Chapter 152: The Mysterious Masked Man (4)
“Miss Ruoyun, is that true?”
Seated within the banquet hall, a pot-bellied middle-aged man swallowed his saliva. His gaze carried pleasant surprise, but it seemed like he had suddenly thought of something. With an uncertain tone, he asked: “Are there any conditions we have to meet before we can buy the pills?”
For example, status and the like.
Gu Ruoyun cast a glance towards the middle-aged man before speaking, her face full of smiles: “Prime Minister Cheng, please rest assured. We’ll sell them on a first-come first-serve basis. We don’t have any preconditions. Of course, you do need to have enough gold coins on hand to buy them, since Hundred Herb Hall’s pills are not very cheap. If you don’t have enough gold, you can use items of equivalent value to exchange for it.”
Her words had given everyone a guarantee. Previously, imperial officials like them had not met the qualifications to attend the auction, so their hearts had been still full of worry.
“That’s good then, that’s good.”
Joy bloomed within the middle-aged man’s heart. He clearly became more relaxed, and newfound respect for Gu Ruoyun showed in his gaze.
The star of the banquet today, Gu Xianglin, had been tossed to the backs of everyone’s minds; they had completely forgotten that such a person existed…
Gu Xianglin cast an indifferent gaze on the toadies surrounding Gu Ruoyun. He gave off a cold, disdainful snort. He didn’t believe that those pills would be that magical!
“I have one more thing to announce tonight,” Gu Ruoyun’s voice paused as her eyes swept across everyone in the crowd, before stopping on Old Man Gu and Gu Xianglin. Her smile was cold like ice, and her eyes were alight with a sinister chill as she said, “From now on, anyone related to the Gu family or the Cool Breeze Faction… will be banned from buying pills from Hundred Herb Hall! No matter what serious ailments you have, the Ghost Doctor will never treat you!”
“Who do you think you are? How can you represent Hundred Herb Hall?” Gu Panpan could no longer hold back due to the clear disparity she felt. She started shouting like a mad woman, “Didn’t you hear what my brother said just now? Our Gu family knows better than anyone else exactly what this woman is capable of! You guys just believed her after she spouted a few lies? You’re really a bunch of idiots.”
While Gu Panpan was speaking, the expressions of the Gu family changed drastically. Although Gu Xianglin had just revealed that Gu Ruoyun had no real ability, he had done so in a way that wouldn’t offend anyone. However, Gu Panpan had just insulted everyone present.
Thus, the collective expressions of the crowd had turned ugly. They stared at the people of the Gu family in an unfriendly manner.
It was obvious that Gu Panpan had not realised it yet. She stepped closer and closer to Gu Ruoyun. With her teeth gritted, it was clear that she wanted to tear the woman before her into pieces.
“Gu Ruoyun, take a clear look at how wretched you are! Especially that carriage outside, it’s so broken down. If I passed something like that on the road, I’d feel like it was insulting me! Look at the mounts that my brother and his faction ride; that’s what you call majestic! Even my brother’s mount looks impressive! But you, as the self-proclaimed shifu of the Ghost Doctor, you’re only riding such a pathetic carriage? What a riot!”
As she was speaking, she burst out into loud laughter: “Although I’ve never seen the Ghost Doctor before, even I know that she’s supposed to be extremely ugly. However, three years ago, you somehow got some prostitute to claim that she was the Ghost Doctor after getting cured by the Beauty Rejuvenation Pill. Who would believe that? Except you bunch of idiots, who would believe that?”
“Shut up!”
Old Man Gu had wanted to stop Gu Panpan’s speech at first, but he had been held down by a powerful aura, and he couldn’t speak no matter how hard he had tried. It wasn’t until just now that the powerful aura dissipated. He immediately raised his hand and slapped Gu Panpan’s face.