Returning to the Thatched Hut

Even for pills of the Three Body-Tempering Realms, not every pill formula was made public. Although most formulas could be bought on the market, certain special formulas independently developed by individual families, or formulas acquired through other channels, were still kept tightly in the hands of various factions and never leaked outside.

It was like the recipes for certain dishes in Blue Star restaurants. Though many ingredients and methods could be found online or in cookbooks, some restaurants' exclusive seasoning formulas were never made public, kept as treasures that held down the establishment.

Seeing that Lin Fan was neither servile nor overbearing, yet remained modest and respectful, Su Qingwei could not help but feel quite satisfied. She raised a hand and fumbled around her waist for a moment, then somehow took out a smooth, polished green token. A simple, ancient "Su" character was carved into the golden token.

Su Qingwei extended the token before Lin Fan and explained, "Young Master, this is the identity token of a Su Family guest elder. With this token, Young Master may freely enter and leave the Su Family Estate and the Pill Pavilion. The servants in the estate will not stop Young Master when they see it." Lin Fan reached out and accepted the wooden token. It felt slightly cool and heavy in his hand.

"Thank you, Miss Su."

"Young Master need not stand on ceremony." Su Qingwei smiled faintly, her smile as lovely as a blossoming flower. After thinking for a moment, she continued, "There are also other cultivators and pharmacists within the Su Family Estate. Whoever it may be, if anyone becomes dissatisfied with Young Master and deliberately makes things difficult for you, Young Master can come directly to me at any time. During the shop's business hours, I generally stay in the cultivation room upstairs."

Lin Fan carefully put away the wooden token and nodded.

At that moment, several Su Family servants finished moving the Wild Boar Ferocious Beast and approached Lin Fan carrying 3,000 silver ingots. This was the 3,000 taels of silver Lin Fan had earned from selling the Wild Boar Ferocious Beast. Since the system did not accept silver notes, Lin Fan could only ask the Su Family Shop to provide hard silver, so that after leaving the town's gates, he could find a deserted place and immediately recharge it into the balance on the system's pale-blue light screen.

After seeing Lin Fan count, sort, and pack up the 3,000 silver ingots, Su Qingwei asked softly, "Young Master, would you like me to arrange a courtyard in the estate for you now? Once it is arranged, Young Master may move into the Su Family at any time."

Lin Fan cupped his hands. "Yes, thank you, Miss Su Qingwei." Lin Fan was rather satisfied inwardly. He had not expected that after coming to the Su Family merely to sell a wild boar, he would end up finding himself a new place to live in the town—and inside the Su Family Estate, no less, a martial arts faction's residence.

Su Qingwei then summoned two estate servants waiting nearby and instructed them, "Take Young Master Lin to the estate. Let Young Master Lin choose any guest elder residence he wishes. When you are done, remember to return and report to me."

Because this Su Family Shop had been built beside the Su Family Estate, opening the shop's back door led directly into the estate. This arrangement ensured that if another faction attacked the Su Family Shop, the martial arts experts within the Su Family Estate could rush over in time to provide support, greatly improving its security.

Following the two servants into the Su Family, Lin Fan felt as though he had entered a large, neatly planned Blue Star rural village, except the architectural style was far more ancient. The roads in the Su residence were orderly, with paths crisscrossing in a well-arranged grid. Small independent courtyards stood neatly along both sides of the roads. It truly achieved homes within homes, courtyards within courtyards.

Lin Fan gazed into the distance. For several li in every direction lay the grounds of the Su Family Estate. Although he had not walked around the outer walls of the Su Family while outside the town, Lin Fan estimated that it surely covered several hundred, perhaps even a thousand mu.

Following the two Su Family servants through turn after turn, Lin Fan finally chose a medium-sized residence with its own courtyard. After entering, he found that it seemed to be regularly cleaned. Not only was it furnished with a bed, tables, chairs, and the like, but there was hardly any dust on them. Yet there were no signs of habitation either. It indeed seemed that no one had lived there for a long time. Lin Fan could not help sighing that this house was truly good—clearly far better than his thatched hut in Small Mountain Village, which would leak slightly whenever it rained.

After dismissing the two servants, who still had to return and report, Lin Fan closed the door, opened the bundle containing the 3,000 taels of silver, and silently said, "Recharge." In an instant, a flash of light swept through the room. Apart from the several hundred taels Lin Fan had set aside separately, all the remaining silver was recharged into the system. The balance on the pale-blue light screen also became more than 5,000 taels. If he spent 100 taels of silver a day to activate the 1,000-fold cultivation acceleration effect for twenty-four hours, then cultivating twelve hours a day, it would be enough for Lin Fan to cultivate for more than three months. By then, he should have reached the Late Bone Tempering Realm.

Although the house Lin Fan had chosen was labeled Residence No. 9527, and this number was admittedly rather interesting, Lin Fan still did not know how the Su Family Estate residences were numbered. Thus, he walked around the house and courtyard several times, only leaving the Su Family Estate gates and entering the streets outside after making sure he had memorized the location of his residence.

Lin Fan checked the sky. After wandering around the Su Family Estate for several rounds, it was already getting late, around three in the afternoon. Thinking of his younger sister in Small Mountain Village, Lin Fan decided to rent a carriage in town first, then bring her into the Su Family Estate tomorrow. Living within the Su Family compound would undoubtedly be much safer than staying in Small Mountain Village.

After negotiating the price and paying some silver, Lin Fan gripped a horsewhip and drove the carriage out of town. One rather interesting thing was that when he rented the carriage and registered his identity, the stall owner immediately said the deposit could be waived entirely once Lin Fan displayed the golden Su Family token on him.

Lin Fan had rented a relatively small single-horse carriage. The compartment behind could barely seat two adults, but it was more than spacious enough for his little sister alone. Lin Fan would drive the carriage from the front rather than sit in the rear compartment. Besides, there was not much luggage in his thatched hut. Things like bedding could be bought anew in town for only a few taels of silver. Lin Fan could now be considered a wealthy household. His monthly salary from the Su Family was a full 1,000 taels, while the seven or eight households of Small Mountain Village could labor for an entire year and receive at most several dozen taels each. After buying millet and daily necessities, they would have little left.

Though the road was narrow and rugged, it was just wide enough for a single-horse carriage to pass through. With Lin Fan constantly urging the horse on and swinging his whip, he finally arrived at the little thatched hut in the mountain village deep into the night.

His younger sister was already asleep beneath her quilt. Since Lin Fan had told her that morning that he was going to town and might return very late, the little girl was not too worried this time.

After securing the carriage to a nearby large tree with hemp rope and a lock, Lin Fan returned to the thatched hut and quietly lay down to rest. He had traveled mountain roads for half the day, and because he had been in a hurry to return, he had made the horse run quite fast, making the jolting far worse. Lin Fan felt that riding in the carriage was somehow even more exhausting than walking to town that morning while carrying a wild boar.

Lin Fan planned to head for town after his younger sister woke up the next morning. At the carriage's normal speed, even if they traveled slowly, they would arrive in town just as night fell. Even moving slowly, the carriage was much faster than the hunting party pushing a single-wheeled cart along mountain roads on foot. A horse was still far faster than a person.