Chapter 101 — The Price of Royal Favour
CHAPTER 101
The Price of Royal Favour
“I need the advance back,” Yan Meizhen said.
Shi Feng looked at the unopened ingredient box between them. The Bone Refinement buyer sat very straight, without her usual teasing smile. Outside the furnace room, Gao Yuan kept finding reasons to walk past the door.
“The ingredients haven't been used,” Shi Feng replied. “What's changed?”
“Someone asked where I buy medicine,” Yan Meizhen said.
“Many people do,” Shi Feng replied.
“This one wore the Crown Prince's household mark,” Yan Meizhen said.
Shi Feng's expression stayed calm beneath the cloth. His eyes moved toward the door when Gao Yuan's footsteps stopped again.
“What did he want?” Shi Feng asked.
“To know your name, your customers, and how much you earn,” Yan Meizhen replied. “He also suggested our hunting company might lose road permits if we bought from an unsuitable supplier.”
“Meaning me,” Shi Feng said.
Yan Meizhen nodded. She didn't dress it as regret or friendship. Her company needed to travel, and a private alchemist wasn't worth a quarrel with the prince's servants.
Shi Feng returned the unused advance and ingredient box. The lost work annoyed him, but he didn't blame her for protecting her own purse.
“What did you tell him?” Shi Feng asked.
“That I know Master Shen through a medicine peddler,” Yan Meizhen replied. “Which is what I know. I didn't invent a family history for you.”
“Good,” Shi Feng said.
“Don't misunderstand,” Yan Meizhen added. “If someone offers enough trouble, I won't pretend I know less than I do.”
“I didn't ask you to,” Shi Feng replied.
She looked at him for a moment, then stood. Her disappointment was real. So was her decision to leave.
Duan Li's message arrived an hour later. He postponed the next Returning Breath Pill order until his merchant house finished an unexpected inspection.
The message didn't mention the Crown Prince. It didn't need to.
Shi Feng put it beside Yan Meizhen's canceled order and looked at the empty afternoon. Sima Yu's men weren't merely asking questions now. They were reaching the people whose money kept the furnaces lit.
That was a real consequence, not a distant threat. Gao Yuan entered without his usual cheerful demand.
“Master Shen,” Gao Yuan said quietly, “I don't want guards searching my rooms.”
“Neither do your tenants,” Shi Feng replied.
“Perhaps you'd better accept whatever offer they make,” Gao Yuan said.
“What offer?” Shi Feng asked.
The landlord looked toward the gate. A man in a dark robe was already crossing the yard. The small golden mark at his waist made two apprentices hurry aside.
Zheng Jian carried mid Foundation Establishment cultivation and the confidence of someone accustomed to speaking for a prince. He entered the room without waiting for permission.
“Master Shen,” Zheng Jian said. “His Highness appreciates useful talent.”
Shi Feng remained seated. “Then name the price,” Shi Feng replied.
Zheng Jian glanced at Gao Yuan. The landlord disappeared so quickly his sleeve caught the doorframe.
“Medicine for the household,” Zheng Jian said. “Priority over your street customers. Formulas registered with our steward. Your face and real name given when requested.”
“And payment?” Shi Feng asked.
“His Highness's protection,” Zheng Jian replied.
“I asked for payment,” Shi Feng said.
Zheng Jian's smile cooled. He looked at the ordinary copper furnace as if that should remind its owner to be humble.
“You work in a rented room,” Zheng Jian said. “Don't mistake a few buyers for a foundation no one can shake.”
“Then why does your household need my medicine?” Shi Feng asked.
“Because I was sent to offer you a chance,” Zheng Jian replied.
Zheng Jian rose, his sleeve catching the low table. At the door he turned, and his voice carried across the yard.
Two apprentices had found work near the gate. Three tenants stood at their own doors, and a herb runner set down his basket to listen.
“The Eastern Palace does not bargain,” Zheng Jian said. “Medicine for His Highness's household, first claim on every batch. You have until tomorrow evening to change your answer. After that, don't expect anyone in this lane to keep buying.”
“Keep it,” Shi Feng said from the doorway.
The yard stayed quiet. The herb runner picked up his basket and carried the answer out with his delivery.
“Are you buying today?” Shi Feng asked.
“No,” Zheng Jian said.
“Then you're taking a customer's seat,” Shi Feng replied.
Zheng Jian stared at the hood a moment longer. He couldn't see the face beneath it, and the man released no open qi for him to judge, which made the refusal in front of the yard worse than the refusal in the room.
He left without bowing.
Gao Yuan waited until the gate closed before showing his face again.
“You could've spoken more politely!” Gao Yuan whispered.
“I asked him to pay,” Shi Feng replied. “Very politely.”
The landlord looked as if he might faint over someone else's courage.
A runner from an ordinary herb shop arrived before he finished packing. The shop canceled a prepared supply and returned his deposit. The runner wouldn't look at him while explaining.
“My owner says he can't promise the next lot,” Jiang Lu said.
“Did he already sell it?” Shi Feng asked.
“I don't know,” Jiang Lu replied quickly.
Shi Feng accepted the returned stones and let him leave. The young Qi Condensation runner wasn't going to argue with his own employer for a hooded stranger. There was no point frightening an answer out of him.
Three interrupted arrangements in one afternoon. Sima Yu's name made ordinary men abandon profit before a guard even drew a blade. Shi Feng felt anger, but it stayed clear instead of turning into helpless worry. He still had personal medicine, ingredients in storage, and enough cash to continue without begging the next customer for an advance.
This was why he stopped swallowing every spare stone into cultivation. A reserve gave him room to act when someone interfered. It couldn't stop royal pressure, but it could keep that pressure from deciding what he ate tonight.
Shi Feng packed his unused personal ingredients into the ring. He left the room tidy and paid the session's agreed balance. Gao Yuan didn't try to charge for the threatening visit.
Shi Feng wasn't going to beg customers to risk royal punishment for his sake. He also wasn't going to offer his work, identity, and formulas for free because Sima Yu wanted them.
He thought, If he wanted ordinary profit, he could buy pills. He wants a hand around my throat.
The prince already tried killing Shi Feng. Now his servants wanted control of Master Shen. Whether Sima Yu proved the connection or only suspected it, the purpose was clear enough.
Shi Feng left by the main road and watched the people behind him. A man with a brown scarf stopped at the same stalls he did. Another waited near the west gate, looking away too late.
Not skilled shadows. Men confident their employer's name made care unnecessary.
He didn't confront them in the crowded street. Tomorrow afternoon, after his final furnace booking, the shortcut behind the old west-canal timber yard would give Zheng Jian all the quiet stone he wanted.
At home, Ling Qingzhu noticed he returned early with the medicine boxes still full.
“Bad sales?” Ling Qingzhu asked.
“Some orders changed,” Shi Feng replied.
“Then rest,” Ling Qingzhu said. “You always say you're busy.”
He looked at her and smiled faintly. Her answer was simple, and right now he appreciated that.
They sat beneath the pear tree while she read a passage from her book. He corrected one herb name, and she accused him of showing off. For a little while, the canceled orders stayed folded inside his bag.
After she went in, he checked the refined artifact sword. The channel answered his qi cleanly. He put it away beside the Returning Breath Pills and closed the ring's space.
Tomorrow evening wasn't a deadline he intended to obey. He had already refused. Another visit wouldn't turn refusal into permission, no matter whose name the visitor carried.