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

As soon as the two walked into the pharmacy, they heard an argument coming from inside.

"Boss, haven't the prices of these herbs gone up too much?" an old man said, holding a prescription, his face grim. "Last month, these herbs only cost ten taels of silver, but now they're going for twenty?"

The owner of the medicine shop sneered, "Old man, medicinal materials are in short supply now, so the price will naturally go up. If you can't afford it, don't buy it. No one is forcing you."

"But...but my wife depends on this medicine to prolong her life..." The old man's voice trembled.

"There's nothing we can do. Either take the money or leave!" The shopkeeper waved his hand impatiently.

The apprentice next to him also joined in the fun: "That's right, why come to the pharmacy if you can't afford medicine?"

The old man, with tears in his eyes, trembled as he took out the only dozen or so taels of silver he had on him: "Boss, this is all my savings, please be kind..."

"No less!" the shopkeeper flatly refused.

Liu Ying couldn't bear it anymore and was about to step forward to help, but was stopped by Zhang Jun.

"There's something wrong with your medicinal herbs." Zhang Jun suddenly spoke.

The shopkeeper turned around and looked at him unhappily: "Boy, what did you say?"

Zhang Jun walked to the counter and picked up a bag of herbs. He examined them carefully. "This angelica has been stored for at least three years, and its efficacy has greatly diminished. These wolfberries are also old. You can tell from their color that they've been exposed to moisture."

He pointed at several other herbs and said, "These herbs are worth five taels of silver at most, but you're selling them for twenty?"

The shopkeeper's face changed: "What nonsense are you talking about? The medicinal materials in our Jishitang are all top-grade products!"

"Really?" Zhang Jun sneered, "Then do you dare to ask the local medicinal materials association to come and identify it?"

The shopkeeper felt guilty after hearing this. This batch of herbs was indeed defective. He had bought them from other places at a low price and was hoping to make a fortune by taking advantage of the recent price increase.

"You... who are you? What gives you the right to give orders here?" The shopkeeper looked stern but was actually weak.

"It doesn't matter who I am. What matters is that these herbs of yours are causing serious harm." Zhang Jun's voice grew colder. "Old man, not only will these herbs not cure your illness, they may even make it worse."

When the old man heard this, he turned pale with fright.

At this time, several people walked in from outside, led by a middle-aged man who was dressed luxuriously and looked like a man of status.

"What's going on? I heard a noise outside." The middle-aged man asked with a frown.

The shopkeeper saw the person coming and hurriedly went to greet him respectfully: "Boss Ma, what brings you here?"

The boss, Ma Yunfei, is the president of the local Chinese Medicine Chamber of Commerce and holds great influence in the industry. Jishitang is one of his businesses.

"Is someone causing trouble in my pharmacy?" Ma Yunfei glanced at Zhang Jun.

The shopkeeper quickly added fuel to the fire, "Boss Ma, this guy said there's something wrong with our herbs and even asked the Herbal Medicine Chamber of Commerce to identify them. Isn't this destroying our reputation?"

Ma Yunfei looked at Zhang Jun coldly: "Young man, our Jishiditang has been open for more than 30 years and has never had any problems. You say there are quality issues with our medicinal materials. What evidence do you have?"

"Evidence?" Zhang Jun smiled. "A knowledgeable person can tell the quality of a medicinal herb at a glance."

He casually picked up a few herbs and analyzed them one by one. "The roots of this angelica are black, obviously moldy due to improper storage. The ginseng slices are dark in color, probably because they were fumigated with sulfur. And this white atractylodes, look at this cross-section, it doesn't have the normal fragrance at all, instead it has a sour and rancid smell."

Zhang Jun's analysis was so logical that everyone present was stunned.

Ma Yunfei's expression became increasingly ugly, because everything Zhang Jun said was right.

"Even if the quality of some medicinal materials is average, it is still within a reasonable range, so the price will naturally be higher." Ma Yunfei argued unreasonably.

"Reasonable?" Zhang Jun sneered. "These herbs aren't even worth half the normal price, yet you're selling them for four times as much? How can you call that reasonable?"

More and more people gathered around, many of them ordinary people who came to buy medicine. After hearing what Zhang Jun said, they all started talking.

"No wonder drug prices have skyrocketed recently. It turns out someone is deliberately raising the prices!"

"These profiteers are really making money by violating their conscience!"

"I will never buy medicine from this store again!"

Seeing that the situation was not good, Ma Yunfei's face darkened. "Kid, who are you? Are you deliberately picking a fight with me?"

"I just can't stand people using inferior medicinal materials to harm others." Zhang Jun said calmly.

"Hmph!" Ma Yunfei snorted coldly, "Since you know so much about medicinal herbs, let's have a competition! If you lose, apologize to me in public!"

"Competition?" Zhang Jun became interested. "How?"

"It's simple. I'll give you a few herbs, and you'll identify their age, origin, and quality. If you get all of them right, I'll admit that the herbs were indeed faulty and compensate the old man for his losses," Ma Yunfei said proudly. "But if you get them wrong, you'll kneel down here, apologize, and compensate us for our loss of reputation!"

Liu Ying pulled Zhang Jun's sleeve worriedly, fearing that he would agree impulsively.

But Zhang Jun nodded: "Okay, I accept your challenge. However, I also have a condition."

"What conditions?"

"If I win, in addition to compensating the old man for his losses, you must also promise not to use inferior medicinal materials to harm the people in the future."

Ma Yunfei was secretly delighted. Even professional pharmacists might not be able to fully identify the medicinal herbs he prepared. This immature boy would definitely fall flat on his face.

"A word is settled!"

Soon, Ma Yunfei had someone bring five kinds of medicinal herbs, all wrapped in cloth so that their appearance could not be seen.

"This is the first ingredient, tell me about it." Ma Yunfei placed the first packet of herbs in front of Zhang Jun.

Zhang Jun opened the package calmly, just sniffed it lightly, and then twisted it with his hand.

"This is three-year-old Sichuan Fritillary Bulb, produced in the Emeishan area of ​​Sichuan. It's above average quality."

Ma Yunfei's face changed slightly. He didn't expect Zhang Jun to answer the first question correctly so quickly.

"It was just a fluke. Let's see the second one."

The second package of medicinal materials is more complicated and is a relatively rare Chinese medicine.

Zhang Jun also observed it carefully for a while and said, "This is five-year-old Gastrodia elata, produced in Dali, Yunnan. However, the storage environment was poor, and the quality has dropped to below average."

Ma Yunfei's face became even uglier because this answer was also completely correct.

Zhang Jun accurately identified the next three medicinal herbs one by one, even down to the year, origin, and quality.

The crowd watching exclaimed in amazement. They didn't expect that this young man had such profound knowledge of medicinal herbs.

Ma Yunfei's face turned pale. The test questions he had carefully prepared were easily cracked by others.

"Now it's your turn to fulfill your promise." Zhang Jun said lightly.

Ma Yunfei gritted his teeth and took out twenty taels of silver and handed it to the old man: "Old man, it was our fault just now. Take this money, and the herbs will be given to you for free."

The old man took the silver and looked at Zhang Jun gratefully: "Little doctor, thank you for upholding justice for us ordinary people!"

People around also expressed their gratitude to Zhang Jun, and some even wanted to ask him to treat their illnesses on the spot.