"No wonder you'd ask that question. Anyone who's been here before would definitely know that our Huang Family Medicine Shop has the most complete selection. There's only what you can't think of, nothing you can't buy," the assistant said with some pride, though this pride was just a sense of honor without arrogance toward customers.
It seemed this shop's owner was quite good—if the employees spoke this way, it would be hard for business not to be good.
"That's not necessarily true. What if I name something you don't have?" Xiaoyao smiled. At this moment, he felt his smile should be quite dashing—originally such an expression should have carried some teasing meaning.
But Xiaoyao forgot his current appearance. His dashing smile now looked like a silly grin, making others feel not teasing but a foolish question.
Because of this, the assistant looked down on Xiaoyao, feeling he couldn't possibly say anything significant, so he casually said: "If you can name something we don't have here, we'll not only find it for you but won't charge you,”
"Really?" Xiaoyao looked at the assistant, then shook his head saying: "You're not the owner here, you're just an assistant. You can't make that decision!"
"..." The assistant fell silent for a moment. He seemed to realize his words had overstepped his authority—this was beyond his power. Almost no one here could make such a promise, as most were employees.
"I can make that decision. I can agree to what he said!" A young master walked out, glanced at Xiaoyao once. Although his expression seemed fine, his eyes revealed a trace of disdain.
Obviously, this young master felt someone like Xiaoyao wouldn't know much and couldn't name any special materials, because no matter how you looked at him, Xiaoyao was just an ordinary little fat man. He had never heard of such a character.
"May I ask who you are?" Xiaoyao wanted to confirm. If this was another person just talking empty words, he couldn't be bothered to say anything.
"Young sir, this is our Huang family's young master. What he says represents the Huang family and can represent our medicine shop," the assistant immediately explained, having noticed his young master seemed slightly displeased.
Perhaps because of being doubted, or perhaps because of being doubted by a little fat man like Xiaoyao...
"Huang family? Can I ask a question—which Huang family are you?" Xiaoyao asked the question that had made him pause and get drawn in.
"What do you mean?! Don't tell me you've never heard of our Huang family," The young master's face immediately changed, darkening and becoming somewhat gloomy.
"I have heard of one..." Xiaoyao shook his head. This first half of the sentence made the Huang family young master's expression improve considerably, but the second half immediately returned his expression to its previous ugliness.
"What relationship do you have with the Huang family of Qingyun Province?"
"..."
"No relationship!" the Huang family young master said coldly. So this little fat man was talking about a Huang family from elsewhere. There were so many people surnamed Huang in the world, countless Huang families—how could every family be the same?
"Oh, then I don't know which family yours is," Xiaoyao shook his head. Indeed, there were too many Huang families.
"We're the Huang family of Lingyue County—we're among the top here," the Huang family young master said.
"Not number one though—you're at most number two," Xiaoyao shook his head.
"Damn! Kid, who are you calling number two!" The Huang family young master got angry, grabbing Xiaoyao's collar and roaring.
"You guys—you're at most number two! Ah, I'm not saying you're stupid... you yourself just said 'among the top'! The first definitely isn't the Huang family but the Liu family. You can at most be second... Um, I'm not good with words, sorry, please forgive me," Xiaoyao said somewhat nervously, immediately apologizing, but his words seemed to be mocking the Huang family young master again. Yet there was nothing to catch him on, since this topic was brought up by the young master himself.
"Hmph!" The Huang family young master snorted coldly. "Liu family—that's in the past. I'll definitely surpass the Liu family in the future!"
The Liu family was Lingyue County's legendary family, always the number one family here. This Huang family was actually brought up by the Liu family—the Huang family was connected to the Liu family by marriage.
Although the Huang family young master spoke of surpassing them, this was basically pipe dreams, or one could say this young master was somewhat ignorant.
The Huang family had developed rapidly over recent decades and gradually become the first family after the Liu family, but the difference between the Huang and Liu families was enormous. On the surface, the Liu and Huang family shops looked similar, and the Huang family medicine shop's management was quite exceptional—something Xiaoyao had acknowledged earlier.
But this was just the shop—just the surface. The content was quite different. The Liu family had more foundation than the Huang family. Whether in medicinal material quality or quantity, the Liu family held absolute advantages.
Basically all alchemists here knew this. When wanting to refine high-quality pills, they would choose Liu family materials. For ordinary ones, they'd choose Huang family materials because they were slightly cheaper.
In terms of quantity, ordinary items often exceeded high-quality ones in number, so on the surface, the Huang family seemed to have higher sales volume.
The Huang family young master saw this point, so his confidence kept inflating. He infinitely minimized another data point's importance—sales revenue.
This data was also most crucial, showing where the difference lay and exactly how large it was.
"I haven't been to the Liu family, but for your place to develop greatly, there are still many areas needing improvement," Xiaoyao continued, making the Huang family young master's face darken again—wasn't this clearly saying he wasn't good enough?
Xiaoyao didn't give the young master any chance to speak, directly continuing: "You don't need to tell me anything—these are your own affairs. I just want to know what happens if I name something you don't have and you can't find it either?"
The earlier condition was to help Xiaoyao find it for free, but what if they couldn't find it? This question was quite necessary to discuss.
"Don't worry, that's impossible, Even if what you name isn't here, I can definitely find it," the Huang family young master replied disdainfully.
"That's hard to say. What if you can't find it?" Xiaoyao asked.
"Then I'll give you my shop sign to smash!" the Huang family young master roared. He was getting impatient with Xiaoyao, feeling this was deeply insulting to him.
When the young master said this, almost everyone was stunned. This was going too far—what if they really couldn't find it? Would he really let someone smash the shop sign?
This was a very serious problem, extremely serious. Even the young master felt there was a problem, but his words were already spoken. He didn't want to take them back—wouldn't taking them back show he didn't have the ability? Wouldn't it tell everyone his medicine shop didn't have such capability?
"Originally, I have no interest in smashing shop signs, but I find you quite displeasing, so I agree to your proposal!" Xiaoyao smiled. He originally wouldn't do such pointless things, but this young master made him very displeased. He really wanted to see this young master in an embarrassing situation.
"Find me displeasing? Kid, don't be so shameless! Tell me something right now. I warn you in advance—if it's not medicinal materials, if you're making things up, I'll let you know the consequences of causing trouble in my shop!" the young master said, suppressing his anger. Originally he wanted to explode, but he thought if he got angry now, wouldn't he be in the wrong?
Anyway, this kid definitely couldn't name anything. Then he could punish him with complete justification!
"Just one thing? I don't want just one—we didn't say just one beforehand either. Are you afraid?" Xiaoyao frowned.
"What? You say I'm afraid? I'm just having you name one to see. If even one isn't right, is there any need to continue?" the young master said disdainfully.
"Then let's start with one type—Ice Condensation Grass," Xiaoyao said.
"Ice Condensation Grass? Is there such a thing?" The young master was puzzled. This name sounded quite ordinary, but he seemed to have never heard of it.
"Do we have this Ice Condensation Grass?" The young master directly asked the people inside. He himself wasn't too deep into medicinal materials and might have oversights. He believed the people in the shop should know.
After a while, everyone in the Huang family shop confirmed one thing—this ordinary-named herb was something they had never heard of, so naturally they didn't sell it.
"Young master, we don't have it. Not only do we not have it, I've never heard of such a medicinal material called Ice Condensation Grass. He might be talking nonsense!"
"As expected! Someone, throw this little fat man out and beat him!" The young master laughed. Now he felt he could feel good.
"Wait!" Little fat man Xiaoyao said.
"Are you preparing for a beating? Good, I'm very generous—I can let you prepare!" the young master laughed loudly.
"A beating?! That should be you. If your family knows this shop sign is getting smashed, they'll naturally beat you," Xiaoyao replied with a smile.
"What?! You still dare be stubborn! Someone, drag him out and beat him hard! If you beat him to death, I'll take responsibility!" the young master raged.
"You can't take that responsibility!" Xiaoyao glanced at the young master, returning the disdain he had shown him. He said: "Let's discuss something first. You say you've never heard of Ice Condensation Grass, right?"
"Yes, never heard of it!" The assistants and manager shook their heads.
(End of Chapter)