The next morning, Lin Qinghen hopped onto Shi Qi’s garbage truck.

To be honest, it didn’t smell bad at all. Plus, the garbage truck was a hybrid model, which looked pretty high-tech in Lin Qinghen’s eyes. It had a large capacity, and aside from the spiritual energy that powered it, a Hei Jia Xiang was pulling it in front. This was a type of Yellow Tier spirit beast raised by the Lin family. It was strong and had a decent speed, often used for transportation outside.

This beast was also massive; when Lin Qinghen stood next to it, he didn’t even reach halfway up its leg. Oddly enough, the elephant seemed to like Lin Qinghen quite a bit, even though it was their first meeting. As he stood beside it, the long trunk gently nudged him a few times. Lin Qinghen tried reaching out to pet it, and it didn’t shy away. Instead, it playfully tapped his shoulder with its trunk, as if they were playing a game.

There were more people responsible for clearing the garden’s garbage than just Shi Qi. A few others helped out, mostly workers from the garden. Some he knew well, while others were strangers. Among them was the elephant’s caretaker, who was also the leader of the garbage crew responsible for driving the truck—this was someone Lin Qinghen wasn’t familiar with.

Today, when Shi Qi brought Lin Qinghen along for the ride, his expression wasn’t too great. He crossed his arms and shot Lin Qinghen a glance, probably looking down on this “young master” who had no real status.

“We’re busy here,” he said. “We’re working all day, not out for fun.”

Though he didn’t outright say Lin Qinghen couldn’t ride along, his tone clearly suggested it wasn’t the best idea.

Lin Qinghen didn’t take offense. He was the one asking for a favor. The garbage crew would head out in the morning and return by evening, and during that time, he would be busy with his own tasks, rejoining them later. It was kind enough of them to let him tag along. Plus, given his current situation, he would often need their help in the future. Just as he was about to explain himself, he was interrupted by the elephant’s trunk.

This gigantic creature, which he was meeting for the first time, seemed very fond of nudging him. While the others settled into the truck, Lin Qinghen was the only one allowed to sit on the broad back of the Hei Jia Xiang with the caretaker.

It was Lin Qinghen’s first time riding on the elephant’s back, and he found it quite interesting. The view was nice too. However, when they reached the back door of the Lin family estate, the elephant suddenly stopped because the road ahead was blocked by a group of people. A convoy was moving goods inside.

The Lin family’s back entrance had separate in-and-out lanes, which usually shouldn’t block each other, but the leader of the convoy looked at the crowd and quickly guided the elephant to the side to wait patiently.

Lin Qinghen felt a bit puzzled and quietly asked, “Why can those vehicles ignore the Lin family’s rules and block the road?”

“You don’t know?”

Lin Qinghen shook his head honestly.

He had been rather isolated these past couple of days due to the system business and hadn’t had time to pay attention to matters regarding the Lin family.

The caretaker, who had a straightforward personality, chuckled at Lin Qinghen’s response and said, “Look at you, how can you call yourself a Lin family young master? You’re too far behind others.”

This was the plain truth, and since Lin Qinghen didn’t seem offended, the caretaker continued with a serious tone, explaining the situation.

“All these goods are urgently transported for an event in seven days. You should know about this—it’s the Family Head’s arrangement for your sister, Miss Qingshuang’s, eighteenth birthday banquet. They’ve invited many notable figures from the continent; it’s quite a big deal. Lately, the city has been livelier than usual because of it.”

Lin Qingshuang.

Just mentioning her name darkened Lin Qinghen’s mood in an instant.

The family was throwing a banquet for her, which meant she would naturally be returning soon.

Indeed, Lin Qingshuang had been away from the Lin family for some time. Since a spirit master couldn’t just shut themselves off from the world while cultivating, she had been out training for the past six months. Lin Zhongtian cherished his daughter dearly and had set off personally a couple of weeks ago to find her. It seemed both of them were preparing to come home.

Lin Qinghen hadn’t expected to have such a peaceful life for even a short while. After only two days of pleasant surprises from the system, bad news was already rolling in.

Noticing Lin Qinghen’s expression stiffen, the caretaker thought perhaps he was feeling a bit of jealousy and chose not to press further. However, his thoughts were still racing.

Some newcomers to the Lin family didn’t even know that there was a legitimate young master named Lin Qinghen. As an old servant of the Lin family, he was well aware of this fact. Now that he was witnessing this scene, he couldn’t help but feel a little bittersweet inside.

Though both were children of the Family Head, their circumstances were drastically different. Miss Qingshuang was a prodigy and the apple of the Family Head’s eye, with enough little trinkets for her birthday banquet to fill dozens of convoys. Meanwhile, here was Lin Qinghen, who could only hitch a ride on the garbage truck and had to give way to the servants moving things.

However, he hadn’t expected that this Lin Qinghen had a pretty good attitude. His stiff expression lasted only a moment, and soon enough, he began to amuse himself while waiting, interacting with the Hei Jia Xiang and even feeding it some snacks.

“Tell me, don’t you have any thoughts about all this?” the caretaker couldn’t help but ask again. “You are, after all, the Family Head’s biological child…”

“Things that have never belonged to me, why would I have any thoughts about them?” As he spoke the last part, Lin Qinghen almost sounded like he was talking to himself. “I almost forgot. In a few days, I’ll also be eighteen.”

In this world, turning eighteen marked a significant coming-of-age moment. He had no expectations of having a luxurious and grand banquet like Lin Qingshuang. For Lin Qinghen, if he could earn some money with his own two hands at this moment, that would be far more important than any banquet.

The elephant, after eating his snacks, seemed to feel closer to Lin Qinghen. When the convoy ahead cleared out, it even began to respond to Lin Qinghen’s words, and the two of them looked quite harmonious together.

The caretaker: … why do I feel like I’m the one getting hurt in the end?

After exiting the Lin family gate, Lin Qinghen couldn’t care less about Lin Qingshuang anymore; she hadn’t returned yet anyway. He waved goodbye to the well-behaved and adorable Hei Jia Xiang, remembering that he had business to attend to.

The Lin family was the foremost family in Dong Tian Mansion, situated right in the heart of the city. Though Lin Qinghen didn’t often go out, he had done his homework.

He had seen the map of Dong Tian Mansion and remembered it well. After exiting the back door, he just needed to walk a little further to reach the busiest part of the city.

To hide his whereabouts, Lin Qinghen had made preparations. He didn’t want to be recognized by any Lin family members who happened to be out. As soon as he stepped outside, he began changing his clothes, removing his usual soft leather mask and putting on a cloth hood.

This hood was commonly worn by many outside; it was one of the outfits spirit masters wore when going out on adventures. It covered the exposed skin on the face, and many people wore it in the city.

Lin Qinghen had been wearing work clothes for a long time, with an apron tied around him and baskets slung over his shoulders, which felt a bit cumbersome. After stepping out today, he flipped his clothes inside out, using strips of cloth as a belt to tighten them, allowing his youthful figure to show through, looking much cleaner and sharper.

Dressed this way, he resembled an ordinary adventurer. No one recognized him as he walked among the crowd, and no one paid him any mind.

With that first step, Lin Qinghen headed straight for the bustling marketplace in the city.

He never went into battle unprepared, and before heading out, he had already done his research on market prices.

Outside, a bottle of Yellow Tier Three Star Homeostasis Powder had 20 pills, and with mutated Round Wheat and low-grade medicine, the selling price was about 400 Spirit Coin. The labor added by the alchemist significantly raised the price by 50% after the pills were made, bringing it to about 600 Spirit Coin per bottle.

The average price for one Yellow Tier Three Star Homeostasis Powder pill was around 30 Spirit Coin, varying based on quality and efficacy.

Although this medicine was of a low tier, it was still affordable for Yellow Tier spirit masters or martial masters. Although they were at the bottom of the hierarchy and not very powerful, they made up the largest group.

In the Spirit World, the fastest way to obtain valuable or scarce resources typically required people to venture out for collection or competition. Injuries were unavoidable, so there was always a huge demand for these basic medicines.

Lin Qinghen calculated that while Round Wheat had a growth cycle, the low-level ripening agent needed was also easy to purchase, not too expensive—around 100 Spirit Coin.

With the manufacturing platform running smoothly, he could produce 48 servings of Homeostasis Powder daily, with a pure profit of 400 Spirit Coin per serving. It was a simple math problem; at peak efficiency, he should be able to complete this task in about five or six days.

However, that simple math problem quickly met a merciless defeat.

When Lin Qinghen ran to the first shop to raise some initial capital, he was doused with a bucket of cold water.

The first place he visited was the Bai Lu Dan Hang, which was the largest elixir trading platform in the city, and even in the Spirit World, it was a chain store known throughout.

True to its reputation, the big merchant was orderly, with clear guidance. The staff member responsible for attending to him had a friendly demeanor that was impeccable. However, when Lin Qinghen took a closer look at the price list, he was utterly baffled.

“… Why is your buying price only 380 per bottle?!”

Of course, the buying price would be lower than the selling price; he knew that much.

But the system produced between 20 and 25 pills for each batch of elixirs, meaning his yield usually exceeded the standard bottle of 20 pills.

Lin Qinghen also knew his elixirs were of good quality and should command a higher price. Considering this, he expected to achieve a reasonable profit margin, and he could accept a slight shortfall.

But he never expected the buying price for the elixirs to be so absurdly low. Even with the cost of the mutated Round Wheat covered, his profit margin dropped drastically.

Before he could ask further questions, the staff delivered another heavy blow.

“The buying price is naturally different from the selling price,” the young lady said with a smile, maintaining her good attitude. “380 is already quite a high price. Plus, the process is simple. If you provide proof of your Yellow Tier Three Star Alchemist qualification, we can do a hand-in-hand transaction…”

“Wait a minute,” Lin Qinghen caught a key phrase and asked again, “What if I’m not an alchemist? What if I’m just… um, reselling?”

As soon as he said that, the receptionist’s expression changed immediately; her smile vanished, and her tone turned stiff.

“If you’re not an alchemist, it means you didn’t create this bottle of elixir. To ensure the quality of the elixirs and avoid counterfeit products, we need to conduct additional testing on each elixir you wish to sell.”

“… Does that come with a fee?”

“Of course,” the staff member said, “The testing fee is 80 Spirit Coin per bottle.”

Lin Qinghen’s voice trembled, “Did you get all that out in one breath? Are there any other fees?”

“For non-alchemists, we charge an additional transaction fee of 50 Spirit Coin per bottle.”

After all the deductions, wouldn’t that mean he could only sell a bottle for 250 Spirit Coin?!

“Wait… your prices are messed up,” Lin Qinghen felt like a fool and couldn’t help but want to discuss this further with her. “Leaving aside the medicine, the selling price for a portion of mutated red Round Wheat is already 300. Why is it lower after being processed into elixirs?”

“I told you before, how could the buying price be the same as the selling price?” The staff was losing patience now. “We also buy red Round Wheat at 120 per portion.”

Lin Qinghen: “???”

Just say you’re a middleman and pocketing the difference!

Even in a different world, he couldn’t escape the evil capitalists!