A Special Way to Wipe Your Mouth?

Xu Jinghuai had already put down his chopsticks. For the rest of the time, he mostly watched Xia Jin eat.

He had to admit, this girl had a really good appetite.

She practically finished several dishes, and even had a second bowl of rice.

After eating her fill, Xia Jin leaned back in her chair, rubbing her slightly bulging belly, a look of contentment on her face.

Seeing Xia Jin in this state, Xu Jinghuai was inexplicably reminded of the little hamster he used to keep; it seemed to look just like this after every feeding.

However, Xia Jin immediately realized that Xu Jinghuai was still watching, and upon seeing the messy table, a blush instantly spread across her face.

‘Wuwuwu… how did I unknowingly eat so much?’

“N-no, I’m sorry, Immortal Master, you’ve made fun of me…”

Xu Jinghuai subtly glanced at Xia Jin’s small belly and said, “It’s fine, being able to eat is a blessing.”

‘As expected, she only eats vegetables, so it’s hard for her to get fat.’

Uncle Huang, who had been respectfully waiting in the private room, saw that Xia Jin had finished eating and began clearing the table.

Seeing Uncle Huang’s actions, Xia Jin instinctively moved to stand up from her chair to help.

Uncle Huang quickly stopped Xia Jin, gently and earnestly whispering to her: “Miss, let a lowly servant like me do this. In the future, when you follow the Immortal Master in cultivation and achieve great success, you won’t be able to do such work!”

“If outsiders were to see it, it would make the Immortal Master lose face!”

Uncle Huang thought a lot.

‘As the Immortal Master’s disciple, if Miss continues to do such menial tasks, what would others think?’

‘To put it mildly, wouldn’t they just think Miss is easy to bully?!’

‘Diligence is certainly not wrong, but sometimes, being too honest in front of outsiders doesn’t guarantee one won’t be bullied. Miss must learn to be self-reliant!’

‘After all, if Miss were bullied outside alone, the only one she could rely on would be the Immortal Master. But the Immortal Master is of noble status and has many daily affairs; it’s hard to say if he’ll always have the energy to look after Miss.’

‘And to put it more seriously, Miss doing such work is indirectly demeaning herself, which would also bring shame to the Immortal Master!’

Having been through so much for so many years, Uncle Huang had seen all aspects of life. Xia Jin’s family treated him very well, and he also wanted to impart all his years of worldly experience to his young miss without reservation.

But ultimately, in the presence of the Immortal Master, some things could not be said directly, and these few sentences were all he could tell Xia Jin.

After speaking, Uncle Huang’s movements became quicker. He finished clearing the table and prepared to leave.

Xu Jinghuai called out to him.

“Uncle Huang, please wait a moment. This Venerable would like to ask, when does the restaurant usually close?”

Uncle Huang, holding a tray, respectfully replied: “Replying to Immortal Master, our humble establishment also doubles as an inn for guests to stay overnight, so it is open 24 hours and does not close.”

Oh, this…

‘A 007, 24/7, no-rest system?’

Originally, Xu Jinghuai was thinking that he would find Xia Jin’s parents after the restaurant closed, but now it seemed they were truly too busy…

After thinking for a moment, Xu Jinghuai rephrased his question: “Then when does the store have a moment of leisure?”

From Xu Jinghuai’s two inquiries, Uncle Huang sensed something was off. He glanced at Xia Jin, who had returned to her seat, and his shrewd eyes darted around. He tentatively said, “Replying to Immortal Master, the store usually has downtime around the ‘wei’ hour (1-3 PM).”

“May I ask if Immortal Master is looking for the shopkeeper?”

Seeing his intentions discerned by Uncle Huang, Xu Jinghuai stopped beating around the bush and nodded: “Yes, this Venerable indeed has some matters that need to be explained to the shopkeeper.”

“This matter concerns Xia Jin, and it is quite important.”

“When I came, I heard from Xia Jin that the restaurant was busy, so I thought I’d wait until the shopkeeper had some free time to meet and explain in detail…”

Upon hearing this, Uncle Huang quickly said, “How can we trouble Immortal Master to wait so long?!”

“Just now, when this humble one went to find the cook, the shopkeeper had already heard that Immortal Master had arrived with Miss. Fearing to disturb Immortal Master’s meal rashly, he is currently waiting at the counter!”

“Immortal Master, please wait a moment, this humble one will go find the Master immediately!”

Uncle Huang, holding the plates, pushed aside the screen and ran off with nimble legs.

Xu Jinghuai barely even had time to extend an ‘Erkang’ hand.

‘Sigh, never mind, never mind.’

This was also good. Since the person was already waiting and not busy with work, dragging it out further would just be a waste of time.

Xu Jinghuai cast aside his languidness, straightened his back, and returned to his previous serious sitting posture.

‘Speaking of which, at this moment, shouldn’t I close my eyes and meditate, feigning a profound and inscrutable demeanor?’

‘Emmm…’

‘Doesn’t seem necessary.’

‘How many years has it been since he came to this world?’

Xu Jinghuai felt he had passed the passionate age of showing off.

Moreover, these were his disciple’s family, not enemies. Why give them a harsh welcome on their first meeting?

However, if he didn’t close his eyes and meditate, it would be strange for him to just keep staring at the screen.

So Xu Jinghuai finally focused his attention on his disciple.

Of course, Xu Jinghuai wasn’t paying attention to his cute disciple’s sparkling little face.

No need to look closely, but when he did, Xu Jinghuai caught a glimpse of something white.

A grain of rice was stuck next to Xia Jin’s mouth.

This scenario seemed somewhat familiar.

Xu Jinghuai stared at the grain of rice, lost in thought.

The grain of rice was stuck in a very tricky spot; from Xia Jin’s perspective, it would be completely invisible, but from his side, he could see it at a glance.

‘How exactly did that happen?’

While Xu Jinghuai pondered, he remained silent, just staring at Xia Jin.

Xia Jin, the person in question, was panicking at this moment.

‘Why is Immortal Master looking at me without speaking?’

‘Could it be because I ate so much in front of Immortal Master earlier…’

‘Immortal Master must be thinking how greedy Jin’er is right now…’

‘Wuwuwu… so embarrassing…’

Just as Xia Jin was feeling uneasy, Xu Jinghuai moved.

His hand beneath the table became entwined with a pink electric arc.

With a flick of Xu Jinghuai’s finger.

The pink electric arc shot towards Xia Jin at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. Under Xu Jinghuai’s precise control, with several sharp stops and turns, it perfectly hit the grain of rice at the corner of Xia Jin’s mouth.

The violent energy contained within the pink electric arc instantly annihilated the grain of rice, leaving no trace.

After doing all this, Xu Jinghuai casually withdrew his hand and averted his gaze.

As if nothing had happened.

Xia Jin was still shy and didn’t notice that a pitiful little grain of rice had just been cruelly obliterated from the corner of her mouth.

Xu Jinghuai could, of course, have reached out and wiped the grain of rice from Xia Jin’s mouth like in anime, but such a gesture would be too ambiguous and flirtatious. Clearly, their current master-disciple relationship had not reached that point.

Moreover, if such a frivolous action were witnessed, who knew what special plot developments might occur.

Xu Jinghuai hadn’t forgotten that Uncle Huang had just gone to fetch Xia Jin’s parents.

Of course, there was another way: to offer Xia Jin a handkerchief or tissue.

That would make their interaction seem quite natural.

Xu Jinghuai had considered this.

It was just unfortunate that Xu Jinghuai didn’t carry such an item as a handkerchief.

Cultivators could use body-cleansing spells or similar techniques to clean themselves, and for injuries and stopping bleeding, they could directly take some pills.

All the functions of a handkerchief had better alternatives. Aside from girls who carried them to show their purity or some people who carried them as a status symbol, Xu Jinghuai really couldn’t think of any daily necessity for carrying a handkerchief.

So Xu Jinghuai simply used a small spell to help Xia Jin wipe her mouth, and it seemed to work well so far.