President’s Exclusive Alchemist
Chapter 4 – Buying Medicinal Herbs
translator: Nana
The medicinal store that Ming Wuxiang was looking for was deep in TCM Street. Although there were many people on the road, it was easier to move around in a specific way than wandering around like a blind fly.
After walking for about ten minutes in the crowded old street, the three finally arrived at a medicinal store with an ordinary and somewhat decaying exterior, with a strong historical flavor.
People who knew the history of TCM Street knew that the older the appearance of the shop in the old street, the longer the history of the shop’s existence. Therefore, when the guides talked about TCM Street, they would say that it didn’t matter if you didn’t know how to choose herbs. You just needed to identify those old shops. Although the price of the materials was slightly more expensive, they were definitely of good quality.
Today was a holiday. There were a lot of people on TCM Street. However, the three young people standing outside the shop soon attracted the attention of the shop assistants. Especially an older shop assistant that saw the face of the young man standing in the middle. He was stunned for a moment and then walked quickly towards him.
“Why are you here, Xiaoxiang?”
The middle-aged man was the shopkeeper of the shop, and he’d had a lot of dealings with Grandpa Ming. Every time Grandpa Ming came to the shop to select herbs, he would receive him. As for the old man’s friend, he was a busy man. He was lucky enough to meet him once in five times.
The old man’s friend also knew about Grandpa Ming’s death a year ago. Although he didn’t attend the funeral, he asked the shopkeeper to bring his condolences to Ming Wuxiang.
When the shopkeeper saw Ming Wuxiang appear at the door of the store, he thought that something had happened to him, so he couldn’t help asking.
“Happy new year, Uncle Qi [Seventh Uncle/ Uncle Seven].” The middle-aged man was the seventh in the family. His friends were used to calling him Lao Qi [Old Seven], while the younger generation called him Uncle Qi to show closeness.
“I just wanted to make some medicine. My grandfather said that you have the best and most complete medicinal materials. So, Uncle Qi, I came to you.”
Lao Qi knew that Grandpa Ming taught Ming Wuxiand the medical skills of the Ming Family. But how old was Ming Wuxiang? He was a baby who had just grown up, and he dared to make medicine?
The keen Ming Wuxiang, and even Yi Xing and Li Jiahua around him could see the suspicion in Lao Qi’s eyes.
Cough, indeed. Ming Wuxiang’s words were very suspicious. Who made him young?
“Uncle Qi, this is the list. You can look at it first.”
To be able to open a medicinal material store and act as a shopkeeper, he must know something about medicine. Seeing the materials list, even though he doubted, he still grabbed it. He thought that as long as he found something wrong with the herbs in the list, he would definitely not let the child Ming Wuxiang mess up.
After receiving the list handed over by Ming Wuxiang, Lao Qi remembered that they had been standing at the door of the store. To avoid blocking potential customers, Lao Qi moved to the side and let Ming Wuxiang and the others into the shop.
The shop assistants were all insightful. Even though they didn’t recognize Ming Wuxiang, when they saw the shopkeeper’s attitude towards him, they knew that the relationship between them was unusual.
When the group of people came into the store and sat down, they immediately served a cup of warm tea. Then everyone continued to be busy. No one approached curiously.
Lao Qi, who took the list, had a tense expression at first, but when he saw the name of the herbs written on the list, his face finally relaxed.
Tian Xian Teng and Ji Xue Teng were herbs that opened the meridians. There were also herbs that promoted blood circulation and removed blood stasis, such as Dong Quai, Mu Dan Pu, Hong Hua, etc.
Although the amount was a little large, they were all common medicinal material. The most important thing was that these herbs wouldn’t cause any damage when mixed together. However, there was a little poisonous herb on the list. If this herb was overused, it would require a gastric lavage at most and wouldn’t kill people. However, as an elder, Lao Qi still had to ask.
“Xiaoxiang, this grass is poisonous. If you don’t make it clear, Uncle Qi won’t sell it to you.” When he finished, he suddenly thought of something and said, “Not only Uncle Qi, you won’t be able to buy it in other medicine stores. In this business, Uncle Qi still has a face.”
Seeing the serious attitude of Uncle Qi towards the Ling grass, Ming Wuxiang couldn’t help laughing and crying. At the same time, he was glad that the materials needed for the simplified version of the liquid for cleaning the tendons and cutting the marrow were all common herbs. The Ling grass was toxic, but its content was not high; otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to gather the materials.
“Uncle Qi, the herbs in the list are for a medicine bath, and the amount of Ling grass is very small. I will neutralize its toxicity with Xing Yue Xi. Uncle Qi, you can rest assured.”
There was no Xing Yue Xi in the liquid for washing the muscles and cutting the marrow. In order to have an excuse, Ming Wuxiang added it specially.
After hearing Ming Wuxiang’s remark, Lao Qi vaguely remembered that his old boss had said something about these two herbs. It seemed that Ming Wuxiang should know this from Grandpa Ming. He didn’t know that the combination of these herbs could neutralize the toxicity of the Ling Grass.
Since there was no problem with the list, Lao Qi wouldn’t refuse to sell the materials. Picking up the list, Lao Qi nodded to Ming Wuxiang, “Ok, Uncle Qi will provide you with all the herbs in the list. Please sit down with your friends and wait a bit.”
“Trouble, Uncle Qi.” Seeing that Uncle Qi finally nodded, the expression on Ming Wuxiang’s face didn’t change. However, he was relieved at the bottom of his heart. He didn’t want to have all kinds of difficulties at the beginning of his cultivation path.
After Lao Qi left, Ming Wuxiang took a sip of warm tea. Turning his head, he noticed that Li Jiahua and Yi Xing looked at him strangely. He oddly asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“No, it’s the first time that I feel that you really studied Traditional Chinese Medicine.” After Yi Xing said that, Li Jiahua nodded in approval.
Regarding Yi Xing’s words, Ming Wuxiang rolled his eyes. Then he turned to Li Jiahua, who nodded, “Yi Xing, this kid hasn’t seen what my grandpa taught me, let’s forget about him. Li Jiahua, what do you mean by nodding your head? When you came to play with me as a child, didn’t you see me reciting different concoctions songs!”
“Well, I’ve seen it, but I didn’t understand what you were saying back then.” Lia Jiahua shrugged his shoulders. He really couldn’t blame him for reacting like this. He was also confused when he was a kid. Hearing and seeing it with his own eyes were two different things.
Ming Wuxiang didn’t bother to roll his eyes at Li Jiahua’s unrelated explanation. For the first time, he discovered that Li Jiahua was so unreliable.
Seeing that Ming Wuxiang rolled his eyes at Li Jiahua if it wasn’t because the timing was not right, Yi Xing would like to pat his legs and laugh.
Although the herbs on Ming Wuxiang’s were common, the amount was quite large. It took a while for Lao Qi to pack and hand them to Ming Wuxiang.
Yi Xing, who was watching the play, didn’t tease Li Jiahua. After a while, there were several large packages of medicinal materials in the hands of the shop assistants behind them. Ming Wuxiang couldn’t hold them alone, so the two immediately reached out to help.
Seeing all the materials required for the liquid in hand, even Ming Wuxiang, who had experienced the cultivation world, couldn’t help but smile with excitement.
These herbs were the starting point for him to become strong again.
There was no problem with the materials. When paying, Ming Wuxiang stopped, frowned slightly, and turned to look at Lao Qi beside him.
“Uncle Qi, is the price wrong?” Before leaving for TCM Street, Ming Wuxiang deliberately learned about the current prices of medicinal materials, so he could see that there was a problem with the price.
Not more, but less.
“The price is not wrong, that’s it.”
“Uncle Qi…”
“What are you thinking, child? There is no problem with the price. It’s the same price I gave your grandfather before. In the future, you can come to Uncle Qi if you need to.” Lao Qi patted Ming Wuxiang’s shoulder and urged him to pay quickly.
Grandpa Ming’s price was the wholesale price, which was the same as the retail price. Ming Wuxiang bought a large number of medicinal materials today, but it wasn’t enough to reach the wholesale price. However, he didn’t refuse Uncle Qi’s good intentions, knowing that this was the love of the elder.
Ming Wuxiang didn’t say anything else and paid the money. Just as Uncle Qi had said, there would be more herbs needed in the future. Of course, for some of them, Ming Wuxiang had further plans, which included planting in the mountain.
When Grandpa Ming was there, he also planted herbs in the mountains, but the scope was not very large. How could the old man take care of a big area at his age? It would be too wasteful to plant too many herbs to take care of.
As a cultivator, Ming Wuxiang’s method of planting wouldn’t be the same as his grandpa’s. He could take care of it even if he planted a forest of medicinal materials. Moreover, the herbs produced by the cultivation method were definitely much better than those outside.
After buying the herbs, Ming Wuxiang turned around and asked Yi Xing and Li Jiahua if they wanted to go somewhere or just go back to school.
As soon as he heard Ming Wuxiang’s inquiry, Yi Xing’s eyes lit up.
“Brother, since it’s ok, let’s go to the beauty contest!”
Seeing the change in Yi Xing’s expression, even if he didn’t speak, Ming Wuxiang and Li Jiahua knew what he wanted to say, and that was the case next.
Ming Wuxiang didn’t speak, and Li Jiahua silently asked, “Are you sure you can still catch up with the beauty contest?”
In fact, Li Jiahua wanted to complain, why are you so obsessed with the beauty contest, ah!
“We can catch up. I have VIP tickets. Even if the competition has already started, we can still enter.”
Yi Xing took out the golden VIP ticket from his pocket and shook it proudly at Li Jiahua.
Ming Wuxiang and Li Jiahua looked at each other speechlessly. Since Yi Xing wanted to go so much, they couldn’t say anything. Anyway, there was nothing important to do next.
As soon as the two nodded, Yi Xing drove to the City Hall, where the beauty contest was held. An hour later, the car stopped in the underground parking lot of Hua City Hall. Ming Wuxiang, who came out of the car, didn’t know what to say to the enthusiastic Yi Xing.
It usually took more than one hour to drive from TCM Street to Hua City Hall, not to mention that today was Sunday, and there was a traffic jam on the road. However, Yi Xing only took one hour to get there. The most important thing is that he didn’t violate any traffic rules, making Ming Wuxiang want to open his head to see what was inside.
VIP tickets were different. For example, when the beauty pageant had already entered the midfield, the audience was generally not allowed to enter the venue. However, when the doorman saw Yi Xing’s VIP ticket, his expression changed 180 degrees and respectfully welcomed the three into the venue.
Sitting in a position with a very good view of the stage, Li Jiahua couldn’t help but sigh, “Normally, I don’t feel anything different when I hang out with you. Today I finally feel like you are a wealthy young master.”
It was just time for the performance. There were no handsome men and beautiful women on the stage. Yi Xing turned to look at Li Jiahua, who was full of emotion. He curled his lips and said, “Fart, I’m not a big deal. The real giants are the four in Beijing City, like Gu Tang and Jiang Xing.”
Without knowing what he was thinking about, Yi Xing’s face became a little dreamy. Then he said, “Especially the eldest grandson of the Gu Family, Gu Tang, tut-tut.”
When hearing the familiar name, Ming Wuxiang’s indifferent face became a little strange before returning to normal.
Nana's Bookshelf 
Thanks for the chapter!
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Name drop of ml?
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