Chapter 150: Monarch, Minister, a.s.sistant, and Guide
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Leave it to me. By the way, this is a lot of herbs you are requesting. I thought you had enough herbs as you have your own herbal field. So, you are really treating patients?” asked Li Maoshuang after he had a glance at the list.
“Yes. I almost forget, I need another favor from you,” said w.a.n.g Yao.
“That’s fine,” said Li Maoshuang.
“I’m interested in antiques that are related to medicine, like the herb cabinet you gave me last time. Price isn’t an issue,” said w.a.n.g Yao.
“No problem. When did you start to be interested in antiques?” asked Li Maoshuang.
“They are wonderful things,” said w.a.n.g Yao with a smile. w.a.n.g Yao had started to use the herb cabinets and found it really easy to use.
w.a.n.g Yao went home shortly and then returned to Nanshan hill after leaving Li Maoshuang’s place.
He practiced Tai Chi on the hill for a while. He had been really busy recently but hadn’t been slack with Tai Chi practice. He always squeezed in some time in the morning and at night to practice Tai Chi, and had made good progress. The only thing was that he didn’t have a practice partner to improve his skills in attacking.
After two days of careful consideration, w.a.n.g Yao decided to make some herbal pills for easy storage. He had chosen the suitable herbs.
Apart from valuable herbs such as ginseng and glossy ganoderma, licorice roots were also suitable to make pills. w.a.n.g Yao was determined to make the best herbal pills. Of course, he had used common herbs to make pills using the ancient method to familiarize himself with the process.
Making herbal pills was different from brewing decoctions. Herbs resolved in the water to become a decoction, while the pills were made of herbal powder. Herbal pills were not precious medicine; they were not magical. But the process of making herbal pills was much more complicated than brewing decoction.
Let me make some pills out of common formula first, thought w.a.n.g Yao.
He decided to choose from the existing formulas to make pills, then started to prepare for herbs.
w.a.n.g Yao also required more tools to make herbal pills. He hadn’t got tools to smash and sieve the herbs, so he made another list of tools and sent it to Li Maoshuang. A moment later, he received a call from Li Maoshuang.
“What do you need for smas.h.i.+ng and sieving herbs?” asked Li Maoshuang.
“I need tools to make herbal pills,” said w.a.n.g Yao with a smile. “It would be better if the tools are ancient.”
“I see. When do you need it?” asked Li Maoshuang.
“As soon as possible. It’s kind of an urgent situation,” said w.a.n.g Yao.
“Okay, I’ll try my best,” said Li Maoshuang before hanging up.
No unnecessary words were required between friends. Only action was needed.
w.a.n.g Yao presumed that it would only take Li Maoshuang a few days to find the tools for him. At the moment, w.a.n.g Yao was also thinking of another matter—the Spirit Gathering Battle Array, which he had built the frame.
w.a.n.g Yao found that the licorice roots had grown better with the a.s.sistance of the Spirit Gathering Battle Array.
According to ancient cla.s.sical herb books, herbs had medicinal roles: monarch, minister, a.s.sistant, and guide.
According to The Divine Farmer’s Herb-Root Cla.s.sic, herbs could be divided into top, medium, and low in relation to their effect. There were about 120 most powerful herbs, which were called monarch herbs. They could save lives. Another 120 herbs with medium power, which were called minister herbs, could improve health. The rest of 120 herbs, which were called a.s.sistant and guide herbs, could cure diseases. It was important to include herbs with different medicinal roles when prescribing a formula.
A balanced herbal formula should include monarch, minister, a.s.sistant and guide herbs. A balanced battle array should also include these components.
A battle array was like a tree, which had root, trunk, branches, and leaves. At the moment w.a.n.g Yao had built the root and trunk; he needed to add branches and leaves gradually. He required a few small bushes such as Chinese littleleaf boxes and tea trees.
I need to visit Cheng Kun tomorrow.
w.a.n.g Yao checked the battle array plan again in the evening and didn’t go to sleep until late night.
w.a.n.g Yao visited Cheng Kun’s nursery the next day and found he was doing some renovation. It looked like Cheng Kun was going to expand his nursery.
“h.e.l.lo, long time no see!” greeted Cheng Kun with a smile.
“h.e.l.lo, are you going to expand your nursery?” asked w.a.n.g Yao.
“Yes, I want to build another shed. What can I do for you this time?” said Cheng Kun.
“I need some small bushes, like Chinese littleleaf boxes,” said w.a.n.g Yao.
“No problem. I’ll show you around,” said Cheng Kun.
Cheng Kun showed w.a.n.g Yao his plants in the nursery. w.a.n.g Yao picked some and made an order.
“Shall I deliver them to you tomorrow?” asked Cheng Kun.
“Yes,” said w.a.n.g Yao.
“Okay. By the way, do you have ginseng?” asked Cheng Kun suddenly.
“Yes, but they are not ready to use, why?” said w.a.n.g Yao.
“I want to buy some ginseng for the elders in my family, but I can only find artificial ginseng at the herbal stores. I want to buy wild ginseng,” said Cheng Kun.
“You don’t need wild ginseng if you just want to improve general health. Wild ginseng is very rare, and it is not easy to separate them from artificial ones. You could potentially spend a lot of money on low-quality stuff,” said w.a.n.g Yao.
“I see. But I still want to get wild ginseng. Like the plants in my nursery, artificial plants cannot compare to wild ones. In addition, I just want to buy stuff of the best quality for the elders in my family,” said Cheng Kun.
“Well, I know someone who can get you wild ginseng, but the price is not cheap,” said w.a.n.g Yao. He naturally thought of Li Maoshuang. Although Li Maoshuang always gave w.a.n.g Yao good prices, he wouldn’t charge other people the same amount. After all, Li Maoshuang was a businessman.
“That’s okay,” said Cheng Kun.
w.a.n.g Yao left Li Maoshuang’s contact number to Cheng Kun, then called Li Maoshuang to explain the situation.
w.a.n.g Yao pa.s.sed the processing factory on his way back to the village and smelt a strong odor. He stopped his vehicle.
What is that smell?
He got out of the car and smelled the air again. Soon, he found that the origin of the odor was from the river in the village. Black polluted water coming out of a pipe were running into the river, dying the river to black. The pipe was from the processing factory.
That’s why they have the factory in an isolated village! They are secretly draining polluted water! w.a.n.g Yao took out his phone and took a few photos.
Suddenly, a man came out of the factory. The man was in his 30’s, and looked very strong, like a butcher. He was staring at w.a.n.g Yao.
“What are you doing here?” said the man in a low and m.u.f.fled voice.
“It has nothing to do with you,” said w.a.n.g Yao in a cold voice, as the man looked rude.
The man suddenly came closer to w.a.n.g Yao and tried to grab w.a.n.g Yao’s clothes.
Interesting! thought w.a.n.g Yao.
w.a.n.g Yao dodged and stretched his arm to transfer the strength from the man aside. The man stumbled, but he came back trying to hit w.a.n.g Yao with his fists.
How dare you! thought w.a.n.g Yao.
w.a.n.g Yao’s face was sullen.
w.a.n.g Yao half squatted and then pushed the man with his palms. The man flew up in the air and hit the door of the factory.
Before the man stood up, w.a.n.g Yao took out his phone again and took a photo of the man.
The man didn’t speak after he got up. He turned around and went inside the factory. w.a.n.g Yao didn’t speak either. He walked towards his vehicle, but he suddenly heard someone shouting behind him. It was the same man, but this time, he had an iron bar in his hand.
“What are you doing?!” shouted w.a.n.g Yao.
Some villagers stopped to see what was going on.
They knew w.a.n.g Yao, but they didn’t know the other man. w.a.n.g Yao was from the same village, of course, they were going to help w.a.n.g Yao against an outsider.
Suddenly, the man from the factory was surrounded by seven villagers, some of whom even had a hoe in their hands.
“Yao, are you okay?” said a villager in his 40’s.
“I’m fine, Uncle,” said w.a.n.g Yao with a smile. He was touched by the villagers and looked around to remember who supported him.
“You! Wait!” The man from the factory pointed his finger at w.a.n.g Yao.
The man’s looks reminded w.a.n.g Yao of some movies he saw. Most people would stay away from people like the man from the factory, so w.a.n.g Yao just ignored the man and got in his vehicle.
He quickly sent w.a.n.g Mingbao the man’s picture, and w.a.n.g Mingbao called him two minutes later.
“Whose picture is this? A most-wanted person?” asked w.a.n.g Mingbao on the phone.
“No, he’s an employee of the new factory in the village; he’s very rude. Can you help me find who he is?” asked w.a.n.g Yao.
“Rude? In our village? How rude?” shouted w.a.n.g Mingbao at the other side of the phone. w.a.n.g Mingbao knew w.a.n.g Yao well. When w.a.n.g Yao commented someone as rude, the person must be really rude, probably to the point of crossing the line. w.a.n.g Mingbao was unsettled now; he wanted to meet this rude guy immediately.
“Wait for me, I’m going back to the village now,” said w.a.n.g Mingbao.
“You don’t need to rush. I’ve sent his photo to you. Could you ask your friend in the police department to check on him?” said w.a.n.g Yao.
“Well, how can they check on a person with just a photo?” said w.a.n.g Mingbao.
“They can’t? I thought they could find the person after uploading his photo onto the computer system,” said w.a.n.g Yao.
“You are talking about the CIA in the USA and the Committee of State Security! Not our people’s police!” said w.a.n.g Mingbao.
“I see. I forgot to ask his name. Never mind, I’ll let you know tomorrow,” said w.a.n.g Yao.
“Okay, hurry up,” said w.a.n.g Mingbao.
How can I find out his name? thought w.a.n.g Yao.
He couldn’t ask himself, so he decided to ask his mother for help.
“Are you talking about that vicious guy from the factory?” said Zhang Xiuying excitedly.
“Yes, do you know his name?” asked w.a.n.g Yao.
“His name is Li Dong. He beat up someone from the other side of the village yesterday just because the person said something rude. Why do you ask about him?” asked Zhang Xiuying.
“Nothing, I just think he doesn’t look like a nice person,” said w.a.n.g Yao.
w.a.n.g Yao told w.a.n.g Mingbao about Li Dong after dinner.
“Can you check if the person’s got any criminal history?” said w.a.n.g Yao.
“You always like to make things complicated. For me, it’s easy; just beat him up,” said w.a.n.g Mingbao. If w.a.n.g Yao hadn’t stopped him, w.a.n.g Mingbao would have already had a fight with Li Dong.
But for w.a.n.g Yao, there were rules that needed to be followed. This was how w.a.n.g Yao dealt with things.
If he couldn’t sort things out the normal way, he would seek for alternative ways.
w.a.n.g Mingbao soon found all the information about Li Dong. After all, w.a.n.g Mingbao was a very efficient and reliable friend. Li Dong had a criminal history, and he was in jail once due to intentional a.s.sault.