"Is she... really cured?" Boss Fang asked, his voice trembling.
Although Fang Ling had stopped struggling and screaming, and her swollen stomach had returned to normal, he still found it hard to believe.
"She is," Zhao Yuan replied.
Just then, Fang Ling regained some consciousness. Her large, teary eyes scanned her surroundings before she called out timidly, "Daddy."
"Ling'Er, Daddy's here." Boss Fang immediately rushed over and lovingly pulled Fang Ling into his arms. He gently stroked her head and asked with concern, "How are you feeling now?"
"I feel great," Fang Ling replied. "I haven't felt this comfortable in a long, long time."
At her words, hot tears streamed down Boss Fang's face.
Ever since Fang Ling had contracted the abdominal Gu illness, her suffering had been relentless. Although the strange illness only flared up once every seven days, the agony during the intermittent periods was just as intense. It was safe to say that from the day she fell ill, she hadn't known a moment of peace.
Boss Fang said chokingly, "My dear daughter, you're all right now. Nothing will happen to you ever again. The big brother here has cured your strange illness. From now on, you'll always feel comfortable, you won't be in pain anymore."
Fang Ling blinked her big, lively eyes and looked at Zhao Yuan.
Freed from the torment of her pain, Fang Ling's expression was no longer distorted. She had returned to her usual cute and well-behaved self.
She asked adorably, "Big Brother, was it you who cured me?"
"That's right." Zhao Yuan crouched down and patted the little girl's head.
"Thank you, Big Brother!" Fang Ling thanked him first, then asked with a look of admiration, "Big Brother, after I got sick, Daddy took me to see so many experts, but none of them could help. Since you were able to cure me, does that mean your medical skills are even better than all those experts?"
Nearby, Wang Jiasen looked completely mortified, as he was one of the "useless experts" the little girl mentioned. As for the crowd watching from inside and outside Zhencao Hall, they felt utterly humiliated, as if their faces were being slapped repeatedly.
Fortunately, Zhao Yuan wasn't the type to get carried away. He chuckled, shook his head, and corrected her, "My medical skills aren't as good as those experts. I was only able to cure you because I happened to have read about the treatment for this specific illness. If it were any other disease, I'd be completely stumped."
"Oh, I see. But I still think you're the most amazing, Big Brother! In the future, I want to be a doctor with great skills, just like you!" the little girl said with an earnestness that was uniquely adorable.
As she spoke, two warm streams of energy drilled into Zhao Yuan's Dantian.
It was Wish Power again!
This time, there were two streams of Wish Power—one from the little girl, and the other from Boss Fang. After entering his Dantian, they merged with the previous Wish Power, and Zhao Yuan felt his spirit jolt. He discovered that beneath the Talisman on the Information Leaf, a new Talisman pattern had appeared.
It appeared!
The first Talisman had finally appeared!
'I wonder what kind of Talisman this is, and what sort of magical effects it has?'
Just as Zhao Yuan was about to examine it more closely, Boss Fang handed him a box containing the Dragon's Saliva Fragrance. "Little brother, this is the Xi Jing I promised. I hope you won't refuse it."
Left with no choice, Zhao Yuan could only put off inspecting the new Talisman for later.
He glanced at the Dragon's Saliva Fragrance and made an embarrassed request, "Um... Boss Fang, is it possible to exchange this Dragon's Saliva Fragrance for cash?"
The Dragon's Saliva Fragrance was valuable, but it was useless to him. A sum of cash would be far more practical and could alleviate his financial troubles.
Boss Fang was taken aback for a moment, then offered a kind reminder, "Of course you can, but are you sure you want to cash it out, little brother? This piece of Dragon's Saliva Fragrance is valued at around three to four hundred thousand, but if you could get it into an auction, it's possible the price could double or even triple!"
"I'm sure. I want to cash it out," Zhao Yuan said without hesitation.
Although the Dragon's Saliva Fragrance could fetch a good price at an auction, that would require connections and money—two things Zhao Yuan did not have.
Seeing Zhao Yuan's insistence, Boss Fang didn't try to persuade him further. He nodded and said, "Alright, then I'll give you the highest market value—four hundred thousand." He immediately asked for Zhao Yuan's bank account number, preparing to transfer the money.
Zhao Yuan quickly said, "Boss Fang, there's no rush to transfer the money. I was planning on buying some medicinal herbs from you."
Boss Fang waved his hand generously. "Just take whatever herbs you need! Consider it a gift from me!"
'Are you kidding me? Zhao Yuan is Ling'Er's savior, a great benefactor to our whole family. If word got out that I charged him for a few herbs, I'd be cursed by everyone behind my back!'
"I can't do that." Zhao Yuan shook his head, politely declining Boss Fang's kind offer. "Boss Fang, I plan on buying herbs from you often in the future. If you don't charge me, how could I dare to come back?"
The two of them were suddenly at a stalemate.
The seller was insisting on not taking any money, while the buyer was adamant about paying... It was a bizarre scene. Anyone who didn't know the situation might think they had been transported to the Land of Gentlemen from *Flowers in the Mirror*.
Finally, Wang Jiasen, unable to watch any longer, offered a suggestion, "How about this: you both compromise. Boss Fang, you can give this little brother a huge discount, or just charge him the cost price. Wouldn't that work?"
After a moment of thought, Zhao Yuan and Boss Fang answered in unison, "Alright!"
"Little brother, I still don't know your name," Boss Fang asked, a bit embarrassed. The man had cured his daughter's strange illness, yet he didn't even know his name. It was quite rude.
Fortunately, Zhao Yuan wasn't a petty person. He smiled and said, "My surname is Zhao, and my given name is Yuan."
"Zhao Yuan?" Wang Jiasen committed the name to memory, mulling it over. 'Among the Noble Families of medicine in the country, the one with the Zhao surname, the Jinling Zhao Family, has the longest history and deepest foundation. Could this Zhao Yuan be the successor they've been grooming?'
Zhao Yuan had no idea that Wang Jiasen's imagination was running wild with theories about his background. He asked Boss Fang for a pen and paper and listed the herbs he needed and their quantities.
Now that he had money, he was naturally going to buy all the necessary herbs for the Blood Circulation Soup, Bone Refining Pills, and Soul-Stabilizing Incense. After all, the Inheritance Seed stated that using the three medicines together was several times more effective than using any one of them alone. He wasn't worried that someone might figure anything out from the list, because it included the ingredients for all three medicines. It would be impossible to determine the correct formulation from it.
Boss Fang took one look at the list and immediately had an employee fill the order, specifically instructing them to use only the highest quality herbs. Zhao Yuan nodded along in approval. The better the quality of the herbs, the more effective the resulting medicines would be.
While waiting for the herbs to be gathered, Zhao Yuan advised Boss Fang, "Although Ling'Er's abdominal Gu illness is cured, her body has been severely weakened by the ordeal. She needs a good period of recuperation. As for that, I won't presume to teach a fish how to swim."
Boss Fang just thought he was being modest, unaware that Zhao Yuan genuinely had no idea what prescription to use for Fang Ling's recovery.
Zhao Yuan had only learned the basic theories of medicine; he hadn't yet reached clinical practice. If there hadn't been a record of abdominal Gu illness in the medical texts he studied, he would never have dared to step forward and treat Fang Ling.
Boss Fang immediately went to prepare a tonic for his daughter, while Wang Jiasen sidled up and asked in a serious, earnest tone, "Zhao Xiaoyou, forgive my bluntness, but how did you know that minced garlic and vinegar could cure the abdominal Gu illness?"
This was the question on everyone's mind.
In an instant, all eyes were on Zhao Yuan.