Old Li was a gaunt old man over fifty years of age.
His scalp was shiny and glowing with only a few sparse hairs clinging on.
The tip of his nose was slightly red, and his eyes were perpetually blurry from years of straining.
Anyone who saw Old Li would think he’d nearly been submerged head first in a barrel of liquor.
While usually befuddled, at this moment Old Li was anything but; his eyes were bloodshot, and his face was flushed with excitement.
“Old Niu, believe me, this stuff is the absolute nemesis of those damned green caterpillars!”
“Have you gone mad with greed, thinking you can deceive me into spending money with just some chili powder?” Old Niu was a bald, potbellied man.
His eyes were wide open, glaring at Old Li with displeasure.
“Don’t think for a second I don’t know.”
“If this thing really worked, your fifteen acres wouldn’t have been ravaged empty!”
Far from irritated, Old Li chuckled mysteriously: “They ate it all right!”
Old Niu’s expression changed instantly.
Had Old Li lost so much that he’d gone insane?
“I’m not insane!” Old Li didn’t mind.
“If it weren’t for those bugs eating all my Yellow Bud Rice,”
“I’d never have stumbled upon this secret!” With that, Old Li became visibly more animated.
He leaned in and whispered, “I actually had just under half an acre left.”
“In that field, I found something incredible.”
“It’s a special kind of weed.”
“Any green caterpillar near it stumbled around as if drunk, completely unable to dodge being captured and killed!”
“Really or not?” Old Niu was half-believing, half-doubting.
“If you don’t believe me, come back with me and take a look.” Old Li swore confidently, “If I’m lying, may I be struck by lightning!”
“How much?” Old Niu couldn’t help being tempted.
The green beetles were proliferating too fast; he had been busy all night and still lost three to four acres.
“For such a high-end Insecticide Smoke, just four White Jade Coins,” Old Li extended four fingers.
“You want to sell me a heap of chili powder for four White Jade Coins? Are you crazy or am I?” Old Niu said gruffly.
“To tell you the truth, the powder isn’t just chili. It contains black pepper as well, but it’s all to disguise the specific details of the weed,” Old Li said, smugly.
“Besides, it’s only two months of wages to safeguard twenty acres of Yellow Bud Rice. Is that too expensive?”
“Not at all expensive!”
“Four White Jade Coins, you can’t get a loss, can’t be deceived.”
“How about it, want to try?” Old Li raised an eyebrow, his face eager.
“I need to see that surviving patch of Yellow Bud Rice in your field first,” Old Niu was still skeptical.
“No problem!” Old Li was unafraid.
In the distance, Chen Mu, who had been eavesdropping with a Five Ghosts Paper Man, was stunned: “…”
Had he not known the true origin of the Insecticide Smoke, even he would have been convinced.
Last night he had stumbled upon Shang Huan’s counterfeit scheme.
He simply gave the beetle version of the Mesmerizing Divine Smoke to Shang Huan, explained the dosage and instructions clearly, and left Shang Huan to his performance.
And Old Li was the first salesman that Shang Huan had recruited.
Curious how this muddled old man was going to handle it, Chen Mu secretly followed to watch.
And the result…
“What a terrific story you tell!” exclaimed Chen Mu.
The weeds were fake.
The surviving Yellow Bud Rice was even more so, a fabrication by Shang Huan and Old Hao overnight.
Even Old Li’s expressions, tone and the content of his speech from the moment he walked in were all darn things Shang Huan had concocted the previous night!
This Old Li had fallen from grace too.
An honest, simple farmer, how did you come to parrot Shang Huan’s nonsense without batting an eye?
Chen Mu could only shake his head with a resigned expression, wanting to tell Old Li… well done!
…
Night passed, at Shang Huan’s residence.
Old Hao’s eyes were bloodshot as he incessantly puffed on his cigarette.
He had spent yet another entire night in the Yellow Bud Rice Fields. Fortunately, only a small number of emerald beetles emerged, allowing him to snuff them out in time. But being utterly focused all night had left him thoroughly exhausted in both body and spirit.
“Do you think Old Li will be able to sell them?” he asked, nervous and uneasy.
Shang Huan’s eyes flickered, equally uncertain.
“Four White Jade Coins might be a bit too steep,” Old Hao complained, glancing at Shang Huan with a hint of reproach.
Shang Huan immediately rolled his eyes, “You didn’t object when we were setting the price before.”
Old Hao grinned sheepishly, “I was just thinking of setting a high price to scam enough money to retire early.”
Watching the sun climb higher, his spirits fell, “Old Li hasn’t come yet, it looks like it didn’t sell well, the price really is too high.”
Shang Huan was also getting a headache, his face showing helpless frustration as he looked at the corner piled with sacks.
If they didn’t sell all of it, would Gongsun Sheng replace him, the middleman?
His newfound support was looking uncertain…
Exchanging a glance, the two of them heaved a simultaneous sigh.
Such products without any guaranteed effect were not as easy to sell as those from the Hundred Herbs Pavilion, especially when the price was set a bit high.
Bang, bang, bang…
As the two wallowed in their apprehension, a series of urgent knocks on the door suddenly erupted.
“Shang Huan, open up quick! It’s me, Old Li! Big business!”
The two of them were instantly overjoyed.
“We got it!”
…
Two nights later.
Inside the Low Hill Courtyard.
Dark smoke roiled as a mixture of gray-brown powder poured down from mid-air, flowing like water, and then disappearing into the black smoke below.
Chen Mu controlled the Five Ghosts, intermittently adding ground-up medicinal herbs into the cycle, constantly mixing and stirring.
“There must be about fifty pounds by now,” he mused, estimating, “That should be worth…”
“Ptui, ptui, ptui! What’s all this talk about selling? It’s not like I’m in this for the money!” Chen Mu was dead serious.
“It’s just that the destructive power of the emerald beetles is too strong.”
“Making more of the Insecticide Smoke would save more Yellow Bud Rice Fields.”
“I simply want to do good within my capabilities.” Chen Mu’s face was a picture of righteousness, “It’s certainly not for those piles of White Jade Coins!”
Thinking of his actions, Chen Mu looked impressed with himself, “There aren’t many good people like me left.”
His thoughts drifted to the afflicted Yellow Bud Rice Fields, and he couldn’t help but pray sincerely, “I really hope the pest problem lasts… ah, no, I mean ends quickly!”
…
Suddenly, a sound like bees buzzing could be heard high in the sky.
Chen Mu’s heart went cold. A new type of bug?
The Ghosts Paper Man swiftly took to the sky.
Under the bright moonlight, a mass of red clouds rolled in from the direction of Tongtian Square, like a breached river surging forward.
Accompanying the annoying buzz, clusters of fiery red spheres split from the red cloud, diving toward the Yellow Bud Rice Fields below.
Before Chen Mu could fully understand what was happening, he faintly heard numerous disciples from the Lower Courtyard shouting and cheering.
“The Oversight Courtyard? Director Song Wujie has returned?”
The rolling red clouds, seemingly slow but actually quick, arrived in the blink of an eye.
Chen Mu quickly retracted the Five Ghosts.
He then saw the red cloud plummet down, rapidly invading his Yellow Bud Rice Fields.
The pests in the field were swiftly exterminated; even the dozen or so green beetles he’d left as a decoy didn’t escape fate.
Chen Mu scrutinized the red clouds.
What looked like clouds were actually a massive swarm of red bugs obscuring the sky!
“Manipulation of swarms? Is this Oversight Courtyard Song’s method?”
Suddenly, something caught Chen Mu’s eye at the edge of his vision.
He focused and immediately saw a short figure.
The figure was enveloped in a clear white glow, flickering on and off above the swarm of insects.
“I wonder when I’ll acquire such a skill?” Chen Mu said, full of admiration. Enjoy new stories from empire