voices while eating and drinking, and bursts of laughter were heard from time to time. A young woman dressed as a white-collar worker was eating silently at another table.

Lin Hezhen was not interested in sharing a table with others and walked straight to his seat in front of the counter.

"What do the guests want to eat?" the boss asked with a smile.

He was a middle-aged man with a gentle temperament. When he smiled, his eyes curved into crescents and he was very friendly.

The environment of the small shop was very clean. Lin Hezhen nodded with satisfaction and asked, "What do you have to eat here?"

"As long as it's a home-cooked dish, I can make it as long as the customer tells me the name of the dish. Even if it's a rare dish, as long as the customer tells me how to make it, I can make it."

"You're so arrogant?" Lin Hezhen was a little surprised.

The boss smiled but said nothing. He looked confident and didn't seem to be bragging.

"Then give me some Mapo Tofu, Kung Pao Chicken, and smashed cucumber. I want the authentic way of cooking, and a bowl of rice." He emphasized the word "authentic".

Now it was the boss' turn to be surprised. He looked at Lin Hezhen and asked in Chinese: "International student?"

"I guess so. The boss is also from China?"

"It's been fifteen years since I came here," he said in a nostalgic tone.

Lin Hezhen smiled: "So we are from the same hometown. It seems I can look forward to the hometown dishes later."

The boss also smiled and said, "I won't let you down."

Chapter 6 The moon is the brightness of my hometown

After saying that, the boss turned and walked into the kitchen.

Chinese cooking produces a strong fume and is not suitable for cooking in an open kitchen.

Lin Hezhen was sitting in his seat playing with his mobile phone boredly. He accidentally came across Sakurajima Mai's encyclopedia and clicked on it to read.

In this island country of the world, Mai Sakurajima is a national superstar.

She debuted as a child star at the age of 6 and played an important role in a hit TV series.

The success of her debut work brought Sakurajima Mai huge popularity, making her an overnight sensation.

After that, she appeared in many movies, TV series, radio dramas, commercials, and variety shows. She was so popular that she could be seen on TV almost every day.

Many child stars became famous in their early years, but became unknown or even retired from the entertainment industry when they grew up. However, Mai Sakurajima not only continued her acting career in junior high school, but her strength was also unanimously recognized by the industry and the audience.

When Mai Sakurajima was 14 years old, she had grown into a charming and beautiful girl. The movie in which she played the leading role became a hit, and Mai Sakurajima became a hot topic again.

So much so that in less than a week, all the magazine covers were replaced with her photos, making her successfully transform from a "child star" to an "actress".

At that time, Mai Sakurajima possessed the cuteness of a child star and the purity of a young girl, plus the mysterious and sexy temperament that she occasionally revealed. She instantly became every boy's first love on the screen.

Just when Sakurajima Mai's popularity reached its peak again, she suddenly announced publicly that she would stop all performing activities on the grounds of "focusing on studies", sparking all kinds of speculation.

Lin Hezhen had no interest in those groundless gossips. He just wanted to try to find clues about her "disappearance" from her life experience. Unfortunately, he didn't get any useful information.

Her “retirement declaration” is somewhat interesting, but that was two years ago.

Judging from the aura of Sakurajima Mai, she has only been in the "hidden" state for a few days, so there should be no connection between the two.

"The dishes you ordered are ready, please enjoy." The boss placed a serving of Kung Pao Chicken and a bowl of rice in front of Lin Hezhen.

"So fast?" He closed the page and put away his phone, looking at the delicious food in front of him, his appetite salivated.

"Of course. How can we keep our customers waiting for so long? Try it while it's hot. If it gets cold, it won't have the aroma of the hot pot anymore." After saying this, the boss returned to the kitchen to prepare the next dish.

Lin Hezhen picked up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of Kung Pao Chicken and put it into his mouth.

After the diced chicken enters the mouth, the tip of the tongue first feels slightly numb and slightly spicy, and then a sweetness hits the taste buds. There is a sour feeling when chewing, which makes people unable to stop.

Then pick up a peanut and put it in your mouth. The more you chew, the more delicious it becomes.

He couldn't help but praise: "Boss, your Kung Pao Chicken is spicy and crispy, the meat is smooth and crispy, the taste is spicy and sweet, and the sweet and sour taste is really unique."

The boss' hearty laughter came from the kitchen: "Of course, my skills are truly inherited! Mapo tofu is also good, please use it slowly."

A steaming dish of Mapo Tofu was served on the table, the aroma filled the air and the guests from the other two tables all looked over.

The snow-white tofu is mixed with the red sauce, topped with fresh and tender green garlic sprouts and scallions, and sprinkled with a handful of pepper powder. It looks fresh and delicious, and is impeccable.

Lin Hezhen raised the small spoon and scooped it gently. A piece of tender tofu covered in soup seemed to slide into the spoon automatically, accompanied by a curl of white smoke, and was brought into his mouth.

In an instant, the eight-character motto of Mapo Tofu "numbing, spicy, hot, fragrant, crispy, tender, fresh and lively" emerged in his mind.

The authentic numbing pepper powder, the special spicy bean paste, and the aroma of cooking over a high fire made him shudder the moment they entered his mouth. The hairs on his back stood up, and a hot current went straight from his mouth to his stomach, causing a thin layer of sweat to break out all over his body.

"Authentic!" He quickly took a mouthful of rice to neutralize the spiciness, and scooped a spoonful of tofu into his mouth.

The tofu is fragrant, tender and smooth, and melts in your mouth. The minced meat mixed in it is golden in color, red and crispy but not hard. The fresh green garlic sprouts look as if they have just been picked and chopped from the fields, and they look vivid, but when you put them in your mouth, they are all cooked through and not at all raw.