"Miss Su, please receive this blood ginseng as a token of our Chen family's sincerity."

"Miss Su, this is our Shen family's Twelve Springing Kicks…"

"Miss Su, this is our Zhao family's jade coral. Please accept our humble gift…"

"Miss Su's beauty is unmatched. It's no wonder why you can be Mr. Y's girlfriend. I have a matching pair of dragon and phoenix jade sculptures. Please accept my humble token…"

Su Qingxue sat on a desk, noting the gifts. There was a huge crowd before her desk. If any outsiders witnessed the scene, they would surely be shocked as the people gathered there were all reputable figures in the Sichuan-Tibet region. Even the masters of various families were there!

All of them had a sycophant's smile and held onto a plethora of lavish gifts. Afraid of their gifts being rejected, they were behaving respectfully toward Su Qingxue.

Just a few days prior, Su Qingxue was just a regular teenage girl in the Su family, an insignificant figure. Most people would not even give her any second thought. However, her status transformed overnight because of that man!

Miracle Doctor Y was a name everyone was familiar with. However, that name just reached a great new height in the hearts of the families in the Sichuan-Tibet region.

At first, they only knew of his amazing medical knowledge. With the formula for the rabies cure, he rose to fame. At the same time, he also turned into a target for others to prey on. However, on that fateful night where the families ganged up on him to acquire the formula, Master Mo appeared out of nowhere and descended upon them, seemingly undefeatable. Finally, he was easily killed by Ye Lingchen and the rallied assault from the great families fell apart on its own. Some were even traumatized by the incident.

Godlike medical skills and martial arts!

In an instant, the entire Sichuan-Tibet region submitted to his rule. All of them feared and respected Miracle Doctor Y.

Moreover, Miracle Doctor Y also made his demand for the great families to provide him with medicinal herbs and martial arts techniques. Only then would his wrath be satiated. As Ye Lingchen's only friend in this region, Su Qingxue was naturally chosen to be in charge of receiving the gifts.

The great families dared not delay, rushing to pay their respects. Meanwhile, Su Qingxue was treated as Miracle Doctor Y's woman, causing her status to soar. Even the masters of the great families were courteous around her.

Su Qingxue felt conflicted by the sudden changes. Just a moment ago, her future seemed bleak with her fate beyond her control. However, in another instant, she was propelled to the peak of her life!

Although the Su family had offended Miracle Doctor Y, they managed to latch onto Su Qingxue's connection as they might end up having an Innate Stage martial artist as their son-in-law. With that, the other great families were highly respectful towards the Su family. As for the Mo family, they were in a precarious state. Without a powerful guardian, they were the perfect prey for the others.

…

As an honored guest, Ye Lingchen was resting in a room within the Su family.

Countless items were placed before him. To the outside world, these items were all rare items, most of them priceless. In Ye Lingchen's hand was a list of gifts from the great families, recording the gifts sent to him in batches. Among them were mostly medicinal herbs and martial arts techniques, as Ye Lingchen requested. The rest was meant to curry favor with Ye Lingchen, made up of mostly jewelry.

Material wealth was nothing much to Ye Lingchen. He merely gave them a sweeping glance. The ones he cared about were the medicinal herbs and martial arts techniques.

Some of the rare medicinal herbs could be transplanted to Miracle Island, turning the rare herb into Miracle Island's specialty product. As for the martial art techniques, they were for him to raise his abilities.

At the moment, he had a few copies of martial arts techniques. However, most of them were of low levels. Ye Lingchen felt they were at most at the same level as Arhat's Fist and Eight Extremities Fist. These families were keeping better techniques for themselves. It was unlikely for them to cough up the top grade martial arts techniques passed down by their ancestors.

Nevertheless, Ye Lingchen was not bothered. If he learned regular martial arts, he would need to waste popularity points to upgrade them in the future. He might as well not learn them at that rate. He had obtained the Mo family's Heart Destruction Palm and Huo Shan's Soaring Wind Kick. Those should be the best martial arts techniques he could find in the Sichuan-Tibet region. The other techniques were merely icing on the cake.

Heart Destruction Palm was a palm technique that allowed one to achieve the Innate Stage and Soaring Wind Kick was a real Levity technique, unlike Parkour.

He casually read through Heart Destruction Palm, triggering a notification from the system.

'Self-studying Heart Destruction Palm, proficiency +1'

'Self-studying Heart Destruction Palm, proficiency +1'

'Self-studying Heart Destruction Palm, proficiency +1'

…

Thud, thud, thud!

A series of knocking sounds pulled Ye Lingchen back to reality.

Ye Lingchen put the book down. "Come in."

The door opened slowly with Su Qingyao standing right there.

It was obvious that she had spent quite the effort on her makeup. She wore a red silk dress with a very low cut, revealing her fair skin. With a thin layer of makeup, she looked elegant and stunning. Her eyes seemed to draw him in more than anything. Her jet black hair casually rested on her shoulders, gently waving as she pursed her bright red lips.

In her hand was a platter. She shot a flirtatious smile at Ye Lingchen and approached him slowly. "Mr. Y, I've prepared some afternoon snacks for you."

"You made them?" Ye Lingchen's brows twitched.

"Mhm. I hope Mr. Y likes it." Su Qingyao nodded, then added, "Mr. Y has been staying in the room for so long. Let me give you a massage."

Ye Lingchen shot her a glance in silence.

Su Qingyao took the initiative and stood behind Ye Lingchen. For him, her strength was too insignificant. Instead of massage, it was more of a caress. However, she was very thorough with her smooth hands.

Ye Lingchen and Su Qingyao kept their silence.

Two hours later, the sky was turning dark. Ye Lingchen finally looked at Su Qingyao. "Okay, you may leave now."

Su Qingyao's body froze, then said through gritted teeth, "Mr. Y, I'm willing to serve you with everything."

"You want to follow me?"

Su Qingyao nodded as her eyes settled on Ye Lingchen with a nervous and eager look. "I won't dream of being your woman. I only ask to be your follower. You can have me do anything! I'll serve you well."

Ye Lingchen looked at her. He did not expect her to willingly be his lover, the type that would require no commitment and feelings from his end.

To be honest, Su Qingyao was truly a beauty, even more so than Su Qingxue. With the makeup she had that day, even Ye Lingchen felt moved.

"Based on your familial background and looks, you shouldn't need to do this. You haven't even seen my face." Ye Lingchen was curious.

Su Qingyao bit her lip, then admitted honestly, "From your voice, I can tell that you're quite young and capable. I don't think it's a loss for me to follow you. Moreover, women are meant to find a strong person to rely on. Only then we can avoid being pushed around."

As they spoke, her eyes showed a look of envy. Originally, her status compared to Su Qingxue was like heaven and earth. Just because they were acquainted, countless people tried to network with her. That was the gap between them!

"Rely on me?" It was the first time Ye Lingchen heard of that concept. The current society placed great importance on gender equality.

"Mr. Y, my looks might be the cause of misfortune if I were born in a regular household. To be honest, even within the Su family, my life is not that great. I don't have the talent to practice martial arts and had to force myself to be good at business. Only by bringing benefits to the Su family would ensure my position. Even though my father is the master of the family, my status would plummet if I fail to be of any use to the family. I might even turn into a bargaining chip for a political marriage." Su Qingyao's eyes carried a hint of sorrow.

Ye Lingchen had witnessed it previously when Su Tianhong threw Su Qingyao and Su Qingxue as a bargaining chip at the drop of a hat.

"Even if I managed to be of use at this moment, I will still be used by the family as a tool for political marriage in the future." Su Qingyao's eyes flashed excitedly, "Therefore, I thought to myself. If I have to serve, I'll serve the strongest man in the world. I'm fortunate to have met Mr. Y."

"Your reasoning…" Ye Lingchen was unable to respond appropriately right off the bat. He had somehow turned into a big shot for others to rely on.

"Mr. Y, my dream is to just live the life of a regular woman." Su Qingyao looked at him expectantly. "I only hope for a strong arm to lean on and support me when trouble comes."

Ye Lingchen could tell that it might be due to the cruel nature of the family that caused Su Qingyao to be extremely insecure. Underneath that strong exterior was a fragile heart. She was just subconsciously looking for someone strong to rely on.

However, while being insecure, this woman was rather ambitious. She wanted to have others respect her. That made her yearn to latch on to a strong person and wished to find the biggest backer possible.

Her worldview was skewed, yet it was not wrong.

"You may plan to be a mistress now, but what about your future?" Ye Lingchen asked.

"What future?" Su Qingyao was caught off guard.

"You can't be a mistress for life, right? I'm talking about marriage."

"So what if I'm a mistress for life? I just want to look for a backer and live my life lavishly," Su Qingyao admitted honestly. "If not for meeting you, I might be wed to a big family's young master. Although that may look good on the surface, I will have to bear them children and respect the in-laws. I might even get into lots of arguments and have to look out for lovers trying to steal my spot."

She paused for a moment, then continued, "It's different after meeting you. I can just happily be your lover. I won't meddle with your life, and I'll have a peaceful, trouble-free life. I'll no longer have to worry about being bullied, and I can even gain the respect of others through you. I'll be free of worries."

'OMFG!'

'What a f*cking genius! A super genius!'

The way she put it, even Ye Lingchen was slightly looking forward to such a life.

'To put it simply, I'm the huge tree that would shelter her from everything and give her a happy life.'

He never expected the business genius of a sister that Su Qingxue mentioned to be so shrewd.

"Aren't you worried that I might be ugly?" Ye Lingchen asked.

"Your words and actions carried great confidence. Ugly people usually don't behave this way. I'll be fine with it even if you're ugly. Just being able to meet you is already a great fortune for me," Su Qingyao replied slowly. "I've seen countless women followed obese uncles and even grandfathers to chase after their dream life."

Ye Lingchen was dumbfounded.

Although her worldview was skewed, Ye Lingchen was at a loss of how to counter her points…