Love letters are not allowed in the exorcism notebook!-Chapter 449 - 27: The Medicine that Foreigners All Praise

No opium bandits around... bleh! No demons and evil spirits causing trouble meant good days were ahead.

Compared to the chaotic worlds Wang Yunxiao had read about before his time travel, where protagonists needed to battle seven ghosts just to buy a pack of cigarettes, Tianmen City was relatively harmonious and stable.

Especially after the Qilin Army brought howitzers into the city.

The whole world seemed so peaceful, as if demons and evil spirits had never existed.

In the weeks following the Ghost Festival, both the flood and cholera epidemic had been effectively controlled.

The news in the papers gradually shifted from the disaster and epidemic to entertaining stories about Foreigners taking Chinese medicine to save their lives.

People of Ming taking Chinese medicine wasn’t news, but Foreigners pinching their noses to swallow Chinese medicine—that was amusing to watch.

When the cholera epidemic was spreading, it similarly impacted the Seaside District, exhausting the supply of various Western medicines, and even the fever-reducing ice that Li Mumu considered an improper remedy surged in price multiple times.

If the epidemic hadn’t been controlled timely, the prices probably would’ve skyrocketed.

The overseas immigrants, unable to obtain medicine, naturally turned their eyes toward Chinese medicine.

During the epidemic, in addition to the Compound Soup Mixture for treating cholera, other miraculous cures and secret recipes also came into their view.

Among them, two famous secret remedies were widely recognized: one being Cinnabar Anshen Pills, used for calming nerves and treating insomnia with constant dreaming, and the other was Sea Horse and Deer Antler Wine, reputed to enhance men’s lifestyle quality.

There’s no need to elaborate on Cinnabar Anshen Pills—in an environment constantly plagued by evil spirits every new moon and full moon, nothing was more crucial than a good night’s sleep till dawn.

As for Sea Horse and Deer Antler Wine... even the locals in Tianmen hadn’t heard of such a thing, yet it suddenly became popular and was heavily promoted by the immigrant community.

The pursuit of such remedies is nearly universal, and Westerners even have a dark history of consuming mummies to extinction.

Given Wang Yunxiao’s own health, he of course wasn’t concerned with this kind of news.

But Li Mumu was somewhat interested, because according to the news reports, both miraculous drugs originated from a previously obscure but suddenly famous "Zhao Family Anhe Pharmacy."

This pharmacy had even approached the Longevity Sect hoping to use their channels to market their new medicine, the now popular "Zhao Family Cinnabar Anshen Pills." At that time, due to the unusually low price, Li Mumu had suspected they were counterfeit.

You don’t care whether cinnabar is toxic or not, but any medicine that includes it can’t possibly be cheap.

Unexpectedly, the medicine did have a legitimate effect, and it quickly became a hit through strong word-of-mouth.

This, of course, wasn’t a normal phenomenon.

Speculations had arisen that a future power was manipulating this pharmacy from behind the scenes.

Brilliant Moon Pharmaceuticals...

Li Mumu was quite familiar with that name.

In her memories before crossing over, that was a massive enterprise. Back when she was still in school, the CEO of Brilliant Moon Pharmaceuticals passed away, and his descendants fought viciously over the inheritance, even resorting to hiring mercenaries and assassins to slaughter each other.

But it was also due to that family feud that many secretive research projects inside the company were exposed, creating a lot of chaos.

Back in the day, she even hacked their lab and stole the blueprints for their human enhancement projects...

But that part of her memory had been erased.

Li Mumu could remember that she had done it, but not the specific details.

Her memories from before she joined the future Special Affairs Bureau stopped abruptly on the day she joined.

Now, hearing the name "Brilliant Moon Pharmaceuticals" again felt incredibly familiar.

She didn’t even need to think about it; this guy was a natural-born big boss. It was definitely right to turn to him when things went awry.

"The tofu is ready to eat."

"Great!"

Li Mumu put down the newspaper and picked up her bowl and chopsticks.

She had been craving this hot tofu for several days.

Each place has its specialty; in Tianmen, if you eat hotpot, you can’t have the red soup – firstly, it’s not authentic, and secondly, it doesn’t suit the palate.

The top way to eat it is with a broth made from clams and crabs, which emphasizes delicacy and freshness.

The second best is made with a broth from cow and sheep bones, another type of deliciousness.

Add a plate of the North’s unique braised tofu, stewed until nearly melting, and scoop it up and eat it hot – you don’t even need any dipping sauces, it’s just divine.

If you then beat an egg into it, add some white vinegar and pepper, served with a small burner, that’s the ultimate local indulgence.

Wang Yunxiao sat across the pot, silently admiring the beautiful sight of the girl blowing on the tofu fiercely.

Eldest Miss Li was easy to please.

If she were one of those aristocratic ladies who needed lavish meals, he really couldn’t afford to keep her.

But Eldest Miss Li was not so delicate; from fried Guozi on the street to Western meals and drinks in big restaurants, she was eager to eat anything tasty, without being pretentious at all.

He had promised to treat her to hotpot last time, and Wang Yunxiao had been delayed for a few days, but Eldest Miss Li did not complain at all.

Because of this, Wang Yunxiao felt somewhat guilty and specifically looked for a lamb hotpot place, only to find Eldest Miss Li loved braised tofu even more than lamb slices.

"I might have to go out in a couple of days. Could you keep an eye on the brothers and make sure they don’t wander off? They all listen to you now..."

Speaking of this, Wang Yunxiao felt a bit bitter.

These were brothers and sisters he had practically raised by hand.

In Nantong District, his gang was well-known, ferocious on the outside and mighty. But back at school upon seeing Eldest Miss Li, it was as if they saw their own sister-in-law, almost wagging their tails in excitement.

Finally, the clothes Li Mumu ordered had arrived.

That night, everyone under their new blankets kept saying ’Sister Mumu, Sister Mumu,’ and in their hearts, there was no longer a place for Big Brother.

"Where are you going?"

Li Mumu was a bit puzzled; Wang Yunxiao and his friends were all orphans. If they had relatives to go to, they wouldn’t stay in school during the holidays. Where could he possibly go alone?

With just those two pennies in his pocket, he couldn’t possibly be off keeping a mistress, could he?

"Didn’t I tell you? I took a master some days ago."

"You did mention it. Wasn’t he some old swindler?"

"Right, that’s him."

Wang Yunxiao spread his hands, "The old man wants to take me to Cangzhou’s old hall to pay homage to the master’s tablet, only then I’d be officially initiated."

Li Mumu said puzzled, "Isn’t it better to learn things legitimately at school? Why do you need to learn his tricks?"

"You don’t understand, quit asking!"

Wang Yunxiao was somewhat embarrassed.

Do you think I want this?

Some matters between men can’t simply be calculated by gains and losses.

In the past, Wang Yunxiao had owed Old Master He a lot of favors. When he first arrived, with virtually no experience in the Jianghu World, it was all thanks to Old Master He explaining things to him, allowing him to turn dangers into safety and find clues amid chaos, something that couldn’t be offset by merely calling someone master.

The old man was of considerable age and still had several unfulfilled wishes. As long as they weren’t illegal, he had to do his best to help.

This was a matter of male pride, something he couldn’t explain to a woman.