Scheming

His older sister, Lin Wan, was so busy her feet barely touched the ground, yet her face was always lit with a contented, joyful smile.

The shop's income had steadily climbed, and their circumstances had visibly improved. They no longer had to worry about the basic necessities of life.

She had even started considering whether they ought to hire a reliable assistant.

After discussing it, the siblings decided to ask He Xiaoya to help manage the medicine hall, offering her a monthly wage of six hundred copper coins.

This also eased the difficulties He Xiaoya's family was facing.

In stark contrast,

across the street, not a single customer could be seen at Security Hall.

Shopkeeper Pan Yun stood inside his own lavishly decorated yet empty shop, watching the crowds bustling in and out of Benevolent World Hall across the street.

His face was so gloomy it looked as though water might drip from it.

The fire of envy and hatred in his heart kept growing.

"Lin Qing, Benevolent World Hall..."

He ground out the words through clenched teeth, his eyes blazing with fury.

They had opened Security Hall here intending to monopolize every medicine shop in the Outer City and reign supreme.

They had never expected to encounter such an opponent on Yongning Street.

If not for his wariness of the Hong Family Martial Hall behind Lin Qing,

Security Hall would have made its move long ago.

But now, Benevolent World Hall was on its way to becoming the leading medicine shop in the Outer City.

So he could no longer afford to hold back.

"If this boy isn't eliminated, I won't be able to rest easy!"

The Inner City, the Pan Family estate.

Inside an elegantly furnished study lined with antiques,

Pan Yun stood with his hands at his sides, bowing before a plump-faced dwarf dressed in brocade robes.

The dwarf in brocade was reclining in the arms of a still-charming woman, eating the black grapes she fed him.

His feet dangled above the floor as he sat, and he stood less than five feet tall, but his face was covered in lumps of flesh.

This man was the Pan Family's second young master, Pan Zhongyou.

Because of his narrow-minded, vindictive nature, he was known as "Pan Three-Inch."

Pan Yun reported the past few months' business figures for Security Hall in the Outer City, trembling with fear.

The scant figures in the account book, which even showed a deficit,

made Pan Zhongyou's expression grow uglier by the moment.

"What a bunch of useless freeloaders!"

Pan Zhongyou suddenly flung the account book into Pan Yun's face and flew into a rage.

Pointing at Pan Yun's nose, he berated him. "The Lineage gave you so much money and so much support. Is this how you handle things for me?"

"Half a year has passed. You haven't made any headway, and you've lost so much money. What am I supposed to tell the others?"

"What will those in the Lineage who are waiting to laugh at me think—especially my big brother?"

Pan Yun was lambasted, but he didn't dare utter a word in protest. He could only bow even lower.

His hatred for Lin Qing and Benevolent World Hall, however, had reached its peak.

His eyes darted about, and he hurriedly shifted the blame. "Please calm down, Second Young Master. It isn't that your servant is incompetent. It's that Lin Qing of Benevolent World Hall is far too cunning and deceitful."

"A few months ago, somehow, he united several other medicine shops in the Outer City and came up with some kind of Joint Public Benefit Alliance. They share prescriptions, guarantee one another, and resist our Security Hall!"

"The price war we started had no effect on them at all!"

"What's more, Benevolent World Hall's medicinal ingredients are now hailed as the finest on Yongning Street. That boy really is a prodigy in medicine. The master physicians at Security Hall have tried to reproduce his preparations time and again, but none of them have succeeded."

Then Pan Yun looked toward an old man in a green robe behind him.

"Elder Mu, someone in your family once served as an imperial physician. Is there truly nothing you can do about this man?" Pan Zhongyou's gaze sharpened.

"Second Young Master Pan, his prescriptions are prepared with extraordinary precision, and his use of ingredients is downright unpredictable. We've studied them for a long time, but we've only grasped about sixty percent of his skill..."

Elder Mu kept his head bowed, not daring to say much more.

The day he obtained several of Benevolent World Hall's medicinal powders, he was astonished.

Not just in the Outer City—even among the many shopkeepers in the Inner City, there might not be anyone with a talent like this boy's.

Unfortunately, no matter how many medicine shops with some renown had emerged in Qingping County,

they had all ended up fading into obscurity.

Security Hall had stood firm in Qingping County for decades.

The forces behind it were vast; a little place like Benevolent World Hall couldn't compare.

"Benevolent World Hall. Lin Qing?"

Pan Zhongyou furrowed his brow, his expression darkening further.

Opening Security Hall in the Outer City had been a crucial step in proving his ability to the Lineage and competing with his elder brother.

And now, some nobody had stood in his way?

He took a deep breath, forcing down his anger, then asked coldly:

"What's Lin Qing's background?"

Pan Yun's heart leapt. Knowing his chance had come, he hurriedly embellished the story. "To answer Second Young Master, Lin Qing is just the young master of a rundown medicine shop. His father died long ago, and he has only one widowed older sister to rely on."

"Relying on a little talent for medicine, and who knows what stroke of luck, he joined the Iron Thread Fist Martial Hall and became an ordinary outer disciple. At best, he barely counts as a martial artist."

"Other than that, he has no backing at all."

"Yet he's arrogant and overbearing. He's repeatedly opposed Security Hall and even incited the other medicine shops to unite against us. That's why we can barely make any headway!"

"Shopkeeper Pan, that doesn't seem quite right. Lin Qing is well known and has a reputation for benevolence and righteousness. He's quite famous on Yongning Street."

"Why don't we bring him under our wing..."

Elder Mu objected. In the end, he couldn't help wanting to recruit a talent like Lin Qing.

"Bring him under our wing? A mere bug, and you think he deserves to join the Pan Family? He dares oppose the Pan Family?"

When Pan Zhongyou heard this, a sneer crossed his face.

In the eyes of scions from a great Inner City family like him,

Outer City martial artists were of no concern unless they were a hall master's personal disciple or a master in the Organ Cleansing realm.

Security Hall's success in the Outer City concerned his reputation and his future standing in the Lineage. He could not afford to fail.

Now Benevolent World Hall was hurting business and had become a stumbling block in Security Hall's path forward.

Any stumbling block had to be kicked aside without mercy.

A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he made his decision. He gave Pan Yun a frigid order. "Since he's a bug who doesn't know his place, make him disappear. Do it cleanly and leave no traces. Remember, I want him gone for good, so he can never offend my eyes again."

Pan Yun was overjoyed, but his face remained respectfully obedient. He bowed and answered at once. "Rest assured, Second Young Master. Your servant understands. I'll make all the arrangements properly and ensure Lin Qing disappears from this world without anyone noticing."

After leaving the study, Pan Yun walked along the Pan Family's grand, opulent corridor. The respectful expression on his face had turned into a vicious grin.

It was as though he could already see Lin Qing's miserable end.

"Lin Qing, Lin Qing, so what if you have a little talent and a little luck? So what if you've become a martial artist?"

"In Qingping County, you've offended my Pan Family. You've brought death upon yourself!"

"I wonder how you'll deal with what comes next..."

Pan Yun seemed already to foresee

that before long, Benevolent World Hall would be gone from Yongning Street,

just like all the medicine shops Security Hall had driven away before it.

Security Hall would completely monopolize the Outer City's medicinal trade.

And Pan Yun, having handled this matter so well,

would earn the Second Young Master's favor and have a boundless future ahead of him.