Departure
The three people arrived at the warehouse door and the butler stepped forward to give the guard a card. Yan Hao fell to the back and murmured a question, “Master, was there a hidden camera in the room?”
“Of course not.” Tang Xin had a disgusted look on her face. “Why the heck would I install such a thing in my own room?”
So she meant that it was a lie? Yan Hao wondered to himself what the family head’s expression would be if he knew he gave three treasures to the Eighth Miss for nothing.
“I knew Father wouldn’t suspect. Since I ran to him immediately after the incident occurred, he would of course think that I have a hidden card up my sleeve.” Tang Xin suddenly felt proud.
Yan Hao asked, “What if he did ask to see the recording?”
“Go retrieve it, of course. Return to the room and pretend to search for it before telling him that someone stole the film. Then, conclude that it must have been Tang Ningyi who did it when he was alone inside the room.”
Since the incident happened so suddenly, where would she find the time to find a camera to film it? When Tang Ningyi shouted as he rushed in to kill her, she had recorded it with the recording pen she always carried with her. But a voice recording is never as effective as a video. Anyway, she had already fooled the sordid Old Man, so she didn’t bring it up.
Yan Hao sighed at her (not)quick-witted, and (over)zealous answer.
“The longsword is for you. The quality is pretty good, so it must’ve been prepared for Tenth little brother.” Just the fact that this sword had been specially crafted for Tang Ningyi was enough to make Tang Xin feel pleased as she gazed at it.
[TL/N: Meaning that she’s gloating a hell lot knowing Ningyi won’t have it in the end. lol]
Yan Hao hesitated, “Rewards should not be without merit.”
Tang Xin raised an eyebrow. “Protecting me from Tang Ningyi’s clutches is already a merit. If you don’t accept it, then I don’t need it, nor can I give Tenth little brother the benefit. My only choice will be to destroy this sword.”
“Then, I will accept with deference rather than decline courteously.” Yan Hao may have worded it this way, but the expression on his face softened as he carefully stroked the blade of the longsword.
Tang Xin thought, his desire was clearly written all over his face, but he still feigned modesty.
The butler came over just when Tang Xin wanted to say something. She swallowed her words back into her stomach.
“We can proceed.” The butler led the two into the warehouse.
Once she made a decision in her mind, she took the “Encyclopedia of Herbs”, the volume of which was the size of her palm and as thick as a regular dictionary. Recorded within were the names of numerous herbs, their medicinal effects, and illustrations.
[TL/N: I have one too~ They’re awesome references, but mine is humongous teehee]
With the book in hand, she selected a set of pharmaceutical equipment, then went to the herbal medicine area to request six different herbs in a row and had someone wrap them up for her.
The middle-aged man in charge of the herbs couldn’t help but ask, “Are we to package the entirety of our stock?”
“Correct.” Tang Xin answered simply. The six types of medicinal herbs, when combined differently, could produce the following three medications: hemostatic ointment, antidote pills, and anti-scarring ointment. Among them, the hemostatic ointment was the most basic yet most practical, and most widely sold medicine. Antidote pills should always be prepared while anti-scarring ointments are quite popular among women.
The middle-aged man froze in surprise. He could still remember how the Eighth Miss had looked at the herbs like they were ordinary flowers when she came before.
“…..” The butler was having a similar wide-eyed, open-mouthed reaction as he hurried to ask, “Eighth Miss, are you using all your financial credit to buy up herbs?” His hesitant tone revealed how he found this hard to believe.
“Correct, I plan to open a pharmacy.” Tang Xin nonchalantly flipped through the book that was as thick as a brick, “Once I finish studying this volume, these herbs will come in handy.”
As long as she could match the herbs between these two worlds, then everything else will become easier.
But the butler didn’t know this and so was whiplashed. The corners of his mouth twitched, “Eighth Miss plans to start producing and selling medicine after studying this book?”
“That’s right.” Tang Xin confirmed the butler’s inference.
“…..” The butler was secretly amused. He’d thought the Eighth Miss was intelligent and resourceful, but to think she was a halfwit. The “Encyclopedia of Herbs” is a foundational reading. If one could become knowledgeable in making medicine with just this book, there wouldn’t be so few pharmacists in this world. For something like medical science, if one doesn’t possess decades worth of experience and effort, one cannot be considered as initiated into this profession.
The middle-aged man was about to offer a few words of advice when the butler interrupted. “Since Eighth Miss has already decided, are you not going to do as asked?” Since she decided to go on a path that led to a deadend, then she can’t blame anyone else. They only needed to wait until the Tenth Young Master became well-rounded and independent before he slowly dealt with her permanently.
Tsk, tsk, such malicious aura. The butler had taken her for a fool but Tang Xin wasn’t going to correct it, and merely smiled as she watched the middle-aged man wrap things up. There will always be those who don’t know how lofty others’ starting points are or how much more talented others are. Just because they can’t accomplish something, they assume everyone else in the whole world won’t be able to as well.
Tang Xin wasn’t going to bother correcting it. If the butler hadn’t been presumptuous but a kindhearted person instead, what was she to do if she was denied the herbs last minute? Was she supposed to say ‘I’m actually a top-notch pharmacist and these herbs will find their use in my hands, so quickly give them to me’? That would simply be too overt!
It would be nothing like now, where the one bartering was laughing happily and the one providing was smiling. Simply harmonious.
Once the middle-aged man finished packaging everything, Tang Xin went over. “Butler, calculate the price for everything here.”
The butler carefully made his calculations but upon seeing the final amount, he became startled. He couldn’t help but re-tally it.
Tang Xin didn’t rush him and simply waited as he did and redid his calculations.
When he finally finished for the third time, the butler was in a daze. “The items are worth 79,998 credits in total.”
“No need to give me the change.” Tang Xin put the herbs, equipment and book into her ring with a wave of a hand.
She had already looked and found that the ring had about twenty cubic meters of space so holding this much was enough. When she first went to check, she had already memorized the quantity and price of each item. Mental calculations were done in advance before the second selection and once they were completed, she made her choice.
She was seen as a fool, but she just had to take some unexpected actions that made her seem intelligent. The things she did left people at a loss to react appropriately. The butler wavered in his hesitation.
Tang Xin led Yan Hao back into the room under the butler’s suspicious eyes.
Upon returning to the room, she paused in a rare moment of hesitation. Should she stay up tonight and prepare some medicine? Since they were going to leave by spacecraft tomorrow, she could make up for not resting on the road instead.
Just when she made her decision, Yan Hao spoke up, “Rest early. As the Tenth Young Master suffered a great defeat today, he may stir something up tomorrow.”
Tang Xin was speechless, “He’s already eaten this much loss under my hands, has he not learnt his lesson?”
She paused halfway through her words and thought to herself again- it was hard to say. Who could guarantee how low Tang Ningyi’s intelligence was? The moment Tang Ningyi was blinded with rage, he had charged into her room to fight and kill, and had even let someone grasp his weakness. What else was there that he wouldn’t do? Ordinary people would know to only act after leaving home, no matter how fierce the fight.
Thinking this way, Tang Xin made her firm decision and nodded. “Rest early. We depart early tomorrow morning.”
A night of good dreams.
The next day, Tang Xin slowly left with her luggage in hand. The spacecraft was only a hundred meters away but she looked left and right with great caution the whole way there. It took her more than ten minutes as she feared falling into a trap.
However, there was only Tang Jing there to see her off.
Only to see her snort, “If you can’t live on, don’t you die until you see me, even if you have to crawl to my house to do so.” There was no other message.
“……” That stupid tsundere.
Tang Xin couldn’t help but respond, “If there’s trouble that’s hard to solve, just contact me.”
Saying so, Tang Xing and Yan Hao entered the spacecraft smoothly.
Tang Xin lamented quietly in passing; this is the Tang family indeed. A massive family with a massive business, they even had their own private spacecraft. She had originally thought they needed to purchase tickets.
Once the spacecraft successfully took off, everything became smooth and peaceful.
Tang Xin muttered to herself. Could she have underestimated Tang Ningyi? Did he actually have a little bit of a brain?
After confirming with the pilot that the estimated travel time was about six hours, Tang Xin simply went to sleep again.
When Yan Hao woke her up, she was muddled and confused. “Hm?”
“We’ve arrived.”
Tang Xin rubbed at her eyes, realizing the spacecraft had already landed. She got off the spacecraft while yawning and finally stepped onto solid ground. And then, she was instantly halted by the town before her. She rubbed at her eyes again thinking she was still not awake yet.
Hadn’t he said for sure that there were abundant resources, a beautiful environment, and accessible transportation? What the hell was this vast sea of yellow sand that dusted the sky as well? Wasn’t the planet called Aquastar so where’s the water, where was the blue??? Liar!! Sensationalistic headlines!!
Yan Hao also followed in leaving the spacecraft.
In the next second, the space craft lifted. At the same time, the spacecraft’s broadcasting system came on, “Tenth Young Master bids me to greet you. He wishes you great development on this land and that you have a pleasant life.”
The spacecraft hovered over the sky and repeated the broadcast four or five times before it finally took off and left.
Tang Xin’s sleepiness had all but faded as she gritted her teeth and spat out, “TANG, NING, YI!” So he’d been waiting. He better not let her catch a chance, for she will ruthlessly carry out her revenge.
Yan Hao reminded her, “The luggage was in the cargo hold, I didn’t have the chance to retrieve them.” Besides his long sword, everything else was placed in his luggage. Now their luggage was with the runaway spacecraft.
Tang Xin rubbed at the ring on her index finger and released a sigh. “Thankfully, the book, equipment, and herbs are still with us, and the token the butler gave is also in the interspace compartment.” It was said that once they landed at their destination and handed over the token to the local Tang family household, the person in charge would then grant them responsibility over the local industry.
Yan Hao remained silent. He felt that herbs were less useful in comparison to daily necessities.
“Forget it, forget it. Let’s ask around and look for someone from the Tang family first.” The moment she found out the true purpose of the spacecraft, she held no hope that it would come back around, and directly set out to find her own way out.
No matter where they looked, everything was covered in yellow sand and the direction was nearly indistinguishable. She randomly picked a direction and set off.
But two hours into their walk, her calves were feeling sore and throbbing painfully. When Tang Xin was about ready to curse her own mother, Yan Hao suddenly said, “Master, I’ll carry you.”
“Huh?” Tang Xin stilled. For as long as she had been alive, she had never heard anyone willingly offer to carry her.
Seeing she didn’t object, Yan Hao shifted his sword to the side of his waist and easily lifted her up. “Which direction?”
Tang Xin was being held in his arms like a princess. From her visual angle, Yan Hao’s jaw was lightly rounded, smooth, and curved elegantly; he was particularly handsome. She was taken aback and pointed in a direction, “Let’s keep going that way.”
Yan Hao remained silent, lightly stepped forward and then, shot forward like an arrow.
It was then that Tang Xin remembered that the person carrying her was a fifth-level martial artist. Even if he had a heavy load in his arms, he could still run faster than her. The nap must have addled her mind- why did she only consider relying on herself to walk?! An absolute, pure waste of time.
Yan Hao ran while carrying her for close to an hour. Right when she was beginning to hear his heavy breathing in her ears, she looked into the distance and found a city gate not far away. Someone was setting up a stall near the city gate.
Yan Hao also saw the city gate, inhaled deeply, and then, sprinted over the last distance and finally set Tang Xin down.
Tang Xin helped him sit down and then turned towards the elderly as he was setting up his stall and begged for a drink of water.
The old man readily handed them a bottle of water. “Hm, youngsters like you two are inexperienced, huh? Going out there like that without water or provisions, be careful of losing your life out there.”
Tang Xin handed the water to Yan Hao to drink first and licked her dry lips. “We’re not from this planet. We didn’t know where the spacecraft landed and so it wasn’t easy getting here.”
The old man stared wide eyed. “Spacecrafts usually make their landing in the city, why would they arbitrarily land in some random place? You two youngsters sure have a lot of luck for ending up safe and sound still.”
“Yes, yes.” Tang Xin echoed his conclusion while she cursed Tang Ningyi in her heart innumerable times.