Dr. Zhang Senior and Dr. Zhang Ji stared blankly at the three wooden boxes newly placed on the table.
“These aren’t all wild ginseng that are over a century old, are they?” The elder doctor was starting to breathe heavily.
A single century-old wild ginseng was imnsely important to a pharmacy- it served as a cornerstone of the shop’s dicinal heritage. Besides skilled physicians, a pharmacy needed quality herbs.
Without proper ingredients, even the best doctor couldn’t perform miracles. For a traditional establishnt like Hundred Herbs Hall, their century-old wild ginseng had long since been used up, with only a few preserved ginseng slices remaining. These ancestral pieces had saved lives in desperate monts, extending a dying breath just long enough to rescue soone from death’s door.
But now, four freshly dug, precious wild ginseng had appeared in one day. This was a shock to both father and son.
“Yes, all of them are over a hundred years old,” Liu Feng said, pushing the boxes toward them.
“This…” The elder doctor didn’t know what to say. He quickly pulled the boxes over and examined the contents. After carefully identifying them, he confird that all the ginseng were approximately two hundred years old.
“Did you find the place where wild ginseng seeds fell and took root?” he asked.
“Probably,” Liu Feng shrugged. “I enjoy adventuring, and I happen to know a bit about herbs. Who would’ve thought there’d be four wild ginsengs in the sa spot?”
“…” Zhang Ji felt his gums hurt. If not for his good upbringing, he might have punched this smug young man.
“You planning to sell all of them?” Old Doctor Zhang asked seriously. If they could buy them all, Hundred Herbs Hall would be set for the next 50 years.
“No, for these 3, I can sell you one more. But I’d like to discuss sothing regarding the other two.” Liu Feng pushed one of the boxes aside.
“Go ahead,” Old Doctor Zhang nodded, regaining his calm.
“I’d like to ask you to use one of these ginsengs to make dicine- sothing like Heart Protection Pills or Heart Saving Pills,” Liu Feng requested.
He didn’t have much confidence, but he had read online that Dr. Zhang Senior was famous in the Chinese dicine community for his skills in making dicinal products.
“That’s no problem. It would be an honor to use century-old wild ginseng to make dicine,” Old Doctor Zhang said modestly. “What about the last one?”
“I’d like to use part of it as compensation for the dicine preparation. The rest I want to exchange for so dicinal recipes.”
Seeing their expressions change, Liu Feng quickly added, “Just basic ones- recipes for treating colds, fevers, bruises, things like that. Not any of Hundred Herbs Hall’s secret recipes.”
The elder doctor frowned in confusion. “I don’t quite get it. While our basic dicinal recipes are better than average, they’re not worth trading a century-old wild ginseng for.”
Basic dicinal recipes were common, generic recipes that anyone could use to create dicine if they obtained the ingredients. However, the recovery process was slower. Chinese dicine practitioners often adjusted these basic recipes based on a patient’s specific condition, as people were different.
Of course, Hundred Herbs Hall’s versions had been refined by the Zhang Family over generations and were a bit better than the ones found online.
“I’m into wilderness survival. Sotis I stay out there for a long ti. If I get injured or sick, knowing these basic formulas lets treat myself with herbs,” Liu Feng said casually.
All lies. His whole wilderness survival story was fabricated. His real goal today at Hundred Herbs Hall was to obtain these basic dicinal recipes. Winter was approaching in the other world. If any commoner there caught a cold or fever, with the level of dicine there, it would cost lives.
The herbal garden project also needed to begin- he needed herbal knowledge from the dicinal recipes to know which herbal seeds to bring over and grow.
From birth to old age, diseases and sicknesses were unavoidable. One wrong step, and one could die early from an illness.
Liu Feng didn’t want his territory to be a place where a common cold or fever could claim lives. Even more important was preparing for contagious diseases- so of which could devastate a territory in minutes. It was a war in which swords and knives weren’t present.
Dr. Zhang Senior was silent for a mont, then nodded and said to Zhang Ji, “Go get a copy of the basic dicinal recipes.”
“…” Zhang Ji opened his mouth to say sothing, but fell silent under his father’s glare and went to get the recipes.
Soon he returned with a large notebook the size of A4 paper. There were 5 words on the cover: Zhang Family Basic dicinal Recipes.
“Here, this is what you wanted,” The elder doctor said as he placed the book in front of Liu Feng. “If you’re serious about studying dicine, you’ll need to understand the pharmacology behind it. Basic dicinal recipes won’t help much with serious conditions.”
“I understand,” Liu Feng nodded. He was genuinely surprised by the elder doctor’s open-mindedness. There was none of that old-school attitude like “This is our family secret, outsiders can’t learn it.”
He had learned that the current generation of Hundred Herbs Hall had begun accepting apprentices and no longer kept everything strictly within the family- clearly a sign of gradual reform.
“The two ginseng roots co to a total of 7 million,” Zhang Ji said.
“Make it 8 million,” Dr. Zhang Senior suddenly said.
“This…” Zhang Ji was stunned. What is father doing? Why add a million more for no reason?
“Basic dicinal recipes aren’t worth that much,” Dr. Zhang Senior stood up and slowly walked back into the inner hall.
To him, it was just a basic dicinal recipe book. If not for the family business, he would’ve published it long ago. The last two generations of his family had just been relying on their elders’ findings (dicinal recipes) with no ambition. Maybe if the old findings weren’t worth as much, they’d be forced to learn and improve on their own.
Everything depended on the person. No matter how good a recipe was, if the next generation didn’t grow, changing diseases would render the recipes obsolete. After all, viruses evolve too.
Maybe this was the wisdom that cos with age- he’d learned to let go of things.
Liu Feng quietly packed the recipe book into his backpack. Once the money transfer was confird, he left his phone number, waiting to be notified when the dicine was ready for pickup.
Reviews
All reviews (0)