I Can Hear the Heart's Voice of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Chapter 488 - 206: The People Aren’t Sick, the Medicine Is

"The pharmacy business is really booming, so many people everywhere."

As soon as the group entered Huian Pharmacy, Lin Yongzhen couldn’t help but sigh upon seeing seven or eight people inside purchasing medicine.

"Isn’t that the truth?"

Ji Xiuwen said, "No wonder people say that there are not many other types of stores in our country, but pharmacies are frighteningly abundant. This is just a small county town—big cities are even more intense. Like in the neighborhood where Lu Xuan and I rent an apartment, there are three pharmacies within a ten-meter radius. It really proves that saying, ten steps to a pharmacy, not a grain store for three miles."

At this point, Ji Xiuwen was speechless.

Chinese people must be sick!

How else could so many pharmacies survive?

The streets are filled with pharmacies; you don’t even need a census to know they’re several times more numerous than grain and grocery stores.

Frankly speaking, aside from funeral homes, there’s a pharmacy under every building.

The government’s focus on key infrastructures like food baskets and granaries hasn’t been as prevalent, but the pharmacy industry has realized full coverage.

Of course, that’s not even the most outrageous part.

The most outrageous part is that these pharmacies all make money.

All these pharmacies, steps away from each other, make money—how many people have to be sick for that to be the case?

Moreover, many people who get sick don’t even purchase from pharmacies, opting for hospitals instead. Yet, even with that, pharmacies just steps apart are profitable. It highlights how pathological the world has become.

Speaking further, Ji Xiuwen added, "In the past, pharmacy couplets would say: ’It is hoped that people are free of illnesses; it’s okay if the medicine gathers dust on the shelves.’

But now it’s different; pharmacy banners read: ’Buy over 128 yuan worth of medicine and get 10 eggs for free—the more you buy, the more you get.’ The implication being: You surely have an ailment, take medicine if you’re ill, strengthen yourself if you’re not, take some occasionally regardless, and stock up for future use; there’s always a medicine you need.

It’s as if, in the eyes of those who run these pharmacies, everyone is ill, and even if you’re not, you should be."

Lin Yongzhen nodded in assent, apparently recalling something, and murmured, "The industry that should least be expanded has grown strong and widespread nationwide, where stores start bullying customers and manipulating situations.

I still remember when I was a kid, my dad once went to buy a common medication, taking the empty medicine box to avoid confusion. The salesperson’s eyes lit up as if my dad was a God of Wealth, incessantly asking about his symptoms, blah blah blah, spewing a bunch of nonsense. In the end, my dad bought the medicine he needed and also what he didn’t need. Initially planning to buy medicine worth just over ten yuan, he came home with a couple of hundred yuan worth.

My mom was shocked at the time, thinking my dad had some strange illness. Back then, as someone who didn’t understand much, it didn’t feel like a big deal, but now, looking back at all these pharmacies lining the streets, as a doctor, it’s indescribably distressing."

"Who could deny that?"

The group conversed quietly at the doorway, not loudly at all.

However, the faces of the three medical students were not pleasant.

It was Lu Ran who seemed unfazed, taking it as a matter of routine.

Since childhood, where other stores were scarce on the streets, the abundance of pharmacies was the norm. To her, it was just typical.

Additionally, since Lu Guoquan runs a clinic, Lu Ran frequently visited and saw plenty of these dealings.

Not only pharmacies but clinics were equally prevalent.

In some shadier clinics, they would prescribe medications costing hundreds for a treatable condition that only needed ten to twenty yuan worth of medicine.

Even a minor cold, which could be cured with one box of medicine, would immediately be treated with a plethora of anti-inflammatory drugs.

This is not unheard of.

Contrarily, it happens a lot.

And these clinics that hastily prescribe all sorts of antibiotics could end up being hailed as miracle workers.

There’s a saying: A person falls ill in the morning, takes medicine at noon, and is cured by afternoon.

If that’s not a miracle doctor, what is?

"Let’s stop talking about these trivial matters and get the medicine. We haven’t even gathered our medicine yet and the medicine pot is already on the way," Lu Ran urged.

The market selling medicine pots is a few kilometers further from the Lu Family compared to Huian Pharmacy. Plus, there was still some distance inside the market. Logically, it should take longer than the group returning home.

But watching them dawdle, they might still arrive back later.

Lu Ran’s urging stopped the conversation, and the group moved directly into the pharmacy.

But as the four entered, they overheard a conversation at one of the shelves, where an elderly man in his sixties was engaging in a somewhat rushed exchange with a pharmacy worker.

Their attention was immediately drawn over.

The old man glanced at the medicine in the worker’s hands and shook his head, saying, "No, I want to buy this medicine, it’s a different kind."

The worker persisted in enthusiastically promoting the medicine in hand, "Oh, sir, why not try this medicine? It’s pure Chinese medicine with no side effects, and it’s more effective than the one you mentioned. Yes, the price is a bit higher, but not by much, and there’s a reason good things are costly, right?

Good stuff is never cheap, sir, and good medicine is the same. This medicine just came in this month. Usually, when you want to buy it, it’s sold out. We sell it very well, and many people have said it works particularly well after taking it. If you’re skeptical, you can buy it and try it. You’ll know its effectiveness after using it.

I know the medicine you mentioned—it’s cheap, sure, but ineffective."

The old man clutched the perspiring bills in his hand, reminded of the price the worker mentioned, and whatever impulse he felt shattered, leaving a restored clarity: "No, I’m just buying this medicine!"