Since Divine Physician Hua Tuo opened his shop, it's only natural there'd be good stuff inside.
And since he’s personally inviting agents, Ryan Ling obviously had to give it a shot. The Hong family became the Azure Dragon Society Pill Hall’s agent and started strutting around like they owned the Harbor City medicinal market. If Ryan became Divine Physician Hua Tuo’s agent, controlling all of Jiangdong Province would be just a matter of minutes.
“Divine Physician Hua Tuo, right? I’ve heard a lot about you!” Finally getting a good look at Hua Tuo’s heroic face, Ryan Ling hurried over to say hi.
“That’s me. If you need any pills, just go buy them—I’ve got everything you could want!” Hua Tuo replied politely.
But Ryan quickly shook his head and said, “I’m not just here to buy pills. I want to talk cooperation. Do you still need a human-world agent?”
“You want to be my human-world agent?” Hua Tuo was stunned, frowning slightly. “To be honest, we’ve already got partners in the other realms—just not in the human world. The business here is huge, but tough to run: people and ghosts don’t mix, the Netherworld has way too many rules, and you need a legit human-world Hell Court Branch. Otherwise it’s illegal, counts as cross-realm smuggling, and if you get caught you’ll be tossed straight into the Eighteenth Hell!”
Ryan’s eyes lit up—this was basically tailor-made for him. He quickly cupped his hands. “Divine Physician Hua Tuo, to be honest, I’m exactly what you’re looking for…”
Ryan briefly explained his current setup and organization in the human world. When he mentioned his identity, Hua Tuo’s eyes clearly lit up, and he immediately dragged Ryan into a VIP room.
With such stellar qualifications, Hua Tuo definitely wasn’t letting this chance slip by. Ryan hadn’t expected that his ramshackle little operation would suddenly become the hottest property around.
Soon enough, Hua Tuo personally signed an agent contract with Ryan—barely pausing for formalities. To sweeten the deal, he even threw in some special pills and recipes, promising to ramp up the partnership. The human-world market was massive and the money rolled in fast.
Just like that, Ryan Ling became the hottest commodity around—even he hadn’t expected to end up as Divine Physician Hua Tuo’s human-world agent.
......
By the time Ryan headed back with the contract and pill recipes, it was already close to midnight outside.
Sophie Su still hadn’t come home, and Ryan vaguely heard an anxious servant banging on Samuel Su’s door: “Old Master, something’s happened at the factory! Several distributors are here demanding returns, and Miss Sophie can barely hold the line!”
“I knew they’d come, just didn’t expect it so soon!” Samuel Su sighed, threw on his coat, and headed out the door.
Ryan was taken aback. The Su family may be a big name, but holding up their whole world is no easy feat. They’d just solved the supply crisis, and now the distributors were causing trouble.
Ryan didn’t hesitate and followed them out.
The Su Group’s factory was just across the street, with several pill furnaces still puffing out clouds of white steam and thick medicinal aroma. Only a handful of workers were on duty around the furnaces.
But in front of the factory office, more than twenty trucks were parked, and a crowd of burly middle-aged men were shouting about returns and compensation.
Sophie Su was clutching a contract, arguing her case, but how could a young woman handle so many angry men? Some were already slamming tables and cursing, and a few were about to swing chairs and smash up the office.
“Everyone stop! What do you think this place is? If anyone lays a finger on my granddaughter, I’ll tear them apart—believe it or not!” Seeing the chaos, Samuel Su roared. Under the dim lights, his whole face looked dark and his eyes were downright scary.
As the Su family’s backbone, Samuel Su had over thirty years in the medicine business—he still had some serious authority. Plus, he’d brought more than a dozen elite retainers with him.
The moment the crowd saw Samuel Su arrive, most people went silent and slowly lowered their chairs. But just as things started to calm down, a heavyset ringleader spoke up: “Old Su, you’re just in time—hurry up and process our returns! It’s not that we’re disrespecting you, but your latest batch is terrible. Black-Bone White-Phoenix Pills came out full of dregs—how are we supposed to sell that?”
“Yeah, it’s ruining your own brand! How can we not return them?”
“Old Su, it’s not that we don’t respect you—we just can’t sell this stuff.”
“Fine, hurry up and process the returns and compensation. Who’d dare buy Su Group’s pills after this?”
A few other ringleaders joined in the shouting.
“Grandpa!” Sophie Su was clearly facing this kind of mob for the first time. After being surrounded for so long, her eyes were red.
“Sophie, step aside!” Samuel Su said, then shot a cold look at the crowd. He didn’t speak right away, just sat down slowly.
“Old Su, say something! You can’t just leave us hanging here all night, right? Am I right, guys?” the heavyset ringleader pressed.
Everyone nodded, ready to start shouting again—when Samuel Su suddenly slammed the table: “Marty Sun, who told you to come make trouble at the Su Group?”
Samuel Su’s abrupt question made Marty flinch and his face change. After a few seconds, he awkwardly replied, “Nobody! We’re just here to do returns—who needs to tell us to do that? What are you getting at?”
“Nobody told you? Then why come in the middle of the night—why not wait till morning? And why strike right after our herb supply crisis eased, with so many people at once? Do you think I’m stupid? No instructions, no planning, and you pull off something this big, this perfectly timed?” As Samuel finished, Marty and the other ringleaders looked pretty uncomfortable.
Clearly, Samuel had nailed it—Ryan Ling silently nodded to himself.
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After a pause, Marty grinned, “Old Su, forget about who’s behind this—what matters is your pills really did have issues. Returning them is only fair, and per the contract, you owe us ten times compensation. I did the math: with everyone here, you owe us at least five hundred million!”
“Five hundred million? That’s absolute bullshit…” Samuel Su snapped, then started coughing uncontrollably.
“Grandpa!” Sophie Su immediately tried to help Samuel calm down.
But Samuel Su quickly pushed her aside and said to Marty, “Bring me the pills right now—I want to see them!”
“Already got them ready. The biggest loss this time was your batch of slimming pills from last month. Customers took them and, instead of losing weight, gained thirty kilos in under a month. Isn’t that screwing over the consumers?” Marty said, hauling out a box and slamming it on the table.
Samuel Su picked up a pill, sniffed it at his nose, then cracked it open and tasted it. His brows knitted instantly, and his expression changed.
Marty Sun, reading the room, sneered, “See, Old Su? Isn’t that exactly what I said? You’re making fake pills—how can you justify that? Return our money, compensate us, or I can’t guarantee Harbor City’s media won’t expose your counterfeits tomorrow!”
Hearing that, Samuel Su’s face turned even darker. He gripped his chair, suddenly recalling something, and cursed under his breath: “Those traitors—despicable bastards…”
Ryan Ling immediately thought of the veteran staff who’d been poached—clearly, they’d tampered with the pills.
Marty snorted, acting like he knew everything. “So? Hurry up and pay up! Our patience is running out—we’re not wasting the whole night on you frauds!”
“Sophie, how much cash do we have left?” Sweat beaded on Samuel Su’s forehead.
“Just a few tens of millions—not nearly enough!” Sophie Su trembled as she answered.
“Not enough? Then let’s start hauling stuff out, smash their pill furnaces—let’s go!” Marty waved his hand, clearly itching to riot.
Samuel Su’s authority couldn’t hold the mob back anymore.
But just then, a strong, ringing voice shouted from the back: “Stop! If you want compensation and refunds, come to me—I’ll make sure you get a proper answer!”