Inside the Hundred Herbs Revitalizing Hall, at least seven or eight staff mbers were busily working, and there were many custors too, getting prescriptions, paying, and collecting dicine in an orderly manner.
A skinny old man in traditional Chinese attire and gold-rimd glasses sat at the entrance, smoking a long bronze pipe. As he puffed clouds of smoke, he occasionally glanced over the top of his glasses at the custors entering and leaving, greeting them with a smile.
Zhang Xuesong quietly said to Xu Xiangbei, "That skinny old man is Boss Zhou, everyone in the herbal dicine market calls him Zhou Bapi."
Xu Xiangbei laughed, "He looks just like a shrewd monkey, no wonder they call him Zhou Bapi."
Boss Zhou saw Zhang Xuesong from a distance and greeted him with a smile, "Director Zhang, you’re here to buy dicine again? What a coincidence, a new batch just arrived."
Zhang Xuesong introduced Xu Xiangbei to Boss Zhou, "Hello, Boss Zhou. I’m not here to buy dicine today, I brought my friend to buy it."
Boss Zhou glanced at Xu Xiangbei, sensing that Xu Xiangbei didn’t look like a herbal dicine vendor, he invited them into the main hall, had them sit on the sofa against the wall, and asked the staff to bring two cups of water.
A glint of sharpness flashed in Boss Zhou’s eyes as he asked, "Young man, what dicine do you want to buy?"
Xu Xiangbei fumbled in his pocket for a while and took out a prescription he copied from the Spirit dicine Chapter. Although he couldn’t recite the entire Ancient Book backward, he could recite it forward from mory.
Boss Zhou adjusted his glasses, skimd over the prescription, and suddenly frowned.
Xu Xiangbei asked puzzledly, "Don’t you have these dicines here?"
Boss Zhou gave a shrewd glance at Zhang Xuesong, then looked at Xu Xiangbei and smiled, "These dicinal ingredients on the prescription are indeed available, although they are rare, they can still be found. However, this prescription looks fake to ."
Hearing the prescription was fake, Zhang Xuesong curiously took the prescription, glanced through it, and like Boss Zhou, frowned.
He shook his head and asked Xu Xiangbei seriously, "Are you planning to take these dicines together? This is absolutely not advisable."
Xu Xiangbei was a bit confused and scratched his head, "Why not?"
Zhang Xuesong confidently said, "In traditional Chinese dicine, there are eighteen antagonisms and nineteen fears. Sichuan aconite should not be mixed with rhinoceros horn, and ginseng is most wary of wulingzhi. This prescription contains both ginseng and wulingzhi, these two dicines should not be taken together."
Xu Xiangbei thought to himself that he definitely recited the prescription correctly. It was an ancient formula from the Spirit dicine Chapter of the Ancient Book. Perhaps it differed from ordinary pharmacology.
He dismissed it with indifference, "Just sell the dicine. Why do you care if the prescription is fake or not?"
Boss Zhou showed a hint of disdain, "Young man, the reason our Hundred Herbs Revitalizing Hall is thriving is that for every dicine we sell, we verify its origin. Although our prices are higher, we cannot sell the wrong dicine to the wrong person."
Just then, two people ca over, seeing Boss Zhou talking to Xu Xiangbei, they joined in. They were acquaintances of Boss Zhou, smilingly greeted him.
But upon seeing Xu Xiangbei, their smiles froze on their faces, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly beca awkward.
Xu Xiangbei recognized these two, Zhao Changgui and his son Zhao Jinhai from the Tongren dical Clinic.
Zhao Changgui’s old face turned red, a flash of anger in his eyes, still rembering vividly how Xu Xiangbei smashed his signboard.
They both roughly grasped the situation and pretended to quickly glance over the prescription, exchanging sneering smiles filled with disdain.
Zhao Changgui sneered, "Divine Doctor Xu is a Chinese dicine consultant at the People’s Hospital, yet he doesn’t even know such simple pharmacological contradictions?"
Zhao Jinhai laughed heartily, "He probably really doesn’t understand."
Xu Xiangbei knew about pharmacological contradictions and complexities, but he was adhering to the instructions on the ancient formula, the Ancient Book which encompassed the essence of nature, not sothing an ordinary person could understand.
He glared at Zhao Jinhai, "Hmph, you two quacks ca to watch embarrass myself, get lost. If you hadn’t run so fast that day, I would have broken your arm."
Zhao Jinhai was frightened and hid behind his father, "You smashed our signboard, isn’t that enough? We didn’t provoke you."
Seeing Xu Xiangbei threatening to hit and insult Zhao Changgui as a quack, Boss Zhou, who had a long acquaintance with Zhao Changgui, showed displeasure on his face and handed the prescription back to Xu Xiangbei.
Boss Zhou smiled at Zhang Xuesong, "Director Zhang, I still need to ask the staff if we have these dicines, why don’t you sit in the main hall and wait for a while, I have to discuss sothing with Dr. Zhao."
After speaking, Zhao Changgui and Boss Zhou continued chatting and laughing as they walked into the shop’s inner hall.
Being left aside by Boss Zhou, Zhang Xuesong’s face didn’t look good. He said to Xu Xiangbei, "Boss Zhou doesn’t seem to be coming out anyti soon, let’s go look sowhere else."
Xu Xiangbei replied nonchalantly, "As long as I can get the dicine, it doesn’t matter where we go."
Zhang Xuesong led Xu Xiangbei around the wholesale market, many herbs were scarce, especially wild ginseng over a hundred years old, it was said that only the Hundred Herbs Revitalizing Hall had it.
The Hundred Herbs Revitalizing Hall was the largest pharmacy in the wholesale market and had the most comprehensive variety.
After making a round, they returned to the Hundred Herbs Revitalizing Hall.
Hearing the sound of an argunt inside, Boss Zhou and Zhao Changgui were quarreling, "Boss Zhou, I’ll treat your grandson’s eyes, you have to give that thousand-year ginseng."
Boss Zhou anxiously retorted, "You haven’t even cured him, why should I give you the ginseng now? You’re simply unreasonable."
Zhao Changgui said straightforwardly, "If you don’t give the ginseng, I won’t continue the treatnt. Then he won’t see anything at all."
Hearing that Zhao Changgui refused to treat his grandson, Boss Zhou jumped up in anxiety, pleading, "Dr. Zhao, please don’t do this, we agreed you would help my grandson regain his sight, and at least after he can see sothing, I would give you the ginseng. You can’t go back on your word now."
Xu Xiangbei and Zhang Xuesong exchanged a glance, suddenly understanding that Boss Zhou was being so polite to Zhao Changgui because he was asking him to treat his grandson’s eyesight. Little did he expect Zhao Changgui to demand paynt upfront, threatening to abandon the treatnt.
Xu Xiangbei walked in with a smile, seeing Boss Zhou and Zhao Changgui red-faced arguing, while a delicate, doll-like little boy sat beside them. The boy sat on a chair, his eyes unfocused, looking in Xu Xiangbei’s direction, his legs swinging continuously.
Upon seeing Xu Xiangbei enter the inner hall, Boss Zhou was displeased, whereas Zhao Changgui looked like a mouse eting a cat, shrinking his neck with a face of nervousness and worry.
"Quack, such a good child, if you can’t treat him, don’t promise anything. If you’ve promised, you must help cure him."
Zhao Jinhai was leisurely sitting aside looking at his phone, mocking coldly, "This is none of your business, don’t ddle."
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