This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

Wang Shizhen was stunned.

He never expected Du Heng to ask such a question. He also never expected Du Heng to have some knowledge about four seasons nourishment. As for Du Heng’s sudden question, he didn’t know how to answer. To make these dishes, he would first buy books, research information, and then slowly experiment on his own. After making them, he would try them himself first. If the taste wasn’t good, he would definitely scrap it. As for the effects, he couldn’t tell either. So, while he might have some basic cooking skills, for dietary therapy, he was still in the phase of knowing what to do but not why; he really couldn’t answer Du Heng’s question. Because he hadn’t studied the medicinal properties of these ingredients. For diners and tourists, he could bluff his way through. But with Du Heng, mere bluffing wouldn’t work; rambling on would likely make him lose even more face.

Wang Shizhen grew a bit flustered and annoyed. He untied his apron, tossed it onto a kitchen chair, then turned and started ushering Du Heng and the Pharmacy Doctor out. ”Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand. You should just focus on treating patients.”

As Du Heng was being ushered out, he said with a smile, ”I get the feeling you’re a bit flustered and trying to change the subject.”

”You talk too much. It’s Saturday, why aren’t you resting at home? What brings you up the mountain? Just tell me what’s going on.”

”Hahaha, let’s go to your clinic; we brought you something.”

When they arrived at the clinic entrance, Wang Shizhen glanced at a large Bag at the door, opened the door, and asked, ”What did you bring?”

”It’s the ’Common Household Medicines Handbook’. You should distribute one to each family later.”

”Does it cost money? If it costs money, you can take it away. I know the nature of the people in our village too well. If it costs money, they won’t want it.”

”No money needed, just give it to everyone.”

Wang Shizhen pushed open the door, turned, took the large Bag from Du Heng’s hand, then carried it in and tossed it into a corner.

Opening it casually and taking out one handbook, he carefully examined its appearance and then seriously flipped through the contents. ”Wow, this is actually really well made. Du, where did you get this from?”

”Dr. Yu and I made it ourselves; it’s not something difficult.”

Wang Shizhen smacked his lips. ”You guys are really amazing.”

Given their relationship, Du Heng didn’t need to be secretive and openly looked through Wang Shizhen’s medicine cabinet. ”Take a look, do you have the medicines listed in my handbook here?”

”I should have all of them, at least the few types I’m seeing now.”

”What about Chinese herbal medicine? Do you have those?” Du Heng directly opened a medicine drawer to check, and the Pharmacy Doctor beside him also began looking through them.

Wang Shizhen put down the handbook and looked at the two rummaging through his medicines. ”Alright, you two, that’s enough! Don’t mess up my medicines.”

”I’m just checking if you’ve stocked any inferior quality Medicine Ingredients,” Du Heng said casually.

”Du, we’ve known each other since junior high. Do you think I’m that kind of person?” Wang Shizhen looked at the two, dissatisfied. ”By the way, since you brought it up, I did remember something.”

Du Heng turned his head and asked, ”What is it?”

”Last week, a medicinal materials peddler came here. All the Traditional Chinese medicinal materials he offered were priced two to three percent lower than what the Health Clinic provides us.”

”And you didn’t buy any?”

”Tch, am I crazy? The medicine the Health Clinic gives us is already below market price. Now there’s even cheaper medicine? Anyone with half a brain knows there must be something wrong with it. Besides, if it were good medicine, why would these peddlers bother coming to our poor, remote place?”

Du Heng chuckled lightly, feeling considerably relieved. After all, Wang Shizhen was his Classmate. If something like that had happened, it would have been awkward for everyone.

”I didn’t realize you had this level of awareness.”

”Although I, Wang Shizhen, love money, have you ever seen me make a dishonest living from the clinic all these years? My agritourism business brings in two to three thousand yuan a day; I don’t need that kind of dirty money.”

Seeing that the Pharmacy Doctor had no objections, Du Heng stopped and jokingly gave Wang Shizhen a thumbs-up. ”You get my likes.”

”That’s just empty praise. Even you, Du, have picked up bad habits.” After teasing each other, Wang Shizhen immediately changed the subject. ”But even though I didn’t buy any, since they came to me, it’s possible someone in other villages might be interested in these low-priced Medicine Ingredients. You need to investigate this thoroughly.”

”To be honest, this is precisely why the two of us have been out and about these past two days. Otherwise, for just these handbooks, we would have just called and asked you to pick them up yourselves.”

Wang Shizhen nodded with understanding. Seeing that the Pharmacy Doctor was still checking the Medicine Ingredients, he called out, ”Shi, that’s enough. Come over and have some water. It’s not like I’d try to cheat you, would I?”

After speaking, he turned to Du Heng again. ”There’s something else. The day before yesterday, a woman came to me. She said she wanted to partner up to promote a ’miracle drug’ in the village, one that supposedly treats hypertension, arteriosclerosis, and other ailments. For every box sold, I’d get a 20% commission.”

”What kind of drug is so amazing that it can treat hypertension and even arteriosclerosis?”

”Bullshit! It’s fake medicine, just a health product.” Wang Shizhen shook his head and continued, ”No, it doesn’t even have an OTC mark, no Food Health Permission Number, not even the blue hat sign. It’s a complete counterfeit. I reckon it’s just made from Flour and starch.”

Du Heng immediately recalled what Wang Zhenzhen had told him when he got off work yesterday: a Villager in some village had fought with their village doctor over a health product.

”Du, you need to be careful about this. These people are definitely scammers. They claim the original price for that stuff is 4,380 yuan, but they’re promoting it for just 1,980 yuan. You know how our old farmers are—they love a bargain and are desperate to protect their health. I’m worried someone will get cheated.”

”I’ve heard about this too. Someone has already been cheated and even got into a fight with their village doctor.”

”Fighting is to be expected. A 20% commission on a box of that medicine is 400 yuan. Some less scrupulous colleagues would definitely help them sell it.”

”These fake medicine peddlers are the worst. But Central Lake is so big, and people live so spread out. Even if we call the police, it’s hard to know where these people are. And now, with some village doctors involved, even if we wanted them to be informants, we’d have to worry they might be moles and tip off the peddlers.”

Wang Shizhen chuckled. ”Well, that’s a problem for you leaders to worry about. You can stress over it; it has nothing to do with us ordinary people.”

”Alright then, we’ll be going. Remember to distribute those Materials to the village.”

”Don’t rush off. I told my Wife when I got here; She’s cooking right now.”

”No, it’s okay. We need to visit other villages, and you have your business to run. We won’t trouble you.”

No matter how much Wang Shizhen tried to persuade them to stay, Du Heng and the Pharmacy Doctor still got into the car and left.