At this moment, the several people turned their gazes to the girl, wanting to confirm whether Xiaoyao's words were true. But the girl ignored their stares and continued eating, looking very beautiful.
"Hey hey, if you have questions, ask me. Why are you looking at my boss?" Xiaoyao immediately said.
"Fine, I'll ask you. Why is this?" the Young Miss asked.
"Why what?" Xiaoyao was somewhat confused, because the Young Miss's question seemed to have no beginning or end - he didn't know which point she was asking about.
"Why can sleeping in an ice cellar make people maintain heart method circulation?"
"Oh, that. It's very simple. Because people naturally need to ward off cold, and heart method circulation can help with this. Continuous circulation will make you fall asleep, but if it stops after falling asleep, you'll be woken up by the cold and need to continue circulation again. As long as this continues repeatedly, the body will naturally learn to circulate heart methods while sleeping!" Xiaoyao explained. "Once the body learns this and it becomes instinct, then even if you change environments later, you'll still maintain it! The human body is very wondrous..."
"..."
The three fell silent. They found this explanation very novel, yet not difficult to understand. They hadn't expected such a method could be used to improve cultivation quality.
"Where did you learn this method? Or did you think of this method yourself?" the Young Miss asked.
"How could I be that capable? I saw this method in a book." Xiaoyao replied casually.
"What book?" Little Uncle immediately asked.
Xiaoyao shook his head and said: "I don't remember. Anyway, there was such a theory, and I've also seen accounts of masters practicing in harsh cold lands - without exception, they all made great progress in strength. This shows that cold environments can promote internal energy cultivation! Since trying it wouldn't cause problems anyway, I had my boss try it, and unexpectedly it succeeded!"
"You really were just trying it out?" the Young Miss asked somewhat doubtfully.
"Mm!" Xiaoyao nodded with a sincere expression of not lying.
"Then I've been a disturbance today. Thank you for the hospitality!" Lin Yi got up to leave. After all, he was the one who had been defeated, so it was awkward to stay too long. Little Uncle had no such concerns and continued staying to eat and drink.
Afterward, Lin Yi immediately began practicing according to Xiaoyao's method. At this time, he didn't need an ice cellar because it was currently harsh winter weather - the entire world was one big ice cellar.
At first Lin Yi was very unaccustomed to it, but later he gradually got used to it and persisted. Slowly the effects seemed to show a little. Even if he couldn't achieve the girl's level of natural circulation while sleeping, at least his cultivation progress was faster than before. This method was beneficial no matter how you looked at it.
Not only Lin Yi did this - after returning, both Little Uncle and the Young Miss tried it out and gained considerable benefits. Though it couldn't make their internal energy advance by leaps and bounds, the growth rate was very gratifying.
Especially the Young Miss - her progress was very frightening, making many people feel terrified.
Because of their outstanding strength later, Mo family members began noticing their cultivation methods. Afterward, they purchased large quantities of ice in summer, and in winter Mo family disciples collectively practiced in minimal clothing. This phenomenon made outsiders curious, but they were even more amazed by the Mo family's overall strength suddenly climbing steadily.
The instigator of all this was known by few people, because by then it was unclear who had first discovered this cultivation method - even the Mo family didn't know.
Actually, even if someone knew, they wouldn't care. The vast majority wouldn't believe it, while a small portion would think it was just coincidence.
The Mo family Great Master only felt this was the achievement of the Young Miss and Third Young Master, because both were people whose birth characters benefited the Mo family - they were destined to lead the Mo family to its peak.
Why was the Third Young Master involved again? This wasn't because Great Master was biased, but because Third Young Master quickly joined this cultivation camp, making it seem like he and the Young Miss were leading everyone in this type of cultivation.
It must be said that the Third Young Master's fate was really good - all good things happened to fall into his lap.
"Full of wine and food - I'm taking a jar of wine with me. No objections!!" the Young Miss said somewhat drunkenly. At this time, the remaining four had been eating and drinking for a long time, and this feast was at its end.
Though the time wasn't very long, it had brought many smiles to the girl's face. This was very rare to see on the girl, and would remain rare even in future days.
This New Year's Eve dinner was also the happiest one she had ever eaten, and the only one with family companionship.
"Eighth Master, please escort the Young Miss back. I still need to clean up here." Xiaoyao said to Little Uncle on the side. Though he had drunk quite a bit, he wasn't that drunk, and being on Mo family grounds, having him escort the Young Miss was completely fine.
"Fine, I'll take this girl back..." Little Uncle nodded.
"Who's a girl? Little Uncle, though you're my little uncle, you're younger than me. Calling me big sister would be more appropriate..." the Young Miss said drunkenly, her speech already somewhat confused.
"Fine, big sister, you're the biggest now. Quickly come back with me!" Little Uncle said somewhat helplessly.
"Haha, that's right. Let's go... another day we'll continue drinking..."
"..."
Little Uncle slowly dragged the Young Miss away - not because he wanted to go slowly, but because the person being dragged still felt reluctant to leave and walked very slowly.
"Take care!" Xiaoyao very appropriately gave two words - indeed, take care slowly.
"No, I still can't leave. I still haven't figured out one thing!" the Young Miss suddenly stopped and walked back toward Xiaoyao.
"Young Miss, what's wrong now?" Xiaoyao asked strangely.
"I'm asking you, why do you follow Seventh Sister? At that time, you were only a few years old. How could they let you become her servant? Are you scheming something?" the Young Miss pointed at Xiaoyao accusingly, then suddenly smiled and continued drunkenly: "Or did you see Seventh Sister was pitiful and volunteered to help her?"
Many people had suspected this question, including even the person involved. Xiaoyao seemed like a heaven-sent lucky star - how could he suddenly appear beside this Heavenly Fiend Lone Star? She shouldn't have such good fortune.
From childhood to now, Xiaoyao had not only fulfilled a servant's duties but done many other things - teaching her heart methods and martial techniques the Mo family wouldn't teach, letting her have a tranquil environment even while living in servant quarters, ensuring she ate and dressed well, helping her resolve disasters...
And so on - things that shouldn't be done by servants but should be done by her Mo family relatives were all completed by Xiaoyao, while her own relatives kept restricting her.
What made her even more unable to understand was that Xiaoyao was about the same age as her. Originally, the things he did should have been things she could do too, but she found she couldn't. Sometimes she hated that she couldn't help at all.
Generally at such times, Xiaoyao would tell her to do well what she should do, and she would obediently listen, cultivating desperately. Fortunately the results could satisfy him.
Though she had asked Xiaoyao about this question and gotten answers, those answers always seemed somewhat forced. Perhaps it was also because she wanted his care, wanted him to have come for her sake, even if it was just out of pity.
"I didn't volunteer. It's just that at that time, whether by coincidence or because the boss's fate was too hard, basically all the servants and maids attending her got injured, no one dared to go! Someone just pushed me over, and I don't know if it's because my fortune and fate are great, but nothing seemed to happen to me." Xiaoyao shook his head.
"Since the boss is after all a direct lineage member of the Mo family who needs her own servants, at least one was needed, the butler registered me under the boss's name, and I became the boss's exclusive servant! Probably afraid they'd never find another servant with fortune and fate as great as mine..."
"Perhaps this is fate! Since I became the boss's servant, I naturally should serve her well and work hard to give her what she wants!"
Though Xiaoyao's was a simple statement, he had put in unimaginable effort for this. No one could imagine how much - one could only say such a servant could never be found again.
This also made countless people envy Xiaoyao's boss. Many came to poach him, but how could she let Xiaoyao leave her? Xiaoyao was more important to her than anything else, including her own life.
"You have great fate, not great fortune. Otherwise you wouldn't have been abandoned in the wilderness or become a small servant! But fortunately there's you as a small servant, so Seventh Sister isn't so lonely. In the future, big sister will treat you better..." the Young Miss still said drunkenly.
"Thank you for Young Miss's imperial grace." Xiaoyao bowed.
"Mm, you may rise! Return to the palace..."
"..."
In the following days, though not very obviously, all three who had come to the servant quarters received some "suggestions" to visit the servant quarters less in the future and not contact the master-servant pair, especially that girl.
Of course, regarding this suggestion, the Young Miss directly ignored it, citing Xiaoyao's words: I have divine protection, even a Heavenly Fiend Lone Star would be blocked.
Little Uncle and Lin Yi didn't have the Young Miss's fate, and they originally didn't want much contact with Xiaoyao's boss anyway. At most they would chat with Xiaoyao, so this suggestion had no real effect on them.
For Xiaoyao and his boss, it had even less effect, they had always lived like this anyway.
This year, they had a very ordinary New Year. Though ordinary, it was equally happy. For many people, celebrating New Year doesn't require much, just peace and safety, companionship, and family reunion.
Perhaps they didn't yet know that after this year, their future New Years would not be so peaceful, and the two might not necessarily be together like this...