Chapter 24: Business Wars and Three Assassins

On the road.

Xie Lingyu said, "I simply think you're incredibly smart, especially your poems—beautiful and grand!"

Heng Xian: "Plagiarized!"

Xie Lingyu said, "I don't believe it. And the way you stand at the alchemy furnace, directing the realm and strategizing, is truly captivating!"

Heng Xian: "That's a must!"

Xie Lingyu tapped her chin, "Hmm, the skewers you make may cause diarrhea, but they're still delicious!"

"You have an interesting soul, far more interesting than those who only know cultivation!"

Heng Xian: "Then you're wrong! You haven't seen the dominance of my Ye Yu Shiba girl!"

Xie Lingyu covered her mouth, "Wow! Is your kidney that strong?!"

Heng Xian stopped and looked at her, "You understand too?"

Xie Lingyu, a bit embarrassed, looked at her shoe tip, "Um, previously when the master was in seclusion, senior sisters secretly showed me erotic pictures and explained some knowledge!"

Heng Xian couldn't help but look at her anew, "One shouldn't judge by appearance. If you say that, we'd be old friends!"

Xie Lingyu was stunned, "What does 'old iron' mean?"

Heng Xian snapped his fingers, "Friend!"

Xie Lingyu stopped, "Alright, since we're friends, find time to teach me poetry, okay?"

"No problem, I'll find time to teach you a few verses. Let's go back first; I need to return home to look after my father!" Heng Xian quickened his pace, heading straight for East Garden.

Upon arriving at East Garden, Su Wan'er and a group of servants greeted him, "Young master, you're back!"

Heng Xian nodded and rushed into the house.

Heng De lay on the bed, his body wrapped in gauze.

Heng Xian approached, hearing a faint breath, finally exhaled and asked, "What does the doctor say?"

Ling Feng, his arm wrapped in gauze, hurriedly replied, "Second Master has a two‑layer Qi‑condensation cultivation, and with a strong will to survive, he's already out of danger."

"The rest is recuperation," Ghost Doctor Heng Lao San said, "Two months and he'll recover!"

Heng Xian nodded and ordered, "Lan Xiang, bring five maids to tend Second Master; no mistakes allowed!"

Lan Xiang, with several maids, knelt, "We understand!"

Heng Xian lifted his foot and walked toward the door, "Summon all Heng family managers, supervisors, and shop owners to see me!"

"Yes!" Ling Feng hurried away.

Half an hour later, over fifty Heng family managers, led by the old steward Kong San Ye, gathered in East Garden's reception hall.

Heng Xian snapped his fingers, "From now on, I take over Heng family business; you only answer to me!"

Kong San Ye and the group exchanged glances, as if receiving orders, and all clasped fists, "Yes!"

Heng Xian pressed his chin, "Also spread the news that I now control Heng family wealth!"

Kong San Ye was startled, "Why? This… doesn't seem right."

Heng Xian said, "You're dismissed!"

Kong San Ye, solemn, "Young Master Heng! From now on I will look to you as my guide; your words are golden law, old man will obey!"

……

The next morning, the prodigal Heng Xian, heir to the family business,

the official news of him taking charge of Heng family wealth spread like wildfire, and soon all major families in the city learned it.

Elders of the three great families—Ye, Xiao, and Li—and the resource elders of six minor families—Xue, Zhang, Ding, etc. —met swiftly and secretly.

City Lord's Mansion, "Hall of Returning Spring."

The resource elders of the Nine Great Families gathered together.

Ye Xuan sat in the main seat, "What do you think of this matter?"

Elder Xiao Feng of the Xiao family, pressing his chin, said, "I find it a bit abnormal!"

Xue Hao, father of Xue Jiao'er, sneered, "I think it's not abnormal, but that the Heng family is drifting!"

"Oh? How so?" everyone looked at him.

Xue Hao said, "Yesterday, that little scoundrel Heng Xian stole the spotlight at the Pill Medicine Conference, forcibly lifting the bottom‑ranked Heng family to first place!"

"Imagine, how could the Heng family not be ecstatic? How could they not look at Heng Xian with new eyes?"

"Coincidentally, Heng De was assassinated, and the Heng elders, in a heated moment, announced to let Heng Xian take over as a trial!"

"That decision, I must say, is… utterly foolish!"

Ye Xuan patted the armrest, "Your analysis is quite reasonable!"

Xue Hao licked his lips and continued, "Undoubtedly, Heng Xian is somewhat clever, but after all he's only a fifteen‑year‑old boy!"

"A teenager, how can he shoulder the main beam of the Heng family?"

"Now is the perfect time for the Nine Great Families to unite and intervene, sidelining Heng family's business!"

"By then, I'm afraid Heng Xian will be flustered and whine!"

The crowd exchanged glances and burst into loud laughter:

"Hahaha…"

……

"Young master, something terrible has happened!"

Kong San Ye, with his men, hurried into the Heng family's largest pill shop.

Heng Xian was in the pill shop, sipping the tea poured by Su Wan'er, and upon hearing the voice, didn't look at Kong San Ye: "Ye, Xiao, Li families starting to cause trouble?"

Kong San Ye sighed, "Exactly! Not only the Ye, Xiao, Li families, but also the six minor families—Xue, Zhang, Ding, etc.,"

"All pill shops of the nine families near our Heng shop have reduced pill prices threefold!"

Heng Xian said slowly, "What does this represent?"

Kong San Ye, sweating all over his head, said, "It means our Heng family is doomed! Pills are the most profitable trade in the world!"

The nine families collude, using massive numbers of pills to drive the price down!

And our Heng family pill shop, if we don't join the price cut, will have no business and waste away.

If we follow the price cut, our strength will be thin and we'll incur incalculable losses. That's an obvious scheme!

"So then?" Heng Xian asked.

Kong San Ye pondered briefly, "We can only lower the price temporarily and see how we fare against them!"

"Slash it!" Heng Xian drained his tea in one gulp, "All Heng family pills will raise their price by one level!"

Clang…

The tea bowls that Kong San Ye and his group lifted all fell to the ground.

Immediately, they all knelt on the ground, "Young master! Don't play like this! You're trying to ruin the Heng family!"

Heng Xian rubbed his chin, "Do you think I need you to teach me how to act? They lower the price, we raise it, we earn more!"

Saying that, he turned and left the room.

"Young master, you don't understand the numbers; it's not calculated that way!" Kong San Ye rolled his eyes and passed out.

…

"All Heng family pill shops raise their pill prices by one level?"

"Heng Xian means, we lower the price, they raise it, we'll earn more?"

Puff—

Hahaha…

At City Lord's Mansion, Ye Xuan and the stewards of the nine families burst into thunderous laughter, tea spraying everywhere.

…

News that the nine families' pill shops were blockading Heng family's pill shop spread quickly throughout the city.

Countless people began to take notice.

When they learned that Heng Xian ordered Heng family pills to be priced up,

Everyone was utterly astonished.

What the hell kind of divine move is this?

Are they going crazy!

…

In the courtyard of the Pill Refining Alliance, Ye Xiaoyao, dressed in white brocade, looked like a graceful young master, fanning himself with a folding fan:

"It seems I overestimated Heng Xian; starting tomorrow, none of Heng family's pill shops will be able to sell even half a pill."

A huge clan with massive consumption; without the biggest pill shop revenue, they can't hold on!

I don't know what other method Heng Xian has to turn things around!

Across, Seventh Princess swayed on a swing, "Maybe… he thinks he's clever, how a pity, he can't cultivate!"

Ye Xiaoyao chuckled lightly, "Princess, do you think I'm worse than him?"

Jiang Ziyi looked up at him, her face flushing, "Pah!"

…

At this moment, Heng Xian, accompanied by Su Wan'er, was eating candied hawthorn and aimlessly strolling the street.

He paid no mind to the nine families' actions; they can't outplay him, the Mysterious Yellow Heavenly Hexagram can be discarded!

He just bit into a hawthorn, startled, and glanced at a spot not far behind him.

In an alley not far away, three people were staring at each other.

One of them was A Cai, the assassin of the City Lord's Ye Family.

The other two were a skinny man and a fat man.

A Cai frowned, "Are you people from the Xiao Family and the Li Family?"

The fat man and the skinny man coldly nodded, "Exactly!"

A Cai also asked coldly, "Is the order you received a public execution or a covert assassination?"

The fat man and skinny man exchanged glances, "We haven't shown our faces yet, so of course it's a covert assassination!"

"Very good!" A Cai said coldly, "The three of us will cooperate, act in secret, a single strike to kill!"

"Can do!"

…

"Wan'er, you go home first!" Heng Xian stopped in his tracks.

Su Wan'er asked curiously, "Why?"

Heng Xian took a bite of the candied hawthorn, "I'm just playing with three idiots!"

(End of chapter)