Chapter 4124 — The Central Island Grand Auction
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Zheng Tianshuo was startled on the spot. He had been fixated solely on getting Tian Chan for himself and had never once considered this angle. Anyone else might have hesitated to lay a hand on him out of deference to Zheng Dongjue—but where Di Xingdao was concerned, there was no telling whether the man would give his own grandfather any face at all!
Set against his own miserable hide, the temptation of a sister-in-law like Tian Chan, however great, left Zheng Tianshuo no choice but to swallow his urges for the time being. He nodded helplessly and said, "Very well then. Whatever Grandfather says, your grandson will do."
"Rest assured—even if Tian Chan moves out of the Pill Hall, she remains a daughter-in-law of the Zheng family. What is meant to be yours will never slip away. All you have to do is wait patiently." Zheng Dongjue and Zheng Tianshuo exchanged a glance, and the two of them smiled—each in his own sinister way.
The Central Island Market—the Hall of Renowned Pills.
Diao Huanshan sat facing a beardless, pale-faced middle-aged man with the utmost reverence. This man was the shopkeeper of their Hall of Renowned Pills, one Tong Yangxi.
"Shopkeeper Tong, this time you must stand up for me! Just to bring that piddling Heavenly Pill Pavilion into the fold, I have been stripped of every last shred of face. And all of it was done in the service of our Hall of Renowned Pills—it bears on the image of the entire Hall! You absolutely cannot sit by and do nothing about it." Diao Huanshan poured out his complaints with a face full of gloom.
Relying on their commanding position within the Pill Alliance, marching into some newly opened little pill shop and turning it into a complete puppet of their own—such had always been the Hall of Renowned Pills' customary method of expansion.
The trick had never once failed. Ordinary small shops simply did not dare stand against the Hall of Renowned Pills, and lacking any substantial backing of their own, no other powerful figures or factions would ever step forward on their behalf and risk offending the Hall. It had always been a case of every man for himself, keeping well clear of trouble.
Who could have guessed that this time they would stub their toe on that plain-looking Heavenly Pill Pavilion? The Deputy Island Lord of the Central Island, Di Xingdao—a top-tier expert of such overbearing, domineering force—was someone not to be trifled with lightly, to say nothing of the Hall of Renowned Pills; even their own backers behind the scenes would not dare provoke him.
Yet no matter what, Diao Huanshan could not swallow this humiliation. To be flung out bodily before so many eyes—if he did not find some way to recover his footing, how was he to make his way in the Central Island Market hereafter? He would not even dare lift his head once he stepped outside.
"Brother Diao, you have indeed been wronged this time. Both I and the Hall of Renowned Pills will keep this matter of yours firmly in mind—of that you may rest assured." Tong Yangxi offered the formulaic comfort with a smile.
Hearing this, Diao Huanshan frowned. Something in the tone struck him as off. What did keeping it in mind amount to? What blasted use was that?
"Shopkeeper Tong, I have thought it over carefully these past few days. A figure like Di Xingdao is indeed beyond our reach, but if we merely set about making things difficult for the Heavenly Pill Pavilion—so long as we do not do it openly, just a few petty tricks to squeeze them—Di Xingdao is no insider at the end of the day, surely he would not step forward again over such trifles?" Diao Huanshan proposed, still unwilling to let it go.