Elixir Supplier

After hearing that, Wang Yao smiled and stared at Jia Zizai.

“What’s up, Master?”

“You took quite a good look at the girl, eh?”

“Umm, well, it’s a professional habit,” Jia Zizai replied as he scratched his head.

“I bet you aren’t doing that around Hu Mei,” Wang Yao said.

“Well, with her around, she’s usually the one who is checking the girls out while I check out the guys,” Jia Zizai said.

“Don’t forget to show up tonight, Master!”

“Sure, I’ll remember,” Wang Yao replied.

“Oh right, tell your father to come along as well,” Jia Zizai said. “I heard he likes drinking somewhat, right?”

“He does. I’ll ask him about it later,” Wang Yao replied. However, he knew his father would most likely not go along. He had asked more than once and been refused.

Jia Zizai stayed for a while longer before taking his leave.

Wang Yao sat and thought about the woman who had just left. He wanted to treat her. This had been the first he had encountered such a patient. Many doctors were interested in difficult illnesses, and he was one of those doctors. His proficiency in the art of medicine was such that common illnesses hardly piqued his interest anymore.

It’s a pity!

Although the woman had not agreed to receive treatment at his place, he still recorded the patient’s case. He listed several treatment plans that he had in mind. The so-called surgery was not actually as horrifying as the mother and daughter pictured it to be.

The cold weather that day meant that hardly any patients had shown up.

Wang Yao mentioned Jia Zizai treating them to dinner when he went home in the afternoon. As expected, his father was not interested.

His father deemed himself an old man who didn’t have much to do with the young. He thought he had no place in a gathering filled with young people. Besides, he had little in common with them.

As the sun set, Wang Yao took two bottles of liquor to Jia Zizai’s home.

“Have a seat, Master.”

A steaming hot huge fish was brought to the table. The fish had been cooked for the entire afternoon. The milk-colored fish soup smelled really nice. It immediately whetted one’s appetite.

Fish and tofu soup dishes needed to sit in the pot for prolonged periods before they were ready to eat.

Hu Mei cooked several other dishes as well. She was a very good cook.

All four of them, a master and three disciples, gathered around the table.

They ate fish, drunk, and chatted.

Chilling wind blew outside the house while it heat and steam from the dishes warmed the house.

“The new year is coming. Aren’t any of you going back to your hometowns?”

“Hometown?” Jia Zizai asked as he ate.

“If you had not brought that up, Master, I may have forgotten where my hometown actually is. When I left all those years ago, there were several rundown houses around the place. God knows if they’re still around now. They looked like they’re about to collapse anyway. I hardly have any relatives back there. Everything would look foreign if I were to go back, and nothing but sadness would be lingering around. It’s best that I stay where I am.”

As they sat around the table, they talked about the new year and their homes. Jia Zizai talked about his dark times back then, which were a part of his past that he preferred not talking about.

“Compared to how I live now, those times were very dark,” he said.

“What about you? Aren’t you going back to your hometown?” Wang Yao asked Zhong Liuchuan, who was next to him.

“Hometown? I don’t even remember what my hometown looks like anymore,” Zhong Liuchuan replied after reminiscing for a while.

In that regard, he was not all that different from Jia Zizai. He left his hometown years ago. He had only returned once in all those years. There was hardly anyone left back there, so going back seemed pointless.

“Master, from here on out, this village will be our home,” Jia Zizai said.

They had all truly settled down and rooted themselves in that village. They had even moved the address in their registry there.

“Well, we’re considered a family here now, aren’t we, Master?”

“Oh, definitely,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

“Come on, cheers.”

“Cheers!”

Zhong Liuchuan smiled and lifted his glass full of juice.

It was warm all over the house, and all of them felt warmth in their hearts. Everyone there wore happy faces.

They stayed there until after 9 p.m. before going home.

Wang Yao went up the mountain under the chill of night. There was a hook-like crescent moon hanging in the air. It looked rather lonely.

It was warm and spring-like on the mountain.

The night passed uneventfully.

The next morning, Wang Yao had just come down the mountain when he ran into a familiar face waiting right outside the clinic.

“Brother He. It’s been a while since you last showed up. Come on in.” The person waiting was He Qisheng. It had indeed been quite a while since he had last been there.

“I was rather busy lately, so I didn’t have time to come here,” He Qisheng said with a smile.

After inviting him inside, Wang Yao got him a cup of tea.

“I heard that you started a company producing medicine.”

“Yeah, I did,” Wang Yao said. “It’s not far from here in the county’s town center. How are things with you?”

“I’m doing fine,” He Qisheng said.

He was only there to catch up given that the new year was just around the corner. It was something he did around times like that. He was there on behalf of the Guo family. Guo Sirou had specifically sent him.

“It’s enough for you to just come. There was no need for gifts.”

“Well, the new year is coming,” He Qisheng said. “This is nothing, just take it. Otherwise, you’ll be giving me a hard time.”

“Alright, I’ll take it, but I’m not letting you go home empty-handed.” Wang Yao gave him a box of good tea. It was not much, but it was still a token of his appreciation.

He Qisheng stayed around for little more than an hour. The two men chatted freely. Bits of news regarding the Guo family was mixed in their chatter.

Wang Yao saw him off at the door. “Have a safe trip home.”

He was able to tell that the other man was bothered by something.

“He really is getting weary,” he exasperatingly said.

A patient complaining about a headache came in the morning. The reason behind it was simple. It was cold, and the patient neglected the temperature of their car when they drove. As such, the patient caught a cold. Wang Yao gave the patient a massage, causing the patient to sweat. Wang Yao gave the patient some medicine.

“Just take them as instructed when you got home.”

“Thank you.”

That patient kept whining about work while being treated by Wang Yao. The patient said how difficult work had been and that the boss had withheld pay despite the time of year.

Times were hard, so eking out a living was difficult.

Wang Yao simply smiled as the patient talked. He offered words of comfort for a bit but nothing else. It was not his first time running into such a situation.

People were often in a better mood after they were done grumbling.

In a town not far away from the village…

Three people from Nanshan Pharmaceutical Company had left town to find Zheng Weijun.

“Greetings, President Zheng.”

“Woah, what brings you here today, President Pan?”

Their arrival greatly surprised Zheng Weijun.

“You’re doing well these days, President Zheng,” President Pan said with a smile.

“There are more orders, so there’s more work to do. But it is the end of the year, so we will have it easier when the holidays come.”

“We’re here to discuss something with you. We’re hoping to make a larger order.”

“How big of an order?” Zheng Weijun asked.

“Here are the numbers.” President Pan held up five fingers.

“50 percent?”

“Five times.”

“Five times?” Zheng Weijun gasped in surprise.

“Furthermore, I’m hoping to acquire an exclusive dealership for both the Su and Wu regions,” President Pan said. “I’m not talking about just the medicine. I’m talking about an exclusive dealership for the entire line of Nanshan Pharmaceutical Company’s products.”

Truth to be told, the other president was not all that confident in the medical company that had only been recently set up. He had only agreed to help Zheng Weijun because they had an amicable relationship before. In the beginning, the medicine was not popular, so he just left it as it was. However, for the past two weeks, retail outlets connected to his company requested larger batches of that medicine. The increase was not of a usual margin. They asked for stocks several times larger. It thoroughly surprised him, so he arranged for an investigation to be carried out. The result concluded that the medicine was very effective and had a huge market. As word of mouth spread, the advertising effect was tremendous. It made him take the medicine seriously. Thus, he made the trip.

“I could agree to your second request,” Zheng Weijun said.

Zheng Weijun had been looking for help from his so-called friends when he started the company just to get the sales of the new product going. Among the people he asked, only the man before him agreed to help without a second thought. While the quantity was not large, it was still a boon that kept him afloat. It was something that he would always cherish. Thus, he swiftly agreed to the request as well. However, the first request troubled him.

“What about the first request?” President Pan asked.

“I could give you 2.5 times at most,” Zheng Weijun said. “That’s all I can muster.”

“How so?”

“Everyone is asking for more stock,” Zheng Weijun said.

He was not lying. He had already received related requests from five people asking for more stock. However, the stock he was able to provide was not something he could do much about. He had the facilities and equipment to handle greater production but not the supply of ingredients. The requirement Wang Yao stipulated was that wild herbs were needed for production. The greatest compromise that could have been made was herbs being artificially planted out in the wild. The requirement was strict, but he told the procurement department to never budge in that regard. If any further compromise was made, all related personnel were to be fired.

To ensure that part being carried out thoroughly, he specifically asked for someone he could trust to take samples of the ingredients for testing at irregular periods before sending samples to third-party agencies for further testing. So far, the company had been carrying out that part very strictly. All the ingredients used were pretty much the best to be found in the entire country.

“Is that the best you can do?”

“I’d like to crank up production higher, but that is pretty much all I can manage,” Zheng Weijun said. “The procedures must be followed strictly. Cutting corners is not tolerated in any part of the process. Otherwise, that would ruin the reputation we have built.”

“Alright, let’s keep it at that amount then,” President Pan said.

The two men signed contracts on the spot.

“It’s a pleasure doing business with you, just like how it has always been.”

“Likewise.”

Both men were very happy. Zheng Weijun treated President Pan to a meal. As they chatted during the meal, he learned that the other president went to Jing in search of a doctor to treat his mother.

“Is your mother not doing well?” Zheng Weijun asked.

“Well, she has had leg pains for a while. It was especially bad this year. She didn’t dare get out of bed to walk. We’ve seen a lot of doctors, and the results are lackluster. So, I thought about taking her to Jing.”

“Well, I know of a good doctor,” Zheng Weijun said with a smile.

“Really? Where is the doctor?” the other president anxiously asked.

“Not far from here.”

“That’s great. Could you introduce the doctor to me?”

“No problem!”