Chapter 469: We need to find Qishao to help (1/2)
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.”