Chapter 13 - A Strange Animal and Exchanging Numbers

Ye Qing woke up to her mother yelling and pulling clothes out of drawers frantically. She seemed to be in a hurry for something. The grandmother(temporary title) came to the rescue, yet again. She entered the room while holding two boxes, each one having a dress. The dresses looked identical except that one was Ye Qing's size.

Ye Qing's mother only realized that she was awake when the grandmother pointed in her direction. She felt that it was only polite to wave at the two of them. The grandmother's response to Ye Qing's waving was to squeeze her cheeks so Ye Qing decided not to do that again.

After being fed, Ye Qing used her qi to slow her digestive system and increase the absorption rate of the nutrients in her mother's milk. The best thing about the technique was that it allowed most of the waste to be broken down into energy that could be used to cultivate. The grandmother put Ye Qing's dress on while Ye Qing's mother got dressed. The grandmother had a slab just like the one that Ye Qing absorbed the energy from last night and she expected another bright light but only the weird sound came out.

The grandmother brought Ye Qing out to the self-driving carriage and put her back into the weird bed. The grumpy man, most likely her grandfather, was already sitting in it when she was brought out. Ye Qing's mother was the last to come out; in her hands were two different slabs. When she sat next to Ye Qing, she said some things to the grandparents and then the carriage began to move.

The place that they went in had a nice white dress in the window. Inside were lots of different outfits and a woman that came up to their group. Ye Qing's cheeks were squeezed before they were guided to another room. A bright white floor and wall set up at the end of the room? Tacky.

The grandparents stood in front of the weird boxes on top of poles and posed together. After a large torrent of flashes, they changed poses and had it happen again. This seemed like something that happened regularly in this world but Ye Qing didn't understand it. After a few poses, Ye Qing was brought in front of the boxes and held by her mother.

The flashes didn't bother her as much when she expected them but they still made it difficult to see for a bit. She got flashed when with everybody else, with just her mother, and then by herself. The weirdest time was when they handed her a large fluffy thing that vaguely resembled an animal. It was filled with cloth and Ye Qing couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be. It had a round tail on the back and round ears so it somewhat looked like it was supposed to be a bear but she knew of no bear that had curly fur like this and it had no claws.

The woman that gave Ye Qing the fluffy animal thing took it back before Ye Qing could figure out what it was supposed to be. After the flashing was finished and her mother picked her up, Ye Qing was placed into a bed similar to the one she had at home. Her mother left her a kiss on the forehead before going to talk to the lady along with the grandparents. They were crowded around a larger one of those slabs.

This was Ye Qing's chance. After a quick search, there was one exposed energy source in a blind spot that the adults couldn't see. The distance wasn't that far from the enclosed bed. Ye Qing started draining the energy slowly and quickly found that she would be able to form her second core...

The time that Ye Qing was given to absorb energy was much more than she expected. Seven cores were now spinning around in her dantian and the eighth was close to being fully formed. Her body was brimming with power... for a baby, anyways. Once she became a child then she'd be able to easily overpower an adult that was in good shape. Of course, she was aiming for that strength while she was still a baby.

They all got back into the carriage and went back to their home. Ye Qing didn't get the point of what they just did but she was happy. After arriving home, Ye Qing waited until night for her mother to go to sleep and made her move. It was difficult but her increased strength allowed her to climb out of her enclosed bed.

The one spot to absorb energy was now accessible so Ye Qing. The feeling of growing in strength so quickly was wonderful. If she had this energy source before then there was no way that she would have become an old lady in her past life. In just one night she was able to form the rest of the cores needed to form the golden core.

The next part was going to be tricky. Ye Qing needed to merge all one hundred and eight cores in one night but it was too late. If her mother disturbed her in the middle of her meditation then she would lose her progress and be forced to recreate the cores that had already been merged.

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Tatyana was disappointed that R.E.N.O. didn't win the contest. The winner was one of the cover bands that participated in the contest for the last three years and had been last year's runner-up. "Third place isn't bad. At least you get a gift card." Aria tried to cheer them up while the band members put their instruments into Connor's van; he was the other guitarist in the band and the only one that had a vehicle that could carry their equipment.

Tatyana joined in with Aria in an attempt to cheer up Arsenio. "I was really hoping that you would win. I loved your song." Arsenio did seem a bit happier after he heard her say that.

"Thanks. It's good to hear that you enjoyed it. I put a lot of effort into writing that one." Arsenio gave Tatyana a nice smile. "You know, I never did get your number. I'm going to need it to invite you to our recording."

"Ah, sure, sure. Want me to type it in for you?" Tatyana wanted to see them record so she didn't see anything wrong with giving him her number. After typing in her number and calling her own phone, Tatyana saved her number to his list of contacts. "Now you can call or text me when you find out the time and date that you'll be recording." She also had his number saved into her phone now.

Abigail was getting impatient with them taking so long. She had been seated already and just wanted to get back to the restaurant. "Hey, Tatyana, if you're done flirting with Aria's brother then can you get in the van?"

Tatyana was a bit reluctant to leave but Aria pulled her away. "Remember, Arsenio, you absolutely can't come over today. I'll have Vanessa break you if you set foot in the house." That was an effective threat. Arsenio was still a bit scared of Vanessa.

"Don't worry, I won't bother your sleepover. You don't have to release Vanessa on me." Arsenio went back to helping load Connor's van while Tatyana climbed into the restaurant van.

Her mind was full of thoughts about what she just experienced. Although she was still excited to go to Aria's place for a sleepover, Tatyana wished that she could stay and listen to music longer. "Seatbelt." Aria was looking back at Tatyana with her signature glare. After Tatyana clicked her seatbelt, Aria drove the van back to her place... slowly, of course.