I traveled through time without patched pants, I was the richest man in the Republic of China

After a short while, the entrance to the alley was blocked.

The patrolman came over with a whistle and the crowd dispersed automatically.

Lu Pingsheng and Wei Miao stood in the crowd and watched a few patrolmen looking around the store. While checking, they stuffed a few packs of cigarettes into their arms and picked up the change on the ground and put it in their pockets.

"Everyone disperse. This is expected to be a robbery and murder. Take the body back first."

Among them was a patrolman who drove away the citizens who were surrounding him.

It's a bit of a pity for Lu Pingsheng that he can only identify people by their voices and he has no way of knowing the identity of the dead.

The patrolman wrapped the man in a white cloth, sealed the stall, and left quickly.

"Brother Lu, is this the end?" In Wei Miao's impression, the police in Shanghai were not so perfunctory when investigating homicide cases.

The barber, Mr. Dong, died. It took a long time to conduct a series of investigations and inquiries.

"Never mind all that, just get the job done."

Wei Miao thought that the important business he was talking about was collecting rent from the houses, while Lu Pingsheng's important business was to visit Dr. Ding.

In Dr. Ding's clinic, a girl of about sixteen or seventeen was pulling Dr. Ding's sleeve and said coquettishly:

"Brother Ding, please give me some aspirin."

Xiao Ding blushed, "It's really out of stock. Instead of begging me here, why don't you go to other pharmacies and look."

"Really?" The girl's face suddenly changed when she saw that Xiao Ding didn't seem to be lying.

"You didn't tell me earlier, and you're wasting my time."

As she spoke, she clapped her hands, looking like a completely different person from the coquettish person she was just now.

Xiao Ding's face turned even redder, and he was obviously angry, "I didn't say anything, it was you who insisted on pestering me..."

He was halfway through his words when the girl made a face at him and turned away.

"Nun, Nun is unreasonable!"

Even after everyone had gone far away, Xiao Ding was still pointing at her back with trembling fingers, angrily.

When I looked up, I saw Lu Pingsheng and Wei Miao standing there.

"A Miao, Mr. Lu." Xiao Ding's neck turned red when he thought about what happened just now being seen by them.

Lu Pingsheng asked calmly, "Where's Uncle Nong?"

Xiao Ding welcomed the person in and served tea and water. "A few days ago, Ah Miao asked for tangerines. Today, the tangerines arrived at the port. My uncle went to the dock early in the morning to pick up the goods."

Wei Miao was delighted, "Really."

Xiao Ding's expression has recovered at this moment, "It's true, the person who held the goods was Huihui's uncle, so the three of us are all in."

Lu Pingsheng looked at Wei Miao, "What do you want the tangerines for?"

"Eat."

Xiao Ding was stunned and laughed at her, "How many tons do you want to eat?"

"How many tons?" Lu Pingsheng asked.

Xiao Ding thought for a while and said:

"Last time they sent a telegram asking how much they wanted, Ah Miao said they would take whatever they had, so they brought in all the orchards and other people's orchards."

Wei Miao thought about it and realized that this was the case. She had been taking care of the patient every day for several days, and it seemed as if she had talked to Mr. Ding on the phone.

“The more the better.” Thinking of the delicious tangerines, Wei Miao smiled with sweet dimples.

Lu Pingsheng didn't care much, "After receiving the goods at the dock, I will arrange for someone to pick them up."

After he finished speaking, he asked Xiao Ding, "Is aspirin out of stock now?"

Xiao Ding nodded honestly, "I heard from my uncle that the foreign devils are fighting a lawsuit and are preventing the pharmaceutical factory from producing. The price of goods has risen overnight, and the goods have been hoarded."

"Patent lawsuit?" Wei Miao actually knew that she wanted to research antipyretic drugs, and what she bought from Dr. Ding was aspirin.

Know the most about it.

Nowadays, a box of 20 aspirin tablets costs 2 French francs on the market, which is cents cheaper than at the beginning of the year.

The reason was that aspirin was still under patent protection at the beginning of the year and the raw materials were difficult to obtain.

After the patent expired a few months ago, the raw materials for pharmaceutical production can be obtained by anyone with some means, which reduces costs and prices.

So the German pharmaceutical company began to sue the pharmaceutical factories and pharmacies.

"Isn't aspirin a medicine? How did it become a trademark?" Xiao Ding was very confused and didn't understand the twists and turns here.

Lu Pingsheng smiled. The Germans' request was indeed funny. "You can produce and sell it, but it cannot be called aspirin."

Xiao Ding said: "Then why not just change the name?"

Wei Miao said: "Then tell the lady just now that you have other antipyretic medicines, but she doesn't want them either."

Xiao Ding muttered, "That's true. When they heard that the price of aspirin had increased, they started buying it from drugstores and selling it on the black market. I heard they could make a dime per box."

Wei Miao pinched his chin and thought for a while, "This doesn't make sense."

"Why is it unreasonable?" Xiao Ding asked.

The black market in Shanghai buys everything, and whatever is in short supply has a higher price.

Medicines, opium and arms are basically guaranteed to make a profit.

Some people become rich overnight, while others go bankrupt overnight.

"One pound of aspirin powder costs 2.2 French francs. One pound of aspirin powder can produce about 4700 tablets, which means the price of each tablet is 0.0468 per cent." (Note 1)

Lu Pingsheng thought for a moment and said, "So, it's more profitable than selling opium."

Xiao Ding was confused. "She was pestering me just now. Everyone was heading to the intersection. What happened?"

Wei Miao told the story of the woman who was murdered in the grocery store at the intersection.

Xiao Ding said in disbelief: "Kill, kill!"

Wei Miao nodded and was about to say something else when he saw Lu Pingsheng stood up.

"Brother Xiao Ding, please be careful when you are at home alone." Wei Miao reminded the distracted Xiao Ding.

After the two of them walked out the door, Xiao Ding responded weakly.

"Why do you just leave like that?" Wei Miao complained.

Lu Pingsheng looked at her and said, "You said aspirin powder is so cheap now, how about opening a pharmaceutical factory?"

The days are short in winter and it is completely dark at this moment, with only the dim lights in the alleys illuminating the gridded road.

Everyone coming and going is in a hurry.

Wei Miao has now grown to the height of Lu Pingsheng's arm, but he still has to look up.

The street lights gave his handsome outline a golden edge, making him seem full of power.

"That's perfect. Xiao Qian said that Mr. Zeng is selling off his family business. You can be the one to take over."

When Lu Pingsheng heard the awkward term "takeover man", he rubbed his itchy nose.

The little bastard didn't learn his lesson, and he secretly spat at Wei Miao in his heart.

It was already dark and there was another murder, so I just went home.

"Aren't you going to your uncle's house?"

"No, it's late at night, and it's better for pregnant women not to know about this kind of thing."

People in the alley generally knew that the newly moved Xu family was related to the Green Gang, and no one would target their family unless they were extremely vicious.

Besides, the woman in the grocery store probably died at the hands of Dr. Ding.

Wei Miao and Lu Pingsheng both had a rough guess in their minds, and they would draw a conclusion only after seeing Dr. Ding.

"Brother Lu, do you think we should get some aspirin and make some money on the black market?"

Wei Miao didn't want to miss any opportunity to make money.

Lu Pingsheng put his hands in his trouser pockets and said, "I'll give you a letter tomorrow morning."

Lu Pingsheng didn't believe that the price would increase just because of a few minor lawsuits.

There is only one possibility for the hype surrounding these medicine and cotton yarn, and that is that someone wants to make a profit from it.

Thinking of this, he showed his familiar sneer again.

In that case, he would play with them.

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Note 1: Shanghai Medical Annals