Chapter 293 - 290: Grand Opening of Yanglin’s Pharmacy

Late December, the last few days of the year.

Within Jiangti, the news of Yang Shen Breaking Through to True Gang and shattering the record was still the hottest topic.

It was enough to make the cold winter feel fever-hot.

People were no longer curious about *why* he was so damn amazing.

They just knew he was a total badass!

It was said that Jiang Xin was often seen looking frustrated on the athletic field, where he’d be surrounded by a group of people massaging his legs, making him look like some kind of human crab.

Fan Jing of Qilin Media had somehow gotten wind of the news and immediately called to offer his congratulations, stating that Yang Shen’s ranking on the Qilin List would be significantly adjusted next month.

As for Yang’s Disciples, their prestige was at its zenith—and then it just kept climbing.

But to Yang Shen, the campus hustle and bustle was fading into the background. His focus remained locked on two things.

The development of his clan and his own personal strength.

The second raid on the Jianghuai Sub-temple yielded far more than the first. If Jiang Xingjian was a venomous snake with ten nests, nothing truly valuable was found even after his death.

But Lu Chengfeng was different. He was the perfect villain from a dream.

Because he had practically delivered himself to them, everything he owned was as good as gifted to the Yang Family.

For example, the assets under the Jianghuai Sub-temple’s name, worth a total of around 41.8 million.

These included bank accounts, property deeds, investment products, luxury watches, medical insurance cards, ID cards...

They had even recovered Lu Chengfeng’s severed hand, which could be used for fingerprint authentication...

Interestingly, Lu Chengfeng had brought nearly 300 million in funds to Jianghuai to build a new sub-temple. He was determined to make a fortune and had already sunk a significant amount into placating old members, reactivating old resources, and recruiting new forces.

Just when he had painstakingly worked his way to the brink of seeing returns, Yang Shen wiped him out.

A portion of it couldn’t be withdrawn immediately due to the ongoing investigation into the villa incident, lest the police follow the trail. But even after setting aside these "dangerous assets," the remaining, already laundered portion was no less than 20 million.

For the current Yang Family, it wasn’t enough to be called getting rich overnight, but it was certainly a massive windfall.

Yang Shen wasn’t in a hurry to transfer the assets to the Yang Family anyway. After all, "Lu Chengfeng" would be kept as a toy for a while, to be used whenever needed.

In addition, a total of 72 Gu Insects were found in the villa, along with so much related data that it couldn’t fit on several hard drives.

Although it wasn’t high-tech content related to the "Dragonification Experiment" or "Source Transformation Gu," as the foundation of Witchcraft techniques, it was still immensely valuable.

How to incubate them, how to perform Gu Planting, precautions, information on their characteristics...

All of this was carefully preserved to advance Lin Yuebai’s research on Witchcraft.

However, our dear Xiaobai was a bit swamped lately.

Because on December 31st, New Year’s Eve, Yanglin’s Pharmacy was finally about to open.

——————

Most businesses value an auspicious grand opening, especially in an industry as steeped in traditional culture as a grand pharmacy.

"Yanglin’s Pharmacy" was located on the bustling Da Wu Road behind Jiangti, occupying an entire two-story building on a street corner.

Da Wu Road was a well-known commercial district in all of Jianghuai. Backed by Jiangti, it had a cultural cachet, and behind it were seven or eight high-density residential complexes. To be able to open such a large store here gave the pharmacy a very high starting point.

The story goes that it used to be a cosmetic surgery clinic, but for some reason, several male students from Qiangwu Academy took issue with them and stormed the place. They claimed to be victims, spouting incomprehensible phrases like "mistook a black car for a new car" and "commercial to non-commercial."

After a few such incidents, the business went under.

After two months of renovation, the massive storefront had been completely transformed. Its exterior followed traditional Yanhua architectural style, with red pillars and green tiles, carved beams and painted rafters, and eaves that soared into the sky!

The main gate alone was nearly ten meters wide—incredibly impressive!

Lest anyone miss its connection to the Yang Family, a special "Yang’s Gourd" logo was placed in the upper-left corner of the giant sign.

The Yang Family had spent nearly 4 million on the pharmacy’s renovation, and that was only because they had gotten the at-cost price from Cao Wei’s family construction team. Otherwise, it would have been double.

An hour before the opening ceremony, the pharmacy’s doors were still closed. Inside, besides the employees, Yang’s Eight Disciples and the Named Disciples had all come to lend a hand with odd jobs.

The medicine cabinets were wiped spotless, and the floor was polished so brightly you could see your reflection in it.

Yang’s Disciples, who were known for being arrogant and domineering at Jiangti, were here with their butts in the air, scrubbing the floor.

Yang Shen held a small notebook, recording some data. He was taking this quite seriously; whether he could complete the main quest—"Stable monthly income of 1,000 Spirit Stones / Long-term employment of 50 people"—depended on this pharmacy.

Yang Shen said to Lin Yuebai, who was following beside him, "After the probationary period for these forty employees, we’ll select the best. It’s fine if we have a few extra people. Consider it a talent reserve; we’ll need them when we open branch stores later."

For its current scale, this number of employees was actually far too high. Twenty would have been too many; a dozen could have handled it just fine.

But Yang Shen wasn’t just doing this for business; he was doing it for the main quest.

Including the medicinal ingredient processing workshop, he had now met the personnel requirement.

Lin Yuebai was dressed in the formal attire of the Yang Clan—that familiar black gradient robe. She looked like a little medicine fairy from ancient Yanhua, and combined with her porcelain-white face, she gave off an ethereal air.

She was always like this. Even when bundled up, her quirky, mischievous spirit could never be hidden. She was bouncy and full of life.

The only problem was... although she was the "esteemed store manager," she had gone all-in to buy a stake in the pharmacy, and her wallet had returned to a state of absolute poverty.

Even though she was only adding another 0.5% on top of the 20% stake Yang Shen had promised her for her technical expertise, she had gone all-in without hesitation.

If the Yang Family missed cooking a single meal these days, she wouldn’t even be able to afford Fragrant Mixed Noodles.

’A braised egg? What braised egg?’

’Are we trying to go broke?’

Lin Yuebai chirped happily, "Patriarch, your prestige at Jiangti is immense, so business will naturally be good! Just you wait and see, I guarantee I’ll make this pharmacy a roaring success!"

’Finally... the Lin Family is about to be made ’great again’ in my hands!’

’What’s that? You say the Yang name is riding on top of the Lin Family?’

’How can you call it ’riding’?’

’That’s called a royal blessing!’

’Otherwise, why isn’t it Mrs. Xu of the Yang Clan? Or Mrs. Cao of the Yang Clan?’

Suddenly sensing a murderous aura from behind, Lin Yuebai whipped her head around like a startled hamster and saw Cao Wei approaching.

"Master, the lion dance troupe has arrived."

Yang Shen checked his watch. "What about the guests?"

"They’ve arrived as well. They’re resting upstairs."

For this opening, Lin Yuebai had used the Lin Family’s connections to invite some "titans of the pharmaceutical world."

Consumers wouldn’t be familiar with their names, but with their white beards and the ethereal air of immortal masters, they certainly looked the part.

Inviting them wasn’t to persuade consumers, but rather to establish a brand in the pharmaceutical industry.

If you expected these "titans" to have supported the Lin Family’s descendants with real money during their most difficult times, that would have been absolutely impossible.

But when a descendant of the Lin Family came knocking and offered money for them to make an appearance, they were all incredibly accommodating.

Show up and get a red envelope with around ten thousand yuan? Only a fool wouldn’t come.

"Then, as planned, we open at 12 o’clock sharp, high noon!"

...

Half an hour later, "Yanglin’s Pharmacy" officially opened.

Because Yang Shen’s fame was great enough and Yang’s Disciples had already been hyping it up on campus, the scene outside was a cacophony of gongs and drums before a sea of people.

Congratulatory flower baskets stretched out for over ten meters, and all the female sales guides were dressed in uniform formal wear—all of them tall with long legs.

Firecrackers weren’t allowed, but confetti cannons popped nonstop. Red envelopes had also been given to the sanitation workers so as not to cause them any trouble.

Yang Shen didn’t need to worry about the specific procedures; others were handling the details. He only needed to manage the overall direction.

After the first lion dance performance ended, Yang Shen went up and said a few bland words, after which the various titans of traditional medicine came up and said some equally bland things. Then came another lion dance, and the ceremony was more or less over.

How well the store would do ultimately depended on its future revenue, and in this regard, the Yang Family was very confident.

While watching the performance, Deng Ming, who had also been invited to join the festivities, clapped and said with a hearty laugh:

"I saw an advertisement inside that says ’Champion Scholar’s Choice.’ Are those the Supplements you take yourself?"

Yang Shen gave a playful smile. "Then you must not have seen the line of small text below it, Deng. It says: ’’Champion Scholar’s Choice’ is the name of this product line and implies no other association.’"

Deng Ming burst out laughing. "You really know how to do business!"

The Deng Family’s main business was in import-export trade, large-scale at that, but they wouldn’t look down on a brick-and-mortar store like this.

In a place like Jianghuai, where every inch of land is gold and commerce thrives, some shops selling potions and Supplements could have annual sales of a billion yuan!

Besides, this certainly wouldn’t be the last "Yanglin’s Pharmacy." With Yang Shen’s current fame as a genius known throughout Yanhua, there would surely be many more branch stores in the future. The prospects were immense.

It would earn a fortune.

Watching the "lion dance troupe," whose members clearly had high Martial Cultivation, Yang Shen felt the money was well spent. They leaped over ten meters high, tumbling like a soaring dragon and landing like a startled swan—a spectacular sight to behold.

He asked, "About that matter we discussed before, Deng, will it work out?"

Deng Ming waved his hand dismissively. "Such a small matter? Of course it’ll work out. The Deng Family’s connections are reliable."

"It’s just an investment inspection tour in the Si Realm. I’ll vouch for you."