"No, I have to call him and get a clear answer. I can’t let him fool us like this."

Wu Jingmei said as she started to take out her phone.

"Don’t."

But Elder Wu waved his hand, stopping her.

Although tormented and irritable from his illness, he was, after all, a man who had weathered many storms. He still possessed his composure.

"Jingmei, don’t rush him."

Elder Wu said slowly, "You have to be patient in life. If he’s really a con artist and has already run off, then rushing him is pointless. If he’s a man of genuine skill, then us pushing him will just make us look impatient and unbecoming. Let’s wait a bit longer."

As the father and daughter were talking, Wu Jingmei’s phone suddenly rang.

She picked it up and saw it was none other than Li Xu.

"Ms. Wu, I’ve found the medicine needed for Elder Wu’s treatment. I’m about to board a flight back to the country. I estimate I’ll arrive in the Provincial City tonight. I’ll come visit tomorrow morning."

"That’s wonderful, wonderful!"

Wu Jingmei was thrilled.

The trace of dissatisfaction she felt earlier had vanished without a trace.

She quickly said, "Doctor Li, thank you for your hard work. Send me your flight information, and I’ll arrange for a car to pick you up from the airport."

After hanging up, Wu Jingmei immediately told her father the good news.

Elder Wu nodded calmly.

Although he had agreed to let Li Xu treat him, he didn’t actually hold out much hope.

Then, Wu Jingmei dialed Zhang Yanquan’s number.

"Dean Zhang, hello. I wanted to let you know that Doctor Li Xu has found the medicine and says he’ll be coming over tomorrow morning to treat my father. Do you think you’ll have time tomorrow?"

On the other end of the line, Zhang Yanquan also perked up.

He had finished his business there yesterday.

There was work waiting for him back at the academy; he couldn’t stay here forever.

If Li Xu didn’t come soon, he was going to have to take his leave from Elder Wu.

"I have time," Zhang Yanquan immediately agreed.

...

Li Xu’s return trip went smoothly.

This time, there were no patients on the plane requiring his emergency aid.

He slept comfortably in first class.

By the time the plane landed at the Provincial City International Airport, the sky was already dark.

A private car sent by the Wu Family was already waiting outside the airport.

The driver took him to a five-star hotel in the city center.

「The next morning.」

The first thing he did after getting up was check the new intelligence that had refreshed in his mind.

He wanted to see if there were any new additions or changes to Elder Wu’s treatment plan.

As it turned out, the intelligence didn’t mention Elder Wu at all.

Today’s intelligence was about the domestic market for Sour Jujube Seeds: [Today’s Intelligence: Influenced by Ding’s Pharmaceutical Factory’s ’Dragon Bone Calming Pill,’ the domestic price of Sour Jujube Seeds will continue to fall...]

Li Xu smiled, knowing that Ding Kaifang moved quickly.

The "Sour Jujube Seed Turmoil" in Xingtai would soon come to an end.

Although the intelligence didn’t mention Elder Wu, that just meant there were no necessary additions to the previous treatment plan. He could proceed as planned.

At nine in the morning, the car sent by the Wu Family arrived punctually outside the hotel.

Li Xu grabbed his backpack and got in the car.

When he arrived at Elder Wu’s home, Dean Zhang Yanquan was already waiting for him.

The three exchanged a few pleasantries, then Li Xu took the medicinal herbs, which were in a sealed bag, out of his backpack.

He didn’t say what it was, but instead took out a pre-sliced, dark-brown piece of the herb and handed it to Zhang Yanquan.

"Dean Zhang, you are a master of the field and widely knowledgeable. Do you recognize this?"

Zhang Yanquan took the herb, his heart filled with curiosity.

’What exactly is this herb that Li Xu went all the way to Stan Country to get?’

He placed the herb in his palm and began to examine it carefully.

The herb was tough in texture, and its cross-section was irregular, keratinous, and translucent.

There were still some fibrous tissues on it, resembling bone and fascia, that had already fused with the herb itself.

He brought the herb to the tip of his nose and took a gentle sniff.

An extremely rich, overpowering, and complex scent—a mixture of rotting earth and a feral, animal-like odor—instantly flooded his nostrils.

His expression changed abruptly.

"This... this... this is..."

Zhang Yanquan inspected it carefully one more time and said with a frown, "Is this... Yabulu?"

"Dean Zhang has a sharp eye."

Li Xu nodded.

"This is a bit different from the ones I’ve seen."

Zhang Yanquan turned it over and over, examining it.

Yabulu was an obscure medicinal herb.

But it wasn’t rare.

It could already be mass-produced in the country’s border regions.

However, the Yabulu he had seen before was distinctly different from the piece in front of him now.

He was utterly shocked.

The piece before him now, whether in terms of its color, texture, or the ’Essence, Qi, and Spirit’ it contained, was of a vastly superior quality.

He recalled that Li Xu had gotten it from Stan Country.

’It must be true wild Yabulu.’

’The best of the best.’

But Zhang Yanquan’s brow remained furrowed. "Fellow Friend Li, as far as I know, while Yabulu can be used to treat asthma, its medicinal nature is of the Ultimate Yin and extremely cold; it’s incredibly potent. Elder Wu’s body is already weak. Can... can he withstand such a fierce medicinal property? This is too risky."

"Dean Zhang,"

Li Xu explained, "You are correct. Ordinary Yabulu is indeed yin and cold in nature, making it unsuitable for Elder Wu. However, this one I have will absolutely work."

"This is because it’s not ordinary Yabulu. It’s an ’animalistic Yabulu’ that forms after a year of symbiosis with a dog carcass, achieving a balance of yin and yang. Its medicinal properties have undergone a qualitative change. Not only has it lost its original potent toxicity, but it has also gained an air of Pure Yang that can warm and tonify the kidney yang. For Elder Wu’s constitution, which is ’excess above, deficiency below, with a mix of cold and heat,’ it is the perfect miracle cure."

"Animalistic Yabulu?"

Although this was a term Li Xu had coined himself, Zhang Yanquan understood it instantly.

However, he had never used ’animalistic Yabulu’ before and didn’t know if what Li Xu said was true.

Furthermore, he had no idea what its specific effects would be.

He could only leave the final decision to Elder Wu and his daughter.

"Elder Wu, Jingmei,"

he said with a solemn expression, "Here’s the situation. This herb is highly unusual and also very risky. Whether or not to use it is ultimately up to you."

Elder Wu had already made up his mind. Since he had chosen to trust Li Xu from the beginning, he wouldn’t be half-hearted about it now.

’It’s just a new medicine, isn’t it?’

’Have I not tried enough of those over the past few years?’

"Use it."

Elder Wu made the final decision. "If Doctor Li dares to prescribe it, I dare to use it. How could it be more dangerous than a battlefield? I was never afraid on the battlefield, so why would I be afraid of a single dose of medicine?"

Seeing her father’s resolute expression, Wu Jingmei could only acquiesce.

"Good."

Seeing this, Li Xu no longer hesitated and began to prepare the medicine.

He used the "Yabulu" as the primary ingredient and took out several other extremely high-quality supplementary herbs: "Pao Fu Zi" to warm the yang and tonify the kidneys, "cinnamon" to guide the fire back to its source, "Astragalus Root" to strengthen the spleen and tonify qi, and "Aster" to dissolve phlegm and calm asthma...