122: I'm in the atmosphere!

“Shopkeeper Jiang’s money doesn’t grow on trees. Thirty thousand taels—even if he were to brew tea, he’d have to brew three thousand cups. Your price—”

“Thirty thousand taels, I’ll take it.”

Suddenly, Jiang Hanwen spoke, directly cutting off Li Minzhong’s attempt to bargain.

The latter glared at him, clearly displeased, and pouted, crossing his arms, looking like he was enjoying the show.

“Dong-dong-” Footsteps echoed on the stairs.

“Shopkeeper, Elder Lei is here,” Xia Zhijie said.

“Elder Lei, I’m troubling you,” Jiang Hanwen said, pointing to Li Minzhong beside him.

“Small problem, leave it to me!” Lei He patted his chest, gesturing for Gao Xiang to sit down so he could examine his injuries.

As he was being treated, Gao Xiang’s teeth chattered:

“Shopkeeper Jiang, you truly are different from others, a person of great virtue.

I, Gao Xiang, will never forget this life-saving kindness.”

Upon hearing this, Li Minzhong scoffed, crossed his arms, and sat down, looking annoyed.

“What, the Shopkeeper is a good person, and I, a Young Master, am only concerned with bargaining and not saving lives?”

Lei He quickly wrote down a prescription and instructed, “Three times a day, three days to full recovery.”

“Get the medicine!” Jiang Hanwen said.

“Yes!” Xia Zhijie quickly left with the prescription.

Lei He glanced at the Cultivation Technique on the table, understanding the situation perfectly. This was a sale of a valuable treasure, so he needed to leave quickly. The old man, being sensible, stood up and cupped his hands:

“Since there’s nothing else, then this old man—”

“Elder Lei, you must stay today. We’ll brew some tea and chat later. Young Master Li is very curious about your family’s estate.”

Seeing Lei He look over, Li Minzhong politely cupped his hands and smiled, “Junior Li Minzhong greets Elder Lei.”

After checking the injuries, Gao Xiang continued writing. Zheng Yunxu came up with three trays and placed them on the table.

Each wooden tray held three stacks of gold bricks, one hundred taels per stack, totaling thirty thousand taels of silver.

Gao Xiang had written over 3,500 characters of the Badao Skill. When he drew the eighth illustration, he stopped writing and looked at Jiang Hanwen:

“Shopkeeper Jiang, it’s finished.”

Li Minzhong’s lips curved into a playful smirk as he glanced at Jiang Hanwen and said sarcastically, “Shopkeeper Jiang, this Badao Skill seems to be an Incomplete Manual, not a complete one, oh~”

This young man was mocking the reckless Jiang Hanwen. Earlier, when he was called out for not being a good person, Shopkeeper Jiang hadn’t responded.

Now, he was being tricked by a customer, being given an Incomplete Manual.

Thirty thousand taels had already been offered, and the medicine package was already delivered. If he didn’t buy it now, there were seven or eight customers on the first floor reading books.

Reputation, while it could be said to be non-existent, couldn’t truly be non-existent. Now he was in a difficult situation.

Lei He’s expression darkened, and he spoke fairly:

“Junior, Shopkeeper Jiang even had me prescribe medicine for you. To try to fool people with an Incomplete Manual like this, aren’t you being ungrateful?”

“Shopkeeper Jiang, business is business. You promised me thirty thousand taels of silver, and now I’ve written it all for you. You can’t bully people!”

The man deliberately raised his voice, startling all the customers on the first floor. Several put down their teacups and looked over curiously.

“I, Jiang, have set the price, and I won’t change a word. Thirty thousand taels, you can take it,” Jiang Hanwen stepped aside, gesturing for the other party to take the money.

The man looked at the three hundred taels of gold in the three trays, his eyes filled with desire, and he strode over.

In the soft light, a sharp silver glint was about to rise but was abruptly stopped.

Jiang Hanwen gripped the beautiful woman’s wrist, snatching the seven-inch long, sharp dagger from Zheng Yunxu’s hand.

“Such a rotten person deserves to die!” The graceful figure blurted out, her chilling tone colder than the late autumn wind, carrying a solemn Killing Intent.

Li Minzhong looked over in surprise. As far as he knew, this woman, who always wore a mask, had never spoken before. She had always been cold, like a puppet from a storybook, a walking corpse.

Today, she was actually willing to kill for Shopkeeper Jiang. This was big news.

Something was going on!

Jiang Hanwen glared at her with an undeniable look: “Go down!”

Zheng Yunxu clenched her fists, and through the narrow circular holes of her mask, she met Jiang Hanwen’s gaze for three breaths. Finally, she lowered her head and obediently turned to go downstairs.

Gao Xiang collected all three hundred taels of gold into his pouch. As he reached the main door on the first floor, he turned around, cupped his fists, and loudly mocked:

“Upon meeting you today, I realize how incredibly generous Shopkeeper Jiang is. A mere incomplete blade Cultivation Technique can sell for thirty thousand taels of silver, and you even gave this Junior free medicine.

Shopkeeper Jiang, a man of principle, hahahaha!”

Lei He cursed under his breath at the table, but didn’t say much else. After all, the person who had just been swindled out of thirty thousand taels was right in front of him, and he wasn’t in a good mood.

Li Minzhong crossed his arms and said proudly:

“That’s satisfying. You didn’t even give me a chance to speak. This person has a terrible reputation in the gambling dens. If it weren’t for his excellent broadsword skills, he would have died long ago.”

Jiang Hanwen looked dejected:

“Sigh, buying bones with a thousand gold, let’s just consider it building my reputation. Enough of this, let’s drink tea!”

After chatting about recent gossip and ordering some Spiritual Plants he didn’t grow from Lei He, the latter left when he was needed at the pharmacy.

Watching Lei He’s departing back, Li Minzhong yearned:

“What a pity. If only it had been a few years earlier, I would have truly wanted to meet that Chief Steward Jiang who rose from obscurity.

Now, the Medicine Field’s reputation even surpasses that of the Zhuang family.

I heard they even erected a large monument on the mountain specifically for him.

Such a person is sure to achieve great things in the future. It’s a pity not to meet him and share a meal.”

Jiang Hanwen narrowed his eyes: “What’s a pity? Chief Steward Jiang isn’t here, but Tianyuan Residence is. If you frequent it, perhaps you’ll have a chance to meet him.”

“Tianyuan Residence’s Medicinal Cuisine is delicious, but it’s expensive. If I drink tea, I can’t eat, and if I eat Medicinal Cuisine, I can’t drink tea. It’s hard to choose, oh.

Shopkeeper Jiang, why don’t I run errands for you? You let me drink tea for free, then I’ll have money to eat Medicinal Cuisine.”

Li Minzhong, seizing the opportunity, climbed up the pole, completely unaware of what shame was.

“Scram, scram, scram! I can’t afford such a high monthly salary,” Jiang Hanwen waved his hand in disgust.

“Shopkeeper Jiang, actually, I am also a pitiful person and need your help, you truly good person, really!”

As he spoke, Li Minzhong pouted, looking wronged, and dabbed two drops of tea from his teacup onto the corners of his eyes, feigning tears.

Seeing Jiang Hanwen remain silent, Li Minzhong scoffed and stopped joking.

The playful expression on his face instantly turned serious, and he said:

“I’ll go get your money back for you and break his legs to teach him a lesson.”

“I appreciate the thought,” Jiang Hanwen picked up his teacup, gesturing for the other party to hand him his teacup.

This time, Li Minzhong didn’t push the cup away. Instead, he looked directly into Jiang Hanwen’s eyes and uttered three words: “I’m serious.”

Jiang Hanwen gently set down the teapot, a faint smile on his lips, and murmured to himself:

“August fourteenth, night, Sifang Gambling Den, bet on a second-grade golden saber, lost, refused to pay, changed to an IOU for four thousand taels of silver.

August twenty-first, Dongting Teahouse, played a guessing game with someone, lost three thousand taels, smashed the table and left.

September seventh…”

After listing three incidents, Jiang Hanwen looked at Li Minzhong again, only to see his eyes wide with disbelief, exclaiming in surprise:

“You know him!”

“Nonsense, I may not go out much, but I’m not deaf. You know about his affairs, so why wouldn’t I be clear about them?”

Jiang Hanwen raised the teapot, and Li Minzhong, with a curious expression, pushed his cup forward.

“His Incomplete Manual is just so-so.

Mainly, the collection of Cultivation Techniques has been slow recently, and there’s nothing much to read.

This bit of money, let’s just consider it advertising for myself, it’s nothing.”

After hearing the explanation, Li Minzhong suddenly looked at the empty teacup beside him.

“So you deliberately kept Elder Lei here to witness you being scammed, so the news would spread?”

“Hmm, your brain isn’t bad; your reaction is a bit slow, but it’s still usable.”

Looking at the smile on the other person’s lips, a chill crept up Li Minzhong’s spine. Since Elder Lei had become an accomplice, then he, naturally, was too.

It was laughable that he had just been thinking of getting justice for Shopkeeper Jiang and getting the money back.

Li Minzhong said with a wry smile:

“My father was right; when you’re with old foxes like you, you won’t even know you’ve been scammed.”

“Hahahaha! Come, come, come, just for that statement, the tea is free today.”

Clang!

Undaunted by being manipulated, Li Minzhong pressed down hard on his teacup:

“If you don’t close, I won’t leave. I’ll drink until you lose money!”

In the evening, after writing an IOU for three thousand taels, Li Minzhong copied a portion of the Badao Skill and went home, saying he was seeing the act through to the end, making the afternoon’s tea worthwhile.

At the entrance of the bookstore, Jiang Hanwen’s lips curved into a smile.

Buying bones with a thousand gold?

That was merely the surface meaning, just to fool people. At all times, one must keep a trick up their sleeve.

Not to mention thirty thousand taels, even three hundred thousand taels for today’s Badao Skill would definitely be worth it!

You thought I was on the first floor?

No, I’m in the stratosphere.