Soon, Nan Gongyue returned from Mahjong. She had lost money and was in a bad mood, looking for someone to vent her anger on.
When she found out that Lin Shijie had used ten thousand yuan of private savings to buy a fake ginseng, she exploded.
Amidst Nan Gongyue's furious scolding, Lin Shijie lowered his head, not daring to say much, nor daring to leave.
When Lin Hao and Lin Xuan returned, they learned the truth and didn't dare to persuade Nan Gongyue. Xue Kai and Xue Xingjian tried to reason with her, but it was useless.
Long Xiao watched for a while. Seeing that Nan Gongyue had no intention of stopping, he finally spoke.
"Dad, let me handle this. I'll go to the antique market tomorrow and see if I can find them."
Clearly, this was a trap. If Long Xiao found them, he would surely teach them a lesson.
Seeing Lin Shijie in a daze, Nan Gongyue snatched the box from his hand and said, "Quickly give it to Long Xiao, you big spender."
"Good son-in-law, you must catch them tomorrow and get my money back to keep for me. A man like your father shouldn't have private savings; when he does, he goes around like a fool."
"Don't worry, Mom, I'll definitely get the money back for you."
"Remember, bring it back for Mom to keep, and don't give your dad money anymore."
Long Xiao nodded and said, "I understand."
Nan Gongyue assumed that the money for the fake ginseng was given by Long Xiao. With Lin Shijie's monthly salary of a few thousand yuan, saving eighty to ninety thousand was too difficult.
Lin Xuan felt a bit sorry for her father. Her father, a doctor, had saved some private money through frugality, and now it was all gone.
After dinner, Long Xiao and Lin Xuan asked Xue Kai about the live streaming sales.
The live streaming sales were very effective, with tens of thousands of boxes sold daily, generating over a million yuan in revenue, and it was growing every day.
After Xue Kai left, Long Xiao was about to rest when he received a call from Sun Sizhu, asking him to go to Xinglin Caotang.
Long Xiao felt something was wrong. He hung up the phone, told Lin Xuan, and drove over.
In the medicine-making warehouse of Xinglin Caotang, more than a dozen hospital beds had been set up, with someone on each bed.
Sun Sizhu, Li Yizhen, Tong Hui, Mingyue, and Mi Tianfu were all there. Chen Meijia and Xue Meiqin had not gone home either; they were busy decocting medicine.
"Long Xiao, take a look. These people have been poisoned," Sun Sizhu said urgently as Long Xiao entered.
Long Xiao examined several people. They had all been poisoned by the same substance.
"Someone is poisoning people. Old Li, acupuncture can detoxify these individuals."
Li Yizhen said sheepishly, "Master, my 'Tiangang Detoxification' is not good enough. I tried earlier, but I couldn't completely remove the toxins."
Long Xiao picked up a bowl of decocted medicine and smelled it. "After drinking the medicine prescribed by Elder Sun, the remaining toxins should be completely cleared."
After helping everyone administer the medicine, Sun Sizhu pulled Long Xiao aside and said in a low voice, "Long Xiao, these people all saw a doctor at Xinglin Caotang this afternoon. Clearly, someone is targeting Xinglin Caotang."
"How did they get poisoned?" Long Xiao asked.
Sun Sizhu told Long Xiao that these people came for consultations that afternoon. As they had minor ailments like colds, after diagnosis, they were told to buy medicine outside.
Since Sun Sizhu arrived at Xinglin Caotang, the rules for registration and treatment had changed.
Both online and offline, the registration fee was five hundred yuan.
After diagnosis at Xinglin Caotang, if it was a minor ailment like a cold, patients were instructed to buy medicine outside, and the registration fee would be fully refunded. If treatment was required and the fee was less than the registration fee, no further payment was needed. If it exceeded the registration fee, the difference would be paid.
Xinglin Caotang now only treated complex and difficult diseases, as well as chronic illnesses that hospitals couldn't cure. Common illnesses were not within their treatment scope.
The dozen people lying in bed had bought their own medicine in the afternoon. After taking it, they developed symptoms and were sent back.
Long Xiao had previously refined a batch of antidote pills. Since the possibility of poisoning at Xinglin Caotang was very small, he hadn't kept any and had given them all away.
To prevent similar incidents from happening again, Long Xiao, Li Yizhen, and Sun Sizhu discussed and decided to establish their own pharmacy at Xinglin Caotang, purchase a batch of diagnostic equipment, and set up a preliminary diagnostic system.
Xinglin Caotang only had a front and back courtyard, which was insufficient. Mi Tianfu suggested buying the adjacent courtyards and dividing Xinglin Caotang into three sections: inpatient department, preliminary diagnostic department, and pharmacy.
From now on, all patients receiving treatment at Xinglin Caotang must buy medicine from the Xinglin Caotang pharmacy and were not allowed to use medicine from other sources.
Upon hearing Mi Tianfu's suggestion, Sun Sizhu nodded and said, "This is a good idea. With this, our clinic will expand several times over."
After speaking, Sun Sizhu looked at Long Xiao and asked, "Long Xiao, are you planning to open a clinic in Donghai permanently? Do you have any other plans?"
Long Xiao shook his head. "I just want to live a peaceful life. I have no other plans. It's just that some people don't want me to run this clinic well."
"Long Xiao, I heard you were raised by your adoptive father. Have you looked for your biological parents?" Sun Sizhu asked again.
Long Xiao shook his head again. "I want to, but I have no clues at all. My adoptive father found me. I had nothing on me except the clothes I was wearing at the time."
Sun Sizhu hesitated for a moment, wanting to say something but gave up.
With Mi Tianfu and Tong Hui handling the expansion of Xinglin Caotang, Long Xiao didn't need to worry. For the establishment of the pharmacy, Long Xiao called Su Guoqiang and ordered a batch of medicinal herbs. Western medicine would be directly handled by the Bao family's purchase, so Long Xiao didn't have to worry about that either.
As it was too late, Long Xiao did not return to the Lin family and stayed at Xinglin Caotang.
As soon as dawn broke, Long Xiao received a call from Lin Shijie, urging him to hurry back to the Lin family, as he wanted to go to the antique street together.
Upon returning to the Lin family, Long Xiao took out the fake ginseng that Lin Shijie had bought and examined it again.
After a careful inspection, Long Xiao discovered that this fake ginseng was a rare Ghost Spirit Grass.
Ghost Spirit Grass is a type of grass that grows on corpses. During its growth, it absorbs a large amount of corpse oil, thus containing potent poison.
Due to the limited nutrients from a single corpse, this grass does not grow large. A root system weighing half a catty is already very rare, and one weighing a catty is encountered once in a century.
This grass was not recorded in the "Long Zang" medicinal encyclopedia, which is why Long Xiao did not recognize it yesterday.
Before going to bed last night, Long Xiao had carefully read the toxicology section of the "Long Zang."
The toxicology section documented a vast array of ancient poisons, along with their characteristics and usage methods. Long Xiao had previously thought these would be of no use to him and had never opened it.
After examining it for a while, Long Xiao said, "Dad, you shouldn't come along. If those people see you, won't they just run away?"
Lin Shijie thought about it and realized Long Xiao was right, so he readily agreed not to go.
Long Xiao, with Xiao Ming, drove to the antique market. As they got out of the car, Xiao Ming reached for the box containing the ginseng. Long Xiao said, "Don't take it. We might need it in the future."
This time, Long Xiao came to the antique market hoping to find the person who sold the fake ginseng and see if they had any more Ghost Spirit Grass.