Chapter 154 Opportunity!

Within just a few days, the title of the miraculous healer Zhang Wenhao had spread widely across the entire Miao Village. The simple and honest Miao people regarded Zhang Wenhao as their benefactor. Every day, someone would come to Long Xiaoyue's inn and drag Zhang Wenhao to their home for a meal. Sometimes, when both Zhang Wenhao and Long Xiaoyue were busy treating patients and unable to make it, no fewer than three or five families would arrive simultaneously to deliver food. The two of them were frequently left staring helplessly at enough dishes to feed seven or eight people.

Gradually, Zhang Wenhao was not quite as busy as before. Occasionally, when he stole half a day of leisure amidst his floating life, he would run over to the village primary school to watch Long Xiaoyue give lessons to the children. Long Xiaoyue taught all subjects across five grades entirely by herself. The children in the classroom ranged in age from six or seven to twelve or thirteen. The village could only provide a room capable of holding fifty people to serve as Long Xiaoyue's classroom, so she divided the children of each grade into a single class and could only spare two class periods a day for each group. Even so, this consumed ** hours of her time every day.

Long Xiaoyue could only earn a few thousand yuan a year by running her inn, and almost all of this money was spent on these children. The textbooks were old books picked out from scrap yards outside, the blackboard was a wooden board painted with black oil paint, and consumables like paper and pens were used in endless amounts. Long Xiaoyue had to assign homework to the children every day. With over two hundred children, each person consumed at least two to three pencils and three to four notebooks every month. The cost per person alone was five or six yuan, and for more than two hundred children, it amounted to at least a thousand-odd yuan a month. Calculated this way, an annual investment of over ten thousand yuan placed tremendous pressure on Long Xiaoyue.

Sometimes, after the children finished writing in their notebooks, they would wipe away the pencil marks with a damp cloth, then lay them out in the sun to dry, continuing to use them once dried. Yet Long Xiaoyue could not even bear to spend money on chalk. Every time she traveled out of the mountains to buy stationery, she would search for pieces of lime or leftover putty powder from others whitening their walls, mix it with water, shape it into long strips, and dry them in the sun to serve as chalk.

Zhang Wenhao's heart ached as he watched. Although the lives of the people here were not overly arduous, the moment life came into direct contact with money, the only fitting description was utter destitution.

As it happened, Zhang Wenhao needed to make a trip out of the mountains to purchase special medication for Yang Chenshan, who suffered from cirrhosis. Such medicine probably wasn't even sold in the county town, and if it couldn't be obtained there, he would have to go to Guiyang. Furthermore, there were no critically ill patients in the village right now, and even Long Xiaoyue's aunt had recovered by fifty to sixty percent. Zhang Wenhao therefore planned to drive to Guiyang, and incidentally help Long Xiaoyue buy some stationery supplies.

That evening, after sending away the last few patients and settling Long Xiaoyue's aunt down to rest, Zhang Wenhao and Long Xiaoyue sat on the long bench between the wooden pillars downstairs. Each holding a large bowl, they ate the dinner sent over by the villagers.

Zhang Wenhao could not help but say, "Xiaoyue, tomorrow morning, why don't you come with me to Guiyang?"

"Go to Guiyang?" Long Xiaoyue asked in surprise, "What for?"

Zhang Wenhao replied, "Some medicines need to be restocked and cannot be fully matched in the county, so it's better to make a trip to Guiyang. The damp-dispensing decoction needed by the arthritis patients hasn't had time to be prepared yet, and the county can't supply the right ingredients. I haven't had time to drive to Guiyang these past few days, but now that things are less busy, we'll make a trip tomorrow and buy everything that needs to be bought all at once."

Long Xiaoyue could not help asking, "Then what would I go for? I can stay here and take care of my aunt."

Zhang Wenhao smiled and said, "Your aunt's condition is much more stable. She can walk around on her own without any problem, and her pain has eased. I'll leave her a few painkillers tomorrow. Since it will be fine for a day, I noticed that the village school lacks quite a lot of things. The children probably haven't even seen schoolbags or pencil cases like those used by children outside, and essential supplies like paper and pens are also in urgent shortage. It just so happens we can buy a lot more in one go. You should take a look to see if there is anything else needed so we can buy it back for the children."

Upon hearing this, Long Xiaoyue hurriedly waved her hands and said, "Wenhao, you have already sacrificed enough for the villagers here. With so many medicines, I don't even know how much money it will cost. Always having you spend money makes me feel uneasy."

Zhang Wenhao smiled. "Since I came to provide volunteer medical services, I'm willing to spend money on medicine that costs hundreds of yuan a box; how could I begrudge notebooks that cost a fraction of a yuan each? Besides, the children's education is extremely important. You are someone who has walked this path before, so you should know that the best way to truly walk out of the mountains and establish a foothold outside is to let these children receive a good education. You are a top graduate from Tsinghua University, so teaching them is certainly no problem, but always enduring such hardship is not a good thing for the children's studies."

"But..." Long Xiaoyue was clearly somewhat tempted. The hardship of the children was a major pain in her heart, but her own abilities were limited. The only way she could make money was through the income brought by the inn in the summer, and she did not want the villagers to spend money, so she had gritted her teeth and persevered this far. Fairly speaking, she also fervently hoped that the children's learning environment could be better.

With a resolute expression, Zhang Wenhao said, "Stop with the buts. Eat your meal and go to sleep early, and we'll set off first thing tomorrow morning!"

The next morning, after washing up, Zhang Wenhao was just about to knock on Long Xiaoyue's door when he saw her opening it and walking out. Today, Long Xiaoyue was no longer wearing her customary Miao attire. Instead, she had changed into the old clothes she used to wear when she went to school outside: a slightly wrinkled, pure white short-sleeved T-shirt with no patterns at all, faded blue jeans whose original shade could barely be made out, and a pair of white canvas shoes. Although she looked a bit too rustic, the overall impression was breathtakingly refreshing.

With her hair loose, Long Xiaoyue, even dressed so simply, radiated a stunning natural beauty. Her long hair cascaded over her shoulders, falling loosely yet neatly. The Miao people liked to wash their hair with fermented rice water that had gone slightly sour, so every woman's hair quality was astonishingly good—jet-black, smooth, and carrying a natural, healthy luster. Coupled with her tender, fair skin, if a girl like this truly spent her whole life confined within the mountains, it would indeed be a terrible waste of heaven's gift.

Zhang Wenhao concealed the astonishment and slight sigh in his heart, and said with a smile to Long Xiaoyue, "All packed and ready?"

"Mhm." Long Xiaoyue nodded gently, a trace of shyness on her face as she wondered if Zhang Wenhao would disdain her attire. Furthermore, she really did not want to wear Miao clothes to Guiyang, for fear she would be treated like a monster.

Zhang Wenhao snapped his fingers at her and smiled, "Let's go, time to depart! We have a very long road ahead of us."

Just getting out of the mountains would take at least two hours, followed by another hour driving to the county town, an hour rushing to the city, and once on the highway, another hour to Guiyang. That required at least five hours, plus buying various things and eating meals. It was estimated that they would not return until late at night.

Long Xiaoyue sat in the front passenger seat of the G65. As Zhang Wenhao started the car, some of the children who woke up early heard the commotion. Seeing that the miraculous healer older brother from outside and their teacher Xiaoyue were getting into a car to go out, they swarmed over to ask questions.

Long Xiaoyue smiled and told the expectant children, "Today, all of you let the other classmates know. Teacher is going out today to buy new notebooks and pens for you, so I'm giving you a day off as an exception."

A burst of cheers rang out. A seven- or eight-year-old child said expectantly, "Miraculous healer older brother, I want to eat candy. Can you buy me one? Just one!"

Zhang Wenhao smiled. "When we come back, I'll bring each of you a pack of candy!"

Another wave of excited cheers followed. For these children, occasionally getting a piece of candy from the outside world was already an extremely thrilling thing.

Zhang Wenhao drove out of Miao Village, carrying Long Xiaoyue toward the outside of the mountains. The road out of the mountains was initially quite smooth, but halfway through, a huge boulder nearly the size of a person's embrace blocked the narrow center of the road.

Zhang Wenhao stopped the car, and Long Xiaoyue said with a disappointed expression, "Now we're in trouble; we can't get past."

Zhang Wenhao remarked, "What's troublesome about this? We just need to move the stone out of the way."

"But that stone is too big," Long Xiaoyue said, looking up and noticing a large gap on the cliff face. "It must have fallen because the rock was loose. Fortunately, it didn't hurt anyone."

Zhang Wenhao pushed the door open, stepped out, and turned to Long Xiaoyue, saying, "Wait for me a moment."

With that, Zhang Wenhao walked toward the giant boulder. Long Xiaoyue hurriedly got out of the car as well, following behind him and saying, "Wenhao, that stone is too big; you won't be able to move it. And we don't have any useful tools. We should probably go back and call someone to help."

Zhang Wenhao replied, "We've already been out for an hour. If we go back now to call people, two hours will be gone in a round trip, and our time is already very tight." As he spoke, he had already reached the boulder, found a suitable position to exert force with both hands, stepped back a few steps into an arched posture, and then exerted a sudden burst of strength!

The giant boulder did not budge an inch.

Zhang Wenhao clicked his tongue, thinking to himself that he had intentionally held back twenty percent of his strength just moments ago, assuming it would be enough, but he hadn't expected it to be this heavy. He immediately clenched his jaw, placed his hands back into the proper position, slightly crouched his body, and put his full force into his arms, legs, and waist. In an instant, he pushed his strength to the absolute limit.

Long Xiaoyue stared in utter astonishment as the boulder was pushed three or four centimeters by Zhang Wenhao. Furthermore, he didn't stop; he continued pushing it toward the roadside, her mouth agape in shock. A stone this large weighed at least tons, and its jagged bottom pressed heavily against the road surface. Pushing it away like this must require immense strength. Zhang Wenhao looked somewhat thin and frail, yet she never expected him to possess such an unfathomable amount of power.

If Zhang Wenhao were asked to pick up the stone and throw it, that would be sheer fantasy, but pushing it away was barely achievable. Zhang Wenhao gritted his teeth, his face turning completely red from holding his breath, not daring to release it. Inch by inch, he pushed the giant boulder right to the edge of the cliff. Then, with a low roar, Zhang Wenhao unleashed an even greater surge of strength. With a loud crash, the boulder was shoved by Zhang Wenhao down the cliff. A rumbling impact echoed from the valley below, reverberating for a long while.

Zhang Wenhao let out a long breath, adjusting his body with a few deep breaths, before dusting the dirt off his hands and saying to Long Xiaoyue, "Get in the car, let's go."

It took Long Xiaoyue a long while to snap out of her daze. By then, Zhang Wenhao had already pulled open the car door and climbed inside, prompting her to hurriedly follow and board the vehicle as well. As Zhang Wenhao started the car and continued on their journey, Long Xiaoyue could not help blurting out, "Wenhao, your strength is simply too terrifying..."

Zhang Wenhao smiled and said lightly, "Don't judge me by my thin appearance; I used to train when I was a kid. You can't judge a book by its cover."

Long Xiaoyue smiled faintly and nodded. In her eyes, Zhang Wenhao had become even more mysterious and unfathomable.

With the road being boring, the two began to chat idly. Zhang Wenhao remembered that he was going to buy liver cirrhosis medication for Yang Chenshan this time, so he asked, "Xiaoyue, what's the deal with Uncle Yang? He doesn't look like someone who has done heavy physical labor, and although he sometimes jokes and laughs, there's always a lingering sorrow in his expression. You mentioned before that his business wasn't doing well; can you tell me the specifics?"

Long Xiaoyue sighed helplessly and said, "Uncle Yang used to be very successful. He opened a pharmaceutical factory in the city specializing in producing medicines based on traditional Miao folk formulas, and his best-seller was a Miao herbal plaster for treating traumatic injuries and bruises. At first, that plaster sold quite well in the surrounding areas and had a great reputation. Uncle Yang thought this was a huge business opportunity, so he mortgaged the factory and took out some loans from the bank, preparing to turn the plaster into a brand and build his reputation within the province first. At the time, he even ran advertisements on the provincial television station. But after all, the plaster was just a folk remedy, and he didn't have the research and improvement capabilities. A well-known pharmaceutical factory in the province launched a 'Miao Orthopedic Plaster' and even advertised it on national television. It suddenly skyrocketed in popularity. Their plaster had undergone research and improvement, and its effect was much better than Uncle Yang's product. Consequently, Uncle Yang's plaster lost its market."

"Once it lost its market, the factory's profitability plummeted, and the bank loans couldn't be repaid. The arrears piled up higher and higher, owing not only bank money but also workers' wages, and the inventory couldn't be sold. Uncle Yang shut down the factory, borrowed money to pay off the workers' wages first, and two months ago, the bank sealed up his factory. Word is it's about to be auctioned off."

Zhang Wenhao smiled helplessly and said, "Nowadays, all plasters can only provide temporary relief for joint and bone diseases; they treat the symptoms rather than the root cause. That Miao Orthopedic Plaster, I reckon, isn't anything genuinely good either." Then, Zhang Wenhao lamented, "Still, Uncle Yang's luck is truly terrible. Just as things were starting to look up, a major competitor appeared and completely crushed him."

Long Xiaoyue sighed helplessly. "There's nothing to be done about that; you can only say his fortune was ill-timed."

Zhang Wenhao nodded, and in an instant, a flash of inspiration struck his mind!

Although he couldn't possibly produce a world-shaking novel antibiotic like Wallace's Element, he was fully capable of manufacturing some ordinary medicines using the medical knowledge he possessed! Why not use this knowledge to produce some high-efficiency, superior medicines?

Take the Miao herbal plaster that Yang Chenshan fell on, for example. Current plasters indeed lacked the ability to cure the root cause, mostly just alleviating symptoms or pain. However, the damp-dispensing decoction had a phenomenal effect in treating arthritis. Even without acupuncture assistance, it just took slightly longer. If he could develop the damp-dispensing decoction, or directly transform it into a plaster format, and utilize Yang Chenshan's factory, wouldn't mass production be achievable?

Zhang Wenhao had absolute, ten-thousand-fold confidence in the efficacy of his damp-dispensing decoction; the only lacking element was the suitable opportunity and capability to mass-produce it. Yang Chenshan had experience, production lines, and equipment. Although it was currently repossessed by the bank, a small pharmaceutical factory probably wasn't worth all that much. If it truly went to auction, it probably wouldn't fetch a high price. Since that was the case, why shouldn't he take it over? And then invite Yang Chenshan out of retirement to help him achieve the goal of mass production?

Zhang Wenhao couldn't help but get excited! Through nearly two months of accumulation, the funds in his two accounts now exceeded three million yuan. Among them, over one million yuan was liquor payment that needed to be settled with Dingsheng Trading back in Jiangcheng, but the money in the consumable shop's account—pure profit left after his mother deducted all expenses—totaled over two million yuan, all of which was entirely at his disposal!

The more Zhang Wenhao thought about it, the more excited he became. If the damp-dispensing decoction could be converted into an easy-to-store, easy-to-use plaster and then mass-produced, to put it simply, compared to similar arthritis plasters, it would completely leave other products in the dust. Such a product, once created, would be top-tier merchandise—how could it fail to make money?! Moreover, the profits would likely be far from small!

With this thought, Zhang Wenhao silently made up his mind in his heart: upon his return, he would go find Yang Chenshan for a serious talk, persuade him to come out of retirement, and then figure out how to resolve the factory issue. Either he would pay off the bank loan to get the factory back, or wait for the bank's public auction and bid on it. In short, he had to get the factory back into production as soon as possible and successfully transform the damp-dispensing decoction into a plaster!

There were still twenty-odd days left before the start of the semester. If mass production could be achieved within those twenty days, everything afterwards would become much easier. The approval procedures for external traditional Chinese medicines were far simpler than those for Western medicines; at the very least, the clinical trial phase could save a tremendous amount of time. It didn't matter if he had to go to school; as long as operations were handled properly and old Yang proved trustworthy, handing the product over to him for operation was entirely feasible. If worst came to worst, he could also spare the time to fly over. After all, flying was much more convenient, and a round trip could be accomplished in a single day.

Long Xiaoyue also appeared to be a very smart and trustworthy person. This could be seen from how she operated the small inn—she possessed a certain business acumen, though her resources were simply too weak.

In the past, Miao Village was not a tourist attraction, and when a few tourists did arrive, there were no facilities to host them. Long Xiaoyue first converted her family home into a small inn, thereby acquiring basic reception conditions. Then she deliberately posted advertisements on backpacker forums. Although such advertising had no major influence, its strengths lay in precise positioning and zero investment, so she quickly reaped rewards. This year had seen around thirty tourists, representing a preliminary development.

The scenery of Miao Village was beautiful and the life leisurely. He believed those thirty-odd people liked this place just as much as he did, and upon returning, they would inevitably promote the utopian scenery here to others. The summer vacation this year was nearly over, and the weather had already entered autumn, but by next year, he believed the number of tourists would multiply exponentially.

Such a smart girl, if given a certain amount of support, would definitely be able to accomplish something extraordinary. If he could also persuade Long Xiaoyue to come out and assist Yang Chenshan in running this pharmaceutical factory and his exclusive medicine, he believed he wouldn't even need to find marketing personnel!

Zhang Wenhao could not help thinking excitedly in his heart: "Starting with the low-end, people-friendly pharmaceutical industry is also a golden opportunity! Medicine is like gold; as long as it has genuine substance, it will never be buried anywhere. On the contrary, it will be eagerly sought after and pursued by people!"