All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

In the early 1980s, Guangzhou was not a very big city. It was surrounded by large sugarcane fields and farmland, and orchards were everywhere. In the villages, there were old houses everywhere, and chickens and ducks ran around.

In fact, the Pearl River Delta region developed in just twenty or thirty years. Before that, the whole country was in a similar situation because people couldn't get enough to eat. A few years ago, some people even carried balls to Hong Kong. So, it's purely because of the country's favorable policies. They were born in a good place, which is their fate.

Now that the reform and opening up has just begun, rural areas like Maochengcheng on the outskirts of the city have not yet enjoyed the convenience brought by urban development, nor have they become rich overnight. More than 80% of the villagers still make a living by farming and raising fish.

However, Liu Feng estimated that Maochengcheng would soon enjoy the benefits brought by reform and opening up. With the increase in the urban population, migrants would definitely not be able to afford to rent houses in the city center and would have to find ways to rent in the suburbs. In the future, one urban village after another would be formed in Guangzhou, and every household would start to live the life of a landlady.

Then, their children will only see themselves as big city dwellers, and feel that they are from a different world from the migrant workers. That's just how realistic human nature is.

Mao Chengcheng's house was located at the entrance of a lychee orchard. There was a pond in the orchard with a few dozen chickens. It wasn't a large area, and that was all his family's possessions.

The family lived in a small red brick house with one and a half floors. The reason it was only half a floor was probably because they didn't have the money to build a proper one, so they added an iron shed. Judging from its appearance, it was quite old.

There were seven people in the family. Mao Chengcheng was the eldest. His parents were only in their early forties, but they looked like they were sixty years old. They had dark and thin faces. When they heard that their son's company commander had come, they quickly told their wives to go to the orchard to catch a chicken and kill it. They were obviously kind people.

Mao Chengcheng has five siblings. He is the eldest, and he has four younger sisters. The third sister is only fourteen years old and has already started working. The other sisters, except for the fourth sister who is still young, are in poor health. The second sister, in particular, is in poor health. Even when it is more than 20 degrees Celsius outside, she is still covered with a thick quilt. It is obvious that she has a special condition. This is probably what Wang Linsheng meant by the family's special circumstances.

Knowing about the Mao family's special circumstances, Wang Linsheng still accepted a large sum of money from them; he's definitely a scumbag.

If it were allocated normally, Mao Chengcheng would definitely not have been assigned to a place like the Grain Bureau, which is why he spent money to find connections. No wonder when I asked Mao Chengcheng to participate in the shareholding, he hesitated and dared not agree. Given the family's situation, the whole family's hopes rest on him.

Liu Feng was also quite helpless. If it were twenty years later, Mao Chengcheng's family's location would definitely be a nouveau riche from land expropriation. Just this lychee orchard alone would be enough to build several high-rise buildings. Being born at the wrong time is probably what this means.

If I were to tell Mao Chengcheng now that I could become a millionaire even if I did nothing, he would definitely think I've gone mad.

There's nothing we can do; who knows what the future holds?

Mao Chengcheng's parents were truly hospitable, killing chickens and preparing fish. Liu Feng had mixed feelings about the meal. Cantonese cuisine is all about preserving the original flavor. If the cooking skills are not up to par, the taste is hard for Liu Feng to bear. When he picked up a piece of the poached chicken, it was bloody and stringy, which stunned Liu Feng. This was truly authentic.

It's your first time visiting someone's home, so you might feel awkward offering to cook, right?

After the meal, seeing that it was still early, and feeling a little embarrassed to have eaten the other party's chicken for free, Liu Feng took the initiative to go into the house and take the pulses of the two girls. The fifth one was only seven years old, but she was as tall as a four or five-year-old girl, dark-skinned and thin. After examining her for a few minutes, Liu Feng determined that the child was simply malnourished and weak due to a lack of vitamins.

If this child doesn't get his nutrition back, he'll definitely not grow taller than 1.5 meters, and he'll have a flat chest even as an adult. This condition is easy to treat. Liu Feng stepped forward and wrote a prescription. He should first take some stomach-nourishing Chinese medicine, then take vitamin tablets, and eat more eggs in the future. There's still hope.

However, this second daughter is also giving Liu Feng a headache. Her body is basically ruined. Over the years, her family has probably spent a lot of money on medical treatment, but not only has it not been cured, but because of the random medications and injections, her body now has autonomic nervous system dysfunction, severe yang deficiency, and long-term bed rest has caused edema. Some functions of her body have degenerated. This disease needs to be treated slowly and cannot be rushed. It is estimated that this will take more than half a year.

This put Liu Feng in a bit of a dilemma. To be honest, when he came to Guangzhou, he never really thought about making money by treating patients. When he said he would sell plasters to support He Xiaoping, it was just a man's sweet talk.

He originally thought he should just open a restaurant. The barrier to entry is not high. With his skills, he could develop several large chain restaurants and enter the real estate industry. Earning a small fortune every year would be a piece of cake.

But now that we've encountered this situation, we can't just stand by and watch him die. Besides, Mao Chengcheng is my comrade-in-arms, someone I've been through thick and thin with. I can't just ignore him.

Do I really want to make a fortune selling plasters?

Seeing Liu Feng's troubled expression, everyone in the room looked at him. Liu Feng's medical skills were indeed a surprise to Mao Chengcheng. In the army, Liu Feng did know many skills, but this was the first time he had seen medical skills. However, he believed that his company commander would not treat his sister for no reason.

The family was already somewhat disheartened about their second son. They had been trying to cure him for so many years, which had bankrupted the family, but the treatment only made things worse. The fact that the family hadn't given up was already quite remarkable, considering that Guangdong province was notorious nationwide for its preference for sons over daughters.

Liu Feng glanced back at everyone, then at his wife He Xiaoping, and decided to discuss the matter with her. He then stood up and spoke.

"Xiaoping, come out for a second, I need to ask you something!"

He Xiaoping nodded obediently and followed him out. When they reached a secluded spot by the wall outside, Liu Feng put his arm around He Xiaoping and said with a smile.

"Wife, it's like this, we have two choices now. I can cure Mao Chengcheng's second sister's illness, but it requires brewing medicine every day and constant observation. It will probably take more than six months of treatment to cure her."

My original plan was for us to open a small restaurant in Guangzhou first, then a large restaurant, and eventually a chain, so you could live a good life. But if we stay here for six months, I'll probably have to pay for all the medicine. We also need to make a living, right? I was thinking, how about I actually go and get some plasters to sell?

He Xiaoping listened attentively to Liu Feng's words, then burst out laughing. She leaned against Liu Feng, tilted her head back, and said to him.

"You really think I'm following you to enjoy life? You've already asked me, so you must want to stay, right? Putting aside the fact that he's your comrade-in-arms, even for ordinary people, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda, right? It's okay, wherever you are, I'll follow you. I'll help you with chores!"

Liu Feng's eyes lit up as he looked at this understanding girl. He couldn't help but hug her waist tightly and kiss her hard on the lips. The girl blushed immediately, shyly punched his chest, and ran away.

Liu Feng chuckled, turned around and went back into the house, speaking to Mao Chengcheng and his parents.

"Chengcheng, can you help me rent a house in your village? I can cure your second sister's illness. Come with me to the herbal medicine market tomorrow!"

Liu Feng's words plunged the room into silence. It took Mao Chengcheng a while to fully react. He stepped forward, grabbed Liu Feng's arm, his face flushed, and asked excitedly.

"Company commander, can you really cure him?"

Liu Feng reluctantly loosened his grip a little. The kid didn't know his own strength. Seeing that the other parent was also looking at him anxiously, he smiled and said to the parent.

“Uncle and Aunt, your daughter’s illness can’t be rushed. I estimate it will take six months to recover. I’ll be staying in your village for the next six months. I need to brew medicine every day. Please have Lao Si come and help bring the medicine.”

Mao Chengcheng's parents were so excited they almost knelt down before Liu Feng. Liu Feng was startled and quickly helped them up, explaining a few things to them. First, the room needed to be renovated. It needed ventilation and disinfection. Looking at the chamber pot on the wall, the pungent smell was enough to make one's eyes water. The germs in this room could probably be used as a laboratory.

And so, Liu Feng and He Xiaoping settled down in the rural area on the outskirts of Guangzhou.

Regarding the house, no money was asked. He stayed at the house of Mao Chengcheng's second uncle in the village. Hearing that Liu Feng would receive medical treatment, and that his second uncle was a war hero and a veteran, he directly gave up the second floor for Liu Feng. This was handled very generously. The people of Guangzhou are still simple and honest in this day and age!

The next day, Liu Feng and Mao Chengcheng rode their bicycles to the largest Chinese herbal medicine market in the area. They bought two sacks of herbs, a scale, and plaster cloth to make plasters.

Liu Feng really intends to make this plaster a business and even industrialize it. Chinese people have a tradition of using plasters, especially the older generation. For backaches and pains, a plaster can solve the problem. It can be used for all kinds of ailments.

This is really nothing unusual. In Bai Jingqi's world, his pharmaceutical group's subsidiaries developed more than 30 kinds of plasters to treat various diseases, from fingers to skulls. These plasters were exported overseas, with annual sales of billions. They had several pharmaceutical factories that specialized in producing plasters, making them the world's largest plaster manufacturer at the time. This stuff is simple and convenient, and as long as it works well, there are tons of repeat customers!

Therefore, Liu Feng felt that this thing had potential, and the key was that it was effective, so everything else was not a problem.

As for what constitutes practicing medicine illegally?

What a joke! Don't you know what era we live in? Besides, it's not too late to complete the formalities after you've made your own money!

The first batch of plasters Liu Feng made was for treating lower back pain. This stuff was quite famous a hundred years ago; it was a genuine, authentic dog-skin plaster!

This stuff has one important ingredient: genuine dog skin. This is definitely a lost secret recipe plaster, a real plaster that has disappeared from later generations for a long time.

Adding dog skin makes the plaster easier to be absorbed by the skin, and the combination of various medicinal materials also creates a special chemical reaction, making it extremely effective in treating lower back pain.

This technique could be lost, probably because it's inhumane. After all, those adorable dogs, if they knew they were being skinned and used as medicine, dog lovers would probably shut down the pharmaceutical factory.

However, Liu Feng would never label this medicine as genuine dog skin plaster; otherwise, it would probably be seen as a typical case of selling counterfeit medicine.

He named this plaster "Imperial Secret Recipe Plaster," and the mere addition of the word "Imperial" instantly elevated its value, making it a popular product among the Chinese people.

Of course, he still had to treat Mao Ermei's illness. As long as he could cure Mao Ermei, his reputation in the area would definitely rise sharply. People would only believe things they saw with their own eyes.

With the first batch of plasters ready, everything was in place, just waiting for the right opportunity!

Chapter Seven: Delivering Benefits to Our Fellow Villagers

After a week of work, the first batch of over a thousand plasters was finished, but how to sell them was a difficult problem.

If you try to sell it in the city, people won't believe your quack remedy. Besides, it's not something you can eat or drink. You can't sell it just by hawking it and praising it yourself. You have to see the effects and build a reputation before word spreads and eventually it becomes a large-scale product.

However, Liu Feng was unfamiliar with the place and didn't have much capital. Besides, it was the early 1980s, so publicity was also difficult.

Just as Liu Feng was thinking about where to find a breakthrough, Mao Chengcheng took him to the small health clinic in the town.

A distant relative of his works as a doctor here. Mao Chengcheng has been worried about Liu Feng these past few days because he saw that Liu Feng's plaster was ready but he couldn't sell it. He felt that this stuff should be sold through hospitals, since people trust doctors these days.

But Liu Feng thought it was unreliable. How could a health center possibly help sell a substandard, unregistered medicated plaster?

Sure enough, when they arrived, Mao Chengcheng's relative was just an ordinary doctor at a health center, an old man who was almost sixty years old. He was said to be Mao Chengcheng's aunt's cousin. Liu Feng watched for a while and realized that the old man had no formal medical skills at all. He just relied on his years of experience to prescribe medicine for patients, and he only ever used the same few drugs over and over again.

Liu Feng watched as he wrote prescriptions for patients, and there were several typos. It wasn't the kind of doctor's handwriting used in later generations; it was just pure typos. He wrote it in her style.

He usually only knows three medical skills: cupping, scraping, and intravenous infusion. He is quite respected by the local villagers, who call him Dr. Deng very enthusiastically.

This Dr. Deng was completely unimpressed by Liu Feng's plaster, which claimed to cure backaches and pains. He reasoned that such a thing was readily available at the clinic, costing 32 cents per plaster and 3 yuan for a box of ten. As for its effects, it was probably just a placebo made from some specially irritating medicinal herbs that would make the skin feel like it was on fire and could improve blood circulation.

Besides, if we sell Liu Feng's plasters, will the hospital still sell its plasters?

So the other party refused without hesitation, showing no regard for Mao Chengcheng's feelings, and their face was sour from beginning to end, without saying a single kind word to the two of them.

However, Liu Feng understood that since the other party had no relation to Mao Chengcheng, they naturally wouldn't give face to this young upstart.

Liu Feng wasn't angry at all. He smiled and pulled Mao Chengcheng away from the health center. Before leaving, he took a deep look at the group of old men queuing up for IV drips in the health center, and a smile gradually appeared on his lips.

As Mao Chengcheng walked out of the health center, he felt quite embarrassed and apologized to Liu Feng repeatedly. He had originally thought that he had this distant relative, so he had brought Liu Feng with him as soon as possible, but he never expected that the other party would be so disrespectful.

Liu Feng laughed heartily, stepped forward, patted Mao Chengcheng on the shoulder, and said...

"It's alright. He's just your aunt's relative, not your uncle. It's normal for him not to give you face. But Chengcheng, what happened today has given me an idea. It seems that everyone still trusts doctors. This is easy to handle. Come on, let's go out and buy some things."

Seeing that Liu Feng was not affected at all, Mao Chengcheng breathed a sigh of relief and then smiled and agreed.

On the way, Liu Feng asked Mao Chengcheng.

"Chengcheng, have you been scolded by your boss at work these past few days?"

Mao Chengcheng looked back at Liu Feng while riding his bicycle and asked in surprise.

"Company commander, how did you know?"

Liu Feng smiled without saying anything, then shook his head before speaking.

“That day, I didn’t give Wang Linsheng any face, so why would he give you any face? You can imagine that if he said a few more words to the leaders, you would be criticized. Isn’t that normal?”

Mao Chengcheng was stunned for a long time in disbelief before he murmured.

"Is that so? No wonder I've been getting the better of some of my superiors lately. They're making me do all the hard work, and if I'm even a little slow, I get criticized. I was supposed to be promoted to a permanent position this month, and I thought the bosses were just testing me."

Liu Feng said with some surprise.

"You haven't been officially hired yet?"

Mao Chengcheng nodded and said.

"Yes, there weren't any openings before, and I only got promoted this month. But it's almost the end of the month, and no one has notified me yet. Company Commander, do you think there might be a problem with this?"

Liu Feng sighed helplessly.

“Chengcheng, I’ve dragged you down with me. I think there’s no hope for you to get a permanent position. There are two possibilities for you now. The first is that your company will find a reason to fire you, and the second is that Wang Linsheng will ask you for another sum of money and tell you to listen to him from now on. I guess you’ll have to take the blame again!”

Liu Feng's words made Mao Chengcheng immediately stop his bicycle. He stood there stunned for a long time before looking up at Liu Feng and saying something.

"Company commander, is this Wang Linsheng's doing?"

Seeing Mao Chengcheng looking constipated, Liu Feng helplessly stopped the car and said to Mao Chengcheng behind him.

"Chengcheng, stop worrying. This is perfect. I need an assistant here. I think you should quit your job. What's the use of a secure job these days? With your background and qualifications, you'll probably only be a low-level clerk by retirement. Work hard for me, and I guarantee you'll earn enough to buy a car in a year!"

Upon hearing Liu Feng's words, Mao Chengcheng quickly cleared his mind of all the jumbled thoughts. He assumed Liu Feng was just trying to comfort him and was joking. He then gave a wry smile and said...

"Company Commander, if what you say is true, then it wouldn't be bad for me to work for you. I believe you have the ability. I don't even dare to dream of owning a car. I'd be satisfied if I could earn enough for a motorcycle in a year."

Liu Feng snorted and said.

"Use your imagination! It's been two years since the reform and opening up, and we're already in the 1980s. A new era is about to begin. In the future, you'll realize what money is all about. You'll find it annoying to even look at it!"

Mao Chengcheng laughed heartily, not taking it seriously, got on his bicycle, and followed Liu Feng. The two of them rode towards the local secondhand market.

By the time the two got home, it was already evening. Liu Feng hadn't expected that after spending the whole day at the market, it would be so difficult to buy two white coats and a suitcase. In this day and age, supplies were still scarce. But luckily, they managed to find two sets in the end. However, they were the kind of white coats that chefs wear, which would be enough to impress people.