BOOM.

RUMBLE...

After the scorching heat of June and early July, a storm that had been brewing for days finally burst forth in a torrential downpour.

The oppressive heat that had suffocated Shu State City was instantly extinguished by the rain. Even the residual warmth lingering on the stone slabs quickly dissipated.

A cool, comfortable breeze allowed the city’s residents to finally slow their pace.

Even the laborers who had toiled all day and the government officials and City Guard Army soldiers who had run about tirelessly could now stroll through the streets and alleys with ease.

However, under the heavy rain, many craftsmen trying to make a living found it difficult to smile.

After all, no one was going to watch someone break a stone slab on their chest in a downpour.

Wudong Street, just outside the East Market, at the Jishi Medicine Hall.

The Medicine Hall, which had managed to revive its business thanks to Hundred Herbs Hall’s tea drinks, was now filled with people.

The vast majority were not patients, but craftsmen from the East Market.

There were burly men who performed feats of strength, acrobats, and even some fortune-tellers who read futures and romantic destinies.

They gathered in small groups inside the Medicine Hall, both to shelter from the rain and to enjoy a cup of the tea drink.

Although they earned little from their hard work each day, they could still afford a cup of Wangji Tea for two copper coins.

"I wonder what kind of recipe Hundred Herbs Hall uses. This drink tastes a bit like tea, but not quite. One cup cools you right down to the bone."

"Even on the hottest days, it can keep the heat off you for half the day."

A man in a short-sleeved linen shirt and shorts held a porcelain bottle, taking small sips, clearly reluctant to finish it all at once.

Beside him, a fortune-teller carrying a cloth bag embroidered with the words "Marriage & Future" shook his head knowingly and said:

"You think they’d let you in on the secret to their cash cow?"

"I was just making an observation."

"What are you worried about that for? A guy who can’t even make fifty copper coins a day, worrying about big shots like Hundred Herbs Hall who haul their gold and silver around by the cartload?"

"Hauling silver coins by the cartload? Are their tea drinks really that profitable?"

"Of course. It’s not just Hundred Herbs Hall. Take this Jishi Medicine Hall, for example. Before, this place was so deserted you could catch sparrows at the door. But look at it now..."

Before he could finish, Liu Quan, who had long since grown tired of these craftsmen, slammed his abacus shut. "If you’re here to drink tea, then drink your tea. What’s with all the chatter?"

The fortune-teller paused mid-sentence. He glanced at Liu Quan, but instead of getting annoyed, he turned to Chen Yi, who was sitting near the Physician.

"Shopkeeper Chen, your accountant is a rather fierce one."

Liu Quan’s eyes widened in a glare, but with Chen Yi present, he swallowed the retort on the tip of his tongue. "Shopkeeper, look at them..."

Chen Yi had been watching the new Physician apply acupuncture needles. He turned at the sound of their voices and said with a smile:

"There’s nothing that can’t be said openly. Besides, it’s true that Jishi Medicine Hall’s business is booming again thanks to Hundred Herbs Hall."

Liu Quan sullenly shut his mouth, lowered his head to his ledger, and went back to clacking away on his abacus.

The fortune-teller chuckled. "As expected of Shu State’s famous scholar. Your words are a pleasure to hear."

Chen Yi shook his head. "The principles of life are the same, whether you’ve read books or not."

"It’s just that, today, Jishi Medicine Hall is able to offer you all some convenience. If our business isn’t doing so well in the future, I hope you’ll all remember to give us some of your patronage."

At these words, the craftsmen, who were naturally skilled at reading people, all nodded in agreement.

The fortune-teller, being a man of impulse, immediately offered to give Chen Yi a free reading.

"Shopkeeper, I see you have a rosy complexion, like the auspicious purple qi flowing from the east. You are destined for great wealth and status in the future."

Chen Yi looked at him, a faint glow flashing in his eyes, and said with a smile, "Let’s not talk about my fortune for now. If you don’t have a Physician check your pulse soon, I’m afraid you don’t have many days left."

"Er..."

The fortune-teller’s face darkened. "Are you cursing me, Shopkeeper?"

Chen Yi didn’t answer, instead gesturing for him to come closer. "If I’m wrong, I’ll give you a bottle of Divine Bull Tea."

The people in the Medicine Hall immediately started hooting and hollering.

The fortune-teller was a decisive man. A bottle of Divine Bull Tea sold for thirty copper coins in the Medicine Hall, but it could fetch a hundred in South City’s Yanhua Lane.

Even if he didn’t drink it, reselling it would be enough to cover his food and drink for half a month.

The fortune-teller sat down.

Chen Yi had the new, limping Physician, Ma Liangcai, check his pulse.

Ma Liangcai dutifully did as he was told, placing three fingers on the fortune-teller’s wrist and concentrating on his examination.

After a moment, he paused.

Then he pressed a little harder, feeling for the deep pulse.

After a few moments, Ma Liangcai suddenly sighed. "The Shopkeeper was right. Your illness is already in its final stages."

The fortune-teller looked at him doubtfully. "Are you sure?"

He wasn’t old, only forty, and in the prime of his life.

He traveled all over and had never noticed anything wrong with his body.

Naturally, he didn’t believe it now.

"Let me ask you, do you usually have trouble with cold drinks?"

"I suppose so..."

"When it rains, do you feel a chill?"

"Yeah."

"And..."

As Ma Liangcai went through a few more questions, details the fortune-teller had never paid attention to were confirmed one by one. His face instantly turned deathly pale. "Can... can I be saved?"

"Yes."

Before Ma Liangcai could speak, Chen Yi grabbed a bottle of Divine Bull Tea from nearby, stuffed it into the man’s hand, and said with a smile:

"One bottle of Divine Bull Tea a day, and I guarantee you’ll be cured. Today’s bottle is on the house."

The fortune-teller looked at the tea drink in his hand, then at Chen Yi, then at Ma Liangcai, who was trying to stifle his laughter. It took him a long moment to realize what was happening. "Hey, you... you shopkeeper!"

"Haha..."

Instantly, the Jishi Medicine Hall erupted with endless laughter.

"Shopkeeper Chen, you said it so convincingly, I really thought Old Ji only had a few days left! I was already wondering how we’d handle his body."

"Haha... Old Ji cons people left and right, but today he’s the one who got conned by Shopkeeper Chen."

The fortune-teller, Old Ji, shook his head with a wry smile. "Forgive my bluntness, Shopkeeper Chen, but please don’t scare a man like that again."

Chen Yi chuckled and exchanged a few more jokes with the crowd. Then he instructed Liu Quan and the others to look after the Medicine Hall and, as usual, prepared to head home around mid-afternoon.

The craftsmen laughingly said their goodbyes, finding him to be an interesting character.

Stepping outside, Chen Yi glanced at Linglan Pavilion. He saw its shopkeeper, Qian Kuan, offer a forced smile and a nod. Chen Yi simply nodded back before walking toward the carriage driven by Ge the Third.

Qian Kuan watched him disappear into the rain, his gaze shifting to the Jishi Medicine Hall, still ringing with boisterous laughter. His expression grew increasingly foul.

’How could the Xiao Family Medicine Hall make a comeback even from this?’

’Hundred Herbs Hall!’

Though Chen Yi hadn’t seen Qian Kuan’s reaction, he had made a few observations from spending the last several days at the Jishi Medicine Hall.

For instance, Qian Kuan, while seemingly busy with his own customers, paid an inordinate amount of attention to Jishi Medicine Hall.

He seemed to be keeping track of the people coming and going from Jishi Medicine Hall each day, and even estimating their revenue.

And then there was the way Qian Kuan looked at him.

Since beginning his study of Martial Arts, Chen Yi had naturally become more perceptive of such things.

Combined with the snippets of conversation his enhanced hearing picked up, he could confirm that Linglan Pavilion was indeed targeting the Xiao Family Medicine Hall.

It hadn’t been obvious before, but now that the Xiao Family Medicine Hall’s business was improving, the people at Linglan Pavilion had grown somewhat restless.

Their words were no longer so guarded.

Chen Yi watched the downpour outside the carriage window. In his mind, a white stone landed on a Go board.

The center point, ten-ten.

But he took this white stone, named "Hundred Herbs Hall," and placed it at nine-eleven.

—Once Hundred Herbs Hall gained momentum, it was bound to draw some people out.

...

「Night fell, and the downpour continued.」

Through the curtain of rain, in the western part of the city near the West Market, lay the residential manors of Shu State’s high officials and dignitaries.

Unlike the North City, where Duke Dingyuan resided, the manors around the West Market were at most three courtyards deep.

Such were the building regulations, a line these wealthy gentry could not cross.

At this moment, in a manor not far from Hundred Herbs Hall, the main hall of the central courtyard was brightly lit.

Outside the hall, dozens of guards stood watch, clad in raincoats with long blades hanging at their waists.

Faintly, a loud CRASH echoed from within.

"Under these circumstances, you still allowed the Xiao Family Medicine Hall to survive? What have you all been doing these past days?"

"Young Master, we... we did everything according to your instructions regarding the Physicians, the medicinal ingredients, and the treatments..."

"Then how do you explain today’s outcome?"

"Young Master, it’s not that we weren’t diligent. It’s that the Xiao Family Medicine Hall relied on Hundred Herbs Hall to regain its footing."

"Hundred Herbs Hall?"

A clear, cold voice spoke.

"The same Hundred Herbs Hall that made a name for itself in South City’s Yanhua Lane?"

"The very same."

A moment of silence.

"What is their connection to the Xiao Family?"

"Hundred Herbs Hall’s shopkeeper, Wang Ji, was previously the shopkeeper of the Xiao Family’s Jishi Medicine Hall—the same one where the Xiao Family’s live-in son-in-law is now."

"Ever since Wang Ji left Jishi Medicine Hall, he started Hundred Herbs Hall with someone else. It’s said there’s another owner behind him, but we haven’t been able to find out who it is."

The cold voice spoke again. "Another owner? Heh. There must be. Otherwise, where would a mere shopkeeper get the recipe for such a tea drink?"

"Old Fifth, have you been to Hundred Herbs Hall?"

"Reporting to the Young Master, this subordinate went at noon today, but... but only a Steward came out. I did not see Wang Ji."

CRACK!

A porcelain bottle shattered.

The cold voice became even colder, squeezing the words out from between clenched teeth: "Truly courting death!"

"Old Third, inform the members of the Illusory Sound Sect. Have them make a move and burn down Hundred Herbs Hall!"

Another person hesitated. "Young Master, the people from the Illusory Sound Sect are still being tracked by the Prefectural Yamen and the Xiao Family Punishment Hall. If they show themselves now, I’m afraid..."

"Afraid? My Liu Family has spent so many silver coins to support them precisely for moments like this! Otherwise, what’s the use of keeping them around?"

"And the ’Sword Madman,’ where is he now? If he hasn’t left Shu State, have him make a move as well."

"Reporting to the Young Master, the ’Sword Madman’ has supposedly gone to the Mountain Race."

The cold voice paused. "What is he doing with the Mountain Race? There’s no one there for him to test his blade on."

"Xiao Jinghong..."

The cold voice paused, then broke into a laugh.

"Good, good, good. The ’Sword Madman’ is certainly mad enough, daring to provoke that lunatic Xiao Jinghong. Can his blade stand up to Xiao Jinghong’s long spear?"

"Young Master, Black Tooth tried to persuade him, but he wouldn’t listen."

At these words, the main hall fell silent.

In the flickering candlelight, a handsome young man with refined features, dressed in purple brocade and sitting with a ramrod-straight posture, finally spoke:

"Then we’ll ignore him for now."

"First, have the Illusory Sound Sect deal with Hundred Herbs Hall. Find the person backing him and... kill them."

"Also, get your hands on the recipes for those tea drinks."

As his voice faded, the five figures around him responded in unison. Then, one of them spoke up:

"Young Master, if the Xiao Family notices, what should we do?"

The young man rose to his feet and snorted coldly. "Someone else will be there to take the fall!"

Not long after, the manor fell quiet as the people in the main hall dispersed.

Faintly, a dark figure slipped out and, using the curtain of rain as cover, flitted toward another manor.

’If the Liu Family makes another move, they’ll inevitably draw the attention of the Xiao Family Punishment Hall.’

’It’s time... to get *that* person to make a move, too...’