Rare blossoms and exotic herbs filled the air with the lingering fragrance of medicinal plants.
Shen Xihe, being someone who delighted in tending to flowers and plants, felt her heart lift upon entering this Apricot Grove Garden. The sight of medicinal herbs and blooming flowers softened her expression.
She was not alone; accompanying her was a tall, stout man who appeared to be in his thirties.
He wore a glaring purple-and-gold round-collared narrow-sleeved robe embroidered with a gluttonous motif, a jade-and-gem-inlaid leather belt cinched at his waist, and hexagonal boots. On his head sat a soft-footed turban woven with gold thread and studded with several gemstones, while a blue-white jade pendant carved with floral branches and encrusted with gems hung from his belt. What should have been an elegantly hollowed-out, refined jade pendant was instead crammed with gemstones in its openwork spaces—truly...
Standing there, he resembled a pile of blinding gold. Under the sunlight, any living creature’s gaze would instinctively avoid him, as he was painfully dazzling to the eyes.
"Miss Shen, this is Hua Fuhai, Hua Taoyi," introduced Old Man with White Hair, a thin, elderly man with pale hair. "Hua Taoyi, this is Miss Shen, who hails from Suzhou."
"Taoyi" was an honorific title referring to someone of immense wealth.
Hua Fuhai lived up to his name—renowned throughout the land and wealthy enough to rival the seas. He was one of the wealthiest men in Daxing, which explained his flamboyant attire.
"Miss Shen."
"Hua Taoyi."
They exchanged greetings. Standing closer, a clear and distant fragrance wafted past Shen Xihe’s nostrils, causing her to lower her eyelids slightly.
It was the scent of Yihe Xiang. Not only was Yihe Xiang clear and distant, but it also carried a natural air of luxury. Compared to its aroma, many other scents seemed shabby by contrast.
However, Shen Xihe detected an extremely faint trace of Duojialuo Xiang within the Yihe Xiang.
Since when had Duojialuo Xiang become so common?
Maintaining her composure, Shen Xihe endured the eye strain and took a closer look at Hua Fuhai.
He was exceptionally tall—the top of Shen Xihe’s head only reached his shoulders. His slightly protruding, well-fed belly made it difficult to overlap him with the Embroidered Uniform Envoy she had seen the previous night. He twirled two walnuts in his hand, his fingers plump and pale, matching his physique.
Old Man with White Hair said, "I presume both of you have brought the paintings I sent someone to retrieve. Shall we unroll them together?"
Zhenzhu and Hua Fuhai’s servant simultaneously unrolled the scrolls. Both paintings depicted the Fairy Ribbon. What was even more remarkable was that, although they were clearly not painted by the same person, aside from slight differences in technique, the coloring, size, and orientation of the patterns were identical. If the two paintings were overlapped, they would largely align.
As the paintings were revealed, the two exchanged a glance. Shen Xihe remained calm and unreadable, while a flicker of amusement passed through Hua Fuhai’s eyes.
Yet, in that single glance, Shen Xihe confirmed that Hua Fuhai was the Embroidered Uniform Envoy she had encountered the previous night!
His eye shape had changed, and the sharp intensity from last night had vanished, but his abyssal pupils were far too distinctive.
Combined with the Duojialuo Xiang and the identical pupils, even though his demeanor and expression were vastly different, Shen Xihe’s intuition told her it was the same person!
"I also have a painting here," Old Man with White Hair unrolled his own scroll, which also depicted the Fairy Ribbon. However, it differed significantly from the other two, though one could still discern it was the same object. "The two of you brought paintings of the Fairy Ribbon. This old man wishes to see the real object. May I ask where it is?"
Shen Xihe cast a faint glance at Hua Fuhai but did not speak first.Hua Fuhai also waited a moment before speaking: "Old man, this object was indeed obtained by me from the steep cliffs of Mount Heng. However, its roots were extremely deep. After I plucked it, the cliff face collapsed, and poisonous snakes suddenly flew out to attack. While evading them, I fell into the deep river below the cliff with this object. When I awoke, it was nowhere to be found."
Shen Xihe raised an eyebrow—so this was the person who fell from the sky that day.
After hearing this, Old Man with White Hair nodded and looked at Shen Xihe: "Miss Shen?"
Shen Xihe gave Zhenzhu a meaningful glance. Zhenzhu opened the jade box she was holding, revealing the Fairy Ribbon inside.
Old Man with White Hair's face immediately flushed with excitement. He rushed forward, sniffed it, then stretched out a trembling hand to gently stroke the air above it from top to bottom, murmuring in a quivering voice: "It's... it's really it... Finally, I've seen it."
As he spoke, the old man actually began to shed tears. Shen Xihe and Hua Fuhai stood silently waiting for the old man to regain his composure.
Rubbing his tear-reddened eyes, Old Man with White Hair directly handed the box held by his old servant to Shen Xihe without another word.
Shen Xihe accepted it but said: "Old man, I found this object by the riverside. I did witness someone falling from the sky, and the Fairy Ribbon appeared afterward."
Shen Xihe wasn't being overly righteous—it was just that this Hua Fuhai was too mysterious and unpredictable. She didn't want to obtain the item in this manner and incur this man's displeasure. She never made enemies she couldn't see through.
To this day, she had encountered this man three times.
The first time, she hadn't clearly seen his face—he had ventured alone into high mountain cliffs to gather rare treasures.
The second time, he was clearly disguised, having infiltrated the Embroidered Uniform Envoys, the emperor's most trusted aides.
The third time, he had changed his appearance again, becoming Hua Fuhai, the wealthiest man in the land.
What contradictory and incredible triple identities!
"This old man doesn't care about these matters. I've said before that whoever brings me the Fairy Ribbon will receive my legacy." Old Man with White Hair's voice still carried traces of weeping. "The grievances between you are yours to resolve."
"Hua Taoyi?" Shen Xihe then looked at Hua Fuhai.
"Miss Shen, I have no need for the handwritten notes or the old man's guidance. What I seek is the Bone Shedding Pill." Hua Fuhai stated directly.
Shen Xihe tightened her grip on the box in her hand. Instead of responding to Hua Fuhai, she turned to Old Man with White Hair: "Old man, could you please examine my pulse?"
If there were another way to cure herself, she wouldn't mind yielding the unverified Bone Shedding Pill to the other party.
"Follow me." Old Man with White Hair led them into the inner chamber and carefully examined Shen Xihe's pulse.
He had already observed from Shen Xihe's complexion that her internal organs were deficient—her heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys were all weakened. This indicated a premature death pattern. After checking her pulse, he was still astonished: "That you're still alive, girl, is itself a miracle."
"You were born with constitutional weakness—your heart and lungs were never as strong as ordinary people's. Later excessive pampering led to deficiency in both liver and kidneys. Regular consumption of sweet dates further damaged your spleen." Old Man with White Hair shook his head. "For your body, aside from my Bone Shedding Pill supplemented by daily moderate nourishment, there's no other method that can reverse your fate."
"If I don't take the Bone Shedding Pill, how much longer do I have to live?" Shen Xihe asked.
"Three to five years at most. If you encounter seasonal ailments or suffer any fright, it could take your life overnight." Old Man with White Hair said gravely.
Her only path to survival was this Bone Shedding Pill. She asked again: "Old man, this Bone Shedding Pill..."Old Man with White Hair laughed: "Little girl, I guarantee with my life that a second Bone Shedding Pill won't appear within a hundred years. The prescription is also in the notebook I gave you, with detailed records of the preparation methods."
Shen Xihe took out the notebook and flipped to the Bone Shedding Pill formula. There were only nine medicinal ingredients. While century-old ginseng and century-old fleeceflower root were relatively easy to obtain, century-old snake gallbladder and century-old Golden Eagle bones...
Snakes and Golden Eagles that could live a hundred years were even rarer than hundred-year-old humans.
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