Chapter 468: If you want me, then you can have me
None of the plants in Pill Fiend Valley were ordinary medicinal plants. A casual pluck of any one would yield a valuable specimen. Moreover, His Excellency Pill Fiend had chosen this valley in the first place because of its ideal climate and soil conditions. Thus, the valuable of the lands here were worth more than just a few ingredients. There was no one else in the world more clear of its worth than His Excellency Pill Fiend himself!
Even Long Feiye was intimidated by Han Yunxi’s demands, to say nothing of the old steward! He knew that this woman had been planning to move against Pill Fiend Valley for a while now. She’d never let such a chance go, but he never expected her to move so fast. And so ruthlessly! She was simply seeking to swallow Pill Fiend Valley in one gulp!
Although Long Feiye didn’t want to admit it, he felt that his woman wasn’t here to settle debts, but to rob the owner outright.
Merciless and savage! He liked it!
Gu Qi Sha only shot Han Yunxi a doubtful look. “You…what did you say?”
“This wangfei wants all of your Pill Fiend Valley! Otherwise, there’ll be no end to this!”
Fine. Han Yunxi admitted that she was here to plunder and loot. She had wanted to seize Pill Fiend Valley for ages, but lacked the proper excuse and chance. Now she could make her claims openly!
A Confucian saying once stated that stealing a book didn’t count as theft at all—that to pilfer a book was an elegant offense. As a comparison, Han Yunxi felt that seizing medicine by force wasn’t robbing at all. How many people could she save if Pill Fiend Valley was in her hands? Even if she was labeled a thief, she’d accept it! And if Gu Qi Sha disagreed, they could duke it out again!
“You want…Pill Fiend Valley?” Gu Qi Sha muttered to himself.
In the silence of the room, it seemed like Pill Fiend would explode with rage at any second. Perhaps he’d even accuse Han Yunxi of pushing him too far. But against all expectations, the dim light in Gu Qi Sha’s pupils rekindled into a shining brilliance. He stared at Han Yunxi before suddenly breaking out into a smile!
“You want Pill Fiend Valley?” he repeated.
Han Yunxi raised her chin and openly admitted, “Yes!” She looked as if this was simply a matter of course and refused to budge an inch, though all of this was acting on her part.
This wasn’t her first time coming to Pill Fiend Valley, so she naturally had an estimate of how many precious plants it contained. Although she hadn’t traveled to every part of the valley, what the detox system reported back to her was already overwhelming. Every plant in this valley was an exquisite item. There were at least a thousand rare plants and hundreds of unique ones with no equal. The worth of a single Pill Fiend Valley even far exceeded the price of her jade crystal bracelet which carried the value of an entire nation. There was no way to put a price on the place. She had given him these terms for an outrageous cost, it was true, but she was waiting for Gu Qi Sha to haggle her back down!
“Han Yunxi, do you think this old fellow’s really that easy to bully?” Gu Qi Sha looked cold, but there was no hostility in his eyes.
“Your Excellency Pill Fiend, you’re the one who bullied us first. We’re a lot easier to pick on than you,” Han Yunxi grinned back.
“Do you know how many valuable plants reside at Pill Fiend Valley? How many unique plants without peer?” Gu Qi Sha asked next.
So-called rare plants were classified by Medicine City on a one to ten scale. The higher the point value, the more valuable the plant would be. Plants without peer meant that there was only a single specimen in existence; once it was used up, it’d be gone.
“I don’t know!” Han Yunxi said calmly. “It’s not like I want Pill Fiend Valley for real! If you give me the two bottles of antidote you owe me, I’ll leave right away!”
That there, when women behaved so shamelessly, it was a hundred times scarier than them acting spoiled!
Long Feiye looked at Han Yunxi’s innocent, resigned expression and inexplicably settled into a doting smile! He liked it the most when this woman was acting wicked! Gu Qi Sha had been looking at Han Yunxi with nothing but doting eyes; he just hid it better beneath his discontent.
“It’s fine if you don’t know,” he said, “We can find Medicine City’s Council of Elders as public witnesses while the Board of Directors calculate the net worth of Panoptic Red Lotus, Serpent Fruit, and Bear chuan and how they compare to Pill Fiend Valley.”
The Board of Directors in Medicine City was composed of members from the three great clans of Wang, Mu, and Xie. The Wang Clan stood on their side, but it was hard to say for the Mu and Xie Clans. Judging from the conflict between Medical City and Gu Qi Sha, these two Medicine City clans wouldn’t take Gu Qi Sha’s side, either, but neither would they favor Long Feiye and Han Yunxi’s side. Han Yunxi would never be stupid enough to ask for more trouble.
“It’s easy enough to calculate Pill Fiend Valley’s net worth. But what about the cost of the losses we incurred as a result of your deception?” Han Yunxi countered.
Gu Qi Sha only sighed heavily, looking a bit helpless as he refused to answer. Meanwhile, the old steward on the side was already feeling doubtful. His master had always been eloquent with the gift of the gab and a poisonous tongue, so why was he so quiet today? It didn’t match his personality at all! With his temper, he’d be laughing and jeering at Han Yunxi long ago. The old steward only felt that his master was acting out of sorts, though he couldn’t pinpoint where. Meanwhile, Long Feiye hadn’t ceased his scrutiny of Gu Qi Sha.
“Your Excellency Pill Fiend, if you don’t speak, I suppose we’ll settle things like this?” Han Yunxi pressed on. She wasn’t afraid of Gu Qi Sha bargaining as much as him not saying anything at all.
“How about this? I’ll offer you 20 types of medicinal ingredients. You can take whatever you want from Pill Fiend Valley,” Gu Qi Sha finally laid out his terms.
Han Yunxi shook her head.
“50 types, no higher than this!” Gu Qi Sha said.
Han Yunxi shook her head again, this time with a smile.
“Then what do you want?” Gu Qi Sha looked depressed.
“All of Pill Fiend Valley!” Han Yunxi refused to budge.
Gu Qi Sha gave a snort of contempt. “Impossible!”
“So, negotiations are impossible? You still won’t acknowledge your debts?” Han Yunxi sighed. Her words were full of threats! Just then, Gu Qi Sha had tasted the flavor of refusing to back down.
He glanced at Long Feiye’s sword before relenting, “This old fellow will grant you whatever you want when you need it, how’s that?” Without exception, he had granted every one of Han Yunxi’s requests when she came here in the past. That should be what he mean by ‘whatever you want, when you need it.’
“That won’t do!” Han Yunxi still didn’t accept. Once one gave in in a negotiation, one would end up making concessions all the way.
Gu Qi Sha huffed. “Then this old fellow will grant all those people kneeling outside whatever they want too, how’s that?”
Han Yunxi was still shaking her head.
“Then this old fellow will grant anyone whatever they want when they come knocking. Will that do it?” Gu Qi Sha said angrily.
By his side, the old steward privately thought that this should make Qin Wangfei yield. Just then, she’d even stood up for the people pleading for medicine, so this was probably her true motive for wanting Pill Fiend Valley—to save them.
But Han Yunxi was still shaking her head.
Gu Qi Sha simply stopped talking to glare at her as she finally spoke. “Even if it’s not the entire Pill Fiend Valley, half of it will do. You can be in charge of maintaining the plants while this wangfei takes charge of selling them, how’s that?”
Selling them?
The woman who had been censuring Gu Qi Sha for refusing to save the dying wanted to sell off the plants? Even Long Feiye was left speechless, to say nothing of the old steward and Gu Qi Sha. They assumed she had the heart of a Bodhisattva and was a compassionate, righteous type who were perfect beyond fail. All of them expected her to give the medicine away as soon as she claimed Pill Fiend Valley, but now she was talking about selling!
Gu Qi Sha grew interested. “Esteemed wangfei, when you put it like that, are you planning to live here permanently?”
Gu Qi Sha had thought of the same thing when Han Yunxi first stated her intentions to get Pill Fiend Valley, which was why his eyes had secretly lit up again. Even though all this fuss hadn’t been able to implicated Long Feiye, he could at least get a little something from it all! He liked this lass, so if she stayed here long-term, he’d give her leadership of the valley and happily care for the plants for her sake without a second thought! All of his hemming and hawing were just for show so Long Feiye and Han Yunxi wouldn’t get too suspicious.
Live here permanently? Han Yunxi had never considered the possibility. Long Feiye heard the words and made a note of them without uttering a word.
“Gu Qi Sha, this wangfei’s proposal is the minimum terms that I’ll accept. You should think it over,” Han Yunxi said before sitting down to drink tea. She found that she quite liked the brew and ended up downing three cups, feeling that it really was familiar. But she still couldn’t identify it by its taste.
Seeing this, Gu Qi Sha sat down as well and pretended to lose himself in thought. One hand pressed over his wound while the other changed the tea leaves for a fresh set and poured Han Yunxi the first cup from the brew. Han Yunxi simply accepted it to drink again.
Mm, it really is good tea. Its scent is fragrant, its color clear, and its taste pure.
“Esteemed wangfei…” Gu Qi Sha grew sincere.
“Hm?” Han Yunxi glanced at him indifferently.
“Your terms…not only want Pill Fiend Valley, but myself as well!” Or rather, what Gu Qi Sha really wanted to say was, Lass, if you want Pill Fiend Valley, you can have it. If you want me, you can have me too! But he was certain that Long Feiye would attack him as soon as he said those words, thus making the deal impossible.
Thus, he held back and smiled. “You want the plants in Pill Fiend Valley as well as myself to look after them. That’s not asking for half of the valley at all. It’s obvious that…hehe, esteemed wangfei, if you want to seal this deal, you should make a show of your good faith!”
Han Yunxi knew there was hope as soon as Gu Qi Sha said those words! She pretended to consider the question before finally saying, “I’ll divide half the profits from selling the medicine to you as well as pay you a salary for maintaining the plants. It can count as us jointly managing these medicinal ingredients. We don’t need to discuss much of anything else!”
Gu Qi Sha looked hesitant, so Han Yunxi quickly slapped the table and said, “This wangfei’s patience is limited!”
“Alright, alright! This excellency has one last requirement: no selling any of the plants in this courtyard without my permission!” Gu Qi Sha said seriously.
“Fine!” Han Yunxi was willing since she wanted to get the main authority first. Other details could come later. The one thing she feared was Gu Qi Sha regretting his decision. If he refused to come to an agreement, their talk would be all for nothing. If they killed him or drove him away, they’d still be suffering the greatest losses! How long could Pill Fiend Valley support itself without a Pill Fiend at the head? Even the most plentiful medicinal plants would be all used up one day. Moreover, the rarest strains depended on Gu Qi Sha himself to raise and nurture. It’s very likely that outsiders would fail in the same attempts.
“Gu Qi Sha, then that’s it! If you back out—”
Gu Qi Sha laughed. “Does esteemed wangfei think my humble self has the skills to back out?”
This man. He’s ‘this excellency’ one minute and ‘my humble self’ the next. All of that scorn and disdain felt grating to Han Yunxi’s ears. But she didn’t mind. After claiming leadership over Pill Fiend Valley, she would have plenty of chances to deal with him. The first thing she was going to do was take care of the kneeling crowd outside!
“Steward, send people out and make a record of all the things those people want. Then gather all the required ingredients and sell them off after listing a price!” Han Yunxi commanded.
The old steward was completely floored. He hadn’t recovered from the reality of the deal yet before getting his orders to sell things off. Was Pill Fiend Valley really going to change hands just like that?
The old steward sent a hesitant glance towards Gu Qi Sha, who only said grumpily, “What are you looking at? You want this old fellow to do it myself?”