Chapter 281 - Farewell (1)

With that, Li Qingyan let out a soft laugh, then turned and walked away.

Xu Yuan watched her tall, graceful figure disappear around the corner. After a long silence, he suddenly cursed. “Fuck.”

Jiang He glanced at him. “Vulgar.”

Xu Yuan glanced back. “What the hell would an old fossil like you know?”

Jiang He’s cheek twitched. “Then do enlighten this old fossil. What exactly don’t I understand?”

Xu Yuan leaned back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other. “Didn’t you hear what she just said? Li Qingyan will be responsible for my safety.”

Jiang He frowned. “What of it?”

“And that is precisely why I said you don’t know shit.”

The wrinkles on Jiang He’s face quivered with anger. Just as he was about to erupt, Xu Yuan suddenly grinned and explained: “Old Jiang, it’s quite simple. As the Third Young Master of the Chancellor’s Manor, don’t you think Mister Zong should be the one protecting me when I go to the northern frontier?”

Jiang He gave him a strange look but said nothing.

Xu Yuan turned toward the direction Li Qingyan had left and shook his head. “That princess is impossible to read. I have absolutely no idea what goes on inside her head.”

“She probably means you no harm,” Jiang He replied indifferently.

“I was speaking as a prince consort evaluating his fiancée. I wasn’t worried she might harm me.” Xu Yuan smiled and waved a hand. He paused, and a faint, eerie glimmer entered his eyes. “Though I wouldn’t say that with absolute certainty. I have a feeling that if the greater cause demanded it, the First Martial Princess would sell her own husband out as bait without blinking. A woman with the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent souls on her hands will always place tenderness behind iron and blood...”

Jiang He listened carefully, then gave Xu Yuan a long, searching look. Rather than respond, he changed the subject. “This old man has no interest in your private affairs. But you came here with her because you need something else from me, didn’t you?”

Xu Yuan immediately straightened in his seat. He had indeed come to Jiang He for another reason, and he smiled broadly. “I came because I’d like the Institute of Applied Research to help me with a small favor.”

Jiang He cut him off without even thinking. “You want this old man to do you a small favor? Hah. Keep dreaming.”

Xu Yuan was the one asking for help, so he shamelessly kept smiling. “Old Jiang... don’t be so quick to refuse.”

Jiang He regarded him coldly, his aged voice firm and forceful. “I have no money.”

Xu Yuan fell silent.

“However, if you want this old man’s help, it is not entirely impossible...”

Jiang He stared coolly at Xu Yuan as he gently rubbed his thumb and forefinger together.

At the sight of that gesture, the corner of Xu Yuan’s eye twitched. Every one of these old bastards had fallen headfirst into a money pit.

With a sigh, he took a stack of silver notes from his Sumeru Ring. Each was worth 10,000 taels. “Will this be enough?”

Jiang He’s eyes lit up slightly when he saw what Xu Yuan had taken out. He immediately reached for it, only for Xu Yuan to pin the stack beneath his hand. “What are you doing?”

“You brought out money, didn’t you? Wasn’t it for this old man?”

“I haven’t even told you what I want yet. Who knows whether you’ll pocket it and refuse to do the job?”

Their hands remained pressed atop the stack of silver notes, and the room fell silent.

Jiang He’s white hair stirred faintly as he spoke in the same indifferent tone. “You are insulting this old man’s character.”

“Pfft.” Xu Yuan sneered. “Your character? You and that old bastard Hua Hong even swindled away the New Year’s money the four of us received as children. You said you’d keep it safe and invest it for us, yet we still haven’t seen so much as a copper coin.”

Jiang He’s aged face flushed red. His hand, however, remained firmly planted on the stack of notes, without the slightest intention of letting go. He changed the subject outright. “Enough. Tell me what you want.”

Xu Yuan went straight to the point. “I want you to help me develop a pill.”

“What grade?” Jiang He asked.

Xu Yuan’s eyes flickered, and he instinctively replied: “Grade? What grade? Pills have grades?”

Jiang He’s voice immediately took on a mocking edge. “Third Young Master, you truly are a pampered lord untouched by mortal concerns. You swallow upper-tier Grade B pills like candy and have taken plenty of lower-tier Grade A pills, yet you don’t even know pills are classified by grade?”

Xu Yuan genuinely had never paid attention to such things. After all, he never had to buy them himself. Whenever he ran out, he simply asked the old steward for more. The old steward only ever explained what each pill did and what precautions he should take when swallowing them.

Jiang He continued: “Pills are divided into three major grades, A, B, and C. Each grade is further split into upper, middle, and lower tiers, making nine tiers in total. What kind of pill are you trying to develop?”

Xu Yuan pondered for a moment before answering quietly: “The pill I want should count as an Upper-tier Grade A.”

“Upper-tier Grade A?”

“Mhm. Roughly on the same level as the Blood Spirit Body-Melding Pill.”

Jiang He drew a deep breath. His voice rose as he glanced at the stack of notes trapped beneath their hands. “The Blood Spirit Body-Melding Pill does not even fall within the ordinary grading system. You expect to develop something like that with 500,000 taels? Are you joking with this old man?”

Xu Yuan frowned. “It’s not enough?”

Jiang He snapped irritably: “Boy, do you truly have no idea how expensive pill development is? Developing an ordinary Grade B pill can already cost several hundred thousand taels. The ingredients used in something like the Blood Spirit Body-Melding Pill are priceless treasures that money can scarcely buy. Refining a single batch under normal circumstances would cost several hundred thousand taels, and you want to develop an entirely new pill. At the very least, multiply that cost by ten.”

Xu Yuan opened his mouth. The sheer scale of the research budget had left him somewhat stunned.

Seeing his expression, Jiang He gave a cold snort. “And developing this sort of pill is a bottomless pit. The medicinal properties of every ingredient must be adjusted bit by bit. Should even one crucial ingredient become impossible to obtain, every coin spent during the early stages will have been thrown straight into the river.”

With that, the old man finally removed his hand from the stack of silver notes. He had no idea why Xu Yuan had suddenly decided to develop a new pill, but there was no chance Xu Yinhe would ever approve an expense of this magnitude.

And without Xu Yinhe’s approval, Xu Yuan could never produce that much silver.

A brief silence settled over the private chamber.

After a while, Jiang He slowly rose to his feet. “Very well. The Institute of Applied Research has plenty of work awaiting me, so this old man will be—”

“Wait...” Xu Yuan suddenly stopped him.

With a sigh, he began taking more silver notes from his Sumeru Ring.

One stack.

Two stacks.

Three stacks.

...

He continued until Jiang He’s eyes were practically bulging out of his skull, then finally stopped.

Jiang He stared open-mouthed at the eight stacks of silver notes lying across the table, each note worth 10,000 taels.

More than four million taels... His voice came out in a stammer. “Y-you little brat... Where did you get this much silver?”

Xu Yuan spread his hands with a smile. “From the Myriad Manifestations Sect, of course.”

Jiang He’s pleasant smile immediately returned. Chuckling, he sat back down. “Wasn’t all that silver already divided up? You secretly hid this much for yourself?”

Xu Yuan shook his head and let out a low laugh. “The Myriad Manifestations Sect wasn’t the only sect with businesses in Myriad. With a war raging, it’s perfectly normal for certain assets to suffer losses, isn’t it?”

Jiang He did not press the matter. After pondering for a moment, he showed none of his earlier greed. Instead, he looked at Xu Yuan with complete seriousness. “Changtian, did you set aside this silver from the very beginning to develop this pill?”

Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment before sighing. “Yes.”

“May this old man ask why?”