Unconventional [Rebirth] - Chapter 39

After Jiang Jianlin suddenly disappeared, Jiang Jianheng was alarmed for a while. However, Jiang Jianlin had always been wary of his second brother, and the money Jiang Jianheng earned wasn’t even a fraction of Jiang Jianlin’s own pocket change. When the real money was made, Jiang Jianlin often didn’t involve Jiang Jianheng. Jiang Jianheng didn’t even know about Huidu, let alone entering such a place.

So, when he couldn’t contact Jiang Jianlin, his first thought was that Jiang Jianlin had gone to see CEO Wang again. There had been similar situations before: Jiang Jianlin would disappear for ten days or so, claiming to be running errands for CEO Wang, and would return lavishly, looking like he had made a fortune.

Although Jiang Jianheng worked with his third brother, he was only a minor partner, essentially running errands for him. He was fundamentally an honest man and couldn’t learn Jiang Jianlin’s ruthlessness. He was dull and inarticulate. If Jiang Jianlin hadn’t insisted on pulling him in, and if his wife’s family hadn’t been in urgent need of money, he would never have gotten involved in this mess.

But when half a month passed and Jiang Jianlin was still nowhere to be found, Jiang Jianheng became worried and sought out the “brothers” who used to follow Jiang Jianlin.

Jiang Rui had already instructed them on what to say and what not to say. Those men pushed all responsibility onto Wang Chenghui. When Jiang Jianheng asked for specifics, they simply said they didn’t dare to inquire about the big boss’s business.

After getting confirmation from these people, Jiang Jianheng went to Li Xiuzhi’s house, his third brother’s wife.

Li Xiuzhi knew that her second brother’s family was not well off and had only recently started earning money by following her husband. She immediately felt superior to Jiang Jianheng, boasting about how capable her husband was and how much money he had sent back this month.

Jiang Jianheng was reassured when he heard that the money sent home by Jiang Jianlin had never stopped and was even increasing. He finally concluded that his third brother was genuinely working for the big boss.

Wang Chenghui came to Huidu every day these past few days.

But he never encountered that person again.

The gambling room where that person and Huaiqing held their bet that night had been sealed off by Wang Chenghui. He would come and sit there for a while every night.

He would sit in the same spot where he watched the match that night, looking at the gambling table, as if he could still see the young man, whose lips slightly curled up in a gentle smile after winning the final round, saying to him: “CEO Wang is truly magnanimous. Otherwise, it’s hard to say who would have won or lost today.”

Wang Chenghui closed his eyes, got up, and walked to the spot where the man had stood. His fingers brushed over the gambling table, as if touching the other’s skin…

An untimely knock on the door sounded.

Wang Chenghui regained his composure and said in a deep voice, “Enter.”

Huaiqing stepped in softly and stood beside Wang Chenghui, calling out, “CEO Wang.”

Wang Chenghui asked him, “Any news?”

Huaiqing shook his head: “We can’t find any information about Tang Xuan. It’s as if this person appeared out of thin air in Qingshi, which is very strange. Also, we haven’t found any news about Jiang Jianlin. However…”

Wang Chenghui frowned: “How did I teach you? Speak clearly, don’t stammer.”

Huaiqing quickly adjusted his tone: “The people below say someone has been sending money to Jiang Jianlin’s wife. I had people follow this lead, but just like before, we couldn’t find the person sending the money. Also, the gang that used to follow Jiang Jianlin said that someone paid them to spread the word to the Jiang family that Jiang Jianlin is working for you, not missing…”

Wang Chenghui had been smiling when he heard the first part, but his face immediately darkened when he heard the last part: “Did you let him get hurt?”

Huaiqing quickly said: “No. Those people were no match for him; he dealt with them instead.”

Wang Chenghui’s expression immediately softened: “It’s good that he wasn’t hurt. You handle those people who sought trouble for him. Just make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.”

Huaiqing nodded in agreement but felt uncomfortable, so he added: “CEO Wang, the source of the startup capital for Jiang Rui’s parents’ supermarket is still untraceable. Also, Jiang Rui disappeared for over a month after his high school entrance exam results came out. The Jiang family claimed he went traveling, but our people couldn’t find any trace of him, which is highly suspicious…”

“That’s enough!” Wang Chenghui abruptly interrupted him sharply.

Huaiqing’s face instantly went pale.

Wang Chenghui stared at him for a long time. Seeing Huaiqing’s eyes turn red, his expression aggrieved yet stubbornly refusing to back down, Wang Chenghui sighed: “I did ask you to investigate Jiang Rui before, but you’ve already reported these things to me once. Bringing them up again now—do you think I’m not as smart as you and can’t figure these things out?” “From now on, just do what I instruct you to do, and don’t take matters into your own hands.”

Huaiqing widened his eyes, clearly wanting to cry but forcing back the tears. He lowered his head slightly and said softly, “Understood, CEO Wang.”

Seeing him like this, Wang Chenghui couldn’t help but pull him into his arms, kneading his neck with one hand: “Be good. As long as you listen and follow me to learn the ropes, I won’t treat you unfairly.”

Jiang Rui has recently been busy tending to the newly opened-up herb garden in the secret realm.

A couple of days ago, when Jiang Rui was chatting with Uncle Cheng on the phone, the latter mentioned that Mr. Rong’s health was getting better, and he was even becoming reluctant to eat the medicinal cuisine, claiming it didn’t taste good. Every time it was prepared, Uncle Cheng had to add two spoons of the honey Jiang Rui sent before Mr. Rong would eat some.

Uncle Cheng was afraid that if things continued this way, Mr. Rong would eventually refuse even the medicinal cuisine with honey. The medicinal cuisine couldn’t be stopped; stopping it would render all previous efforts useless.

Jiang Rui sighed upon hearing this. He knew the herbs Uncle Cheng put into the medicinal cuisine were all carefully selected high-quality ingredients, each one hard to buy with money outside. Yet, this great master disliked the taste.

However, thinking about it, no matter how well medicinal cuisine is prepared, the taste is still different from ordinary food. Furthermore, Rong Jingtang wasn’t eating it for ten days or half a month, or even one or two years. He had been eating the medicinal cuisine as his main diet since childhood. Others might not have Rong Jingtang’s endurance.

Jiang Rui had previously considered planting medicinal herbs in the secret realm. Initially, it was due to some concerns that he didn’t proceed. Later, he was too busy with other matters. Hearing Uncle Cheng’s words reignited his desire to grow medicinal herbs in the secret realm.

The spiritual energy in the secret realm is dense, and with the high-grade spiritual soil, the herbs cultivated here would definitely be incomparable to those grown outside. Furthermore, Uncle Cheng had previously said that they studied the flowers and plants Jiang Rui sent but found nothing unusual. Jiang Rui guessed that spiritual energy is colorless and formless to ordinary people. Except for cultivators, even ordinary people with spiritual roots cannot access it or use it for themselves without certain methods.

Since there was no fear of anything being discovered, Jiang Rui put aside his concerns and cleared a patch of land where the Profound Spirit Soil and the medium-grade Red Spiritual Soil met, designating it as the herb garden.

Although the area of the Profound Soil in the secret realm is vast, it is not infinite and might be needed for greater purposes in the future. Thus, he couldn’t use Profound Soil exclusively for the herb garden. The Red Soil area is extensive. Miaoxuan said that the Red Soil covers about one-third of the entire secret realm.

Therefore, the area of Red Soil in the herb garden is several times larger than the Profound Soil area.

Jiang Rui asked Uncle Cheng to send him a batch of herb seedlings and seeds, including some rare medicinal materials like ginseng and fleeceflower root seeds. However, different herbs require different environments. Jiang Rui didn’t clear the herb garden on the flat ground of the secret realm; instead, he put it directly into the mountain forest. He sectioned off areas and set up corresponding arrays to simulate the required growing environments for the herbs. Aside from a few herbs with exceptionally demanding growth conditions, it didn’t take much effort.

The secret realm is a blessed land and naturally has some spiritual creatures. To prevent these spirit beasts and spirit birds from accidentally entering the herb garden, Jiang Rui set up a non-aggressive illusion array around the perimeter of the herb garden.

He originally intended to set up a Restriction Array, as the animals in this mountain forest are not ordinary beasts but spirit beasts. According to Miaoxuan, some spirit beasts’ cultivation levels were comparable to his own. However, Restriction Arrays are more aggressive and might harm those creatures.

Although Jiang Rui is the master of the secret realm, those creatures have been in the secret realm for a long time, and most have crossed the threshold of cultivation, making them half-way companions. Jiang Rui naturally wanted to get along well with them.

Miaoxuan mistakenly thought Jiang Rui was worried that those creatures might turn against him once their cultivation improved, so it said: “They all rely on the master to exist and have an intricate karmic connection with the master. If they harbor any malicious intent, both the master and I will detect it, and they will suffer karmic backlash. The master need not worry about them.”

Jiang Rui realized Miaoxuan had misunderstood his intention but didn’t explain, only smiling in acknowledgment.

Besides tending to the herb garden, Jiang Rui also cultivated in alchemy and sword arts simultaneously. Especially alchemy, the faster he progressed, the greater the chance of successful spiritual root mutation for Rong Jingtang.

As for the trivial external matters concerning Wang Chenghui and Jiang Jianlin, he only paid slight attention to them and didn’t spend much effort on them.

He was aware that Wang Chenghui had people investigating his background and the Jiang family’s background, and he knew that the other party wouldn’t find any useful information, so he didn’t intervene much.

Jiang Rui didn’t have the time to deal with him yet. As long as Wang Chenghui didn’t provoke him again, he didn’t mind letting the other party flourish for a bit longer.