I am the Holy Poisoner, the Empress advised me to calm down

Liu Ying drove Lin Chen to the medicinal materials market on the outskirts of the city. She seemed a little excited along the way.

"Lin Chen, are you sure you can find the herbs you need there? I heard there are a lot of fakes on the market now."

"Don't worry, I have experience." Lin Chen leaned back in the passenger seat, watching the scenery speeding past outside the window. "The key is to know how to distinguish."

The herbal medicine market is a large, semi-open-air market on the edge of the city. As soon as you enter the market, the aroma of various herbs hits you in the face, mixed with the scent of soil and dried plants.

"Wow, this place is so big!" Liu Ying looked around, seeming a little overwhelmed.

Lin Chen walked straight to a stall. The stall owner was a middle-aged man in his forties who was selling something to several customers.

"This is authentic wild Gastrodia elata, absolutely not adulterated!" the stall owner assured, patting his chest.

Lin Chen walked over, picked up a piece of so-called Gastrodia elata, observed it carefully, smelled it gently, and then put it back on the stall.

"Boss, how much is this Gastrodia elata per pound?"

"Since you know the goods, I'll give you a discount, eight hundred per pound."

"Eight hundred?" Lin Chen laughed. "This artificially cultivated Gastrodia elata has a market price of just over a hundred. Are you selling it for eight hundred?"

The stall owner's face changed: "What do you mean? This is wild!"

"Wild Gastrodia elata has obvious knots and dot-like root marks on its surface, but yours is as smooth as wax, and the taste is wrong," Lin Chen said, pointing at the Gastrodia elata. "Most importantly, real wild Gastrodia elata is very hard. You can even leave marks with your fingernails."

When the customers heard this, they gathered around. Someone picked up the Gastrodia elata on the stall and tried it, and it really did leave a mark easily.

"Swindler!" a customer shouted angrily.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the stall owner packed up and was about to leave, but was stopped by several customers.

“Give us our money back!”

"That's right, I almost got tricked by you!"

Liu Ying was stunned watching from the side: "Lin Chen, how come you are so powerful?"

"These are all basic skills." Lin Chen said calmly, "Let's go and keep looking."

The two continued to wander around the market, passing by more than a dozen stalls. Most of them sold common medicinal herbs, but the rare herbs that Lin Chen needed were never found.

Just when he was about to give up, Lin Chen found a shabby little stall in a corner. The stall owner was a man in his seventies, and there were some seemingly insignificant medicinal herbs scattered on the stall.

Lin Chen walked over and casually flipped through the materials when his eyes suddenly lit up. In a worn cloth bag, he found several high-quality raw materials of Ganoderma lucidum spore powder.

"Old man, how much is this?"

The old man raised his head and looked at Lin Chen with cloudy eyes: "Young man, are you also an expert?"

"I know a little bit."

The old man smiled and said, "I picked these myself in the mountains. They're not expensive. I'll take them all for fifty yuan."

Lin Chen checked carefully and found that the quality of these medicinal herbs was indeed good and the price was very affordable.

"make a deal."

Liu Ying asked quietly, "Is that all?"

The old man seemed to have heard it and took the initiative to say: "Young man, if you really need good medicinal herbs, I have some at home, all passed down from our ancestors."

Lin Chen's eyes lit up: "Oh? I wonder what they are?"

"Hundred-year-old Polygonum multiflorum, wild Dendrobium, and a thousand-year-old ginseng." The old man said in a low voice.

"Thousand-year-old ginseng?" Lin Chen couldn't believe it. "Old man, thousand-year-old ginseng is worth a fortune nowadays."

"I know, but I've never met anyone who knows what they're made of." The old man sighed, "Why don't you come home with me? It's not far anyway."

Liu Ying was a little worried: "Lin Chen, is there any problem?"

Lin Chen thought about it and said, "It should be fine. The old man doesn't look like a bad person."

The old man's surname was Wang, and he lived in an old neighborhood not far from the medicinal materials market. The three of them came to a building that looked a bit old, and Old Man Wang took out his key to open the door.

As soon as I reached the second floor, I heard a fierce quarrel coming from upstairs.

"Wang Jian! If you don't pay me back, don't blame us for being rude!"

"Please, give me a few more days, I will find a way to pay you back!"

Old Man Wang's face changed drastically: "It's my son!"

As he said that, he rushed upstairs, and Lin Chen and Liu Ying quickly followed.

When he opened the door, he saw four or five tattooed men surrounding a man in his thirties, threatening him. The man must be Old Man Wang's son, Wang Jian.

"Dad!" Wang Jian saw his father coming back and a trace of guilt flashed in his eyes.

"What are you doing?" Old man Wang stepped forward. Although he was old, his momentum was still as strong as ever.

"Old man, your son owes us two hundred thousand. He must pay it back today, otherwise don't blame us for being rude!" said the bald man in the lead viciously.

"Two hundred thousand?" Old Man Wang was shocked. "Jian'er, how come you owe so much money?"

Wang Jian lowered his head and dared not speak.

"Old man, stop talking nonsense and give me back my money!" The bald man pushed Old Man Wang.

Seeing this, Lin Chen stepped forward and said, "Stop!"

"Who are you? Why are you meddling in other people's business?" The bald man turned and looked at Lin Chen.

"I'm his friend, we can discuss anything." Lin Chen stood in front of Old Man Wang and his son.

"Friend? Then you pay him back?"

At this moment, footsteps were heard outside the door again, and seven or eight people came in, led by a big man with a face full of flesh.

"What's going on? It's not done yet?" asked the big man.

The bald man was about to answer when he suddenly saw Lin Chen's face clearly. He was stunned in place as if he was struck by lightning.

"Lin...Mr. Lin?"

Lin Chen also recognized this person. He was the henchman under the leader who had been taught a lesson by him in the bar two days ago.

The atmosphere on the scene suddenly became subtle.

"It's you." Lin Chen said lightly.

Cold sweat broke out on the bald man's forehead, and he quickly waved to the people behind him: "Everyone stand back!"

Then he walked quickly to Lin Chen and said respectfully, "Mr. Lin, I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were here."

The other big men looked at each other, not understanding why their boss suddenly changed his attitude.

"What's going on?" asked the big man in the lead.

The bald man hurried over and whispered a few words in his ear. The big man's face changed and he looked at Lin Chen with awe in his eyes.

"Mr. Lin, I'm so sorry, this is a misunderstanding." The big man said with a smile, "We don't want the money, just treat it as friendship."

Old Man Wang and his son Wang Jian were completely confused and had no idea what was going on.

"No." Lin Chen waved his hand. "You still have to pay back the money you owe, but the interest will be waived. What's the principal?"

"This...the principal is fifty thousand." The big man said with some embarrassment.

"Fifty thousand?" Old Man Wang's eyes widened. "Didn't you say two hundred thousand?"