By eleven-fifty the next morning, Willow-West Street was packed shoulder to shoulder with over five hundred curious townsfolk.
Word had spread across every teahouse, smithy, and vegetable market in Frost-Pine Town that the Third Branch’s Gu Changsheng. Newly promoted Rank 2 Alchemist Qin Wan’er had signed a three-thousand-silver mutual wager against Second Elder Gu Ba and Prefecture Guild Inspector Ma.
Hunters in thick wolfskin coats, woodcutters with bandaged hands, street vendors, and merchants from Central Street all jostled for a view of the Hundred-Herb Clinic’s closed red wooden doors.
“Do you think Patriarch Gu and Doctor Qin really managed to brew five hundred doses of Grade-One Blood-Healing Medicine overnight?”
“How could they? Yesterday afternoon my cousin saw Patriarch Gu, Butler Fu, and Doctor Qin digging winter dandelions out of the south drainage ditch with bamboo baskets! You can’t turn ditch weeds into Grade-One medicine!”
Just as the noon drum at the town watchtower prepared to strike, a loud fanfare of gongs echoed from the northern end of the street.
“Make way for Inspector Ma of the Prefecture Alchemist Guild and Second Elder Gu of the Gu Clan!”
Riding high in his scarlet velvet sedan chair, Inspector Ma arrived with a smug, well-fed grin on his pudgy face, flanked by Second Elder Gu Ba, Apothecary Wang, and Lin Fan.
Because Scar-Lip Ma and the twelve masked thugs hadn’t returned to the tavern after midnight. Inspector Ma and Second Elder Gu Ba assumed the squad had simply gone out drinking at a county. Brothel after finishing the job—or that Gu Changsheng was hiding behind closed doors too ashamed to come out!
Stepping down from his sedan chair, Inspector Ma cleared his throat pompously and rapped his ivory clipboard against the closed clinic door.
“It is twelve o’clock noon!” Inspector Ma shouted so all five hundred spectators could hear. “Gu Changsheng!
Qin Wan’er!
Open your doors and present five hundred sealed bottles of Grade-One Blood-Healing Medicine for inspection—or forfeit this clinic and pay your wager on the spot!”
Behind him, Lin Fan folded his arms and sneered loudly to the crowd:.
“Neighbors, don’t wait for a miracle! Yesterday my uncle’s informants saw Gu Changsheng digging wild dandelions out of a muddy ditch! Even if he boiled a thousand bowls of dandelion weeds, it wouldn’t heal a paper cut!”
CREEEEAK—BANG!
Before Lin Fan’s laugh could fade, the double red wooden doors of the clinic swung wide open!
Above the doorway, the cracked old sign had been replaced by a gleaming, gold-lettered cedar plaque that read:.
[ Gu Family Peace Pharmacy — Flaw-Free Medicine for Ten Coppers ]
Standing behind a long, polished counter set right across the open storefront were Gu Changsheng in a crisp dark robe. Rank 2 Alchemist Qin Wan’er in a spotless pale-blue robe, Grandpa Fu holding his black-iron abacus. Eight-year-old Gu Nian in his yellow bunny smock.
Arrayed across the counter in twenty tall, sparkling crystal apothecary jars were two thousand translucent, golden-amber fruit gummies shaped like chubby little bears!
The moment the wooden doors opened, a wave of warm, mouth-watering honey-orange and three-hundred-year medicinal fragrance rolled out across the street, making five hundred townsfolk inhale deeply in unison.
“Five hundred doses?” Gu Changsheng smiled warmly, resting one hand on the center crystal jar. “Inspector Ma, you set the bar far too low for a Rank 2 Alchemist.
Sitting on this counter right now are two thousand individual doses of our Gu Family Peace Pharmacy’s new signature medicine—[Rank 1 Perfection: Jade-Dew Healing Fruit Gummies]!”
Inspector Ma blinked at the twenty crystal jars of golden gummy bears, and then burst into a shrill, mocking laugh.
“Bwahaha! Fruit gummies shaped like little bears?!” Inspector Ma pointed a pudgy finger at the jars and turned to the crowd of five hundred townsfolk.
“Everyone look!
Yesterday I heard Gu Changsheng bought ten jars of maltose sugar from East Street! Because he couldn’t buy raw herbs, he boiled maltose sugar with ditch dandelions into children’s candy and is trying to pass off street sweets as Grade-One Blood-Healing Medicine!”
“Shameless fraud!” Second Elder Gu Ba roared, pointing a trembling finger at Gu Changsheng. “Trying to fool a Prefecture Guild Inspector with sugar bears?!
Guards, tear down their sign and lock the doors!”
“Wait a minute, Inspector Ma,” Gu Changsheng said calmly, raising two fingers. “Before you call our medicine fake candy without even testing it. Why don’t you explain why your own nephew.
Eleven masked thugs climbed onto our pharmacy roof at midnight with six jugs of turpentine lamp oil to burn these exact jars of candy?”
Inspector Ma’s smile froze stiff on his face. “W-what nonsense are you spouting?! I don’t know anything about midnight thugs!”
“Grandpa Fu, Nian’er,” Gu Changsheng called out cheerfully. “Bring out our midnight volunteer choir!”
Clatter-thump!
The side courtyard gate swung open, and eight-year-old Gu Nian marched out holding his [Fused Heavy-Elastic Slingshot] like a little drill sergeant.
Right behind him stumbled twelve burly men tied together at the waist—led by none other than Scar-Lip Ma!
Earlier that morning, after receiving his midnight settlement of +850 DP. Gu Changsheng had spent 50 DP in [Dad’s Care-Package Upgrade Box] to fuse twelve leftover yards of. Bright pink cloth with a truth-compelling discipline array into twelve [Rank 1 Pink “I Love Chores” Confession Aprons].
Every single one of the twelve tough guild guards and Second Branch thugs was now wearing a frilly, bright-pink apron stitched with smiling yellow flowers across his chest! Worse still, because the apron’s disciplinary array triggered ten-times itching powder whenever the wearer tried to tell a lie. Scar-Lip Ma ran out into the center of the street holding up a rectangular green jade token over his head and bawling at the top of his lungs:.
“Uncle! Inspector Ma! Save me!
Look, it’s your personal Prefecture Alchemist Guild Authority Token!” Scar-Lip Ma sobbed, scratching his chest frantically in his frilly pink apron. “Last night at the Golden-Cup Tavern, you and Second Elder Gu Ba gave me this jade token and fifty silver taels!
You ordered the twelve of us to pour six jugs of lamp oil through Doctor Qin’s skylight at midnight and burn her medicine to ash so she would lose the wager today!”
GASP!
Five hundred townsfolk on Willow-West Street sucked in a collective breath of outrage!
“What?! That’s Scar-Lip Ma, the captain of Inspector Ma’s own guild guards!”
“And that’s Inspector Ma’s personal jade token! Look at the gold tassel—he had it hanging on his belt yesterday morning!”
“So Inspector Ma and Second Elder Gu Ba rigged the audit, blocked all the herbs in town, AND sent twelve arsonists at midnight to burn Doctor Qin’s shop down?!”
Inspector Ma’s face turned from red to green to deathly purple as his own nephew waved his personal Guild Token in front of five hundred witnesses!
“Shut up! He’s delirious! Even if—even if those fools trespassed at midnight, that still doesn’t prove your sugar bears are real Grade-One Blood-Healing Medicine!”
Inspector Ma shrieked in desperate panic, trying to salvage his position.
“Candy can’t heal martial wounds!”
“Is that so?”
Gu Changsheng picked up a pair of clean bamboo tongs, lifted a single sparkling golden [Jade-Dew Healing Gummy Bear] out of the crystal jar, and looked out into the front row of the crowd.
Standing right beside Blacksmith Zhao was Hunter Captain Zhao Tie—a veteran Rank 1 Mid mountain hunter who had returned from the North Ridge two days ago with a deep. Six-inch black-bear claw gash across his left shoulder and forearm. Because Second Elder Gu Ba’s Pill Hall demanded six silver taels for a single bottle of Grade-One Blood-Healing Powder, Hunter Captain Zhao hadn’t been able to afford treatment.
His wound was already red, swollen, and oozing pus under his rolled-up sleeve.
“Captain Zhao,” Gu Changsheng called out warmly, holding out the golden gummy bear on a small porcelain dish. “Everyone in Frost-Pine Town knows you took a black-bear claw to the arm on the ridge two days ago. How much does Second Elder Gu Ba’s Central Street Pill Hall charge for one bottle of Grade-One Blood-Healing Powder?”
“Six silver taels!” Hunter Captain Zhao spat bitterly, rolling up his blood-stained sleeve so the whole street could see the angry, six-inch festering gash across his muscle. “That’s two months of winter hunting income for a bottle of bitter red powder that takes five days just to scab over!”
“At our Gu Family Peace Pharmacy, one [Jade-Dew Healing Fruit Gummy] costs ten copper coins—one-sixtieth of their price,” Gu Changsheng said clearly. Placing the golden gummy bear into Captain Zhao’s rough palm while dropping ten copper coins from his own sleeve into Grandpa Fu’s collection bowl as a free sample. “Eat it in front of all five hundred neighbors and Inspector Ma, Captain Zhao.
Let everyone see whether our pharmacy sells fake candy or flaw-free medicine!”
Hunter Captain Zhao didn’t hesitate. He tossed the sparkling golden bear into his mouth, chewed twice, and swallowed.
“Hey, it tastes like sweet wildflower honey and fresh oranges!” Captain Zhao blinked in surprise.
One second passed. Two seconds. Three seconds.
In front of five hundred unblinking pairs of eyes—and right in front of Inspector Ma, Second Elder Gu Ba. Lin Fan—a warm golden halo of pure life-vitality lit up beneath the skin of Captain Zhao’s injured left arm!
Sizzle... knit!
Without a drop of pus or a single flinch of pain, the necrotic purple swelling around the six-inch bear-claw wound vanished like mist under the morning sun. Before Inspector Ma could even count to ten, the deep, gaping flesh wound pulled itself closed, fresh pink skin sealed seamlessly from elbow to shoulder. The dried scabs flaked off onto the snow, leaving Captain Zhao’s arm completely whole, unscarred, and overflowing with vigorous Blood Qi!
Dead silence gripped Willow-West Street for three heartbeats.
Hunter Captain Zhao stared at his smooth, unscarred forearm. He clenched his fist and swung his left arm in three hard circles without a trace of pain—and then let out a thunderous roar that shook the icicles off the eaves:.
“IT HEALED IN TEN SECONDS FLAT! NOT EVEN A SCAR!”
Captain Zhao spun around, his eyes blazing with fury as he pointed an accusing finger straight at Second Elder Gu Ba and Inspector Ma:.
“For ten years, the Second Branch Pill Hall charged us poor hunters six silver taels for bitter sawdust powder that barely stopped bleeding. Patriarch Gu and Doctor Qin sell divine healing medicine that cures a bear-claw gash in ten seconds for TEN COPPER COINS?! And you corrupt dogs tried to burn their clinic down at midnight?!”
“TEN COPPERS FOR DIVINE MEDICINE?!”
“Give me ten gummies! My old father’s leg ulcer has been bleeding all winter!”
“I want twenty! My three brothers work at the stone quarry and cut their hands every week! At ten coppers a bear, our whole crew can carry divine life-saving medicine in our pockets!”
“Wait until we deal with these crooks first! Surround that corrupt Guild Inspector and Second Elder Gu Ba! Don’t let them run without honoring the three-thousand-silver wager!”
Out in the street, Blacksmith Zhao held his heavy iron forging hammer across his chest like a gate bar. Hunter Captain Zhao Tie and thirty burly mountain hunters linked arms to form an impenetrable human wall around Inspector Ma’s scarlet velvet sedan chair.
Behind the sedan chair, Lin Fan tried to pull his grey scholar’s collar up over his ears. Inch quietly backward toward a side alley—only for Widow Zhang and four hefty vegetable wives to block his path with their wooden carrying poles!
“Going somewhere, Young Master Lin?!” Widow Zhang barked, jabbing the end of her carrying pole right in front of Lin Fan’s toes. “Yesterday morning you tried to poison Doctor Qin’s teacup, and five minutes ago you were laughing that Patriarch Gu only boiled ditch weeds!
Stay right here and watch your uncle hand over the Central Street Pill Hall!”
[ DING! PUBLIC LANDSLIDE VICTORY — THE GUMMY STAMPEDE! ]
* Event : 500 Townsfolk witness 10-second flaw-free healing.
& midnight arson confession!
* Immediate DP : +850 DP (Midnight) - 50 DP (Aprons) + 200 DP Bonus.
= 1,810 DP Current Balance!
* Daily Income : +1,350 DP/day -> +1,750 DP/day!
Like an unstoppable tidal wave, five hundred furious hunters, blacksmiths, and townsfolk surged forward at once, completely surrounding Inspector Ma’s scarlet sedan chair and blocking every inch of the street!