Chapter 10 - Free of charge
Chapter 10 Free of charge
The market was very big. There were small stalls nearly two kilometers long at the entrance. Behind them was a huge medicine wholesale market.
In the wholesale market were large-scale wholesalers of medicinal materials which had high quality, so the prices were naturally higher.
The stalls outside were all medicinal materials picked from the mountains by nearby medicine farmers. Their prices were relatively lower, but with good and bad materials mixed together, it was easy to get fake medicines.
Qin Haodong didn’t need to worry about these. As a practitioner, he was very sensitive to Spiritual Qi. He could distinguish the authenticity and the year of the medicinal materials at a glance.
The most important two medicines for the preparation of Marrow-Cleansing Pill were Polygonum multiflorum and Ginseng which were hundreds of years old.
He walked slowly along the stalls outside and still got nothing after walking half the way. After all, there were too few wild herbs in this era, let alone precious herbs of hundreds of years old.
The scattered stalls were coming to the end. Suddenly, Qin Haodong’s eyes were caught by a hundred years of Polygonum multiflorum in a stall.
The stall owner was a middle-aged man about 40 years old, who looked very different among many other vendors. It was midsummer of Jiangnan. Other vendors wore very little clothing with some even stripped to the waist, but he wore long clothes and trousers with his body all covered up as if he was afraid of catching a cold.
Even so, the middle-aged man still looked pale and fatigue.
“How much is this?” Qin Haodong asked, pointing at the hundred-year-old Polygonum multiflorum at the vendor’s feet.
The vendor got some spirit when business came to the door. He opened his small eyes and said, “This Polygonum multiflorum is aged. It costs 20,000 yuan!”
“20,000?” Qin Haodong was surprised and said, “Isn’t it a little too expensive?”
In fact, he was just surprised that the price was too low. According to the normal market conditions, the price of Polygonum multiflorum of hundreds of years old should be at least over 100,000 yuan. It seemed that the vendor only knew that the Polygonum multiflorum was aged, but he did not know that it had reached 100 years.
The vendor said, “This is pure wild Polygonum multiflorum. I have dug it out from a remote mountain. It had been growing for at least 40 or 50 years. 20,000 yuan is not expensive at all.”
Sure enough, the vendor did not know the value of this polygonum multiflorum.
As a modern young man with four qualities (ideals, morals, talents, and self-discipline), he would try his best to get the greatest bargain without losing any extra money. Qin Haodong said, “The appearance of this Polygonum multiflorum is not good. It looks like it has been displayed for a long time. Generally, people will not buy it. So, I’ll pay 10,000 yuan for it, no more.”
The vendor hesitated for a moment. This Polygonum multiflorum was not appreciated despite its age. For more than a month, it hadn’t been sold.
“All right, 10,000 yuan.”
The vendor finally decided.
After all, it was hard for retail vendors to sell high-end medicinal materials while all the rich people would go to the wholesale market to avoid getting fake goods.
“Deal!”
Qin Haodong was delighted with the fact that he acquired one main ingredient for his prescription.
He took the medicinal material and reached into his pocket. His expression became awkward immediately when he pulled out only one coin.
Only then did he realize that he was no longer the Emperor Green Wood of Cultivation world with countless money. This one-yuan coin was his only property left over from his previous life.
“What’s wrong?” Seeing him look so strange, the vendor asked.
“Can… Can you sell it to me for one yuan?”
Qin Haodong asked, holding up the coin in his hand.
Seeing the coin in his hand, the vendor almost fell to the ground. He had seen stingy people but never seen one as stingy as him.
“Are you crazy? Spent 1 yuan at medicinal material which worth 10,000 yuan? I don’t think you’re here to buy medicines, you’re trying to make trouble. Go away, or I’ll call the police.”
He immediately grabbed the polygonum multiflorum from Qin Haodong’s hand.
“I don’t have any money, but I think you should sell it to me.”
Qin Haodong looked at the vendor and said.
“Are you awake?” The stall owner glared at Qin Haodong. “This aged polygonum multiflorum costs at least 10,000 yuan! Now you want to buy it with one yuan. You must be sick in your mind.”
“Hurry home and take some medicine. Don’t go out without taking any medicine in the future.”
Qin Haodong said faintly, “I’m not sick, but you are sick.”
“You’re sick. All your families are sick.” The vendor was thoroughly enraged.
“Don’t be angry, I really want to buy this polygonum multiflorum!” Qin Haodong said in a calm voice. “Although I have no money, I’m not a troublemaker. Believe it or not, you will be willing to sell it to me and even give it to me for free.”
“Free? Are you talking in your dreams?”
The vendor laughed with anger left behind, looking at Qin Haodong as if he were looking at someone who had mentally ill. “This guy must be mentally handicapped. Otherwise a normal person would never buy things without money and dream to get things for free. I’m not mad. Why would I give it away for free?” The vendor thought.
Qin Haodong looked at the vendor with a playful face and said, “Are you afraid of cold and ache in waist and knee recently?”
The vendor was stunned for a second, but then he figured it not surprising to find out he was afraid of cold since he wore most in the whole medicinal material market.
But he was shocked by what the young man said next. “If I’m not mistaken, you have this symptom for about two months. The general manifestations are chills, soreness of waist and knee, weakness of limbs. These are secondary. The most important thing is that your little bro has not worked recently, right?”
The vendor was completely shocked. The physical symptoms could be guessed, but the period of two months was definitely hard to guess.
As for the issue about “little bro”, other people didn’t know about it except himself and his wife. The young man must be unusual.
“How did you know that?” He asked in surprise.
“I am a doctor of Chinese medicine, of course, I can see it,” Qin Haodong said faintly. “I also see that you went to a very cold place before you fell ill. Since then, you’ve had this disease, haven’t you?”
The vendor’s expression was duller. People like him often wandered around and went everywhere no matter high mountains or vast marshlands.
Once he went to a small valley, which was very strange. It was clear that winter had passed, but it was bitterly cold. Although he picked a medicinal herb and quickly retrieved, he got this strange disease since then. He had never said anything about it to others. How did the young man know about it?
“Well, am I not right?” Qin Haodong knew that he was right from the expression of the vendor. With pity on the face, he said, “I will not take this medicinal material if I was wrong, but you will lose the only chance to cure your illness if I leave. You may have to go to the palace to serve the emperor, but don’t blame me for not reminding you…”
“Don’t… Don’t go, buddy, don’t go!”
On hearing that his illness could be cured, the vendor took hold of Qin Haodong and asked eagerly, “Buddy, can you really cure my illness?”
For a man, nothing was more tragic than the breakdown of “little bro”.
Having earned some money by picking medicines over the years, he had just married a wife more than 10 years younger than him. They were happy and harmonious in their lives before things changed since that time. His wife quarreled with him every few days. He was faced with divorce or being cuckolded.
He also took a lot of medicine and saw a lot of doctors in vain recently. Some people even advised him to cut it simply.
Little did he think that today he should accidentally meet a young customer who not only spoke of his symptoms but also said that he could treat him. He could hardly believe what had happened.
Qin Haodong said, “I only treat people who are related to me by fate. I won’t push you whether you believe me or not, but I certainly have ways of treatment since I can tell your illness.”
“I believe you! I believe you!” The vendor grabbed Qin Haodong’s arm as if he were grabbing a life-saving straw, and said, “Buddy, as long as you can cure my illness, let alone this polygonum multiflorum, all the medicinal materials here are for you.”
. Qin Haodong looked at the vendor and said, “If I’m not mistaken, the place you went to was very shady, where the “yin qi” was too heavy. Luckily you stayed there for only a short time. If you stayed a little longer, you may lose your life. Still, your kidney has been seriously damaged, I’m afraid you only have two years to live if not treated in time.”
“What should we do then? Buddy, you must save me. I can spend as much money as you want! Qin Haodong’s detailed description made his face grew even paler with fear.
“Don’t be nervous. As long as the cause is found, the illness is still easy to treat.” Qin Haodong said, taking a needle bag out of his pocket, “Let me acupuncture you and your illness will be cured!”
“Really?” The vendor doubted. After all, his illness hadn’t be cured although he had seen many famous doctors and spent a lot of money.
“You’ll know it’s true or false only if you try it. I didn’t ask you for money.”
Qin Haodong was only being patient for the sake of the polygonum multiflorum. Otherwise, he would have turned around and walked away according to his temperament as the Emperor Green Wood.
The vendor thought for a moment. It made sense since the polygonum multiflorum was still in his hands, and there was not much loss except that he would be stuck by some needles. But once cured, he would have a happy life for the rest of his life.
After thingking, he said, “Well, I’d like to try it.”
Qin Haodong asked the vendor to turn around and thrust two silver needles into his Shenshu acupoint on both sides. This illness was incurable for others but was very simple for Qin Haodong. Just to supplement the lost “Yang Qi” of the kidney would work.
The vendor felt a slight chill in his back with two streams of hot smoke rose immediately inside him, followed by a long-lost sense of warmth sweeping through his body, driving away the cold breath that had plagued him for many days.
After a while, Qin Haodong took out the silver needles and asked, “How do you feel?”
“I’m healed, I’m really healed!” The vendor was so excited that he almost jumped up. Although he had not done any examination, he was full of strength. The most important thing was that his “little bro” got worked again. All these proved that the young man was not deceiving him.
“Thank you, buddy. These medicines are yours!”
The vendor’s eyes were shining excitingly, and he almost kneeled down to Qin Haodong.