Chapter Sixteen: The Driver's Decision

  Zhou Wen took over the prescription from Song Jian's hand.

  "Is it that much?" Zhou Wen's eyes widened in surprise at first, then quickly scanned through the contents.

  Song Jian looked at Zhou Wen with eyes full of expectation.

  There are a total of 106 medicinal ingredients in this formula, except for the hundred-year-old Huai Shan medicine and the human-shaped Shou Wu, which are not written. The rest of the medicinal materials needed to refine the washing marrow pill are all listed above.

  After finishing reading, Zhou Wen slightly shook his head.

  "What's wrong? Is the medicine inside hard to find?"

  Zhou Wen rubbed his chin and said, "There are some Chinese medicine names inside that I don't quite recognize. For example, this 'Jiāo Mù', I've really never heard of this medicinal material before."

  "Huh? How is that possible? This medicinal herb, Sangmu, is quite commonly used. It's supposed to dispel wind and dampness, and strengthen the bones and muscles. It's supposed to look like this," said Song Jian, gesturing with his hands.

  Zhou Wen looked at Song Jian in shock and said, "You can't be talking about this medicine, can you?"

  As he spoke, Zhou Wen quickly came to the medicine cabinet, opened the "Sangjisheng" medicine bucket, and took out a few pieces of Sangjisheng.

  Song Jian took a look and nodded immediately, saying: "Right, right, it's this one. Oh, yes, it's called Sangjisheng. Hehe, I forgot."

  Song Jian couldn't help but laugh sarcastically after finishing speaking.

  Zhou Wen said in surprise: "So Sang Jisheng is also called Qiangmu? Then what's this 'eyebrow tip'?"

  Zhou Wen Yi took Song Jian's prescription and began discussing it with him.

  These 106 medicinal materials are actually relatively commonly used Chinese medicines, and the reason why Zhou Wenyi, this old pharmacist, has not seen some of them is not because they are rare, but because the names of these medicines have changed long ago.

  One thousand years ago, when Song Jian obtained the "Shang Gu Zhen Ren Shu", he had translated the names of the medicines inside it, because the names of the medicines in ancient times were already different from those in the Song Dynasty.

  But now, a thousand years later, some Chinese medicines have different names from those used in the Song Dynasty.

  Song Jian knew what those medicinal materials looked like, but for the time being, he couldn't match them with their current names, which was why this misunderstanding occurred.

  Next, Song Jian and Zhou Wen Yi started to work busily in the pharmacy, discussing what those rare medicinal materials in the prescription might be. Anyway, there are more than 700 kinds of traditional Chinese medicine in Tongrentang, whether they are commonly used or rare ones, all are stored here. With these medicinal materials, it's much easier to match the names.

  During the discussion, Zhou Wenyi was amazed by Song Jian's knowledge of medicine. Song Jian had a deep understanding of almost every type of medicine and could instantly recite their effects, composition, as well as introduce their places of origin and growth environments.

  On the other hand, Zhou Ting had become a wooden person. She had been following her grandfather to learn about traditional Chinese medicine since she was young and thought she had learned some skills, but now compared to Song Jian, she found that she couldn't even get involved in the conversation.

  In the afternoon, with Zhou Wen's help, Song Jian finally translated the prescription into modern Chinese medicine names. In this process, Song Jian also recorded the modern application names of all traditional Chinese medicines.

  "Thank you, Old Zhou." Song Jian said sincerely. If it weren't for Zhou Wen's help, Song Jian would have had to spend several more days to get the prescription right.

  Zhou Wen smiled and said: "No need to thank me. By the way, young brother, this prescription is a family heirloom of yours, isn't it? Why are these medicinal names so strange?"

  Song Jianshun nodded and said, "Yes, this prescription is too old. If it weren't for Old Zhou's help, I would have to spend several days figuring it out myself."

  Zhou Ting, who was standing beside them, couldn't bear to listen anymore. She pulled Zhou Wen's arm and said, "Grandpa, Song Jian is only in his twenties, why are you calling him 'brother'? Just call him Song Jian."

  Zhou Wen Yi and Song Jian both burst out laughing.

  He waved the prescription in his hand and said, "Don't worry, I'll ask my master to help with these three medicines: Ha Huang Lian, Gong Lao Ye, and Luo Shui Hua. They should be local medicinal names from Henan and other places, not commonly used. But my master should know, he practiced medicine in Henan and other places when he was young, so he's quite familiar with the local medicinal materials."

  During the Song Dynasty, transportation was inconvenient, so for the same type of traditional Chinese medicine, doctors in different places called it by different names.

  Song Jian looked at Zhou Wen's white-haired head and thought: Your master must be ninety years old now.

  "Thank you, Old Zhou. I really appreciate it. I urgently need these medicinal materials. This is a deposit of 10,000 yuan, and I'll give you the remaining money later." Song Jian pulled out a stack of brand new renminbi from his pocket.

  Zhou Wen put it away, waved the prescription in his hand and said: "Don't worry, I won't reveal this prescription to anyone else."

  Song Jian smiled slightly, but he didn't mind. This prescription was for refining elixirs, and even if others knew about it, it would be useless to them. Refining elixirs required skill and technique, and just preparing the medicinal materials alone would take a month of effort.

  After glancing at the time, Song Jian said: "Then Fangzi will stay with Old Zhou for now, I have to go pick up the boss from work."

  After finishing speaking, Song Jian turned around and left. Zhou Lao called out to stop him, saying: "Next Wednesday, our city's Chinese Medicine Museum has a 'Legendary Traditional Chinese Medicine Exhibition', if you have time, you can go take a look."

  Song Jian heard this and felt a sense of hope in his heart. He bowed to Zhou Wen with one hand, saying: "Thank you, Old Zhou."

  After finishing speaking, Song Jian hurriedly left, now it's already Xu Si's time to get off work.

  Zhou Wenyi originally wanted to tell Song Jian about the fake mountain ginseng and Zhou Yumin's prescription, but seeing Song Jian leave in a hurry, Zhou Wenyi didn't say anything else and turned around to collect the Chinese medicine needed for Song Jian's prescription.

  Song Jian drove the Passat, speeding towards the High-tech Zone. He was in a great mood, and with Zhou Wen's help, all the medicinal materials had been settled. Next week, there would also be a legendary Chinese medicine exhibition. If he was lucky, he might even find 100-year-old Huai Shan medicine and human-shaped Shou Wu.

  Song Jian's mouth corner revealed a smile, twenty minutes later, he had arrived at Siyuan Company downstairs.

  "Huh? What's going on?" Song Jian quickly stopped the car, got out, and hastily walked towards the entrance of Siyuan Company.

  At this moment, at the entrance of the company, Xu Si was wearing a black professional attire, standing helplessly in the crowd.

  Surrounded by more than a dozen staff members wearing white lab coats, one of whom was a bespectacled man with a side parting who was particularly excited.

  "Director Xu, what was agreed upon initially was a quarterly bonus of 15,000. Why did the bonus that should have been issued at the end of September only arrive today, and on top of that, it's only half of the amount? This is really disheartening for us employees." The man spoke while waving his fist in the air.

  "Pei Yong, you also know that our company's performance has been poor for the past half year. This project invested too much money, and now the company's finances..." Xu Si explained patiently, holding onto his briefcase.

  "Don't mention efficiency to me," said that Bai Yong, who was obviously not someone to be trifled with. "When you brought us into the company in the first place, didn't you say everything would be fine? How come now it's all changed? The benefits have been cut in half overnight - how are we employees supposed to live? Is this what you people call it?"

  That Pei Yong loudly asked around him.

  "That's right, that's right, it was agreed upon at first, apart from the basic salary, there is a quarterly bonus every three months."

  "It's just that prices are so expensive now, I bought a bottle of cosmetics yesterday and spent over 1,000."

  "Alas, my child is about to go to college, what can be done?"

  People around were talking about it.

  "Please understand, I will definitely make up for the bonus later, but you all know that due to the project's failure, the company's finances are too tight right now."

  "The project failed because of the incompetence of the project department, how can you let our R&D department take responsibility for it!" Pei Yongde was indignant. "Director Xu, I've inquired about it, there are still some reserve funds in the company. If you don't pay us the bonus today, don't think about leaving."

  People around heard that the company still had reserve funds and began to discuss it.

  Xu Si's face turned pale, and he said: "Those funds were used for the next project. Now that this project has failed, if there is no backup funding, how can we start the next project? Without the next project, the company will go bankrupt."

  "We don't care, that's your problem as the boss. We just want our due pay." Pei Yong said, taking a step closer to Xu Si, "Let me tell you, Mr. Xu, if you don't give us money today, you're not leaving!"

  With Pei Yong leading the way, other R&D personnel also surrounded Xu Si, discussing and debating.

  Song Jian sneered and strode over, pushing through the crowd, and walked up to Xu Si.

  Xu Si saw Song Jian arrive and felt a slight relief in her heart. At this moment, Xu Si realized that she was just a woman who needed protection.

  "It's okay?" Song Jian asked softly, leaning against Xu Si.

  A faint bitter smile appeared on her lovely face, she shook her head and said: "It's nothing, it was my fault all along, I just failed at managing things."

  Song Jian patted Xu Si's shoulder, then looked around at the people and said in a calm tone: "General Manager Xu has said that this money will be paid later, and the company will definitely not be able to pay it recently. Of course, if anyone insists on getting this money immediately..."

  Song Jian's tone turned icy, "What Mr. Xu means is that tomorrow, bring your resignation report to the office, and Mr. Xu will give you the remaining bonus and this month's and next month's salary all at once!"

  "Huh? What does it mean?"

  "Who is this person?"

  "Looks like it's our company's driver?"

  The people around were startled by Song Jian's words.

  Xu Si was also startled and pulled Song Jian's arm, saying: "Song Jian, don't be reckless."

  Song Jian patted Xu Si's shoulder lightly and said, "Don't worry, if employees can't understand this little difficulty, then let them find another job."

  Bai Yong took a step forward and grabbed Song Jian's collar, "A small driver like you also dares to make decisions for the company? Can you afford to compensate for the company's losses?"

  Song Jian coldly smiled and looked at Pei Yong, but didn't say a word.

  Xu Si hastily stepped forward, pushed Pei Yong away and said loudly: "Song Jian's meaning is my meaning! Whoever makes trouble again will submit a resignation report to me tomorrow! I know this matter is my fault to everyone, so I will pay an additional two months' salary!"

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