Chapter 452 I am ordinary, but I am a passionate Chinese

I saw it was Mr. Deng calling. I hung up. Then I sent him a WeChat message:

"I'll call you back later."

After returning to Fanhua Terrace and drinking some wine, I just wanted to sleep. After handing the key to Siyu, I went back to the room. I really wanted to have a good sleep.

But I can't sleep. I sleep for hours at a time. How can I be worthy of President Deng? He's been waiting since yesterday until this morning. If I delay any longer, my image in his eyes will be ruined.

I called Mr. Deng, and it took a while for him to pick up. Mr. Deng said, "Shanhong, go ahead."

"I drank too much at noon and really want to sleep, so I can't chat with you for long. I'll send you the file."

After sending the document, I fell asleep.

It wasn't until Siyu knocked on the door that I realized my phone was out of battery. After sleeping for three or four hours, it was already dinner time.

After entering the restaurant, Siyu said, "Your price is too high. Five hundred per session. Today, two groups of people said they just want to consult you about something. Is one hundred okay?"

Before I could express my opinion, Mr. Dong said, "I set the price of five hundred. I wanted to scare some people away so that I could have more time for my own research."

I said, "Master, what you're saying is that people are willing to spend 500 yuan on fortune-telling in two situations. One is that they have money. The other is that they absolutely must have their fortune told. Only when they absolutely must have their fortune told does Master consider it valuable."

Siyu looked at me and said, "Then don't change it?"

I said, "You should make a new sign: 500 for fortune-telling, 100 for night talk (general consultation, fortune-telling). Because fortune-telling is very tiring. It's different from the average street fortune teller who says the same old things. This requires accurate predictions from every single sentence, and you have to work backwards to calculate your horoscope."

Mr. Dong said, "Yes. Others make money, but we use each horoscope to study knowledge. Consulting is very simple, just chatting and giving some advice."

Siyu said, "Okay, I'll change it right away."

After the changes, the effect came out. At 7 o'clock in the evening, Siyu called me and said that two people wanted to come for consultation.

I was reading in the studio, so I said, “Come on.”

After a while, she brought two women. Siyu introduced me to them, and the two women greeted me with a smile, "Hello, Teacher Wan."

The fact that they came together indicated that what they wanted to discuss was not private. I asked them to sit down and, while making tea, asked, "Who's coming first?"

The woman with wine-red hair said, "I'll go first."

"What's your last name?"

She said, "My last name is Ding, and her last name is Xiang."

I nodded and poured them each a cup of tea.

Ms. Ding said: "My husband and I opened a breakfast restaurant, selling fried noodles, instant noodles, porridge and the like. Basically, we do regular business. Our customers are either neighbors or colleagues in the office.

Business was good at first, with people coming and going. But then everyone stopped coming to my restaurant. The taste remained the same, and the hygiene was good. I don't know what went wrong."

This is indeed a difficult question. I said, "This is very complicated. There are many reasons why customers don't come. You haven't given me any more information. Why don't you just write a word and I will analyze it for you?"

"Write a word analysis?" She found it incredible.

Ms. Xiang, who was sitting next to them, also felt puzzled.

I nodded.

She wrote down the word "Xi" with doubt.

I understood immediately and said with a smile, "You just want to return to the bustling and bustling situation before, where you can't win with your hands and feet."

She said, “Yes, that’s what I mean.”

"The key to the character 'Xi' is the four water drops at the bottom. Anything with four water drops at the bottom is associated with fire. In the past, the four sides were either four water drops or a single fire character. Fire represents heat."

Ms. Ding asked, “Are we not enthusiastic?”

Ms. Xiang said to the side: "Maybe. I ate at your place once. There was no waiter. You had to get your chopsticks yourself."

I shook my head and said, "The customers are just too enthusiastic."

"The customer is too enthusiastic?" Ms. Ding stared at me with a puzzled look on her face.

I took my time, wrote the word "熟" on the paper, and said:

"You just mentioned customers. I noticed you said you basically do business with people you know. The character 熟 (熟) in this Chinese character for 熟 (熟) also has four water drops underneath, which also represents fire.

They were all neighbors and colleagues in the office, proving that colleagues knew each other well, and neighbors knew each other well.

If a few people are too enthusiastic, others won't come. For example, Zhang San says to Li Si, "Hey, I paid for you."

Ma Liu said to Wang Qi, "Brother, don't count the money. If I pay, your business will be bad."

Ms. Ding said: "This happens frequently."

I said, "That's the problem. Zhang San thought, it's just a bowl of noodles, so he paid for his friend Li Si. Li Si felt he owed Zhang San a favor and wanted to find an opportunity to buy it for Zhang San as well.

They don't run into each other every morning, so they should remember this. If they run into each other again, and Zhang San finishes eating before Li Si arrives, and Zhang San helps Li Si pay, he'll raise his hand and say, "I've already paid for it."

Li Si owes Zhang San two favors. A bowl of noodles costs little, but some people don't want to owe anyone a penny. So, if Li Si doesn't come to your shop anymore, he might as well go somewhere else and not owe anyone a favor.

Ms. Ding exclaimed: "You are really a god. The cause has been found. It should be the situation you described."

I said, "You should be in a county town, or a prefecture-level city. If you go to a provincial capital, the situation you described won't exist."

Ms. Xiang rushed to answer: "Yes, the county town."

I said, "It's the hardest to do business with people you know. Wherever you are, with more acquaintances, people will often rush to pay the bill, and the number of people will decrease."

"What should we do?" asked Ms. Ding.

I said, "Put up a sign outside saying: 'Because we've had a problem with two orders and only paying for one person, please pay for your own. We're a small business, so please support us.'"

Ms. Ding slapped her thigh and said, "What a great idea."

Ms. Xiang helped analyze the situation, saying, "This is mainly because people who like to pay for others feel embarrassed, fearing that others will suspect they are paying for others and only paying for one portion."

Ms. Ding smiled and said, "This hundred yuan is worth it. Mr. Wan is a man with ideas."

Ms. Xiang and Ms. Ding exchanged seats and sat opposite me.

I smiled slightly and said, "You say."

She said, "My son is studying Traditional Chinese Medicine. My neighbor suggested that he open a Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic in Japan. I asked Mr. Wan to tell me if he can go."

"Does your neighbor live in Japan, or did he just visit Japan once?"

"I only traveled to Japan once. I bought a lot of Chinese patent medicines, including topical ointments for skin diseases. She said she had no idea there were so many Chinese patent medicines for sale in Japan. After using them, she said they were more effective than ours."

I was about to speak when she added, "Don't worry, my family has been practicing medicine for generations. Even though my son is still a senior in college, he's doing quite well."

I said, "Don't test this word."

"Can't go?"

“There is no traditional Chinese medicine in Japan.”

"Ah? Then how do they produce their traditional Chinese medicines?"

"Many people see reports that Japanese traditional Chinese medicine accounts for 90% of the global market, and they think that Japanese traditional Chinese medicine is very powerful.

Japan doesn't recognize our TCM licenses. They only recognize Western medicine. There's no such thing as taking your pulse, examining your tongue, or prescribing a prescription.

Traditional Chinese medicines do exist. They are produced by institutions specializing in the study of traditional Chinese medicine, following our classical prescriptions, through continuous research and optimization of formulas. They are produced using standardized processes. They are called Kampo medicines.

Some Japanese universities have also introduced Traditional Chinese Medicine courses, primarily to cultivate research talent. They stole numerous prescriptions from the Chinese treatise "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases," and immediately applied for patents and trademarks. Now, they have almost completely registered all the best prescriptions.

This isn't just the case in Japan; other countries are also like this. For example, Niu Dian Qingxin Pills are patented in South Korea. Ginkgo Biloba Preparations are patented in Germany and France. Even Tu Youyou's Artemisinin is patented by Novartis Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland.

Japan's most famous medicines, "Qiusindan" and "Ryukakusan", are based on traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions, and then processed through modern technology and sold to Chinese people at high prices.

So, since your family has been practicing medicine for generations and your son loves Chinese medicine, please leave him to me after he graduates. I am in need of talent as I plan to establish a research and production base for Chinese patent medicines."

They were both quite surprised when they heard this.

She asked the lady, "Mr. Wan, who are you?"

I said, "I look like a fortune teller, but I'm actually a passionate Chinese. When I was in my twenties, I only knew how to stir-fry noodles. Gradually, I learned fortune-telling and divination. Then I realized I needed to pass on the essence of Taoism. Now, I know I need to promote the finest Chinese culture."

They both gave a thumbs-up and said to the lady, "That's really not easy."

Ms. Ding said, “Come on, let’s add each other on WeChat.”

I said to the lady, "I want to join too."

After seeing them off, I looked up at the starry sky. It was full of stars and auspicious stars were shining brightly.

I said to myself: Wan Shanhong, you have a long way to go. You must help President Deng pursue the path of researching Chinese patent medicines.