"You're certainly knowledgeable, Yu!"
Yu Bu'e turned to see Luo Feixuan smiling at him and felt a little embarrassed.
Cheng Ruxin hurried over with the Demon Beast slung over his shoulder.
"Xuanxuan, look! I've got a Demon Beast carcass too!"
Luo Feixuan glanced at him. "Is this why you asked me to come back to school?"
"Yep! What do you think? I'm pretty amazing too, right?"
"Ha, copycat." Luo Feixuan sneered, walked around him, and headed toward Yu Bu'e, her smile blooming again.
Cheng Ruxin stood frozen, as though struck by lightning.
Then Wu Yang piped up behind him in a shrill voice.
"Boiling Sheep, you're so annoying!"
Cheng Ruxin whipped around to glare at him, gritting his teeth.
Wu Yang quickly ducked behind Yu Bu'e, hiding away after his little triumph.
Luo Feixuan looked at Yu Bu'e with admiration in her eyes. Just as she was about to speak, her phone began vibrating.
She stepped aside to answer it. A man's voice came from the other end.
"Miss Luo, we just received word that Chen Jiliao spent 1.4 million at the Brilliant Star Pavilion on a Meridian-Opening Pill."
"Mmm." Luo Feixuan's voice was mocking. "Knowing he's that stupid puts my mind at ease..."
Tang Zhifeng, whom even Chen Qiao had to respectfully address as "Elder Tang," was naturally qualified to live in the Grand Court Villa Complex.
But as he grew older, he preferred peace and quiet. Unable to stand people visiting him every day, he simply spent over twenty million on a spacious riverside apartment.
The apartment covered over three hundred square meters, and he spent another twenty million on renovations, all for the sake of living comfortably.
In the brightly lit tea room, a young woman in a cheongsam carefully brewed tea, the boiling water drawing out the full aroma of the aged old banzhang.
Tang Zhifeng raised his head and looked at Chen Jiliao, who sat across from him.
The young man's eyes kept drifting toward the girl in the cheongsam as she rinsed the tea leaves. The old man shook his head inwardly, though his smile remained kindly.
"Young Chen, what brings you to visit an old codger like me today?"
Only then did Chen Jiliao snap back to his senses. He hurriedly took out the box he had prepared and set it on the tea table.
"What's this?"
"Grandpa Tang, my father said you were looking for a Meridian-Opening Pill. The moment I heard, I rushed over to bring you one!"
Elder Tang's eyes lit up at the finely crafted wooden box, and he laughed.
"How thoughtful of you, child. I didn't expect your father to act so quickly. I'll have to thank him properly later!"
Chen Jiliao was delighted to hear that.
This was exactly what he had come here for!
As far as he was concerned, finding a Meridian-Opening Pill was hardly difficult.
But when Tang Zhifeng took out the Meridian-Opening Pill and examined it closely, his expression gradually stiffened.
Snap! He slammed the box shut.
He stared at Chen Jiliao, unable to conceal the anger in his eyes.
"This is the Meridian-Opening Pill you found for me?"
However oblivious Chen Jiliao might have been, he could hear the intense displeasure in the man's voice!
He instantly panicked.
"Um... Elder Tang, is there something wrong with the Meridian-Opening Pill?"
He had spent 1.4 million on this Meridian-Opening Pill!
The owner of the Brilliant Star Pavilion had repeatedly assured him that it was the finest of the fine!
Tang Zhifeng's gaze turned icy as he looked at Chen Jiliao.
If the young man hadn't been Chen Qiao's son, he would have cursed him out right then.
"Young Chen, where did you get this pill?" He softened his tone as much as possible, not wanting things to turn too ugly.
He was also giving the young man a way to save face.
Unfortunately, Chen Jiliao missed the hint and stubbornly continued, "Elder Tang, I paid a lot for this pill. It's top-grade..."
"Enough!"
Tang Zhifeng gave him no chance to finish. His expression was thunderous, and his tone was harsh. "Take your top-grade Meridian-Opening Pill back. I have no use for it!"
Chen Jiliao went pale.
Even someone as slow on the uptake as he was had to realize that he seemed to have offended the man.
This was the very person his father had been bending over backward to win over!
He hurriedly stood, at a complete loss.
"Elder Tang, I spent 1.4 million on this Meridian-Opening Pill... If there's anything wrong with it, please tell me..."
"Enough. Do you think I can't even afford a Meridian-Opening Pill?" Tang Zhifeng said impatiently.
He had already shown the young man more than enough consideration.
Chen Jiliao opened his mouth, but had no idea what to say.
Tang Zhifeng tapped the table. "Take it away. This isn't what I wanted. It seems I'll have to call Chen Qiao and ask whether he thinks I'm old enough to be easily fooled!"
All color drained from Chen Jiliao's face. "No, no! Please don't, Grandpa Tang! Don't worry, I'll do everything I can to find it. I'll definitely bring you the Meridian-Opening Pill you want!"
With that, he grabbed the box and hurried away in a panic.
Tang Zhifeng looked at the tea that had been brewed for Chen Jiliao. The golden-amber liquid was clear and lustrous.
He picked up the cup, making the tea ripple slightly, then poured it into the tray. Setting the empty cup aside, he sneered.
"An ill-mannered fool... Chen Qiao certainly raised a fine son!"
He put heavy emphasis on those last three words!
The slender woman in the cheongsam asked with a smile, "Mr. Tang, how could you tell that the Meridian-Opening Pill Young Master Chen brought wasn't the one you wanted?"
Tang Zhifeng took a sip of tea, looking rather pleased with himself. "I've already asked around. The Meridian-Opening Pills taken by Little Zhao's son and that boy from Chen Zhu's family were made by the same person!
"And their Meridian-Opening Pills had something in common!"
"Oh?" The woman in the cheongsam looked curious.
Tang Zhifeng smiled mysteriously. "They told me both pills had a small hole in them!"
"A supreme-grade Meridian-Opening Pill with a hole drilled through it?" The woman found that incomprehensible. "Why? Could it be... an anti-counterfeiting measure?"
"Perhaps. Who knows?" Tang Zhifeng shook his head. "There must be some deeper meaning. Surely it wasn't so they could string them together and wear them around their necks!"
Even he found that absurd, and he burst out laughing.
Clutching the box, Chen Jiliao returned to his car in dejection.
He still couldn't understand what had gone wrong.
Had the Brilliant Star Pavilion tricked him?
After thinking it over, he quickly made a call.
"Find out everything that's happened to Chen Sinian and Luo Feixuan at school over the past few days. Be thorough. Don't miss anything!"
When he drove home and found Chen Qiao in the living room, his heart tightened.
Chen Qiao merely glanced at him, then put down the documents in his hand and stood up.
"How's the task I gave you coming along?"
Hearing that, Chen Jiliao relaxed a little.
Apparently, Elder Tang hadn't actually called to demand an explanation.
If Chen Qiao found out that he had angered Tang Zhifeng earlier, he would be in for a world of pain!
"Ahem, don't worry, Dad. It's a small matter. I'll have it sorted out soon."
"You'd better. Hmph... I'm going out. Get a move on."
"Yes!"
After seeing Chen Qiao off, Chen Jiliao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and slumped onto the sofa.
Before long, his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID in puzzlement, then quickly answered.
"Young Master Chen, I found it! Chen Sinian spent nine hundred thousand on a Meridian-Opening Pill at school yesterday. Luo Feixuan was involved too!"
Chen Jiliao glanced at the time on his phone in disbelief.
"You found out that quickly?"
"..." The person on the other end fell silent for a moment, then said quietly, "Actually, you can find out just by asking anyone outside Yucheng No. 1 High School."
Remembering everything he had just been through, Chen Jiliao flew into a rage. "If it was that easy to find out, what the hell were you doing before? Useless!"
"..." The other man thought, You never asked me to look into it before!
"Fine. Go on."
"Yes... The person who sold Chen Sinian the Meridian-Opening Pill is called Yu Bu'e. He's also a student at Yucheng No. 1 High School.
"What's more, I found out that Yu Bu'e has been getting very close to Miss Luo these past few days..."
Chen Jiliao felt like crying.
If he had known it was so easy to investigate all this, why would he have gone to the Brilliant Star Pavilion?
That 1.4 million had gone down the drain.
"All right, look into Yu Bu'e's background for me. As quickly as possible!"
With that, he hung up, went upstairs, changed clothes, and grabbed his motorcycle helmet, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Yu Bu'e... here I fucking come!"
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