Universe Infinite Canteen

"Do you think these are Chinese cabbages, with each weighing a hundred jin? All the Poria Cervi I have here don't even add up to a hundred jin!"

Old Manager, annoyed, snatched the list from Ma Lu's hands.

Chu Qianyuan, standing by, coughed twice and added, "Well… Young Master Ma, the amount you're asking for is indeed too much; it's enough for a hundred years of training."

Ma Lu thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll reduce it by half."

"Even half is too much," the Old Manager said coldly, his gaze then turning toward Chu Qianyuan, this time with the smile gone from his face.

"Protector Chu, this is the second time this month you've come to take the secret medicine. Last time it was for those kids on Ma Xing Street to practice martial arts. Those kids might belong to our sect, but this time you are directly distributing the secret medicine to outsiders."

Chu Qianyuan scratched his head, "Young Master Ma isn't exactly an outsider… Uncle Xu, please make an exception, next time I'll bring you some fine liquor."

Usually, a reprimand from Uncle Xu along with handing over the medicine would follow his remarks, but this time Uncle Xu's expression remained stern.

Seeing that Chu Qianyuan still didn't understand, he sighed and decided to make things clear.

"Protector Chu, times have changed. Gang Leader Deng is no more, and a new leader has yet to be elected. In times like these, it's best for us to keep a low profile to avoid giving others leverage. Taking so much rare secret medicine at once—if the new Gang Leader investigates, even with your status as a protector, it might still be hard to explain." Enjoy new tales from My Virtual Library Empire

Chu Qianyuan furrowed his brow and wanted to argue, but Ma Lu voluntarily said, "Let it go, Hero Chu. What this elder is saying makes sense. Let's wait until Helmsman Yuan becomes the Gang Leader and then come back."

However, Chu Qianyuan was stubborn. Hearing this, he became agitated, "How can we let this go? It's not a big deal. No matter who becomes the Gang Leader, I can explain it myself. Since I promised to supply you with the secret medicine, I'll make sure I do it!"

"What if we do this instead…" Ma Lu thought of a compromise and turned to Uncle Xu again.

"Taking away so much rare secret medicine at once is indeed too conspicuous, but if it's ordinary secret medicine and we don't spread the word, the impact shouldn't be too big, right?"

"What secret medicine do you want?" Uncle Xu glanced at Ma Lu.

"Qingyun Dried Lotus Leaves," Ma Lu said.

"Hmm, that medicine is common and not too valuable," Uncle Xu nodded slightly, his wrinkles relaxing a bit, "How much do you want?"

"Seven hundred jin."

Before Uncle Xu could respond, Chu Qianyuan interjected, "Why do you need so much Qingyun Dried Lotus Leaves? They aren't even suitable for practicing that martial art. You should take more of the rare secret medicines."

"No worries, I can practice other martial arts first."

"Even for Qingyun Dried Lotus Leaves, seven hundred jin is too much," Uncle Xu, stroking his beard, said.

"Then let's exchange it for some other secret medicines of similar value."

Uncle Xu thought for a moment, "I can give you three hundred jin of Qingyun Dried Lotus Leaves, plus two hundred jin of Anti-demon Magnolia Bark and two hundred jin of Warm-Center Tsaoko Fruit. All these together would cost over eight or nine thousand silver pieces."

"However, I can split this amount into several installments, spread out over different months, so it won't look too conspicuous."

Although he couldn't obtain higher-grade ingredients, filling the Collection Bag was also not bad.

Mainly because Chu Qianyuan, as the eldest disciple, was indeed a good person, providing both guidance and medicines, Ma Lu didn't want to exploit him excessively.

After leaving the storeroom, Chu Qianyuan still felt bad and insisted that he would find a way to help Ma Lu gather the secret medicines needed for practicing the Dragon Capture Skill in the future.

After parting ways with Chu Qianyuan, Gu Qingyi strangely felt no trace of sleepiness, rather, she was all geared up to investigate the Heavenly Dragon Sect and see if she could find any clues related to the stolen Lotus Bowl.

However, Ma Lu glanced at the Traveler's Bracelet on his wrist and noticed that the countdown showed less than an hour remaining, so he made an excuse to leave the city for errands and parted ways with Gu Qingyi once again.

Apart from agreeing on a time to meet next, Ma Lu also took the opportunity to remind Gu Qingyi not to focus solely on investigating the Heavenly Dragon Sect but to also look into the three candidates from the Beggars' Sect, especially Elder Bai and Deputy Gang Leader Jiang.

Because no matter the case, the perpetrator always has to have a motive.

Yuan Xiaoyun was originally on the verge of becoming the new Gang Leader of the Beggars' Sect with the majority's support within the gang, but the theft of the Lotus Bowl had turned the leadership situation into a perplexing maze.

And the biggest beneficiaries of this incident were Elder Bai and Deputy Gang Leader Jiang—who were Yuan Xiaoyun's competitors and were virtually on the brink of their graves. This event had effectively given them a chance to revive their fates.

After advising Gu Qingyi, Ma Lu returned to the gravestone of Deng Youtai and disappeared from there.

With the three hundred pounds of Qingyun Dried Lotus Leaves given by the Beggars' Sect and another hundred pounds he had bought using Yan Wuji's bounty and the silver notes he had, Ma Lu now had a total of four hundred pounds of dried lotus leaves, which would last him a long time and relieve his worries about sourcing the raw material for the Lotus Leaf Charcoal Cake.

However, compared to the dried lotus leaves, Ma Lu was more eager to obtain fresh lotus seeds to plant in his Desktop Farm.

But seeds for the secret medicine were not cheap, and he was not very cash-rich right now. If it weren't for a cheap-rate senior brother coming his way this time, he suspected he would only have gathered three hundred pounds of ingredients and was still unsure about the location of the next secret medicine.

It seemed that Ma Lu really needed to team up with Gu Qingyi to retrieve the Beggars' Sect's Lotus Bowl.

This was not only helping his cheap-rate senior brother and second senior brother but could also significantly improve his own financial status.

But that was a concern for later, Ma Lu took the collected ingredients to Old Wang.

"I've figured out what to make this week."

"What?"

"Besides the Qingyun Dried Lotus Leaves, I've also got a good amount of tsaoko and magnolia bark this time. Just a few days ago, the news reported that we are at the peak of flu season, so this time I'll make the Disease-Clearing Soup Noodles.

"Disease-Clearing Soup Noodles, that's a good choice."

Old Wang glanced inside the Collection Bag, "All four needed herbs are here, I'll start the preparations now."

With renewed vigor, Ma Lu decided on the other three dishes as well, initially wanting to rest a bit and catch up on some sleep, but just then Ma Youyou came running downstairs, shouting as she entered.

"Boss, boss, it's bad, have you seen the trending search on Weibo?"

"What Weibo trending search?"

"Someone on Bsite posted a long video 'solid proof' of Sister An Qi lip-syncing at her concert, and now it's blowing up, with everyone tearing into it."

"Oh, is it true?" Ma Lu raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean, is it true?"

"The lip-syncing."

"Of course not, the concert they're hammering Sister An Qi for lip-syncing was the one we attended last week. Didn't you give her a Diva Sandwich right before she went on stage?"

"Oh, oh, oh, I remember that."