Chapter 591 - 606: Probing

The night passed in the village as if nothing had happened.

In the morning, when Cheng Jun and An Ning, backpacks on, went to bid the village chief farewell, they were told the mountain road was damaged. To leave, they would have to take a detour deep into the mountains.

"Even we villagers can’t guarantee we can make it through those deep mountains. It’s simply too dangerous. Why don’t you two stay for a few days?"

Cheng Jun made no effort to hide his confusion. "Did it rain last night? Why is the road damaged?" he asked.

"I don’t know. I slept like a log last night."

An Ning scratched her head sheepishly. The two of them looked toward the village chief.

"It didn’t rain. The road’s just been in disrepair for years, and some animals from the mountain came down and trampled it. Don’t worry, we need to use it too. We’re starting repairs right away, so it should be mostly fixed in two or three days."

The reluctant yet helpless expressions on Cheng Jun and An Ning’s faces eased the village chief’s suspicions.

People tend to believe what they see with their own eyes, and the village chief had uncovered quite a bit last night.

Cheng Jun and An Ning stayed.

The two of them continued to stay at the village chief’s home. During the day, they even joined the villagers in repairing the road, hoping to leave a day sooner.

The village chief noted their eagerness, which made him all the more certain about their identities.

On the morning of the first day, the two went to help repair the road. At noon, they returned to the village with everyone else for a lunch of local specialties.

This time, the food was clean. There was nothing strange mixed in.

Not only was there nothing strange, but they had even added many beneficial medicinal herbs that elevated the flavor of the dishes.

After taking a sip of the soup, An Ning’s eyes lit up. "What kind of soup is this? It’s so flavorful."

The village chief’s daughter explained matter-of-factly, "It’s a unique village recipe, a medicinal formula passed down from our ancestors."

"A medicinal formula?"

Hearing it was a medicinal formula, An Ning seemed to perk up with interest. After all, according to the identity they had "discovered" last night, she was an Herbalist, and in her backpack was a well-worn, tattered copy of the Compendium of Materia Medica.

"There’s nothing wrong with me. Do I need to be drinking medicine?"

An Ning’s question earned a gentle smile from the village chief’s daughter. "Don’t worry, our formula is very mild. It just improves your physical constitution; it won’t cause any harm. Our families have been growing medicinal herbs for generations. You can rest completely assured."

"You’ve been growing herbs for generations? So you all know your stuff?"

Cheng Jun also showed some interest. The village chief seized the opening. "That’s right. We grow medicinal herbs, and the villagers pooled our resources to open an herbal medicine factory."

The conversation naturally shifted to the herbal medicine factory, but Cheng Jun and An Ning didn’t pursue the topic. They knew better than to seem too eager.

They were here to fish, but the catch is far more valuable when the fish practically jumps onto the hook itself.

Lunch continued, and the village chief, for his part, showed no impatience.

After all, the road repairs were entirely in their hands. Whether it got fixed quickly or slowly was up to them.

After lunch, An Ning and Cheng Jun didn’t return to work on the road. Instead, they followed a few villagers up the mountain to forage for mushrooms.

On the mountain, An Ning pointed to a brightly colored mushroom. "Isn’t this one poisonous?" she asked.

"It’s fine. As long as you cook it thoroughly, it’s safe. We eat them every year. They’re incredibly delicious."

"I knew they were poisonous, but I’ve never actually eaten one."

While An Ning foraged for mushrooms with a young girl from the village, Cheng Jun had, at some point, grabbed a handful of soil and was studying it. Both of their actions perfectly matched their cover identities.

That evening, An Ning and Cheng Jun tasted the mushrooms, whose unique flavor was so unforgettable you’d never forget it after a single bite.

It had to be said, even knowing they were poisonous, the taste was hauntingly delicious.

That evening, An Ning asked the village chief if she could use the phone to call her family and let them know she was safe. Naturally, the chief didn’t object.

An Ning was alone in the room, but in reality, there was a hidden crawlspace beneath the floorboards where someone was listening in.

The call connected, and An Ning quickly began telling the person on the other end about her situation.

"We’re stuck in a village... Oh, you’ve already picked a suitable herbal medicine factory?"

"Okay, this one here could work too, but it’s a little small and lacks any formal structure. It’s just a village-run operation, which would be hard to manage."

"The road should be fixed in a couple of days. The press conference? I should be able to make it back in time... Okay, good. Talk to you later."

An Ning hung up and left the room.

Soon, the contents of her conversation were relayed to the village chief.

After hearing the report, the village chief furrowed his brow in thought.

"Chief, why are we so set on partnering with Luo’s Pharmaceutical? Didn’t we already have a deal worked out with our previous partner?"

As soon as one person spoke up, several others chimed in with their agreement.

Their herbal medicine factory had been on its last legs for a while. It had no official permits and no formal management. If not for the villagers’ skill in cultivating herbs, they never would have been able to secure the previous partnership deal in the first place.

The chief, still thinking, replied to the speaker, "If there’s a better opportunity, why not take a shot? If this works, the villagers will earn more, and everyone’s lives will improve."

What an admirable old village chief!

Sure enough, the villagers below looked touched, their faith in the chief’s good intentions reaffirmed.

But in reality, while the chief was indeed thinking long-term, his goal was never to partner with Luo’s Pharmaceutical. He was after their medicinal formulas.

If they could secure a partnership, some of their people would have the chance to get inside Luo’s Pharmaceutical. Once there, wouldn’t the many formulas they could never otherwise access be within their grasp?

’Isn’t this what I’ve been working toward for all these years?’

The chief’s mind raced. He told the road crew to have the repairs finished in two days. Over those two days, he once again took An Ning and Cheng Jun on a stroll through the mountains, making sure they "happened" to see villagers gathering and cultivating medicinal herbs.

On the final day, while on the mountain, they "unexpectedly" encountered a wild elephant that had flown into a rage for some unknown reason.

An Ning and Cheng Jun were kept safe, but the village chief was injured in the process.

The two were wracked with guilt, but the village chief nonchalantly comforted them, adding that he had no other wish than for the well-being of his villagers.

This ploy both instilled guilt in An Ning and Cheng Jun and earned him the gratitude of the mostly uninformed villagers.

On their final night, incense was once again lit in Cheng Jun and An Ning’s room.

In the middle of the night, the village chief’s daughter slipped away. She didn’t use the village phone. Instead, she went to a place far away, found an old, bulky-looking telephone, and dialed a number.

This time, she spoke not in the local dialect or Mandarin, but in a foreign language.

The gist of her conversation was asking the other party to terminate their partnership with the village so they could see if a deal with Luo’s Pharmaceutical was possible.

However, the person on the other end refused. Judging by the daughter’s tone, her contact believed Luo’s Pharmaceutical would never take a small village like theirs seriously, and that the chief’s petty emotional ploys wouldn’t necessarily work.

Besides, their permit applications were already in the final stage, with only one step left.

Once that step was complete, they would be a legitimate pharmaceutical factory, which would give them a much better chance of securing a deal with Luo’s Pharmaceutical later on.

So, it wasn’t that they didn’t want the partnership; it was that their ambitions were far too big.