The Farm Girl's Charismatic Fortune-Chapter 290 - 286: Abuse of Power for Personal Gain?

Ruo Shan: "No, this is not gastrodia elata, it is a Purple Jasmine Rhizome."

Someone sneered upon hearing this: "What Purple Jasmine Rhizome? Is there such a medicinal herb? I’ve been a doctor for over a decade; I know the properties and uses of the herbs in the pharmacopoeia by heart, and I’ve never even heard of a Purple Jasmine Rhizome. This is gastrodia elata! Gastrodia elata..."

Seizing the opportunity, the person prattled on about the properties and habits of gastrodia elata, intent on securing the point.

"Indeed, I have not heard of it. I think it looks like gastrodia elata too. May I ask this gentleman, which medical book or pharmacopoeia does the Purple Jasmine Rhizome come from?"

"What is Purple Jasmine? I’ve heard of jasmine, but although the jasmine flower has roots, it doesn’t have rhizomes."

Fang Boshan had also never heard of it, but he still humbly asked, "Could Ruo Shan elaborate?"

Mrs. Zhuang was fuming!

This Ruo Shan must be deliberately making things difficult for her husband, not wanting him to win! An ingrate, time and again, she just couldn’t bear it anymore and burst out loudly: "What’s there to say? What ghostly Purple Jasmine Rhizome? Did he just make it up? Aren’t jasmine flowers white? Where does Purple Jasmine come from?"

"He’s been an attendant at our clinic for so many years; all his knowledge of medicine comes from studying with my father and my husband. If my husband doesn’t know about Purple Jasmine Rhizomes, what would he know? He’s just deliberately interrupting my husband, not wanting him to win, giving the other doctors a chance to take the point. After all, gastrodia elata is a common medicinal herb, everyone recognizes it!"

Ruo Xuan was furious and shouted, "Is no one going to remove the person disrupting the order of the competition?"

Yan Heng, not wanting to slight Ruo Xuan since she was only a four- or five-year-old child, said, "Someone, please take her away!"

Mrs. Zhuang: "..."

Immediately, a member of the Pharmacist Association approached Mrs. Zhuang, "Madam, you are disrupting the order of the competition. Please leave immediately."

Mrs. Zhuang was not pleased: "Just now it was my husband who said it was gastrodia elata, and that Ruo Shan was clearly targeting my husband, can’t you see? Can’t I even speak a word of justice?"

Ruo Xuan, in her childlike voice, said, "You can certainly speak, just sign up for the competition and you can talk all you want on stage. But you can’t from down there!"

The member from the Pharmacist Association also said, "Princess Wuyou is right, madam. If you want to speak, you can sign up for the competition next time. Please leave quickly now and don’t delay the doctors’ competition. Otherwise, we’ll have to forcibly remove you."

Fang Boshan gave Mrs. Zhuang a cold glance.

Warning her not to embarrass herself any further!

Mrs. Zhuang, receiving Fang Boshan’s icy gaze, didn’t dare to make more of a scene and reluctantly followed the member of the Pharmacist Association out.

She stood in the crowd, eyes fixed on Ruo Xuan and Ruo Shan.

How had Ruo Shan entered the competition? The registration had closed before he left the clinic, hadn’t it?

His clinic hadn’t registered him, but he still participated.

There had to be a problem; surely, it was the Ruo Family pulling strings, helping him secure a placement!

Mrs. Zhuang felt she had guessed the truth, and the events that followed only strengthened her belief.

The referee addressed Ruo Shan, "Please continue, Young Master Ruo."

Ruo Shan gave a fist-and-palm salute to the referee and the others before continuing, "The Purple Jasmine Rhizome was introduced from the West to our country, originally for ornamental purposes, but it actually possesses medicinal value. Because its rhizome closely resembles gastrodia elata, it has recently been used by some merchants to substitute for gastrodia elata and sold to medical clinics and pharmacies. The Purple Jasmine’s rhizome, flower, and leaves are all usable in medicine. The Purple Jasmine Rhizome is sweet and bland in taste, neutral in nature, with slight toxicity, and corresponds to the lung, stomach, and kidney meridians. It can be used to treat..., whereas gastrodia elata is commonly used to treat... The pharmacological properties of Purple Jasmine Rhizome are not the same as gastrodia elata."

Ruo Shan not only mentioned the medicinal effects of the Purple Jasmine Rhizome but also pointed out the difference between it and gastrodia elata to prevent various medical clinics and pharmacies from being duped.

After all, the pharmacological properties of the two are not interchangeable; using the wrong medicine is harmful.

"As for the rhizome of gastrodia elata, it is generally oblong-elliptic or flattened circle shape, with one end having a reddish-brown dried bract, commonly called a parrot’s beak. The other end has a round navel-like scar. Some surfaces show dot-like concentric rings. The cross-section of gastrodia elata is glossy like keratin. ’Spring gastrodia’ has cavities, ’winter gastrodia’ does not, has a faint smell, tastes sweet, has slightly peculiar odors, and when chewed, is slightly sweet and slightly bitter with a mild sticky feeling."

"After the Purple Jasmine Rhizome is flattened, it takes on a conical shape with longitudinal grooves and star-shaped depressions, which may resemble small holes where roots were attached, and its cross-section is not smooth, showing faint ring patterns; it has a bland taste with a throat-irritating sensation."

The Referee said with a smile, "Young Master Ruo really has extensive knowledge. Indeed, this is the Purple Jasmine Rhizome. Recently, our Pharmacist Association discovered that some people have been passing off this rhizome as Gastrodia Elata and some medical clinics have been deceived into purchasing it and prescribing it to patients, worsening their conditions. Therefore, we specifically brought it out in today’s competition to raise awareness. Even our Pharmacist Association hasn’t had the chance to thoroughly understand its medicinal properties. For this round, Young Master Ruo Shan scores one point."

The other physicians and attendants, not expecting that it really wasn’t Gastrodia Elata, looked at Ruo Shan differently.

He even recognized exotic medicinal herbs?

Present at the venue were representatives of medical clinics and pharmacies from the entire county, some of which had recently acquired a batch of Gastrodia Elata.

After all, Gastrodia Elata is a precious medicinal herb. If it’s fake, wouldn’t that be a huge loss?

Taking a loss is one thing, but what’s truly terrifying is prescribing it to a patient—it could cost lives!

Some medical clinic representatives stopped watching the competition and immediately rushed back to check the newly purchased Gastrodia Elata. Others instructed their subordinates to hurry back to the clinics and temporarily remove the new stock from circulation.

The competition continued, and Ruo Shan managed to be the first to answer many of the questions, mostly scoring one point for each. Sometimes he didn’t manage to be the first, and didn’t score, and other times, even if he didn’t get the first chance, he would provide a more meticulous supplementation when others answered incorrectly or incompletely, earning himself a point.

In the end, Ruo Shan won first place in the pharmacology round with fifteen points, a full five points ahead of Fang Boshan, who came in second.

The spectators, many townsfolk who recognized Ruo Shan, having visited Fang’s Medical Clinic for treatment or medicine, swelled around him.

Admiring voices filled the air.

"Is that Ruo Shan the attendant from Fang’s Medical Clinic? He’s amazing! He’s so familiar with medicinal herbs! He even knows about herbs from foreign lands, beating his own master!"

"That’s him, the attendant from Fang’s Medical Clinic. He’s been there for many years, about ten or eight years right? Of course, he’s familiar with medicinal herbs after so many years!"

"He’s very meticulous every time he prepares my medicine, repeatedly reminding me how to decoct them, which one to add first, and which one later."

"He’s no longer an attendant at Fang’s Medical Clinic. The last time Doctor Fang prescribed the wrong medicine, Madam Fang tried to shift the blame onto him, claiming he prepared the wrong herbs, so he left!"

Everyone listened, and their curiosity was piqued!

"What mistake in prescription, what happened?"

Then the incident where Fang Boshan prescribed the wrong medicine and slandered Ruo Shan by saying he prepared the wrong herbs, was vividly recounted by those in the know.

"What? That Madam Fang is too unreasonable!"

"That Madam Fang is quite harsh. It’s said that she often bullies the attendants. She would purchase herbs infested with bugs and, when discovered by Old Doctor Fang, would pin the blame on the attendants. This has happened more than once."

"No way?"

...

Madam Fang, who stood outside the crowd, listened to everyone’s conversations, her expression twisted with anger. How was she unreasonable?

An attendant should be grateful and take the initiative to take responsibility for mistakes to protect the master’s reputation and minimize the clinic’s loss!

He’s just an ingrate!

And how could Ruo Shan possibly beat her husband?

He must have known about the competition’s medicinal herbs in advance!

She was determined to expose him!