177 一 White Spot and Golden Fur Search for Masters

The two newly bought stores were on the same prosperous street. One was on the side of Pear Blossom Alley, the other was on the opposite side – they were not far apart. One could see the other store by standing at the door of one store. Qin Mian had people decorated the two stores at the same time. The drugstore was called “Ruyi¹ Pharmacy” and the silverware store was called “Jewel Pavilion”.

About ten days after decoration, the drugstore and the silverware store opened on the same day. The layout of the drugstore was very simple; into the entrance was the counter and the seats of the two doctors. Behind the counter, two medicine cabinets were placed against the wall, and more than a hundred small drawers of the same size were filled with different herbs. The name of the herbs was written on the drawers. The medicine cabinet was tall and had a top. When one grasped some of the herbs, one even needed to use a double-ladder. In the drugstore, two experienced doctors were hired to see the patients, two assistants were in charge of the prescription, and then a manager.

The layout of the silverware shop was also characterized by simplicity and style. Customers could see all kinds of jewelry behind the counter at a glance as soon as they entered. All jewelry was priced clearly. Besides, Jewel Pavilion also had a type of honorable service. As long as customers could afford the expensive price, the master designer could even design unique jewelry for customers according to their requirements. It was unique not only in the whole Capital but also in the whole country.

Since Lei Tie’s identity was special, the two stores opened quietly, with only one round of firecracker each. Even so, there were still a lot of people sending gifts. Even the emperor, the empress, and the empress dowager gave gifts. Qin Mian ordered the servants to go and make a list of all the gifts. Except for those sent by the emperor, the empress, and the empress dowager, all the expensive gifts were sent back to avoid being talked about.

Ruyi Pharmacy opened at the beginning of the dragon hour [7 AM] and closed at the beginning of the rooster hour [5 PM]; Jewel Pavilion opened at the beginning of the snake hour [9 AM] and closed at the beginning of the rooster hour [5 PM]. Both stores had a day-off on the first day of the month and a holiday on the last three days of every two months. The attentive customers found that the holidays of the two stores were the same as those of Dongyang Academy.

After opening for more than half a month, the business of the silverware store was quite good because the designs of the jewelry were relatively novel and unique. On the other hand, the business of Ruyi Pharmacy was average; it was unknown whether it was because of the lack of publicity, but most of the customers came in to buy prescriptions instead of seeing a doctor. The two doctors were bored and could only read medical books every day. The drugstore manager could hardly retain his composure. He noticed that the situation was not good and quickly reported the matter to Qin Mian.

Qin Mian was very calm and told the manager to do his duty well and that no matter the business was good or bad, it would not affect his salary. Since the employer was not worried, the manager had to drop it.

The business of the store was not good, Qin Mian couldn’t ignore it. He was just waiting for an opportunity – an opportunity to make his mark at the first shot. The development of a drugstore was different from that of other stores – it was not enough to rely on mere lip service.

After the two stores operated normally, Qin Mian focused on the transformation of the State Defender Duke Establishment. After living in Leisurely Farmhouse for a long time, the standard requirements of the family of four for the living environment were high. They were not used to many places in the State Defender Duke Establishment. Qin Mian devoted two days to draw the transformation plan, mainly changing all the trees into fruit trees and replanting flowers and plants in some open spaces.

When Lei Tie came back from the army camp, he rolled up his sleeves and took up a shovel to help Qin Mian. He was not completely unconcerned about the mud on his clothes.

The newly bought servants in the household saw it and silently admired the rare scene. Knowing that the two masters didn’t like them go on gossiping, they were clever enough to keep silent.

“A-Tie, Ruiqi and Ruilin have a holiday tomorrow. In the afternoon, we’ll go to Dongyang Academy to pick them up.” Qin Mian held on the fruit tree that had been put into the tree pit.

Lei Tie filled the pit with soil. “En.”

Fearing that Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin were hungry, Qin Mian managed to find time to make some snacks in the afternoon.

At this time, on the public road about a li away from the South Gate of the Capital, a black shadow and a golden shadow ran side by side toward the Capital. The black shadow was as fast as lightning, and the golden shadow was as smooth as a meteor. After seeing what they were, the passers-by on the public road turned pale with fright. They made a hasty retreat to both sides and sat down on the ground with weakened legs. They opened their mouths wide and watched the two dreadful beasts gallop toward the South Gate.

These two shadows were actually White Spot and Golden Fur.

For them, their four masters had been away for a long time, so the two made up their minds to travel thousands of li to the Capital to find their masters. For humans, they were too threatening. They had been besieged many times along the way. Although both of them had great abilities, they still suffered a lot. White Spot’s black fur was dirty and tangled out of several knots. Golden Fur suffered no less; its dazzling golden fur was covered with dry mud. Fortunately, neither was injured.

Thanks to White Spot acting as the guide and that the two had intelligent, all the way from Green Mountain Village to the Capital, they had not gone the wrong way. After half a month of running, they finally arrived without a hitch.

Upon seeing the familiar South Gate, White Spot uttered “awoo” to Golden Fur, and the two sped up at the same time.

They knew that the soldiers guarding the city gate would be threatened. Thus, when the two entered the city, they swept by like a gust of wind. The soldiers only saw two shadows passing by. After a careful look, they found nothing unusual.

Yuan Anshi had a spell of bad luck. Until now, he was still a fifth rank official. Recently, he was hesitating whether he should go to greet the State Defender Duke. Lei Tie was, after all, his junior [younger generation]. He was still pulled by saving his face, so he had been hesitant over what to do. He was walking to and fro in his study with a worried face when he heard the noise outside. His face turned glum and he cried out, “What’s the noise outside? What a scandal to make an unnecessary racket!”

A manservant came in stumbling with a pale face, “O-Old Master… W-Wolf… a-and a bear!”

“What?” Yuan Anshi frowned and said, “From whose house did they escaped… No one in the Capital’s raised—” Speaking of this, he remembered that Lei Tie’s family had a wolf and he didn’t hear that Lei Tie had brought his wolf to the Capital this time.

“Come, take me there.”

The manservant was shocked: Old Master doesn’t want to live?

“Why don’t you lead the way?” shouted Yuan Anshi anxiously.

“Yes, yes!”

The manservant ran forward in a slip.

Shortly, they came to the entrance gate. A wolf and a bear squatted quietly facing the gate of Yuan Residence. The eight servants of the Yuan household had sticks in their hands aimed at the wolf and the bear, but they did not dare to approach them, only shivered, fearing that if they were careless, one of them would be torn to death.

As soon as Yuan Anshi saw the white spot between the wolf’s eyebrows, he understood. He found that both the wolf and the bear were so tame, so he tentatively stepped forward and said the name of Qin Mian’s family, “Are you here to find Qin Mian and Lei Tie, as well as… Yuanyuan and Manman?”

Upon seeing White Spot’s ears perked and head slightly lowered, which was very similar to a nod, Yuan Anshi said in haste, “I’ll take you to find them.”

White Spot stood up, took a step forward, and looked back at Yuan Anshi as if it was signaling him to lead the way. Golden Fur also stood up – a simple and naïve look.

Yuan Anshi bravely walked over and peeked at White Spot and the golden bear from the corner of his eyes. They didn’t show any means of attacking, so he became even more relaxed as he led the way.

At this time, Qin Mian and Lei Tie were on horseback to Dongyang Academy.

When they arrived at Dongyang Academy, they were surprised to see several rows of carriages stopped in front of the academy and many waiting adults came to pick up their children from school.

Qin Mian dismounted his horse and looked around casually. Unexpectedly, he found Chen Mufeng shaking a folding fan next to a carriage opposite him and staring at the gate of the academy. Obviously, he was waiting for someone. He poked Lei Tie’s back and pointed his chin to hint him to look over there quickly.

A smile flashed through Lei Tie’s eyes and he looked along his wife’s line of sight.

Chen Mufeng didn’t notice that some people were looking at him – he focused on looking at the front.

“Is his other half still studying?” Qin Mian was extremely curious.

Lei Tie said, “Maybe.”

At this time, the bell of Dongyang Academy rang. After a while, the students of the academy swarmed to the gate from different directions.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie no longer paid attention to Chen Mufeng and kept a close eye on the stream of people.

In a moment, Qin Mian saw Qin Ruilin and Lei Ruilin walking out side by side with their small schoolbags. Qin Ruiqi was the silent type and rather had the demeanor of an elder brother. From time to time, he stretched out his little arm to block the flow of people to prevent Ruilin from being bump into. Lei Ruilin was also very considerate of his Gege. He pulled his Gege aside and let others go first. When the crowd was a little looser, they walked toward the gate.

Qin Mian was very pleased to see it clearly. As the two sons came near, he raised his voice and called out, “Ruiqi, Ruilin.”

When Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin saw them, their faces expressed surprise, and they ran to that side quickly. It was the first time that their two fathers came to pick them up from school in person. The two boys were very happy.

“Dad, Old Dad!”

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin, as the only twins in the academy and the only students who have two fathers but no mother, were already celebrities of Dongyang Academy. When they called out “Dad” and “Old Dad”, the students around them immediately looked out of the gate and their eyes fell on Qin Mian and Lei Tie. As soon as they saw the two men’s elegant demeanor and temperament, they couldn’t say anything bad and even moved to make way for Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin.

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin quickly cupped their hands to express their gratitude and ran to Qin Mian and Lei Tie. The two brothers grinned at the same time, “Dad, Old Dad!”

“En.” Qin Mian touched the heads of his two sons and looked behind them as he said with a smile, “Are they your friends?”

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin turned around and saw several students standing behind them.

“Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin, these two are your fathers?” A 13~14 years old boy looked at Qin Mian and Lei Tie curiously. While he spoke, he bowed with his hands cupped toward them politely.

Footnotes