Elixir Supplier

“Is really that amazing?” the woman asked.

“It’s said that he’s really that amazing,” her husband replied.

…

In a courtyard in the middle of Jing, a woman angrily paced back and forth.

“What divine doctor?” she asked. “The supposed divine doctor can’t cure Shida’s disease, and he’s just returned from abroad. He had to go abroad to learn traditional Chinese medicine. Tell me, isn’t that a trickster?”

“Mom, calm down,” her son said.

“How can I calm down?” the woman asked. “Shida is still lying in bed now. You’ve seen how much agony he’s in. Where did you find such a quack doctor?”

The woman was furious. She was still fuming when a servant came.

“Madam, there’s a visitor,” the servant said.

“Who?” the woman asked.

“Guo Zhenghe,” the servant replied.

“What’s he doing here?” The woman was surprised. “Let him in.”

Shortly after, a young man came in. “Hello, Auntie.”

The woman quickly restored her normal demeanor and politely said, “Zhenghe, come sit down and talk.”

The anger she just had was gathered up and pressed down in her heart. At this time, she was just a typical and good elder.

Guo Zhenghe courteously greeted her son. “Brother Shixing.”

“When did you come back?” the woman asked.

“I just got back,” Guo Zhenghe replied. “Tomorrow is my mother’s birthday.”

“Oh, yes, you have to be home for that,” the woman said.

“Auntie, I just heard that Shida is ill,” Guo Zhenghe said.

“Yes, he’s sick,” she said. “He’s still in the hospital.”

“I heard that you are very worried about this matter,” Guo Zhenghe said.

Jing was big, but their circle was not. The person before him had used quite a few of her connections for her son. Naturally, the other prestigious families knew about it.

“Yes, why are you asking about it, Zhenghe?” she asked.

“Well, Auntie, you know that I work in the south,” Guo Zhenghe said. “In the south, particularly in the Miaojiang area, there is a man Wu San. He is known as the King Pharmacist. He is quite skilled in medicine. He is said to be able to cure even terminal illnesses, but his temperament is quite strange. You could go and check him out.”

“Another strange-tempered one?” the woman asked.

“Oh, another one? What do you mean?” Guo Zhenghe asked.

“A few days ago, I took Shida to Qi Province to see a doctor,” the woman replied. “His rules were quite strange too.”

“Ah, are you talking about Wang Yao?” Guo Zhenghe asked.

“Yes, that is him,” the woman said. “He’s young. I’m not sure how skilled he is, but his rules were strange. He’s quite bad-tempered as well!”

“His medical skills are quite high,” Guo Zhenghe said. “I was so sick back then, and the experts in the province were all helpless. He managed to save me with some medicine.”

The woman’s brows raised slightly. “Does that mean he’s unwilling to treat Shida?”

“I don’t know about that,” Guo Zhenghe said. “He must have his own ideas.”

After sitting and chatting for a while, Guo Zhenghe said goodbye and left.

The woman looked out of the window, thinking how strange the young man was. Did he come to visit just for this matter to forge a good relationship or for other motives?

“Shixing, what do you think about this King Pharmacist?” she asked.

“Ask a few people first,” he replied. “Maybe it’s true.”

Since the matter concerned her son’s health, she decided to trust Guo Zhenghe rather than dismiss the opportunity. She arranged for someone to go there to inquire about him.

…

In Dao, thousands of miles away…

Sun Yunsheng was somewhat puzzled. In Dao, there were few things that the Sun family couldn’t find out. Now, there was a situation like that. More importantly, the victim was the young master of the Hou family, Hou Shida. Originally, the relationship between the two families was not as serious as complete enemies but treading on thin ice. A slight carelessness could result in direct confrontation. At times like these, they tried to be as careful and vigilant as possible. Neither family wanted to make the situation irreversibly bad. It would be best if they could each take a step back, allowing things to become calm and peaceful again. Unfortunately, something like this popped up at a precarious time.

“How is Hou Shida’s condition?” Sun Yunsheng asked.

“It’s not good,” A Hao said. “The doctors in Jing all tried to treat him, but the effect was not ideal. I heard that he’s better off dead now.”

As soon as Sun Yunsheng heard that, he felt a headache coming. “Tsk, this spells trouble!”

He knew about the Hou family situation. Everything could be easily settled except for the mother. She was very fond of her sons, especially the younger one.

“I heard they went to the mountain village the other day to look for Dr. Wang,” A Hao said.

“Oh, really?” Sun Yunsheng was a bit surprised.

“Yes, but he didn’t treat him,” A Hao replied.

“Why is that?” Sun Yunsheng asked.

“I’m not sure about that,” A Hao replied.

“Alright, arrange for me to go to the mountain village,” Sun Yunsheng said.

…

In the mountain village…

Good times always passed quickly. It seemed like a day passed by in the blink of an eye.

Su Xiaoxue laid quietly in bed. Her eyes were open, and she had a happy smile. She was thinking of her day with Wang Yao. If only it were always like this!

On Nanshan Hill, Wang Yao also was awake. He was very happy to have spent the entire day with Su Xiaoxue. Additionally, he now had the enjoyable task of laying out the courtyard where she lived.

The night passed in silence. The next morning, the sun rose early. The weather continued to be hot.

Wang Yao did not open the clinic. Instead, he and Su Xiaoxue sat on Nanshan Hill drinking tea and chatting. The dog laid quietly at their feet wagging his tail.

“Why is Sanxian getting bigger?” Su Xiaoxue tentatively patted the dog’s head. Upon seeing that it was very obedient, she silently heaved a sigh of relief. The dog was imposing because it was so big. It looked more like a lion than a dog. “He has to be more than 110 pounds, right?”

“I haven’t weighed him before, but I estimate he probably weighs around 170 pounds,” Wang Yao replied with a smile as he touched Sanxian’s big head.

The two of them were talking when the phone rang.

“Hello, Yunsheng,” Wang Yao said. “Yes, I’m on the hill. Is that so? OK, give me a moment. I’ll be down in a bit.”

“What’s the matter? Is there a patient?” Su Xiaoxue asked.

“It’s not a patient; it’s a friend,” Wang Yao said. “Do you want to stay on the hill or go down with me?”

“I’ll go down with you,” Su Xiaoxue replied.

The two of them went down the hill and soon arrived at the clinic. Sun Yunsheng had been waiting for some time. When he saw Wang Yao approaching from afar, he walked toward him.

“I’ve disturbed you,” he said.

“It’s fine,” Wang Yao said.

“Hello, Miss Su,” Sun Yunsheng said.

“Hello.” Su Xiaoxue courteously greeted him.

Sun Yunsheng thought, So, he was spending some alone time with this person. Ah, I really haven’t come at the right time!

“Come in and take a seat,” Wang Yao said as he opened the clinic doors.

“Ah, sir, I’m here to ask you something,” Sun Yunsheng said.

“Go ahead,” Wang Yao said.

“A few days ago, was there a patient named Hou Shida from Jing who came to see you?” Sun Yunsheng asked.

“Yes. He came, but I didn’t treat him,” Wang Yao said. “Why are you asking about that?”

“Ah, I can’t clarify it in just a few sentences,” Sun Yunsheng said. “Do you know the cause of his illness?”

“Yes, of course I know,” Wang Yao said with a laugh.

“What is the reason?” Sun Yunsheng asked.

“Because of me,” Wang Yao honestly replied.

Sun Yunsheng was stunned.

Wang Yao briefly told him about what happened in Dao that day. For the sake of the Sun family, he omitted the starting point.

Sun Yunsheng didn’t think it was coincidental. He stretched out his hand and scratched his head. “Oh, this is troublesome!

“What’s wrong?” Wang Yao asked.

“Ah, well, the Sun family’s relationship with the Hou family is not very good,” Sun Yunsheng said. “Since Hou Shida’s accident happened in Dao, they suspected that we were behind it and asked us to give them an explanation.”

“Since the relationship is not good, why do you have to explain?” Wang Yao asked.

“We don’t want to make the relationship any worse,” Sun Yunsheng said. “Since we know the cause of the incident, it’ll be easy to settle.”

He would not be so foolish as to blame Wang Yao for the matter. As had just been said, the relationship was already bad, so what else needed to be explained? It wasn’t like the Sun family couldn’t afford to fight. Now that things were clear, the next step was to go back and have a discussion with his father about how to deal with the crisis.

“I won’t disturb you any further,” Sun Yunsheng said.

“There’s no rush. Here’s a little gift for you.” Wang Yao took out a small wooden card from his pocket and handed it to him.

“What is this?” Sun Yunsheng took the small wooden card, which gave off a unique medicinal fragrance.

“Pharmacist’s order. If you have this, I can do my best once to help you cure a person,” Wang Yao said with a laugh.

Sun Yunsheng’s body unconsciously shuddered. This gift was very precious.

“Thank you, sir,” Sun Yunsheng said.

“You’re welcome,” Wang Yao said.

After Sun Yunsheng left, Su Xiaoxue asked in a whisper, “Pharmacist’s order?”

“Yes, it’s this.” Wang Yao took out one and handed it to her.

Su Xiaoxue took it and looked at it carefully. “It’s so delicate.”

“I got someone to make it especially for me,” Wang Yao said.

There were highly skilled people among normal citizens, including in the village. His wooden cards were small, so they demanded high skills. The mountain carvings were exquisite. Wang Yao had offered a lot of money for them, so the person naturally made it with all their heart.

“What is the medicinal fragrance?” Su Xiaoxue asked.

“I soaked them with special medicinal ingredients for several days, and the medicinal powers went straight inside of the wood,” Wang Yao said. “With this card, no insects will go near you.”

“It’s that impressive?” Su Xiaoxue asked.

“If you don’t believe it, we can test it,” Wang Yao said.

He casually took out a glass bottle containing terrible poisonous insects, opened the lid, and placed the wooden cards at the mouth of the bottle. The insects became very agitated and hit against the walls of the bottle desperately trying to escape, but they did not dare approach the mouth of the bottle. This demonstrated that they feared the odor emitted by the small wooden card.

“Wonderful!” Su Xiaoxue was amazed.

“Haha, that is the effect of counteracting against each other,” Wang Yao said.

When he soaked the Pharmacist’s orders, he mainly used Jatropha, which was able to kill poisonous insects. This kind of primrose was a natural counteractive agent and deterrent for these insects.

“Here you go,” Wang Yao smiled and said. “This is for you.”

“Thank you.” Su Xiaoxue carefully kept the wooden card.

…

In a small courtyard in the mountain village…

“How long are you going to lock me up for?” Jia Zizai asked as he weakly leaned on the wall.

This instantaneous feeling of powerlessness was extremely uncomfortable. He couldn’t lift his hands or move his legs. Even eating and chewing felt laborious. He would feel like an old man in his 60s just going to the bathroom. He couldn’t urinate smoothly, and his stool was stuck in his intestines. He couldn’t expel waste no matter what.

“You’ll have to ask Master about that,” Zhong Liuchuan said as he lit him a cigarette.

“Hey, what did your Master teach you? Why do you respect him so much?” Jia Zizai asked.

“He has taught me a lot,” Zhong Liuchuan said.

“You have to think about your sister even if you don’t think about yourself,” Jia Zizai said.

“You don’t have to threaten me anymore,” Zhong Liuchuan replied. “An Xin is fine now.”

“This is just a small county,” Jia Zizai said. “She could be taken away by anyone who comes to find her.”

Zhong Liuchuan was silent for a moment before saying, “Previously, I thought it would become calm and peaceful if I just took a step back, so I did. I chose to go into seclusion, or shall I say forbearance. Instead of getting a peaceful ending and tranquility, you wanted a mile after I gave you an inch. I couldn’t do anything because I was weak, so I could only escape. It’s different now. Master has allowed me to see a door that I once longed for but could never touch. If I succeed in opening it, my strength will improve even more. If you threaten me with my sister, it’s no big deal. We’ll just stay here and wait until I open that door and let your blood flow like a river.”