Surrounded by five hundred furious hunters, blacksmiths, and woodcutters waving iron hammers and carrying poles, Inspector Ma felt his legs turn to cold jelly inside his green Guild robes.
His ten guild guards were already tied up in the middle of the street wearing bright pink chore aprons and confessing every detail of last night’s arson plot at the top of their lungs. Worse still, Qin Wan’er was a genuine twenty-four-year-old Rank 2 Alchemist who had just produced two thousand doses of flaw-free healing medicine five times stronger than anything in the Prefecture Guild’s own storehouses!
If Qin Wan’er and Gu Changsheng sent an official complaint to the Prefecture Lord. The Grand Guild Master in Azure-Cloud City—attaching Inspector Ma’s personal jade token recovered from an arson scene—he wouldn’t just lose his inspector’s badge. He would be stripped of his cultivation and thrown into the Prefecture dungeon for twenty years!
“Inspector Ma! Do something!” Second Elder Gu Ba shouted, clutching Inspector Ma’s green sleeve in panic as Blacksmith Zhao and Hunter Captain Zhao closed in.
“You’re a Rank 2 official!
Order these commoners to step back!”
Inspector Ma looked at Second Elder Gu Ba’s swollen, toothless face, and thirty years of bureaucratic survival instinct exploded into sheer, desperate rage.
SLAP!
Inspector Ma raised his chubby right hand and delivered a full-strength Rank 2 Early open-palm slap squarely across. Second Elder Gu Ba’s right cheek—matching the swollen left side that Gu Changsheng had whipped two days ago!
“You old bastard Gu Ba!” Inspector Ma roared at the top of his lungs, spinning on his heel to throw his uncle-in-bribery straight under the cart wheels. “You lied to this Inspector!
You told me the Hundred-Herb Clinic was selling fake herbs, and you tricked my foolish nephew into sneaking onto their roof at midnight!
How dare you try to corrupt an upright official of the Azure-Cloud Prefecture Alchemist Guild?!”
Second Elder Gu Ba spun half a circle in the snow, clutching both swollen cheeks in stunned disbelief. “Inspector Ma, you took my five hundred silver—”
SLAP!
Inspector Ma slapped him a second time before Gu Ba could finish the sentence, then practically sprinted up the steps of the Gu Family Peace Pharmacy with cold sweat pouring down his waxed mustache.
Bowing ninety degrees at the waist in front of Gu Changsheng and Qin Wan’er. Inspector Ma pulled a gold-trimmed Grade-A Prefecture Pharmacy License and three hundred silver taels in bank notes out of his robe with trembling hands.
“Alchemist Qin! Senior Partner Gu!” Inspector Ma babbled, stamping his bronze seal onto the Grade-A License three times in a row.
“Those [Jade-Dew Healing Fruit Gummies] are nothing short of a miracle—Grade-One Perfection with zero toxin!
I hereby award the Gu Family Peace Pharmacy the Prefecture Guild’s highest Grade-A Tax-Exempt License on the spot, along with three hundred silver taels in official audit compensation!”
He spun around on the porch and pointed a shaking finger down at Second Elder Gu Ba.
“And in accordance with the mutual wager witnessed by five hundred citizens—and. Punishment for filing a malicious false report and imposing an illegal herb embargo—Second Elder Gu Ba must hand. Over the title deed to the Central Street Pill Hall and all four attached herb warehouses right now.
Or I will personally escort him to the Prefecture Magistrate’s prison in chains!”
Trapped between five hundred angry townsfolk and a terrified Rank 2 Guild Inspector desperate to save his own skin, Second Elder Gu Ba didn’t have a single road of retreat left.
With tears of blood in his eyes and Lin Fan hiding silently behind a mule cart with his head down, Second Elder Gu Ba reached into his inner vest. Pulled out the red-seal property deed to the Central Street Pill Hall—the single most profitable business controlled by the Gu Clan Second Branch—and slapped his bloody thumbprint onto the transfer line!
Grandpa Fu stepped forward with a beaming smile, inspected the official seal on the Central Street Pill Hall deed, pocketed the three hundred silver taels of audit damages. Clicked his black-iron abacus with a triumphant flourish.
“Deed verified, Young Master, Miss Wan’er! The Central Street Pill Hall and four thousand catties of stored winter herbs now belong to our Gu Family Peace Pharmacy!”
“Hooray! The Second Branch’s extortion shop is dead! Long live Patriarch Gu and Auntie Qin!”
Five hundred townsfolk threw their fur hats into the air, and an orderly line three blocks long immediately formed down Willow-West Street as woodcutters, hunters. Mothers with sick children stepped up to buy the ten-copper golden healing gummies!
To celebrate the grand opening of the Gu Family Peace Pharmacy, Gu Changsheng and Qin Wan’er set out four giant cauldrons of hot, sweet ginger-jujube tea at the clinic entrance. Giving every single person in line a free steaming bowl to warm their hands while Grandpa Fu and the twelve pink-aproned thugs swept the snow off the entire street.
All afternoon, from noon until the winter sun sank behind the western ridge in a blaze of orange and purple, golden system notifications chimed continuously inside Gu Changsheng’s mind like a joyful wind chime.
Every hunter whose old wound closed in ten seconds, every grandmother whose winter cough eased after a free bowl of ginger tea. Every child who giggled while chewing a honey-orange gummy bear saw their personal Warmth Index toward Gu Changsheng and his household soar past the 60/100 threshold!
Over on Central Street, Grandpa Fu led a team of hired carpenters and the twelve repentant pink-aproned guild guards to take formal possession of the three-story Pill Hall. Before mid-afternoon, the dusty old “Gu Clan Second Branch Pill Hall” plaque was hauled down and replaced with a gleaming banner reading [Gu Family Peace Pharmacy — Central Street Main Branch].
Inside the Pill Hall’s four underground storehouses, Auntie Qin found over four thousand catties of premium winter herbs that Second Elder Gu Ba had hoarded to drive up prices—including hundred-year blood-lotus, snow-ginseng, and spirit-licorice! Instead of hoarding them, Gu Changsheng and Auntie Qin immediately lowered the price of every single common medicine in the shop by eighty percent. Drawing cheers that could be heard all the way to the town gates.
Meanwhile, Inspector Ma didn’t even dare stay in Frost-Pine Town for dinner. After leaving behind his three hundred silver taels of audit compensation and signing a written apology promising never to set foot in Willow-West Street again. The disgraced Guild Inspector climbed into his sedan chair and fled back toward Azure-Cloud Prefecture City before the sun went down.
By the time the red pharmacy lanterns were lit at dusk and the last customer walked home smiling. Over eight hundred grateful citizens of Frost-Pine Town had bound their goodwill to the Gu Family Peace Pharmacy!
Inside the warm Third Branch dining room next door, the whole family gathered around the big pine table. A huge earthenware pot of braised pork belly noodles was bubbling gently over a portable brazier.
Sitting beside Auntie Qin in his yellow bunny smock, eight-year-old Gu Nian finished his second big bowl of braised pork noodles, set his chopsticks down neatly. Let out a soft, golden breath of pure martial vitality.
HUMMM—POP!
Nourished by the morning’s three-hundred-year ginseng dumplings, the afternoon’s joyful work at the pharmacy counter. The surging spiritual feedback of the household’s prosperity, the Innate Chaos Demon Bone inside Gu Nian’s spine rang like a clear temple bell!
In a single smooth step, eight-year-old Gu Nian advanced cleanly from Rank 1 Early Martial into Rank 1. Mid Martial—carrying a full eight hundred pounds of base martial strength plus three hundred pounds of innate Chaos-Bone force!
“Dad! Auntie Qin! Grandpa Fu!”
Gu Nian held up his small fist with sparkling black-gold eyes.
“My bones just popped again! I’m Rank 1 Mid now, just like Grandpa Fu!”
“Eight years old and already Rank 1 Mid!” Auntie Qin gasped in genuine amazement, ruffling the boy’s hair affectionately. “Even the Prefecture Lord’s eldest son didn’t reach Rank 1 Mid until he was thirteen!”
Gu Changsheng smiled warmly, reached into the Upgrade Box’s reward slot, and pulled out a second glowing [Little Red Flower Merit Sticker (+5% Cultivation Speed)].
He pinned the second bright red cloth flower right beside the first one on the front pocket of Gu Nian’s yellow smock—bringing the boy’s passive cultivation speed bonus to a full +10%!
“One Little Red Flower for defending our window yesterday morning, and a second Little Red Flower for protecting Auntie Qin’s roof with your slingshot at midnight,” Gu Changsheng said, patting his son’s small shoulder. “Keep this up, Nian’er, and you’ll outgrow your old man before spring.”
Gu Nian looked down at the two glowing red flowers side by side on his chest. He tried hard to keep a serious, grown-up martial artist face, but the corners of his mouth curled all the way up to his ears as he carefully touched the soft petals.
“Auntie Qin, Grandpa Fu, look,” Gu Nian whispered proudly, turning his chest slightly so the candlelight caught both red cloth flowers. “I have two Little Red Flowers now. When I get ten of them, Dad says we can frame a big honor chart on the parlor wall.”
“Then Auntie Qin will make sure to buy the best cedar frame in town for our Nian’er,” Qin Wan’er said warmly, ladling another spoonful of rich braised pork broth into the boy’s bowl.
Sitting in this cozy dining room with the gentle warmth of the Dragon-Stove rising through the slate floor tiles. Listening to Grandpa Fu click his abacus over the day’s accounts. Gu Changsheng calmly peeled a roasted chestnut for his son, Qin Wan’er felt a sense of peace and belonging she hadn’t felt in years.
For the first time since her father died, she wasn’t fighting the winter wind alone—she had a real family around the table.
[ DING! STAGE 2 GRAND SETTLEMENT — PEACE PHARMACY ESTABLISHED! ]
* Household Allies :.
- Child #1: Gu Nian (Rank 1 Mid | Warmth: 98/100 | Darkening: 15%)
[2x Little Red Flowers (+10% Speed) | 10x Redeemed Bonus!]
- Ally #1 : Grandpa Fu (Rank 1 Mid | Warmth: 100/100)
- Ally #2 : Qin Wan’er / Auntie Qin (Rank 2 Early | Warmth: 92/100)
* Grateful Townsfolk (60+ Warmth): 820 Citizens!
* Stage 2 Milestone Bonus : +300 DP! (Current Balance: 2,110 DP)
* New Total Daily Income : +1,750 DP/day -> +2,200 DP/day!
Two thousand one hundred and ten Dad Points in the bank, and two thousand two hundred DP rolling in every single day!
Just as Grandpa Fu stood up to pour everyone a cup of hot post-dinner hawthorn tea, however, an urgent, polite knocking sounded at the Third Branch courtyard gate.
Knock, knock, knock!
“Patriarch Gu! Alchemist Qin! Forgive this old man for intruding during your dinner!”
Grandpa Fu opened the door to reveal a plump, round-faced man in a wealthy sable-fur coat who was limping slightly on a wooden cane and holding a gold-embossed scarlet invitation envelope in both hands.
It was Manager Qian Fugui—Boss Qian’s older brother and the chief manager of the Frost-Pine Treasure Auction House!
“Manager Qian?” Gu Changsheng invited the limping manager inside toward the warm floor tiles and poured him a cup of hot tea. “What brings the head of the Frost-Pine Auction House to our alley after dark?”
Manager Qian winced as the winter dampness made his left knee ache, then bowed respectfully to Gu Changsheng and Rank 2 Alchemist Qin Wan’er.
“Patriarch Gu, tomorrow morning at nine o’clock is our Frost-Pine Annual Winter Treasure Auction,” Manager Qian said in a low, confidential voice, handing over the gold-embossed VIP invitation. “Because you and Alchemist Qin took over the Central Street Pill Hall today, I came personally to deliver the VIP Box #1 pass—and to give you a neighborly warning.”
Manager Qian glanced toward the door and lowered his voice another notch.
“Half an hour ago, Second Elder Gu Ba and his nephew-in-law Lin Fan went to the underground Black-Shark Loan House. Mortgaged the Second Branch’s last ancestral farmland deeds for ten thousand silver taels in cash! Stranger still, right after getting the loan, Lin Fan came sneaking around our auction house’s back warehouse asking.
About Lot #88—which is just a pile of unappraised scrap iron we dug out of an old mountain ruin! I don’t know what scheme they are cooking up for tomorrow’s auction, Patriarch Gu, so please be on your guard!”