"Uncle Han, my fever broke! Li Xu's prescription really works!"
Song Sisi said excitedly over the phone.
Han Weimin was silent for a few seconds, his feelings extremely complicated.
'Happy?'
'Of course not. A powerful 'rival' meant nothing but harm for his clinic.'
'Unhappy?'
'Not exactly. At least it proved one thing: Li Xu's prescription was effective.'
'In that case, he could use the same medicine to treat patients and make money himself.'
Still, Han Weimin was a bit uneasy. "Come back to the clinic right away. I need to check on you myself."
Song Sisi hung up and hurried back to the clinic.
When she came in, Han Weimin immediately took out a stethoscope and a thermometer and gave her a thorough examination.
"Normal temperature, and the abnormal sounds in her lungs have diminished... She's really getting better."
Han Weimin lowered his stethoscope, shock written all over his face.
Song Sisi nodded and said excitedly, "Li Xu's medicine is amazing! I've only taken one dose and my fever is gone. After I finish all three doses, I'll probably be completely cured."
Han Weimin frowned, a mix of emotions churning within him.
'He'd never imagined Li Xu's prescription could be so simple, yet so effective.'
He mulled it over for a moment, then suddenly stood up and said to Song Sisi, "You keep resting. I'm heading out for a bit."
"Where are you going?" his wife, Wang Xiulan, asked.
Han Weimin pulled her aside and whispered, "The prescription from Li's Clinic really works. And I've seen it—it's all cheap herbs. The cost for one dose is no more than five yuan, but he sells it for twenty. That's a huge profit! I'm planning to stock up on some of it too."
"We practice Western medicine. Are we even allowed to sell Chinese medicine?"
"Heh, as long as we don't go around advertising it, who's going to care? I've got it all figured out. We'll brew it ourselves and sell it ready-made. We can charge more that way."
One of the reasons many people avoid Traditional Chinese Medicine is that they can't be bothered to brew the herbs.
Han Weimin planned to brew the medicine in advance and seal it in packages. He was sure it would attract a lot of patients.
"You watch the clinic. I'm off."
Han Weimin drove to the herbal medicine market.
It was his first time there.
The sheer variety of herb shops in the market was dizzying.
He had no idea which one to buy from.
However, driven by his desire to find the cheapest goods, he screened a few shops and settled on one called "Kang's Chinese Herbal Medicine Wholesale."
The price of Huang Qin was about the same everywhere.
It was very cheap.
The main variable was the Daqing Leaf.
Some shops sold Daqing Leaf for 10 yuan per jin, with more expensive ones going for over 20.
But this shop's Daqing Leaf was only three yuan a jin.
And it looked to be of decent quality.
Much better than the Daqing Leaf he'd seen Li Xu use.
"Sir, what can I get for you?" a salesperson greeted him warmly.
"Can you go any lower on this Daqing Leaf?" Han Weimin asked, pointing at the price tag on the herbs.
The salesperson shook their head repeatedly. "Sir, our Daqing Leaf is already the cheapest on the market. We're practically selling it at a loss. We can't go any lower."
"Alright, give me 100 jin of it. And give me 100 jin of Huang Qin as well."
Han Weimin didn't haggle any further.
"You got it, sir. One moment."
The salesperson quickly wheeled out two large sacks of herbs from the warehouse.
After being weighed, there was 100 jin each of Daqing Leaf and Huang Qin.
"Anything else, sir?"
"That's all."
Han Weimin loaded the herbs into his car, then went to a neighboring shop that specialized in stainless steel pots and bought two large electric ones.
To be precise, they were more like two stainless steel vats.
They could be heated electrically.
While not as good as traditional clay pots, they heated up quickly and were resistant to acid, alkali, and corrosion, making them a great substitute.
Most importantly, they were cheap.
He returned to the clinic with the pots and herbs.
The sun hadn't set yet.
There wasn't a single patient in the clinic.
This only strengthened Han Weimin's resolve to brew the medicine.
'Heh, a taste of his own medicine...' Han Weimin thought smugly.
He had it all planned out.
Li Xu didn't help his patients brew the medicine.
If he helped brew it, he could definitely win over more patients.
「That evening,」
he and his wife, Wang Xiulan, brewed two large pots of the medicine.
Then, they used the bags they had bought to vacuum-seal it.
Each bag contained about 200 milliliters of the medicine.
In total, they made over 300 bags.
Wang Xiulan wasn't as optimistic as Han Weimin. "Old Han, is this really going to work? We've never dealt with Chinese medicine before. What if something goes wrong?"
Han Weimin scoffed and said dismissively, "What could go wrong? Let me tell you, Chinese medicine is different from Western medicine. If we Western doctors prescribe the wrong drug, it can be serious, even fatal. But Chinese medicine is different. So-called 'herbal medicine' is just some bark, roots, and leaves. You can't die from taking it. The worst that can happen is that it just doesn't work."
Hearing Han Weimin put it that way, Wang Xiulan felt relieved.
After a busy night of work, Han Weimin woke up bright and early the next day.
He took all the packaged bags of liquid medicine to the clinic.
Although Li's Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic had stolen many of his patients, there were still some people who didn't trust Traditional Chinese Medicine or were too lazy to brew their own herbs. Their first choice for treatment was still an IV drip. So, soon after Weimin Clinic opened its doors, patients started to arrive.
Unlike before, Han Weimin didn't just casually put people on an IV drip.
Instead, he started promoting his liquid medicine.
"This is a special remedy for the flu. Ten yuan a bag. Drink two bags a day, and you'll be cured in three days."
"Huh, isn't this Chinese medicine? Why is a Western doctor like you selling Chinese medicine?"
"Western medicine, Chinese medicine... aren't they both for treating illnesses? As long as it cures you, who cares which it is? Do you want an IV drip or do you want to buy the medicine?"
"Does this stuff actually work?"
"Of course it works. To tell you the truth, the Li's Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic down south uses this exact same prescription. The only difference is, if you get it from him, you have to go home and brew it yourself. I've already done all the work for you. Just heat it up at home and drink it."
"In that case, I'll take the medicine."
The patient chose to buy the bags of medicine.
After all, an IV drip would take two or three hours, which was too much of a waste of time.
Han Weimin's sales pitch was a success.
In just one morning, he sold over 100 bags.
He and Wang Xiulan were in the consultation room, calculating their earnings. "The herbs I bought were so cheap. The cost per bag is less than one yuan, and we're selling them for ten... Heh heh... This is way more profitable than giving IV drips."
Wang Xiulan was also beaming. "We've already used up half the herbs you bought yesterday. Should you go buy more?"
"Yeah, I'll make another trip this afternoon. I'll buy more this time."
...
「Li's Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic.」
Li Xu was prescribing medicine for a patient.
Aunt Li burst in, flustered, and announced loudly in front of the patient, "Xiao Xu, someone's figured out your prescription!"
"Hm?"
Li Xu didn't even pause in his work of gathering the herbs. "Figured out by who?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Who else? That Old Han next door! He's so unscrupulous! First, he was stealing your patients, and now that you finally have a prescription that works, that shameless man has bought the same herbs, brewed a big pot, and is selling it in vacuum-sealed bags. A lot of people went to buy it today."
Aunt Li was filled with righteous indignation on Li Xu's behalf.
"Is that so..."
A look of realization dawned on Li Xu.
'No wonder there were noticeably fewer patients today.'
'Normally, with word-of-mouth spreading over the past few days, the number of patients should have been increasing.'
'So Han Weimin was stealing his patients again.'
But Li Xu wasn't worried.
He was using a special kind of Daqing Leaf.
It was one of a kind.
No one else could replicate it.
Li Xu had no intention of warning him, either.
Just as many people assumed, Daqing Leaf and Huang Qin couldn't kill anyone.
At worst, it would just be ineffective.
If he were to warn him, Han Weimin would definitely misunderstand his intentions.
WEE-WOO... WEE-WOO...
Just then, the urgent wail of an ambulance siren echoed through the street.
Immediately after, an ambulance came into view.