Chapter 472: Busy, bustling Han Yunxi (1/2)

Chapter 472: Busy, bustling Han Yunxi

Every time Chu Qingge received one of Chu Tianyin’s messages, she opened it with great reluctance. That was because all he did was tell her how to please Emperor Tianhui or warn her not to touch Han Yunxi. She clutched the missive tightly in her hands and didn’t open it at all in the end. By her side, Xu mama smiled and tried to coax her, “Noble consort, perhaps eldest young master has some urgent business. It may be best to open it quickly.”

“What kind of urgent business could he have? Here I am, absolutely miserable, while he forbids me from touching Han Yunxi and put up with Empress Dowager Li and the rest. What’s there for him to get so excited about?” Chu Qingge scoffed.

“Noble consort, eldest young master is right. His Majesty isn’t blind and knows perfectly well what goes on in his imperial harems. We’re new to the palace, so we must endure everything. Gain Emperor Tianhui’s favor first so he’ll turn a blind eye when we overstep our boundaries in the future,” Xu mama coaxed.

Recently, Noble Consort Xue had been making all sorts of little moves against them. This wasn’t big news, but Chu Qingge couldn’t stand such things with her personality! If big brother hadn’t held her back, she would’ve poisoned the other woman ages ago.

“Noble consort, hasn’t His Majesty kept you in the imperial study to accompany him the past few days? Even Noble Consort Xue was sent away, yet you still haven’t vented your temper?” Xu mama coaxed again.

“Vented my temper? What does that Noble Consort Xue count for? I’ll only be happy after I kill Han Yunxi!” Chu Qingge voiced her thoughts coldly.

Without a choice, Xu mama paused before trying again, “Noble consort, there’s one thing this old servant doesn’t understand. Sowing discord between Han Yunxi and Empress Dowager Li would be shooting two targets with one arrow without harming us an inch, but why does eldest young master refuse to agree? If we can’t do it, he must have good ideas of his own.”

After being told repeatedly to leave Han Yunxi alone, Chu Qingge had naturally thought of the question herself. She gave a cold snort and said, “He and father are just afraid of His Highness Duke of Qin, I bet!”

Seeing her mistress like this, Xu mama didn’t know what to say. Noble Consort Chu liked the Duke of Qin very much, but she really shouldn’t be praising him that much. “Noble consort, why don’t you open the message first,”Xu mama urged again.

Chu Qingge finally obeyed and unfolded the missive. If her elder brother really was in an emergency, she couldn’t afford to ignore his words. But after reading through the contents, her face lit up in smiles. “Excellent, this is excellent! Big brother’s finally come to his senses!”

Her brother’s message was for her to keep calm and stay put. She wasn’t to summon Han Yunxi to the palace again, but wait. He had his own ways to cause strife between Empress Dowager Li and Qin Wangfei. Xu mama couldn’t believe her eyes. She re-read the message herself to verify its claims.

“Esteemed Noble Consort, what is…eldest young master planning now?” Xu mama asked doubtfully.

“He’s thought it through and grown bolder!” Chu Qingge didn’t care about the details. As long as big brother was helping her, she had full faith in the matter of taking care of Han Yunxi. As for Long Feiye—well, that man couldn’t very well stick his hand into women’s affairs all the time.

Tonight, Chu Qingge finally slept peacefully in a good mood. Meanwhile, another woman stayed awake until the sun came up. Inside an inn close to the Duke of Qin’s estate, Mu Linger had already spent an entire night perched on the windowsill in blank thought. Although she didn’t have much silver left, she maintained staying at the second-best room in Tianning’s most expensive inn because Qi gege had reserved the number one room. If he came back to the capital, he had the best chances of showing up here. Even since flagging down Han Yunxi’s carriage last time, she had come to Tianning’s capital city instead. Her efforts to find Qi gege had failed, so all she could do was wait. Although she didn’t want to admit it, she was sure he’d come looking for Han Yunxi eventually.

Recently, the news of Pill Fiend Valley sell off its wares and allying with Han Yunxi to open Pill Fiend Pharmacy in the capital had spread all over the place. Although Mu Linger didn’t always show interest in gossip, she had paid close attention to news about Pill Fiend. She dearly disliked Pill Fiend Valley’s usual conduct, but she still respected Gu Qi Sha greatly for his pharmaceutical skills. But she couldn’t figure out why he would agree to cooperate with Han Yunxi. Why the sudden change in attitude? Why the sudden agreement to sell medicine? It was absurd!

In the midst of Mu Linger’s morose thoughts, her stomach grumbled. She was hungry again. Father had always sheltered her since she was young and she rarely left the house, so she didn’t have the usual airs of a rich young Miss. But that still was who she was in the end, so she had no idea how hard it was to survive outside. Now she was roaming about, her silver in her purse almost too little to pay for her room fees, much less her meals. Her financial support had been severed as well, making her sorely lacking in funds. Last time, her father had sent her a message to slip back into Medicine City in secret so she could stay in one of the Mu Clan’s hidden rooms and work as their pharmacist from there. After that message, Mu Linger had never contacted her father again.

She was very clear that it’d be very difficult for her to ever leave that room again once she returned. Father doted on her not because she was his daughter, but because she was a genius pharmacist. He wouldn’t hand her over to the other elders, but neither would he risk offending Medicine City for her sake. In the end, all he could do was trap her at home. She hated the thought of being reduced to a tool and living her days without freedom!

“Aye, Qi gege, just where are you?! If you don’t show up soon, Linger will starve to death!” Mu Linger sighed before deciding to go back and catch up on sleep. I shouldn’t feel hungry if I’m sleeping. I still want to be able to save some silver to pay the room fees…

Some people couldn’t sleep, but Han Yunxi slept the whole night away. After handing over the rainbow signal flares to Long Feiye, she went right back to taking care of her Pill Fiend Pharmacy. Although Steward Luo was in charge of most of the work, she still insisted on handling many aspects herself. For example, the blueprints of the pharmacy itself, the fixed prices of its goods, the advertisements inviting applications for pharmacists, young medical assistants, footmen, and guards, and some more rules and regulations for Pill Fiend Valley. The blueprints alone were enough to give Han Yunxi an aneurysm. Those involved both its storefront and storehouse depository, both of which required careful thought before construction could even begin. After all, she wasn’t just storing ordinary ingredients, but rare and precious goods. The rarer the product, the more care that was needed to store it away.

Han Yunxi had plenty of precious ingredients of her own, but she’d tossed them all in the detox system with its automatic storage. She had never needed to consider such arrangements in the real world. Now things were starting to get a little overwhelming. Sometimes, she was so tired that she even had the wicked thought of just absorbing all of Gu Qi Sha’s medicine into her detox system instead. Of course, that was only a passing fancy.