Scheming Bitch...

"Young man, could I have a word with you in private?"

The old man suppressed his anger as he looked at Bai Yang and spoke.

"No."

Those two words nearly gave the old man internal injuries. Then Bai Yang launched a follow-up combo, pointing at the camera as he continued to deal damage. "Whatever you have to say, say it here. I'm afraid if we go somewhere else, you'll accuse me of something..."!

The old man trembled with rage, nearly cursing aloud. Why were young people these days all such little shits?

"Young man, I am Liu Qingshan..."

"What exactly do you want? I'm busy." Bai Yang waved a hand, interrupting him. So what if you're Liu Qingshan or Liu Heishan? What's that got to do with me?

Liu Qingshan furrowed his brows, took a deep breath, and said, "Young man, your name is Bai Yang, right? I happened to learn that you have a certain kind of wine..." .

"Hold on, hold on. Wait a minute..." Bai Yang raised a hand and interrupted him again.

Under Liu Qingshan's displeased gaze, Bai Yang narrowed his eyes and spoke slowly, one word at a time. "I don't care who you are, but what I want to know is: you investigated me?"

Liu Qingshan froze. Only then did he realize he'd crossed a line!

He had indeed asked someone to investigate Bai Yang. With the influence of certain people, they had traced the source of the Hundred Fruit Brew Bai Yang had given his mother to have analyzed, and found that it led back to him!

The test results for Hundred Fruit Brew were astonishing. It was hundreds, even thousands of times more effective than any health tonic, a genuine marvel that could replenish Blood Qi and improve one's constitution. That wine was far too important to Liu Qingshan. When he learned about it by chance, he'd lost his head and made the offensive move of asking someone to investigate Bai Yang.

"Bai Yang, listen to me. I had no choice but to investigate you. I was only trying to find out where that wine came from, and that's how I ended up tracing it back to you..."

Bai Yang didn't care about Liu Qingshan's explanation. He smiled and waved a hand dismissively, cutting him off. "You went around the world to get here, but your real goal is to get your hands on that wine. Am I right?"

Since the other party had come right to his door, avoiding the issue wouldn't help. Why not lay all the cards on the table and talk straight?

Bai Yang hated trouble. When trouble came knocking, dealing with it right away was better than letting it drag on and cause a whole string of problems.

There was no point in getting hung up on those useless details now. In the end, they'd have to come back to the Hundred Fruit Brew anyway. They could ignore the unnecessary details.

Bai Yang wasn't playing by the usual rules, and Liu Qingshan couldn't quite keep up. He nodded and said, "I do want that wine. It's very important to me. To be honest, I've practiced martial arts since I was a child. Now that I'm old, my Blood Qi has declined badly, and that wine can replenish Blood Qi and nourish my bones and tendons. To me, it's practically a priceless treasure that can prolong my life..."!

Good. Bai Yang's eyes lit up. This old man couldn't keep a secret!

"I don't care what you want it for. You want it, and I happen to have it, so we can make a deal. We're not related, so I'm not giving it to you for free. Two conditions. First, one million per hundred milliliters. Don't try to bargain with me, because you can't get it anywhere else. I could ask for ten million and you'd have to take it. But I'm being kind, aren't I? I'm only charging you one million. Aren't you grateful? Second, I don't want anyone else showing up out of nowhere because of this wine, looking for me or my family. What do you think, old-timer?"

Bai Yang looked at him and held up two fingers.

Liu Qingshan lowered his head in silence, then sighed. "I can agree to the second condition right now. From now on, no one will come looking for you because of this wine. But I can't meet the first condition. I don't have the money."

"If you don't have the money, you should've said so earlier. You wasted my time. Honestly, you're old enough to know that time is life, yet you don't have the slightest sense of time. Then there's nothing to discuss. Please move aside and stop blocking the way!"

Bai Yang turned and walked off. When he reached the spot behind the other man, he stopped and said, "Maybe you're somebody important, with connections reaching to the heavens. You say you practice martial arts and can leap across rooftops and walls. I wouldn't doubt it. But those are the conditions. If you can't meet them, don't bother me..."

Leaving those words behind, Bai Yang went through the villa's front gate, closed it, and didn't look back.

Liu Qingshan watched Bai Yang's retreating figure. After a moment of silence, he sighed and turned to leave. He felt that Bai Yang didn't really care about the wine. What bothered him was being secretly investigated, so he'd deliberately made things difficult for him!

He couldn't bring himself to resort to underhanded tricks, so all he could do was go back and think of another way.

The older generation of martial artists almost all believed that one must cultivate virtue before practicing martial arts. If one's virtue was crooked, one's heart would be crooked too. If one's thoughts were clouded, one would fall into the evil Outer Dao. In the world as it was now, people like that would be censored in no time...

A martial artist might use force to break the law, but that was in ancient times. These days, no matter how skilled you were, it was useless. Liu Qingshan might practice martial arts, but he wouldn't dare act recklessly. If someone pointed a gun at him, he'd have to kneel...

It was the same enormous villa. Liu Qingshan arrived with his brows deeply furrowed, and the old man from last time was still brewing tea.

"Did you meet him?" the old man asked without looking up.

Liu Qingshan sat down and picked up a cup of fragrant tea. "I did. Guotao, this time, we may have really offended Bai Yang."

The old man brewing tea was Song Guotao. He used to appear on Z Province TV quite often. Hearing Liu Qingshan's words, he paused and smiled. "Oh? Tell me exactly what happened."

Song Guotao had weathered every kind of storm. He'd reached the point where nothing could ruffle his composure.

Liu Qingshan glanced at him and recounted his meeting with Bai Yang.

After hearing Liu Qingshan's account, Song Guotao pointed at him and roared with laughter, thoroughly amused.

"What are you laughing at?" Liu Qingshan asked, confused.

"What am I laughing at? Isn't it funny? Look at you, an old man, getting played around in circles by some youngster. You're really going backward with age. I'm embarrassed for you," Song Guotao said, laughing uncontrollably.

Liu Qingshan stared at him, baffled.

Song Guotao shook his head helplessly. "The guy had already figured you'd come looking for him again. When you first met, he called you that scammer. He was telling you he still remembered you, get it? So here's the question: why did you show up in front of him again? He's not some beauty you'd go running after, is he? Anyone who isn't an idiot would know you had a reason for showing up. Then, in just a couple of sentences, he got you to spill it all..."

"I still don't understand."

"I'm convinced practicing martial arts has wrecked your brain. When he called you a scammer, he was telling you to just say what you wanted instead of dressing it up with a bunch of useless nonsense. Once he found out you needed that wine, he brought up the money because he was waiting for you to bring him some. He was willing to auction off a precious ginseng root, so he's after money. Do you think he'd care about the wine? It's not some elixir that brings the dead back to life. Why would he hide it away? You didn't need to investigate any of this. A little asking around would've been enough to find him. He deliberately emphasized that you'd investigated him to make it clear: 'I'm drawing a line between us. Don't try to use your age to make me give you a discount.' And finally, he's using you to fend off unnecessary trouble. Understand? Of course, he did give you a little something in return," Song Guotao explained in a rapid-fire burst.

Liu Qingshan was nearly dumbfounded. After finally catching on, he said helplessly, "You people, why do you have so many twists and turns? Are all young people these days as sharp as monkeys?"

The angrier Liu Qingshan became, the more the gloom in his eyes faded.

"So you're blaming everyone else for your own stupidity?" Song Guotao shrugged.

"You said he gave me a little something? What?"

"You're hopeless. He asked you to help him keep some trouble away. Doesn't that mean you get first dibs on the good stuff? How is that not a good thing?" Song Guotao pointed at him.

"But I don't have any money..." Liu Qingshan was terribly frustrated.

"You don't. I do," Song Guotao said, grinning like an old fox.

"What are you planning?" Liu Qingshan asked warily. This old man was definitely up to no good.

"I want half."

"You could just ask him to sell it to you yourself!"

"Then he won't sell it to me. He won't sell it to you either. You promised to help keep the trouble away."

"Then why should I give you half?"

"Because you don't have any money!"

"...All right."

When Bai Yang returned to the villa, his serious expression vanished at once. He hummed a little tune and took a shower. This damn weather was hot enough to kill a person.

What? You think he was still angry about being investigated? Don't make me laugh. He wasn't some celebrity afraid of paparazzi digging around. He hadn't done anything criminal either, so why would he be afraid of anyone looking into him? If you investigated him openly, he'd cooperate without a hitch...

"I wonder when that old man will bring the money over..."

He muttered to himself as he lay under the covers with the air conditioner running, taking an afternoon nap. He had no doubt that the old man was desperate for Hundred Fruit Brew...

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