Robbed

Fang An seemed a bit off as he sat down. He was usually quite talkative, but this time he was reticent. He looked oddly at Yang Xinhe and Zhang Fei like he couldn't decide whether or not to say something.

Yang Xinhe and Zhang Fei noticed this, but they ignored it.

"I've already ordered a lot since Senior Lin is here. So today is my treat." Yang Xinhe said as Fang An sat down.

Zhang Fei wasn't as friendly as Yang Xinhe, perhaps because Zhang Fei was an imperial official. Even so, he still greeted Fang An, if a bit coldly.

The relationship between the two countries wasn't necessarily close, but it wasn't bad either. Before the shopping mall, the two countries would have relatively frequent exchanges. So there wasn't much bad blood between them. It was just the appearance of the shopping mall that put a strain on the surrounding countries' relationships.

The products and cultivation environment of the shopping mall risked upsetting the balance. Beforehand, everyone had been similarly destitute compared to the countries further to the south.

Fang An was very quiet while facing the greetings of Yang Xinhe and Zhang Fei. He barely nodded at the two of them while looking troubled by something. He did take a moment to greet Lin Feng, though.

"Senior Lin, I haven't seen you here before. What brings you to Fellow Daoist Yang's restaurant?"

Lin Feng couldn't tell Fang An he was there so he could avoid asking his sister to play music for him. He gave a perfunctory answer that he thought wouldn't step on anyone's toes.

"Business has been good lately. So I thought I would come out to celebrate." Lin Feng raised his glass of wine, "Thanks to the business deal I made with Fang An. Pour him some wine so we can all have a toast."

Unfortunately, that seemed to be precisely what Fang An didn't want to hear. His face soured as he listened to what Lin Feng said.

He looked closely at Zhang Fei and Yang Xinhe as he seemed to debate with himself. Finally, with a sigh, he clarified what was on his mind.

"The caravans carrying the shopping mall food back to the Kingdom of Zhou have been ambushed." As he spoke, Fang An observed Zhang Fei and Yang Xinhe carefully. "The thieves have already stolen hundreds of spirit crystals worth of goods."

The table went silent.

Zhang Fei's expression cycled through shock and anger as he comprehended what Fang An had said and realized that Fang An suspected him.

"Great Yan has no hand in this," Zhang Fei denied. "We have no reason to do so."

Fang An's lips thinned.

"Perhaps." Fang An conceded. "But saving hundreds of spirit crystals is already very tempting for anyone."

Yang Xinhe laughed awkwardly.

"Old Zhang is so stubborn, Prince An. He would not lie about something like this. If he knew anything about your caravans getting attacked, he would be too stupid and straightforward to hide it."

Fang An slowly nodded as Zhang Fei's expression hardened further.

"Senior Lin, what do you think about someone robbing my purchases?"

Lin Feng felt put on the spot by Fang An's question. He had never bothered thinking about something like his customers getting robbed.

He wouldn't let people act as they pleased in his shopping mall, but he had never considered anything that happened outside of it. If Lin Feng left the shopping mall, he wouldn't even have the power to protect his own life. So he felt that his thoughts on what happened outside his little valley weren't very relevant.

"…If anyone causes trouble while in or around my shopping mall, I'll deal with them harshly. But, if it doesn't happen at the shopping mall, then it's none of my business."

Fang An nodded slowly again. He seemed to have expected Lin Feng's answer, but perhaps he had been hoping for a different one.

At that point, servers began to arrive with the food that Yang Xinhe had ordered. The servers quickly covered the table with exquisite and expensive-looking dishes, but the mood around the table was very subdued.

Fang An's revelation had wasted Yang Xinhe's efforts to impress Lin Feng. Everyone ate quickly without much talking. The attacks on Fang An's people and his suspicions against Zhang Fei left no one in the mood to stick around very long. Even more importantly, it revealed to Great Yan that their shopping mall purchases might not be safe either.

The impromptu lunch meeting broke apart quickly and anticlimactically as everyone hurried to react to this news.

——

Mei set a small porcelain jar down next to Li Qianxue. It was the medicine that she had asked Lin Feng to get for her.

"Here, the Body Tempering Liquid."

Li Qianxue was stunned to see the medicine she had told Mei about just that morning.

"Senior sister! Thank you! I will make sure to repay you in the future." Li Qianxue exclaimed.

She would have preferred not to ask Mei to help her get the medicine, but she really couldn't afford it otherwise. The Body Tempering Liquid was the cheapest option the pharmacy had recommended for her, but it still cost twenty spirit crystals.

She didn't even have a single spirit crystal to her name. If she worked hard, especially in an environment with so many wealthy people like the shopping mall, she might be able to earn one or two after a long time. Saving twenty was out of the question for her, though.

"Don't worry about repaying me," Mei shook her head dismissively. "If I have anything in the future, I'll come to you for help."

"Please do, Senior sister." Li Qianxue was extremely humble in front of Mei, "If it's something I can do, then I will definitely do it for my Senior sister."

A debt of twenty spirit crystals was too much for Li Qianxue. It might not have taken Mei much effort to get her the medicine, but twenty spirit crystals were more than most people would earn in their entire lives.

"How is your cultivation? Are you still having trouble honing your bones?"

Li Qianxue nodded unhappily.

"Yes, nothing I do seems to help. I can hone maybe one percent of a bone with all the vitality in my body before I need to rest."

Li Qianxue was becoming increasingly cynical about her chances of succeeding in martial cultivation. She didn't doubt Lin Feng's teachings, especially after successfully honing one bone with her vitality, but she felt like she was missing something. Perhaps her talent for martial cultivation was simply too bad.

Mei sighed at the defeated tone in Li Qianxue's voice.

"Don't give up hope too soon. You have only been cultivating for a short amount of time." Mei pushed the jar closer to the young woman. "Use this medicine and see if it helps. I'll ask my brother if he knows anything more, too."

"I don't want to bother you and Senior Lin," Li Qianxue protested. "It is already impossible for me to repay all the help you and Senior Lin have given me."

"If someone asks me to raise my hand, will I refuse due to lack of benefits?" Mei shook her head. "It's no trouble for me and or my brother. Just focus on your cultivation and let Senior sister Mei take care of these small things."

Li Qianxue looked reluctant, but she still nodded.

"I will have to rely on Senior sister."

——

In a deserted hallway deep inside the shopping mall, a beautiful young woman was listening to a report from a young servant girl. The room was sparsely furnished, with the young woman sitting imperiously on the only chair in the room. The servant girl kneeled on the stone floor in front of her. The young woman was Fang Qiyu.

"Most of the caravans are being intercepted as they enter the Kingdom of Zhou. Less than half of them are reaching Prince An's supporters back in the kingdom."

Fang Qiyu's face was impassive as she heard this. The servant girl didn't move from her spot on the floor as Fang Qiyu thought over what the servant girl had just said.

"And we know nothing about who is doing this?"

"No, your highness. We only have information that many of them headed south after robbing the caravans."

Fang Qiyu's eyes narrowed dangerously as she heard this. Going south narrowed the list of suspects. Still, such evidence could easily be fabricated. She had to be sure before she made a move.

"Send Guo Haitao to follow the caravans. His job isn't to save them. He's only there to gather more information."

The servant girl kneeled even deeper until her forehead pressed into the cold stone floor.

"This one will do as you command, your highness."

Fang Qiyu continued without reacting to the young girl's words.

"What are Brother Hui's current movements?"

"He has sent the first group of supporters toward Great Yan, your highness. It is expected that they arrive within the week."

Fang Qiyu's eyes were cold and sharp.

"Make sure no one below the Nascent Soul Realm gets here."

"Yes, your highness."