"Ah yi ya yo wei wei~~~"
"Yi yi yi you you you~~~"
Lu Yao's wails and howls pierced the heavens as the sisters were helping him "stretch."
"Junior brother, keep it down, will you..." Liao Ya said helplessly, face full of resignation. It was just stretching; why did it sound like a pig being slaughtered?
"I can't help it..." Lu Yao sat against the wall with his legs wide apart, as the sisters pressed their feet against his knees, forcibly pulling him into a split.
Just looking at the movement was painful, and Lu Yao was even worse off—his tears and snot were mixing, a pitiful sight.
"Lu Yao, just hang in there~ it'll be over soon... Pffft hahaha, I can't hold it in anymore... this is too funny hahaha."
Liao Qe began with a gentle voice to comfort him, but halfway through, when she saw his embarrassing state, she burst into uncontrollable laughter.
"You heartless thing, you're actually laughing at me!" Even though Lu Yao had mentally prepared himself, he never expected the beginning to be so explosive.
After enduring a quarter of an hour, the stretching finally ended, and he collapsed on the ground.
Liao Qe wanted to help, but Lu Yao couldn't get up and insisted on lying down for a while. The girl had no choice but to let him rest his head on her legs.
The straight and taut beautiful legs were nice to look at and smelled good, which slightly alleviated some of his pain.
A few minutes later, Liao Ya approached softly and said, "Junior brother~ everything is difficult at the start, you must build a solid foundation. Bear with it a little. Let's continue."
"Again!?"
"The effects of the medicinal bath are still in your body, we can't waste it."
~~~~~~~~
After the workout, Lu Yao felt like a mollusk, unable to walk in a straight line; even eating was done with Liao Qe feeding him.
But Liao Ya had no intention of letting him off. After a brief rest post-meal, they continued!
While Lu Yao endured his suffering, Liao Qe was sent off to practice her punching on the side, displaying a powerful display.
As Liao Ya stepped on Lu Yao to stretch him, she shouted, "We lack nothing in terms of external resources, so we mustn't slack! Train hard! Fully absorb the medicine's effects!"
And like that, they did nothing else all day.
Lu Yao had hoped to find a chance to get cozy with Liao Qe, to steal a few touches of her slender waist, but now he had neither the energy nor the strength.
Thankfully, he bit down and persisted through the entire process, without losing face.
~~~~~~~
At night, with his body aching all over, Lu Yao climbed into the bath and moaned comfortably.
The medicine turned into a warm flow, entering his body through the pores, repairing damage and strengthening bones and muscles.
At that moment, Lu Yao looked up towards the gate, as if he sensed something.
Then, a shout came over, "Master Liao, Wang Yuan from the Armed Forces Authority requests an audience!"
"The Armed Forces Authority?"
Liao Qe explained, "The 'Armed Forces Authority' is an institution under the Yunzhou Prefectural Yamen, dedicated to managing martial artists. It also has the function of supervising the local military forces."
Liao Ya opened the door to see a man dressed in a green robe, with a low-ranking official's hat, and slender eyes betraying a cunning mind.
The visitor bowed, took out a booklet, and proclaimed,
"The Prefecture has summoned martial masters to clear out the rabble. Master Liao, merely showing up will earn you 3000 copper coins! A rare and easy job, I thought of you first."
"The rabble outside the city? Those are the refugees fleeing disaster..." Liao Ya's willow brows furrowed.
Wang Yuan said with a smile, "There are more and more of them gathering, and the officials are worried about trouble, hence we need to clean up. You'll only need to watch the state soldiers do the work. It's like picking up money for nothing, and you'll be credited for a merit, how worthwhile."
When Lu Yao heard the phrase "outside the city," he felt it was inappropriate. Pies don't just fall from the sky, and suddenly a good opportunity to leave the city could be a conspiracy.
He urgently whispered to Liao Ya, "There must be something fishy about this guy so keen to offer a favor. Better safe than sorry, we don't need to walk into a trap."
Liao Ya blinked her large eyes and nodded vigorously, completely agreeing.
~~~~~~~
Wang Yuan waited calmly, seemingly confident that the offer would not be declined. Such high-quality tasks were rare and could only be snagged by those with solid connections.
"Thank you for the kind thought, Wang Yuan, but I'm at a critical moment in my cultivation and cannot participate."
"What?" Wang Yuan's expression changed, surprised by Liao Ya's response, he quickly said,
"Master Liao, you still owe three military services, and if you don't participate this time, it may affect your end-of-year assessment."
The Great Shun Warrior Code stipulated that martial masters registered in the records enjoyed imperial privileges and accordingly had to serve, contributing to the imperial court four times a year.
If one failed to meet the standards, their martial master qualification would be revoked, and they would no longer be able to run a martial arts school.
Unperturbed, Liao Ya said, "No matter, I can offset this year's military service with silver."
Wang Yuan exclaimed in surprise, "One military service costs one tael of silver to offset, which is quite uneconomical. And you said... for this entire year?!"
With a glance at Lu Yao, Liao Ya nodded, "Yes, I plan to undergo rigorous cultivation this year and don't intend to step outside."
Wang Yuan was completely baffled, having never seen anyone use silver to offset a task. Normally, martial artists couldn't wait to take on more tasks to establish a good relationship with the Armed Forces Authority.
Just as he was about to persuade further, Lu Yao came over with three taels of silver.
With things having reached this point, Wang Yuan could no longer say anything without appearing too obvious, so he reluctantly accepted the silver and left with discontent.
Once on the street, he discreetly turned into a secluded alley and said to a man in yellow, "The Liao family refused."