Elixir Supplier

"Sirou?"

"Xiaoxue."

The visitor was Guo Sirou. She looked rather pale and lethargic. Her eyes looked murky and were completely devoid of the beauty and competence normally seen in them.

"Happy New Year, sorry to bother you guys."

"Happy New Year, please, come inside."

"No, not the house. Let's head to the clinic." Wang Yao was able to tell just from one look that Guo Sirou was sick. She had been bugged.

"Yeah, sure."

The three of them went to the clinic. She was the first patient in the clinic since the Lunar New Year began.

Wang Yao got her a bowl of medicinal soup, which she gulped down.

"How did you get bugged?" Wang Yao asked, feeling something was off.

"I made a trip to He County before the Lunar New Year festivities, the place where Zhenghe works, and somehow I caught this," Guo Sirou replied.

"It's no real surprise," Wang Yao said. "Two of my previous patients were bugged as well, and both of them had something to do with that place. It's best not to go there if you can help it."

Guo Zhenghe left a bad impression on him, but the woman before him, in contrast, left quite a positive impression on him. She was beautiful, competent, elegant, and knowledgeable. She was quite the typical educated lady from a well-to-do family.

Since she had returned from southern Yunnan, she had felt constantly lethargic and had a strange heaviness in her body. Furthermore, it had gotten worse. She knew that it was because the curse on her had not been completely cleared. After learning about her condition, her little brother, who had been in He County, returned home. He advised her to immediately have Wang Yao look at her. She had waited two more days before coming.

"Alright, I'll give you something to fix your body later," Wang Yao said.

"Sure."

Wang Yao went to the next room to boil medicine. Guo Sirou and Su Xiaoxue held hands and chatted. The two women were good friends back in Jing. Guo Sirou often visited Su Xiaoxue when the latter was sick.

"When did you get here? Have you been spending the festivities here?"

"Not really. I was here on the third day of the Lunar New Year."

The women chatted away while Wang Yao prepared a bowl of regather soup for her.

"Come, have another," he said.

"Thanks."

After drinking that bowl of soup, she quickly felt a lot better throughout her body.

"Master."

Zhong Liuchuan entered the clinic.

"Oh, we'll be there in a while."

"Sure."

"Sirou, it's getting late. How about you just stay the night here. I've cleaned up the place, and there is no one staying around."

"How about you join us tonight?" Zhong Liuchuan suggested with a smile.

"Huh?" Guo Sirou was dumbfounded.

"That's a great idea," Su Xiaoxue said.

"I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Nonsense. It's fine," Wang Yao said.

"We're all friends here. Let's go, shall we?"

"Alright, will do." Guo Sirou nodded.

"Let's go."

After she drank those two bowls of medicines, the bug curse on her was completely lifted. Her whole body felt lighter. Hu Mei and Jia Zizai were very welcoming toward the beautiful woman.

"Well Master, white stuff?"

"Sure, white ones."

"Umm, how about you, Mistress, and Ms. Guo?"

"Well, Sirou here just had meds a while ago, so she can't have any liquor. Me, I'll have some red wine, I guess."

"Sure thing," Jia Zizai said as he clapped his hands.

All of them had been busy throughout the afternoon preparing a feast for dinner.

"Man, Hu Mei is really getting better and better at this!"

"Thank you, Master."

All of them had a good time at the dinner table. It was as if they were a family.

Guo Sirou was very happy as well. She sensed warmth and happiness there. It felt different than how it was with her own family members. She felt that she was able to relax around them.

Guo Sirou went to where Su Xiaoxue was staying that night. Both of them stayed there. Coincidentally, the place they were staying at was right behind Zhong Liuchuan's place. The women would have only needed to shout if they needed anything.

Su Xiaoxue talked in length with Guo Sirou.

"I'm rather envious of you, Xiaoxue," Guo Sirou gently said.

"Envious of me?"

"Yeah, you can live the life you want," Guo Sirou said. "Unlike me."

"Sirou, is something bothering you?"

"Nothing much." Guo Sirou smiled and waved.

While they were talking, Guo Zhenghe called to ask about his sister's condition. He felt relieved when he heard that his sister received treatment and was fine.

In He County, thousands of miles away…

"Uncle Xu, I want to know about this Miao Changsheng guy in depth."

"Understood."

After the festivities were over, Guo Zhenghe called Xu Xinyuan, who was far away in Jing. He gave the older man a job.

"Noted, Sir."

Xu Xinyuan went into action as soon as he received the call. He headed straight for Tianjin and looked for Miao Chengtang.

"Miao Changsheng?"

"Yeah, there is someone by that name."

"He's the son of Miao Xihe," Miao Chengtang said. "Anyway, he's the only one who is still alive."

"Are you saying that Miao Xihe is at least in his 70s now, yet his son is only in his 20s?"

"Did you say Miao Xihe's son is in his 20s?" Miao Chengtang asked. "Hell, Miao Changsheng is actually older than I am. He's at least 35 this year. It's just that Miao Xihe used some special methods, secret arts of the village, that allowed him to prolong his life and retain his youth."

"That's mystical."

"I told you before, Miao Xihe really is something."

"Tell me something about Miao Changsheng."

"I'm not all that familiar with him," Miao Chengtang said. "I actually know very little. In fact, most people in the village know little about him. He seemed to have been constantly pressured by his father to train. Any mistakes resulted in him being grounded. Miao Xihe had two other children in the past. Both of them died when the village was in turmoil back then."

"Oh."

"Umm, I've heard some rumors about him before. That guy seems to have a thing for pretty women."

"There's no need to put it nicely." Xu Xinyuan chuckled when he heard that.

"Does he hardly go out of the village?"

"I'm not so sure about that," Miao Chengtang said. "In truth, the village people don't get to see him around much. Miao Xihe is very strict with his son. He's probably afraid that the young man will cause trouble."

Xu Xinyuan called Guo Zhenghe back after he had gathered enough intelligence.

When he heard it all, Guo Zhenghe paced around in his office. He hung his head low as he thought.

Things are getting tricky.

He was unable to let the man who harmed his sister just walk scot-free. However, he was unable to think of any good ways of dealing with the culprit. That man was deep in the remote Valley of Thousands of Medicine, hiding inside like a turtle retreating into its shell. Furthermore, he had little hard evidence to use against that man. That made it difficult for him to start any trouble with the man.

"I'll deal with this someday," Guo Zhenghe muttered to himself.

Be it for the sake of his family or himself, he had to deal with those people from that valley.

...