Chapter 45

Outside the door, there were men and women, a bustling crowd.

These were all members of the Qin clan, more or less related to Qin Xianyu, but not particularly close, at least three generations apart.

Old Uncle Fu came out of the door and, seeing the crowd dressed in fine clothes, immediately thought of how his young master had been stripped of his family business and was now living in a dilapidated temple, which filled him with rage.

When these people saw the old servant of the Qin family, they were all taken aback.

Old Uncle Fu had long returned to his hometown, so why was he back in Feng County?

"What are you doing here? Make that little brat Qin Xianyu come out. The medicine shop was sealed without reason, and when we went to inquire, we were told that only the owner of the medicine shop can seek to have it unsealed."

A middle-aged man said, "The medicine shop is still under Qin Xianyu's name. Make him come out and go with us."

"Do you still know that the medicine shop belongs to my young master?" Old Uncle Fu laughed bitterly in anger. "What, did that high official give the medicine shop to you, but then the Ministry of Revenue wouldn't recognize it, and the officials there sent it back?"

The middle-aged man, knowing he was in the wrong, turned pale and said, "Qin Mingjin promised before he died to find us a shop to do business with. Now that he's dead, the medicine shop should be used to pay off the debt!"

Old Uncle Fu angrily said, "Your lord saw that you were living in poverty and not only helped you regularly but also intended to find you a business. But you, this pack of ingrates, took the medicine shop by force, thinking it was a debt owed to you by your lord! Shameless! Utterly shameless!"

These words were baseless, and in fact, Old Uncle Fu didn't know if the lord had ever said such a thing. Most of it was likely fabricated, but it was true that the lord had intended to find them a job.

But it was this baseless claim that led to the seizure of the Qin family medicine shop.

The corrupt official Yuan, who had received many bribes, did not even bother to understand the case. On the day he received the silver, he ruled that the medicine shop belonged to the Qin family.

Old Uncle Fu gritted his teeth, looking at the middle-aged man, and said, "Qin Ying, back when you had no money and were almost mad with desire to marry, it was your lord who pitied you and gave you several dozen taels of silver. When that wasn't enough, he even borrowed from his friends to help you have a grand wedding. You pretended not to know about the silver, and your lord never mentioned it, but did you feel no gratitude? How can you treat my young master like this? Can your conscience really bear it?"

The middle-aged man, Qin Ying, his face changed slightly, and after a moment, he coldly said, "After the wedding, I was still penniless. The silver from Qin Mingjin was all spent, and I never received any of it. What gratitude are you talking about?"

"Fine, fine, fine!" Old Uncle Fu nodded, almost unable to stand. He turned to another person and said, "Qin Du, what about you?"

"After you got married, your house was in disrepair and you had no money to fix it, so you came to your lord for help. Your lord, with no choice, gave you the house behind the medicine shop, and his family of three moved into the medicine shop. Do you know how cramped and smelly it was?"

"Do you know that someone once offered several hundred taels for that house, but your lord never sold it?"

Old Uncle Fu looked at the man, his white hair trembling, and said sternly, "What are you doing here today?"

Qin Du's face remained unchanged, and he just sneered, "If he hadn't given me the house, would I have had no place to live? My ancestral home, though in disrepair, was still livable."

Old Uncle Fu shouted angrily, "If your ancestral home was livable, why did you come to cause trouble at the Qin family medicine shop? Why did you break the sign? Why did you force your lord to give you the house?"

"Your actions then and your words now, don't you feel ashamed?"

Old Uncle Fu turned to another person and said, "Qin Siniang, when your husband was in prison, it was your lord who personally arranged for his release. Your family has always been grateful to your lord. What are you doing here today?"

Qin Siniang, who was in her fifties with gray hair, felt a bit ashamed when she heard this, but she gritted her teeth and said, "The one who received Qin Mingjin's kindness was my husband, but he is dead."

"Fine, fine, fine!" Old Uncle Fu said several times, laughing bitterly. "If your lord were to see this, would he regret it?"

Qin Du said, "Stop talking nonsense. Don't think that we took the medicine shop. Qin Mingjin promised it to us, and it's being used to pay off the debt he owed us."

"Right!"

"How can it be just that? Qin Mingjin used to send us chickens, ducks, and fish during the holidays, but he stopped after he died. If Qin Xianyu, his son, were to follow his father's example, how much would he owe us over these years?"

These people felt some shame in their hearts, but to cover it, they found excuses to make their actions seem justified.

Gradually, they became more confident, viewing the Qin family's past kindness as something they were entitled to. When the kindness stopped, it became a debt.

Qin Xianyu listened quietly inside, his hands tensed, his face cold. After a moment, he sighed lightly, suddenly thinking of a saying: "A little rice feeds gratitude, a lot of rice breeds resentment."

These eight words were recorded in ancient texts.

It turns out that such things have always existed. Such shameless people have never been lacking.

But when you do someone a favor, they will inevitably be grateful.

Over time, it becomes something they are entitled to.

When the favors stop, it seems as if you owe them, turning into resentment.

Qin Xianyu sighed inwardly. When his father, Qin Mingjin, was alive, these people were quite close. But now... he wondered what his father would think if he saw this.

Seeing Old Uncle Fu trembling with anger outside, Qin Xianyu felt he could no longer hide behind the door. He slowly went out, placed a hand on Old Uncle Fu's back to help him calm down.

Qin Xianyu secretly massaged a few acupoints on Old Uncle Fu and said to the crowd, "Uncles and brothers, what brings you here?"

"You finally came out," Qin Ying said. "The Qin family medicine shop was sealed without reason, and it needs to be unsealed. The shop is still in your name, so you need to go with us."

Old Uncle Fu was about to curse, but Qin Xianyu stopped him.

Qin Xianyu's expression was calm as he said, "Alright, but as far as I know, the medicine shop cannot be unsealed immediately after being sealed. Many details need to be verified before it can be unsealed. This process will take about three months. Why don't you come back in three months? Then we can go to the government office, and it will be unsealed in one day. Going now won't help."

These people were illiterate and knew nothing about the law, so they didn't realize that Qin Xianyu was just making it up.

But when they heard about the three months, they all turned pale.

Three months would mean a significant loss of silver.

The current physician hired by the Qin family medicine shop needed to be paid a substantial amount each month. If the shop couldn't open for three months, just the physician's salary would be a headache.

Though they had all contributed silver to bribe Official Yuan, making the medicine shop now a shared property, if there were no income, they would all be reluctant to pay the physician's salary from their own pockets.

"Three months?"

"Isn't that too long?"

"Never heard of anything taking three months. Is this little brat trying to trick us?"

Qin Ying and Qin Du's faces changed, and they exchanged glances. Qin Ying said, "No matter what, you should come with us first."

Qin Xianyu said calmly, "Though I don't eat much, I lost the medicine shop and my father's savings, so I have to gather herbs daily to survive. I really have no time to go with you, Uncle."

He emphasized the word "Uncle" slightly, as if reminding them that they weren't that close.

Qin Ying didn't catch the deeper meaning and said impatiently, "Stop talking nonsense and come with me."

"If I don't gather herbs, I'll starve to death," Qin Xianyu said calmly. "My father was willing to help distant relatives, but I doubt you would give me a meal. If I don't work for myself, how can I survive?"

Old Uncle Fu, who had been a servant of the Qin family for decades, almost burst into flames with rage at the thought of his young master's hardship, wishing he could bite these shameless people to death.

Qin Ying and the others finally caught the meaning. Seeing that Qin Xianyu was unwilling to go with them, they tried to grab him.

Old Uncle Fu saw this and rushed forward, shouting, "What are you doing?"

Qin Du stepped forward, reaching out to push Old Uncle Fu, intending to knock him down.

At that moment, a hand reached out from the side and grabbed Qin Du's wrist.

Then, there was a soft sound.

Snap.

Qin Du screamed in pain.

The crowd turned pale.

Qin Xianyu had lightly broken Qin Du's wrist.

With his current cultivation of true qi, though his body wasn't particularly strong, his strength was already astonishing.

"You dare to hurt someone?"

"You actually dared to hurt someone?"

The crowd was shocked and angry.

Seeing that they were about to rush forward, Qin Xianyu smiled and took out a hatchet from beside the door, swinging it casually.

A rock at the foot of the steps split in two.

The hatchet also broke.

But everyone fell silent.

At that moment, everyone realized that this young Taoist had extraordinary martial arts skills.

"Isn't it just three months? Why bother?"

Qin Xianyu sighed softly, "The medicine shop has been in your hands for almost three years, and I've been patient, haven't I?"

The crowd outside understood his meaning.

This young man had martial arts skills. If he hadn't been patient, he could have beaten them all, even killed them and fled, and it might not have been impossible.

But he had been patient.

Qin Ying, somewhat afraid, gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, we'll come back in three months."

With that, he hurried away.

The others, supporting Qin Du, also left.

Old Uncle Fu looked at his young master and said, "Young Master, why did you agree to them? You should have reclaimed the medicine shop. In three months, will you really unseal the medicine shop and give it to them?"

"In broad daylight, we can't just kill them," Qin Xianyu said with a smile. "Just getting rid of them for now. We'll see what happens in the future."

"As for three months from now... I'll probably be in the capital."

"When I return from the capital, what's mine will still be mine."

Hearing his young master's words, Old Uncle Fu suddenly remembered a saying.

A soft knife kills without blood.

His young master clearly intended to keep these people hanging, making them wait for three months, only to find out that everything was in vain.

Compared to scolding these thick-skinned people, making their hope turn to despair might be better.

In three months, the little silver they had saved over the years would likely be spent on living expenses. In the future, the medicine shop would still be the Qin family's, but it would definitely be Qin Xianyu's.

And these Qin family relatives, without savings or the medicine shop, would likely fall back into their previous destitution.

PS: This chapter was written with a lot of emotion because it's based on a true story from my life. The characters Qin Ying, Qin Du, and Qin Siniang are all real people.