I attained immortality through meditation in the Great Qian Dynasty.

"I hereby declare that Jishetang..."

Registrar Zhang announced.

Su Mei closed her eyes in despair.

A century-old enterprise was ultimately destroyed by its own hands.

Zhao Zian, you liar...

"Wait!"

A voice reached everyone's ears.

The crowd parted to both sides.

A figure walked over; it was Zhao Zian!

"Dr. Zhao... Dr. Zhao?"

Dr. Wang rubbed his eyes.

Sun, the accountant, was so excited that his beard was trembling.

"It's Mr. Zhao! It really is Mr. Zhao! He's here!"

Su Mei looked in the direction of the sound.

he came.

He really came.

On the high platform, Qian Defa's eyes widened in disbelief.

impossible!

That's absolutely impossible!

The man he sent was the most ruthless and vicious outlaw in town, who personally guaranteed that he had already drowned that brat Zhao Zian in the river!

The corpses have been fed to turtles!

Is the thing standing in front of me now a human or a ghost?!

Zhao Zian walked straight up to the high platform.

He first bowed deeply to Zhang, the registrar.

"Registrar Zhang, my name is Zhao Zian. I am a step late, please forgive me."

Registrar Zhang was also astonished.

"Dr. Zhao, since you are a representative of Jishetang, why are you so late?"

Zhao Zian smiled slightly.

"Reporting to the Registrar, it's because I wanted to prepare some truly good things for today's competition. Good medicinal herbs take a long time to prepare, so I dared not be careless in the slightest, which is why I was delayed and almost ruined the important matter."

"So they went to prepare medicinal herbs! I knew it, Jishetang wouldn't be afraid of Huichuntang."

"Listen to their attitude! They'd rather be late for the sake of good medicine; that's being responsible to us patients!"

Zhao Zian's gaze fell on Qian Defa.

Qian Defa forced out a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"Dr. Zhao... Dr. Zhao, you've finally arrived! I thought you were too scared to come!"

Zhao Zian smiled upon hearing this.

"Manager Qian is joking."

He took two steps forward and stood in the center of the platform.

"Fellow villagers, this competition should not have happened today."

The audience erupted in uproar.

What do you mean? You're not going to compete anymore?

Qian Defa's heart skipped a beat. What trick was this kid up to now?

Zhao Zian continued speaking.

"These days, Manager Qian's Huichuntang has driven down the prices of many commonly used medicinal herbs to an extremely low level. To be honest, this is a great thing that benefits the country and the people, allowing the villagers to treat more illnesses with less money. I, Zhao Zian, admire this."

The audience was stunned by these words.

Is this... boasting about how much money one can make?

Qian Defa was even more confused.

What exactly is this kid up to?

First came praise, could it be an attempt to seek peace?

However, Zhao Zian suddenly changed the subject.

"but!"

"Manager Qian, you shouldn't have done this once, you absolutely shouldn't have, repeatedly come to provoke us at Jishetang in order to suppress us. Even worse, you shouldn't have wagered the quality of our medicinal herbs, insisting on competing with Jishetang at this conference!"

"Since Manager Qian is so confident and so insistent, then I, Zhao Zi'an, will boldly accept this challenge today!"

"Let's have a competition in front of the entire town!"

"Let's compare our two families' medicinal herbs and see what the differences are!"

"Let's compare the medicines made using the herbs from both of our families. Which one truly lives up to the expectations of patients and the principles of a healer's benevolence?"

The people in the audience cheered.

"Alright! Let's have a competition!"

"That's right! All medicines have some degree of toxicity; quality is the most important thing!"

"Dr. Zhao has integrity! We support you!"

Qian Defa's face was extremely ugly.

Can he say that his price reduction wasn't for the benefit of ordinary people? No!

Can he really say he didn't go to their door to provoke them? The whole town was watching!

Can he really say he doesn't want to compete anymore? That would be tantamount to admitting defeat in public!

That damned little beast!

"Very well! Very well! Let's have a contest! I'd like to see what miraculous medicines your Jishetang can come up with!"

He had made up his mind that he would risk damaging his reputation today.

We must also crush Zhao Zi'an when it comes to medicinal herbs!

Zhao Zian had been waiting for these words.

"Registrar Zhang, may we begin?"

Registrar Zhang nodded.

"The competition shall officially begin! Both sides, please present the medicinal herbs used in the competition!"

Qian Defa gave a wink to the man behind him.

Two men carried a tray onto the stage.

On the tray were ginseng, deer antler, lingzhi mushrooms, and other precious items.

"Please look, everyone!"

Qian Defa pointed to the tray.

"This is a century-old ginseng that my Huichuntang sourced from beyond the Great Wall, along with two antlers from a sika deer and this Taishan red Ganoderma! Each of these is a priceless treasure. My Huichuntang's medicinal herb channels are spread throughout the world, and our strength is formidable. How could a small Jishetang compare to us?"

Those in the know in the audience gasped in surprise.

"My God, that ginseng rootstock and its veins... it looks like it's quite old!"

"That deer antler, plump and full of color, is of the highest quality!"

Zhao Zian clapped his hands.

Below the stage, Accountant Sun and Physician Wang carried a tray up to the high platform.

On the cloth, a single medicinal herb lay all alone.

Licorice.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Even Zhang, the registrar, was stunned.

A few breaths later, the audience burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! Did I see that right? Jishetang is using a single licorice root to compete?"

"Huichuntang serves delicacies from land and sea, and they serve up a plate of pickled vegetables?"

"What's the point of even competing? Just admit defeat!"

Qian Defa laughed so hard he almost cried.

"Zhao Zian, are you joking with me? You think you can beat my ginseng and deer antler with just these few rotten grass roots?"

"If you really can't produce anything decent, kneel down and kowtow to me. I'm in a good mood today, so perhaps I'll..."

"Manager Qian."

Zhao Zian interrupted his laughter.

"Are you sure what's in your plate is medicine to heal the sick and not poison to kill?"

Qian Defa's laughter stopped abruptly.

"What do you mean?"

Zhao Zian ignored him and picked up a licorice root.

"Fellow villagers, medicine is not distinguished by its price, but by whether it is used correctly or incorrectly. If used correctly, a penny's worth of licorice can save a life. If used incorrectly, even a thousand pieces of ginseng can be a deadly weapon."

"In today's competition, we will not compare whose medicinal herbs are more expensive, nor whose family wealth is greater."

"Let's compare this most common ingredient: licorice!"

"Bring the cauldron!"

Two men carried up two bronze cauldrons, two charcoal stoves, and two buckets of water.

"Manager Qian, words are not enough. Let's demonstrate it on the spot."

"We use the most common licorice in these two shops, the same pot, the same water, and the same fire, to brew two bowls of licorice soup on the spot."

"Let the villagers taste it themselves and judge for themselves which is better or worse, shall we?"

Qian Defa's heart skipped a beat.

What's this kid up to?

What's the point of comparing licorice? Aren't they all the same taste?

Could it be... that there's something special about his licorice?