Leaving Ge Family Fort, Long Xiao and his group did not return to the East Sea but headed straight for Lingcheng. Long Xiao wanted to buy some medicinal herbs in Lingcheng to take with him, which might be useful in the capital.
With only two days left until his grandfather's birthday, Long Xiao wouldn't have enough time to drive to the capital.
Sun Sizhu called Long Xiao to urge him once. Long Xiao decided that after buying the medicinal herbs in Lingcheng, he would have Xiao Ming and Ji Yuelan drive back to the East Sea. Then, he would have Luo Tianshui and Xiao Ming drive to the capital together, while he himself would fly directly from Lingcheng.
After hearing Long Xiao's plan, Ji Yuelan said, "Brother Long, I'll go to the capital with you. I studied Traditional Chinese Medicine in the capital and haven't been back since graduation. I'll take this opportunity to visit."
Going to the capital posed no danger, so Long Xiao readily agreed.
On the way to Lingcheng, Long Xiao called Lin Xuan to inquire about the situation in the East Sea and inform her that he would be going directly to the capital from Eastern Zhejiang and would not be returning to the East Sea.
Lin Xuan knew Long Xiao was going to the capital to assess feng shui. She simply advised him to be careful and not to cause trouble by offending any influential figures while doing so.
After her advice, Lin Xuan told Long Xiao that Yang Xiaoyue had just gone to the capital today to discuss a pharmaceutical factory cooperation, and asked him to contact Yang Xiaoyue upon arrival.
Lin Xuan trusted Yang Xiaoyue's capabilities but was concerned about her safety.
Lingcheng was a distribution center for medicinal herbs in the Eastern Zhejiang region. The mountainous areas of Eastern Zhejiang were rich in various types of herbs. Since ancient times, the mountain dwellers in Eastern Zhejiang had the habit of collecting herbs to supplement their income.
After driving along the provincial highway for a few hours and then about an hour on the expressway, they reached Lingcheng.
As soon as they exited the expressway, Xiao Ming took a sniff and exclaimed happily, "It smells so good, this city must have treasures."
As the car entered Lingcheng, Long Xiao immediately took out his phone and called Jiang Ming, informing him that he had arrived in Lingcheng.
"Brother Long, I'm also in Lingcheng. Tell me your location, and I'll be right there," Jiang Ming said happily upon hearing Long Xiao's call.
Long Xiao looked out the car window and mentioned the names of a few shops. Jiang Ming replied, "I know, I'll be there in ten minutes."
Long Xiao asked Ji Yuelan to park the car and got out, waiting on the roadside.
The street was bustling with people, and the warm sunlight felt very comfortable on his face.
"Brother Long, where are we going to eat lunch?" Xiao Ming stretched his neck out from the car window and asked.
Long Xiao looked around and said, "Let's wait until Jiang Ming arrives. He's familiar with this place and knows where the good food is."
After a few minutes of waiting, a motorcycle's roar grew louder and louder. Long Xiao turned his head and saw a very old Harley heading towards him.
Long Xiao dodged aside. Unexpectedly, as the motorcycle reached him, it suddenly fell to the ground.
The rider was a young man in his early twenties, wearing ripped jeans and sunglasses.
"What the hell are you doing walking like that? You made me crash my motorcycle!" the young man got up, rushed to Long Xiao, and reached out to grab Long Xiao's collar.
Long Xiao pushed the young man's hand away and said, "What do you mean? You fell on your own, and you're blaming me?"
The young man insisted, "It's your fault. The bike fell next to you. If you weren't standing here, it wouldn't have fallen!"
"What exactly do you want?" Long Xiao asked.
The young man pointed at the motorcycle and said, "This is an antique! Pay for the bike, or you're not leaving."
Long Xiao looked at the young man with amusement and asked, "You want me to pay? Alright, how much?"
Xiao Ming, always eager for excitement, poked his head out of the car window and said, "As much as possible. How about a million yuan?"
"It seems you're wealthy. This car of mine is very valuable. Just repairing it will cost millions. A million is a bargain for you."
Long Xiao was amused by the young man's audacity, never expecting him to actually try and extort money.
Long Xiao smiled and said, "What will you do if I don't pay?"
"If you don't pay, I'll call the police immediately and have them arrest you."
Long Xiao chuckled, grabbed the young man's arm, and squeezed it gently. "Your arm is hurt. You weren't paying attention while riding and fell. Now you want me to pay? Heh."
As Long Xiao chuckled, the young man yanked his arm back and found that he couldn't move it.
"What did you do to me? Why can't I move my arm?" the young man yelled.
"Why can't you move your arm? How would I know?" Long Xiao said with a smile.
"You must have done something! Just you wait, I won't let this go!" the young man said, pulling out his phone and starting to dial.
While the young man was on the phone, Long Xiao stopped paying attention to him.
A few minutes later, a Wrangler stopped by the roadside, and Jiang Ming got out.
"Brother Long, sorry to keep you waiting," Jiang Ming said with a smile as he walked towards Long Xiao.
Long Xiao nodded and explained his purpose in coming to Lingcheng. Jiang Ming replied, "That's easy. I'll contact some people and see who has aged medicinal herbs."
Long Xiao chatted with Jiang Ming for a few moments and was about to get back in the car when a Toyota SUV sped up and stopped in front of them.
Several burly men got out of the car and walked towards the young man who had been on the phone.
"Brother Zhang, it's that guy! He fell my motorcycle and refused to pay, and then he got physical with me," the young man said, pointing at Long Xiao with his functional hand.
The man addressed as Brother Zhang was over 1.9 meters tall, bald, dressed in camouflage, and wearing polished military boots.
The burly man turned to look at Long Xiao, sneered, and walked up to him, saying, "Jiang Ming, your man bullied my brother."
Jiang Ming glanced at the young man and said, "You know what Er Bei is like. He falls everywhere he goes. This time he fell onto my Brother Long, and he's lucky to be alive."
"Jiang Ming, don't think you can be so arrogant just because your brother dares to challenge Boss Lu. I don't care. You have to pay today, or neither of you is leaving."
"Jiang Ming, I've heard of Boss Lu. What's his relationship with your brother?" Long Xiao asked.
Jiang Ming sighed and said, "Boss Lu is a local bully in Lingcheng. He's sent people to collect protection fees from my brother's company multiple times. At first, we paid him a little, but he became more and more demanding. Last month, some people came to collect protection fees, and my brother's men drove them out."
Long Xiao nodded and said, "I see. Let's go, we won't buy herbs for now, we'll go see this Boss Lu first."
"Who the hell do you think you are, thinking you can just meet my boss?" the burly man called Brother Zhang said indignantly.
Long Xiao looked at the burly man and shouted, "Xiao Ming, break his legs first."
Xiao Ming had been leaning out of the car window, watching the commotion and eating. Hearing Long Xiao's shout, he didn't even open the car door. He simply crawled out the window and lunged at the burly man.
The burly man tried to hit Xiao Ming, but before he could throw a punch, he heard a snap. Xiao Ming had broken his right leg.
While the burly man howled in pain, clutching his leg, Xiao Ming had already returned to the car, pulled out a piece of Polygonum multiflorum, and began to chew on it.
Long Xiao saw the Polygonum multiflorum in Xiao Ming's hand, which weighed about half a kilogram, and asked curiously, "Xiao Ming, where did you get your Polygonum multiflorum?"
Xiao Ming smiled and pointed into the car, saying, "Old Master Ge gave it to me. It was a big bag of Polygonum multiflorum."
Long Xiao quickly opened the car door and found that only half of the bag of local specialties given by Ge Haitian remained.
"You prodigal son! Eating such good Polygonum multiflorum as a snack!"
Xiao Ming popped the remaining half piece of Polygonum multiflorum into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed, saying, "Brother Long, you never said I couldn't eat it. I saved you half the bag."