"Young man, wait a moment!" The middle-aged man grabbed James Carter's arm.

James Carter turned his head and said, "Is there something else? I've already helped you assess the quality, so don't think I'm a scammer."

"You are a scammer! What do you mean by low grade, high grade? Do you even know how traditional Chinese medicine is graded?" The young shop assistant, seeing the business slipping away, spoke harshly.

The middle-aged man ignored the assistant and instead said to James Carter, "May I ask, young man, do you know what this medicine is for?"

James Carter hesitated for a moment, then cautiously said, "Judging from these sixteen ingredients, it should be for treating muscle atrophy. If the person who prescribed this missed or added any herbs, then I wouldn't know." After all, this was his first time, so he wasn't confident and naturally left himself some leeway.

"Yes, yes! It really is for treating muscle atrophy." The middle-aged woman exclaimed in delight.

The middle-aged man took a deep breath and said, "Then do you think this medicine can cure it?"

"Sorry, I'm not a doctor, I just know a bit about Chinese medicine. Whether it can cure or not, I can't say for sure. But if the magnolia and blood scorpion among these herbs can reach top grade, and the agarwood, codonopsis, and red root can reach mid-grade, I think the effect would be much better."

"That's right, the old Chinese doctor also said these five things are the most important." The middle-aged woman's hands were trembling as she turned to look at the herbs on the counter, shook her head, and sighed, "Only the codonopsis is of good enough quality, the rest are far inferior. What should we do?"

James Carter shrugged and said, "There's nothing I can do about that."

The middle-aged couple exchanged a glance and both sighed deeply. They had thought they'd found a good prescription, but now they had the formula but couldn't get good herbs.

"Do you have herbs of this quality here?" The middle-aged man turned to ask the young shop assistant.

The assistant said angrily, "I've already told you, these are the best herbs in all of Pingyang. If you want to believe him, go ahead. I guarantee that any herbs you get from other pharmacies will be worse than ours. This guy is definitely a shill sent by another pharmacy."

James Carter just smiled; whether he was a shill or not, there was no need to explain.

"See, he has nothing to say. As soon as you leave, someone will definitely contact you and try to get you to buy herbs from their pharmacy. Don't think we don't know about these tricks. Let me tell you, our Chuncao Hall is not to be messed with."

The middle-aged couple hesitated for a moment. The assistant's words weren't entirely unreasonable. If they really ran into a shill, losing a bit of money was one thing, but delaying treatment would be a big problem.

"What's going on?" At this moment, an elderly man with a head of silver hair and a goatee walked out from the inner hall of the pharmacy, his face stern as he looked at the assistant.

Chapter 24: The First Business

The young shop assistant immediately pointed at James Carter and said angrily, "Mr. Parker, I was just preparing their medicine, and this kid came in to cause trouble, saying our herbs aren't good enough."

Mr. Parker turned to look at James Carter, his face darkening, exuding an imposing aura without anger, and said, "Why do you say our pharmacy's herbs aren't good enough?"

James Carter felt that this Mr. Parker was no ordinary person, but he hadn't done anything wrong, so he calmly said, "I didn't say your herbs aren't good enough, just that they don't meet this couple's requirements."

The young assistant didn't catch the nuance in James Carter's words and, thinking he'd caught him out, excitedly shouted, "See, Mr. Parker, you heard him! He's saying our herbs have problems."

Mr. Parker waved his hand at the assistant, then looked at James Carter and said, "Young man, do you know how to distinguish quality?"

James Carter picked up a piece of codonopsis and said, "This codonopsis is a bit better than the ordinary kind, can only be considered mid-grade, but it's still far from top grade. As for the other herbs, they're fine for regular prescriptions, but for this couple's needs, I'm afraid they won't be effective at all."

The assistant wanted to argue, but Mr. Parker shot him a glare, then said to James Carter, "Young man, there are too many people here. How about we talk in the back room?"

James Carter looked at Mr. Parker warily, feeling uneasy. Was this old man going to lure him into the backyard and have a bunch of thugs beat him up? It was quite possible. He quickly shook his head and said, "I have something else to do, I need to go."

"Wait, wait." Mr. Parker hurriedly stopped him and said, "It's rare to meet someone so knowledgeable about medicinal properties. What we sell here is indeed just ordinary herbs. Actually, we do have some better quality herbs stored away, since good herbs are scarce. But we can't be sure of their quality. Could you help me assess the quality of those herbs? Oh, I am Andrew Parker, the owner of Chuncao Hall."

James Carter was immediately intrigued. If he had another chance to identify herbs for free, of course he wouldn't pass it up.

"Sir, do you really have good herbs here?" the woman exclaimed again in surprise.