Lin Hongmei's words made Luo Jimin feel very comfortable, as refreshing as eating ice cream on a hot summer day. He pretended to be profound and did not respond, but began to organize the documents and agreements on his desk.
Lin Yao felt this most deeply. Although his parents often joked with each other at home, they never flirted like this. Back then, even when the family was having a good time, Lin Yao could sense the worry in his parents' eyes. The burden on their shoulders was heavy, and the thought of being able to completely relax and be happy was simply a dream.
Now that his dream has come true, Lin Yao feels very happy. To ensure this happiness continues, he needs to become stronger, to gain enough power to protect it, and to make those he cares about even happier. While fulfilling his own desire to become stronger, he also wants to help his parents achieve their ideal: to help as many ordinary people as possible—a wish that has always been his own.
"By the way, why was that ICBC director always hanging around you today? I get annoyed just seeing him. He doesn't even realize he's disturbing other people's work." Luo Jimin picked up his porcelain cup again to drink water, his feigned composure making the mother and son secretly amused. He was still jealous.
“That’s Director Zhong from the Shawan branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Jinniu District. He even gave you his business card. You’ve already forgotten?” Lin Hongmei knew her husband’s little scheme, so she deliberately didn’t answer directly. After a while, she continued, “Director Zhong came to solicit deposits and even wanted us to transfer our company account to him. How could that be possible!”
“Exactly.” Luo Jimin agreed with his wife. “Banks are the most snobbish institutions. They try their best to curry favor with rich institutions, wanting to attract deposits and get loans from them. But when you beg for a loan from a poor institution, they act all high and mighty and make things difficult for you.”
“Dad, isn’t that how it is in every workplace?” Lin Yao felt that his father had gone a bit too far, and that his personal emotions were heavily involved. “Don’t even mention banks. If our company were to implement a resale policy with after-sales settlement, wouldn’t we still choose to cooperate with companies that are rich and powerful? You wouldn’t trust companies that are not well-capitalized or small in scale.”
“But how could a small branch like his possibly want us to transfer our account?” Luo Jimin said stiffly, his usual composure gone. Jealous men are most prone to losing their temper. “Our Minhong is a multi-billion dollar company. We can’t open an account there. With so many transactions going on, how will they manage?”
Lin Hongmei smiled sweetly, enjoying the feeling of making her husband jealous. "Speaking of opening a new account, I do have some ideas. The bank we opened with before had poor service. A few months ago, the company didn't have much money in the account. As soon as we had money, we spent it on buying raw materials and paying expenses. There were also a lot of donations from all over the country, in small amounts but large quantities. Every time we went to the bank to ask for the bank statement, they didn't give us a friendly look. Now that we have money, their attitude has changed immediately. I still want to switch banks."
“Then don’t change to that Shawan branch. It doesn’t sound impressive. When our big company deals with people, it doesn’t look good if they say that the bank where the account was opened is a branch.” Luo Jimin relentlessly attacked his unfounded rival, speaking with great righteousness.
"Dad." Lin Yao had a headache. He thought he shouldn't have joked to upset his father. After the family pressure disappeared, life got better, and his mother became more and more beautiful. But he didn't expect his usually mature and steady father to become so jealous. "The branch office is just an institution. You can open a large account there."
“I think if I were to switch banks, I would prefer Bank of China, since Bank of China’s foreign exchange settlement is more convenient and faster, and Minhong will have a lot of foreign exchange accounts in the future.”
“Alright, let’s switch to Bank of China. I’ve disliked the old bank for a long time, but I’ve been holding back.” Lin Hongmei stood up and walked to her husband’s side. “Director Zhong has really helped us. Look, we made over seven million in sales today. They even sent staff to help with counting the money and depositing it on the spot. Their branch is right on the first floor of the convention center, so opening a temporary account won’t be a problem, haha.”
“Hmm.” Luo Jimin nodded. He had personally experienced the scene at the convention center plaza. If it weren’t for the help of the ICBC Shawan branch, he would have had to worry a lot about the safety of his cash. He understood this principle.
"Mom and Dad, you two can chat anytime. I'm heading back now; I have things to do." Lin Yao finished his warm family life experience, nodded to Yi Zuojun outside the door, and led Yi Fei straight to "Hidden Forest Residence," located on the other side of Chengdu. He had a vague, inexplicable urge to immediately start practicing the Luo family's martial arts.
Driving through the neon-lit city, Yi Fei sped towards his destination in his new Bora 2.0L automatic luxury car. Lin Yao sat in the back seat, not paying attention to the street scene outside the window, secretly pondering how to help Yi Fei strengthen his muscles and bones to improve his internal energy, and how to treat the disabled member of the Yi family who was about to arrive. Although he had never encountered a disabled person who practiced martial arts before, he had some understanding of the "Yi Jin Jue" technique, which did not prevent him from making predictions in advance.
The new Bora 2.0L was originally Luo Jimin's car, but Lin Yao drove it out. This small car, which costs less than 150,000 yuan, is the personal vehicle of the boss of Minhong Pharmaceutical. He has several nice cars, but most of them have been modified to be easy for disabled security guards to drive. Although healthy people can drive them normally, the extra mechanisms are really a bit nerve-wracking, and there is a worry that accidentally touching something will cause a traffic accident.
Luo Jimin and Lin Hongmei had no complaints about Shen Ruohua's previous arrangements; they hadn't cared about such things in the first place. Lin Yao didn't care either. At first, he even thought that the security team members would face greater danger, so it was only right to provide them with better vehicles. However, he didn't expect that the previous security team was just a facade, not even reporting that they had found the kidnapping mastermind in Wudao, Chongqing. It was simply a waste of money.
Lin Yao sometimes found it amusing to think about it. His whole family were typical country bumpkins, reluctant to spend money on clothes or other necessities. Aside from inheriting the Sichuanese penny-pinching style of eating, they were practically misers in every other aspect. Even his fashion-conscious mother, Lin Hongmei, never bought designer clothes, because aside from the brand name, they were basically no different from what HHC bought. Clothes costing tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan might be a little more comfortable, but was that slight comfort worth that much money? Lin Hongmei preferred to save that money and turn it into numbers on the computer—it looked much better.
In the dim light of the night, the tranquil Lijia Pond was barely visible. Lin Yao could vaguely make out that these outlines belonged to the nearby walls, trees, and buildings in the distance. The overuse of pesticides, fertilizers, and other pollutants by farmers when growing vegetables had almost wiped out the frogs in the countryside. Only occasionally could one hear a croak from afar, which would then disappear in an instant, as if the frog had calmed down and was experiencing the loneliness of not being able to find its companions.
Lin Yao sat there blankly on the second-floor balcony, legs crossed, with a small mat burning beneath him. He looked at the silhouettes in the darkness through the half-missing balcony railing, finding it particularly beautiful.
The night sky over Chengdu is rarely starry. Far from the diffraction of city lights, the night sky over the East Third Ring Road is exceptionally dark. Most farmhouses are also asleep early, and there is no light to be seen, only pure blackness, pure silence, and the pastoral scent mixed with the fragrance of manure.
Lin Yao only circulated the Luo family's cultivation technique at the very beginning of his meditation. After that, he was drawn to the darkness of the night. He opened his eyes and looked at the even darker outlines in the pitch-black night. Gradually, he calmed down, and his chaotic thoughts seemed to leave his body and drift further and further away.
Gradually, I fell into a state of unconsciousness...
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Chapter 190 The Enhancement Brought by Mental State
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The Luo family's martial arts techniques were gone, the tranquil night was gone, and the people were gone. Everything had turned into chaos, and even the feeling of chaos was gone.
Yi Fei, who was meditating in his room, suddenly woke up. He sensed something unusual, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He just felt that things were different from usual.
As the bodyguard of the number three leader, Yi Fei did not rely on his outstanding cultivation level. His previous early-stage Earth-level cultivation level was not uncommon in powerful families, and he could only be considered to have barely entered the ranks of experts. Moreover, such experts were only relative to ordinary martial artists.
Yi Fei possessed exceptionally keen perception from a young age, which is why he was able to break through to the early stage of the Earth Rank despite not having particularly strong aptitude and lacking effective protective medicine. Yi Fei's strong perception allowed him to instinctively stop cultivating based on his senses, avoiding the risk of breaking his bones and muscles. This enabled him to cultivate most effectively, which is how he advanced to the early stage of the Earth Rank.
With deliberate training, Yi Fei became exceptionally sensitive to the killing intent and even malice of his surroundings. This allowed him to defeat numerous skilled fighters and earn the opportunity to serve alongside the Third Leader. Of course, this was also related to the leaders' efforts to avoid getting too deeply involved with the Four Great Families. After all, no matter how powerful he was, he couldn't compare to a top-tier Earth-level martial artist. The fact that the Yi family had fallen to the status of a second-rate family was also a significant reason for his opportunity.
At this moment, Yi Fei didn't sense any killing intent or malice, but he just felt that the entire environment was different from normal. Thinking of this, he immediately became alert. Even if his instinctive senses didn't warn him, he had to find the elder immediately. The rise and fall of the Yi family rested on the elder he was protecting, and he couldn't allow any mishap to happen.
The second-floor balcony underwent a tremendous change. Invisible spiritual energy from heaven and earth surged in from all directions, gathering around Lin Yao's body. At this moment, the concentration of spiritual energy around him was a million times higher than usual, making the originally very thin concentration of spiritual energy reach a level that could assist Lin Yao in his cultivation.
The automatically operating Luo family technique draws this spiritual energy into the body through the Baihui acupoint on the top of the head and refines it into healing true qi. Although this spiritual energy is much denser than usual, its absolute value is still scarce. Refining this spiritual energy does not make the healing true qi appear to be much stronger; it only increases the purity of the true qi, making it appear more condensed, while the total amount actually decreases.
Yi Fei, who had just rushed out the door, stopped in his tracks. In the dim light, he could vaguely see Lin Yao meditating on the balcony. The closer he got, the clearer Yi Fei's senses became. He immediately knew that the elder was cultivating. Although he did not know what kind of cultivation technique the elder was practicing, he understood that his most important task at the moment was to help the protector and not let anyone or anything disturb the elder.
Carefully surveying his surroundings and eliminating any dangers, Yi Fei's perception of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth deepened as he explored. This rare insight for a martial artist brought him immense benefits, though he was not yet aware of what those benefits were.
As the night deepened, even the mosquitoes in the fields ceased their activity, and a thin mist enveloped the basin, nourishing everything.
Despite his intense mental strain and depleted energy, Yi Fei persevered in protecting Lin Yao. Dawn began to break through the horizon, the night slowly receding, and early birds began to sing. Just as the sky was about to brighten, Lin Yao let out a soft sigh, waking from his meditation.
Once Lin Yao regained his senses, he didn't know how long he had been meditating, nor was he sure what state he had just entered. When he woke up, he only felt a moment of confusion and a daze before he woke up.
"Huh?" Lin Yao, who was about to circulate his internal energy, noticed the changes in his body. At this moment, the Luo family's internal energy was still running automatically, but the circulating true energy appeared purer and more condensed. Lin Yao found that his perception of the outside world had also greatly improved; he could even feel the subtle airflow on his skin—a very peculiar sensation.
Did something just happen to me? My inner energy must have changed; I'm sure of that, because I can clearly feel it. But I wasn't practicing any martial arts just now. I was just distracted by looking at the night sky, and I can't remember what happened after that. It's like I was lying in bed thinking about something, and then I unknowingly fell asleep.
"Yaoyao, you're awake? Congratulations." Xiaocao's voice rang out lazily, as languid as a girl who had just woken up.
"Congratulations? What happened just now? Did you do something for me, Little Grass? How come you can help me practice now?" Lin Yao was still very confused, so he made up an explanation, "That's great. From now on, you can practice while I sleep, and we can even do it during the day. Just like in those novels, the cultivation technique runs automatically, improving my strength anytime, anywhere."
"Don't mention me!" Little Grass bluntly shattered Lin Yao's fantasy. "You entered a state of meditation without thought or form on your own. The cultivation technique you were practicing before entering meditation ran automatically. It has nothing to do with me."
"Do you think I'm a nanny? Helping with this kind of thing? Humph!" Xiaocao used a newly learned vocabulary word to scorn Lin Yao.
Lin Yao was conflicted after hearing Xiao Cao's words. If it was really Xiao Cao's doing, he could quickly improve his strength. But this state of "no thought and no form" that he didn't know was not easy to obtain. He had been lucky enough to experience it once, but whether he would have the chance to experience it again in the future depended on his luck.
"How did I suddenly enter this state of 'no thought and no form'? Is there any connection?" Lin Yao felt he should get to the bottom of it. He hadn't seen any results from practicing for a long time, and he had to figure out this extremely beneficial method.
"I don't know." Little Grass irresponsibly gave Lin Yao the answer he least wanted to hear.
Uh… Lin Yao was extremely disappointed and didn’t know what to say. Even the joy he had just experienced after breaking through his cultivation technique was overshadowed.