Rebirth Counterattack with Space
Chapter 111 - 110: The Swift Horse and the Discerning Eye

Chapter 111: Chapter 110: The Swift Horse and the Discerning Eye

There were no customers in the pharmacy.

Behind the counter stood a man in his forties or fifties, who was currently resting with his eyes closed, supporting himself on the countertop. Lu Aiguo, along with Shitou and Lu Yun, walked in, deliberately making noise, only to find that he didn’t even twitch an eyelid, maintaining his meditative stance.

"Ahem, ahem, ahem."

Lu Aiguo couldn’t help but cough loudly several times, staring at the man, who surprisingly still didn’t move an inch. Lu Aiguo’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Lu Yun’s eyes rolled slyly as she discreetly took out a piece of paper, rolled it into a cylinder, lit it, and then blew it out. She then gestured for Shitou to lift her up—first, she held the smoldering, scorched piece of paper under the man’s nose, then leaned close to his ear and shouted in a changing pitch, "Fire... Fire...!"

"Fire? How is there a fire? Such thick smoke."

Jolted awake, the man leaped up so quickly, covering his mouth and nose, and dashed out from behind the counter straight for the door... When he passed by the trio, he even urged them in panic, "Run, quick!"

"There’s clearly no fire at all, Grandpa. You must have been dreaming," Lu Yun said.

Lu Yun had already destroyed the "evidence" in her hand, and she hopped down from Shitou’s arms, looking at the man who was still somewhat shaken outside the door but was by now also starting to realize the situation, with a face full of laughter.

The man came back in, fuming, almost spitting blood when he heard Lu Yun’s words, "But I definitely smelled thick smoke."

He scrutinized the area carefully—up and down, front and back, left and right—yet found absolutely no trace of anything amiss. In the end, his suspicious gaze turned towards Lu Aiguo and Shitou, "Were you smoking?"

Both Lu Aiguo and Shitou awkwardly looked at him and quickly shook their heads.

"Gramps, you were just dreaming because you fell asleep. I saw you drooling," Lu Yun said confidently with her crisp child-like voice.

"Don’t call me grandpa; do I look that old?"

The man’s face turned red and his neck thickened as he shouted at Lu Yun, visibly trembling with rage. Then, realizing that he couldn’t get into it with a little girl, he immediately redirected his anger, rudely confronting Lu Aiguo and Shitou, "Don’t just shake your heads; answer me with words."

He wasn’t planning to let these three get away with such an easy prank. He remembered the voice; it definitely wasn’t the little girl’s, so it had to be one of the other two.

"We haven’t been smoking."

"It wasn’t us shouting."

Lu Aiguo and Shitou exchanged wry smiles, helpless against Lu Yun, who was clearly trying to suppress her laughter at the side. They had no choice but to comply with the "victim’s" request and each said a sentence.

"What medicine do you want to buy? Do you have a prescription from a doctor?"

As soon as the man heard their voices, which didn’t match the one he had heard, his face was full of consternation. How could it not be them? It was like running into a ghost in broad daylight; he certainly didn’t believe he had been dreaming. Yet, he couldn’t find any evidence that the three in front of him were the pranksters, so even the question he asked last came out through gritted teeth.

Lu Aiguo hesitated for a moment, considering the indignant expression of the man before him, and for a time, he wasn’t sure whether he should still bring out the ginseng. He glanced at Shitou and, as expected, found him also caught in hesitation.

"We’re here to sell ginseng. Dad, hurry up and take out the ginseng," urged Lu Yun, not even waiting for the two to make a decision.

With no other choice, Lu Aiguo could only take out the ginseng wrapped in cotton cloth from his basket. Thanks to the effect of the space, the ginseng appeared to be of excellent quality, its head seemingly even larger than when it had just been dug up.

"Selling ginseng? We don’t want any ginseng of poor quality or improperly stored here..."

The man’s anger had clearly not yet dissipated, and he sneered at a glance at the cloth bundle in Lu Aiguo’s hands, snorting with his nostrils in the air. But his words were cut short when he suddenly froze, staring wide-eyed at the ginseng that had now revealed its true form, murmuring in disbelief, "How is this possible?"

He leaned forward, intently examining the ginseng in Lu Aiguo’s hand. At first glance, the root of the ginseng was complete and exquisite, and its vitality was apparent. Undoubtedly, this was a rare and excellent specimen, and it seemed to be over a hundred years old.

He carefully held the ginseng from Lu Aiguo’s hands and examined it. Wild ginseng of a hundred years was rare and coveted, and such quality made it truly priceless.

With an experienced hand, one could often tell the age of a ginseng by looking at the number of root bruises, the density of the horizontal lines on the upper part of the main root, their depths, and the weight of the root.

Besides these, one must also check if the appearance of the root is good, whether the root hairs are intact, if there is any damage to the main root, rootstock, branch roots, and fibrous roots. It is crucial to know whether the rootstock, branch roots, and fibrous roots are original, and if there has been any grafting.

After carefully checking it twice to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, the man pinched the ginseng gently to feel its solidity. He brought it to his nose for a sniff, then turned to Lu Aiguo in amazement, "...Is this ginseng freshly dug up? How is that possible? It’s too fresh to have been brought here from the north; there’s simply not enough time."

"This is not ginseng from the north, old sir. Are you going to take it or not? If not, we can go to someone else," Lu Yun chuckled to herself, pretending to be impatient as she nudged the counter with her foot.

She hadn’t expected to encounter Dr. Kuang Huaikun here of all places -- a towering figure in the traditional Chinese medicine community of Haicheng.

In her past life, due to her involvement in alchemy, she had paid more attention to the field of traditional Chinese medicine, so she knew that Kuang Huaikun was an expert in the pharmacology of Chinese medicine. Who would have thought that at this moment, he would be examining a medical shop here?

They say that while great horses are common, it is rare to find a great appraiser.

Now that she had encountered one today, she had no reason to worry about not getting a good price for the ginseng.

"Take it? Of course, I will take it," said Kuang Huaikun eagerly.

Kuang Huaikun had seen plenty of ginseng in his life, and this one ranked as the most perfect among them, with a high age to boot. Since it was being offered for sale, he couldn’t let the opportunity pass him by.

He stopped the small talk, went behind the counter, and carefully weighed the ginseng: five taels and three qian. He fetched a ruler and measured its total length, which was sixty-five point some centimeters.

"You’re saying this ginseng didn’t come from the north?" Kuang Huaikun hesitated for a moment. Since when could the south produce such wild mountain ginseng?

"Right. It was dug up deep in our local mountains; is there a problem?" Lu Yun asked, tilting her head with a smile as she looked at him.