Chapter 4117 — The Heavenly Pill Pavilion
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"It is not yet too late in the day. Better today than some chosen date—why not go and have a look at the shop premises right now?" Cai Zhongxuan suggested.
"I was just about to say the same." Wei Zhao nodded gladly, then turned to instruct the others: "Xueli, Tianchan, you two stay here and keep each other company. We will be back before long."
"All right," Xueli and Tianchan answered in unison. Neither of them was suited to showing her face in public—Xueli especially, who had only recently been wanted on every street, was in no position to go out.
Wei Zhao and the others set off at once, led by Cai Zhongxuan to the shop he had picked out. It was just as he had said: this location, though somewhat inferior to that of the Five Elements Merchant Guild, was still a busy thoroughfare where people came and went—quite good indeed.
The only pity was that the shop was not very large. But Wei Zhao had only ever intended to run a small business with the two women; too big a premises would have been more trouble than it was worth to manage, and this one was already enough for them to gain a foothold.
After looking it over from top to bottom, Wei Zhao was on the whole thoroughly satisfied and settled on it then and there. Because Cai Zhongxuan had stepped in to smooth the way, the original owner did not demand too high a transfer price but offered a very low, friendly rate—yet even so, it came to a full ten thousand spirit jades.
Cai Zhongxuan had meant to pay for Wei Zhao along with his own share. Ten thousand spirit jades was an astronomical sum to an ordinary man, but as deputy steward of the Five Elements Merchant Guild, such an amount was nothing to him. What he had not expected was that Wei Zhao, without a word of demur, produced a spirit jade card and paid on the spot.
That scene left everyone stunned for a good while. They all knew by now that Wei Zhao was a disciple of the Threefold Pavilion of the North Island, but who could have imagined that a mere disciple of the Threefold Pavilion would have so many spirit jades in hand?
Only Di Xingdao clapped Wei Zhao on the shoulder and roared with laughter. "Brother Wei Zhao is no ordinary man—how could he be measured by common sense?"
With the premises settled, the next order of business was to find someone to renovate it afresh and remodel it in a style befitting a pill shop. Cai Zhongxuan took this task upon himself; as deputy steward of the Five Elements Merchant Guild, he was the only one among them with experience in such matters, and there was no one better suited to handle it.
The renovation would take at least three days, and that time could just as well be left to Wei Zhao to prepare pills. Cai Zhongxuan had offered to supply him at a low price, but that smacked of abusing his office for private gain, and Wei Zhao did not wish to compromise the other man's principles or reputation on his account.
Besides, with two alchemists, Wei Zhao and Tianchan, at hand, they had no need of ready-made pills—only ready-made spirit herbs and materials, and those Hou Guanqi could easily procure with a single word to the Pill Hall.
After the others dispersed, Wei Zhao returned to his room, where Tianchan and Xueli immediately came up to him and asked, "How did it go? Is the shop to your liking?"
"Very much so. I have already taken it," Wei Zhao said with a nod and a smile. "By the way, Tianchan, how is your pill refinement?"
"At my present level I can refine fourth-grade pills at most, and I can generally guarantee the success rate, though I dare not vouch for their quality. Anything third-grade or below, however, is no problem at all," Tianchan replied.