I knock on Chi Lian's door three times.
A middle-aged man opens the door, bowing to me once he sees the belt marking me as an academy student. I'd noticed that all outsiders in the village bow once they see a gu master. Asking Shen Cui about it revealed that this is considered a pretty important custom. If a servant does not bow then it's seen as if they are not showing deference to the gu master. This middle-aged man doesn't need to bow according to the customs, since his master's status allows him not to have to defer to me.
I enter Chi Lian's house, allowing the servant to lead me. He takes me to the third and final floor of the house, only stopping once he reaches the door to what I presume is Chi Lian's office/solar. He knocks on the door, only opening it after hearing a faint "Enter". Inside is a stone fireplace, two round wooden tables, each with two leather armchairs. Chi Lian is sitting on one of the armchairs, sipping tea and reading a book. Once he sees me his expression brightens. "Fang Yuan, I am glad to have you as my guest. Tell me, what has brought you to me?"
I've tried to make myself known as someone who is strong. My talent has made my worth null, only by showing my physical strength could I then begin to throw my weight around. Right now I am in the unique position of being desirable to all three of the factions of the village. Chi Lian's favorable reaction to me is a testament to this, as was his personal servant showing deference to me.
Showing the academy elder the white boar gu and the liquor worm, along with refining the moonlight gu first, are all parts in making the factions assume that I already have a backer. Gu masters only join a faction after graduation, since it is usually considered bad practice to poach students beforehand.
All of the factions know that they're not the ones backing me, so they are naturally assuming that one of the other two is. Chi Lian thinks that he now has an opportunity to steal me from his rivals.
At Chi Lian's signal the servant leaves the room and closes the door. I give Chi Lian a smile. "Give me your backing or I will expose you for cheating in the awakening ceremony."
Chi Lian instantly freezes, his hand midway to bringing his cup of tea to his mouth.
I need to be perceived as having received the backing of one of the major factions, otherwise I'll fall under scrutiny as my cultivation progresses too quickly for someone of my aptitude. Genuinely joining a faction will not work, since then I'll be suspected by my own faction. The only solution that does not sacrifice cultivation speed is forcing a faction to back me.
I don't have any dirt on the clan leader's faction or on the Mo faction. I do however have very good blackmail material against the Chi Faction. "You need to publicly show support for me, otherwise I will reveal Chi Cheng's C-Rank aptitude to everyone in the village."
Chi Lian closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to control his anger. If I was weak then he could just kill me and blame a scapegoat.
At this moment he is probably trying to think on what my angle here is, who's pawn am I?
I take a step towards him. "Esteemed elder, I need you to provide me with an answer, will you acquiesce to my demands or not?"
Chi Lian throws the cup of tea at me, I casually sidestep it. "You dare blackmail me?! Are you courting death?!"
I make a step as fast as I can, stopping right in front of him. "Are you?"
He takes a step back, surprised at my speed. From this range I can kill him before he can react in any way. Him and I are both aware of this. He is also unlikely to try to attack me at this moment, since he doesn't know whether or not I have prepared for his secret to leak in case he kills me. Our standoff does not last for long, as I take a step back. "Do not misunderstand, I do not wish to undermine the Chi faction. I simply want you to declare your support for me. Our arrangement can even be of mutual benefit."
Chi Lian gulps nervously, his breathing erratic. "And why do you want that?"
I shrug. "Secret"
Chi Lian begins taking deep breaths, quickly calming himself down. "I only have one condition, tell me who leaked this information."
I shrug again. "Also secret. If you don't agree then I'll just leak the info."
Chi Lian grits his teeth. Me leaking Chi Cheng's true aptitude would ruin his faction, since there are no other inheritors other than Chi Cheng. His condition was an attempt at both running damage control and at trying to regain some footing in the negotiations. The only problem for him is that this isn't a negotiation, it's blackmail.
Chi Lian takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "I will declare my faction's support for you. Now leave my house."
I give him a nod. "I am glad. I will be back so that we can collaborate further."
Honestly, if looks could kill then I'm pretty sure that Chi Lian's glare would turn me into a corpse on the spot. Sadly he does not have laser vision, I think. I leave his solar and close the door behind me. I find the servant waiting for me to the right of the closed door, pale and sweating. He's going to get killed for knowing too much.
He mechanically leads me to the front door, not saying a single word on the way there. I leave Chi Lian's house and go to get my second chore done. I head on over to the market and do some market research.
Most of the medicine being sold is in the form of various pills and pastes. Bandages here are just strips of cloth, with the cheaper ones being what is essentially stitched together rags while the more expensive ones are a clean, white strip of cloth. Medicinal pastes are mainly marketed as 'improving healing'.
Poppy seeds are fairly cheap for what I need them for. There are no strong alcohols, the only form of alcohol available seems to be wine. I manage to find someone selling copper tubes, so making a makeshift distillery to strengthen the wine is reasonable. There's also the possibility of using honey, it's more expensive than wine but not prohibitively so.
I end up buying some pots, a set of measurement cups, a bunch of small wooden boxes, a seed oil press, three sacks of coal, a large amount of poppy seeds and three jars of honey. I tell the clerk to deliver them to a specific location in two hours. The next stop is the slave market. There are two options for labor, hiring mortal clansmen or buying slaves. Hiring a clansman runs the risk of him getting controlled by my uncle, so that's a no go. Because of the size of the village the slave market is not that large. Most of the men and women on sale are either former criminals or debt defaulters. Most of them are sold for around one to two primeval stones.
There are not that many people being sold, so taking stock of who fills the qualifications that I need does not take long. There's three main candidates:
The first is a young woman named He Meili. She is from one of the nearby villages belonging to our clan. Her father is a simple farmer while her mother is an herbalist. She is being sold for disrespecting a female gu master. Her family was killed for the insult. Since she is fairly beautiful the gu master decided to sell her instead of just killing her. Her price is eight and a half primeval stones.
The second is an old woman named Shi Dongmei. She used to be a midwife. She is selling herself in the hopes of getting money for her grandkids, since she is very old and close to death. Her price is three primeval stones.
The third is an old man named Cui Wen. He was a shopkeeper in one of the clan's villages. He owed lots of gambling debts, leading to him being sold to cover them. He appears to be vigorous despite his old age. His price is two primeval stones.
I discard Shi Dongmei as an option almost immediately. There is no point in getting her if she will just die in the following days. Because of this she is unlikely to succeed in selling herself, regardless of the price that she will set.
He Meili is also unsuitable for me. She does have some experience related to what I need, but her temperament, going by the glares she is throwing at everyone, is unlikely to be suitable. I doubt my 'Peach Blossom Luck' is going to do anything here, since she seems to get even more hostile when she sees my belt, which denotes me as being a gu master.
The old man is the only real option. He doesn't seem to be holding much hostility towards me, since he just rolled his eyes and grumbled when I asked the shopkeeper about his price. He has experience as a shopkeeper, which is exactly what I need him for. Trying my hand at negotiating the price lets me get half a primeval stone off the price. Breaking a primeval stone in half and then handing said half along with a full primeval stone to the shopkeeper seals the deal.
I take Cui Wen with me to my next stop. Along the way he hums and asks me. "So what's a youngling like ya want wrinkled old me for?"
I glance at him. He is wrinkled and physically fit, but not overly so for his age. He has a full head of white hair, reaching up to his ears. His eyes are calm, showing him to be unbothered by his predicament. I shrug. "I needed a shopkeeper and labourer."
Cui Wen yawns. "What shop ya got?".
"None yet, We're going to go and rent a space now."
Cui Wen barks out a laugh. "Hah, should've rented out the shop first. You've made yourself desperate to find one by buying me without already having a space ready."
I glance at him, he does not seem to be bothered by anything. "Why are you so carefree? Aren't you afraid that I'll kill you, or worse?"
Cui Wen shrugs. "Worst thing ya can do to me is kill me. Give me ten good years and I'll be dead anyway, so why should I be afraid? Ya don't seem like the type to have a stick up his ass either."
I stop and stare at him. "And if I was to torture you?"
Cui Wen puts his hands behind his head. "I don't feel pain at all, so good luck."
I just sigh and start going towards our destination without saying anything else. It doesn't take long before I am in front of the village's real estate agency. All forms of real estate transactions, be they rents, purchases or anything else are handled here. I already know the exact property that I want, so it doesn't take long to get the clerk to show me the place.
Soon enough we're staring at a dilapidated shop. There is a 'for sale/rent' sign on the door. The real estate clerk, a young black haired man, unlocks the door and leads me inside. The shop is composed of a commercial area, where goods are displayed and sold, a storage area and a living area for the workers. The furniture itself does not appear structurally damaged, the only problem is that it's really ugly and expensive to restore. The rent is about twenty primeval stones per week.
We go back to the shop after I sign the contract and pay the first week's rent. Cui Wen sighs. "It'll take me a whole day to get this place cleaned up. What do you want to sell anyway?"
I smile. "Medicine. I'll teach you the recipes for what I need. Don't go spilling them out to anyone now, allright?"
Cui Wen stretches, getting himself ready for work. "I ain't afraid of dying, but I'm not suicidal just yet. What do you want to do first?"
I yawn. "We'll wait for some stuff to arrive. I already bought most of what we need from the market and told the shopkeepers to bring it here. Until then you can clean the storeroom."
Cui Wen nods and goes to the storeroom. I lean on the wall and begin cultivating. After twenty minutes I've used all of my primeval essence. After another twenty minutes of waiting a man finally arrives with a cart containing my purchases. I lead him to the storeroom and watch as Cui Wen and him unload the cart. Once the man leaves I begin explaining to Cui Wen what I need him to do.
"Put the poppy seeds in the oil press, the liquid should fall into the pot underneath it."
"Now boil the liquid until you're left with just a small amount remaining."
"Keep pressing poppy seeds and boiling until you've either finished most of them or until a quarter of the liquid left in the pot becomes viscous when boiling."
"Now keep boiling it until it becomes much thicker."
"Put eight spoons of the liquid in a jar of honey and then mix them well."
I stretch, making a single jar of medicine paste took us some time. Cui Wen is staring thoughtfully at the jar of opium laced honey. "That's the paste that I will be selling. Get the store cleaned up tomorrow. We'll open and begin selling the day after tomorrow. I'll come over to see your progress"
Cui Wen nods. "Don't worry, I was gonna begin cleaning tomorrow anyway. Most of the furniture isn't that dirty, it's just really ugly. If ya were selling anything other than medicine that would've been a problem. Ya got any plan on how you're gonna begin selling these things?"
I begin walking towards the front door. "Medicine is almost always in pretty high demand here. I'll just sell them for much cheaper at first. After the shop becomes well known I'll raise the prices."
Cui Wen lets out a sigh of relief. "At least ya ain't an idiot. You could come over and 'buy' some of the medicine yourself when the market's busy. A gu master frequenting a store is usually a pretty good popularity boost."
I lean on the front door and nod. "That's a pretty good idea. If you have any ideas feel free to tell me. Worst case scenario I'll just call you an idiot."
Cui Wen nods back at me and then gets a broom before beginning to sweep the living area. I exit the store. It's almost night time at this point so I go back to my apartment to sleep.
—
I take the bag of primeval stones from Cui Wen and count how many are inside. About twelve. That's a total profit of about eight primeval stones, not bad for the shop's fourth day.
Cui Wen stretches. "Don't raise the prices just yet, wait for another week before doing that. Traffic isn't at a point big enough just yet."
I nod. "Allright. Is there anything else you want to tell me?"
Cui Wen yawns. "Eh, just make sure ya don't step on any toes. After ya get in the market don't undercut everyone else, cuz they'll make trouble for you. Keep the prices just low enough that ya sell, but not high enough that ya end up not having any customers."
I put the primeval stones in my pouch. "Yeah, stepping on people's toes is a pretty bad idea."
Cui Wen scoffs. "Pretty much. That's how I ended up with my gambling debts, me store got too successful and I got suppressed by the competition allying against me."
I shrug. "Do you have anything else for me?"
Cui Wen shakes his head. "Nah."
I give him a nod and leave for my apartment. The store is starting to make an increasing amount of primeval stones, today being the first day that it has made more than the essence lotus spawns. At this rate it's probably going to top at around thirty primeval stones per day in about a month's time. I have more than enough resources now to dedicate primeval stones to cultivation.
Once I reach my apartment I find Shen Cui preparing a bath for me. I wordlessly disrobe and get into the bathtub. I sigh as she begins to massage my head. "Did my uncle give you any tasks yet?"
"Your uncle has not attempted to contact me. Is this to the young master's liking?" I hear Shen Cui say from behind me.
I let myself relax as she switches to massaging my shoulders. "Yeah, that's the spot."
My uncle not trying to contact her is bad news. Having him try to use her against me would at least make him predictable and give me some insight into his plans. I'm sure the guy is planning something against me. Chi Lian seems to be staying true to the terms of our agreement, so that should dissuade my uncle from trying anything too overt.
I give Shen Cui a smile once she begins washing my chest, leaning on me from behind me as she does. At this point I'm in a much better position than the original Fang Yuan was. I have plenty of resources to cultivate, someone to shield myself from scrutiny with and, hopefully, enough strength not to be thrown around.
After Shen Cui's and I's nightly activities I begin reading the inheritance. By this point I've almost finished reading up on the rank 5 gu worms and have found nothing about any of the rest of my gu. I sigh and stop reading once I finish reading the section on rank 5 gu worms, starting to cultivate instead. Unlike before I now begin to refill my primeval essence using primeval stones as I cultivate, speeding up my cultivation. After finishing my primeval essence and using ten primeval stones to cultivate, I get myself comfortable, snuggle Shen Cui and go to sleep.
—
AN:
Idk how accurate that opium recipe is, but research into it started to make google worried I'm a heroin addict, so RIP.