Is It Poison or Tonic

In front of Ye Tong's stall, Wu Haichang's casual gaze swept over the jade bottles, finally landing on the medicinal cuisine Ye Tong was holding. The rich aroma made his appetite stir. He glanced at the iron pot and asked, "Are you selling the medicinal cuisine?"

"Not selling!" the Medicine Slave replied without looking up.

Wu Haichang frowned slightly and said, "If I buy some pills, can I have a bowl of medicinal cuisine?"

The Medicine Slave looked at Ye Tong.

Ye Tong calmly said, "No."

Wu Haichang stared at Ye Tong, then suddenly grinned, "Since you're staying at the Peach Garden Inn, little brother, you're probably not from the county city, right?"

Ye Tong asked, "Are you trying to threaten me?"

"This..." Wu Haichang was speechless. That was indeed his intention.

Ye Tong shook his head and sighed, "The medicinal cuisine today, besides me, no one else can eat it. It's not that I don't want to sell it to you. After all, who would push away a profitable business for no reason?"

Wu Haichang was taken aback and asked with some confusion, "What do you mean?"

Ye Tong thought for a moment and said, "Ten taels of Blue Silver, and I'll explain."

"You..."

Wu Haichang was furious, but his self-control was decent. He glared at Ye Tong and said, "Because you're young, I won't argue with you. Getting Blue Silver is no problem, but you must give me an explanation. If I'm not satisfied with your explanation, don't blame me for bullying outsiders like you."

"Alright!" Ye Tong said with a faint smile.

Wu Haichang took out ten taels of Blue Silver and threw them on the stall, saying, "Explain!"

Ye Tong picked out a root from the bowl and asked, "Do you understand medicinal herbs? Do you know what this is?"

Wu Haichang frowned, observed it carefully for a moment, and sneered, "Putting on a show. It's just ordinary medicinal material, what's there to talk about?"

"No!"

Beside him, an elder who had just arrived showed a look of horror. He stared intently at the root and said, "This is Hundred Corpse Root. It contains potent poison. Even a Sabertooth Wolf would be poisoned to death in an instant if it swallowed a drop of the poison from the Hundred Corpse Root. Young man, are you crazy? How dare you put such a deadly poison in your medicinal cuisine?"

The elder's words made Wu Haichang's face change drastically. He didn't recognize the Hundred Corpse Root, but he had heard of it!

Ye Tong smiled and nodded, "The elder is indeed knowledgeable."

Saying that, Ye Tong picked out a worm from the bowl and looked at Wu Haichang, asking, "Do you know what this is?"

After Wu Haichang clearly saw the poisonous worm, he instantly took several steps back, looking at Ye Tong in horror and saying, "You're truly insane. This is a Blood Centipede! You, you, you... Is this medicinal cuisine meant to nourish the body, or is it a poison for suicide?"

Ye Tong didn't answer his question, but instead asked with a smile, "Ten taels of Blue Silver, do you still think it was money wasted?"

"Gulp..." Wu Haichang swallowed hard and repeatedly shook his head, still feeling the lingering fear. He hadn't lived enough yet. If this young man had really given him a bowl of medicinal cuisine just now, he would probably have been poisoned to death by now.

But why was this young man fine after drinking the medicinal cuisine? Could it be that the medicinal cuisine was strange?

Wu Haichang was a shrewd man. After a moment of silence, he said, "You're trying to scare me with poisonous roots and insects. In reality, this medicinal cuisine has been processed and is not poisonous, right?"

Ye Tong didn't expect the man in front of him to still be unwilling to give up. Did he really crave the delicious food that much?

Wu Haichang said again, "Make a price! I'll buy a bowl of medicinal cuisine. Whether this medicinal cuisine is poisonous or not will be known with a single taste."

Ye Tong turned to the Medicine Slave and asked, "We're living at the Peach Garden Inn, how much Blue Silver did we pay?"

The Medicine Slave replied, "Three thousand taels."

Ye Tong looked at Wu Haichang and shrugged, "Did you hear that? If you're willing to pay three thousand taels of Blue Silver, I can give you a bowl. As for whether you'll still be alive after drinking it, that has nothing to do with me."

"Don't try it," the elder beside him suddenly said.

Wu Haichang suppressed his anger and asked, "Why?"

The elder carefully observed Ye Tong, hesitated for a moment, and said, "There's something wrong with this young man. He..."

Wu Haichang asked, "What's wrong with him?"

The elder shook his head and said with a wry smile, "Perhaps I'm mistaken! In any case, I advise you not to try it. Spending money to buy death is a foolish act."

Wu Haichang said angrily, "Who says I'll die? Three thousand taels of Blue Silver, right? No problem. Here's three thousand taels of Blue Silver banknotes. If I test it later and the medicinal cuisine is not poisonous, I'll make you pay."

"Sigh, this early in the morning, what bad luck!" Ye Tong looked at Wu Haichang as if he were looking at a dead man.

Wu Haichang turned around and whispered a few words to the person beside him. That person immediately hurried away. After Wu Haichang received a bowl of medicinal cuisine, he didn't drink it. Instead, he quietly looked at the bowl, as if waiting for something.

Ye Tong finished two bowls of medicinal cuisine, handed the bowls to the Medicine Slave, and then looked at the more than a dozen people who had already gathered around. He said faintly, "If you're here to watch the show, please move aside. I'm selling pills here. Please don't disturb my business."

The dozen or so people who were watching immediately retreated.

The elder did not retreat. His gaze moved to the jade bottles, and his eyes suddenly lit up. After he clearly saw the inscriptions on the jade bottles, he asked, "Are the characters carved on the jade bottles the names of the pills?"

"Yes!" Ye Tong said without hesitation.

The elder picked up a bottle, uncorked it, and smelled it. He was immediately surprised, "Is this really a Qi Gathering Pill? And the quality seems quite good. How many Qi Gathering Pills are in this bottle? What's the price?"

Ye Tong said, "Ten pills per bottle, sold as a whole bottle, for a total of eight thousand taels of Blue Silver."

The elder was surprised, "So cheap?"

Cheap? Ye Tong showed a strange expression and said, "Alright, I misremembered. It's ten thousand taels of Blue Silver per bottle."

"Cough cough..."

The elder couldn't catch his breath and coughed several times in succession. He looked at Ye Tong, almost wanting to slap him. In this day and age, who would raise prices like this? Just because he said it was cheap?

"Eight thousand taels, I'll buy it," the old man said.

"Ten thousand taels, I won't sell for less," Ye Tong replied calmly.

"My apologies for speaking out of turn!" The old man showed a dejected expression, directly took out four bank notes worth ten thousand taels of Blue Silver each, and asked, "Are the other elixirs like this too?"

Ye Tong said, "There are four types of elixirs, ten pills per bottle, all at the same price."

The old man said, "I'll buy a bottle of each. Please keep the bank notes."

"A great start," Ye Tong was quite satisfied. He said, "Originally, each jade bottle would cost an extra thousand taels of Blue Silver, but since you're my first customer, I'll waive that fee for you."

"Waive my foot!" The old man rolled his eyes upon hearing this and turned to leave with the four bottles of elixirs. However, after walking about ten meters, he seemed to remember something, turned back, and stood to the side, observing Wu Haichang. He wanted to know if the bowl of medicinal cuisine was indeed poisonous.

Soon, the person who had left returned, leading a fat pig.

Wu Haichang handed the bowl to the person and said in a deep voice, "Force-feed this bowl of medicinal cuisine into its belly."

Using a pig to test for poison? Everyone suddenly understood, finding it quite amusing.

As the bowl of medicinal cuisine was force-fed into the pig's belly, within just a few breaths, the pig trembled violently a few times, then collapsed to the ground with blood flowing from its seven orifices.

"It's dead?" Everyone looked at each other, their faces filled with shock.

They felt a chill down the back of their necks, thinking that if they had eaten the fragrant medicinal cuisine, their fate would likely not have been much better than the pig's.

Wu Haichang's heart grew cold. As the saying goes, one will not shed tears until they see the coffin. Seeing the pig poisoned to death, he finally understood that Ye Tong was right; the medicinal cuisine contained a potent poison. But why was he unharmed?

The old man leaned closer to the stall, squinting, and asked, "Young man, what exactly is wrong with your body?"

Ye Tong lied with his eyes open, "I am immune to all poisons. This medicinal cuisine is poison to you all, but it's a tonic to me. Old sir, are you satisfied with my answer?"

The old man frowned and said, "A little dissatisfied."

Ye Tong said impatiently, "Curiosity killed the cat. You should be more careful, old sir."

The old man realized he couldn't have a proper conversation with Ye Tong. With a cold snort, he turned and walked away, contemplating that he must send someone to inquire about Ye Tong's background once he returned.

Throughout the entire day, Ye Tong only managed to sell a little over half of his elixirs.

The next day.

After drinking the medicinal cuisine, Ye Tong set up his stall again to sell elixirs.

"Huh? This guy actually set up his stall again. Doesn't he know that if he's caught scamming in one place, he'll be beaten to death?" The two youths who had passed by yesterday returned. The honest-looking youth said.

The youth with a scar near his eye sneered, "There are many brainless people these days, let alone some kid who hasn't even grown a full beard? Let's go, why bother with him?"

The two shook their heads and left together.

Around noon.

"It's there," a loud voice echoed nearby. Immediately after, four or five youths rushed over.

Ye Tong sized them up and asked, "Gentlemen, are you here to buy elixirs?"

The young man in brocade robes leading them, with an arrogant expression, snorted through his nose and asked, "I heard you sell elixirs here, a bottle for ten thousand taels of Blue Silver? Ten pills?"

"Yes!" Ye Tong nodded.

The young man in brocade robes said, "Give me some face. One thousand taels per bottle."

Ye Tong asked curiously, "Is your face very valuable? Worth nine thousand taels of Blue Silver?"

The young man in brocade robes didn't detect the mockery in Ye Tong's words and said arrogantly, "I, Little Tyrant Gao Hu, am a well-known figure in this county city. My face is naturally very valuable. Some people want to curry favor with me, but I can't be bothered to deal with them! What are you guys waiting for? Pack up all the elixirs on this stall."

"Hold on!" Ye Tong stood up and said calmly, "It's their business if others want to curry favor with you. In my eyes, your face is worthless. If you want to buy elixirs, pay with money. If you don't have money, don't act arrogantly here."

Hearing Ye Tong's words, Little Tyrant Gao Hu became furious, as if he had suffered great humiliation, and cursed, "Damn you, I think you're looking for death."

"Pop..." Ye Tong removed the stopper of a jade bottle.