“Having some connections over there would make it easier to get over the related procedures,” Zheng Weijun said. “Furthermore, with transportation being so convenient these days, getting there and back would be easy as well.”He intended to get a base for cultivating wild herbs en masse in Qi Province, but he was not all that familiar with the place. Doing so in Qi Province would have been more costly than to just do it in Wannan. He did not have enough funds to do it the expensive way.

  “I plan to continue building our own base for cultivating wild herbs near Qi Province, at the northeast side of the country.”


  “Alright, I’ll keep my hands off of this department,” Wang Yao said. “The requirement stays the same—guaranteed quality of the herbs harvested.”


  “No need to worry about that.” Zheng Weijun smiled and said, “I guarantee that there will be no problem with that.”


  Zheng Weijun stayed in the clinic for a bit longer before taking his leave.

  In a mansion in Haiqu……

  “Are you looking for me, Sir?” Xu Xinyuan asked.

  “The things down in southern Yunnan have been taken care of,” Guo Zhenghe said as he poured a cup of tea for Xu Xinyuan. “We can move on to the second phase.”


  “That fast?”


  “Sooner is better than later since things are getting unpredictable,” Guo Zhenghe said after taking a sip of tea.

  “Alright, I’ll get to it right away,” Xu Xinyuan said.

  When Xu Xinyuan got to the door, Guo Zhenghe called out, “Uncle Xu.”


  “Is there anything else, Sir?”


  “Just be careful out there,” Guo Zhenghe said. “You don’t need to do everything on your own.”


  “Aye, you can rest assured about that,” Xu Xinyuan said as he walked out of the door.

  It’s beginning! Guo Zhenghe stood up and looked out the window at the sea far away.

  He had not been back to He County in about two weeks.

  Once we get a good grasp of things, everything should be settled over there.

  On the southern mountain in the northern village……

  Salvia, the fruit of Chinese Magnoliavine, Dendrobium, Cordyceps, Glossy Ganoderma, Panax Notoginseng……

  Wang Yao was trying to produce a type of medicine capable of improving blood circulation and stabilizing the heart, mostly for tackling cardiovascular illnesses. The effects would have been better with magic herbs like Ziyu and Everlasting Grass added to the mix, but mass-producing such medicine required them in quantities too large for him to provide.

  Oh right. He suddenly thought of something and picked up the phone to call Zheng Weijun.

  “Please hold on. OK, yeah, right, I’ll think about it and get back to you about that.” Zheng Weijun, who was on the other side of the phone, was apparently very interested about the matter as well.

  Wang Yao wrote down the medicines he had picked, but the quantity was lacking.

  We could produce this one in lower quantities.

  It took Wang Yao the whole morning to categorize, bake, crush, or divide the herbs.

  The clinic remained open to patients in the afternoon.

  Several patients showed up that day. They were all suffering from common illnesses, such as back pain or fever.

  As the evening approached, Zhong Liuchuan, Jia Zizai, and Hu Mei went to the clinic.

  “Master.”


  “How are you people feeling?” Wang Yao asked.

  “Man, very good,” Jia Zizai said. “In fact, I probably couldn’t feel any better!”


  The three people had been taking their medicines on alternating days. They had each taken seven doses of the solution made specifically to strengthen their bodies the past several days. They felt like their bodies were filled with energy. It enabled them to become tireless and always high-spirited.

  “Come, let me have a look.”


  Wang Yao checked their pulses.

  “Well, the medicine is weakening,” he said.

  The effects of the medicine weakened as they continued taking it. Besides, it was impossible for them to just kept being enhanced without a limit. If that happened, they would become supermen impervious to all forms of weaponry or energy fluctuations.

  “Alright, we’ll skip the medication for the time being.”


  “OK, sure.”


  The four of them drank tea and chatted in the clinic for a bit. Before long, Zheng Weijun rushed into the clinic. He seemed to like coming at such a time.

  “Master, I’ve thought out the matter you spoke about,” he said. “There were no problems with it.”


  On the phone earlier that day, Wang Yao had talked about producing some higher-end medicines to serve as a branch of Nanshan Pharmaceutical Company, just like clients were categorized between common clients and VIP ones. Furthermore, the amount of new medicine to be produced would have to remain small. Their production required magic herbs, which were main ingredients found only in the herbal field on the southern mountain.

  “Will there be any problem with the procedures?” Wang Yao asked.

  “There won’t be,” Zheng Weijun said. “I got that part figured out when doing the registration.”


  “Alright, that’s good to hear,” Wang Yao said. “In that case, keep Nanshan Pharmaceutical Company in the title, but add Nanshan Clinic to it on top. I’ll let you handle the details with packaging. As for the medicine, I’ll take care of that. I’ll be crafting the first batch of medicine personally.”


  “Good, good,” Zheng Weijun immediately said.

  Zheng Weijun was very happy when he left the clinic.

  Both the common medicines and specialized ones complemented each other. He was filled with hope and faith for the future of Nanshan Pharmaceutical Company.

  In the Valley of Thousands of Medicines in southern Yunnan, thousands of miles away……

  Miao Xihe quietly stared outside.

  Several of his trusted people stood by his side. They were the people whose loyalty to him was absolute.

  Another dire event happened in their village. One of their own found dead. It was a warrior and one who was armed with firearms.

  “Was it someone from the narcotics division?” Miao Xihe asked.

  “Yes, he was hunting down an escaped drug dealer,” Miao Qingfeng said.

  That was how the news from the outside sounded like.

  “Do any of you believe that?” Miao Xihe quietly asked.

  “To my knowledge, there has never been a single drug dealer who dared to take that route for the past 30 years. In fact, there has never even been an outsider seen there, let alone a drug dealer.”


  “Yeah, we all know what is in the woods. One would definitely end up dead if they were to head inside. Those who are into such dealings would have had fixed routes. They wouldn’t be willing to easily change them.”


  “According to what we were able to gather, those people took a detour. Even though the risk was several times higher, they would not have chosen to open a new path to pass through that spot.”


  Yet, that was how it happened. A drug dealer snuck into their village and left a massive pile of illegal goods there. Now, one of their warriors had ended up dead.

  Be it being caught in the rain or having fallen into a pool, the end result of getting wet remained unchanged.

  It was something that had no way of shrugging off. More troubles were likely to follow.

  Those said problems followed.

  Public Security was involved. They showed up at the village for investigation. After all, this was a huge case.

  “I need to head out,” Miao Xihe said.

  “I’ll accompany you, Sir,” Miao Qingfeng immediately said.

  “Sure.”


  They headed out and hurriedly visited several places in a hurry. They returned to the village two days later.

  Miao Xihe looked rather frustrated and grim. Such an expression had not been seen on his face for many years. He had received very bad news. The captured drug dealer confessed that the village was a transit for their operations.

  Making the village a transit meant that the place was already entangled with the severe crime.

  While no hard evidence had been found yet, there was still some level of confirmation.

  “Chief, this is a setup.”


  “Indeed,” Miao Xihe said. Anyone with any intellectual capacity would have been able to tell that they were caught in a conspiracy, and it was a huge one directed straight at the village. More precisely put, it was one directed at him.

  Their network of connections, which had been painstakingly built, proved useless. All of his contacts were fearful of what was about to come, so they had chosen to avoid the problem. They made it so no one was willing to help him out. The phenomenon spoke volumes of the severity of the problem at hand.

  “They are but duckweed without roots.” Miao Xihe sighed.

  “Chief, we got news about the case.”


  “It’s the Guo family, I take it,” Miao Xihe said.

  “Yes, it’s them.”


  “Where is that Mr. Guo now?”


  “Still in Haiqu.”


  “He’s still there?”


  “Yes, his father is still in Qi Province,” Miao Qingfeng said.

  “Can you locate him?”


  “I can.”


  “I’d like to meet Mr. Guo.”


  Miao Xihe packed his belongings and headed north the next day.

  Wang Yao was making pills up in the southern mountain.

  He had prepared the ingredients.

  They were meticulously categorized and divided.

  The powders were spread.

  The herb juices were sprayed.

  The end products were laid out on bamboo pans.

  The processes were repeated. The pills on the pans continued to grow in size, becoming the size of corn kernels.

  He thought about a name for the medicine and decided on the Heart Stabilizing Pill.

  The medicine was divided into two categories.

  One was a normal category.

  It was the ones with Ziyu and Everlasting Grass added to the mix while they cooked. That was the other type that was sold under the branch of Nanshan Clinic.

  Before long, he produced several bottles of the medicine. Zheng Weijun took them away that afternoon to be used in the relevant procedures and testing.

  Miao Xihe arrived in Haiqu that evening.

  “Sir, Miao Xihe should have arrived in Haiqu,” Xu Xinyuan said.

  “Yeah, thanks a lot, Uncle Xu.”


  “Please, Sir, it’s just part of my job,” Xu Xinyuan said.

  “Well, where do you think he would go after coming to Haiqu?” Guo Zhenghe asked.

  “I would guess probably to meet Dr. Wang in that village.”


  “Hmm, then he would probably think of ways to get to me, eh?”


  “He most probably will.”