Chapter 10: Turtle Longevity Mountain Master
The sunlight was warm and gentle, the autumn scenery pleasant.
In Yangquan County Town, southeast of Linjiang Prefecture, on the Bluestone Long Street full of potholes.
Hong Yuan wore a conical hat, dressed in a neat gray martial outfit, his posture upright, his back straight as a spear, his face and hands smeared with turmeric to conceal his original appearance, walking unhurriedly through the noisy and bustling crowd.
Listening to the vendors’ calls rising and falling around his ears, Hong Yuan walked while looking with great interest at the shops and residences along the street, secretly comparing them to Qingxu County.
The two counties bordered each other, and their county towns were of similar scale, but Qingxu County benefited from convenient grain transport, had more wharves, and its salt industry and iron smelting were more developed, attracting a large number of merchants to invest, so its urban construction was neater and its markets more prosperous.
Although the two county towns were only forty or fifty li apart, Hong Yuan had studied from childhood, immersed in poetry and classics, paying no attention to worldly affairs outside, and had rarely left the city, only a few times accompanying his father to the countryside to collect rent, so this was his first time arriving at Yangquan County Town.
He looked around left and right, and suddenly spotted a cooked wheat cake shop on the street ahead, where the shopkeeper was a woman around thirty years old, her smiling round face flushed red by the rising hot steam, her clothes patched but not dirty, her fingers also clean, so he immediately took out money to buy two cooked wheat cakes.
He took a bite of the steaming cake, the texture somewhat rough, but it had just come out of the pan, the wheat aroma still quite strong, Hong Yuan was not picky, and swallowed one cake in a few bites, then took the other and chewed it slowly.
Unknowingly, he recalled last night’s events.
Not long after touching the gray-white Stone Door, the skinny little old man had sent clean clothes, Hong Yuan changed into them and slept in them, and after some time, in a daze he suddenly heard the voices of Wu Duxiong, Yang Erhu, and the little old man upstairs.
The three were in a room on the second floor of the restaurant, not the one directly above Hong Yuan’s head, and their voices were very low, but who could blame Hong Yuan for his exceptional hearing? He could still hear their conversation.
In their talk, Wu Duxiong and Yang Erhu detailed their encounter after breaking into the Biwu Immortal Realm, and the little old man was very dissatisfied that they hadn’t caught even one big fish, even scolding them a few times.
Wu Duxiong immediately cursed back, retorting, “We’re not your subordinates, don’t pull that on us.”
The little old man quickly apologized, changed the subject, and inquired about Hong Yuan’s identity.
During their conversation, they revealed an organization called the Dragon King Society, and this skinny old man was one of the Dragon King Society’s contacts.
Yang Erhu and Wu Duxiong had connected with the Dragon King Society, borrowing their strength to track down that Qin Ziyue was trapped in the Biwu Immortal Realm, and even many of their arrangements for attacking the Biwu Immortal Realm were secretly planned by the Dragon King Society.
“Dragon King Society…”
“Yang and Wu aren’t subordinates of the Dragon King Society. This Dragon King Society must have some grudge or enmity with Wei Zhenzhu’s side, and somehow learned that Yang and Wu were investigating Qin Ziyue, so they went along with it and lent a hand, also intending to use the two as knives.”
“Yang Erhu and Wu Duxiong clearly understand this, but since it benefits their actions, they don’t mind being used.”
“But the Dragon King Society went to great lengths yet failed to achieve their goal—will they really let it go easily?”
Hong Yuan pondered inwardly.
He was now heading to the Yang Family Martial Arts School in Quanshui Lane.
After breakfast this morning, the group didn’t delay and went straight from the town to Yangquan County.
At the county town gate, Hong Yuan, Wu Duxiong, Yang Lie, and Qin Fuzi all slightly disguised their appearances and entered the city in batches.
According to Wu Duxiong, this was purely superfluous, at most delaying Wei Zhenzhu’s investigation time.
Moreover, since they had left that so-called Immortal Realm, without home-field advantage, they might not need to fear Wei Zhenzhu much.
First, Wei Zhenzhu had suffered heavy losses this time and needed time to recuperate; second, Yangquan County had its own local powers, so it wouldn’t be easy for Wei Zhenzhu to extend her influence here, at least not in the short term.
At most, she could send a small group of thugs to lurk secretly.
Wei Zhenzhu could of course seek help from that Salt and Iron Commissioner Zhou Wenjie, whose forces were indeed not weak, but how to put it?
They had turned a blind eye during the fun, but now that it had gone wrong, coming to him Zhou Wenjie to clean up the mess? Wasn’t that treating him like nothing?
Although Wei Zhenzhu was a fat pig, this fat pig’s ownership was still under Zhou Wenjie’s name!
Hong Yuan suddenly lost his appetite.
He casually tossed the half-eaten cake to a yellow dog lazily sunning itself at the street corner, then his gaze shifted and lingered on a rather imposing apothecary.
This apothecary was named Turtle Longevity Hall, located right at the most prosperous crossroads in Yangquan County Town, facing south, with a wide storefront.
Two burly strong men stood lazily sunning themselves in front of the shop, but as soon as any shouting vendor or beggar vagrant approached, they immediately scowled fiercely and yelled loudly, driving the person away.
Hong Yuan glanced inside and saw the front hall high and spacious, with a massive medicine cabinet nearly reaching the ceiling.
Behind the counter, a dozen doctors wore proper dark blue fine cloth shirts, some holding medical books while sipping tea and reading aloud, some chatting amiably with others, with only one or two diagnosing patients, not very busy.
The reason Hong Yuan paid attention to this Turtle Longevity Hall was simple: it was his good brother’s business.
That good brother who sold him out was named Huang Shaotang, whose father Huang Yihe had another title, Turtle Longevity Mountain Master.
The Huang family itself was a great family rooted in Qingxu County for generations, owning vast lands, shops, and connections. In Huang Yihe’s generation, with his skill in management, the family’s momentum soared, nearly monopolizing seventy to eighty percent of the county town’s medicinal ingredients business.
How much money could one make just from seeing patients and diagnosing?
Back when the original host was at the academy, he often heard that the Huang family acted domineeringly, not only forcing famous doctors to join Turtle Longevity Hall, but also colluding with officials to suppress drug farmers and force down prices; any resistance led to broken arms or legs, beatings to death or crippling, no matter.
But at the time, he was on good terms with Huang Shaotang, and that fat man’s honest face was quite deceptive, so he didn’t take it to heart.
Thinking back now, as an outstanding student at the academy, Hong Yuan had been deliberately befriended by Huang Shaotang; once he had no value left, he was simply sold for one last sum of money.
True affection for kin and friends!
“The Huang family really has money. I didn’t expect Turtle Longevity Hall to have opened in Yangquan County…”
Hong Yuan clicked his tongue, a smile on his face, and walked straight forward.
“Back in the academy days, Huang Shaotang and I were as close as father and son, known to all, witnessed by over a hundred academy students—the Huang family’s businesses deserve a share for me.”
“It’s said Huang Guiling is nearly seventy. At that age, suddenly falling ill and dying would be normal, right? And my good brother grieving himself to an early death would also be normal, right…”
