The wooden cabinet held assorted herbs. The smell in the room came from those herbs mingling with the stench of feces and urine inside the fenced enclosure.
None of the herbs were especially valuable. As an apothecary, Cobert recognized these common medicinal ingredients at a glance.
"Desert broomrape, morinda root, dodder seed, creeping fig fruit, horny goat weed, goji berries, red sage root, angelica root, unforgetting root..."
"Huh? These ingredients... ah..." Cobert turned to look at Bodesai.
Avoiding his eyes, Bodesai nodded. "Yes, it's what you think."
Only after they parted ways with Bodesai did Zeng Mu learn from Cobert that these were the main herbs used to treat impotence.
"Would you mind telling me exactly how all this started?" Cobert's voice softened, a trace of apology creeping into it.
"It's a long story. I'll try to keep it brief."
Bodesai sat on a bench so badly eaten by termites that it threatened to collapse. In a feeble voice, he said, "We haven't seen each other or spoken in six months. Actually, the same goes for two of your three apprentices.
"Half a year ago, around the middle of June, I bought some herbs from your shop that I'd run out of at mine. Your apprentice-Gegoka was the one who sold them to me.
"That herb cost fifty Livre a pound, but Gegoka sold it to me for forty. Said it had been sitting around too long, and if it wasn't sold soon, it would end up feeding the rats. I didn't suspect anything. I took it straight home and brewed a decoction.
"As an apothecary, I'd already spent some time brewing medicine to treat an illness rather than maintain my health. You know my three great hobbies-"
Cobert nodded. "Yes. Playing cards, fishing, and chasing women."
"Naturally, the problem