Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Dehui Medical Hall had a frontage of three storefronts, much wider than the two neighboring shops.

The black-lacquered sign bearing the characters "Dehui" was personally inscribed by Emperor Wenzong, in recognition of the ancestral formula from Zhou Fuqing's family that had helped suppress a plague in Fengyu County.

Every three months, the sign was taken down for cleaning and waxing, and after nearly a century, the sign still looked brand new.

Rumor had it that a wandering miracle physician had delivered the formula to the shop, wanting to present it to the emperor through Dehui, the imperial court's supplier, for the good of the people of Great Wei.

But after the emperor honored Dehui, the wandering physician suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Some said the living bodhisattva had done good deeds without wanting credit, while others claimed Dehui's boss had secretly silenced the physician to take all the credit and be remembered for generations.

A few months later, even the murder rumors faded, as those who claimed to know the truth were one by one charged with crimes and exiled to the frontier.

In the evening, the shop hands were tidying the medicine cabinets.

A shabby carriage bearing the Imperial Medical Institute's insignia rattled to a stop out front. The staff exchanged glances and hurried to the back courtyard to fetch the second manager to greet the guests.

Since the head manager was still at home recovering from serious injuries, the acting manager was Zhou Feng, a junior member of the Zhou family.

He had never met Shen Lian before, but given the huge uproar recently—which had so enraged family patriarch Zhou Fuqing that he'd fallen seriously ill—Zhou Feng had memorized Shen Lian's face from his portrait. The moment he saw him in person, he recognized him right away.

"Well, well, what brings Lord Shen to our door?" Zhou Feng figured this guy's orders had been rejected, and now even his medicine supply had been cut off. He must have come to beg for mercy, hoping to sell the formula for that so-called White Immortal Powder to Dehui at a rock-bottom price.

And there was an old man beside him who didn't look like his father—had he dragged his grandpa along to play the sympathy card? Begging Dehui to let him off the hook?

He'd refused the easy way, and now he wanted the hard way. Too late to sell the formula now.

This guy needed to get on his knees and kowtow.

Zhou Feng gloated smugly: "Come to hawk your miracle medicine at our humble shop again? Your White Immortal Powder is so remarkable—they say it brought a foreign envoy back from the dead at the Thousand Autumn Feast. Surely the whole city must be fighting to buy it. Why would you need to come looking for buyers at our humble shop?"

Shen Lian kept his cool and didn't respond. Before coming, Zhao Canghai had reminded him that once at the shop, he should let Lord Zhao do all the talking.

If Lord Zhao didn't ask him anything, Shen Lian shouldn't say a word.

After a brief silence, Zhao Canghai had already sized up everyone in the room.

He didn't respond to the young man's taunts, but spoke in a calm, measured tone: "Where is your boss? Have him come out and discuss business with me."

Lacking the experience and authority of the head manager or the boss, Zhou Feng's first reaction wasn't anger—he was actually cowed by the old man's presence.

Zhao Canghai's expression carried the ease of someone who'd weathered decades in officialdom, an unspoken authority ordinary folks couldn't fake.

Zhou Feng quickly dropped his sneer and clasped his hands in greeting with a smile: "And this old gentleman is?"

Zhao Canghai clasped his hands behind his back and lifted his chin: "I've come to get some answers on behalf of my junior."

Hearing this, Zhou Feng breathed a sigh of relief.

His junior? Sounded like Shen Lian really had dragged his grandpa along to play the fool?

His fake smile disappeared instantly. Zhou Feng leaned on the edge of the counter: "Old man, seeing as you're up there in years, I'll give you some face. This is Dehui—we supply the imperial pharmacy. If you want to throw your weight around, go do it in your own home. Our boss isn't someone just anybody can see."

"Is that so?" Zhao Canghai squinted at the manager: "If you can't wait for next season's imperial procurement order, then don't bother coming to see us 'just anybody' either. Lord Shen, let's go."

Zhou Feng's face went stiff.

"Wait! Please, sir, stay!" He hurried forward to block their way: "This junior was rude—please don't be angry. This Lord Shen previously went back on his word and tanked a deal, so our boss was pretty upset and told me not to receive anyone from the Shen family. If you're not an elder of the Shen family, we'll naturally treat you with proper respect."

Zhao Canghai snorted with a laugh: "Your Master Zhou does big business, so naturally he doesn't take the Imperial Medical Institute seriously."

"I wouldn't dare! I wouldn't dare!" Zhou Feng bowed repeatedly, guessing that this old man must be a high official of the Imperial Medical Institute, or he wouldn't dare threaten Dehui with the imperial court.

Zhao Canghai's threats were deliberately vague, meant to conflate Shen Lian's private medicine purchases with imperial procurement, so that the capital's medicine shops wouldn't dare be negligent.

Anyone who had spent time in the palace knew that the clearer you showed your hand, the more you revealed your weak points to your enemies. The key was to be half-truth, half-bluff, borrowing the power of forces even more fearsome than your opponent.

Only after Zhou Feng was serving tea and seats like an obedient grandson did Zhao Canghai further reveal his identity: "I had thought that what medicines the Imperial Medical Institute should buy, and from whom, was my decision as Director. I didn't expect it to depend on your goodwill."

Zhou Feng trembled all over.

Director?

This old man was Lord Cui—Cui Hongjin?

Wasn't Shen Lian just a lowly 8th-rank medical officer at the institute? How could he bring the Director himself to back him up?

Though the Director of the Imperial Medical Institute wasn't a high-ranking official, he held veto power over imperial procurement.

If things truly turned ugly, it would be quite troublesome.

Eunuch Li could indeed maneuver civil officials, but trying to trip up an Imperial Medical Institute officer before the emperor would be extremely awkward, with risks outweighing any gains.

But this Cui Hongjin had received no small amount of bribes over the years—why would he openly take sides against the Zhou family for a mere 8th-rank young imperial physician?

Zhou Feng's expression gradually turned suspicious, and he deliberately tested: "So it's Director Cui in person! This junior has been terribly remiss—please forgive me, my lord!"

"Is the Imperial Medical Institute only Cui Hongjin in your eyes?" Zhao Canghai sneered: "You think you can cut off Shen Lian's medicine supplies? The decoctions brewed in the institute's pharmacy go straight to the imperial harem, to the consorts and even His Majesty himself. If work must now wait on your Master Zhou's gracious approval, I suppose we'll just have to ask the masters to wait patiently."

Zhou Feng trembled, immediately dropping to his knees in a cold sweat: "My lord, you exaggerate! Lord Shen never said he was purchasing for the imperial court!"

The old man's words had just pinned the grave crimes of delaying imperial medicine and interfering with court affairs onto Dehui, and Zhou Feng was too terrified to guess his identity—he only scrambled to clear himself of blame.

"Lord Shen hasn't come to our clinic to discuss business recently either—there must be a misunderstanding! If you two lords need anything, all our stock will be reserved for the imperial court first!"

Zhao Canghai still didn't deny Shen Lian's connection to imperial procurement. Having achieved his goal, he immediately offered a way out and a hint.

The inexperienced second manager promptly found a brush and wrote up a contract, guaranteeing which medicines would be reserved each month, with exact quantities and prices.

In one stroke, Shen Lian secured a binding contract for stable supply at imperial procurement prices.

After the signatures and fingerprints were affixed, Zhao Canghai rose and led the dumbfounded Shen Lian—who had been "observing and learning" the whole time—out the door.

The nearly tearful second manager escorted them all the way to the carriage, even chasing after it for half a li, "with deep affection," to see them off.

In the carriage, Shen Lian stared at the contract in his hands, completely petrified, looking at the old man beside him in shock.

What had just happened?

Every time Shen Lian flashed his 8th-rank Imperial Doctor status, nobody paid him any mind.

But his superior, without even pulling out his official token, had scared the shop manager into behaving like a frightened grandson.

And what Zhao Canghai had said didn't even seem to threaten anything specific about how much the imperial court would order or pay each month.

How did a few words scare him white as a sheet, even getting him to willingly sign a one-sided deal?

Office politics is a whole different ballgame from his academic skills.

"You're truly amazing, Lord Zhao." Shen Lian folded the contract and tucked it into his pocket, starting to lay it on thick for his boss: "You didn't even have to threaten to pull their palace orders, and you still scared them that bad."

Zhao Canghai shook his head and corrected him: "Once you show your cards, folks stop second-guessing you. In the future, when you collect goods, if they start fishing for info with their words, don't go threatening them with palace orders."

Zhao Canghai spent the whole trip schooling this green kid on how to handle all kinds of tests.

Shen Lian was in agony listening to all this.

Only by having it all broken down and spoon-fed to him did he get the real logic of political infighting—it's not just about knowing the rules, but also reading the other guy's intentions, pulling tricks like telling the truth to throw people off, to stack the deck in your favor.

Every single piece of this puzzle was a total blind spot for Shen Lian.

He couldn't even figure out why his boss was so willing to hand him all the secrets.

To prove he'd picked up at least a thing or two, Shen Lian tentatively asked: "Lord Zhao, you wanna get in on my White Immortal Powder?"

Zhao Canghai cracked up laughing at that.

"I'm not after your business." Zhao Canghai confessed: "This world could use more folks like you. If I can watch your back for a while, that's also laying the groundwork for peace down the road."

But Dehui's top dog couldn't stand someone like Shen Lian.

When Zhou Feng gave his report, Zhou Fuqing blew his top.

He'd originally wanted Shen Lian to take a quiet hit, so his business would tank, forcing him to come crawling to Dehui to sell his formula.

But just a few days later, his own clinic was forced to sell to that punk at cost under contract.

Zhou Fuqing passed out after reading the contract.

When he came around, Zhou Fuqing tore into Zhou Feng for being so impatient, then sent people to dig into their palace contacts.

It didn't take long to dig up who Shen Lian's real backer was.

It wasn't the old head of the Imperial Medical Academy, Cui Hongjin.

It was the new head, Zhao Canghai.

The same guy who'd scared the Lord Prefect half to death, after warning Zhou Fuqing over and over not to mess with Shen Lian—and the big shot behind it all was just some head of the Imperial Medical Academy?

Zhou Fuqing had figured Shen Lian's backer was some big-shot eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial.

But it turned out to be just the head honcho of the Imperial Medical Academy.

Was the Prefect of Yingtian just too lazy to deal with Dehui's problem, and making a mountain out of a molehill?

And what was all that about the big shot not letting his identity be known? What a joke—would a third-rank official really be scared of a fifth-rank head of the Imperial Medical Academy?!

Zhou Fuqing was pissed, but he was also thrilled.

Sure, Eunuch Li couldn't get his hooks into the Imperial Medical Academy, but the academy couldn't do squat to Dehui either, especially with Cui Hongjin still there, protecting Dehui's orders while lining his own pockets.

Dehui didn't have to play by the rules of officialdom to take on Zhao Canghai.

Getting Shen Lian fired wasn't easy, but offing him was a piece of cake.

Once the guy was dead, who cared if White Immortal Powder or Black Immortal Powder cut into Dehui's profits?

Now, staring at the contract that had made him look like a fool, Zhou Fuqing smiled.

Just to score a little deal, that punk Shen Lian had shown his "big shot backer."

Dehui could now do whatever the hell it wanted.

-

For a few days, Shen Lian didn't bother going to the market to check out horses.

After all, he wasn't getting new orders anytime soon, and he didn't have the cash to upgrade to a fancy carriage or a big house.

Every day he got home, he'd lock himself in his room and use the leftover wood from his projects to sand and put together little models.

Even though he couldn't officially throw in with Prince Qi yet.

But when his dragon-riding hero needed a hand, he couldn't just sit back and do nothing.

Shen Lian planned to build an upgraded Water Mill himself, give it to Dian Xia, and have Dian Xia find a chance to pass it to Prince Xi, who'd then hand it to Prince Qi—without letting on who made it.

That way, Prince Qi would be super grateful for the model, but since he couldn't find the genius behind it, he'd keep obsessing over the mysterious Shen Lian.

Shen Lian could stay in the shadows, helping his hero's cause while keeping his own skin safe.

Once his hero became Crown Prince, Shen Lian would pull out the matching mini mill, drop his disguise, and "claim kinship by blood" with Prince Qi, saying he'd always wanted to swear loyalty but got blocked by bad guys, and had fought tooth and nail to help out even a little.

His hero would definitely tear up, give him a huge raise, and even name the water mill after him, making him famous forever.

Shen Lian grinned to himself as he sawed away.