Chapter 188: Gu Shengsheng Slaps: Are You Still Buying Herbs?

"This stuff is like fortune-telling. Whether you believe in it or not is a personal choice."

Gu Shengsheng smiled. "But I don’t."

With that, she led Li Bai and Yang Jiao away.

Li Bai was a little disappointed. "When you said it was a real Taixu, I was actually thinking of buying it. Better safe than sorry, you know?"

"But then I thought about it. If I can get it on some cheap shopping app, why would I waste my time here?"

"Exactly," Gu Shengsheng said with a smile.

They walked away from the Taixu stall, but the owner had already sold so much that he was definitely not at a loss.

They hadn’t gone far when Gu Shengsheng spotted Lu Chaoyang nearby. He was holding a piece of paper and trying to buy something from a vendor.

The vendor was an old man who was hard of hearing and couldn’t read. He just kept shouting at Lu Chaoyang, "What are you sayin’?"

"What kind of herbs do you want?"

"Huh? What’s that, young man?"

Lu Chaoyang, who had probably never been the center of such a spectacle, flushed red as a crowd started to gather and stare.

He snapped disdainfully, "Didn’t I already show you the paper? Can’t you read?"

"I’m illiterate!" the old man said with surprising earnestness, his hands tucked into the sleeves of his thick, northeastern-style floral jacket.

A crowd of onlookers began to gather and comment:

"Kid, what’s the big deal? Just read it to him! If he has the herbs you want, he’ll get them for you."

"Right? So impatient. What kind of attitude is that?"

"Young man, I’ve gotta say, you’re going way too far. You have no respect for your elders."

Gu Shengsheng and her companions watched from a distance.

Yang Jiao found it strange. "Isn’t he busy trying to save his company? He’s been running around everywhere. The He Family must have given him a little something to keep him on the hook recently."

"As for the acquisition, Ryan is probably close to making his move. It’s not exactly an industry secret anymore. I just didn’t expect to see him at the Ghost Market."

Li Bai knew a little about this matter.

"Ah, what can you do?" he said. "He’s been making the rounds at the antique markets for the past few days. He’s the young master of the Lu Family, after all! Since we knew he was your relative, Shengsheng, we’ve been keeping a closer eye on him."

"He’s been trying to buy medicinal herbs, even approached Director Gao Liu. But getting anything from the museum isn’t that easy, so he’s probably resorting to some less-than-proper channels. He seems pretty desperate."

Gu Shengsheng asked, "What kind of herbs is he buying?"

"Cornelian cherry, raspberry, seahorse, gecko, spatholobus stem..." Li Bai trailed off, unable to continue.

The implications of these particular herbs were just too awkward to voice.

These are all medicinal herbs for treating infertility.

Gu Shengsheng found it odd, too. "Don’t tell me Lu Chaoyang has already wrecked his body before he’s even married?"

Yang Jiao nodded. "No wonder his parents are planning to have a second child."

Gu Shengsheng still felt something wasn’t right. "Are there any other herbs on the list?" she asked.

"There’s also saffron, forest frog, and ginseng."

After hearing that, Gu Shengsheng felt it made more sense. "Those are for boosting vitality and strengthening the body. Paired with the other herbs, they must be for someone in the He Family."

Yang Jiao looked puzzled. "Isn’t the He Family’s young master in Africa right now? Otherwise, I’d say it was for him; he and Lu Chaoyang are pretty close."

Gu Shengsheng raised an eyebrow. "Is it possible... that these herbs are for Chairman He?"

At the mention of this, all three of them shivered in disgust. ’An old man with such a messy lifestyle, taking so many potency-boosting supplements... It’s nauseating.’

Yang Jiao said disdainfully, "Isn’t he afraid all that stuff will kill him?"

"People like him lost their moral compass a long time ago," Gu Shengsheng said. "It’s like that Taixu we just saw. A lot of rich people buy things like that. They really do want to live forever."

"They’ve made so much money, of course they want to live forever to spend it and make even more."

By now, Lu Chaoyang couldn’t stand the strange looks from the crowd any longer and had stalked off to the end of the street.

Gu Shengsheng glanced at the ginseng in her hand. ’I didn’t expect this to come in handy so soon...’

The group walked over. "What a coincidence, cousin," Gu Shengsheng said.

"Get lost! Who’s your cousin? Gu Shengsheng, you even took Grandma away. You’re really something else. The Lu Family is a complete mess now, thanks to you!"

Gu Shengsheng said casually, "Oh? And?"

"So you’re blaming me for your own incompetence? Lu Chaoyang, you’re a textbook example of failure. In that, you’ve succeeded spectacularly."

Her words made him fly into a rage. "You..."

"The company originally belonged to my husband. After he passed away, your parents helped you snatch it. You have no idea how to manage it, you ran it into the ground, and this disaster didn’t happen overnight."

"And now you’re still making excuses. You’re nothing more than a figurehead president. It’s only natural that your company is being acquired. Your stupidity is honestly chilling."

"Gu Shengsheng!" he yelled, pointing at her. "Don’t celebrate too early! You’re just running your mouth now. Just wait until I take back the Lu Group. The first thing I’ll do is kick you out!"

"My brother is still missing, and you’re already hooking up with Ryan? He’s the man who’s trying to take over the Lu Family! And you call yourself my dear sister-in-law."

"’Hooking up?’" Gu Shengsheng repeated the words slowly, as if tasting them, before swinging her hand and slapping him hard across the face.

He tried to retaliate, but Li Bai grabbed him. Lu Chaoyang had just been slapped by a woman!

He was in a state of utter disbelief!

Having completely lost his composure, he pointed a trembling finger at her and shrieked, "I’ll prove I’m not an idiot! I’ll build my own success, and I’ll kick you out of the Lu Family! And then, not even Grandma will be able to stop me!"

Gu Shengsheng had forgotten to end her live stream. The viewers watched as Sister Gu slapped the president of the Lu Group, and they went absolutely wild.

"That’s our Sister Gu! She doesn’t hesitate with her words or her actions! If she says she’s gonna throw down, she throws down."

"Wait, the president of the Lu Group is your brother-in-law? Then Sister Gu must be the ’good-luck bride’ for the Lu Group!"

"HOLY CRAP! So you were telling the truth when you said your husband died!"

"This is insane, I’m shook."

"Streamer, I’m in awe! For a good-luck bride to make it as big as you have... In novels, they’re always these delicate little wives tangled up in angsty romance. LMAO!"

"This is literally a ’strong female lead’ story. You just slapped the president of the Lu Group! Hahahaha, a full-on slap!"

"Who needs a man? I’m so satisfied!"

"Me too!"

...

[System] Emotion Value +111,000 collected...

Congratulations, Host. Emotion Value has increased by 1,000. You have received: Precious Medicinal Herb Attribute Panel x1.

Only then did Gu Shengsheng realize she hadn’t ended her live stream. But she wasn’t too concerned. Her identity was bound to come out sooner or later.

Besides, this wasn’t a bad thing.

Gu Shengsheng then closed the live stream. Lu Chaoyang was still waiting, and she felt obligated to give him another piece of her mind.

’Still, this Herb Identification Attribute Panel really came at the perfect time. The System is pretty reliable after all!’

At that moment,

Gu Shengsheng casually examined her neatly manicured nails. Then, looking at the furious Lu Chaoyang, she said, "So, you were saying something about being smart...?"