Chapter 9

After waiting for a good ten minutes, the clerk finally finished his game, placed his phone on the counter, took a sip of tea, and then slowly said, "What medicine do you want to buy?"

Ye Bufan handed over the prescription he had written, and the clerk's eyes lit up when he saw it.

The prescription listed many valuable herbs from previous years, and with such a prescription, he would at least get a few thousand yuan in commission.

He asked, "Are you sure you want to buy so many herbs?"

Ye Bufan replied, "Of course, I just don't know if you have all of them."

"Of course we do, there's nothing we don't have at our Hundred Herbs Hall." The clerk's attitude immediately improved, and he said with a smile, "Little brother, please wait a moment, I'll get the herbs ready for you right away."

Soon, the clerk laid out a pile of herbs on the counter. Ye Bufan checked them one by one, and they were all complete and of high quality.

He asked, "How much does it cost?"

The clerk picked up the abacus and clattered it for a while, then said, "It's a total of 253,200 yuan. Cash or card?"

"Ah? That expensive?"

Ye Bufan was startled. Although he had studied Traditional Chinese Medicine at Jiangnan Medical University, he was not very familiar with the prices of Chinese herbs.

He had thought that the 30,000 yuan in his pocket was a large sum, but now it wasn't even enough for a fraction of the cost. He hadn't expected that the herbs for refining a Foundation Building Pill would be so expensive.

He said somewhat awkwardly, "I'm sorry, I don't have that much money."

The clerk's smiling face immediately turned cold, "No money? If you don't have money, why did you come here to pretend? Are you just here to play around?"

Ye Bufan explained, "I'm sorry, I just didn't expect these herbs to be so expensive."

"How can you buy medicine if you don't know the price?" the clerk said不满地, "Here's what I suggest: if you don't have enough money, buy fewer herbs. I can't just do all this work for nothing."

Ye Bufan said, "That won't work. This is a complete set of herbs for one dose, and it won't be effective if any are missing."

The prescription he had listed was for one dose of the Foundation Building Pill, and insufficient quantities would make it impossible to refine the pill.

The clerk frowned and said, "You can't change the age of the herbs. You should know that the price difference between ten-year-old herbs and two-year-old herbs is more than tenfold."

Ye Bufan replied, "That won't work either. The herbs I listed are already the minimum age."

After hearing this, the clerk exploded, "This won't do, that won't do. Are you just here to play with me?"

Ye Bufan apologized again, "I'm sorry, I didn't bring enough money this time. I'll come back when I have enough."

"Spit! Poor guy, who knows when you'll have enough money." The clerk angrily put away the herbs, "It's all my fault for being blind. Looking at you, dressed like a beggar, I shouldn't have given you any herbs."

(To be continued, please turn the page)

Not getting the expected commission, the clerk was furious.

Ye Bufan frowned, "How can you talk like that? I've already apologized for not having enough money. Besides, you're the clerk here, and it's your duty to provide the herbs. What's there to complain about?"

"Oh, you're getting angry now." The clerk's temper flared up, and he slapped his chest, saying arrogantly, "Do you know where you are? This is Hundred Herbs Hall, and our boss is Mr. Cao.

"Every day, the people who come here for treatment are either rich or powerful. You, a poor guy, are pretending to be a big shot?"

"You..."

Just as Ye Bufan was about to get angry, he calmed down. He was, after all, a successor of the ancient medical school, and it wasn't worth arguing with such a petty person.

Thinking this, he turned to leave, but suddenly saw a large red notice on the wall, with four big characters: "Million Reward."

He read the text below: "I am Cao Xinghua. I accidentally obtained Hua Tuo's Golden Formula, but unfortunately, it is incomplete, with three herbs missing.

"If anyone can complete these three herbs and it is confirmed to be correct, I will offer one million Chinese yuan as a reward."

Below the explanation was Hua Tuo's Golden Formula, but only the first 15 herbs were listed, with three blanks marked, clearly waiting for someone to complete them.

Seeing the reward, Ye Bufan was delighted. He knew Cao Xinghua, the head of Hundred Herbs Hall, who was a senior figure in the Traditional Chinese Medicine community in Jiangnan City.

As for Hua Tuo's Golden Formula, he knew it well.

According to the records of the ancient medical school, Hua Tuo came from the ancient medical school, but he was not proficient in martial arts and was only an outer disciple.

This Hua Tuo's Golden Formula was not created by Hua Tuo but was passed down from the ancient medical school.

Worried about not having enough money to buy the herbs for refining the Foundation Building Pill, now a million yuan was being offered.

Thinking this, he picked up the pen next to the notice and began to fill in the three missing herbs.

"Hey, you poor guy, are you never going to stop? Who told you to write here?"

Just as he had written two herbs, the clerk rushed out from behind the counter and pushed him aside.

Being provoked repeatedly, even a clay Buddha would get angry. Ye Bufan said angrily, "What are you doing?"

The clerk shouted, "I'm talking to you. Do you know where you are? This is Hundred Herbs Hall. Can you just write whatever you want here?"

Ye Bufan said angrily, "Isn't this a public reward? Why can't I write?"

The clerk said disdainfully, "Are you crazy? A million reward is nice, but what does it have to do with you?"

Since the notice was posted, it had attracted countless medical experts, many of whom had come to try, but all had failed.

There are at least tens of thousands of Chinese herbs, and the probability of guessing the three missing herbs by luck is much lower than winning the lottery.

Even Mr. Cao couldn't complete the formula, and so many medical experts had failed. He didn't believe this poor guy could do it.

Ye Bufan sneered, "Isn't this a public reward? If it's a reward, people should be allowed to try."

The clerk shouted, "A reward is for people to try, but not just anyone can come and write here. Do you think anyone can get that million yuan?"

"If you can complete Hua Tuo's Golden Formula, I'll be Hua Tuo himself!"

"Liuhong, what's the commotion?"

At that moment, a dignified old man walked over from the medical hall.

Although he was already white-haired, his face was ruddy, and he looked full of energy. He was none other than Cao Xinghua, the head of Hundred Herbs Hall.

"Mr. Cao, you're here."

Seeing Cao Xinghua, the clerk named Liuhong immediately turned into a lapdog.

"What's going on? Making a fuss in the store?"

As Cao Xinghua spoke, he glanced at the reward notice. When he saw the two herbs Ye Bufan had filled in, he was stunned.

"Mr. Cao, this poor guy has no money and is causing trouble in our store. He was just writing on the reward notice..."

Liuhong didn't notice the old man's expression and kept talking.

Cao Xinghua didn't even look at him and said excitedly to Ye Bufan, "Young man, did you write those two herbs on the wall?"

Before Ye Bufan could speak, Liuhong interrupted, "He was just writing randomly. If I hadn't stopped him in time, he would have written the third one too.

"Mr. Cao, don't be angry. I'll erase it right away..."

Before Liuhong could finish, Cao Xinghua slapped him, "You scoundrel, quickly apologize to the young man."

"Ah...?"

Liuhong was stunned, dumbfounded.

Cao Xinghua said angrily again, "Did you hear me? Quickly apologize to this young man."

"I... I'm sorry," Liuhong said respectfully, still not understanding what was happening.

Ye Bufan said coldly, "Today, I've seen what it means for a big store to bully customers. 'No one sees the preparation, but the heavens know the intention.' This means that a true practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine should not deceive themselves or others. Your Hundred Herbs Hall doesn't deserve this!"

"Little brother, I'm sorry. It's my fault for not being strict enough. I apologize to you again."

After apologizing, Cao Xinghua said urgently, "Little brother, can you really complete Hua Tuo's Golden Formula?"