GDK 704: Take my money!
“You asked for it!” After being incited by Han Shuo, the golden-haired youngster rolled up his sleeves and was prepared to demolish the shop.
“Edmund!” Jiya shouted in her lovable voice before she continued, “This place is just around the Sainte Residence. You really want to pick a quarrel here?”
The golden-haired young man stared blankly for a moment. He sized Han Shuo up with contemptuous eyes before replying, “Being in close proximity to the Sainte Residence doesn’t necessarily mean the business is a.s.sociated with the Sainte Family. Besides, this fella is obviously a newcomer. What is there about him that I have to be afraid of?”
Jiya, however, did not share the same opinion. She observed that Han Shuo had not revealed the slightest bit of fear and sat in a confident posture, giving her a hunch that Han Shuo wasn’t as helpless as he appeared on the surface. Seeing that Edmund wouldn’t listen to her advice, Jiya hastily distanced herself, saying, “Well then, that will be your own choice. I’m not going to help you if the matter escalates.”
“Don’t worry, what can happen to me? It’d be a wonder if I can’t handle this fella,” Edmund reached out to grab at a cabinet. He seemed determined to mess with Han Shuo.
“Stop!” A shout that could not be more timely suddenly sounded from the outside. In the blink of an eye, Anito, the green-haired young man who had previously detained Han Shuo, entered the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy along with a team of divine guards.
The first thing that Anito did after entering the shop was greet Han Shuo in a friendly manner. Quickly after that, he turned to Edmund and looked at him with cold eyes, saying, “Young master Edmund, what do you intend on doing?”
Edmund, who nearly destroyed a cabinet, did not expect that divine guards from the Third Corps would appear all so suddenly. He stared blankly for a moment before forcing a laugh and said, “Nothing, just taking a closer look!”
“The City of Shadows has its rules. Even if you are born in a big family clan, that doesn’t mean you can take advantage of your position to bully others. Please behave yourself with some sense of propriety and don’t make things difficult for us,” Anito lectured righteously while looking at him rather unhappily.
“Of course!” Edmund reaffirmed over and over.
“I hope that’s the case!” Anito nodded. Right after, he said to Han Shuo with a courteous smile, “We won’t be far. If any of your customers are acting inappropriately, we are only one call away.” After finis.h.i.+ng those words, Anito swept a cold glance at Edmund, bowed slightly towards Jiya, and left the pharmacy with his divine guards.
Anito was a leader of one of the subgroups in the Third Corps. He could be considered part of the House of Sainte. After learning about the friendly relations between Han Shuo and Carmelita, fearing that Han Shuo would hold grudges for events in the past, he had visited Han Shuo just to apologize to him. Although Han Shuo had told him that it was no big deal, Anito nonetheless did not feel completely rea.s.sured. Therefore, during the recent period of time, out of his own initiative, he closely guarded this area along with a group of divine guards.
Han Shuo was long aware that Anito was just around the corner and understood that he purposely did so to curry favor with him. That was the reason behind Han Shuo not having the slightest fear about Edmund’s threat. And indeed, Anito had ‘coincidentally’ come by to interrupt him at the most critical moment.
“You may be lucky today, but you won’t stay lucky forever!” Edmund said grudgingly after Anito left.
“If you aren’t buying anything, get out of here and don’t interfere with my business,” Han Shuo again sneered at him, asking him to leave in a not-so-polite manner.
Edmund knew that he couldn’t do anything to Han Shuo on that day. Therefore, he glared ravenously at Han Shuo for a moment and left the pharmacy. A few of his close friends followed him out.
Jiya, however, was not one of them. Instead, she was beginning to take a keen interest in Han Shuo. She was even more observant than Edmund was. From Anito’s performance and Han Shuo’s calmness, she had a feeling that Han Shuo was not as simple as he appeared. Her original intention was merely to look around the shop. However, because of this incident, an idea crossed her mind.
After casually strolling around the first floor, Jiya pointed at a Pill of Tranquility priced at five hundred black crystal coins and said to Han Shuo smilingly, “Give me a bottle of this!”
“Miss Jiya, how, how could you believe this guy? It’s five hundred black crystal coins! He’s robbing you!” the few young men who did not leave the pharmacy were appalled and immediately protested Jiya.
Han Shuo looked at Jiya somewhat astonished before he finally got up from his chair. He came to Jiya’s side, removed the boundary on the shelf, took out a medicinal bottle containing a Pill of Tranquility, and handed it to Jiya calmly. He said, “To reap the greatest benefit, use this when you are contemplating the true essence of your energy. You will find the correct method of using the medicine clearly described on the bottle.”
“Here’s five hundred black crystal coins,” Jiya received the medicine bottle from Han Shuo’s hand with a faint smile and placed the five hundred black crystal coins on the shelf. Then, with her bright eyes fixed on Han Shuo, she said smilingly, “I will remember your words. Thank you.”
Jiya put on yet another sweet smile. She walked outside while twirling the delicate medicine bottle with her dainty, long fingers. But right before she stepped outside of the shop, she turned around to look at Han Shuo and said, “If it doesn’t work, I will come back here to get you. I won’t let you off if you have deceived me, not even if you are a member of the Sainte Family.”
Han Shuo put on an indifferent face and shrugged. He thought to himself, The Celestial Pearl Pharmacy has found another backer.
For the next few days after that, the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy still had zero sales. Therefore, Han Shuo decided to temporarily close the shop for business and stay on the third floor to cultivate. He thought that after Carmelita saw the benefits from her medicine, she would definitely help Han Shuo in promoting his shop. By then, instead of him waiting for customers, it would be the customers that were waiting for him.
It had been nearly half a year since the incident at Miasma Cloud Mountain. His avatar of destruction that stayed inside the Cauldron of Myriad Demon had finally advanced one step further and reached the late-stage lowG.o.d realm. Those divine essences of destruction he obtained the last time could finally be useful again and therefore Han Shuo continued absorbing them.
During the time Han Shuo closed his Celestial Pearl Pharmacy for business and cultivated, he had no idea that a commotion in the City of Shadows about his pharmacy was rapidly brewing.
On this day, Donna, who had been preparing to depart for the s.p.a.ce Dominion, returned from a fort under the control of her Lavers Family. Soon after she returned to the Lavers Residence, her cousin, Eve, went complaining to her weepingly, “Elder sister Donna, I, I was beaten!”
The swelling and bruises on her face had yet to fully subside and she still appeared horrible. Although Donna was stern towards her younger cousins, they knew that Donna was actually very caring of them.
“What happened? Who did this? Why didn’t your father give you justice?” Donna hastily asked after seeing Eve’s appearance.
“Father does not allow me to retaliate, my brother wouldn’t help me either. I was beaten for nothing!” Eve wept ceaselessly.
“What did that? There aren’t many in our City of Shadows who dare lay their hands on you… Could it be… someone from the Sainte Family?” Donna furrowed her eyebrows and continued angrily, “How unbridled! Tell me who did this. I’m acquainted with Carmelita. Tell me and I’ll ask Carmelita to teach them a lesson!”
“It’s… it’s that friend you brought over the last time… I think… I think his name is Brian…” Eve muttered as she sobbed, her face filled with grief.
“Wha… what?” Donna was taken aback. She softly cried out, “How is this possible? Even if you had offended him, he would have given me face and wouldn’t have beaten you into this. Have you mistaken him for someone else?” Donna felt that something wasn’t right about Eve’s account. From her experiences with Han Shuo, she did not feel that he was a person who would do such a thing.
“Really! It really was him!” Eve shrieked, “My brother was there, he can bear witness. Oh, Teng Fei was there too!”
“I will go ask your brother,” Donna was very skeptical of the claim. Soon enough, she located Cage in a friendly match with Teng Fei in the gymnasium. Cage held grievances towards Han Shuo. Although he knew that Han Shuo did that out of good intention, he nonetheless remained prejudiced against Han Shuo. Hoping to damage the relations.h.i.+p between Donna and Han Shuo, Cage told Donna a distorted version of what happened.
Han Shuo, instead of rescuing Eve from being disfigured, became a big bully who exploited his friendly relations with Carmelita. He did not dare to make Carmelita the antagonist and therefore pushed all the blame on Han Shuo. If Cage’s account was true, Han Shuo would be a despicable, unredeemable villain who repaid kindness with cruelty.
“Teng Fei, is that the case?” Donna knew the temperaments of her cousins and therefore was still rather skeptical. Thus, she turned to Teng Fei who was looking at her attentively to seek verification. She thought that Teng Fei would tell the truth as he was not directly involved with the matter.
Unfortunately, as Teng Fei had subconsciously taken Han Shuo as a competing suitor for Donna, in addition to his friendly relations with Cage, he chose to back Cage’s lie. Teng Fei did not rebuke the story but nodded affirmatively.
Donna only became somewhat convinced of the story when Teng Fei affirmed it. She revealed a trace of anger on her face as she murmured, “I did not expect him to be this kind of person! He hurt Eve for such a trivial matter in the gymnasium. He didn’t even consider showing a little compa.s.sion for my sake…”
Seeing the anger on Donna’s face, Cage and Teng Fei exchanged a suggestive glance. They almost looked oddly satisfied with themselves. Even their fighting powers were significantly raised in the following friendly match.
***At the Kinson Residence.
Jiya, who was carefully contemplating about the energy of fighting aura in her secret chamber suddenly woke up from her meditative state. With a brandish of the silvery longsword in her hand, the entire chamber was filled with magnificent radiances, as dazzling and blinding as the brightness of a thousand stars.
After withdrawing the radiances off her sword, Jiya stood up with a big smile. Then, after carefully putting the longsword away, her bright eyes suddenly turned to a medicine bottle lying on the floor of the secret chamber. With a wave of her hand, the medicine bottle marked ‘Pill of Tranquility’ flew into her palm. Her eyes were filled with an intense feeling of awe as she muttered, “Pill of Tranquility, what a miraculous medicine. It actually helped me condense my fighting aura one whole level higher. The price of five hundred black crystal coins is such a bargain!”
Very quickly, Jiya exited her secret chamber and energetically came to a quiet and peaceful courtyard. As soon as she entered, she loudly yelled, “Mom, give me one hundred thousand black crystal coins. I need it urgently!”
Beth, a beauty just like Jiya, albeit a little more mature and graceful, looked at Jiya with an astonished gaze. She then knitted her brows and criticized, “Don’t you remember what I have always taught you? We, the House of Kinson, are a big and prestigious family clan in the City of Shadows. You must always keep a certain basic etiquette in mind…”
“Yes I know, Mother. Hurry and give me a hundred thousand black crystal coins, I have urgent use for it!” Jiya asked as she pulled Beth’s arm like a spoiled child.
“My girl, haven’t I given you plenty of allowance for your daily use? A hundred thousand black crystal coin is no small figure. This will need to be recorded on the family accounts. Explain to me what you intend to do with the money,” Beth replied in a somewhat annoyed manner as she straightened out Jiya’s hair.
“It’s like this, there’s a new shop in the city called the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy…” Jiya knew that she had to clearly explain everything or her mother wouldn’t hand her the money.
After a long while…
Beth cried out in surprise, “Is it really that miraculous?”
“Of course, mother. Do you not trust your own daughter? I have used it myself and I’m very clear just how much the medicine has helped me. It’s true! Five hundred black crystal coins is an absolute bargain! We must act now and buy it over while the other family clans are still unaware of the pharmacy. This is not merely about the value of crystal coins…” Jiya said hurriedly.
“Let’s go, I will head there with you.” After listening to Jiya’s explanation, Beth understood that those medicines could potentially be an opportunity to increase the overall strength of her family clan. She immediately made this her top priority and right away, she took some crystal coins and left the Kinson Residence with Jiya.
***At the Sainte Residence. Carmelita walked out from her gymnasium.
“Woah! My Lady, your, your face! Your face!” Kalina immediately put on an expression of disbelief and cried out in surprise when she saw Carmelita.
Carmelita’s skin that was originally b.u.mpy and abnormally pigmented had obviously become much fairer and smoother. It was the same with her arms. This transformation was enough to make her appear much less malevolent and sinister. Although she still looked ugly, her new look was much more acceptable to the eye.
“I know, I know,” Carmelita replied in a somewhat annoyed manner. But after taking out a small mirror to look at herself, she started laughing loudly as though very pleased with herself.
“Miss Carmelita, you have changed, a lot!” the divine guards and maids she met along the way gently cried out.
“Eh? Girl, why do you seem to look different now… Eh? You look fairer! How, how is this possible?!” a few of her aunts and relatives she met along her way cried out.
“Wahaha… Wahaha… I’m not dreaming, I’m definitely not dreaming…” Carmelita exclaimed and laughed in a strange manner as she headed outside of the Sainte Residence.
Andre who was working on family clan matters on the top of a building had his attention caught by Carmelita’s yelling. When he looked down, he froze. With an appalled face, he uttered, “It… it actually worked!” Andre immediately laid down the work in his hands and flew towards Carmelita.
Han Shuo, who was cultivating on the third floor of his shop suddenly heard clamorous noises outside his building. After expanding his consciousness, Han Shuo discovered that nearly a hundred people had gathered outside his Celestial Pearl Pharmacy. They were all chanting, “Open up! Open the door! We want to buy your celestial medicine!”