Chapter 18: Bankruptcy Crisis

Song Qingshi placed his palms together before one and with a pious face, said to Yue Wuhuan, “My great treasure is here!”

Yue Wuhuan was confused for a moment. He found that Song Qingshi was looking at the six small white mice running around in the cage that he was carrying. He hurriedly placed the cage carefully on the table in the laboratory and presented it to him. “Master, this was sent over by the master of Night Rain Pavilion. Are these perhaps some rare magical beasts?”

“These are the mice I asked him to find in the mortal world. He had a hard time just finding these few.” Song Qingshi lay on the table and looked at the cute little guys with joy, as though he couldn’t get enough of looking at them. “Wuhuan, did you know that white mice and humans are 98% genetically similar. They are the most used animals for medicinal experiments.”

Yue Wuhuan’s beautiful eyes widened in disbelief. He looked suspiciously at the dirty little mice in the cage.

This thing is 98% similar to him?

“Right now, we only have these few specimens taken from the wild. We will need to breed them to attain large quantities. Then, we can cultivate various types of mice. Clean mice, mice without specific pathogens, sterile mice… maybe we can even raise high- and low-cancer mice , diabetic mice, all sorts of mice.” Song Qingshi’s face was positively glowing as he talked about his beloved white mice. It didn’t matter to him whether others understood him or not as he kept on muttering to himself, “It may take decades of breeding. Fortunately, a Nascent Soul cultivator has a long life span. I can take my time breeding them. Has the breeding room been set up already? From today on, I will be living in the laboratory. These mice are very delicate and I don’t know if they can adapt to the immortal realm. I want to make sure that they won’t get into trouble and that they’ll successfully give birth to babies. This is my reason for living……”

There used to be a senior sister who went abroad to perform experiments. After four years of breeding, her mice were about to show results when they suddenly encountered a mishap. She was terrified. She would call them everyday to pour out her woes. Everyone persuaded her to give up the experiment and come back. The senior sister instantly collapsed and bawling, said this was her reason for living and that she wouldn’t leave even if she died. Since then, in their laboratory, the white mice had attained the nickname ‘reason for living’.

Yue Wuhuan finally understood. After thinking about the past rumors about the Medicine King, he tentatively asked, “Master, no matter how similar mice are, they’re not humans. It’s very troublesome to raise them. Why don’t you use mortals to test the medicines? Isn’t this is a common practice among immortal medicine makers?”

“Of course, we will need to use humans,” Right now, Song Qingshi’s mind was filled with thoughts of the mice and he replied casually, “We must first use mice and other animals to determine the safety of the drug. Then, we do human experiments. My teacher liked to test the drug on himself to determine their safety. Once he’s made sure they’re safe, he recruited volunteers to test the drug. I’ve also tested medicines on myself several times. It’s very convenient to determine its efficacy.”

He especially worshiped his teacher. A man of noble character and high prestige, he worked selflessly for the public interest, was free of corruption and worked only for the welfare of all mankind.

Hippocrates once said that medicine is the most beautiful and noblest of all skills.

As long as medical research can produce a new drug, countless patients can be rescued from their suffering. It can even change the course of human history.

Isn’t that an absolutely wonderful thing?

Song Qingshi looked at the mice as though seeing a bright future.

Yue Wuhuan thought about it for a long time and asked cautiously, “Master, with your teacher having tested so many medicines, how is he now?…Is he still doing well?”

Song Qingshi answered honestly, “He is in another world.”

Yue Wuhuan’s face paled. He said anxiously, “Master, please allow Wuhuan to test the medicines in the future.”

“Alright, once I’ve tested that there’s no problem, I’ll let you test them.” Song Qingshi praised with satisfaction, “Wuhuan is really a good seedling suitable for studying medicine. So smart and kind, so full of love. Your future achievements will be great.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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Such changes in Song Qingshi made him unable but to have vain hopes. And today, these vain hopes became even stronger.

Master doesn’t dislike even such dirty mice, then maybe he too can…

“Master, I will raise these little white mice for you,” Yue Wuhuan gently pulled Song Qingshi’s sleeve and beseeched in a low voice, “My physique is very suitable for testing medicine. Let me be the one to try medicine for you for the rest of my life, just like these mice…is that alright? I’m not afraid of death so please don’t hurt yourself.”

When Song Qingshi heard the word “death” come from his mouth, his hair stood on end and the shadow of course failure once again attacked. He sorted through their conversations and quickly figured out what went wrong. He firmly swore that the little white mice and Yue Wuhuan were both his reasons for living and that he valued them equally in his heart. His teacher was in another world for other reasons and that he hadn’t met a mishap because he was testing medicine on himself.  Under his careful control, he definitely won’t die.

Yue Wuhuan listened, feeling extremely satisfied.

Song Qingshi realized that there might be times when he’s indisposed and would need someone’s assistance. So, he gave Yue Wuhuan a copy of the very thick mouse breeding manual, asking him to meticulously take care of them. Yue Wuhuan carefully took the manual with one hand and the cage with the other, vowing to take good care of the master’s reason for living.

The valley servant delivered a bill for the mice and a letter from Night Rain Pavilion.

Although the white mice were not magical beasts, no one has ever wanted this thing. It was small and difficult to find. It took a lot of manpower and material resources to find it, and it was finally found on an overseas desert island.

Considering the above factors and other things, in the end each mouse cost one hundred top-grade spirit stones.

“Oh, it’s not that expensive.” Song Qingshi paid the bill without hesitation.

Yue Wuhuan hesitated for a long time and asked, “Master, have you…not read the account books I sent the other day?”

Song Qingshi was not interested in the account books, so he threw it on the table and forgot all about it. Hearing him mention it, he picked it up and glanced at it casually. Then he found out in horror that the Medicine King’s Valley was in a fiscal deficit. He dumbfoundedly pointed to the numbers on the account books, looking to the omnipotent secretary for an explanation.

Yue Wuhuan sighed, “Master has had a lot of special tools custom made from the Heaven Craft Pavilion, which were expensive. And…you also bought a lot of valuable herbs for research. The most significant thing though, is the unknown payment of two hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones…”

Song Qingshi gulped. He used to be a rich second generation. He only spent money and had no idea about how to manage money. His parents doted on him and did not begrudge spending RMB 800,000 on drugs for his self-funded research. His laboratory had various kinds of equipment and so he hadn’t stopped to consider just how much money it cost to do medical research.

Now that he has transmigrated, Yue Wuhuan opened up a lot of money-making routes after sorting out the property accounts for him. The prospects were promising, so he bought and bought and bought. But he hadn’t wanted to become a spendthrift.

He absolutely didn’t want Yue Wuhuan to know that the two hundred thousand spirit stones had been used to by the Quintessence of All Souls.

For one, he was afraid it would cause a heavy psychological burden on him and for another, he wanted to surprise him.

Yue Wuhuan saw that he didn’t want to say where the money had gone and so he didn’t ask anymore. He said, comfortingly, “Master, please don’t worry too much. The main reason is that it will take some time for some of the promissory notes to come due. I will think of a way.”

Although he wasn’t blamed, Song Qingshi still felt very guilty. He suddenly realized that he had been neglecting business matters for a long time. Moreover, in order to refuse Golden Phoenix Manor, he had pretended to be in closed-door cultivation and had not admitted any patients. He stayed holed up in the laboratory and study every day being foolish. It was Yue Wuhuan, who on top of cultivating, worked tirelessly to deal with all the things he was unwilling to do. He even helped him to earn money and took care to feed, clothe and house him. He even happily forgot these responsibilities that he should have assumed in the first place and kept adding on to the other’s troubles.

Song Qingshi pulled Yu Wuhuan’s sleeves and apologized ashamedly, “I’m no good. From now on, I won’t spend money so extravagantly. I don’t need ice silk pajamas. I won’t eat sweets and I’ll fast properly. For now, I won’t add any more research equipment. Later, I will treat a few wealthy patients. I will try my best to make money to provide for you. I won’t make you work so hard anymore…”

Yue Wuhuan was a first-rate peerless beauty and ultra learning god. Since following him, not only has his meals been sub-standard, he even has to work every day despite not having yet completely recovered; finding ways to make money and raise this spendthrift, worrying about their livelihood despite that supposedly being his responsibility in the first place.

What kind of scumbag is he? !

How can a doctor treat his patient like this? !

The more Song Qingshi spoke, the more panicked he became. His eyes were already turning red.

“There is no need to take it that far,” Yue Wuhuan found that his master was on the verge of crying and quickly explained, “For me, this matter is not any trouble. Master’s research is for the benefit of the world and Wuhuan, naturally, whole-heartedly supports you.”

Song Qingshi pulled him, not knowing what to say, “Bu-but…”

There was a faint smile in Yue Wuhuan’s eyes.  He gently held his hand, hooked it, and said softly, “Master, I like keeping busy so that I won’t think about the past. So, let me do it, I like to do things for Master…”

The beautiful fingertips lightly stroked his palm, drawing circle after circle, warm, scratching until his heart began to itch.

Song Qingshi was a total mess, moved by the little angel’s kindness.

Yue Wuhuan played with his palm and smiled. “This period of financial difficulty will only be for a short while. I plan to prepare funds to purchase fields for medical herbs, to purchase medicinal materials and to train pill refiners. There’s no need to worry about the salability of low-level pills from the Medicine King’s Valley. But I don’t have the personal connections and it is not suitable for me to show my face in public. It would be best to find someone suitable to be in charge of marketing.”

Song Qingshi knew what he was worried about and he didn’t dare let Wuhuan go out alone lest he encounter some pervert.

Killing and looting in the immortal realm was all too common and only the powerful can do big business.

Song Qingshi was the only one in the Medicine King’s Valley who could hold the place down. If you let him, this social anxiety sufferer to negotiate business with a sly old fox, you might as well just ask him to die…

Song Qingshi pondered for a long time. Suddenly, he thought of a good idea. He found a letter from the pile, ran over and said, “An Long is coming in a few days. He’s the master of the Myriad Gu Sect and they’re very powerful in the Western Forest. Moreover, his family has a spirit stone mine so he’s super rich and well-connected. Shall we try to see if he’ll be our angel investor?”

The Song Family father and sister were were high-powered businessmen. Although he was not wise in the ways of the world, he also managed to pick up some things by listening to them everyday.

Yue Wuhuan scanned the letter box and found that letters from this An Long accounted for the vast majority of the letters. Although they were all academic discussions, there were practically three or four letters each month. Moreover, the Medicine King’s Valley’s account books also recorded their gift exchanges and every time, the Myriad Gu Sect’s gifts would be much more expensive that the Medicine King’s Valley’s. He frowned slightly, a little disturbed and felt that he would need to clarify this matter.

…

Song Qingshi concealed nothing. He spent a lot of time, clearly explaining his relationship with An Long to Yue Wuhuan.

Recently, the original body’s memory has integrated more and more with him.  He would often have the illusion that the two of them shared the same soul. It’s just that the original body was more indifferent. Moreover, he has not received any moral education and his approach was more radical. But his living habits and learning methods were exactly the same as his. Because the original body basically did not pay any attention to anything other than research and cultivation and did not care about anyone, even many of the details of his memories of An Long were not clear but they were roughly correct.

“We met more than five hundred years ago. At that time, I wasn’t a Nascent Soul cultivator yet and he was a just a little cultivator who had just built his foundation.” Song Qingshi organized his words and said unhappily, “I remember he was a bit older than you, seventeen or eighteen, a very rebellious teenager.”

Yue Wuhuan interrupted and corrected, “Master, I only stopped growing because the Acacia Seal suspended my growth and my appearance was controlled to look like a teenager’s. It doesn’t mean that I’m actually that young. In fact, I was already an adult when I built my foundation.”

“Yes, you will grow up normally after the seal is removed,” Song Qingshi thought of the lesson he had learned himself and cautiously suggested, “You shouldn’t form your golden core too early. Your growth will slow down when cultivators reach Foundation Building and it will be fixed once your reach Core Formation. If you build you golden core too early, you might turn out like I did. Unless you specializes in body-based cultivation techniques or you reshape your body once you reach Fen Shen…”

This immature face was the price paid in blood and suffering by the original body for having too high a talent..

However, he didn’t want to refine his body just for the sake of outer appearances and so he had resigned himself to his fate.

“I know.” Yue Wuhuan looked at him with satisfaction, licking his lips, “You’re good just like this.”

Song Qingshi treated it as him trying to comfort him and continued the serious discussion, “I met An Long while collecting medicinal herbs in the secret realm. We discussed pharmacology and I found that he was very insightful and he had abundant knowledge about Gu poisons. He was thus allowed to come to the Medicine King’s Valley as a guest. But that kid is too mischievous. He loves to tease me and loves to rile me up. After a few years…I reached Nascent Soul stage and I don’t know why but he quarreled terribly with me. He got angry with me for no good reason. He kept swearing and kicking up row for a long time. Finally, he left the Medicine King’s Valley.”

Yue Wuhuan tapped the table lightly with his fingers, his thoughts unscrutable.

“Two hundred years later, he also reached Nascent Soul. Suddenly, he realized his mistake and wrote a letter to apologize. We kept up the correspondence and we have a pretty good relationship.” Song Qingshi concluded his account, feeling very gratified. “Now, it can be presumed that he is now past his rebellious phase.”

Yue Wuhuan asked cautiously, “Master, does he like men or…”

“Don’t worry!” Song Qingshi knew that he had concerns in this regard and he resolutely and decisively said, “Although An Long is a natural lecherous loafer and loves to mess around, he is straight as an arrow! When we were together before, I always saw him flirting with and seducing girls. If he wasn’t off fooling around with this immortal lady, he was off teasing that courtesan! It’s rumored he’s got a lot of jilted women outside out for his blood. I have never heard of him having any interest in men!”

Yue Wuhuan was still a little suspicious.

Song Qingshi patted his chest and promised, “Don’t worry! If he dares to cop a feel from you, I will break his leg!”

The author has something to say: The little Phoenix’s lifelong rival in love are these little white mice and occasionally he would lose to them…

Because if there was any problem with the mice, Qingshi would immediately jump off the bed and rush to the laboratory (no matter what delightful things they were doing in bed at the time)