Chapter 2582 - Investigation (Part 9)
Several onlookers couldn't resist the temptation. Two men who looked like prosperous local farmers each purchased a crate on the spot. Seeing only a few crates remaining on the boat, some drinking companions from the neighborhood began discussing whether to pool their money for a shared purchase—what the old timeline would have called "group buying."
A merchant standing beside Yuan Shuzhi seemed equally tempted, muttering about wanting to acquire a few bottles as a gift for his father-in-law. He tugged at Yuan Shuzhi's sleeve, urging him to join their group purchase.
With such a windfall dangling before his eyes, Old Yuan clutched the few yuan he'd earned from magazine submissions, his expression pained—clearly torn. He enjoyed a drink or two, but premium goods like Peerless Patriot had always been beyond his reach. On his salary, he could never afford it. When colleagues gathered for drinks, they often waxed rhapsodic about how this particular wine was heavenly, unparalleled—yet he'd never once tasted it himself.
Now, dazed and swept up in the moment, egged on by the merchant talking about group buying, surrounded by the surging crowd all rushing to purchase, he found himself hesitantly reaching for the three silver coins in his robe. Looking back, it was as if he'd been possessed.
Just then, someone patted his shoulder, and a voice sounded in his ear: "Traveler! What are you still doing here? We're about to depart!"
Yuan Shuzhi snapped to attention. He turned to find the old man who'd been sitting beside him on the passenger boat. In that instant, realization struck—this was a setup. He immediately stuffed the money back into his robe, mumbling, "Oh dear, I nearly missed the boat!" He followed the old man and squeezed out of the crowd.
Behind them, the commotion continued. Before long, all dozen-plus crates of wine on the cargo boat were sold out. The crowd dispersed, and the orphans and widow quickly packed up their stall and boarded the boat, pushing off within moments.
Yuan Shuzhi returned to the passenger boat and dropped into his seat. "Thank you, elder, for the warning," he said to the old man. "Truly enlightening. I nearly fell for their trick."
"I presume you saw through it yourself..."
"I was suspicious from the start, but I've always been fond of drink. They had my measure, and before I knew it, I'd walked right into the trap. Truly, those caught up in the game are blind." Yuan Shuzhi sighed. "These swindlers are despicable."
"Human hearts have been treacherous since ancient times," the old man consoled him. "You're traveling alone to Huizhou, a stranger in a strange land. Be more careful."
"Thank you, elder."
The rest of the journey passed without incident. When the boat reached Huizhou, Yuan Shuzhi and the old man had grown quite familiar through their conversations. He learned the old man was surnamed Gao, a Huizhou native—though neither Hakka nor Cantonese. His ancestral home was Chaoshan, and only his grandfather's generation had migrated to settle in Huizhou, making a living growing, gathering, and trading medicinal herbs.
Chance encounters on a journey called for speaking only three parts of one's truth. The old man remained vague, and Yuan Shuzhi didn't probe. When they reached the Huizhou dock, they exchanged well-wishes and went their separate ways.
Yuan Shuzhi had been traveling for a long time and couldn't afford further delay. He checked into a room at the designated Qiwei inn, then quietly went to meet the local investigation team leader.
The investigation team that had departed from Guangzhou had arrived in Huizhou several days earlier. Though no Elder led the group, the matter was serious enough that the county director received them with great enthusiasm.
This county director was none other than Liu Yixiao, formerly of Danzhou. Ever since the scandal of an entire work team being wiped out on Danzhou territory, Liu Yixiao had been lying low there. The moment the mainland campaign began, he applied for transfer to Guangdong—anywhere would do. Anything to escape that sorrowful place.
Now, hearing that the visitors were investigating the Senate's drug leakage case, Liu Yixiao recognized the gravity of the matter and took no chances. He immediately summoned the team leader Lu Cheng, pledging his full support for the investigation. As for the naturalized medical personnel they required, he could arrange that at once.
The doctor personally selected by Zheng Mingjiang was named Zheng Xiaoyu, originally one of her prized students. After being assigned to Huizhou, he had come to oversee all medical, epidemic prevention, and pharmaceutical work in the region—a position of considerable authority.
Zheng Xiaoyu had already received Zheng Mingjiang's letter by this point and immediately joined the team to begin a covert investigation into the counterfeit medicine matter.
Having worked in Huizhou for years, he had long heard rumors that Australian miracle drugs were sold at the Luofu Mountain medicine market. But he'd never connected this with drug leakage, since medicines flying the "Australian miracle drug" banner had appeared at the market even before the Senate recovered Guangzhou. Nobody had thought anything of it.
So when Lu Cheng mentioned that Lushi Powder contained sulfonamide components, Zheng Xiaoyu's jaw nearly dropped.
"Such a thing exists?" he said in shock. "I know this Lushi Powder—it's been sold locally for two or three years now, renowned for its miraculous effects. I assumed it was just some proven traditional Chinese medicine remedy. I never imagined it held such secrets."
"This medicine really originates here?"
"Without a doubt," Zheng Xiaoyu said with certainty. "Lushi Powder is sold at the medicine market under a label called 'Wanchun Quan.' It's an established local pharmacy."
Lu Cheng perked up at the mention of a brand name. Until now, the various Lushi Powders they'd collected from the market all bore different labels—none called Wanchun Quan.
"So it's being sold openly."
"Correct. As for the other medicines on the list, I've occasionally seen them as well—mostly sold by traveling peddlers. Their origins won't be easy to trace. As for that fetus-changing medicinal wine—honestly, I've never encountered it. But who can say? This medicine market is a mixed bag. Especially the ghost market, which sells everything..."
"Wait—the medicine market has a ghost market?" Lu Cheng was surprised.
Ghost markets existed everywhere by that name—typically markets trading in the dead of night or at dawn, dealing mostly in counterfeits, stolen property, or "cursed items." In short, things that couldn't be traded openly.
"That's right. They mostly sell strange 'miraculous pills,' or else things like 'wild man's head' and 'dragon liver and phoenix marrow.'" Zheng Xiaoyu smiled bitterly. "Nothing legitimate. But I must say, sometimes you hear of people finding rare medicinal materials there. In any case, those waters run very deep."
From the investigation team's preliminary findings, the Luofu Mountain medicine market was indeed a distribution center for Australian miracle drugs—and they'd discovered the source of Lushi Powder. This was nothing short of a major breakthrough. Energized, Lu Cheng immediately held meeting after meeting, discussing and formulating plans, assigning tasks—preparing for a thorough investigation of the medicine market.
By the time Yuan Shuzhi's arrival was reported to the investigation team, Lu Cheng's plans were complete and ready for implementation. But since Yuan Shuzhi had been personally selected by Elder Zheng, they had to consult him regardless.
To her surprise, when they asked him to come to the county government, Old Yuan claimed he was doing "undercover work" and shouldn't be seen openly entering and exiting government offices. He suggested meeting at a certain location "in the form of a gathering for a meal."
Lu Cheng silently cursed a few choice phrases, but given the "undercover" label he carried, his request wasn't unreasonable. She reserved a private room at a restaurant outside Huizhou's city walls that Yuan Shuzhi had specified.
The establishment's specialty was lychee wood roasted honey intestines—sweet, crispy, and tender with a distinctive flavor. It had earned some local fame. The investigation team members arrived and took their seats in the private room. They ordered rice noodle soup, had the honey intestines roasted and sliced, and ordered a bottle of local moonshine before beginning their discussion.
Yuan Shuzhi listened to their findings from the past few days, sat in silence for a long moment, and finally spoke. "What's the background of this Wanchun Quan?"
"It's a century-old establishment," Zheng Xiaoyu said. "At the medicine market, they specialize in wholesale of various prepared medicines. Many traveling doctors and medicine peddlers throughout the local area and eastern Guangdong source their pills, powders, pastes, and decoctions from this old shop."
"Do they make all the medicines themselves?"
"Some they make themselves; others they sell on consignment."
"In that case, Wanchun Quan is a lead—but not necessarily a useful one." Yuan Shuzhi said. "Otherwise, this case would be too easy to crack."
"You're right, Comrade Old Yuan. So we plan to start with Wanchun Quan and see what story lies behind this famous Lushi Powder."
"In my view, we should first purchase some Lushi Powder from Wanchun Quan and verify whether their Lushi Powder is the same as the others." Yuan Shuzhi ate a piece of intestine and took a sip of wine, looking quite content.
Though Lu Cheng didn't approve of his manner, what he said made sense. She knew this old fellow might look slovenly and greasy, but he had real substance.
She was about to respond when a commotion of arguing and cursing erupted outside. After a moment, an assistant came in to serve food. Lu Cheng asked, "What's happening out there?"
"Nothing much," the assistant said. "A customer bought a few bottles of Peerless Patriot cheaply at the dock outside, thinking he'd found a bargain. Just now he took it out to show off, but when they opened it, it turned out to be fake wine. He's cursing up a storm."
Yuan Shuzhi started, thinking this might be the same scam he'd encountered en route. "Even Peerless Patriot has counterfeits? I thought only Purple Record could make those bottles—there's no second source..."
"You're right, sir. But swindlers nowadays aren't stupid. They know you people trust those bottles. So the bottles are real, but the wine is fake. An empty Peerless Patriot bottle fetches over ten fen these days. There are people who specifically collect them to fill with fake wine and fool buyers."
After the assistant left, Yuan Shuzhi described the two scams he'd encountered during his journey. "Who knew the swindlers would be so brazen? Setting up cons everywhere—even I nearly fell into their trap."
He pulled counterfeit money from his robe. "I picked this up on the boat. They use it specifically for scams. I'm not very familiar with this sort of thing—Comrade Lu, would you take a look?"
Since counterfeit currency cases had been trending upward recently, Lu Cheng wasn't greatly surprised. However, when she took the note and examined it, she was just as shocked as Yuan Shuzhi had been.
"Comrade Old Yuan—you got this counterfeit on the boat?"
"That's right, no doubt about it. When the victim went mad, he was throwing them around the deck. I picked one up. Something about this counterfeit always struck me as different from what I'd seen before..."
(End of Chapter)