Buying Blood-Qi Medicinal Herbs Again

Feng Chen shook his head. "No need. I can take it all at once."

"Ah?"

Lin Qing'er raised her head in confusion. She looked at the two huge bundles on the ground, which together weighed more than she did, then at Feng Chen's body with only two arms, unable to understand how he planned to carry them away in one go.

Feng Chen raised a hand and swept it through the air. The two huge bundles on the ground vanished out of thin air.

It was as though an invisible hand had scooped everything away in one grab, not even leaving behind a shadow.

Lin Qing'er blinked, rubbed her eyes, and slowly opened her mouth into a round O. Her expression shifted from confusion to surprise, then from surprise to utter disbelief.

She circled Feng Chen once, looking him over from front to back and side to side. Only after confirming that the two huge bundles had truly disappeared did she tilt her face up at him, her voice full of incredulity. "Husband, where did the things go?"

Feng Chen raised his hand and showed her the dark brown ring on his index finger.

The ring's surface glowed with a gentle sheen beneath the morning sunlight.

"This was something Aunt Li gave me—the ring mentioned in her last letter. It's called a Spatial Ring, and it can store things inside. It's enough that you know. Don't tell anyone else."

If it had been anyone else, Feng Chen naturally would not have revealed the secret of the Spatial Ring so easily.

But Lin Qing'er was different. She treated him as her true husband.

There was no distance more intimate than theirs. They ate, lived, and slept together every day; the secret of the Spatial Ring would be discovered after only a few uses.

Rather than hide it away, he might as well tell her openly sooner.

"So that's how it is... Understood, Husband. I won't tell anyone. Not even if you beat me to death."

Lin Qing'er came back to her senses from her shock, her expression turning more solemn than ever.

Then her eyes curved into crescents as she smiled. "Then let's go."

"Alright, let's go."

Feng Chen reached out and took Lin Qing'er's hand.

The two walked out of the house. Feng Chen gently pulled the courtyard gate shut, and the hinges squeaked as they always had.

He stood at the entrance and looked back at the shabby mud-brick house, the wooden table missing a leg, and the old water vat in the courtyard.

He had lived here ever since coming to this world, going from having nothing at all to gradually gaining a foothold, from being unarmed to becoming a Martial Artist at the Body Tempering Second Layer.

Now, it was time to leave.

Feng Chen locked the courtyard gate, took Lin Qing'er's hand, and headed along the familiar path toward Green Mountain Town.

After walking for an hour and a half, they finally caught sight of Green Mountain Town's outline.

The quaint town squatted at the foot of the mountains, its dusty gray tile roofs and courtyards of all sizes packed tightly together.

The stone archway at the town entrance cast a long shadow beneath the noon sun, while the flagstones of the main street had been polished bright by countless passing feet.

At that moment, people flowed through the streets. Peddlers carrying shoulder poles weaved through the crowd while shaking rattle drums, old farmers selling vegetables squatted by the roadside and shouted themselves hoarse, and when the bun shop lifted its steamer lid, billowing white steam burst onto the street!

It was bustling beyond measure.

"Husband, the town is so lively."

Standing at the town entrance, Lin Qing'er tugged Feng Chen's sleeve. Looking at the bustling scene before her, her face was full of nervousness and anticipation.

Her eyes sparkled as they swept from one end of the street to the other. Everything she saw felt new and fascinating.

She had come to Green Mountain Town before, but only in a hurry, with not even a single copper coin in her pocket. She had not even dared look twice at the bun shop's steamers.

Now that her husband was beside her, it felt as though she were walking on two balls of cotton, light and airy.

Feng Chen glanced down at her and smiled. "Let's go. We'll find a brokerage and rent a house first. Once we have somewhere to settle down, we can stroll around at leisure."

"Understood, Husband." Lin Qing'er nodded, then added in a small voice, unconsciously tightening her grip on the corner of his clothes. "Do we have enough money? Houses in town... must be very expensive, right?"

"We have enough. Don't worry," Feng Chen said calmly.

He still had six hundred and eighty taels of silver on him, along with some copper coins. That was more than enough to rent a house.

He led Lin Qing'er onto the street and asked around for the location of a brokerage.

There were several in Green Mountain Town. The largest was called Shunping Brokerage, located midway along the main street.

When they pushed open the wooden door and entered, a middle-aged man in a gray cloth robe was sitting behind the counter, working an abacus. Seeing customers enter, he rose with a welcoming smile.

Feng Chen did not exchange pleasantries with him and directly asked about rental prices for houses in town.

The brokerage man took out a dog-eared ledger and introduced the options as he flipped through it. More remote houses, located at the edge of town near the base of the walls, with few neighbors and deep alleyways, could be rented for three taels of silver a year. Better houses, near the main street or in alleys patrolled by night watchmen, cost ten taels a year.

Seeing that Feng Chen was plainly dressed but spoke crisply and carried himself with steady composure, the brokerage man did not dare underestimate him. He deliberately added, "Sir, let me be frank with you. Houses that cost three taels a year are cheap, but their safety is hard to guarantee."

"The alleys near the edge of town often have hooligans and idle loafers wandering about at night. If you bring your family to live there, it won't put your mind at ease. The ten-tael houses are different. Those alleys have night patrols every evening, and the neighbors are all respectable households. You can live there with peace of mind."

Hearing this, Feng Chen no longer hesitated. He took out a ten-tael silver ingot from his robe and placed it on the counter.

Living in a safe area was always better protection than living in those shadowy corners.

After taking the silver, the brokerage man fetched a ring of keys and led them to view the house.

The three arrived at an alley in the eastern part of Green Mountain Town. The alley was narrow but clean and tidy, its bluestone road swept spotless. The courtyard walls on both sides were built from gray bricks, far superior to the mud-brick walls of Green Mountain Village.

At the end of the alley stood a small residence. When they pushed open the courtyard gate, they found a modest yard paved with even bluestone slabs. A crooked jujube tree stood in one corner, its shade covering nearly half the courtyard.

The house had two sections, front and rear. The outer section held the main hall and kitchen, while the inner section had two bedrooms. Though the furniture was somewhat old, it was all usable; the tables, chairs, and beds were already in place.

"Sir, take a look. The main hall is in front and the bedrooms behind. This is a fine two-section residence, more than spacious enough for the two of you. The courtyard walls are high too, so it's very safe." The brokerage man enthusiastically introduced the place and handed the keys to Feng Chen.

Feng Chen made a circuit of the courtyard, examining the height of the walls and the surrounding environment.

The courtyard walls were nearly a zhang high, more than twice the height of the low earthen walls in Green Mountain Village. Ordinary people could not climb over them.

A few steps out of the alley and a turn to the right led to the main street, making shopping convenient as well. He nodded. "This place will do."

The brokerage man gave them a few reminders before leaving.

Only Feng Chen and Lin Qing'er remained in the courtyard. Sunlight filtered through the jujube branches and leaves, scattering fine flecks of light across the ground.

Lin Qing'er stood in the courtyard and slowly turned in a circle. She looked through the main hall, kitchen, and bedrooms one by one, then returned and lifted her face toward Feng Chen, an irrepressible smile blooming across it.

"This will be our home from now on. Let's tidy it up first," Feng Chen said.

"Alright, Husband."

Lin Qing'er answered happily and ran back and forth through the courtyard, inspecting every room once more. She even touched the kitchen stove again and again; it was better by who knew how much than the yellow-mud stove back home.

She had never imagined that she, too, could live in such a spacious and grand house of gray brick floors and whitewashed walls.

The two cleaned together.

Feng Chen fetched buckets of water and wiped down the tables and chairs in the main hall and the bedboards in the bedrooms. Lin Qing'er used a broom to sweep the courtyard spotless, then wiped the kitchen stove over and over.

By the time they finished at noon, the sun had climbed directly overhead, and the jujube tree's shadow had shrunk into a small patch.

Once everything was in order, Feng Chen took Lin Qing'er to a nearby restaurant for lunch.

The restaurant was not large, but it was clean. The waiter brought them a plate of braised pork knuckle, a dish of stir-fried seasonal vegetables, two bowls of white rice, and a basin of steaming egg-drop soup.

Lin Qing'er held her bowl of white rice and ate in small bites, satisfaction filling her eyes and brows.

After eating and drinking their fill, Feng Chen took her around town to familiarize herself with the roads. They walked from one end of the main street to the other, roughly memorizing the locations of the grain shop, general store, butcher shop, and pharmacy.

They arrived at Hall of Benevolent Relief, the large pharmacy where he had previously bought Blood-Qi Medicinal Herbs.

Feng Chen led Lin Qing'er inside.

The rich medicinal fragrance still filled the shop, and labels bearing medicine names densely covered the medicine cabinets lining the entire wall behind the counter.

He spent another three hundred taels of silver to buy ten portions of high-grade Blood-Qi Medicinal Herbs. They were immensely useful for his cultivation; he could not do without them for both breaking through realms and daily body tempering, so this was not an expense he could spare.

The old physician behind the counter already recognized him. Seeing him make another lavish purchase of ten portions of high-grade medicinal herbs, he said nothing more and turned to swiftly package them for him.

Next, they bought household supplies.

They bought one portion each of oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, half a sack each of coarse rice and fine grain, then went to the butcher shop and spent eighty taels of silver on a large quantity of meat: pork hind legs, sheep backbones, and beef ribs. They also picked out several live chickens and had the butcher slaughter and pluck them on the spot.

Seeing how much Feng Chen wanted, the butcher specially cleared out a bamboo basket to pack the meat, then covered it with a layer of oiled paper to keep off the dust.