Chapter 349: Many Divine Doctors

Replace the chairman!

At these words, Zhang Qiang nearly fainted. He pointed at the speaker and yelled, “Zhao Wenle, what are you trying to do!”

Zhao Wenle shook his head. “Chairman Zhang, this isn’t about what I want. Just look at what’s become of our herbal medicine market under your leadership. Someone pointed out that the vendors were selling fake goods, and they had the gall to stage a collective boycott. And you, as the chairman, not only failed to stop it, but you actually called the police and accused him of spreading rumors. The police have already cleared it up—it wasn’t a rumor, it was a fact. Your poor handling of the situation is what created this crisis for our Herbal Medicine Association. You won’t resign? Are we supposed to thank you for it?”

The others nodded in agreement. He had put it perfectly.

Zhang Qiang cried out and spat a mouthful of fresh blood. Filled with boundless regret, he shot a look at Li Yang and fainted.

“Fine!” Liu Mingzhang looked to Li Yang and saw him nodding in return.

Only after Li Yang gave his assent did Liu Mingzhang feel confident enough to agree. “For the sake of the herb farmers, who already have it tough, I’ll let this slide. But let me warn you, if anything like this happens again, I’ll cancel our contract. It took a lot of hard work to make Chaling the provincial hub for herbal medicine. You all need to protect that reputation. If it collapses, what about all the people who depend on it to make a living? Are the herb farmers supposed to starve?”

“Yes, yes, of course…” Zhao Wenle nodded earnestly. “It was indeed a failure of our oversight this time. Don’t worry, we will absolutely clean house. We’ll warn all the merchants who pass off shoddy goods as high-quality ones. If they refuse to correct their ways, I’ll kick them all out and refuse to do business with them!”

“Good!” Liu Mingzhang nodded. “Anyway, I’ve said my piece. It’s up to you how you handle it; it doesn’t really concern me. Worst case, we’ll just source our goods from outside the province. I refuse to believe we can’t find a replacement for what you offer here.”

“Thank you, Chairman Liu. We will improve.” Zhao Wenle breathed a sigh of relief, knowing they had weathered this crisis for now.

He couldn’t help but glance at Li Yang again. ‘I have to remember this man,’ he thought. ‘I can never afford to offend someone like him in the future.’

“Divine Doctor Li, are you satisfied?” Finally, Liu Mingzhang asked Li Yang.

Li Yang nodded. “Yes, that settles things.”

“That’s great!” Liu Mingzhang said with a smile. “In that case, let’s go.”

Li Yang followed Liu Mingzhang downstairs.

“Today’s on me!” Divine Doctor Du had already gone downstairs and was announcing loudly, “I’m truly sorry for the misunderstanding earlier, Divine Doctor Li. Allow me to treat you to a meal as an apology.”

Li Yang had originally intended to refuse, but after a moment’s thought, he agreed.

‘These people are all famous doctors, masters of traditional Chinese medicine. Some might even be Divine Doctors from the provincial capital. Maybe they know someone from the Xia Family. I can try to gather some information from them.’

Just as they were about to leave for the meal, they saw a car pull up below. A man quickly got out, and upon seeing Li Yang from a distance, he approached with a mournful look on his face. “Divine Doctor Li, I’m so sorry. These are the wild ginseng seeds from my shop, top-quality wild ginseng seeds. I’m giving them to you, please take them, no charge…”

‘Ah, so it’s the shop owner who tried to scam me with the Forest Ginseng.’

Li Yang smiled faintly. “No need. I’ve already bought some.”

“Divine Doctor Li, I really know I was wrong…” The owner’s face was deathly pale. “It was a moment of foolishness. I swear, nothing like this will ever happen again. I’m begging you, please let me off the hook. I’ll never do it again…”

Li Yang walked past him with a blank expression. “When you do something wrong, you have to bear the consequences. You’re a grown man. You can’t even figure that out?”

With that, Li Yang got into the car.

“I was wrong…” the owner wailed, so unsteady he could barely stand. “I was wrong, I’m begging you to forgive me…”

“Serves him right!” Shen Xu spat, her own expression turning sour.

Li Yang smiled. “Alright, don’t worry about him. People like that are just asking for a lesson. Believe it or not, if you give him another chance, he’ll do the same thing again.”

“I know!” Shen Xu nodded. “It’s just like so many people who go to jail. When they’re inside, they say all the right things, that they’ll never break the law again. But once they’re released, many of them go right back to it.”

Li Yang nodded. “Let’s go. We’ll follow them and have a chat.”

“When did you get so eager to have dinner with people?” Shen Xu asked, a bit curious. “That’s not like you.”

Li Yang thought for a moment before saying, “Do you know about the Xiao Family’s case in the provincial capital?”

“I’ve heard of it,” Shen Xu said. “That was a major case in the provincial capital. It happened years ago, but I’ve heard the stories.”

“I’ve grown a bit curious…” Li Yang said calmly. “So I want to talk about it. Of course, you should stay quiet and just listen. I want to see if I can get any information out of them.”