"You didn't come here just to see me, the old man, did you?" Guo Nianguo smiled and teased his little apprentice.
"Hey, master, nothing can escape your old man's eyes." Lian Dao smiled awkwardly, trying to flatter him.
"Tell me, what's the matter?"
"Master, why didn't I see my senior sister?" Lian Dao looked at his master suspiciously.
If Lian Dao had the best relationship with anyone among his seniors, it was his senior sister, Guo Yuwei.
Guo Yuwei, four years older than Lian Dao, had just graduated from MIT this year with a degree in Business Analysis.
As Lian Dao thought of his senior sister, her image appeared vividly in his mind.
A pair of charming and delicate eyes, gracefully arched eyebrows, long fluttering eyelashes, a complexion as fair as jade with a subtle blush, and lips as tender as rose petals. Her exquisite figure, especially her proud curves, would undoubtedly captivate any man's attention.
It can be said that Guo Yuwei completely grew up in Lian Dao's aesthetics.
However, Lian Dao didn't dare to have any unreasonable thoughts about his senior sister.
Because…
"Xiaoli, why didn't you tell your senior sister when you came to New York? I could have picked you up at the airport!"
Suddenly, a soft and coquettish voice came, immediately bringing Lian Dao back to his senses, and he shivered in shock.
He was very familiar with this voice; it was his senior sister, Guo Yuwei.
If you judged that this was a delicate beauty solely from her voice and appearance, you'd be gravely mistaken.
Beauty was a fitting description, but delicate had nothing to do with her.
When she was in high school, a few hooligans blocked her, and she sent them directly to the ICU.
Of the three hooligans, two suffered multiple fractures, and one had hemiplegia. Later, their master stepped in to resolve the aftermath, and those three never appeared again.
Moreover, Lian Dao had spent two years with her, and whenever she spoke in such a soft tone, it usually meant trouble for Lian Dao.
Either he was getting a beating, or his senior sister had set up a trap for him to fall into.
Despite this, their relationship was the best. Guo Yuwei was the youngest daughter of Guo Nianguo, with two much older brothers.
Although her family doted on her, the large age gap meant she rarely had friends her age.
Until Lian Dao joined the school, Guo Yuwei found a close friend in him. When Lian Dao played in the street courts of Harlem during high school, his senior sister didn't hesitate to fight alongside him.
When Lian Dao was injured during martial arts practice, this beautiful senior sister always gave him medicine and massaged his muscles to relax them.
Therefore, Lian Dao loved and feared this beautiful senior sister at the same time.
"No, Ah Dao was talking about you, so you came here. That's all right; you two young people can talk. I'll go out and have a look," Guo Nianguo said, glancing at Lian Dao and the others knowingly.
"Dad~, where is your mind wandering?" Junior sister Guo Yuwei said coquettishly, shaking Guo Nianguo's arm.
"Okay, okay, my old arms and legs can't stand your tossing around like this." He waved his hands and walked out of the backyard.
When Lian Dao heard what his master said, he also twitched the corner of his mouth. "Old arms and legs," he thought. Those old arms and legs had just beaten him all over the place.
"Xiaoli, tell me, do you miss senior sister? Did you find a girlfriend in college and forget about senior sister?" Guo Yuwei looked like she was about to cry.
Crystal tears seemed ready to spill from her eyes, and Lian Dao's heart tightened when he saw it.
Damn it, he thought, knowing she was lying to him again and still unable to resist.
"No, no, I was thinking about you, Senior Sister. I came to see you as soon as the competition was over," he said hurriedly.
Guo Nianguo wasn't there, but if he were, he would probably have kicked Lian Dao out for his inconsistency. Just a moment ago, he had claimed he missed his master, and now he was saying he missed his senior sister.
Lian Dao couldn't bear Guo Yuwei's act. From the start of their training, whenever Guo Yuwei made such an expression, Lian Dao would obediently comply, and she knew this was his weakness.
"Then why didn't you call your senior sister? You say you miss her, but you're a liar!" She accused, her tone making Lian Dao feel like a scumbag.
"Here...here, Senior Sister, I brought you your favorite Bazhen Cake. Try it," Lian Dao said, desperately changing the subject. He couldn't admit that he had selectively forgotten to call her.
If he did, he might end up in the ICU today.
He quickly took out the Bazhen Cake to resolve the crisis.
In front of others, Guo Yuwei usually presented herself as a glamorous beauty, full of poise and grace.
But in private, she was an out-and-out foodie.
He still remembered when she ate Bazhen Cake for the first time, she almost bit her tongue because it was so delicious.
During the years when Lian Dao's parents were in New York, Guo Yuwei often visited Lian Dao's house for food. Lian Dao's mother, Zhao Ruoyun, was not only a business genius but also a fantastic cook.
Zhao Ruoyun believed in a famous saying: "If you want to capture a man's heart, you must first grasp his stomach."
And "Bazhen Cake" was Zhao Ruoyun's specialty pastry.
Bazhen Cake was created in the Ming Dynasty. It was originally a family secret recipe passed down by the imperial physician Chen Shigong. He focused on maintaining the spleen, stomach, qi, and blood throughout his life and lived to be over 80 years old.
He left a prescription for Bazhen Cake in the book "Surgery Authentic," claiming that consuming it "for a hundred days lightens the body and delays aging, strengthens the Yuanyang, and cultivates the spleen and stomach. It is so wonderful that it is hard to describe." Since then, Bazhen Cake has been used for hundreds of years and has become a favored recipe for royal diet and health preservation.
After being improved by an imperial doctor during the Qianlong period, it was dedicated to Emperor Qianlong, becoming his favorite pastry. Later, Empress Dowager Cixi also had a female version of "Bazhen Cake" made after further improvement by an imperial doctor.
Bazhen Cake is actually a type of food tonic.
Its main ingredients and medicinal materials include white lentils, yam, barley, poria cocos, lotus seeds, Gorgon fruit, Codonopsis pilosula, Atractylodes macrocephala, and more.
It has the effects of invigorating the spleen and stomach, lightening the body, delaying aging, relieving greasiness and dehumidifying, and strengthening Yuanyang. It is one of the best food supplements for martial arts practitioners.
"Did Zhao's mother make it?" Guo Yuwei asked excitedly upon hearing Lian Dao mention the Bazhen Cake, completely abandoning her previous tearful act.
"Sister, did you come back from Sichuan? You changed your face quite quickly," Lian Dao thought.
"Yes, my mother sent it to me, specifically telling me to bring it to you. I don't know if she is my mother or your mother!" Lian Dao rolled his eyes and curled his lips.
"Hey, junior brother is still jealous. Don't forget, I'm Mama Zhao's goddaughter," Guo Yuwei said, puffing out her chest a little arrogantly.
"Quick, quick, since Mama Zhao went back to China, I haven't eaten her delicacies," she said eagerly, opening the box containing the Bazhen Cake.