The next day.
Meng Nan went to find Qian Yu again.
"Auntie."
"About what happened yesterday—"
Meng Nan knew how the "Zhou Shan incident" would unfold in the future, but Qian Yu, who had been involved, knew the specific details better than he did. That was why he had come over specially today to ask.
"It's fine."
"Don't worry, I didn't mention you."
Qian Yu thought Meng Nan was worried she wouldn't keep her word. Her expression darkened slightly, but she still answered him.
It was a misunderstanding.
Meng Nan could tell at a glance that Qian Yu had misunderstood him.
He had a very high opinion of her character. In both of the futures he had experienced in his first and second lives, Qian Yu's actions had always matched her words.
Time was the best test.
If someone could remain consistent through the test of time, then they were the real deal.
Meng Nan hurried to explain, "You've got it wrong, Auntie. I'm worried there might be someone else behind Zhou Shan. The methods he used—ugh, I had nightmares about them last night! Do you think there might be some fiend behind him? Otherwise, where would he have learned such evil sorcery?"
Meng Nan sucked in a breath and shivered, acting as if he were horrified.
Qian Yu was taken in. Realizing she had wronged Meng Nan, she shook her head and said, "Zhou Shan was a bold man. A few years ago, he traveled to many places with one of the village's merchant caravans. Beyond the various stockades and settlements, there were all kinds of demons and monsters out there. He was probably led astray by someone and had his mind bewitched."
Zhou Shan was already dead. These were only guesses, and it would be difficult to investigate further.
Once he died, all the leads had gone cold.
The Fort Lord and the others had wanted to go after Zhou Shan's family and investigate the matter thoroughly, but Qian Yu had talked them out of it. They had only questioned them one by one. Zhou Shan's family were all ordinary people; he was the only one who had reached the Inner Qi Stage, and he hadn't done so until he was forty. When his family saw so many people at the True Qi Stage—even the Fort Lord—come to question them, they were scared witless. None of them would have dared to resist.
But no one really knew who was behind Zhou Shan.
It seemed the matter would end there.
"That's good."
Meng Nan visibly relaxed, but he knew that the secret behind Zhou Shan might well lie with his son, Zhou Boren. Zhou Boren had left Yinlian Village in October, then reached the True Essence Stage in only four years. Anyone would have found that suspicious.
"Once I get my hands on Zhou Boren, everything will become clear," Meng Nan thought.
He set that matter aside.
When he saw Qian Yu looking at him, he brought up the other reason for his visit: "I heard that after reaching the True Qi Stage, people in the village usually run one or two businesses. The village's medicinal herb business seems to have always done pretty well. Would you be interested, Auntie? I have a few prescriptions my dad somehow got his hands on. They're for stopping bleeding, reducing bruising, setting bones, and mending sinews. They're all pretty good. If you go into the medicinal herb business, I can buy supplies from you, which would make selling the finished medicine easier too. You're my auntie, so I can trust you."
This was the real reason Meng Nan had come.
After returning from the end of his second life, Meng Nan only needed to cultivate a little longer to complete his foundation progress. Then, after killing two more people, he would be able to open the future again for the third time.
In that future, he would study the Alchemy Notes in depth and research the art of alchemy. By the time he returned, he would surely have gained some skill in making medicine.
To make medicine, the first thing he needed to solve was the supply of raw materials—in other words, the medicinal herbs.
The second was how to sell the finished products.
Neither would be easy to arrange on short notice.
That was why he needed to start preparing now and lay the groundwork.
Yinlian Village was ruled by two people at the True Essence Stage. Beneath them, the roughly twenty people at the True Qi Stage held real power. They controlled every profitable business in the village: grain, medicinal herbs, timber, and minerals. Even the furniture Meng Nan made would have to be sold under the name of a merchant caravan run by someone at the True Qi Stage if he wanted to trade it on a large scale.
The people at the True Qi Stage made money from these businesses to cover the costs of cultivation.
Otherwise, they would all have to drink the northwest wind.
If there were too many people at the True Qi Stage in a village and there weren't enough profits to go around, some of them would find the returns too paltry and leave to seek opportunities elsewhere.
For example, most of the people at the Inner Qi Stage and True Qi Stage whom Zhao Xiaoshuang and Feng Ying had encountered outside in Meng Nan's second life had ended up in that situation.
With Tianlin Cave keeping the peace from above and the various stockades and settlements unable to attack one another, their only option was to leave their villages and find another way to make a living.
Yinlian Village hadn't reached that point yet. The profits from such a large village were enough to support the normal cultivation of a dozen or twenty people at the True Qi Stage.
But in another ten or twenty years, if the number of people at the True Qi Stage grew faster than the population, the village would struggle to support them, and people leaving to seek their fortunes elsewhere would become a common sight.
Meng Nan could imagine a few ways that might eventually turn out.
But that was a long way off, so he didn't need to think about it for now.
Qian Yu had only just reached the True Qi Stage and hadn't yet gotten involved in these businesses. In the futures of his first two lives, she had eventually chosen tea.
But Yinlian Village's tea was mediocre. There were few tea plants, and the varieties were poor. Qian Yu had only made a little money from it.
Meng Nan was going to study alchemy. If Qian Yu could enter the medicinal herb business, then with her character and cultivation, combined with the rapid improvement in Meng Nan's alchemical skills, they would surely be able to get things going quickly. That would speed up both his and Qian Yu's cultivation, benefiting them both.
"Medicinal herbs?"
Qian Yu furrowed her brow slightly. She had originally been thinking of tea. It wouldn't make much money, but Yinlian Village already had a foundation in it, and it was easy to manage.
But medicinal herbs came with quite a few problems.
Competition was one issue.
The supply and distribution channels were problems too.
Solving them one by one would take too much effort.
"I've already made up my mind. Forget medicinal herbs."
Qian Yu shook her head.
Her refusal was decisive.
Hearing this, Meng Nan thought for a moment, then said, "How about this, Auntie? Don't decide just yet. Could you help me order a batch of medicinal herbs from Captain Chen Jinbiao? Once I've made the medicine, you can look it over and decide. It'll take no more than a month or two, and I absolutely won't take up too much of your time."
He could tell that Qian Yu hadn't taken his supposedly ancestral prescriptions seriously at all. She hadn't even asked about them.
Who in Yinlian Village didn't have a few folk remedies?
They weren't worth mentioning.
Besides, the idea of Meng Nan, a little carpenter, switching careers to become an apothecary was pure nonsense.
Qian Yu couldn't be bothered to ask.
But Meng Nan looked so serious, and he had put it that way. Considering, too, that he had made a great contribution yesterday and was a good-hearted fellow, she could help him out. It was no big deal.
"All right."
"Write down what you need, and I'll go talk to Captain Chen."
Captain Chen, Chen Jinbiao.
He was also at the True Qi Stage and ran a medicinal herb business. But medicinal herbs, grain, minerals, and animal hides were the four largest trades in Yinlian Village and the other stockades and settlements. It was hard for one person to monopolize any of them.
Chen Jinbiao wasn't the only one in Yinlian Village dealing in medicinal herbs, but of all those at the True Qi Stage who did, he had the cleanest record. Even twenty years later, he would have no bad reviews or misdeeds. Meng Nan still hoped to deal with people like him as much as possible, even if it had to be through Qian Yu.
"Thank you, Auntie!"
When Qian Yu agreed, Meng Nan's face immediately broke into a smile. He reached into his robes and pulled out a note listing fifty-four kinds of medicinal herbs, all ingredients needed to make medicine that stopped bleeding and reduced bruising.
As for anything more precious, such as Qi Circulation Powder, it would be best to wait until Meng Nan was stronger before bringing it out.
For now, he would focus on testing the waters and getting familiar with things.
Before you continue