Chapter 43

Chapter 43

As the saying goes: "A poor man in the city has no visitors; a rich man in the mountains has distant relatives."

Shen Lian wasn't even truly rich yet, and already relatives were showing up at his door every few days.

The relatives often brought gifts of cured meat and pickled cabbage, fussed over his family, and even offered to find someone for his widowed father to remarry.

First, the matter of Shen Lian treating the foreign envoy and being promoted with rewards had already made the rounds in the clan thanks to his third uncle's family.

Second, the news that Dehui Medical Hall had offered a whopping five hundred taels to buy Shen Lian's prescription was the talk of the clan.

But the relatives all played it cool, stopping by several times without tipping their hand, acting like they'd always been deeply concerned about Shen Lian's family.

It wasn't until that evening that the third uncle's family, who had sent six slabs of pork belly in a row, finally got down to business.

"I always knew Lian'er would amount to something big," the third uncle said. "After his mother passed, we all felt sorry for him, being so young, so we often had him over to look after him. And before we knew it, he's all grown up."

The third uncle was, after all, a sixth-rank official in the Court of State Ceremonies—the most successful man in the whole clan—and the moment he opened his mouth, he grabbed the moral high ground.

This wasn't just hot air, for Shen Lian had shown remarkable talent for scholarship since childhood, and the third uncle had bet the boy had some official luck in his future.

The third aunt had indeed tried several times to persuade Shen's father to let them adopt the boy, saying she couldn't stand to see such a young child grow up without a mother's care.

After Shen's father politely said no, he did send the boy over to the third brother's house for a few days, but that was nowhere near "often."

The third aunt put on a very warm front toward Shen Lian, so much so that for a long time, Shen Lian hated hearing Shen Ao badmouth the third uncle's family.

Having never known a mother's love before or after his rebirth, Shen Lian simply couldn't tell genuine from fake.

It wasn't until last time, when the third uncle finally showed his cards, asking Shen Lian to go to the higher-ups at the Imperial Medical Academy to drum up business for their family pharmacy, that Shen Lian finally believed this family was fattening him up for the kill.

This time, the third uncle went through all his rhetorical flourishes and finally blurted out: "Why not sell that miracle medicine in our own family's shop?"

Shen Lian didn't show a hint of guilt or embarrassment.

While Shen's father and Shen Ao were both sweating bullets, at a complete loss for how to explain.

"There are a lot of reasons, but mainly three," Shen Lian replied expressionlessly. "First, the Shen family pharmacy is in a remote spot. Second, most of the customers are local folks who can't afford pricey medicine. Third, the Shen family shops have seven shareholders total, which makes the bookkeeping a real headache. I'm already swamped at the Imperial Medical Academy and don't have time to worry about sales and splitting the profits. For my own peace of mind, Xinglin Hall is the best fit."

The whole table went quiet.

They hadn't expected that when relatives tried to play the family card, Shen Lian's answer would be such a cold, calculated play for pure self-interest.

Being that brutally honest meant he simply didn't give a damn about saving face anymore.

The third uncle and third aunt were momentarily speechless, not knowing how to call him an ungrateful brat.

After a long pause, the third aunt finally got her bearings, pulled out a handkerchief, and started crying about how the pharmacy business was going downhill, and how she never expected that now that their own child had made it big, he'd just refuse to help.

Shen Lian, with a memory that could pinpoint dates to the exact year, month, and day, brought up the time when his own family was being hounded by debt collectors at their poorest, when his father drank only the watery broth from the porridge and gave the rice to the two kids.

Back then, the pharmacy business was still booming, and yet his father hadn't been able to borrow a single coin of emergency money from any of the bosses.

Now, even if the pharmacy business was doing poorly, it still brought in three to five taels in dividends each month—nowhere near the point of "dying."

Shen Lian suggested that if the third uncle couldn't afford rice, he was welcome to come to their house for a bailout.

Shen's father and Shen Ao were both on edge and secretly thrilled.

It had to be said that although their second kid was always tactless with people, once he got a matter straight in his head, he could argue with utter ruthlessness and zero humanity—leaving nothing but pure logic.

Once an opponent was dragged out of the world of human sentiment and social niceties into the cold, dry world of logic, Shen Lian was unstoppable.

Shen's father and Shen Ao, after all, were the third uncle's subordinates at the Court of State Ceremonies and didn't dare talk to him like that.

Shen Lian was different—the Imperial Medical Academy wasn't under the third uncle's thumb, and whether his dad and brother kept their jobs wasn't Shen Lian's problem, so when arguing, he naturally showed no mercy to family.

After the exchange of barbs, even the usually slick, smiling third uncle had reached his limit and, rare for him, dropped a harsh word: "Let's hope Second Brother never runs into another crisis in his life."

With that, he went quiet and coldly picked at his food.

Shen's father and Shen Ao, whose jobs were hanging by a thread, had mixed feelings.

Although Shen Lian's defiance felt great, after the satisfaction came the reality of everyday life.

The White Immortal Powder hadn't actually sold much, and the family was far from being able to relax about food and clothing.

If father and son both lost their jobs at the Court of State Ceremonies, they couldn't exactly all live off Shen Lian's measly salary of a tael or two, could they?

Just as they were wondering how to ease the tension, the third uncle's son turned to Shen Lian and said, "Second cousin, you ready for the willow-shooting banquet at the end of the month? The prizes for wrestling and flag-grabbing are both two taels of silver this time. You got the guts to compete?"

Shen Lian's eyes lit up: "Are the prizes for those two events two taels each, or two taels combined?"

Shen's father and Shen Ao covered their faces...

This little money-grubber of a youngest kid!

"One tael each for the two events, two taels combined," the cousin said. "The top prize for cuju is also one tael, but it gets split among a lot of people, and I doubt anyone would want you on their team. So? You still got the guts to go for wrestling and flag-grabbing?"

Shen Lian raised an eyebrow: "Why wouldn't I? The prize money is secondary—mainly, I'm a guy who likes sports."

Shen's father and Shen Ao: ...

He's practically drooling, this second kid!

The cousin shook his head with a smug look and said, "Well, you'd better watch out then. Shen Zhao and a few of the older cousins have hired a real military licentiate to back them up. If you want to go up there and make a fool of yourself like you did in previous years, you'd better stock up on plenty of that miracle medicine of yours."

Shen Lian: ...

Shen Ao picked up the thread: "Wrestling and flag-grabbing are my thing every year. My brother prefers archery."

The cousin grinned and leaned in to needle Shen Lian: "Not getting cold feet, are you?"

Shen Lian smiled politely: "It's still early. We'll see when the time comes. You'd better watch your own back."

What if Dian Xia tagged along to the willow-shooting banquet just to mooch a free meal?

Dian Xia was someone obsessed with free food.

And he was a tough fighter—he should be good at wrestling too.

Dian Xia was a martial artist who had once scared off a whole gang of Dehui Medical Hall's hired thugs!

After the third uncle's family left, Shen's father and Shen Ao silently agreed not to tell Shen Lian to watch his attitude with relatives.

After all, this time the third uncle's goal was to get a piece of Shen Lian's White Immortal Powder business, and the call was Shen Lian's to make.

Old Master Shen and Shen Ao were the type to swallow their pride and play dumb when things went wrong, but not the second son.

The second son was destined for great things; the old man and his eldest would rather die than hold him back.

Besides, Shen Lian had refused to sell the formula cheaply even to Dehui for five hundred taels, so how could he let a bunch of snobbish relatives get one over on him?

The next day was finally his day off. Shen Lian went to the agreed-upon tavern to meet Lu Huaizhi and a few of his buddies from the garrison.

It was a very popular tavern in the capital, but the food was cheap. When Lu Huaizhi had invited him, he'd said it was just a small gathering of the guys, and Shen Lian wouldn't be picking up the tab—he just needed to show up. But Shen Lian was determined to find a chance to treat them to a meal as a thank-you.

When he got to the private room, there was one extra person compared to what was agreed.

Lu Huaizhi had brought along a subordinate with an injured arm on purpose. He opened a bottle of the White Immortal Powder Shen Lian had given him, peeled back the cotton gauze in front of everyone, and sprinkled the powder onto the wound that was still open.

Since the stitched knife wound was only slightly oozing and not bleeding, the powder didn't do anything visibly miraculous.

The guys who were ready to hype it up just let out an awkward "wow" or two and said, "Not bad, we'll definitely hit you up, Lord Shen, if we need any in the future."

Lu Huaizhi jumped in to smooth things over, saying this miracle drug was mainly for stopping severe bleeding in emergencies, and since the wound had already stopped bleeding, there was no danger to his life, so there was no need to waste such good powder on it.

Shen Lian explained, "Not necessarily. His wound is oozing yellow fluid, and the skin around it is warm—it's pretty inflamed. It could get infected and turn nasty."

A soldier laughed heartily, "In our line of work, who hasn't had a wound ooze pus? If you're lucky, you rest a few days and you're good."

"There's still some luck involved in that." Shen Lian helped Lu Huaizhi cork the bottle and told him to put the precious powder away, then continued, "For a wound this deep, just sprinkle on the White Immortal Powder and you can bump your chances from seventy to a hundred percent. No need to worry. Apply it once today, and when you clean the wound tomorrow morning, you'll see the difference yourself."

Though he had no sales pitch, the medicine's efficacy spoke for itself. Shen Lian was just stating the facts, and the three soldiers who had been skeptical at first immediately ordered a bottle each.

After all, this was the miracle medicine that the imperial merchant Dehui Medical Hall had wanted to buy the rights to for five hundred taels.

The guys had expected to see the wound heal right before their eyes, so they'd been a bit disappointed.

But when Shen Lian said that after applying it, they wouldn't have to worry about the wound festering and getting so bad they'd have to amputate—who wouldn't be tempted by that?

No matter the price, they'd grab a bottle to try.

By the time the guys were starting to get drunk, Lu Huaizhi noticed Shen Lian had disappeared.

He stepped out of the private room, went downstairs, and asked a waiter, and spotted Shen Lian standing at the counter paying.

He hadn't even given Lu Huaizhi a chance to object or pay.

After settling the bill, Shen Lian was grinning from ear to ear.

Having learned from the nightmare of treating Dian Xia to a meal last time, he'd brought every last coin he had saved up this time.

There were six people in total, and they'd all eaten and drunk their fill, yet the bill came to just one tael and three mace (a little over an ounce of silver).

After the gathering ended, Lu Huaizhi walked with Shen Lian part of the way down East Street.

Shen Lian asked him if he needed to earn a second-class military merit to be promoted to Guard Commander.

"Oh, Imperial Physician Shen knows his stuff too, huh?" Lu Huaizhi nodded. "That's indeed a requirement to become a full Guard Commander. Such opportunities are rare—I might never move up from here."

"A friend of mine told me," Shen Lian said with a proud smile. "He knows a lot, and he's also a hell of a fighter. If he ever... switched lines of work, could he get a position in your garrison? Are there any special requirements?"

Lu Huaizhi chuckled. "You know our promotion requirements so well—this friend of yours seems pretty ambitious. Where's he working now?"

Shen Lian: "Uh... he's currently... a strategist at the prince's mansion."

Lu Huaizhi was stunned. "A strategist at the prince's mansion wants to come to the garrison? That's a ticket to big rewards, and if something goes wrong, he'd have a hard time switching careers, wouldn't he?"

Shen Lian: "...He's the kind of advisor who's not really in the prince's good graces, just kind of stuck."

"No matter how stuck..." Lu Huaizhi's voice trailed off as his gaze suddenly snapped to the northwest, on high alert.

A figure lurking at the corner of an alley immediately ducked back and disappeared.

Lu Huaizhi instinctively gripped the saber at his waist, quickly scanning the area for other places someone could hide.

"Stuck at what?" Shen Lian asked curiously.

"Shh!" Lu Huaizhi held the hilt with one hand and grabbed Shen Lian with the other, pulling him along as he backed toward a shop along the street for cover.

"What's wrong?" Shen Lian grew tense from his behavior.

"Someone's tailing us," Lu Huaizhi said in a low voice. "Looks like they're after you."

Shen Lian looked around in surprise. "Where?"

"They all ran off the moment I spotted them," Lu Huaizhi said quietly. "So alert—they're not ordinary thugs. They've got some serious backing."

Even though no sign of the enemy appeared for a long time, Lu Huaizhi still paid a street vendor to send word to his buddies at the nearby garrison to come escort Shen Lian home.

Before parting, Lu Huaizhi warned Shen Lian, looking worried, "It looks like Dehui is playing for keeps. You need to hire some bodyguards to protect you in shifts."

"Playing for keeps about what? What exactly do they want? Can I report this to the officials?" Shen Lian asked urgently.

"At least if a bodyguard catches one of their assassins, you can nail them for it." Lu Huaizhi took a deep breath. "They've got serious connections, so the people you hire can't be low-ranking. I can arrange it for you, but it won't come cheap. How many bottles of White Immortal Powder have you sold? Got enough saved up?"

Shen Lian: "..."

Of course he had to bring up the one thing he didn't want to talk about.

He'd originally sold over twenty bottles of White Immortal Powder, but then twenty bottles fell through. He hadn't even delivered the three bottles sold before the meal.

Life was a mess.

No way he could afford fancy bodyguards.

They could take his life if they wanted.

He'd go down fighting that Dehui gang of crooks!

"I've already put you out too much, Brother Lu." Shen Lian suppressed his anger and said quietly, "I'll handle this myself. Don't worry about me."

Lu Huaizhi was puzzled. "You... how do you plan to handle it? Go ask the prince for help again? Want me to walk you to the prince's place?"

Shen Lian shook his head. "No need. I really can't keep putting you out like this."

Lu Huaizhi finally understood that this imperial physician didn't want to bother him. "At a time like this, don't worry about being a bother. Come with me."

"He said no."

Lu Huaizhi and Shen Lian jumped out of their skins!

Instantly drawing his saber and shielding Shen Lian behind him, Lu Huaizhi whipped his blade toward the voice—and saw a young man lounging on the wall of Shen Lian's house!

Lu Huaizhi's heart skipped a beat.

When had this guy shown up?

So close.

How had he not sensed him at all?

"Dian Xia?" Shen Lian, on the other hand, let out a huge sigh of relief and said in surprise, "What are you doing on my wall? Out for a walk?"