Chapter 9: Selling Medicines

Ten minutes have passed…

Twenty minutes have passed…

An hour has passed…

People enter the city; others leave. Many people come and go, but surprisingly, no one buys anything.

Occasionally, someone curious stops to inspect the bamboo box, seeing the words “Three hundred credit points” written on the white cloth. Without exception, their expressions change. Those with better manners may mutter a complaint internally, while those with poorer manners express their thoughts aloud, saying things like, “Are they crazy about money?”

Seeing Tang Xin with a gloomy face, Yan Hao consoles her, “I’ll go hunt some wild beasts and bring them back. We can roast them for dinner.”

Even though her childhood was tough, after becoming a successful doctor, she was always held in high regard. No one ignored her when she voluntarily sold medicine, especially at such a low price!

Tang Xin resentfully says, “I’ve never seen such a group of people with no vision.”

Products with unknown pharmacists, no production date, and no quality certification—these three uncertified products are priced high, and no one dares to buy them casually. If the prices were lower, one might risk being deceived and trying them out.

Yan Hao thinks to himself, maintaining a cold expression, “Yeah, they have no vision.”

Tang Xin, feeling oddly comforted, looks at the stall and says, “Wait for another half an hour. If no one buys, I’ll close up, and we can go to the barbecue together.”

Tang Xin continues to sit on the ground, staring eagerly at everyone passing by, hoping for someone to recognize her talent. Medicine is her specialty, and she displayed exceptional talent in it from the beginning. How could she be underestimated in pharmaceuticals? No matter what, she won’t accept it.

Yan Hao silently sits beside her.

Occasionally, a passerby thinks about bargaining, but as soon as they feel Tang Xin’s intense gaze, they get scared and run away.

This doesn’t make sense. Tang Xin thinks, “I’ve been sitting here for so long; how come not a single person has tried to bargain? There’s clearly a beauty sitting here; doesn’t anyone want to come over and strike up a conversation?”

“Oh!” Suddenly, a black man next to her exclaims strangely and jumps up. He folds the cloth at the bottom of the stall, ties a knot, and wraps the goods on the stall. While doing so, he shouts at Tang Xin, “Quickly pack up and leave.”

“It’s not half an hour yet; I won’t give up!” Tang Xin persists, waiting for someone to recognize her talent.

“If you don’t leave now, it’ll be too late!” The black man wants to advise, but he notices a figure and immediately stops talking. “I’ve told you before, come back after you’ve suffered a bit. Don’t blame me for not warning you.”

After saying that, he shoulders a large package and quickly runs away.

Tang Xin looks at him in confusion as he dashes away. Surveying the surroundings, she sees other stall owners packing up. The quick ones are already fleeing, and the slower ones are preparing to escape.

What is happening here?

Soon, her question was answered.

A burly man with a dozen followers walked over. With a wave of his hand, the burly man immediately had his subordinates surround the stall owners, who hadn’t managed to escape.

The intercepted stall owners turned pale instantly.

Tang Xin looked bewildered, and Yan Hao maintained his icy expression.

The burly man randomly grabbed someone and asked, “Why are you running? Have you paid the stall fee for this month?”

Stall fee? Tang Xin was stunned; she had never heard of such a rule. It was precisely because she had no money that she set up a stall casually.

Tang Xin quietly tugged at Yan Hao’s sleeve and whispered, “In case things go wrong, pick me up and run.”

Yan Hao nodded slightly, prepared for any situation.

The person being grabbed obediently pulled out a few banknotes and handed them to the burly man, reluctant to part with the money.

The burly man pinched the banknotes, smiled, apparently satisfied with the amount, and released his grip, saying, “Alright, you can go.”

The person quickly ran away, with the surrounding subordinates making way for him to leave.

The burly man moved to the next person.

The second person had a pale face but gathered courage and said, “Wang Jiao, this isn’t yours. Why should I pay protection money to you for setting up a stall here?”

As soon as this was said, other stall owners turned their heads away, unwilling to witness this person’s fate.

Wang Jiao’s palm, the size of a fan, swung over, and the person’s eyes saw stars while blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Wang Jiao coldly snorted, “Why? Because my fists are bigger than yours, and might makes right!”

“Stores and stalls in the city have to pay taxes. Why shouldn’t those outside the city pay as well?”

“Charging fees for setting up stalls is reasonable. In the past, no one bothered you, so you saved a lot of money. Now that I’m in charge, what’s the matter? Reluctant to spend money?”

A nearby stall owner muttered under his breath, “Bah. He just wants to make some extra money! Usually, he brings his subordinates to hunt wild beasts and comes here to extort money from those outside the city in his free time. If he weren’t a fourth-level martial artist with a group of followers, who would care about him?”

Extortion! Tang Xin suddenly understood and couldn’t help asking the nearby stall owner, “What happens if you don’t have money to give?”

Speaking a bit louder, Wang Jiao walked over, grinning, “No money? Then use your life to pay.”

After a few steps, he stopped, staring blankly in Tang Xin’s direction.

After a while, he snapped out of it, cleared his throat, and pretended to inquire, “You have no money and can’t afford the fee?”

Tang Xin honestly replied, “I don’t have a penny in my pocket.”

Wang Jiao immediately said, “I’m not unreasonable. Since you have no money, work for me to pay off the debt.”

Before Xin could get angry, she saw Wang Jiao pointing behind her and saying, “Use him to pay off the debt.”

Turning around, Tang Xin was stunned to see Yan Hao standing behind her.

A bully is publicly snatching someone, but it’s not me they have their eyes on… Tang Xin’s heart was deeply conflicted. She didn’t know whether to be relieved that she wasn’t the one being targeted or to be angry that, despite being a woman, she couldn’t escape the comparison with a man.

Yan Hao’s right hand involuntarily touched the long sword at his waist.

Tang Xin thought, At least Yan Hao had just carried her and run for a long time; she couldn’t be so ungrateful as to hand him over. Although Wang Jiao was one level lower in rank than Yan Hao, he had over a dozen helpers, so it was best to avoid conflict.

So, she tried to negotiate with Wang Jiao: “I don’t have money, but I have goods. Can I use the goods to pay?”

“Goods? What kind of goods?” Wang Jiao asked curiously.

Proudly, Xin replied, “High-quality hemostatic ointment! Fast-acting! Effective!”

“Hemostatic ointment?” Wang Jiao muttered to himself, having never heard of such medicine. “From the Qi family?”

“No, from the Tang family.”

Wang Jiao immediately sneered, “Not from the Qi family? That’s bullshit. I don’t accept trash.”

Trash!

Following Yan Hao, Wang Jiao successfully angered Tang Xin. Rationality disappeared in an instant.

Tang Xin suddenly laughed, a laugh that made Wang Jiao shudder, feeling uneasy.

“Whether it’s trash or not, you’ll know if you try it yourself, right? Yan Hao, grab him.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Yan Hao rushed to Wang Jiao, punching him in the abdomen and dislocating his wrists in the process.

A scream like that of a slaughtered pig echoed.

Confirming that Wang Jiao couldn’t move, Yan Hao took the opportunity to land a few more punches to vent his frustration.

The onlookers were intimidated. Some subordinates wanted to rush over to save their leader, but Tang Xin gave them a cold look and said, “If you’re not afraid to die, come over.”

Suddenly, no one dared to approach. The leader with the highest martial prowess was instantly subdued; going up would only mean death.

Tang Xin, holding a bamboo box in one hand and a dagger from her short boot in the other, walked up to Wang Jiao and said, “It’s okay if you don’t recognize the value. I’ll make about seventeen or eighteen wounds on you, then apply the medicine. You’ll know how effective the ointment is.”

Seventeen or eighteen wounds?! Wang Jiao widened his eyes, staring at the person in front of him, realizing she was seriously contemplating how to use the dagger on him.

He immediately shouted, “No need! I believe the ointment is effective. I spoke too quickly and said the wrong thing!”

Tang Xin smiled. “Since the ointment is so effective, would you like to buy a box? The new store is offering a promotional price. You can get one for just three hundred credit points. Don’t miss out as you pass by.”

This was clearly extortion! Wang Jiao dryly said, “I don’t need it. I already have the Qi family’s hemostatic powder on me. I don’t need it. Ask someone else.”

“Swish!” Tang Xin suddenly pulled out the dagger, revealing the sharp blade, and began rolling up her sleeves. “Then I’ll make twenty or thirty stabs at you. Once the hemostatic powder runs out, you’ll have a demand, won’t you?”

Wang Jiao’s face turned green at the thought of “having a demand once the hemostatic powder runs out.” Despite her refined appearance, this girl seemed like a beast at heart!

“You can’t do this!”

“You said it yourself; that might make it right. Since my fist is bigger than yours, I make the rules.”

“I… I was telling the truth. I don’t have money on me. If I could afford the ointment, I would definitely buy it! Really!” Wang Jiao tried to put on a sincere smile on his face to make himself appear genuine.

Tang Xin sighed. “Why do you keep saying things that make me want to stab you? If you can’t afford a box, I’ll have to make a few wounds on you, use some ointment, and then sell you the rest, won’t I?”

The smile froze on Wang Jiao’s face as he stared blankly at the person in front of him, as if he had encountered an alien.

After a while, seeing him dumbfounded and not speaking, Tang Xin said, “Alright, since you can’t afford a box, I’ll help you use up some of the stock until you can afford it. It’s perfect; you can have a preview.”

Tang Xin resumed using the dagger, considering where and how to make the cuts.

Just as the dagger was about to fall, Wang Jiao closed his eyes and shouted loudly, “Wait!!”

Unhappy, Tang Xin said, “What now? Say everything at once. If you talk nonsense again, I’ll shut you up and wait until the ointment is used before letting you speak.”

Wang Jiao hurriedly said, “Someone just gave me money, and together with the money my subordinates have, we can probably gather enough to buy it.”

“Really?” Tang Xin’s eyes lit up. She rested the dagger, exhausted, and placed it next to his neck. “Let your subordinates chip in then.”

This woman is crazy!

Wang Jiao frantically shouted to his subordinates, “Did you hear that? Everyone, take out your money. I’ll pay you back when we get back.”

The surrounding people immediately started contributing money. Each person took out one or two banknotes, and some even took out a few coins. They haphazardly collected the money, put it in a wooden box from a nearby stall, and respectfully handed the box to Yan Hao.

Although Yan Hao was obviously powerful, the woman was terrifying, and no one dared to get close to her.

Wang Jiao added, “I still have some money in my pocket.”

Bending down, Yan Hao searched his pocket and pulled out a few banknotes. After counting, he said, “A total of two hundred and seventy-six.”

Wang Jiao’s heart sank, and he urgently said, “Lady, spare me! I really don’t have any money on me. If you wait here, I can have someone go and fetch it. Please, no need to stab me!”