Chapter 469: We need to find Qishao to help
His scolding gave the old steward no choice but to silently follow Han Yunxi’s orders. Although Han Yunxi put on a strong front, her taut nerves had only relaxed at this very moment. She was more surprised than anyone else at the results. She had placed her terms sky-high from the start in case Gu Qi Sha tried to bargain his way down. But he only refused her a few times with words before he caved in and agreed to her terms. She’d been plenty nervous before she came and was even more worried that Long Feiye hadn’t brought any hidden weapons with him. If a real fight did break out, there was still no telling who’d lose for real.
But after all that verbal sparring, she acquired Pill Fiend Valley without any real struggle. She sat there drinking her tea as her heart calmed down. She vaguely sensed that Gu Qi Sha’s attitude had been somewhat off today, but she couldn’t put her finger on anything specific. Nor was she inclined to. In truth, coming to claim damages this time was all just a pretense; she had full intentions to rob him of his goods! Even if Gu Qi Sha had a scheme of his own for handing over half of Pill Fiend Valley, she still dared to accept it from him. After rearranging her feelings, Han Yunxi became as unruffled as before!
Who knew what Long Feiye thought of these results? He too, was preoccupied with his tea and had even poured Han Yunxi another cup. Gu Qi Sha sat by both of them without moving an inch, simply staring silently at Han Yunxi. Those sly, crafty eyes blinked repeatedly as their owner made mental calculations of his own. Han Yunxi simply glanced at Gu Qi Sha’s shoulder wound and kept quiet, allowing him to stare as much as he liked. But when he was still staring a while later, she got antsy and threw him a glare. “Are you seeking death? Why haven’t you treated your injury yet?!”
Does this guy not cherish his life at all? That was a serious stab wound, doesn’t he know to dress the injury?
“This old fellow can’t die!” Gu Qi Sha retorted darkly.
Han Yunxi couldn’t be bothered with him anymore after that outburst of his. She and Long Feiye sat a while longer until the old steward returned with a detailed list of ingredients as well as their estimated price. Han Yunxi flipped through the papers casually before she said, “Set the price of each item to 500 taels and sell them off right now.”
The old steward couldn’t help but cry out, “Esteemed wangfei, you can’t do that! Even the most worthless medicine on this list is worth at least thousands of taels of silver! At 500 taels…we might as well just give them the things for free!”
Han Yunxi smiled coldly. “For free? Since when has your master switched to a vegetarian diet to match his charitable and benevolent deeds?”
Gu Qi Sha was quite generous. “This old fellow can afford the loss. Give them all away for free!”
But Han Yunxi stopped him. “We agreed that we’d sell them off and split the profits evenly. If you’re really that generous, give away the plants in your courtyard instead! I won’t stop you from doing that!”
Gu Qi Sha couldn’t manage that. The specimens in his courtyard could be called the cream of the crop amongst Pill Fiend Valley’s plants. He wouldn’t even sell them off, much less give them away, no matter how much of a good mood he had! Instead, he smiled coldly and said, “Lass, so you’re planning to make money from selling off this old fellow’s medicine?”
“The medicine doesn’t just belong to you now. Half of it belongs to me!” Han Yunxi countered immediately.
“Then you’re stealing from me!” Gu Qi Sha seemed to enjoy arguing with her just for the sake of arguing alone.
“Who told you to trick us? This is you paying me back!” Han Yunxi raised her voice.
“You said you’d save people, but now you’re selling them what they need? If this old fellow’s detestable, then you’re just a hypocrite!” Gu Qi Sha reproved next.
Han Yunxi broke into icy laughter. “Who said you don’t need money to save people?” Her response was very serious. “How can this wangfei save anyone if I don’t have money? What will I use to purchase land and open pharmacies? To hire pharmacists to make prescriptions? And how would I pay the transportation fees for carriages, or storehouses, or the daily expenses of this giant valley? There’s a 80 to 90 percent probability that those who comes to beg your Pill Fiend Valley for ingredients are from rich families! Neither of us mint money of our own, so why shouldn’t we take theirs?”
When the poor fell ill, they usually headed for small local clinics for treatment. If they were cured, then that was the end of it. If they weren’t, well, what could they do? Keep trying to find a cure! Delaying the inevitable would be a sense of happiness on its own, since they could at least keep living. Those who count hold out simply died from the illness. Was there any doctor naive enough to prescribe the poor nothing but precious ingredients? How many of the poor even knew of the existence of Pill Fiend Valley, much less make their way here? It was already an exception for them to head for Medicine City instead.
Thus, the majority of the people at Gu Qi Sha’s gates counted amongst the rich and noble. They had gotten prescriptions with rare ingredients from famous doctors, then had people point them the way here. The only reason they could afford to wait now was because they had spent money on more medicine to keep their sick friends or family alive while they begged for ingredients. Han Yunxi had the heart of a doctor, which looked after patients like her own children. She held a sense of justice as well, but she wasn’t generous to the point of excess, nor would she go about giving alms everyday when there was nothing better to do. Her sharp eyes had seen that some of the people kneeling outside the gates were simply hired for that very task, rather than being related to the afflicted patients themselves.
As for Gu Qi Sha, he devoted himself to taking care of the plants he owned and had gotten from other places. If he sold his medicine everyday, Han Yunxi would have nothing to say and let him do as he liked. But precisely because he didn’t, he was basically watching and waiting for those people to die instead! Han Yunxi couldn’t accept such a thing, which was why she was willing to be labeled a thief if it meant she could sell off Pill Fiend Valley’s goods!
Gu Qi Sha didn’t care about her demands for payment. He simply shot her a questioning look. “You want to open up pharmacies?”
Han Yunxi simply glanced at Long Feiye. “Your Highness, chenqie begs your assistance on a matter.”
Begging or my help? What an interesting way to phrase it.
“How are you planning to beg your lordship?” Long Feiye asked back.
Han Yunxi was momentarily speechless. Then she knit her eyebrows and cried, “Your Highness!”
Left in high spirits, Long Feiye broke into a rare fit of laughter as he said, “Just say the word.”
Gu Qi Sha glanced at them both before rolling his eyes. Still, he kept an ear open to hear what Han Yunxi would say as well.
“Chenqie wants Your Highness to find a piece of land in the capital city—preferably a big one. Chenqie wants to open a big pharmacy,” Han Yunxi said seriously.
Land was a precious commodity in Tianning’s capital city. Any plots that went up for sale would immediately raise sky-high prices! Sometimes, even extravagant buyers had trouble getting what they want. One not only need vast amounts of silver, but authoritative status as well, to even hope of buying a plot. No wonder Han Yunxi was appealing to Long Feiye now.
He thought it over and said mildly, “Your lordship does have a courtyard that’s long fallen into disuse. Its size should be appropriate. I’ll have Steward Luo find someone to rebuild the place when we return.”
Other people had trouble even purchasing land, but he had an unused courtyard in Tianning’s capital city already? Han Yunxi was thrilled. “Thank you, Your Highness!”
Gu Qi Sha had plenty of properties in Tianning’s capital as well, so even he could clear out some space if needed. But none of them were empty and ready for use like Long Feiye’s courtyard. Moreover, offering up any of his properties would only expose some of his secrets. He arched a brow at Long Feiye as his eyes burned with jealousy!
“Gu Qi Sha, how about we call it the Pill Fiend Pharmacy?” Han Yunxi asked.
Gu Qi Sha never expected Han Yunxi to ask for his opinion. His eyes flashed with delight even as he looked as sullen as ever. “What are you planning to use this old fellow for now?”
“In the future, only the Pill Fiend Pharmacy’s allowed to sell the ingredients and plants from Pill Fiend Valley. The valley itself will only be used to grow medicine, not sell it!” Han Yunxi replied.
Gu Qi Sha laughed coldly. “You want to keep this old fellow here, then?”
“Pill Fiend Pharmacy will welcome you at any time. No one will stop you if you want to work at the counter, either,” Han Yunxi replied.
Gu Qi Sha was waiting for those very words! He looked at her in silence, but his heart was already whispering sweet nothings to her ears. Han Yunxi, you smart but foolish little lass!
Once again, Long Feiye saw, heard, and remembered everything, but didn’t change his expression. Seeing that the old steward was still loitering about, Han Yunxi knitted her brows. “What are you spacing out for? If you drag things out any longer, people might die!”
If she had come here earlier, perhaps the unconscious man she met outside wouldn’t have had to suffer the pain of his wife’s death.
“Yes, yes! This one will set off right away!” the old steward suddenly didn’t hate this wangfei quite as much. In fact, he was looking forward to the future with Pill Fiend Pharmacy. He ended up bringing a team of people and a giant cart of ingredients out the front gates, causing a commotion amongst the crowd. Soon afterwards, Han Yunxi heard numerous cries from thanks from inside the hall. She had been planning to go, but couldn’t resist hanging around a bit longer. She went into the courtyard and peeked out the front gates to see the grieving, sobbing crowd had now turned joyous and hopeful. All of them were smiling, so she smiled, too.
It was impossible to cure all the world’s ills, but they could at least do something for the people suffering right before their eyes, right?
She believed that these people would definitely spread word about Pill Fiend Valley selling its wares when they returned. Naturally, she’d make adjustments to the prices then. If some of them had sky-high costs, then she’d sell them at sky-high prices! Though Long Feiye had plenty of silver for her to squander, he didn’t have much men. The starting expenses would be huge, and they would only grow in the future. Han Yunxi didn’t want her desire to help others to weigh down Long Feiye. Only by creating a healthy cycle of finances could a charitable cause persist in the long run.
Of course, Han Yunxi wasn’t really aiming to take huge advantage of Gu Qi Sha, either. She figured that she could get Gu Qishao to help instead once Pill Fiend Pharmacy was established. He could even bring in Mu Linger and pay the girl commission fees based on the silver Han Yunxi and Gu Qi Sha earned. From what she understood, Mu Linger was still on the run from the Medicine City elders after what she did at the empress dowager’s banquet. There were even frequent visitors to Mu Yingdong requesting to buy the girl to work as a prostitute in a brothel. Mu Linger had already avoided Medicine City for an entire year, while the lady of the Mu house had long cut off any financial support to the girl.
She really could fathom what Mu Linger had been up to for the past year, much less how she’d survived on her own. Thinking up to here, Han Yunxi once again recalled the girl’s angry words in front of the carriage. It was probably impossible to clear up the misunderstanding between them on her own, so she’d need to rely on Gu Qishao’s help!
When Gu Qi Sha saw Han Yunxi smiling so happily, he smiled too. What medicinal ingredients? What silver? What quantities and reparations? None of that mattered to him now.
When Han Yunxi and Long Feiye finally left, Gu Qi Sha told his old steward, “Remember to call Han Yunxi your lady mistress in the future!”
The old steward resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he said seriously, “Master, that doesn’t seem appropriate!”
“Why not?” Gu Qi Sha demanded.
“That’s….that’s simply taking liberties with her status as Qin Wangfei!” the old steward said honestly. He already called His Excellency Pill Fiend his ‘master,’ so if he called Qin Wangfei ‘lady mistress,’ wouldn’t that imply the two had some sort of relationship?
Gu Qi Sha gave a cold snort. “She wanted half of this old fellow’s valley, so why wouldn’t she be Pill Fiend Valley’s lady mistress?”
“Yes, yes! This subordinate will remember!” the old steward could only comply. In any case, he’d make sure not to say such things in front of Qin Wangfei or His Highness Duke of Qin’s face.
