Chapter 150: Monarch, Minister, Assistant, and Guide

“Leave it to me. By the way, this is a lot of herbs you are requesting. I thought you had enough herbs as you have your own herbal field. So, you are really treating patients?” asked Li Maoshuang after he had a glance at the list.

“Yes. I almost forget, I need another favor from you,” said Wang Yao.

“That’s fine,” said Li Maoshuang.

“I’m interested in antiques that are related to medicine, like the herb cabinet you gave me last time. Price isn’t an issue,” said Wang Yao.

“No problem. When did you start to be interested in antiques?” asked Li Maoshuang.

“They are wonderful things,” said Wang Yao with a smile. Wang Yao had started to use the herb cabinets and found it really easy to use.

Wang Yao went home shortly and then returned to Nanshan hill after leaving Li Maoshuang’s place.

He practiced Tai Chi on the hill for a while. He had been really busy recently but hadn’t been slack with Tai Chi practice. He always squeezed in some time in the morning and at night to practice Tai Chi, and had made good progress. The only thing was that he didn’t have a practice partner to improve his skills in attacking.

After two days of careful consideration, Wang Yao decided to make some herbal pills for easy storage. He had chosen the suitable herbs.

Apart from valuable herbs such as ginseng and glossy ganoderma, licorice roots were also suitable to make pills. Wang Yao was determined to make the best herbal pills. Of course, he had used common herbs to make pills using the ancient method to familiarize himself with the process.

Making herbal pills was different from brewing decoctions. Herbs resolved in the water to become a decoction, while the pills were made of herbal powder. Herbal pills were not precious medicine; they were not magical. But the process of making herbal pills was much more complicated than brewing decoction.

Let me make some pills out of common formula first, thought Wang Yao.

He decided to choose from the existing formulas to make pills, then started to prepare for herbs.

Wang Yao also required more tools to make herbal pills. He hadn’t got tools to smash and sieve the herbs, so he made another list of tools and sent it to Li Maoshuang. A moment later, he received a call from Li Maoshuang.

“What do you need for smashing and sieving herbs?” asked Li Maoshuang.

“I need tools to make herbal pills,” said Wang Yao with a smile. “It would be better if the tools are ancient.”

“I see. When do you need it?” asked Li Maoshuang.

“As soon as possible. It’s kind of an urgent situation,” said Wang Yao.

“Okay, I’ll try my best,” said Li Maoshuang before hanging up.

No unnecessary words were required between friends. Only action was needed.

Wang Yao presumed that it would only take Li Maoshuang a few days to find the tools for him. At the moment, Wang Yao was also thinking of another matter—the Spirit Gathering Battle Array, which he had built the frame.

Wang Yao found that the licorice roots had grown better with the assistance of the Spirit Gathering Battle Array.

According to ancient classical herb books, herbs had medicinal roles: monarch, minister, assistant, and guide.

According to The Divine Farmer’s Herb-Root Classic, herbs could be divided into top, medium, and low in relation to their effect. There were about 120 most powerful herbs, which were called monarch herbs. They could save lives. Another 120 herbs with medium power, which were called minister herbs, could improve health. The rest of 120 herbs, which were called assistant and guide herbs, could cure diseases. It was important to include herbs with different medicinal roles when prescribing a formula.

A balanced herbal formula should include monarch, minister, assistant and guide herbs. A balanced battle array should also include these components.

A battle array was like a tree, which had root, trunk, branches, and leaves. At the moment Wang Yao had built the root and trunk; he needed to add branches and leaves gradually. He required a few small bushes such as Chinese littleleaf boxes and tea trees.

I need to visit Cheng Kun tomorrow.

Wang Yao checked the battle array plan again in the evening and didn’t go to sleep until late night.

Wang Yao visited Cheng Kun’s nursery the next day and found he was doing some renovation. It looked like Cheng Kun was going to expand his nursery.

“Hello, long time no see!” greeted Cheng Kun with a smile.

“Hello, are you going to expand your nursery?” asked Wang Yao.

“Yes, I want to build another shed. What can I do for you this time?” said Cheng Kun.

“I need some small bushes, like Chinese littleleaf boxes,” said Wang Yao.

“No problem. I’ll show you around,” said Cheng Kun.

Cheng Kun showed Wang Yao his plants in the nursery. Wang Yao picked some and made an order.

“Shall I deliver them to you tomorrow?” asked Cheng Kun.

“Yes,” said Wang Yao.

“Okay. By the way, do you have ginseng?” asked Cheng Kun suddenly.

“Yes, but they are not ready to use, why?” said Wang Yao.

“I want to buy some ginseng for the elders in my family, but I can only find artificial ginseng at the herbal stores. I want to buy wild ginseng,” said Cheng Kun.

“You don’t need wild ginseng if you just want to improve general health. Wild ginseng is very rare, and it is not easy to separate them from artificial ones. You could potentially spend a lot of money on low-quality stuff,” said Wang Yao.

“I see. But I still want to get wild ginseng. Like the plants in my nursery, artificial plants cannot compare to wild ones. In addition, I just want to buy stuff of the best quality for the elders in my family,” said Cheng Kun.

“Well, I know someone who can get you wild ginseng, but the price is not cheap,” said Wang Yao. He naturally thought of Li Maoshuang. Although Li Maoshuang always gave Wang Yao good prices, he wouldn’t charge other people the same amount. After all, Li Maoshuang was a businessman.

“That’s okay,” said Cheng Kun.

Wang Yao left Li Maoshuang’s contact number to Cheng Kun, then called Li Maoshuang to explain the situation.

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Wang Yao passed the processing factory on his way back to the village and smelt a strong odor. He stopped his vehicle.

What is that smell?

He got out of the car and smelled the air again. Soon, he found that the origin of the odor was from the river in the village. Black polluted water coming out of a pipe were running into the river, dying the river to black. The pipe was from the processing factory.

That’s why they have the factory in an isolated village! They are secretly draining polluted water! Wang Yao took out his phone and took a few photos.

Suddenly, a man came out of the factory. The man was in his 30’s, and looked very strong, like a butcher. He was staring at Wang Yao.

“What are you doing here?” said the man in a low and muffled voice.

“It has nothing to do with you,” said Wang Yao in a cold voice, as the man looked rude.

The man suddenly came closer to Wang Yao and tried to grab Wang Yao’s clothes.

Interesting! thought Wang Yao.

Wang Yao dodged and stretched his arm to transfer the strength from the man aside. The man stumbled, but he came back trying to hit Wang Yao with his fists.

How dare you! thought Wang Yao.

Wang Yao’s face was sullen.

Wang Yao half squatted and then pushed the man with his palms. The man flew up in the air and hit the door of the factory.

Before the man stood up, Wang Yao took out his phone again and took a photo of the man.

The man didn’t speak after he got up. He turned around and went inside the factory. Wang Yao didn’t speak either. He walked towards his vehicle, but he suddenly heard someone shouting behind him. It was the same man, but this time, he had an iron bar in his hand.

“What are you doing?!” shouted Wang Yao.

Some villagers stopped to see what was going on.

They knew Wang Yao, but they didn’t know the other man. Wang Yao was from the same village, of course, they were going to help Wang Yao against an outsider.

Suddenly, the man from the factory was surrounded by seven villagers, some of whom even had a hoe in their hands.

“Yao, are you okay?” said a villager in his 40’s.

“I’m fine, Uncle,” said Wang Yao with a smile. He was touched by the villagers and looked around to remember who supported him.

“You! Wait!” The man from the factory pointed his finger at Wang Yao.

The man’s looks reminded Wang Yao of some movies he saw. Most people would stay away from people like the man from the factory, so Wang Yao just ignored the man and got in his vehicle.

He quickly sent Wang Mingbao the man’s picture, and Wang Mingbao called him two minutes later.

“Whose picture is this? A most-wanted person?” asked Wang Mingbao on the phone.

“No, he’s an employee of the new factory in the village; he’s very rude. Can you help me find who he is?” asked Wang Yao.

“Rude? In our village? How rude?” shouted Wang Mingbao at the other side of the phone. Wang Mingbao knew Wang Yao well. When Wang Yao commented someone as rude, the person must be really rude, probably to the point of crossing the line. Wang Mingbao was unsettled now; he wanted to meet this rude guy immediately.

“Wait for me, I’m going back to the village now,” said Wang Mingbao.

“You don’t need to rush. I’ve sent his photo to you. Could you ask your friend in the police department to check on him?” said Wang Yao.

“Well, how can they check on a person with just a photo?” said Wang Mingbao.

“They can’t? I thought they could find the person after uploading his photo onto the computer system,” said Wang Yao.

“You are talking about the CIA in the USA and the Committee of State Security! Not our people’s police!” said Wang Mingbao.

“I see. I forgot to ask his name. Never mind, I’ll let you know tomorrow,” said Wang Yao.

“Okay, hurry up,” said Wang Mingbao.

How can I find out his name? thought Wang Yao.

He couldn’t ask himself, so he decided to ask his mother for help.

“Are you talking about that vicious guy from the factory?” said Zhang Xiuying excitedly.

“Yes, do you know his name?” asked Wang Yao.

“His name is Li Dong. He beat up someone from the other side of the village yesterday just because the person said something rude. Why do you ask about him?” asked Zhang Xiuying.

“Nothing, I just think he doesn’t look like a nice person,” said Wang Yao.

Wang Yao told Wang Mingbao about Li Dong after dinner.

“Can you check if the person’s got any criminal history?” said Wang Yao.

“You always like to make things complicated. For me, it’s easy; just beat him up,” said Wang Mingbao. If Wang Yao hadn’t stopped him, Wang Mingbao would have already had a fight with Li Dong.

But for Wang Yao, there were rules that needed to be followed. This was how Wang Yao dealt with things.

If he couldn’t sort things out the normal way, he would seek for alternative ways.

Wang Mingbao soon found all the information about Li Dong. After all, Wang Mingbao was a very efficient and reliable friend. Li Dong had a criminal history, and he was in jail once due to intentional assault.