Herbal Medicine Follow-up

Zhou Qi was very careful with each of his dimension-hopping trips. Not only did he stay within his own home, but he also drew the curtains and disinfected himself every time he entered or exited.

However, his actions couldn't be called foolproof. The only loophole was the very first time!

He had brought medicinal herbs from the One Piece World back and even sold them!

Admittedly, the medicinal herbs he sold were all available on Earth, but their ingredients might not have been the same!

What if these medicinal herbs were obtained by scientists, who then found ingredients or elements that didn't exist on Earth?

At that time, he wasn't as smart as he was now, and he had been blinded by his superpowers. He hadn't thought of this at all. Now, with Cao Song's reminder, he immediately recalled it.

Not only did he realize the problem, but he also had the thought of killing to silence!

"Mr. Cao, I'm here!" Shaking his head, Zhou Qi replied to the message first.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he sent it, a reply came immediately.

"Ah, Mr. Zhou, I finally got a hold of you. I'm glad I didn't give up!"

Following that was a large chunk of information: "General Manager Zhou, do you still have the same medicinal herbs as the last batch? Could you save a portion for your brother? The price is not an issue. I'll make the decision and can offer you an extra 20%!"

"So urgent?" The more anxious he was, the more annoyed Zhou Qi became. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "Is the effect of this batch of medicine good?"

He needed to confirm whether the medicine had been consumed or taken for research.

"This..." On the other end, Cao Song narrowed his eyes. His years of experience as a store manager allowed him to instantly come up with the right words to reply.

"Of course! Sixty-year-old pure natural medicinal herbs will naturally have better effects than artificially cultivated ones. And you know about this epidemic, with new mutant strains appearing repeatedly. So, there's no shortage of buyers for such good medicinal herbs once they appear on the market!"

"I only sold you 12 jin of medicinal herbs. That's not enough for a few wealthy individuals to share, is it?" Zhou Qi replied.

"This..." Cao Song's tone faltered. What a sharp person.

Nowadays, there were more and more smart people, and making money was getting harder and harder.

There was no other way. Cao Song could only say, "My dear brother has sharp eyes, and indeed, I can't hide anything from you. It's like this, your portion of medicinal herbs was entirely bought by a wealthy individual. And based on the feedback from their side, the effect was extremely good. Now, the medicine is almost used up, so they are urging me again!"

"Fifty percent!" Cao Song continued. "This time, I'll offer you a 50% price increase. How about it? You can ask around, brother. No one in the entire country will offer you a higher price than me."

Zhou Qi asked, "Who is that wealthy individual?"

"This, this is our business secret. And that person's health is of great importance, so I can't say!" Cao Song replied.

"Is it Liang Ruzhang?" Zhou Qi asked again.

"Huh?" Cao Song blinked. How did he know?

Zhou Qi looked at the webpage in front of him. This website was called Enterprise Search, specializing in querying corporate structures.

He had just purchased a yearly membership and then looked up Tongfu Hall.

As expected, he discovered that 26% of Tongfu Hall's shares were held by Tiantai Pharmaceutical.

The Baofeng pharmaceutical factory that Zhou Qi bought used to be a contract manufacturer for Tiantai Pharmaceutical. And the head of Tiantai Pharmaceutical was named Liang Ruzhang.

Liang Ruzhang had been sent to the ICU a month ago, directly causing internal turmoil at Tiantai and a sharp drop in stock prices. This also gave Zhou Qi the opportunity to acquire Baofeng.

But this Liang Ruzhang had managed to persist in the ICU for a month without dying.

Zhou Qi had been puzzled before about how he could endure for so long. Now he knew it was because of the Chinese medicinal herbs he brought from the One Piece World.

"Liang Ruzhang is extending his life with my medicinal herbs, isn't he?" Zhou Qi asked.

"Mr. Zhou, Director Liang's ability to survive until now is mainly due to the advancement of modern medicine. Your medicinal herbs only served to add the finishing touch!" Cao Song thought Zhou Qi wanted to raise the price, so he was downplaying the medicinal effects.

"You know, Director Liang not only has assets worth hundreds of billions, but he also controls a listed pharmaceutical company. Naturally, he can invite the best experts and get the best medicine! Your medicinal herbs are certainly useful, but they are definitely not as important as you imagine. How about this, I can make the decision and offer you a 70% price increase. How about it? I really can't go any higher!"

"I hope so..." Zhou Qi frowned. If it was truly just adding the finishing touch, then perhaps no one would think of researching these medicinal herbs.

But if they played a decisive role, then things would be a big deal, and the medicinal herbs might even be sent to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Zhou Qi didn't think it was the former, after all, the Straw Hat Pirates had been brought back from the brink of death by Chopper's herbal medicine more than once.

The medicinal herbs here could truly create miracles!

"I don't have any left!" Zhou Qi thought for a moment and replied, "I obtained this batch of medicinal herbs by chance. That's all I have!"

"Then where did you get them?" Cao Song asked. "Tell me the address, and I'll go look for them!"

"Northern Myanmar, are you going?" Zhou Qi asked.

"Uh..." Cao Song was stunned.

If it were a place within the country, he might consider going.

But Northern Myanmar...

That place is known for organ harvesting. Even official media and embassies have issued warnings!

"Mr. Zhou, you're not joking, are you? How about you name a price, and we can negotiate!" Cao Song asked.

"Why would I be joking..." Zhou Qi replied. "You know better than I do about the medicinal effects. Do you think these medicinal herbs can be cultivated through normal means?"

"This..." Cao Song blinked and then fell into deep thought.

He naturally knew the effects of the medicinal herbs better than anyone.

After Director Liang was hospitalized, the higher-ups demanded that the lower levels collect precious medicinal herbs and send them over. He happened to have obtained a batch and, thinking of buttering up the big boss, decided to drive it over himself.

Then he saw Director Liang, whose multiple vital signs were already on the brink of death, miraculously survive after drinking a dose of herbal soup.

Even the traditional Chinese medicine doctor who prescribed the medicine looked shocked.

He initially thought it was a final burst of energy before death, but unexpectedly, Director Liang could eat, drink, and sleep well after waking up.

The only problem was that he was indeed old, and his condition kept relapsing, but a single dose of medicine would immediately restore him.

He was kept alive like this for a whole month.

The doctor felt that the medicinal herbs were indeed effective, but he attributed it more to the prescription itself.

However, yesterday, the medicinal herbs Cao Song sent ran out, so the doctor switched to other herbs.

The year of the herbs hadn't decreased, but had actually increased, yet their medicinal effect was poor, or rather, almost nonexistent.

Liang Ruzhang was put on a ventilator last night. The doctor studied the reason all night, even trying the medicine himself, and finally discovered that the herbs Cao Song sent were problematic.

This time, they didn't follow the prescription precisely. Instead, they mixed several herbs Cao Song sent that weren't in the original prescription according to their pharmacological properties and gave them to Liang Ruzhang to drink. As a result, Liang Ruzhang actually pulled through the critical period!

This was unscientific and unreasonable, but it was the truth!

The doctor felt like he had stumbled upon a big secret. He moved some of the herbs aside to study them himself, thinking he might be able to write a major paper.

If he could research and develop a new drug like Tu Youyou, wouldn't he also be able to win a Nobel Prize?

Meanwhile, they notified Liang Ruzhang's family.

The family, in turn, notified Cao Song.

The traditional Chinese medicinal herbs Zhou Qi sold were very common. If they truly had special effects, scientists should have discovered them long ago.

Moreover, even if they had special properties, only one or two herbs should have them. Why did all the herbs have life-extending effects!

Since all the herbs had special effects, it could only be related to the place of origin or the cultivation method.

Cao Song didn't believe it was the place of origin. After all, in terms of origin, Huaxia was the most authentic and suitable place for medicinal herbs, but no such effect had appeared.

So the problem must lie in the cultivation method.

"Could it be?" Thinking of the rumors about organ harvesting from that place, he wondered if the kidneys weren't for transplantation, but for...

But it didn't make sense. Apart from genetic differences, the nutritional content of human kidneys and pig kidneys should be similar.

If human kidneys were useful, pig kidneys shouldn't be bad either, but the method of cultivating medicinal herbs using pig kidneys had already been tried by someone.

How to put it, the effect was worse than using chemical fertilizers!

However, it was also possible!

Thinking of legends like "jiangtou" and "gu" from that place, could there be some unscientific secret method?

Cao Song was fifty-seven years old this year, and he wasn't so rigidly materialistic. Following Zhou Qi's train of thought, he began to wonder if there really was a way to cultivate medicinal herbs with super life-extending abilities.

"Since that's the case, then so be it!" Kaidō replied, "Sorry to have bothered you!"

"No problem, no problem..." Zhou Qi quickly said, "By the way, you're not interested in that place, are you? It's very dangerous there!"

"Of course I wouldn't go. I just regret that such a money-making opportunity... By the way, this matter concerns Director Liang, so don't tell anyone about it!"

As he spoke, Zhou Qi actually received a transfer notification.

Fifty thousand?

"Consider this compensation for you!"

"Thank you, thank you, big brother!" Zhou Qi replied to the message and scratched his head. What did this mean?

I wanted you to keep it a secret, but you told me to keep it a secret?

He was a bit confused and, for a moment, Zhou Qi didn't know whether he should silence him.

Meanwhile, Cao Song snorted and placed his phone on the table.

Dangerous?

If you're afraid of danger, don't expect to make money!

It was obvious from common sense how huge the profits would be from such a magical herb cultivation method. If he could master this method, why would he still be a store manager?

He would start his own company, become a director, and monopolize the entire national medicinal herb market!

As for the problem of needing human kidneys for the medicinal herbs, was that even a problem?

How much was one kidney? How much was a ginseng root that could extend life?

He would directly price them at 200,000 each, and people would line up to sell them!

Country bumpkins are just country bumpkins. Being tricked into revealing the secret so easily, you deserve to be poor your whole life!

"Old Cao, when will the medicinal herbs arrive?" His phone lit up, and a message appeared on his screen.

Cao Song glanced at it, then ignored it and lay down.

Before obtaining the secret, Director Liang was his father.

But now?

Who recognizes that old man? Get lost!