"Ahem..."
The sound of Su Min's voice made the merchant jump. He turned around with a light cough, but the words stuck in his throat. He'd heard the rumors, of course, but seeing her in person still made him freeze for a split second.
Luckily, he was a seasoned man who knew how to handle himself. He quickly pulled himself together, coughed again to cover his stumble, and put on a warm, professional smile.
"I am the president of the Fuding Merchant Guild," he said, his voice full of respect. "Word of Fairy Su's recent deeds has reached my ears, so I came to humbly ask to buy a few things from you."
Su Min looked past him at the servants crowding his courtyard. They were carrying heavy, iron bound chests. A quick sweep of her divine sense told her they were packed full of sparkling silver ingots.
"And what is it you want?" she asked, her voice calm.
"Tiger hide, tiger bones, and tiger tendons," he listed off. "They are all top quality materials. The hide and tendons are especially good for making weapons and armor."
Su Min thought for a moment. "I still have a use for the hide and tendons. As for the bones, I have already refined seventy percent of them." She paused then, a glint of mischief in her eyes. "But there is one other thing you might want."
With that, she casually walked to the back of the room, pretending to fetch something, before tossing an object onto the ground in front of the group.
"This..."
The moment they saw it, the whole courtyard went dead silent. Everyone stared, their eyes wide. They looked at each other, hardly believing what they were seeing.
"It is, it is enormous!" one servant finally whispered in awe. "Unbelievable! I heard His Highness the Prince has been having trouble with, ahem, his stamina lately. This would be a priceless treasure. It is sure to fix his..."
"Be careful with that!" the merchant warned, but he was too late.
"Ouch! Damn it!" the servant yelped, shaking his hand. A thin line of blood was already there. "Even this part of the tiger demon is sharp as a blade! I will give five thousand taels of silver for it!"
"Take it," Su Min said, her voice dry with amusement. "You do know that cats have barbs there, right? It is completely useless to me. Congratulations. I hope your lord gets his energy back."
"Uh..."
Now it was the merchant's turn to look embarrassed, a fresh scratch on his own cheek proving just how sharp the thing was. Su Min had clearly understood exactly what he was hinting at before. Talking about this in front of a young woman was, he had to admit, a little awkward. Su Min herself seemed more annoyed than anything else. Who would have thought that even the keratin part of a tiger demon could be as sharp as a knife?
"Here is the payment for this item," the merchant said, quickly getting back to business. He waved at his servants. "You there, pack it up."
His men hurried to secure the goods, and they placed another heavy chest in front of Su Min.
"Tch." She clicked her tongue but did not say anything else. She already knew what was in it.
After that strange little scene was over, the merchant became serious again.
"I have also heard that you once treated Hero Zhao for his poison," he said, his tone now much more focused.
The earlier awkwardness was gone. It was obvious now that the tiger part was just a lucky extra. He had something much more important to discuss.
"I would not call it treatment," Su Min corrected him. "I just suppressed the poison. To really cure him, he would need proper medicinal pills."
She raised an eyebrow, a little surprised.
"Ah, but you do not see the bigger picture," the merchant insisted. "Hero Zhao's sickness stumped every doctor in the martial world. But you, you stabilized him without any trouble. Now he is searching the whole country for rare herbs, and our Fuding Guild has gotten many orders from him."
"Is that so?" Su Min was slightly surprised. This merchant guild seemed very well connected.
"Hero Zhao is one of the strongest fighters in the land," the merchant went on, "and even he was taken down by a demon poison. But you cured him. Do you know they are calling you the greatest miracle doctor now? It is just that you live in such a remote place. Most injured warriors would die on the way here before they could find you."
"Pfft," Su Min could not help but laugh. "Rumors really do get out of hand, don't they?"
"Get to the point," she said, waving a lazy hand. "I am not some divine healer. My skills are not even as good as most traveling doctors. If fools come here looking for miracles, they will just leave disappointed."
The merchant gave a quick, respectful nod. "Then I will be direct. I am here to buy some of the antidote pills you made for Hero Zhao."
"I do not have any," Su Min said, rolling her eyes. Without the ingredients, how could she make them?
"Do not worry about that," the merchant said smoothly. "Hero Zhao has already collected the herbs and is on his way south. He should be here in a week or two. Our guild has also prepared a full set of the ingredients. We just hope that when you make his pills, you will make some extra for us. We will give you the materials and pay another hundred taels for each pill." He paused, then placed a final item in front of her. "Plus this."
It was a waist token made of precious sandalwood, decorated with gold.
"This is the highest rank VIP token from our guild. If you ever travel through Great Wei, just show this at any of our branches, and all our medicine stocks are yours to use."
"Hmm."
Su Min looked at the token with amusement. It was valuable all by itself.
But more importantly, she recognized it.
The original owner of her body had seen a token like this on her father's desk. With those memories, Su Min knew what it really meant.
"The Fuding Merchant Guild, with the 'Fortune' character," she thought to herself. "Everyone thinks it belongs to Prince Fu, but it is really Prince Yong's, isn't it? Well, it does not matter right now. I will take it. No need to cause trouble." She did not understand why the emperor had let Prince Yong's son keep the title after the father's failed rebellion, but it was clear that faction was still ambitious.
"You have big plans," she said out loud, smirking. "But let me be clear. I will make the antidote pills for you this time. But any future requests for pills are up to me. I am not your personal pill maker."
"Agreed."
The merchant agreed right away. His orders were simple, get those detox pills no matter the cost. Powerful people would pay anything to protect their lives. Making friends with Su Min was the main goal. Unless she asked for something completely crazy, he had to agree.
He worked for Prince Yong's faction, though he pretended to serve the useless Prince Fu. The tiger parts were meant for Prince Fu, to make him look good. They did not get those, but the tiger's other part would work just fine. Prince Fu was having certain problems, and this would be the perfect gift to make him happy.
"Here is another one thousand taels of silver," the merchant said, pushing another chest forward. "An advance payment for the pills."
Su Min looked over all the boxes now in her yard and smirked. She figured this man had brought at least ten thousand taels with him. He hired all those men to rush here, and he still had not managed to spend it all. He was clearly a man with deep pockets and even deeper plans.