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Due to the recent passing of the New Year, the stocks of various traditional Chinese dicine stores and small vendors in Beijing had already been depleted. Although it was early in the morning, the entire street of the dicinal wholesale market was already teeming with people.
Walking around dicinal Material Street, Xiao Xian and Zeng Xuerou both broadened their horizons, from identifying common dicinal ingredients like Fat Sea, goji berries, and codonopsis which anyone could na, to unimaginable materials; everything was available here.
"Is that also considered dicine? Isn’t that just marble?" Even Zeng Xuerou, who always prided herself on staying calm, couldn’t help but point and ask about one particular "ingredient".
Indeed, isn’t dicine supposed to be cut into slices, and dried till yellow with leaves appearing? Zeng Xuerou was pointing at a bag of variously sized, chopped pieces of marble. Their living room floor was laid with marble, which, although slightly different in pattern from what was in the bag, was still recognizable at a glance.
Xiao Xian picked up a piece with her bare hands, tapped it with her fingers, and confird it was indeed stone.
"Of course, it’s dicine. It activates blood circulation and stops bleeding. Seeing that you’re a city kid, you definitely wouldn’t know; even chickens with upset stomachs eat a few stones to feel better," replied the dicine farr (or should I say, stone miner) wrapped in a thick cotton jacket and wearing a North-East Lei-Feng hat in a deep voice. He only briefly responded before haggling with an old custor next to him over the price.
This street was full of savvy vendors; they only needed one look to guess that Xiao Xian and her companions weren’t there to genuinely buy dicine. Although dealing in dicine didn’t quite require the discernnt needed for antiques, it still involved its own intricacies.
First off, considering the young age of Xiao Xian and Zeng Xuerou, and seeing no experienced Pharmacists or traditional Chinese doctors accompanying them, it was obvious they were just there for the bustling scene. Recently, so students from prestigious universities enjoyed roaming the streets all day, claiming to be conducting social surveys, which only wasted people’s efforts.
At the beginning of the year, achieving a good sale signified a prosperous year ahead, and that was the mindset of all the shops on the street, thus even fewer people bothered with Xiao Xian and her friend.
Zeng Xuerou still managed to keep her cool; she didn’t bla others for looking down on them, given they didn’t even know that marble could be considered a dicinal ingredient. Xiao Xian, on the other hand, didn’t feel slighted and was thrilled by the scent of sand, dust, and dicinal herbs filling the street.
Regarding the dicinal materials on the street, she could roughly identify about 55 percent of them, but she didn’t voice this out. As for the remaining 45 percent, so were due to their age, and others weren’t even plant-based; like the beautifully patterned marble or so turtle shells just seen.
"Let’s first listen from the sidelines, once we catch onto so thods, then we can inquire about hangover dicine." Luckily, with the hustle and bustle of the street, being ignored had its advantages; Zeng Xuerou took Xiao Xian to a wholesale counter that looked the largest and had the most complete selection of dicinal materials. Pretending to look serious, they either touched the cut Angelica dahurica or asked about the Prunella, appearing to be selecting dicine.
The herbal dicine shop chosen inadvertently by Xiao Xian and Zeng Xuerou had been on that street for over twenty years, and indeed was quite established. Although old-fashioned, this shop had a na totally unrelated to herbal dicine called "Plum Rice Ball."
Unlike other wholesale stores that randomly piled herbs at the side,
This shop nad "Plum Rice Ball" had its herbs neatly categorized. So were sorted by their origin, others by their therapeutic effects, and still others by their age and quality.
The shop was much busier than other wholesale outlets, with every apprentice and good pharmacist busy at work. Among them, an elderly man with white hair was extrely popular, surrounded by several circles of people all clamorously asking questions.
"Pharmacist Huang, the high-quality Gastrodia you promised last year, has it arrived?"
"Pharmacist Huang, the Changbai Mountain Wild Ginseng my boss wanted, did you bring it?"
"Pharmacist Huang, my wife has been feeling weak and has poor appetite these past few days; she said she wants to touch so traditional dicine to drink, can you suggest what tonic she should take?"
Listening to these varied inquiries, Zeng Xuerou was amazed—the ones coming for stock were one type of person, those seeking special channels to buy precious herbs were another, and those coming for dical treatnt were yet another type.
Is this shop really wholesaling, and what’s the deal with that "Fake East Evil" Pharmacist Huang?
"Don’t worry, don’t worry, Mr. Liu, the Gastrodia is available but it’s a bit small. However, your shop will cut it into slices to mix into dicine anyway, so it’s fine if the appearance is slightly off. I’ll deduct 500 per bag for you," the elderly man said, and the person who first asked imdiately went to the warehouse with an apprentice, looking as if he’d found a treasure.
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