Chapter 451: Once Again, the Smell of Medicine-Persons (5/10, Autumn Subscription)

If Fang Yue were the sentimental, literary type,

this would be the moment to compose a poem, expressing and mourning the souls that perished under the 【Severed Dragon Head】 blade.

Unfortunately, Fang Yue's artistic cells were pitifully scarce, so he merely stood in a daze for a moment before happily snatching up the gold bars in his hands.

The cool, chilly feel—refreshing!

"Ye Ge, our family is rich!"

"Ye Ge, we're rich!"

Jing Yan and Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu leaned in from either side, their expressions utterly fawning.

Fang Yue's face darkened; he stuffed the gold bars back into the small chest, slammed it shut, and amid the two of them gazing with longing, the golden glow vanished.

"Ah…" Jing Yan felt his soul being drained away along with the sound of the chest closing.

"Ah…" Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu felt her leg start hurting again; she looked down to find Xiao Xuedou grinding its teeth and gnawing on her calf.

"Xiao Xuedou!!"

Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu hurriedly shook her leg, flinging Xiao Xuedou off, but the latter mistook it for play, barked "woof woof woof," wagged its tail, and came right back.

"Stop fooling around. By the way, where's Lin Ling? I need to discuss with him how best to put this batch of gold to use."

"Ye Ge! I think you could let me have one to test its authenticity first!"

"Me too, I want one too—sleep with it in my arms, I swear I won't embezzle it!"

Fang Yue stared at the two of them with their "sincere" expressions, his whole face a black-question-mark emoji.

"You two, I have no quarrel with you and nothing to do with you—why do you treat me like an idiot?"

Both of them immediately flushed red.

"N-no, it's perfectly natural for a girl to like gold bars!"

"I-it's just that I've never touched one before—poor! You get it, right, Ye Ge? Men generally don't need to hoard gold bars—curious! Purely curious!"

Fang Yue ignored the two and asked a villager nearby: "Where's Lin Ling?"

"Reporting to Captain Ye, Captain Lin left not long after you went out, and he still hasn't come back yet."

I see, then there's no rush about what to do with the gold bars for now.

Fang Yue took out the other small brocade box rewarded by 【Severed Dragon Head】 and opened it; on a small red cushion sat a plump, full-sized great pill.

The medicinal fragrance rushed to his nose, fresh and enticing.

"Ye Ge, what pill is that?"

"Smells great—can we eat it?"

Food you can eat as you please, but you think I'd let you swindle this thing from me?

Fang Yue shot Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu a glance; she immediately behaved, took two steps back, and stuck out her tongue.

"I was just saying…"

Saying it isn't allowed either.

My things—I give them to you, then you may take them.

I don't give them to you, you may not take them!

"When Lin Ling comes back, let me know. I'll go upstairs first to discuss matters with Lord Han… and if anyone from the Qing Si comes, call me down too."

Fang Yue figured the next time the Qing Si came looking for him would likely be because Yu Baiyi had brought back news confirming his merits—meaning it would be time to officially join the Qing Si.

Thinking these thoughts, Fang Yue went upstairs with light, quick steps.

Everyone watched Fang Yue go up; Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu and Jing Yan's gazes followed Fang Yue and the gold-bar chest the entire way, completely unable to look away.

"Woof woof!"

While everyone else was focused on Fang Yue, no one noticed that Xiao Xuedou, gnawing on a table leg on the ground, had the whites of its eyes slowly turning black, with a thin line of black blood seeping from the corner of its eye.

……

Once upstairs, Fang Yue headed straight for Lord Han's room.

"Lord Han? Have you rested?"

"Not yet, come in."

Pushing the door open, Lord Han was gazing at the moonlit night sky, lost in thought.

He turned to look at Fang Yue, only to see that Fang Yue had already opened the gold-bar chest, and was momentarily stunned.

"Where did so many gold bars come from?"

"Reward from Severed Dragon Head."

Lord Han said with slight pleasure: "Very good. With this capital, we can more than establish ourselves in Qingsi County."

As outsiders, trying to do some business and make a living in Qingsi County is difficult.

Because Qingsi County is not short on people—the land is vast and the population large, and job competition is fierce.

Every kind of industry already has people who have seized the positions first, growing big and strong.

For them to suddenly barge in and try to establish themselves and develop naturally requires throwing around large sums of money to clear the way.

Lord Han had originally discussed with Lin Ling that they would first let the villagers disperse to earn money individually; after a year of hard work, they would pool their savings, pick a relatively easy industry to succeed in, open a shop and buy land, establish themselves in Qingsi County, and help the others from Gu Yue Cun gain a firm foothold.

Now Fang Yue's chest of gold bars skipped all those preparatory steps entirely, letting them get straight to work.

But this money belonged to Fang Yue personally, so they still had to see what Fang Yue thought.

"Just leave me some gold bars for personal expenses."

Gold bars have little use for cultivation, and their appeal to martial artists is far less than that of black stones and Blood Stones, which serve both as currency and as aids to cultivation.

"That's good then. By the way, how is your investigation of the Qingluan Lou case going? I had someone ask—cases in Qingsi County where an entire building was destroyed are still quite rare. It's the biggest case in nearly two years. Even though you only went to assist You Sisi, it still counts as outside assistance and can be added to your Qing Si merit record."

Fang Yue scratched his head; although he had been accumulating merit all along, he truly didn't know how much he had piled up.

After all, this thing isn't open to the public, and there's no way to look it up—it's only allowed to be pulled up when internal staff are being transferred.

"Lord Han, the Qingluan Lou case — I've already resolved it together with You Sisi. It's just that… the way things developed was somewhat beyond my expectations."

Fang Yue briefly told Lord Han the whole course of events.

"The Black Crow Merchant Group of the Phoenix Organization is also involved?"

"No, he said he was threatened by something eerie, and only then did what he did. Looking at the Black Crow Merchant Group members now, they're all unfamiliar faces — the companions he had at the time really were killed off in large numbers by the eerie thing."

"Xiao Ye, you're seeing things too one-sidedly. Black Crow naturally wouldn't say he took part in it himself; he'd only say he was forced to take part. But as for the truth — whether he staged the whole attack himself so that, once the incident fermented, he'd have an angle to clear himself, or whether he really was dragged in innocently — everything is still unknown."

Fang Yue's heart gave a start.

He had seen how ruthlessly You Sisi had gone at Black Crow, and felt Black Crow wouldn't dare lie anymore.

But now, hearing Lord Han's words, he felt that someone like Black Crow — a man bold enough to lead a merchant group out into the wild, drifting from village to village to do business — had depths of mind that could never be judged by surface reactions alone.

"Then does Lord Han think Black Crow is still the one behind it?"

"I don't know. I'm only reminding you that you can't do without a guard against others." After a pause, Lord Han pointed at the brocade box in Fang Yue's hand.

"As for this pill, it's called Sea's End Pill — it's a thing similar to a 【Fierce Yuan Pill】. It can overdraft one's own potential on a large scale, unleashing strength far beyond one's usual level. But at the same time, the side effects are also more severe. Sometimes, it's even used when crafting 【Medicine Men】."

(End of this chapter)