"I couldn't experiment them, but this should be the right occasion."
Ye Qiu opened the little wooden drawer next to his bed. Inside, green and purple medicinal plants covered a few pinky finger-sized red vials. These little garnet-looking potions resulted from his perpetual experimentation in alchemy; they were the « plausibly » successful ones of the multiple failures he had gone through until now.
A month ago, a few days after he had passed the entrance's examination of Leaf Academy, Ye Qiu's current martial arts school, he had bought a beginner alchemy's book with the remaining gold coins he had saved throughout the multiples jobs he had done back in Little Leaf Village.
Since then, he had tried to concoct the easiest alchemy's product: a Lesser Health Potion. The dozens of red vials inside his drawer were the accumulated results of his creation. They were darker than the common Lesser Health Potion that one could obtain on the market, but since he did not try them after his arrival, he did not know if the effects were working.
"Well, it's not like there was anything dangerous in the concoction."
The taste of the Lesser Health Potion was bitter, but this was the case for any medicinal beverage. The sudden warm on his body after drinking the potion and he felt pain from the bruises, somewhat lessening, which told him that the potion was, without a doubt, working.
"This is really amazing big brother Ye Qiu! Your injuries became less visible after drinking the potion. These Lesser Health Potions must be working! With them, we can make a little money."
The results overjoyed Xia Rong.
Even though Leaf Academy gave the students a place to live, it did not include meals, they were should be able to be dependent and earn their own living expenses, which was a harsh training for the poor students to mature faster.
Thus, the financial situation of Ye Qiu and Xia Rong were not a pleasant sight to see because they had come in Leaf City on their own. The little money remaining to fill their stomach could only last for a few days, but if they could sell these potions, it will become their new living income.
"Let's visit uncle Xia Song to see if he can help up selling them."
There were a few people from Little Leaf Village who came in Leaf City before they came, Xia Song and his family were one of the few he had met, and he could have a complete trust towards them.
The Xia clan, established in Little Leaf Village, was Xia Rong and Ye Qiu's clan. They were not an impressive clan, not at all and in fact, were rather weak compared to the other clans within the Leaf Kingdom, but since both of them were from the clan, it was better to let the clan benefit from selling the potions.
Health and qi regeneration potions were a common daily consumable that a martial artist should have with them. The price of such potions varied on the effects, and the cheapest was the Lesser Health Potion and the Lesser Qi Regenerative Potion, costing a fifty Copper Coins, which was half a Silver Coin.
For the commoners whose children intended to become a martial artist, it the one they would buy to them. However, fifty Copper Coins was not even enough to eat a bowl of rice, not even enough to buy the cheapest fruit on the market. The income for these potions was barely sufficient to make a proper living.
Even so, Ye Qiu did not care. He believed that he could to mass-produce them and wanted to start a business through his products from alchemy. Not only would he earn money but also improve his alchemy proficiency; it was the same as killing two birds with one arrow.
The path of Dao¹ required not only one to be diligent in cultivating but one also need to have a lot of capital or has to be wealthy enough to afford the cost of becoming stronger.
The richer a person was, the easier it was for him to buy expensive pills to improve himself. As a poor villager from a worse than a third-rate village, not even the need to mention how poor the Xia clan was, the lack of money was something that restrained Ye Qiu to become stronger.
There was a long way until Ye Qiu could rebuild the Ye Dynasty. It will take him maybe many years——no even his entire life. However, it was better to start, even if it was tremendously slow than not starting at all; one has to move forward no matter what and not stood still in the same place.
Ye Qiu had made his ancestors wait for too long; it was the time for him to thrive the path that was awaiting him.
The path of the last descendant of the Ye royal bloodline, to re-establish the Ye Dynasty into this world.
Annex:
¹ Path of Dao = Dao (道 dào) – the origin and source of all things. It can be translated in many different ways, including The Way / Road / Path / Method. According to Daoism, it is the absolute principle underlying the universe, combining within itself the principles of Yin and Yang and signifying the way, or code of behavior, that is in harmony with the natural order. In these novels, characters often try to gain insights into the Dao, which can give them supernatural powers or even control over aspects of the natural world.
(Description from wiki - source: https://immortalmountain.wordpress.com/glossary/wuxia-xianxia-xuanhuan-terms/#martialarts)