Facing such a master, Jiang Zheng truly felt like he was on the verge of a breakdown.
This month's allowance was already spent, and the herbs on that list would cost at least ten thousand taels of silver. And now this young lord expected that slip of paper to fetch ten million taels? Was he completely out of his mind?
"Cry, cry, cry — men can cry, it's no sin!" Jiang Chen chuckled. "But what if I told you this prescription was entrusted by the gods? Would you think I've gone mad again?"
"Me, treating the princess? You think I'm crazy too, don't you?"
"Even if I were crazy, would I drag my father into it? Would I risk the entire Jiang family? I may be a wastrel, but I'm not that stupid, am I?"
Jiang Zheng was struck speechless by Jiang Chen's rapid-fire questions. That was true — this young lord had done plenty of outrageous things, but he wouldn't stake the whole family on it, would he?
Could it be that the divine entrustment was actually real?
"Jiang Zheng, let me make this perfectly clear. This formula in your hands — we're not selling it for any amount of silver. Go tell the head of the Medicine Hall: in the Eastern Kingdom, they're not the only herb shop in town. If they don't want it, Shennong Hall and Pill King Garden would kill for the chance. Once the Medicine Hall gets outmaneuvered by the competition, there'll be no turning back. Once this pill formula goes into production, every healing remedy currently on the market will be pulled from the shelves — swept straight into the trash, not worth a single copper!"
Jiang Chen waved his hand with absolute confidence, the very picture of self-assurance.
This was no empty boast. In Jiang Chen's mind, he had already sifted through the options more times than he could count, finally filtering out all the Saint Grade and God Grade pill formulas and settling on one that was modest enough to be believable, yet absolutely priceless in its own right.
Most importantly, given the Eastern Kingdom's level of Spiritual Medicine cultivation, the herbs required by this formula wouldn't exceed what they could handle.
Seeing Jiang Zheng's dubious expression, Jiang Chen really wanted to kick him. Did this young master think picking out a formula was easy?
After all, in his previous life, Jiang Chen had been born with a Supreme Yin body — unable to cultivate. So during his million years overseeing the Celestial Library, his greatest pleasure had been studying the art of alchemy.
It was no exaggeration to say that a million years of refinement had made him one of the foremost alchemical masters across the entire Myriad Heavens Planes — on par with those legendary Immortal Alchemists renowned throughout the planes.
With Jiang Chen's past-life experience, finding a pill formula was as effortless as eating or drinking.
But —
The best formulas would be incomprehensible scripture in a backwater like the Eastern Kingdom. Nobody would understand them.
The mediocre ones? Jiang Chen wouldn't deign to waste his brain cells on those.
He had agonized over it and finally plucked this one from the ranks of the merely decent. But in this little corner of the world called the Eastern Kingdom, Jiang Chen was absolutely certain it would be nothing short of earth-shattering.
Whatever the case, Jiang Zheng went.
He wasn't convinced by Jiang Chen's arguments — he just kept telling himself that no matter how reckless the young lord might be, he wouldn't joke about the princess's illness. This was a matter of life and death for the entire family.
So he tried his best to convince himself: perhaps the young lord really had received divine favor, and the pill formula really was worth a fortune.
Still, remembering Jiang Chen's usual string of eccentric behavior, he remained half-skeptical. But Jiang Zheng had no other choice.
He knew this was absurd, but he had to grit his teeth and try.
Otherwise, if he actually had to buy those herbs out of his own pocket, he could scrape together the money by the skin of his teeth — but when he got home, his wife would absolutely kill him.
"Sigh! Everyone says the steward of the young lord lives in grand style, but why does it feel like my life is nothing but suffering?" Jiang Zheng wiped the corner of his eye with tragic dignity and shuffled off toward the Medicine Hall.
"At worst, I'll just get mocked a little. It's not the first time I've made a fool of myself." With that thought, his mood lifted slightly.
The Medicine Hall was a formidable power throughout the entire Royal Capital. Its building was one of the landmarks of the city itself.
Jiang Zheng climbed the steps to the Medicine Hall and felt his knees go weak. Just thinking about the haughty attitudes of the shop assistants and their dismissive tone made his heart sink.
"Uh... I'm here to fill a prescription!"
He psych himself up several times before finally stepping through the door and approaching the counter.
The Medicine Hall's assistants all underwent professional training before taking the job. The first thing they learned was to read faces. Which faces deserved flattery, which deserved pleasant words, which could be treated with ordinary courtesy, and which ones could be openly dismissed — they knew it all by heart.
Jiang Zheng's face rang no bells in their memory, which naturally placed him in the "can be dismissed" category.
"Ahem! You want to fill a prescription? Fine. Let me explain the rules first — the Medicine Hall operates on cash-and-carry. No credit, no tabs."
Jiang Zheng hurried to respond: "Cash, definitely cash."
The assistant glanced at the list and clicked a few beads on the abacus. "Eight types of Spiritual Medicine total, comes to nine thousand eight hundred taels at standard weights. Old rules: pay first, then we fill."
Jiang Zheng's weathered face reddened. He gave a couple of fake coughs and tapped the counter lightly. "Well, you see, I was hoping to speak with your manager."
"What's that?" The assistant's expression darkened. "No money? No money, and you're here for Spiritual Medicine?"
"See the manager? Do you have any idea how busy our managers are? They handle hundreds of thousands of taels a minute — they don't have time for you. You think you can afford to waste their time?"
"Turn right when you go out the door and read our posted rules. Is the manager someone you just waltz in and see? Are you a royal minister? A prominent lord?"
"If you're filling a prescription, pay up. If not, get out. Don't waste our business time."
The assistant waved his hand dismissively, spraying spittle almost onto Jiang Zheng's face, shooing him away like an annoying fly.
Jiang Zheng had taken his share of grief at the Medicine Hall before — he wasn't the type who couldn't stomach it. In fact, the amount of indignation he'd endured lately was more than enough!
Did they have to look down on everyone? Did they have to act so high and mighty?
Jiang Zheng finally snapped. The assistant's outrageous attitude was the last straw that broke the camel's back. He erupted —
*Crack!*