Chapter 12: Improving Physical Constitution

When Li Changsen returned, the Li household was quieter than usual.

There was no helping it; most of the Li family was somewhat afraid of him.

Compared to the other families in the village, which were filled with harmony, warm inquiries, and the bustle of bringing out all the food they usually couldn't afford to eat to celebrate a relative's return, the Li family was quite plain.

For that day's supper, Mother Li had merely scooped an extra ladle of flour and made a few more dry steamed buns.

Looking at the meager meal, Li Changsen's expression remained unchanged; he simply picked up a dry bun and began to eat.

Jin Yue'e, however, looked somewhat indignant. It was fine if the family had nothing else, but they raised chickens in the house, yet her mother-in-law couldn't even bring herself to offer a single egg to nourish her husband's body.

Even after dinner ended, Jin Yue'e's face remained somber.

"Alright, don't be angry. I let it go years ago," Li Changsen said, smiling to comfort her as they returned to their room.

Feeling aggrieved on his behalf, Jin Yue'e said with reddened eyes, "He is Mother's son, yet compared to the second and third brothers, she doesn't care about you at all."

"The food is one thing, but you've been back for half the day, and she hasn't even asked if you're doing well in the garrison or if you've been injured."

Li Changsen smiled dismissively. "I don't care about those things anymore. As long as I know you and the children are thinking of me, that is enough."

Hearing this, Jin Yue'e felt a pang of heartache, and her eyes instantly filled with mist.

Seeing this, Li Changsen hurriedly reached out to wipe her tears. "Why are you shedding golden beans now?"

Jin Yue'e turned her head away, wiping her own tears. "Stop acting silly. If the children come in and see this, what will it look like?"

Li Changsen chuckled and took his wife's hand. "I know you feel wronged for me. Don't be like this in the future; if you truly get worked up and something happens to you, it will break my heart."

Jin Yue'e's face flushed red. She spat at him, "You really say anything, aren't you afraid the children will hear?"

Li Changsen laughed loudly and pulled his wife's shoulders into his embrace. "Let them hear. Could they really make fun of their own father?"

Jin Yue'e shot him a glance but ultimately did not break free from her husband's embrace.

Seeing her mood settle, Li Changsen said softly, "As for my parents, I stopped having expectations long ago. With you and the four children, I am content. Don't be sad anymore; perhaps I was simply born with a shallow connection to my parents."

Jin Yue'e's lips moved as if to say something, but after a moment of hesitation, she swallowed it back.

What was there to say?

Both her husband and she had tried hard to earn the approval and love of their parents-in-law, but unfortunately, both had failed.

Once a person's heart has drifted, all effort is in vain.

After the couple shared a moment of intimacy, Jin Yue'e brought out the spoils that Li Wuya and her siblings had obtained at the relay station for Li Changsen to see.

"This box of medicinal herbs can't be hidden; everyone in the family knows. Mother wanted to take them, but I said they were saved for you. Sanlang used words to pressure Father, and finally, Father spoke up to stop Mother."

Upon hearing this, Li Changsen beamed. "Sanlang is growing up; he can protect our home now."

Jin Yue'e also smiled brightly, feeling very satisfied with her eldest son. "When you were injured before, several times it wasn't treated thoroughly, so you must have many hidden injuries."

"A few years ago, because my father gathered some good herbs, he became quite close to the apothecary owner. I learned a special soaking recipe from him that is said to strengthen the body. Tomorrow, I'll decoct a pot for you to use for a medicinal bath."

Knowing his wife was worried about his health, Li Changsen did not refuse. He smiled and said, "My luck is truly good; I am now being provided for by my children."

Jin Yue'e smiled. "Isn't that the truth?" She added with a look of pride, "Looking at the entire military settlement, which other family's children can compare to ours?"

Speaking of the children, Li Changsen's eyes were full of joy.

Jin Yue'e then brought out three money pouches, two sidearms, and some blood ginseng, blood lingzhi, and a small handful of cordyceps wrapped in cloth. "The family doesn't know about these."

This time, Li Changsen was somewhat shocked, especially upon seeing the blood ginseng and blood lingzhi.

Jin Yue'e said, "I counted the silver in the pouches; there is over thirty taels." She sighed, "In all my life, I haven't earned as much as these children have."

Li Changsen fell silent; wasn't he the same?

Jin Yue'e continued, "With this money, don't bring back so much of your salary in the future. We can't eat much of it anyway; most of it ends up in someone else's mouth."

"If the children are hungry, I'll let them take the money to the relay station. When you go to the battlefield, you must eat more; you can't let your health collapse."

"When you return to the garrison next time, take ten taels of silver for emergencies, so you don't end up like before—injured but with no money for a doctor, forced to just endure it."

Li Changsen listened quietly to his wife's arrangements, feeling a warmth in his heart.

This was his family—caring for him and remembering him. He would never again have to shoulder everything alone as he did in his youth.

"By the way, see if these two sidearms are usable?"

Li Changsen took the blades Jin Yue'e handed him. "These are much better than the ones issued by the garrison." As he spoke, he performed several beautiful flourishes with the blades. "Good blades!"

Jin Yue'e smiled. "As long as they are usable. Take one when you leave, and leave the other for Sanlang. He has been practicing martial arts with you for two or three years now; I see he is learning well and should be able to wield a blade too."

"As for this blood ginseng and blood lingzhi... these things are too precious. I don't know how to use them, so I'll just keep them for now."

Li Changsen laughed. "Whatever you say. You're the boss of this house."

Jin Yue'e gave him a playful, reproachful look and smiled without speaking.

At that moment, Li Sanlang and his three siblings, who had been wandering around the village, returned.

After Li Wuya and Li Qilang entered the room, they took off their shoes and climbed onto the heated kang.

Li Qilang was a playful child; as soon as he was on the kang, he wanted Li Changsen to play with him.

Seeing this, Li Sanlang and Li Erya also climbed up.

Soon, the room was filled with laughter and the sounds of play.

Jin Yue'e watched her husband and children playing together with a smile. She placed the silver and the blood ginseng into a cabinet, locked it, and then went to the kitchen to boil water.

Seeing Jin Yue'e returning with hot water, Li Sanlang and Li Erya were very observant, leading their younger siblings off the kang and back to their own room.

Once Li Changsen had finished his bath and changed into clean clothes, Li Wuya ran out again and climbed onto the kang. "Dad, let me give you a massage."

Looking at his tiny daughter, Li Changsen felt gratified by her filial piety, but he still said, "How much strength do you even have? Go back to your room and sleep."

Li Wuya refused and went straight to tell her father to lie down.

Helpless, Li Changsen obediently lay on the kang, letting his young daughter massage him.

With her spiritual power allowing her to see through objects, Li Wuya first scanned Li Changsen's body with her spiritual sense. She discovered not only many old injuries but also some new ones.

During the massage, she focused her healing ability on those areas.

The medicinal properties of the few stalks of blood ginseng and blood lingzhi were not vast, and since she had previously treated Li Sanlang and Li Erya, Li Wuya felt her ability running low after a short while and had to stop.

"Dad, Mom, go to sleep early."

Watching her daughter return to her room, Li Changsen sat up and stretched. "I must say, after Wuya massaged me, I really do feel much more relaxed."

Jin Yue'e simply thought her husband was praising their daughter's filial piety and didn't take it seriously. She smiled and said, "No matter what your two daughters do, you always think it's good."

Li Changsen chuckled without rebuttal, his eyes bright as he waited for his wife to join him on the kang.

The next morning, Jin Yue'e rarely woke up late. By the time she woke, Li Changsen was already practicing martial arts in the courtyard with Li Sanlang, while Li Erya and Li Qilang had been pulled away by Li Wuya for a run.

"As expected, once the eldest brother returns, Sister-in-law's whole face becomes radiant with joy."

As soon as Jin Yue'e entered the kitchen, she ran into Xue Caihua, the wife of Li Changlin.

The Xue woman and Li Changlin were truly a matched pair—both gossipy and extremely annoying.

Jin Yue'e ignored her, walked straight past, fetched some water, and returned to her room.

When dealing with her second brother and his wife, ignoring them was the best method; otherwise, no matter what you said, it would only embolden them.

By the time Jin Yue'e had finished washing up, Li Changsen and Li Sanlang had finished their martial arts, and Li Wuya, Li Erya, and Li Qilang had returned from their run.

Only then did the children from the second and third branches of the Li family begin to wake up one after another.

Old Man Li was squatting at the entrance of the main hall washing his face. Seeing the four children of the first branch being vigorous and proactive in the courtyard, while the children of the second and third branches were lazy and aimless, he felt a sense of dissatisfaction.

"Dalang, Erlang, if you have nothing to do, follow Sanlang and learn some martial arts from your eldest uncle."

As the eldest grandson most valued by Old Man and Mother Li, Li Dalang quickly replied, "Grandpa, I can't do horse stances. Last time I tried squatting with Sanlang, my legs ached for several days."

Erlang also chimed in, stating he was not cut out for martial arts.

Looking at his eldest and second grandsons who lacked any ambition, Old Man Li sighed again in his heart. He said nothing more and turned back to the main hall.

Upon entering, he saw Mother Li looking at him with displeasure.

"Why are you making Dalang and Erlang practice martial arts? Having the eldest and Sanlang practice is enough for our family. The families of the second and third sons should just focus on scratching a living from the soil."

Old Man Li looked at Mother Li, his lips moved, but in the end, he sighed and said nothing.

After breakfast, Li Changsen took Li Sanlang and went out, specifically visiting some friendly families in the village to maintain connections.

He was often away from home and worried that if something happened, his wife wouldn't be able to handle it alone. His parents and two brothers were unreliable; he now relied on these friends and relatives to help out.

Li Changsen was a man of character and possessed ability, so his popularity in the village was quite good.

"Mom, what are you doing?"

In the eastern wing, seeing Jin Yue'e taking out many herbs from a box, Li Wuya hurriedly asked.

Jin Yue'e replied, "Mom wants to decoct a pot of medicinal soup for your father to use for a bath."

Hearing this, a light flashed in Li Wuya's eyes.

It was like finding a pillow when one is sleepy!

When she was asking for medicine at the relay station, she had planned to decoct several batches of body-tempering medicine to improve the family's constitution.

She hadn't even decided how to do it yet, and her mother had proactively created the opportunity.

Li Wuya scurried after Jin Yue'e, and in the gaps when her mother wasn't looking, she secretly swapped some of the herbs.

In her previous life, body tempering could comprehensively improve a person's constitution and stimulate physical potential. After multiple sessions of body tempering, an ordinary person's chances of awakening an ability would increase significantly.

Even without awakening an ability, the body would be strengthened—whether in strength, reaction speed, or the five senses, everything would be much stronger.

In this life, limited by incomplete and less potent medicinal ingredients, Li Wuya could only produce a low-end version of the body-tempering bath, but even that was enough.

"Mom, Grandma and Second Uncle are definitely eyeing our family's medicine. How about we decoct a few more pots today so the whole family can soak?"

Jin Yue'e hesitated; decocting a pot of medicinal soup required a lot of herbs.

She wanted to save that box of medicine for her husband to use several more times.

However, she also knew Mother Li's temperament. Even if she was quiet now, the moment anyone in the Li family had a headache or a fever in the future, she would surely come asking for medicine again.

"Alright. Since the soup is for strengthening the body, all four of you siblings should soak in it too."

"Mom, you have to soak too. The whole family will soak; no one can be left out."

Just as Jin Yue'e was about to say she didn't need to, Li Changlin's wife, Xue Caihua, and Li Changmu's wife, Zhou Zhaodi, entered the kitchen.

"Oh? Sister-in-law, what are you decocting?" Xue Caihua went straight to lift the lid, immediately seeing a large pot of medicinal soup.

"Good heavens, Sister-in-law, you are too wasteful! Even if you got a whole box of medicine, you shouldn't be this extravagant."

A string of exaggerated screams immediately drew Mother Li over.

Before Mother Li could speak, Jin Yue'e preempted her. "Since my husband returned, he has many new injuries. Mother, this medicine is being decocted for him to use for a bath."

Mother Li frowned. "Even so, you can't waste medicine like this."

"Grandma, is my father's life more important, or a little bit of medicinal herbs?" Li Wuya spoke up gloomily from the side. "Grandma, do you really want to see your eldest son die on the battlefield? Are you my father's biological mother?"

Hearing this, Mother Li reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, bristling instantly. "You little girl, what nonsense are you talking? If I'm not your father's biological mother, then who is?"

Li Wuya looked puzzled. "Then why did you stop my mother from decocting medicine for my father? What mother doesn't want her son to be well?"

Mother Li's bravado faltered. "Who stopped anyone? I just didn't want you all wasting medicine. Fine, fine, it's my own misplaced worry. A box of medicine—let's see how many times you can actually waste it."

Having said that, she quickly hurried out of the kitchen.

Watching Mother Li's somewhat panicked retreat, Li Wuya narrowed her eyes.

Last time, it was only when she heard her third brother ask Grandpa if his father was a biological son that the grandmother had quieted down; this time was the same.

Seeing the mother-in-law leave like that, the disgruntled Xue and Zhou could only leave with sour faces.

Once they were gone, Li Wuya turned to Jin Yue'e and asked seriously, "Mom, is Dad really not Grandpa and Grandma's biological son?"

Jin Yue'e put the lid back on and glared at her daughter. "Don't talk nonsense. When your grandma was pregnant with your father, many people in the military settlement knew."

Li Wuya rubbed her chin. "But Dad is so tall and imposing, while Grandpa, Second Uncle, and Third Uncle are all short. And Grandpa and Grandma have ordinary looks, but Dad was born with sharp brows and bright eyes."

As she spoke, she touched her own small face and said proudly, "Even the four of us inherited good looks, directly outperforming all the other children in the village."

Looking at her vain daughter, Jin Yue'e found it somewhat amusing. "If your father isn't a son of the Li family, whose son could he be? Alright, stop talking about this."

Li Wuya shrugged and stopped, but she walked to the kitchen door and silently watched the main hall.

There might really be something fishy about her father's origins!

When Li Changsen returned with Li Sanlang, the first batch of body-tempering medicinal soup had just finished decocting.

"I heard Mother came to make a scene while you were decocting the medicine?"

As Jin Yue'e helped Li Changsen find clothes, she replied with a smile, "Yes, but your youngest daughter shut her down with just a few words."

Seeing Li Changsen frown, Jin Yue'e added, "Don't let it bother you. We've all figured out Mother's temperament—not just me, but even the four children. We won't let them take advantage of us."

Li Changsen fell silent for a moment. "Didn't you say this soup is for strengthening the body? You and the children should soak in it too. You've suffered much following me through these years, and the four children have suffered plenty as well."

"In this large Li family, you and the four children are the most vulnerable."

"Keeping this box of medicine is a liability. While I am home these next two days, let's use the medicine quickly so they don't keep eyeing it and cause more trouble."

Jin Yue'e paused. "Alright, I'll listen to you. I originally wanted the children to soak in it too."

A body-tempering bath required many herbs; the box of medicine could only produce eight batches.

During his three days at home, Li Changsen soaked three times, while Jin Yue'e and the four children each soaked once.

"The medicinal bath stings a bit while soaking, but after the bath, my whole body feels much lighter."

Upon leaving, Li Changsen clearly felt that his previously heavy body had become much more agile, and even the old injuries that used to ache occasionally no longer pained him.

After returning to the garrison, Li Changsen resumed his training as usual.

Half a month later, during a sparring session, Li Changsen used only three moves to knock a corporal, whose martial arts were on par with his own, off the stage.

Li Changsen was stunned for a moment, then was filled with wild joy.

Over the past half month, he had also vaguely felt that both his strength and reaction speed had improved significantly.

He had previously thought it was an illusion, but now he knew it was real—his martial arts had indeed advanced.

It seemed his wife's medicinal bath was truly effective!

A brilliant light burst in Li Changsen's eyes. Advancing in martial arts meant his chances of surviving the battlefield had increased once again.