Chapter 158: Chapter 142: The Most Difficult Thieves to Guard Against Are Those at Home

"Senior sister, your pulse has improved a lot recently. The medicine I’ve prescribed for you should still be taken, and consume donkey-hide gelatin every day, it’s very good for girls. You see, your complexion is much better than before," Lin Miao earnestly reminded.

Early in the morning, Lin Miao routinely felt Sun Youwei’s pulse.

According to the Three-Part Nine-Count Pulse Diagnosis Skill, feeling the pulse before dawn is the most accurate since at this time, the yin energy is still dormant, the yang energy has not dispersed, no food has been ingested, the meridians are harmonized evenly, and there is no chaos in the blood and qi.

This Three-Part Nine-Count Pulse Diagnosis Skill involves the theoretical knowledge of the Twelve Main Meridians, which Lin Miao had yet to teach them for fear of giving too much information at once.

These will all be taught gradually later, as he never planned to keep any knowledge to himself.

"Hmm, I remember, you say it every day, even more than my father used to," Sun Youwei playfully glanced at Lin Miao, with love in her eyes that couldn’t be concealed.

"Since Master is gone, I am responsible for taking good care of you," Lin Miao said fondly, "Those few, including Lin Mao, at home, you should not spoil them too much, reading, practicing calligraphy, and working should still be managed. If anyone doesn’t listen to you, I’ll deal with them when I’m back."

"Got it, you go ahead, I have Yu Zhu here."

"I just want to spend more time with you."

"Once we get married, you’ll be with me every day, morning and night, you’ll eventually get tired of it," Sun Youwei remarked.

"That won’t happen."

"Men’s words are deceitful. Don’t think I don’t understand this. Junior brother, I must learn how to grow up too."

"Senior sister, I’m not used to you being like this."

"You just take your time getting used to it."

Sigh, Si Miaoxue, you seductive witch, don’t lead my senior sister astray, otherwise, I won’t let you off.

...

"Hmm, the taste is quite good now, Liuli, you have a high talent for making pastries. Study further and create a process. As long as you can maintain this seventy percent standard, we can formally open a shop," Lin Miao praised after tasting the pastries Liuli made.

Generally, pastries just need to suit general tastes, it doesn’t require perfection in every aspect, as achieving that is unrealistic.

"Sir, if we open a shop, just Shi Yin and I alone might not handle everything. I want to hire people..."

"No need to hire; go next door and poach people," Lin Miao chuckled, offering Liuli a "startling" suggestion.

"Sir, won’t Mrs. Qin kill you?" Liuli felt a pang in her heart.

"No, just convince them to come over, even as part-timers," Lin Miao said, acknowledging that Si Miaoxue couldn’t continuously operate Huaye Tower, especially with Yue Mei’Er possibly coming to seize power, she naturally needs a response.

Certainly can’t just hand over Huaye Tower, built painstakingly over the years, to an opponent?

It’s better to help Huaye Tower make reductions.

If Lin Miao can bring down Huaye Tower, Si Miaoxue can promptly transform into Si Miaoxue and peacefully move into the Lin residence.

Opening Qin Tower is indeed profitable, but it earns disdain, even if pursuing a high-end route, Qin Tower ultimately remains an entertainment business of beauty (flesh).

This contradicts the teaching of the Moon Worship Sect, simply as a cover for identities.

Furthermore, Si Miaoxue wants to create an ostensibly oppositional facade, clarifying her superficial relationship.

Maintaining a surface opposition while secretly uniting.

For both currently, this is most advantageous, as no one would suspect they’re secretly that kind of relationship.

"Sir, isn’t what we’re doing a bit excessive?"

"Part-timers, giving Huaye Tower’s girls extra income—isn’t it good?" Lin Miao said, "Especially those who don’t want to degrade themselves, they wish to regain freedom, live a normal life, we should give them a bit of hope, as long as it doesn’t affect Huaye Tower’s nightly performances, why would Mrs. Qin refuse?" Lin Miao rhetorically asked.

"Well, sir, I’ll try..." Liuli hesitated, agreeing with anxiety.

This deed of poaching from one’s old employer truly feels a bit backstabbing, although she left Huaye Tower, overall, Qin Yanran treated her well, attempting to poach from her old employer, this psychological hurdle is tough.

Mercy doesn’t lead troops; righteousness doesn’t manage finance.

Liuli must cross this "conscience" hurdle to successfully run the pastry shop.

A house thief is always the hardest to guard against.

...

"Owner, here are the property and land contracts for this mansion, totaling three thousand five hundred plus taels, including the purchase price, and the transaction and deed taxes paid to the court, all fully processed, making this mansion yours from now on," Mr. Xie proved efficient, buying the mansion within a day, at a similar price to before.

The owner didn’t raise the price likely fearing Lin Miao wouldn’t buy and would relocate, which would be a huge loss, despite no one mentioning the ’haunted house’ matter anymore.

If Lin Miao moved, the impact would be substantial.

Selling for three thousand taels of silver is indeed cheap, but the owner didn’t lose out, having profited enough, selling saves the burden compared to holding onto a mental block, much better than the previous major loss.

Lin Miao judged that the previous two residents, having family members possessed by ghosts and ultimately committing suicide by drowning, were caused by the patch of datura flowers planted below the backyard wall.

These residents engaged in soaking the datura flowers and leaves to treat certain internal health issues.

But consumption leads to significant side effects, causing nerve paralysis and hallucinations, resulting in, whether seeing something or through psychological suggestion, leading to their demise.

As soon as Lin Miao moved in, he noticed the mandala flower and immediately uprooted and eliminated it. Growing that thing at home is just a disaster.

It’s estimated that the Mandala flower is one of the ingredients in this Bliss Powder.

Now that the house is completely mine, how to demolish it and how to renovate it is my own business.

Before tearing down and renovating the house, I have to find a place to stay first.

This isn’t difficult. Didn’t Mrs. Yun previously acquire half the street where the Convenient Medical Diagnosis Point is located? Except for the cake shop, which has already started renovations, the rest hasn’t been touched yet, and some old businesses are still operating.

Among these, there is a small inn. It’s not very big, a two-story building in the shape of a "Hui" with a backyard, and a patio in the middle.

As for the guest rooms, there aren’t many. The large communal beds plus those on the second floor amount to about twenty, which is ample for the Lin Family’s temporary stay.

By then, when the mansion’s renovations are underway, we’ll move in there. The renovation isn’t a complete rebuild; three months at most, we’ll be back.

As for this small inn, Lin Miao plans to demolish it later and build a wellness dining house.

Although there’s an allure in going to Li Jing, he really doesn’t want to go there too early. At least after spending three years in Dongshan and marrying his senior sister, he would consider going.

That’s going to take a significant amount of money. Fortunately, the tofu workshop can provide a substantial cash flow every day, so there won’t be a shortage of funds.

"This is my redesigned layout for the building. Find a reliable construction team. I want to do a major renovation on the house, and then give me a price to consider." Lin Miao had long turned his renovation plans into a drawing, just waiting for the house to be his.

"Master, are you also proficient in construction techniques?"

"Just a little, hehe." Lin Miao modestly smiled, "Remember, you must figure out how much it is to contract for both labor and materials, and how much for labor alone without materials. Compare at least three options and pick the one with the best cost performance."

"Got it. Not many can take advantage when doing business with you." Mr. Xie put away the drawing, also teasing a bit.

"Stop joking around. If you handle this well, I have a way to elevate your martial arts cultivation by a level." Lin Miao said, always giving some incentives when asking others to do things.

"Master, are you serious?" Mr. Xie was currently at the Perfect Bone Forging stage, but his martial arts aptitude was average. Now he was over forty years old, and the hope to advance to the Blood Fusion Realm was diminishing daily. If he could advance to the Blood Fusion Realm, it would be a solid advantage, and practicing martial arts is mainly for strengthening the body. Stronger vitality can delay aging.

Aging slower means living longer.

Though few martial artists live long lives, that’s their own fault, always fighting and getting hurt. Over time, it consumes their life force, which leads to quicker death.

He didn’t want to fight with anyone, so as long as his cultivation improved, he could outlive others by a few years, which wasn’t just wishful thinking.

Most martial artists with medical skills do not engage in fights. Living a life of ease, as long as they don’t suddenly fall ill, can live a long time. Many physicians live into their eighties and are even healthier than people in their forties or fifties.

Each of the three saints lived beyond a hundred and twenty years. Otherwise, how could they be revered as "saints"?

If you haven’t lived that long, how do you have the face to "become a saint"? 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Ordinary people, burdened with immense life pressure, are lucky to live into their sixties; most won’t reach that lifespan.

However, martial artists, with their abundant vitality, age slower. As long as they don’t fight needlessly, living ten or twenty years longer isn’t a problem.

"Don’t believe it? Forget it then!"

"I believe, I believe, Master’s abilities, how could I not believe?" Mr. Xie hurriedly said, afraid Lin Miao might retract his offer.

Seeing Mr. Xie eagerly going to do his bidding, Lin Miao smiled, knowing what the old man wanted, easily manipulating him.

...

"Guan Siyao, is this prescription given by Lin?" Mr. Jia, having not shown up for a long time, finally clocked in at the diagnosis point and, upon seeing the prescription made by Lin Miao for ’Shang Youwei,’ went to question Guan Biyun.

"Yes, why? After taking the prescription, the patient responded very well. I’ve checked, there’s no problem, right?" Guan Biyun didn’t know which nerve Mr. Jia had struck wrongly.

"He used cinnabar in it, and cinnabar is highly toxic!" Mr. Jia said heavily.

"Yes, it’s toxic, Old Poison. You like using poison for poison; why can’t Lin use it?" Guan Biyun was also somewhat unhappy. Using poison in treatment isn’t something only Mr. Jia can do; can’t others?

"There’s no issue with using poison for treatment. The problem is, this cinnabar shouldn’t be taken in large amounts or for extended periods; otherwise, something will definitely happen." Mr. Jia explained.

"Isn’t it written clearly in the medical advice? Take only three parts at a time, and with each dose, wait a day in between. Is there a problem with that?"

"No problem unless patients do not follow the instructions." Mr. Jia sighed. Human nature is too complex.

If every patient followed the doctor’s advice, there wouldn’t be so many medical accidents. Most patient incidents result from not following the doctor’s guidance.

"Old Poison, are you saying that if this medicine is effective, the patient’s family might not follow medical advice and take more?" Guan Biyun realized.

"Quickly remind Lin, hope it’s not too late, so nothing goes wrong!" Mr. Jia said.

"Old Poison, you’ve been gone for over ten days without saying a word, where did you go? If the government asks, what should I say? As for that Cui Wanquan, we have no idea what kind of person he is, let’s not get ourselves into trouble!"

"Wasn’t he brought over by Wang?"

"Wang only brought us two. That Cui was inserted by the higher-ups, forcing Wang to agree." Guan Biyun said, "Don’t you know this?"

"I always said two people were enough for this kind of trial supervision, yet this time they want three. So that Cui kid was actually sent to oversee the two of us." Mr. Jia cursed, "Has this kid shown any unusual behavior lately? If not, I’ll have ’Cipher’ make him disappear, stage an accident, and no one will be able to find out."

"Don’t. If they can send Cui Wanquan, they can send Liu Wanquan. This kid is cooperative; there’s no need to change him out." Guan Biyun flatly refused.

"This is your area of expertise, I’ll listen to you."