The rest of the so-called "family dinner" went by like a blur, as the only people that really conversed with each other were his father and his two brothers.
Sometimes either of the two women by the side of his father would speak, but it was very rare; it seemed that the relationship between his father and his wives was not very ideal.
Maybe I can take advantage of this somehow…
Huang Shi started to formulate a bunch of plans inside of his head about how to deal with his father and his siblings.
Unfortunately, there was one fundamental problem that made any one of his plans exponentially more dangerous:
My cultivation base is too weak...
He closed his eyes and breathed out, his eyes shining with resolve.
It was clear that the faster his strength improved, the less he would have to care about all of these little problems.
After around two hours had passed, dinner had finally finished and his father finally allowed all of them to leave.
However, before he could stand up, his father suddenly spoke in his rough voice:
"Huang Shi, stay for a while. We need to talk."
He froze for a bit, wondering what it is his father would talk to him about.
Considering he perfectly acted his role as a meek cripple, he didn't think his current condition was exposed.
If he did find out that my meridians are fixed, I'll have to use that excuse that I came up with beforehand.
After waiting for everybody else to leave the table, leaving only Huang Shi and his father, he spoke out once more:
"I heard that someone conspired against your life; it's good that you're okay."
Hearing the words coming from his father made him shocked.
It was clear that, from the memories of the previous owner of this body, his father had never shown him any sort of favor his entire life, so these words of concern naturally made him suspicious.
"Yes Father, it seems I got lucky; however, my spiritual veins are crippled."
He tried to speak with a hint of bitterness in his voice, trying to convince his father that he was heartbroken.
"I know. That's why I have something that may be able to remedy your problem."
He suddenly took something out of his spatial ring that looked like a pink lotus that shimmered with powerful spiritual energy.
Just from the look of it, he knew that it was a treasure.
System, do you know what that is?
[Responding to host: That is a 3-Heart Celestial Lotus. It is a very powerful healing-type natural treasure. Considering the host has no cultivation before his spiritual veins were destroyed, this has a 30% chance of fixing your spiritual veins.]
Oh? It has the ability to fix my spiritual veins? Interesting...
Why would he gift something like this to me?
Despite his reservations about the gift, he didn't let it show on his face as he acted extremely happy.
"Fa-father, are you really going to give this to me?"
His father, who suddenly seemed a bit pained, forced himself to speak.
"Let's just hope that this is enough to fix your meridians; otherwise, we'll have to find some explanation towards Lady Bai…"
Huang Shi's eyes narrowed into pinpricks, as the last part of his father's words were what really caught his attention.
It seems this treasure was given by that so-called Bai Xinyue as a gift for me; that's probably why my father was forced to give it away.
If she finds out that the Huang Clan patriarch kept the treasure for himself, she would probably retaliate against the entire sect.
Seeing as this was a perfect opportunity for him to find an excuse for getting rid of his crippled meridians, he quickly accepted the treasure and bowed his head to his father.
"Thank you for this gift, Father. I will make sure not to waste it."
Seeing his reaction, his father looked even more disgusted as he raised his hand as if he was swatting a fly.
"Alright, you may go."
Hearing his father's words, Huang Shi quickly left the dining hall, trying his best to get to his room as quickly as possible.
Thankfully, nothing happened on the way there as he quickly opened the door to his room and closed it after getting inside.
Seeing the treasure given to him by his so-called fiancée and realizing that he didn't need it anymore, he quickly placed it inside his own spatial ring that was given to him by his father a long time ago.
Now that everything was finished, he was finally able to relax as he laid on his bed and looked at the ceiling.
My priority should be to increase my cultivation base as fast as possible.
The only way to do that is to cultivate, but even with my talent, it's probably gonna take some time to catch up to those true geniuses that started to cultivate when they were basically still kids.
Hopefully, the system has some sort of solution to this problem.
As countless thoughts passed through his head, a soft knock was suddenly heard on his door as he gave a quiet smirk.
Seems she couldn't wait…
As if on cue, the door to his room suddenly opened up as the person he had been waiting for all night finally arrived.
She was wearing a light blue nightgown that clearly showed off the curves of her body; her ample boobs were almost bursting out of her clothes, and her pretty pink nipples were slightly exposed.
Her long black hair was slightly wet—a clear sign that she had taken a bath before she arrived in his room—as her pretty pink lips looked ripe for the taking.
"Are you asleep, Shi'er?"
His stepmother asked a question as she approached the side of his bed before sitting beside him. Suddenly thinking of something fun to do, Huang Shi had an idea.
Let's pretend that we're asleep for a while…