Chapter 218
The Medicine King Valley was established in Huaibei Province's He City. Even if the Nie Family has fallen, the daily operation of the Medicine King Valley wasn't affected, and there were still as many merchants gathering over to trade herbs.
The first branch of the Three Flavour Hall was located near the Medicine King Valley, since there's a small district near the branch that had a good flow of people. Most importantly, it's incredibly near the community hospital, about three to four kilometers away. This was also the reason why Cai Yan planned for the branch to be here.
Money made the world go around. Thus, the rental and renovation only took one month. In another week, this branch would be able to be open for business. But before it was officially opened, Cia Yan was responsible for the project while Zhao Jian aided her.
While Cai Yan was instructing the workers on the arrangement of the furniture, she saw Zhao Jian walking over with a grim expression and asked, "What's wrong? Why do you seem so unhappy?"
Shaking his head, Zhao Jian replied in a grim tone, "Big Sister Cai, there's a problem."
Walking over to Zhao Jian, Cai Yan asked with her brows knitted, "What's wrong?"
"When I was in the supermarket trying to buy stuff, I noticed that the supermarket closed. After enquiring around, I came to know that the Medicine King Hall is going to open a branch there." Zhao Jian spoke with indignance as he continued, "Aren't they clearly coming after us?"
The Medicine King Hall has been operating in Huaibei Province for a long time, and it's the headquarters of the Medicine King Valley with a good reputation in Huaibei Province. This was also the first competitor that the Three Flavour Hall had to face upon coming to Huaibei.
"Let them do what they want. The Medicine King Hall mainly deals with the sales of herbs, while the Three Flavour Hall does consultations and treatments; we're fundamentally different, despite being TCM Pharmacies." Cai Yan patiently explained to Zhao Jian, then she continued, "So if we want to make a name for ourselves in Huaibei, facing the Medicine King Hall is just a matter of time."
Hearing those explanations, Zhao Jian's tense expression loosened up and he smiled. "Big Sister Cai, you're still the one able to see the entire situation. We have physicians in-house, and I believe that as long as there are customers, they will surely become a loyal customer of our Three Flavour Hall."
Seeing that Zhao Jian's mood has been alleviated, Cai Yan smiled. Just when she wanted to continue ordering the arrangement of furniture, a group of seven to eight came in, looking to be with ill intentions. The one leading was a bald man with a robust figure and a height of 5'9", while the rest seemed to be thugs.
The bald man had a toothpick in his mouth and hollered, "Who's the one responsible here?"
"I am!" Cai Yan walked out.
Looking at Cai Yan, the bald man's eyes lit up and he teased, "The lady boss is pretty hot."
Cai Yan was a scenery herself wherever she went. So it was natural that the man would feel excited, and his heart tickled when he saw her. Thus, he started to ogle Cai Yan's voluptuous figure.
However, Cai Yan felt disgusted by the look and knitted her brows. "What is it?"
The bald man walked into the hall and kicked a few boxes onto the ground, then found a chair to sit. "Let me introduce myself. I'm San Qiang, the social security of this place. Since you want to open a shop here, then you have to put up a record with us."
Social security? That's just a group of local ruffians taking protection fees.
"So how are we going to get the record done?" Cai Yan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
San Qiang nudged his lips towards his henchmen and one person came forth, then handed a paper over to Cai Yan. The former dug his nose and explained, "Give me a record fee of ¥50,000, and pay half the price annually. If there's any problem, our Social Security Company will be responsible for dealing with that."
"And what if I refuse?" Cai Yan responded with a question.
San Qiang abruptly stood up and looked at Cai Yan with lust flashing in his eyes. "Then you can pray and hope that your pharmacy can last long!"
Zhao Jian suddenly stood before Cai Yan and solemnly said, "We will not lower our heads!"
Looking at Zhao Jian, San Qiang suddenly, sinisterly smiled. "Although He City looks safe, it's not. You better be cautious when you step out, especially a beauty like your lady boss. If you don't go according to the rules, who knows, you might be robbed and raped someday! Hehe!"
When he finished speaking, he waved his hand and left with his henchmen.
Cai Yan was boiling with anger before she called She Wei.
Hearing the situation, She Wei briefly pondered before she replied, "The Medicine King Valley has always managed the social security around the Medicine King Garden in the past. Now, Bai Fan is responsible for it. I'll give him a call now."
When Bai Fan returned from Qiongjin City, he attended a commercial banquet meant for entertaining a Deputy Mayor responsible for investments. He had performed outstandingly by relying on his TCM knowledge. He was also extremely famous in the city for this sort of venue, helping investors to understand the charm of this Medicine Capital.
Suddenly, his phone rang and Bai Fan apologised with a smile before excusing himself and answered She Wei's call, "Mrs. She, is there anything?"
"Bai Fan, we're already familiar with each other, so I will not beat around the bush. Did you arrange for someone to cause trouble for the Three Flavour Hall?" She Wei questioned with a cold tone.
"Mrs. She, there's some prick in your words. You know my Medicine King Valley, so am I not going to do something if there's a competitor?" Bai Fan fearlessly replied.
Facing Bai Fan's dominant attitude, She Wei took a deep breath and reminded, "If you're going to take action against the Three Flavour Hall, then you're dealing with me."
Bai Fan laughed, "Mrs. She, you think that you're powerful after taking over those tattered properties? The Nie Family has already been eliminated, and Huaibei's underground society is changing owners. You're not qualified to take on that position."
Rage covered She Wei's face as she said, "So you want to fall out with me?"
"Let's fight, then." Bai Fan responded with disdain, "I'll be waiting!"
When Bai Fan hung up the phone, She Wei revealed a helpless expression with a financial report of the Medicine King Garden on her desk. When Nie Haitian was finished, the accounts have been emptied by someone from tens of millions to tens of thousands left. Furthermore, the other party used a smart method without any clues being left behind. She Wei even suspected whether Bai Fan was the one that did it.
That meant that despite the massive assets left to her, the Medicine King Garden was actually an empty shell.
This was also the reason why Bai Fan dared to challenge her. With most of the funds being in a company under the Medicine King Valley's name, Bai Fan has become the most significant benefactor after the Nie Family's fall.
Without any funding, the actual operation would be controlled by Bai Fan, and it was already too late by the time She Wei realised that she's merely a figurehead.
Not long after San Qiang left, three silver vans stopped outside the Three Flavour Hall and a dozen people walked out from the vehicles with tools in their hands storming in.
Because Cai Yan has experienced many things, she wasn't as weak as she seemed anymore. She firmly stood on the ground and roared, "What are you doing?"
The thug leading the party with a rod pointed at Cai Yan and grinned. "What am I going to do? Fuck you up!"
When Zhao Jian, who was arranging the tools, heard the commotion, he immediately rushed out. When he saw the group, he put on a brave front and stood in front of Cai Yan. "These people are dangerous. I'll hinder them, so you hide inside for now."
Cai Yan was stunned, but she realised that these people were coming to cause trouble, so she reminded Zhao Jian, "Let them trash the place if they want to, don't stop them…"
When you're under someone's house, you have to lower your head. If the shop was ruined, Cai Yan would suffer a loss of money, at most. She was worried about Zhao Jian being injured, and if Zhao Jian was in danger, the gains wouldn't make up for the losses.
Shaking his head, Zhao Jian firmly said, "Am I still a man if I watch them bully us?"
When he finished speaking, he retreated to the corner and found his own medical box and took out a needle from the needle box.
The leading thug initially thought that Zhao Jian was going to fish out a weapon, so he never expected that the latter would bring out an acupuncture needle and laughed, "Brothers, let's smash the place. The more you trash the place, the happier Big Brother Qiang will be."
When the workers noticed this situation, they secretly took their phones out, intending to call the cops. But the thugs had already noticed them and kicked those workers. Watching this scene, Zhao Jian's eyes turned red and he charged towards the leader. That thug initially wore a disdainful smile on his face, but he suddenly shrieked as he held onto his eye and fell to the ground.
"Fuck, that bastard is playing dirty!"
Although Zhao Jian's skills weren't as powerful as Su Tao's, he was pretty good, and he could accurately hit the acupoint if it was just one to two meters away.
When the thugs saw their leader being assaulted, they instantly surrounded Zhao Jian.
Although Zhao Jian used needles on a few people, he was still outnumbered. In the end, he was kicked to the ground.
Very quickly, they surrounded Zhao Jian and furiously kicked the latter's body. In the end, Zhao Jian could only cover his head and curl up on the floor to protect his vital spots.
When Cai Yan saw this scene, she felt her nose turn sour as she tried to charge over and pushed those people surrounding Zhao Jian away.
But in the end, she's just a woman, and she was easily pushed away by a thug. She even suffered a light wound on her forehead from the edge of a rod.
Finally, the thugs were tipped that the cops would soon arrive, so they were prepared to retreat. The leader still wasn't satisfied, so he held onto his wound and gave a few stomps on Zhao Jian's head before he walked into the van.
Bearing the pain, Cai Yan ran towards Zhao Jian. The latter was unconscious with a puddle of blood on the floor that came from his mouth. At the same time, his face was swollen with his right arm twisted in an unusual way, it's probably fractured.
Taking a deep breath, Cai Yan held back her tears and found her phone. She called Su Tao while sobbing, "Su Tao, Zhao Jian is in trouble."
Su Tao calmly listened to Cai Yan's words before he replied in a grim tone, "Rest assured, I'll take care of it. I'll reach you soon!"