Chapter 1217: This Old Man Can Diagnose Hidden Illnesses (Part 2) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
The lieutenant had followed Gong Xiqiu since he was still under Tang Guo's command. Over the years, he had developed a keen eye, able to accurately discern the meaning behind his general's subtle expressions. Seeing a fleeting, subtle change in Gong Xiqiu's gaze, the lieutenant leaned closer.
He asked softly, "Does the head of the household recognize these herbs?"
It looks like wild grass and tree roots that can be found anywhere in the deep mountains and forests.
Gong Xichou ignored him, but the middle-aged man who had been rescued overheard him. Gently putting down his day's harvest, he turned and glared at the offending deputy general. Caught off guard, the deputy general was nearly startled by his gaze. Calming down and realizing his embarrassing reaction, he tried to regain some dignity: "Are you a herb gatherer from around here? Your face is quite interesting; you have the look of an eagle and the gaze of a wolf."
The herb gatherer grumbled unhappily, "You young upstart, you call me an old herb gatherer, how can you call me grass? Humph, you don't know your stuff."
The lieutenant looked embarrassed.
I realized that I had used inappropriate words and offended someone.
He initially wanted to be stubborn, but when he thought about the embarrassing situation of getting lost and the fact that the group might have to ask the herb gatherer for directions, he immediately softened his attitude, put on a smile and apologized: "Old man, you are right. I really didn't know what I was talking about. Please don't take offense and don't stoop to the level of a boor."
The herb gatherer calmed down after hearing this.
Yu Guang noticed Gong Xichou's gaze: "You know him?"
Gong Xiqiu regained his composure and answered flawlessly, "My family members are doctors and have been helping him process herbs for many years, so I know some of them."
The elder brother's Gu worms eat everything.
Despite the wide variety of recipes available, they are actually quite picky eaters.
While Ji Moqiu went out to practice medicine and collect herbs, Gong Xichou stayed at home to take care of the numerous ancestral spirits in the house, preventing the gu worms from causing an outbreak that would affect the neighbors. Gong Xichou's exposure to many strange and unusual herbs solidified his theoretical knowledge, much like how long illness makes one a doctor.
The herb gatherer's expression finally softened.
After counting the items, he picked up his basket and prepared to leave. The lieutenant hurriedly stopped him, afraid that this valuable randomly spawned guide would run away: "Old man, old man—old man, don't be in such a hurry to leave. Can you do me a favor? We can give you money."
Being a herb gatherer is not a lucrative profession.
Those precious medicinal herbs grow either on cliffs or in remote, uninhabited forests—places teeming with snakes, insects, rodents, wolves, and tigers. Even if you're lucky enough to avoid them, the complex terrain could be deadly. Earning barely any money all year and constantly risking your life, it's better to help them; the reward afterward will definitely allow him to rest for three years.
A sure-fire way to make money!
The herb gatherer was not a magnanimous man; still harboring resentment over the deputy general's earlier offense, he tried to avoid the general's outstretched hand.
Gong Xiqiu said, "Old man, don't rush off."
"You won't let people leave? What are you sneaky scoundrels up to!" Anger flashed across the herb gatherer's rough, dark face, and his gaze turned cold. He patted the machete he used to cut bushes, which was tucked into his waistband. "I'm not afraid of you!"
Gong Xichou raised his hand to signal his deputy to mute his microphone. He then explained to the herb gatherer, "We are a group of merchants transporting goods. We heard that the You Kingdom is in dire need of supplies, and this shipment would make us a fortune this year, so we gathered the goods and brought them here. However, we never expected that our original guide would be bitten by a poisonous snake and die before we could even save him. My brothers and I have lost our way here..."
The herb gatherer glanced at the group indifferently, gripped the rope of his basket tightly, and said arrogantly, "What does this have to do with me?"
The lieutenant couldn't resist speaking passionately.
"How can you be so unreasonable, old man? If we hadn't passed by, would you have been able to come up from down there? Once it gets dark, wild animals in the mountains will come looking for food. We're your benefactors, so what's wrong with you helping us by showing us the way? We're not expecting you to work for free. If you can find your way out, we'll pay you back, and we'll make sure you don't have to come out for a year or two... Sigh, why are you leaving?"
Before the deputy general could finish speaking, the herb gatherer refused to give him face and tried to leave.
She even rolled her eyes as she turned around.
His expression was full of bad luck, as if he had encountered something dirty.
Why would a deputy general let someone leave?
He tried to stop him, but Gong Xichou stopped him first and said to the herb gatherer's back, "These herbs of yours are not old enough. They were dug up too early. Even if they are used in medicine, they won't be very effective and won't fetch a good price."
The herb gatherer abruptly stopped, turned around to look at Gong Xichou, seemingly trying to determine whether the young man's words were true or false.
"You're saying my medicine isn't good enough?"
Gong Xiqiu said, "It has only been growing for a little over ten years."
Subtext—
What kind of good medicinal materials are these?
However, this cannot be blamed on the herb gatherers' abilities. The blame lies with the martial arts masters, whose destructive power is astonishing, and the fact that good medicinal herbs require time to mature. Secondly, it is because most herb gatherers are ordinary people with limited access to certain areas, and good medicinal herbs often grow in remote and inaccessible regions, making it even more of a matter of luck to find them.
Gong Xiqiu had observed carefully that although the herb gatherer's picking and preservation methods were somewhat rough and affected the medicinal effects, the herbs he carried in his basket were the best among the herbs that could be picked in this area.
Herb gatherer: "Why don't you find one that's even older?"
The answer is no.
This karmic debt dates back to the time when Zheng Qiao was in power and harmed the southwestern states. At that time, there were constant small conflicts throughout the year, and the land was ravaged by war. In addition, both sides on the border were worried that the dense vegetation would make it easier for the other side to hide and launch surprise attacks, so they simply burned everything to the ground. If they couldn't burn it all, they would clear the area. Therefore, the vegetation in this area basically started growing at that time. How old could it be?
Gong Xichou said, "My family has many."
The herb gatherer's only response was a cold laugh.
If Gong Xichou and his companions were smart enough, they would have already gotten out of his sight, instead of continuing to pester him and annoy him. If he were to find out where Gong Xichou's hometown was, he would have no choice but to go there to collect the medicine. If they were lying, he would make Gong Xichou's entire family go to the King of Hell and ask themselves how they stupidly died!
Gong Xichou added.
“I have another prescription at home, which is much better than yours.”
At first, he thought the man was a herb gatherer, but then he noticed a strange medicinal smell about him—to put it bluntly, he seemed to have absorbed the smell of medicine quite well. Gong Xi Chou then realized that the man might not be gathering herbs to sell, but rather to treat himself.
Now things are much easier to handle, aren't they?
His elder brother can refine all kinds of Gu insects.
Women take it to improve their health, while men take it to enhance their virility and detoxify.
The herb gatherer, who was usually unyielding, suddenly became interested. He gestured to the group with his eyes, "Alright, follow me."
He seemed very interested in the prescription in Gongxi Chou's mouth.
If this is mentioned, Gong Xichou has countless examples to tell: "My elder brother has a small house where he hangs banners for patients seeking medicine. Whether they want a boy or a girl, as long as the couple is of childbearing age, no one is ever disappointed."
"He can handle any infertility problem imaginable," were his older brother's exact words. Gong Xichou, ever the smooth talker, asked, "What about me? I don't have a wife or a husband, but I just want a child?"
At the same time, he put forward a tricky condition: he cannot lose his virginity!
The older brother gave him a long, meaningful look.
He slowly pulled out a Gu worm and placed it in his hand.
[If Anian had said this earlier, the Gongxi clan would never have worried about its large population. This Gu poison uses a woman's body odor as a catalyst. Find a woman you're close to, borrow some of her body odor, and after forty-nine days, the Gu worm will mature. Then you can consume it.]
Gong Xichou stared blankly at his elder brother.
What will happen after taking it?
"After October, I'll be an uncle." Ji Moqiu looked at his younger brother's physique seriously. The burden of pregnancy was nothing to a martial artist like Gong Xichou, who could easily have triplets.
Gong Xichou was so frightened that he wanted to throw the Gu worm back at his elder brother's face.
Realizing how humiliating his actions were, he was even more eager to regain his composure and asked, "Does it have to be a woman's body odor as the attractant? Can't a man do it?"
Ji Moqiu looked at him meaningfully.
He asked, "Is Ah Nian serious about asking this?"
Gong Xiqiu sensed something ominous: [This actually works?]
Ji Moqiu said: "God is omnipotent."
Since Gong Xichou was determined to make things difficult for himself, he had no choice but to place the Gu worms on the altar and use divine power to fulfill the wishes of his believers.
Gong Xichou shuddered, getting goosebumps.
Even if you're omnipotent, shouldn't you still respect the differences between men and women?
Ji Moqiu could only offer his younger brother a brief explanation: "The universe is infinite, the worlds are endless, there are three thousand great worlds and countless small worlds. What you call 'two sexes' (male and female) is merely this realm. In places you don't know, there are male and female, four sexes, six sexes… even asexuality… I can pray to Her Highness to help you find a suitable match."
Examples include budding reproduction and fragmentation reproduction.
There's bound to be one that will satisfy your younger brother.
Gongxi Chou: [...]
Lacking imagination, they couldn't conceive of how the race could continue.
Ji Moqiu asked him, "Are you planning to make me your uncle?"
Gongxi's enemy fled ahead, his spirit chasing behind, fearing that his elder brother would resort to any means to sacrifice him in order to become an uncle. However, seeing only a part of the leopard reveals the whole picture: there is no infertility in this world that his elder brother cannot solve, without even needing to take medicine.
Gong Xichou said, "But my elder brother is very busy. You need to make an appointment to see him. There are a limited number of appointments each month, and they are very expensive."
It even spawned a new word.
[Fengluo account is expensive], buying an account can cost money.
The eldest brother's annual income was more than twenty times that of General Gong Xichou. Even Gong Xichou would be envious. What made him even more jealous was that his eldest brother used all of this income to make offerings to the gods.
Of course, it doesn't cost much to see his older brother for other medical conditions: "If you want to have a baby, I'll ask my older brother for an appointment for you."
The herb gatherer in front rolled his eyes at him and said mockingly, "Does your older brother sell medicine to people, guaranteeing whether a child will be a boy or a girl, and only charging them if it's accurate? Although my medical skills are self-taught, they are no less than those of renowned doctors; I have real skills."
Gongxi Chou was not angry.
He simply asked, "What makes you say that?"
The herb gatherer said, "I am an expert in treating men's ailments, and I can diagnose them with a single glance. Someone like you has no offspring. If your elder brother had this skill, why didn't he treat you?"
The soldier leisurely listening to the conversation: "..."
Ah, is this what they can hear?
They appeared calm on the surface, glancing left and right, but inside they were panicking, terrified that knowing the general's secret would lead to their silence. Gongxi Chou was also stunned: "Why are you calling me a coward?"
Who's spineless?
The herb gatherer merely watched Gong Xichou with schadenfreude, as if he were seeing a fellow unlucky fellow like himself, feeling an immense sense of satisfaction: "Young man, don't you know that some martial spirit totems and martial energy attributes can affect one's fertility?"
Not everyone is like this, but Gongxi Chou is definitely among them.
Seeing that Gongxi Chou still possessed primordial yang and had reached this level of strength, he knew that if the young man hadn't left behind a few strands of bloodline during his reproductive years, he naturally wouldn't be able to reproduce again. The herb gatherer seemed to see Gongxi Chou, many years later, collapsing just like himself…
He was even happier.
Perhaps we can research fertility methods together in the future.
The lieutenant quickly interjected, "How could that be?"
He was too shocked to even notice the herb gatherer's hidden abilities. To make matters worse, the herb gatherer held a grudge against him and retorted without hesitation, "Your meager skills are hardly enough?"
They're so weak that even infertility wouldn't bother with them.
Lieutenant General: "..."
This is indeed not a problem that someone with his limited abilities should be concerned about.
The herb gatherer pointed down the mountain and said sarcastically, "Just go that way. If you get lost, go to the sky. But, I'm not going to mince words—you bunch of idiots who can't even find your way, you'd better not even think about stealing from someone's hometown."
He seemed to have mistakenly thought that Gong Xichou and his group had come to steal his home.
The herb gatherer had lived in seclusion for many years, obsessed with male medicine and various folk remedies for fertility. He was indifferent to worldly troubles, as long as no one fought against him and destroyed the herbs he guarded or the herb garden he tended. He didn't care what the world did to him.
Fame and fortune are fleeting.
Before the lieutenant and his men could even see clearly, the herb gatherer took a step and was already at the foot of the mountain. In the blink of an eye, he vanished without a trace. The lieutenant gasped, "General, this person—"
Gong Xichou said, "He's an old man."
The lieutenant was relieved: "You saw through him all along?"
Gong Xichou's words made his heart soar to the heavens.
"No."
He didn't notice the herb gatherer's problem at first, but after he did, seeing that the other party didn't seem inclined to make a move, he decided to wait and see, adhering to the principle of "better safe than sorry." His elder brother prayed and consulted the gods for him, and the result was a very bad omen, but he didn't say whether this bad omen was from an enemy or something that Gongxi Chou had provoked with his loose tongue.
I don't want to admit it, but the other party's strength may be superior to mine.
At such close range, if the enemy suddenly unleashes an attack, Gong Xichou might dodge, but his lieutenants would certainly be doomed. This isn't a battlefield; dying here is pointless. Gong Xichou gazed in the direction the herb gatherer had gone: "If they are enemies, we will surely encounter them!"
I just didn't expect this opportunity to come so quickly.
Flags changed hands within the territory of You Kingdom, the walls of the capital collapsed, and war raged everywhere. Soldiers swarmed like locusts, searching the entire city for members of the You Kingdom's royal family, killing everyone regardless of age or gender! In Qi Cang's hand, he held a still-steaming human head. The head's owner had wide-open eyes and a face covered in blood, but he could still be vaguely recognized as the ruler of You Kingdom.
He asked, sounding slightly bored, "Why didn't Gong Xichou come?"
It's really disappointing.
As if hearing his complaints, Heaven granted his request, sending down a gigantic python. This colossal beast, almost unrecognizable as a python, crushed half of the remaining palace with its mere body. Gongxi Chou was ultimately forced to take an empty route.
Qi Cang tossed his head back, his tiger-like eyes flashing with a sharp light. He vaguely heard the blood in his body begin to surge and boil the moment the python appeared, and his bones trembled and screamed. A long-lost impulse occupied every corner of his brain.
The same word is densely packed together.
kill!
|ω`)
Sigh, the flu is rampant lately; everyone in my family, from top to bottom, has been infected.
PS: I'm flying home at noon on the 6th.
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