Chapter 96: The Apothecary That Shocked the Capital (Part 1)

  Jiuyang Dan had such a good effect that Li Qianshou naturally wouldn't enjoy it alone. He spent thirty taels of silver to buy twenty pills from Jiang Xia, and after returning, he only kept five for himself, then sent the rest out as gifts.

  Wait a minute, isn't Jiuyang Dan twenty taels per piece? It's obvious that our Jiang Da merchant has raised the price again.

  Shuntian Prefecture Governor, Vice Governor, Judicial Commissioner, Administrative Commissioner, Investigating Censor, and Registrar of the Imperial Secretariat. Li Qianshun took nine Yangdan pills one by one.

  In China, officialdom has always emphasized seniority. The higher the position, the older the person is generally. The older a person is, the poorer their physical condition also...

  Especially for those in power, they indulge in luxury and pleasure every day, lacking exercise, so their physical condition deteriorates rapidly. Hard but not strong, strong but not lasting, this is absolutely the greatest pain in a man's heart.

  Everyone says being a woman is "great", but in fact being a man is even more "great". It's just that one is great on the surface, and the other is great underneath.

  Medicines sent out by someone like Li Qianshun, people like the prefect and the vice-prefect would all understand that they must be particularly effective, otherwise Li Qianshun wouldn't dare to give them.

  The moment they received the medicine, everyone had a try-it-out attitude, wanting to see just how powerful this medicine was, and it was actually delivered with great care by Li Qianshou.

  That night, after returning home, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, Cui Zhengyi, took the Nine Yang Pill and his seven concubines couldn't sleep. The prefect returned home and directly asked his wife to beg for mercy repeatedly, and had no choice but to allow him to touch the maid he had been eyeing but hadn't married as a concubine.

  And the governor, judges and magistrates also had almost the same experience. On this ordinary night, more than a dozen men all showed their prowess again, feeling the boundless energy of their youth once more.

  This feeling is a kind of inner enjoyment, and no amount of gold or silver can make up for such enjoyment.

  The next morning, Jiang Xia slept until he woke up naturally and slowly went to the Xiangyang Mountain Villa to open the door. When he arrived at Sanlihe Street, Jiang Xia suddenly found that the opposite Guan Hu Zhai seemed to be doing a good business.

  Jiang Xia shook his head and walked straight into his own store.

  He looked up at the bare door and thought to himself: "It seems that a signboard is needed."

  At this moment, Han Mufeng had just stopped his horse and was walking towards him when he suddenly shouted: "Brother Jiang, be careful!"

  Jiang Xia had already heard the dense footsteps and several strong gusts of wind rushing towards him, turned his head to see that more than a dozen people who were originally sitting in the Xuan Hu Zhai had actually all run to his back, with Li Qian Shun leading the way.

  Han Mu Fang suddenly blocked Jiang Xia's path and warily looked at Li Qian Shun and the others, saying: "What do you want to do?"

  "Buy medicine!" More than ten people said in unison.

  Jiang Xia was taken aback, and he cast a questioning glance at Li Qianshun. Li Qianshun chuckled and then said in a low voice, "These gentlemen have rather special identities, so please, young master, open the shop door and let's go inside to talk."

  "Good." Jiang Xia nodded his head, he could also see that these people's bodies were definitely not ordinary.

  One by one, they have a greasy face and a big belly, typical of an official's appearance. Jiang Xia didn't need to guess that these people must be here to buy Jiu Yang Dan, such medicine they naturally wouldn't dare to ask others to buy on their behalf, so they had no choice but to come in person.

  Jiang Xia opened the shop, and after pushing the door in, Li Qian Shun immediately introduced himself to Jiang Xia: "Young Master Jiang, all of these people who came today are big shots from our Shun Tian Fu, so I hope you won't spread the word about buying medicine."

  "Rest assured, rest assured, I won't say anything. However, I must remind you that there aren't many of these pills left, only twenty-seven are remaining. How many do you want?"

  "Everyone, listen!" said a man who looked to be in his fifties with a beautiful nine-inch beard. It was clear that these people were led by him, so when he spoke, the others all fell silent.

  Everyone must have guessed that this person is Cui Zhengyi, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture. However, as soon as the prefect spoke up and said "all for me", everyone else's face showed a difficult expression. If the prefect wanted to monopolize everything, wouldn't it be a waste of their trip?

  Of course, Choi Jeong-yi didn't have the heart to do that. He turned his head and said to everyone: "Later I'll give each of you one, and then temporarily keep the rest. What do you think?"

  "The adults are wise and enlightened." Although everyone in their hearts was scolding, they still spoke very sincerely in agreement. What can you do? After all, the other person is a super high-ranking official of the third rank.

  After distributing them, Cui Zhengyi asked Jiang Xia, "May I ask if this Jiuyang Dan is thirty taels of silver per piece?"

  "Thirty taels?" Jiang Xia was slightly stunned, then shook his head and stretched out five fingers: "It's fifty taels per piece, thirty taels was yesterday's opening discount promotion."

  "Isn't the promotional offer for the grand opening 20 taels per piece?" Li Qianshun couldn't help but ask.

  Jiang Xia explained naturally: "Twenty taels for one pill is a promotional activity for first-time customers. This medicine contains over twenty precious medicinal materials, including thousand-year-old He Shou Wu, Tian Shan Snow Lotus, and thousand-year-old ginseng. If I sell them all at twenty taels per pill, wouldn't I be losing money?"

  What is the thousand-year-old He Shou Wu? What is the thousand-year-old ginseng? If it's really used, I'm afraid fifty taels per grain would be considered cheap. More than a dozen bigwigs secretly disapproved in their hearts. However, they were also people who had been walking in the official circles for many years, and at this time, they didn't hesitate either, all of them started taking out precious money to pool together.

  A high-ranking official of the third grade is present here, can't even buy a few small pills without having to pay for them himself?

  After Jiang Xia collected the silver, he took down three bottles of Fei Feng Dan from the counter and said with a smile: "As your first batch of big customers, I will give you three bottles of 'Fei Feng Dan' as a friendly gift. The effect of this medicine is very simple, it can make your wives younger and more beautiful. Everyone can take it back to let their wives try."

  "Alright, alright." The adults all reached out their hands.

  "Cough...cough..." Choi Jeong-yi coughed softly twice, and everyone's hands stopped in their tracks.

  Choi Jeong-yi reached out and took two bottles, saying "Thank you boss."

  The remaining bottle, everyone was about to take it again. As a result, Lord Huang Deshun coughed twice, and immediately everyone withdrew their hands. Then Huang Deshun looked around and put the medicine bottle into his bosom.

  Tong Pan Wang asked Jiang Xia after some thought: "Boss, how much is the Fei Feng Dan? Otherwise, I'll buy a bottle to try it out."

  Jiang Xia waved his hand and said: "I sell medicine based on its efficacy, the Fei Feng Dan is not for sale for now. Wait until you two gentlemen take it back to use it, if there's an effect then come find me again."

  "Mr. Jiang, when will the next batch of Jiu Yang Dan be released?" Li Qian Shun asked.

  He happened to be the one who had the same question as others, so everyone stretched their necks waiting for Jiang Xia's answer. Jiang Xia said: "Fei Feng Dan is taken once a day, with seven days being one course of treatment. The second batch of Jiu Yang Dan will go on sale after seven days, at which time Fei Feng Dan will also be sold simultaneously."

  "Alright, alright, disperse! I'm closing up shop."

  Jiang Xia chased out the officials of Shuntian Prefecture like flies and closed the door, beckoning Han Mufeng to leave.

  Jiang Xia did not expect that the Jiuyang Dan would sell so quickly, and it was already in short supply without using any publicity. After thinking about it, Jiang Xia decided to start recruiting people to refine Jiuyang Dan and Feifeng Dan on a large scale immediately.

  To prevent the prescription of the two kinds of Dan medicine from being leaked out, Jiang Xia bought the medicinal materials separately and sent different people to different pharmacies. Then he hired more than twenty wandering doctors to come and assist in refining the medicine.

  They each only take charge of one step, and the final product is just a semi-finished product. The last three medicinal materials will be added by Jiang Xia to make it a finished product.

  This way, it prevents Danfang from leaking and also speeds up the production of medicine.

  The story splits into two threads. Let's talk about Huang Deshun, the vice prefect of Shuntian Prefecture.

  Huang Dexun's family was poor when he was young, but his father had arranged a marriage for him, so after growing up, he married his current wife.

  The lady's family was relatively well-off, and could be considered a small wealthy family. Huang Deshun was able to study with peace of mind thanks to the support of his wife's family, and eventually became a jinshi (a successful candidate in the imperial examination) and rose to the top ranks, becoming a fourth-rank official after many years of ups and downs in the officialdom. However, despite his increasing rank, Huang Deshun's fear of his wife had never diminished.

  These years his wife, although living a life of luxury and maintaining her looks fairly well, still can't escape the ravages of time. Not only has she started to get age spots and wrinkles, but her body has also become increasingly bloated.

  Facing such a wife, Huang Deshun had no mind to do that Wushan Yunyu thing, every month he just wanted to complete the task on time and pay the "public grain" four times, and each time it was hastily concluded.

  But last night was different, Madame Huang had never felt Huang De Shun being so serious before. In a good mood, she got up early this morning and personally cooked a big table of delicious dishes for Huang De Shun.

  Huang Deshun returned home and saw the table full of dishes, he was also deeply moved. He couldn't remember how long it had been since he last had a meal cooked by his wife.

  Huang Deshun took his wife together for a meal, during which he handed over Feifengdan to his wife.

  In the afternoon, Huang Deshun's wife tried to eat one and then couldn't stop. From the afternoon until evening, Huang Deshun's wife ran back and forth to the toilet more than twenty times. Frightened, Huang Deshun hastily sent someone to find Jiang Xia, but unfortunately, Jiang Xia's shop was not open at all.

  The next day, early in the morning, Huang Deshun's wife let out a loud scream.

  Huang De Shun was already a little afraid of the Fei Feng Dan being strange, he immediately ran to the side of the dressing table, pressed his wife's shoulders anxiously and asked: "Wife, what's wrong? What happened?"

  "It's all over, everything is over..." Madame Huang Deshun said absent-mindedly, pointing at herself in the copper mirror.

  Huang De looked back and saw that nearly half of the freckles on his wife's face had disappeared in the copper mirror.