Chapter 11 I'm in Charge

  "What's strange?" Qin Yifan pretended to be taken aback: "Old Zhang, what kind of thing is considered strange?"

  "Hmm!" Master Zhang pondered for a moment: "For example, have the wild beasts in the mountains been frightened and panicked? Have the people living here had any sudden illnesses or anything?"

  Looking at the anxious eyes of Master Zhang, one can tell his current mood. Qin Yifan pretended to think for a while before shaking his head: "There's nothing abnormal about the people here. It's just that there are a few outsiders who practice martial arts and got into a fight, then fell seriously ill afterwards. Otherwise, there's nothing else."

  Obviously, the two brothers' eyes lit up with a sudden realization, and then Eldest Brother Old Zhang chuckled and turned back to Qin Yifan: "Boss, isn't it strange that I asked this?"

  Qin Yifan nodded slightly, secretly smiling in his heart.

  "No offense, brother is in the pharmaceutical business, so I'm very concerned about these things. In the future, living here, you'll have to take care of me more!" A seemingly casual question that concealed his true intentions. If Qin Yifan was indeed an innkeeper, he might have even believed it.

  The villagers knew the superficial purpose of the two, and were very happy. Who doesn't like having some extra money besides household expenses? They were also very interested in their requests. Master Zhang had said that he would teach everyone to identify medicinal materials. After Qin Yifan finished talking with them, several mountain people who were waiting outside came in and asked Master Zhang about identifying medicinal materials.

  Lao Zhang must have been hurt last night, otherwise he wouldn't look like this today, but what's been said can't be unsaid, so he gritted his teeth and explained some common knowledge about medicinal herbs to everyone. After all, as a disciple of Dan Ding Men who specializes in medicine, he is indeed not ordinary, even Qin Yifan, who was listening on the side, learned a lot about identifying medicinal herbs.

  The mountain people left with excitement, Lin Qiulü had already reached her fixed cultivation time, found an excuse to go out, and the inn was left with only Qin Yifan and two outsiders. The two fellow disciples looked at each other, and a smile appeared on their faces again.

  "Shopkeeper, who is the village head here? Let me and my brother go pay our respects. Since we've come to this place, we should also ask for his care." This is clearly a rule of the Jianghu people, when staying in a place for a long time, one needs to pay homage to the local authority.

  "I don't dare, it's a small place, and there's no village head either." Qin Yifan seemed to ignore the smile between them, giving a clichéd response: "I'm just a humble host here, I don't dare to say anything big, but for small things, I can still make some decisions. As for visiting the mountain, it's not necessary."

  When Qin Yifan revealed himself as the master of this place, his junior apprentice Little Li took advantage of pouring tea to quietly move behind Qin Yifan. Then, in coordination with Senior Zhang's warm words, he carefully handed a cup of tea to Qin Yifan: "Boss, have some tea."

  Qin Yifan took the tea, holding it in his hand, but didn't drink it. Instead, he smiled and looked at his senior brother, Old Zhang. He stared at Old Zhang until he was startled and nervous, his heart racing. Just as he was about to take a sip of the tea, he seemed to think of something again and put the cup down without drinking.

  The hearts of the two brothers seemed to rise and fall with Qin Yifan's hand, seeing that the tea had already reached his lips, but Qin Yifan put it down again. His younger brother, Li, was still young after all, and his face was filled with disappointment. Fortunately, Qin Yifan was facing away from him, so he shouldn't have seen the expression on his face.

  "Older brother Zhang's experience is quite rich, without any unusualness, with a normal face: 'What's up, boss? Any orders?'"

  "I dare not order you around, but there is something I must ask for your advice on." Qin Yifan's tea cup was no longer in his hand, having been placed on the table.

  "Shopkeeper is too polite!" Master Li still had a smiling face, with the same courtesy of an outsider in his words: "I dare not say please teach, but whatever I know, I will speak without reservation."

  "What if I drink this cup of tea?" Qin Yifan's face was full of nonchalance, but the question he asked was quite embarrassing.

  “……”

  As soon as Qin Yifan's words came out, a dead silence ensued. The faces of the two brothers also changed greatly, especially that of his younger brother Li, whose face turned red and white in turns, and his gaze at Qin Yifan was filled with surprise and discontent.

  After a good while, Old Zhang finally squeezed out a smile: "The boss is joking, this tea is from our own shop."

  There was no answer, Qin Yifan's gaze seemed to penetrate all obstacles and saw directly into the hearts of the two people. The senior brother wanted to say something else, but he could only open his mouth, unable to say a word.

  "What's the point of talking so much with him?" The younger brother was obviously not as thick-skinned as his older brother, and after being exposed, he could only force a laugh, then let out a loud shout and pounce forward across the table.

  Before anyone arrived, a burst of white smoke suddenly exploded, enveloping the entire lobby of the inn. Then, the tense voice of Shixiong was heard: "Spare your subordinates, shopkeeper!"

  It was as if nothing had happened, and apart from a faint "hiss" sound in the smoke, there was no other noise or signs of fighting. Except for the smoke continuing to spread and obscure the view inside, everything seemed normal.

  Then, as if suddenly a gust of wind had blown up, the thick smoke in the inn's main hall was instantly swept away.

  Younger brother Little Li maintained a ridiculous forward pouncing posture, but his body didn't dare move. On the center of his face that was tilted upwards, an ordinary-looking kitchen knife was placed in front of him. Little Li could even feel the sharpness of the knife's blade, and as long as the owner of the hand holding the knife made a slight forward motion, no one would suspect that Little Li's head would be any different from those of the hunted animals he had seen before, which were split into two halves.

  The kitchen knife was naturally held in Qin Yifan's hand, sitting upright on the stool, except for his outstretched hand, the rest of his body seemed to have remained still, and the tea water in front of him hadn't changed at all.

  It's just that, to outsiders, it seems like there is a transparent cover around Xiao Li's body, protecting him all over. Judging from the shape of the cover, it should be a tripod-shaped object, but this transparent cover doesn't seem to have any effect on Qin Yifan. The sharp knife cuts in as easily as if it were cutting into tofu. From where he is standing, Master Zhang can see that there is a smooth and even crack running from top to bottom on the surface of the transparent tripod-shaped object.

  Seeing his junior brother, Master Zhang finally let out a long sigh of relief, as if he hadn't seen the crack on the cauldron. He bowed his head slightly from across the table to Qin Yifan: "Thank you for showing mercy."

  Xiao Li's face was filled with panic, his eyes bulging like a fighting cock's, staring fixedly at the cleaver on his face, not daring to move. Beads of sweat as big as beans rolled down from his hairline onto his face, and then dripped slowly from his earlobe.