Chapter 500 — Someone Is Following Me

"Oh? All right..." Fatty Lai had no idea what business Wei Zhao had to attend to, but seeing that Wei Zhao showed no inclination to explain, he did not press him. He took Guan Xuemin with him into a boutique not far off.

Wei Zhao, meanwhile, turned and walked briskly back toward the pharmacy where he had bought the medicine earlier.

What Wei Zhao had not expected was that on his very first day in Yanjing, he would run into someone tailing him...

"I'm sorry, sir." The clerk gave Xiaokun a sweet smile. "Our pharmacy is obliged to keep its customers' information confidential."

It had to be said that Xiaokun was strikingly handsome, with something of a Korean-drama leading man about him, which made the pharmacy clerk steal more than a few glances his way.

Xiaokun frowned. His looks had always made him a lady-killer, and he had assumed this female clerk would tell him honestly; he had not expected her to plead confidentiality. Still, he did not give up. He pulled out his wallet, fished out several hundred-yuan notes, and laid them on the counter. "Come on, gorgeous, do me a favor. That man who came in before is a brother of mine. He got hold of some folk remedy somewhere and bought medicine for my father, but I've no idea what he bought. I'm afraid it'll do my dad harm, so I want to make sure."

"Is that so!" The rather plain clerk felt a stir in her heart. Xiaokun's looks were pleasing enough, but the banknotes on the counter were far more tempting. For a working girl like her, it was no small lure: her monthly wage was barely a thousand-odd yuan, and Xiaokun had put down five hundred at a stroke, leaving her hard-pressed to refuse.

After a moment's hesitation, the clerk at last swept the money off the counter, then reached beneath it and brought out an itemized list, which she set down. "You can copy it out, but you can't take it away."

Xiaokun picked up the list and read it through. His memory had always been exceptional, so he quickly committed the names of the medicines to mind, then handed the list back to the clerk. "I studied medicine. One look is enough to tell whether any of these drugs conflict. There's nothing unusual here, no problem at all. Here, take it back. Thank you!"

"A-all right!" The clerk breathed a sigh of relief. This was the first time she had ever sold out a customer, and she was not quite comfortable with it. Hearing Xiaokun say there was no problem, she relaxed at once—and besides, he had only glanced at it. There should be no trouble.

"Goodbye, gorgeous. Thanks!" Xiaokun turned and walked out of the pharmacy—but the moment he stepped outside, his expression froze. For there, standing right in front of him, was Wei Zhao.

"Why are you following me?" Wei Zhao looked at Xiaokun and asked mildly.

Wei Zhao had no wish to stir up trouble in Yanjing, but since someone was tailing him, he could hardly pretend not to notice. Faced with unknown danger, he generally preferred to strike first.

Only, the jade pendant had given no warning, which meant this man bore him no great hostility. So Wei Zhao granted him a chance to explain, rather than simply striking down this mid-stage Yellow Rank expert on the spot.

The man before him was at most in his early twenties, yet possessed mid-stage Yellow Rank strength—no small thing at all.

"Following you? You must have the wrong man." Xiaokun was only briefly taken aback before his expression returned to normal. Yet a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes: he had not expected Wei Zhao to notice he was being followed.

In tailing the three of them, Xiaokun had not made any great effort to conceal himself, but with his mid-stage Yellow Rank strength, being discovered was truly unexpected.

"Is that so? Let's hope not." Wei Zhao shrugged, committing Xiaokun's face to memory, and in the end abandoned the notion of killing him. Far from home, he did not want to invite too much trouble.

Since the man showed no great hostility toward him, Wei Zhao would merely give him a warning—so long as he stopped following him.

Watching Wei Zhao's receding figure, Xiaokun knitted his brows. He simply could not fathom how this seemingly ordinary young man had spotted him.

Still, to follow him again now would clearly be unwise. Xiaokun could only dial his second uncle's number. "Second Uncle, he's spotted me!"

"Oh?" The middle-aged man was slightly startled. "Spotted you? Does he have skilled guards about him?"

"Not clear yet. I don't know how they found out either. But the young one stopped me and asked whether I was following him..." Xiaokun was thoroughly vexed. The old saying had come true: walk often enough along the riverbank and your shoes are bound to get wet. He had capsized in a ditch—a simple tailing job, and he had been seen through.

"Never mind. Come back. Since we know Lai Changyi is with Guan Xuemin, that's enough." The middle-aged man pondered a moment. "For the next while, keep an eye on their company. Tomorrow I'll find another chance to sound out Lai Changyi, and see just what he wanted with that map."

"Understood, Second Uncle!" Xiaokun nodded, turned, and vanished into the night. The business at the pharmacy, however, he did not mention to his second uncle.

When Wei Zhao arrived at the boutique, Guan Xuemin and Fatty Lai had not actually come to buy anything; they had merely been wandering about inside. Seeing Wei Zhao approach, they went to meet him.

"All done?" asked Fatty Lai.

"Mm. Nothing much, really—just ran into an acquaintance." Wei Zhao smiled and said nothing of the tail, lest Fatty Lai and Guan Xuemin worry.

By instinct, Wei Zhao did not believe Xiaokun had come for him specifically. It was possible he had seen the prospects of Doctor Guan Pharmaceuticals at the auction and followed them to see what he could learn—especially since Wei Zhao had come out of the hospital, which meant he had surely gone to inquire what Wei Zhao had bought. So Wei Zhao took him for someone fishing for trade secrets, and never once considered the fragmentary map.

Fortunately, Wei Zhao had been cautious earlier and had not bought all the medicines he needed in one go, which spared him a great deal of unnecessary trouble.

In fact, even if he had bought them all, without the base medicine for the wound salve they would have been useless. Only when added to the wound salve would they have the power to heal old scars.

On the way, they passed another pharmacy, and Wei Zhao went in to buy the remaining Chinese herbs. Fatty Lai showed no inclination to memorize any of it, which set Wei Zhao's mind at ease.

Back at the hotel, Wei Zhao set about preparing the deluxe edition of the wound salve. This was no difficult task for him; it was soon done and poured into the disposable little medicine bottles he had bought earlier.

...