Reversal

Zhao Xiaojun met up with his high school classmates and rode his electric bike to a village on the outskirts of the city.

My high school classmate, who is studying medicine, was even more indignant about Rejuvenation Valley Pharmaceutical than Zhao Xiaojun. When he heard that Zhao Xiaojun intended to expose the fraud through live streaming, he offered to cooperate.

Zhao Xiaojun suppressed his excitement and started the live stream.

The title is "On-site visit to a veteran miner suffering from pneumoconiosis, exposing the scam of health products curing diseases!"

Sure enough, as the person who first posted the trending topic, a large number of people quickly flocked in, and the number of online users skyrocketed.

Zhao Xiaojun's voice trembled as he first greeted everyone, then explained the purpose of the live stream and asked his high school classmate to introduce the basic situation.

My high school classmate was also quite excited. He briefly introduced his uncle, a typical old miner who risked his life for money, and who had been diagnosed with stage three pneumoconiosis more than ten years ago.

Zhao Xiaojun also collected a lot of information and provided supplementary popular science information on pneumoconiosis stages, life expectancy, and complications.

Stone Ridge County is not a large town, and we arrived at our destination quickly.

Zhao Xiaojun followed his high school classmates into a rural courtyard with a distinctly vintage feel.

The uncle was very thin and looked obviously sick. He coughed frequently, but he didn't shy away from his nephew's classmate's camera. He led the two of them into the house and pointed to a corner, saying, "This is what County Magistrate Duanmu issued."

A high school classmate corrected him. "He's not the county magistrate anymore."

Zhao Xiaojun zoomed in and took a closer look.

The comments section was filled with messages.

"It's all rice, flour, and cooking oil; it looks alright."

"I just don't know the price. Some of the purchase price is several times the market price; they're making a killing."

"It's alright. I saw the winning bid announcement; it's a bit more expensive than the market price, but not outrageous."

"They're all no-name brands; I don't recognize a single one."

"Of course, local brands should be prioritized in this kind of thing, otherwise we'll be criticized to death."

"No, who wants to see this? Hurry up and film the miracle drug Isatis Root Oral Solution!"

Zhao Xiaojun glanced at the comments and quickly asked, "Uncle, what about that Isatis Root Oral Solution?"

The uncle frowned. "Do we still need to film that?"

My high school classmate said, "I'm studying medicine, and I want to see the ingredient list."

"Alright then." The uncle turned around, opened an old-fashioned refrigerator, and carefully took out several boxes of Isatis Root Oral Solution.

In Zhao Xiaojun's live stream, the chat was full of questions.

"Outrageous, they even stored it in the refrigerator."

"No, it's just a scam health product, there's no need to be so careful."

"Although it's not good to talk about a patient like that, even if there's no Banlangen (Isatis root), there will be Banhonggen (Red Banlangen) or Banlvgen (Green Banlangen)."

Indeed, people from northern China love buying health supplements.

Why don't you talk about pyramid schemes and fraud in the south?

Upon seeing this, Zhao Xiaojun quickly dissuaded the commenter and blocked them, trying to steer the discussion back to the main topic.

My high school classmate glanced at the rudimentary ingredient list—it was ridiculously clean, consisting mainly of Isatis root and water—and frowned, saying, "Uncle, this stuff is a scam. The ingredient list is probably fake. Don't drink it anymore."

My uncle didn't believe it. "How could that be?! It's all over the internet, it says this medicine cured several people with pneumoconiosis before, and I definitely felt much better after taking it."

Zhao Xiaojun felt somewhat helpless.

This rhetoric is similar to that of one's own mother.

The comments section was filled with mockery.

"Hilarious! A classic case of a relative suffering from an incurable disease. Even academicians at top-tier hospitals couldn't cure it, but an illiterate old man from the next village could."

"I suggest drinking one right there on the spot, so the people in the live stream can witness the miracle."

"If you trust your gut feeling more than hospitals, you deserve to be scammed!"

My high school classmates are still explaining the placebo effect from a medical perspective.

"What nonsense!" the uncle said impatiently. "I've been sick for decades, don't I know whether I'm good or not?"

After saying that, he glanced at the sky, and actually opened a bottle, tilted his head back, and drank it down.

The high school classmate was horrified and immediately snatched it away, slamming it to the ground.

Zhao Xiaojun's live stream was filled with cheers, and gifts were being sent in at lightning speed.

"Good, that's true filial piety!"

"Older people have rigid thinking; reasoning with them won't work, you have to take action!"

"Sigh, send a rocket (virtual gift), streamer, maybe you should buy some proper medicine for the old man."

Zhao Xiaojun was overjoyed and completely relieved.

The uncle stared at the shards on the ground, his hands trembling with rage, and he coughed up a mouthful of black blood.

The live chat was filled with question marks again.

"What the heck? Am I seeing things?"

"This is even more exaggerated than martial arts dramas! Drinking health supplements even has special effects!"

"This is outrageous. The streamer is pretending to be a traitor, and they're probably hiring extras to deliberately create hype."

"I'm impressed, this streamer is really something!"

"I must say, those two extras were actually quite good actors."

His high school classmate was terrified and rushed forward to support him. "Uncle, are you alright? Should we call 120?"

"Let go!" The uncle was furious, shoving his high school classmate aside as he frantically picked up the broken pieces from the ground. "It's ruined, they're all broken! You can't buy them anymore."

Seeing that his uncle was alright, his high school classmate earnestly advised him, "Uncle, you've already been to big hospitals in Beijing, and even those doctors there couldn't cure you. How could an oral liquid possibly fix it?!"

"This thing is a complete scam; nobody will buy it!"

"Nonsense! It's only free in Stone Ridge County!" Uncle was very angry, frowning as he said, "People from other counties have to pay to buy it. Lots of people are queuing up at the North Gate Pharmacy, and each person can only buy one box!"

"How is that possible?!" My high school classmates were speechless. "Who would line up to buy this thing?"

The uncle coldly shooed him away. "Get out! Go see for yourself on North Gate Street."

Zhao Xiaojun and his high school classmates left somewhat dejectedly, riding their bicycles to North Gate Street in the county town to find out what was going on.

Before even arriving at the destination, I could see a line that stretched for at least a kilometer, with people genuinely queuing to buy Isatis Root Lung-Clearing Oral Solution.

Zhao Xiaojun and his high school classmates looked at each other in bewilderment.

The viewers in the live stream were also dumbfounded.

"No, hiring so many extras must have cost a lot of eggs."

"Outrageous, the world has finally gone so mad that I don't recognize it anymore."

"Isn't this just a publicity stunt?"

"I'm scared. It probably won't actually work to cure the disease."

Duanmu Ren declined the province's concern and care, stating that he did not need to suppress the trending topic or remove it from the hot search list.

After the live stream of patients from other counties queuing up to buy medicine in Stone Ridge County went viral, Duanmu Ren took the initiative to invite provincial hospitals and some well-known medical experts to visit Stone Ridge County in person and track the changes in the patients' conditions.

The result was naturally sensational.

Major hospitals have independently verified the effectiveness of Isatis Root Oral Solution, and patients' conditions have indeed improved.

Some patients with mild symptoms in the first stage even recover very quickly.

Many papers have been published.

The online celebrity doctor who was previously criticized has deleted his videos. His new video only contains one line. "Medicine no longer exists. I'm temporarily leaving the internet to reflect."

Duanmu Ren and Li Jiabao's reputations have undergone a dramatic reversal; they are now seen as national heroes who endured humiliation and hardship to bring glory to the country, and are considered shoo-ins for next year's Nobel Prize.

In Stone Ridge County, his reputation was even more outstanding.

Li Jiabao's long-cherished wish has been fulfilled; he's practically Dong Ge from Shiling County.

As a result, Duanmu Ren also received a notice to attend a provincial cadre training course.

After the training is completed, he will be directly transferred to a position in the provincial government.

Supreme Mystery Mountain.

Duanmu Ren was in a great mood and was willing to chat a bit more with Hu Yueqiu, who was a civil servant.

However, the words of this lowly clerk made Duanmu Ren very unhappy.

"What?!" Duanmu Ren frowned. "The Hua Household said they're out of pills?"