Harsh raindrops pelted against the concave glazed tiles, trickling along its surface down the hip, then forming a part of the rain curtain as it dripped to the ground.

Of the roof, at the end of one of the curved eaves sat the stonework of a crouching Griffin-looking creature, repeatedly washed through the ages by sunshine and rain, yet showing no signs of age.

Beyond the rain curtain and far into the distance, a persisting mist hovered over the vibrantly lush mountain peaks. The row of mountains formed an ethereal beauty too good for this world.

One redeeming grace ever since my arrival was the nature and the architecture. Everywhere and everything differed greatly from the modern world. It was as if I was stuck in an East Asian historical drama movie set.

For example, the current villa was a classical courtyard house. Surrounded by tall washed white walls, each area was separated by usage. Guest hall and outer court for guests, the inner court for the owner and family, resting quarters for the servants. And there was A LOT of landscaping. Artificial ponds, stones, bridges, bushes, plants were placed everywhere.

There's a bit of culture shock, but still tolerable since I had traveled around East Asia before and seen some classical buildings.

The wooden building I was currently hosted was merely a bedroom. A large building with no other function than a bedroom. Fenced in on all sides by tall white walls, the only exit-entry point was through an arch on one wall. I'd seen the other courtyards, with circled arches, flowery arches, vase-shaped arches, but the one in this yard was a clover arch.

From the clover arch traveling to the door of the building was a long zigzag stone-paved path. Bushes and tall large distorted stones were placed at some points along the way as an aesthetic view, but one of the functions was to prevent a direct view of the building.

Since the bedroom was a building with no kitchen, every mealtime I either had to walk a great distance to the main hall, which was like exercise before dinner, or someone would bring the food to the yard.

Another beauty was everytime I walked between the white walls which separated all the areas, through the many latticeworks geometrically cut into the wall, one could peek through to the intricately designed landscape, catching a glimpse of beauty here and there, but never fully get the picture unless the owner permitted you to step in the place.

Speaking of which, we, aka MC and I, could not be said to be the owner.

Two weeks ago, we arrived at East Coast City, as its name implied, a coastal city with a lot of ports. Compared to the city which required an identity pass, this port city was a lot laxer. Perhaps cargo ships were flying in from all directions constantly, so it was hard to maintain control over who could enter and stay.

Han Bin, after the breaking of the engagement, was banished to this far away third-tier city. Nightgale City, where he was originally from, was a tiered-one city with a day's distance to the imperial capital. The useless young master who was in exile should be incapable of traveling to a remote place like East Coast City. Naturally, guards were supposed to protect him on this way here, but the MC would never trust his back to the servants of a family who wanted him dead.

The guards traveled through the same forest from which I arrived at and exposed their true mission - making sure the young master did not arrive at East Coast City. Unfortunately to them, their young master was not a rank three Martial Apprentice. The ones end up sleeping in the forest forever was not him, but them.

As so, imagine the caretaker of this villa’s surprised when we arrived and claimed to be the young master and co. They were never even informed of the Han Bin’s arrangement at this villa.

Even though the caretaker was not aware, he did recognize the Han family’s identity amulet. In the end, he arranged the both of us to be at the outer court, the resting quarter for guests, while he contacted the main family for direction.

It was as good as snitching to the ones who wanted MC dead, that MC was not only alive but even broke through to rank six Martial Apprentice.

These days we have pretty much been confined to this villa. According to the caretaker's words, it was "for our benefit due to unknown lurking dangers."

We have arrived during a rainy season; I'd seen rain and rain and more rain these past few days.

Please remember I was a late-stage internet addict. Being stuck inside with nothing to do was rotting out my patience.

Passing a hand out the opened red wooden-framed window, I did not touch the expected rain as the roof design jutted out a lot more from the wall bearing, supported at the hip by mahogany columns.

Waving my hand, a Qi wave knocked back the raindrops, distorting its path. I improved a lot ever since MC taught me how to use the Qi. I could do basic things like jumping quickly, Qi wave cuts, controlling a small amount of water, and freezing water.

In the distance, I saw an approaching figure holding an oil-paper umbrella, which was painted with a few orchard strokes. I only knew one person who would visit me.

As MC walked up the stone steps onto the building platform, he closed the umbrella and shook the water droplets off.

Waving a hand again, I helped him draw the water out, but lacking a good control, the painted orchards on the oil-paper umbrella looked a bit smeared.

Whoops. I quickly withdrew my hand. He came in and joined me at the couch bed by the window side. I was initially confused by this term. The furniture piece resembled nothing of a bed.

The couch bed was a wide wooden chair, the length of a bed, with a tea table in the middle, so both parties could sit at opposite ends and chat and have tea. At least that was how I interpreted it, otherwise no idea what it was used for.

I wasn't really a tea person, so the ceramic teapot only held water. As Han Bin heated the water with his Qi, I asked, "What wind blew you here?" He never visited for the past week and suddenly showed up.

Han Bin brought his stash of tea. He slowly tapped the tea leaves into the teapot. A subtle grassy with a bit of milky smell vaporized into the air.

Pouring the tea for both of us, he said, "My uncle has sent a letter back to Steward Zhao, notifying him of my case."

"So we can go out now?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go! What are we waiting for?"

"Do you have money?"

I sat my butt down. I had no money. The MC would have money through alchemy and selling of medicine, but I needed a job, too.

Han Bin pushed the teacup towards me, I sipped a taste. It was like a latte! Even better without all the sweetness, of course, it might help if I didn't add sugar.

After drinking, a stream of Qi entered my body and I felt refreshed even in this dreary weather.

Maybe I could open a beverage store! This would be a hot sell.

Han Bin always seemed to know what I was thinking, "My uncle gifted this tea as an apology. It's a rare tea from the royal family. They gift the tea every five years to a few of the large clans."

"Oh." Tossed this idea out.

He switched the topic, "We can move to the inner court, and the Han family would be providing cultivation resources every month, but there's nothing good to expect from it."

For an ordinary person, perhaps the provisions were plentiful, but MC needed a lot of time and Qi to satisfy the hunger of all five elements. His time palace fulfilled the first part. As for the second, he needed to start his subclass soon as an alchemist.

Besides, rather than continuously eat at the hands of someone else, it would be wiser to fund his own cultivation.

"Are we going to start a side job then?"

He gave a meaningful smile, "Yes, we can go look for a shop tomorrow."

In the novel, I don't remember him opening a shop anywhere. I asked, "What type of shop are we starting?"

"A medicinal shop."

Now it was my turn to be shocked. Though the MC did sell high-grade medicinal pills to the auction house, he was very low key about it. After all, without the power to protect his skill, it was too risky.

"Aren't you afraid someone will set their eyes on you?"

He still had the same half-smile, "That's what you're here for, right?"

What?! "You know better than anyone else! I can't do anything!"

Han Bin comforted, "If you release the aura of a spiritual master, no one would make trouble. Besides, this is the only job I can find for you."

...He was right. Being a guard touched sides with being a tanker, I guess?

Then it was settled.

Though Han Bin's attitude towards me remained incomprehensible, there was no point to dwell on it. Even if given fifty years, I had no confidence in solving the mystery.

One step at a time. Everything would fall in place.

The next sunny day, while Steward Zhao helped us relocate to the inner court, Han Bin and I finally hit the marketplace of East Coast City.

Being a port city, a river runs through the central plaza. Many street stalls lined the shopping district selling items from food to trinkets. As we browse the stalls, I asked Han Bin, "How much do you have?"

Han Bin followed slowly, "Five thousand gold and twenty spirit stones."

It sounded like a lot, but it was only if he was a normal person with normal everyday needs. As a cultivator, the end currency they used was spirit stones.

All cultivation materials were pretty much only traded in spirit stones. One spirit stone was equaled to a thousand gold or ten thousand silver, but there would be no one trading spirit stones for gold or silver.

Gold and silver were currency for non-cultivators and martial apprentices, and spiritual practitioners and above should be using spirit stones.

Luckily, as a third-tier city, the ratio of martial apprentices was still higher than spiritual practitioners. The commonly used currency was still gold.

We started from the fancier street with more prestigious shops. I looked around but didn't notice any shops for rent.

I turned to Han Bin, "Should we ask around?"

He said, "For this street, you have to go through an agent to rent." Then he went to a place called "Leaf Trading Services."

We went up to the clerk and asked if there were any shops for rent. He quickly glanced at Han Bin but stared at me at quite a lengthened period.

I asked again, "Do you have a small space for lease?"

He snapped out of it and quickly answered, "Yes, yes." Then on a wooden bracketed tray revealed a number of seals. Each seal had a corresponding number.

Han Bin picked up one and inserted his Qi. After a moment he passed it to me and picked up another one.

Seeing his action, I copied him and inserted my Qi. Immediately the image of the shop visualized in my head. It was like a 3D model. I placed this one down and received the next one. After the seventh one, the MC finally seemed to have an interest in picking one.

He asked the store clerk, "What are the terms for this one?"

The clerk replied, "It's currently an accessories store, and the owner is not willing to lease it. The offer must be to buy out the shop. Let's see... the buyout price is twenty thousand gold."

If Han Bin used all his spirit stones, he would have enough. However, I'd imagine he needed to buy some supplies to start concocting.

We asked about a few more stores, but even those that could be leased were a thousand gold a month.

A bun bought from a stall on the street was only one silver. This was ten thousand buns, or the stall keeper had to sell three hundred something buns a day to afford to rent a shop.

No wonder they would rather manage a stall! All their hard work would be eaten by operating expenses.

The clerk noticed we didn't have money and directed us to a few streets over - the commoner's street.

Contrary to its implied name, the street was stone-paved and very clean. It was also much more packed than the one we were in earlier.

Suddenly, I heard a call from above. Raising my head, a two-story building came into view. A few brothers and sisters leaned over the wooden balcony and called to us.

"Hey handsome, want to join us for some fun?"

"Beautiful sister! This brother has something to show you here."

I asked Han Bin, "Are they offering us special services?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Why? Are you interested?"

"Erm, no. I was just surprised they're so blatant about it. The city allows it?"

Han Bin continued walking, "The whole brothel is erected right here. Does it look legal or illegal?"

Forgive my brain cells.

A sudden sweet smell wafted to my nostrils. I turned to the source and saw it was a snack store.

Grabbing MC, I suggested, "It's lunch. Let's eat something."

A young man lazily rested his head on the counter, but as we walked in his eyes brightened up.

I looked around. No chips!!! Everything looked very natural and too healthy. This product in front of me, for example, was a pink flower petal powdered in sugar.

It looked simple, but the flowery fragrance was very intense. I asked, "How much is this?"

The possible store clerk eagerly said, "Each bag is 10 silvers. If you’re husband and wife, full price. If you’re brother and sister, half price.”

I was enraged! Did I look like I lack money?! "We’re brother and sister.”

"..." Han Bin stared at me, but I looked away in guilt.

The store clerk then said, "If you tell me your name, another twenty-five percent off."

A middle-aged female voice boomed from behind the storefront, "You rascal! Are you trying to bankrupt me? You want to experience sleeping on the streets?!"