Passing through the main hall, Ying'er hastily walked toward her alchemy chamber, her face colored in faint blush.
But as she was about to reach near the chamber, she saw an old man approaching. He wore a grey colored robe, his each step was light and measured like a soldier.
"Old Gui!" Yinger greeted bowing slightly as the old man reached near distance.
This old man was called Gui Sheng. One of the loyal people worked for the Xu family.
"Young Miss, I heard the Young Master has returned." the old man said, a polite smile washed over his face.
"Uh— Yes! He is in the west courtyard." She replied, stammering, her expression indifferent.
"Are you fine? Young Miss!" Gui Sheng asked, seeing the mixed reaction on her face.
"Oh! I need to refine a pill, Old Gui, I'll see you later." Saying her hurriedly walked toward his chamber.
While Gui Sheng just glanced at her leaving, he wasn't sure but her expression told him that she wasn't acting like her usual self.
However, he dismissed his thoughts, as what his experience tells him young people around this age mostly like to act like this. So, he just started walking his way toward the courtyard.
...
…....
Inside an alchemy chamber, Ying'er is randomly throwing herbs in the alchemy furnace, absent minded. Her cheek slightly puffed, mind drifting in confusion and strange thoughts.
The Chamber was filled with a warmth of soft silence, only slight sound of erupting flames traveling in the atmosphere.
On the other hand, her fellow disciple Sun Tao studied her from behind carefully, a slip of recipe in her hand.
To her surprise, the herbs Ying'er is using are not written in this recipe, it was her first time seeing her like this, and if she let her continue the alchemy furnace might explode.
"Senior Sister…" she called out but Ying'er absently kept glaring at the furnace.
She tried to call her again and again yet it doesn't seem to be working.
So, she decided to use a different approach, slowly walking near her and she knelt down, bringing her soft pink lips just an inch away from her ear,
"Aah—"
"Eeek—!!" a sudden jolt of shock spread through her whole body, startled, she barely held herself.
"Xiao Tao! What are you doing?" she asked, composing herself back.
"Senior Sister, This is what I should be asking you?" Sun Tao replied, with an obvious implying expression in her eyes.
"Wh—What do you mean?"
"I mean, where are you so lost? Is something bothering you?"
"No… it's just… I was thinking of another recipe." Ying'er replied to avoid her further questioning.
"Hm. Fine!"
With that they went back to their original task.
After a while, Ying'er glanced at Sun Tao from her eye corner.
While Sun Tao, constantly staring at a carrot shaped like a grey herb as if she was ready to devour it anytime.
"Xiao Tao…" Ying'er broke the long stretched silence in her low voice. "W–What do you think happens when people grow?"
"Huh? What are you… trying to say, Senior Sister?" She asked, barely getting through her words.
"I… I mean when people grow up… their… Many things changes…
So, does their thinking or feelings about others also change?
Like they don't like to be treated as they were in childhood or Like they just don't like to stay as before.
I mean what kind of changes could possibly happen?"
"Eh?"
Shocked Sun Tao just stared at her with a blank face.
But then a sudden giggles erupted on her face. "Hehe! Senior Sister, let me tell you—"
Before she could say more Ying'er sharply spoke, cutting through her words. "It's better to think before you reply."
Sun Tao pouted, with a childlike naive sweetness in her tone, "Senior Sister, Do you think I would lie to you?" Her face was like an innocent baby who is yet to be familiar with the bad things of this cruel world.
"At least you should have some little faith in me."
"No… it's not like that… I just…" she hesitated before speaking, seeing her diligence.
Sun Tao sighed, "Aii~ Senior Sister, I totally understand you. And I can tell you about it, better than anyone."
She picked herself up from near the alchemy furnace and started speaking while walking towards the chair in the room corner. "Do you know how things become difficult when people grow up? As they grow up their body starts to change and it severely affects their mind!"
"S-So wh–what happens?" Ying'er eagerly sat near Sun Tao, on the next chair like a curious child, halfway to an exciting tale.
"Senior Sister, You are already twenty five and till now, you had spent all your time near furnaces, of course you would never know about such things?
Looks like we need to start from the basics." Sun Tao spoke, while hiding her mischievous smile behind an emotionless and serious face.
"If we talk about a girl, when a girl start growing, several changes takes place in her body, Like enlargement of breast size and its keep going until they reach full adult—"
"Xiao Tao!" Ying'er said, interrupting her words. "I already know that much, And I've got that bigger than yours!"
"Tch!" Her lips twitched, barely hiding in another direction, while looking at her flat supple chest curves.
"Senior Sister, I'll just tell you in conclusion, you can't treat an adult person like a child if you hug an adult, considering him a child of course no one can stop him getting a boner."
Upon hearing her Ying'er's face started turning tomato red.
Meanwhile, Sun Tao studied her from her eye corner, her lips curved into a sly smirk and she continued, "But… what's more to it… their liking also could vary… people to people."
"What... do you mean?" she asked with a flustered face.
"I mean, in most cases men mostly like women who have good assets with her. Even if he is your childhood friend, his feelings could easily change over to something else…"
To her words Ying'er just kept her silence, her eyes just rolling round. And in an instant she vanished from her seat leaving Sun Tao baffled.