Chapter Fifty-One: Warm and Fuzzy

  How could Bái Nóng Xīn possibly agree to let Wáng Xù pay the rent? Wáng Xù treated Bái Zǐ Jié's illness without taking a single penny, this amount of money is nothing compared to the rent.

  Bai Zijie has been ill for nearly two years, and Bai Nongxin spent at least 300,000 yuan. However, when Wang Xu diagnosed Bai Zijie's illness, he only prescribed a few doses of medicine, which Bai Nongxin prepared himself, costing less than 100 yuan per month. Compared to the previous expenses, the difference is as vast as heaven and earth.

  Bai Nongxin hadn't received much education and didn't understand grand principles, but he was a straightforward and honest person. He could tell who treated him well and who treated him poorly. Otherwise, last time at the entrance of Xiangxiang Pavilion, when he encountered those swindlers, this honest man Bai Nongxin wouldn't have gotten angry.

  In Bai Nongxin's heart, he owed Wang Xu a great deal of gratitude. To say that doing chores and running errands was not enough to repay him would be an understatement. Even if Wang Xu seriously suggested that he must pay rent, he couldn't agree.

  "Dr. Wang, are you hitting me in the face?" Bai Nongxin said with a straight face: "You didn't take any money for treating Zi Jie's illness, and now you're even calculating the rent with me. If this gets out, won't people say that I, Old White, have forgotten kindness and betrayed righteousness?"

  Looking at Bao Nongxin's excited appearance, Wang Xu could only compromise and agree to stay here for the time being. He thought that he might be able to help this father-daughter duo in the future. Since Bao Nongxin ran a restaurant, he could consider researching some popular medicinal dishes, which might help them earn more money.

  All along, Wang Xu did not think of himself as a good person, nor was he considered a bad person. He did things based on his own heart and as long as he could answer to his own conscience, that was enough. His days were also very tight, but no matter what, he couldn't take advantage of someone like Bai Nongxin.

  Bai Nong Xin and his daughter arrived in Zhongjiang, almost immediately after Wang Xu. They had just settled down and hadn't found a suitable place yet. Today, when Wang Xu came over, Bai Nong Xin naturally cooked himself, making several of his signature dishes. The three people sat together eating and chatting.

  Not long after finishing dinner, Wang Xu had not left yet when Qiao Binkai called him to go see the storefront together. Considering that Bai Nongxin had not found a suitable storefront yet, he fortunately called Bai Nongxin along as well. Anyway, it's all about troubling Qiao Binkai this one time, so let's just trouble him thoroughly once and for all.

  Qiao Binkai had nothing to say to Wang Xu, and when he heard that Wang Xu had a friend who wanted to find a storefront to open a restaurant, he immediately said no problem and asked where Wang Xu was, and personally came over to pick him up.

  Qiao's properties are all over Zhongjiang, and there are many storefronts, most of which are located in prosperous areas. Qiao Bin Kai took Wang Xu to see the best ones among the vacant shops, which are spacious inside and have convenient transportation around, belonging to the top-notch good storefronts.

  After visiting several places, Wang Xu chose a storefront that was more or less suitable, about sixty square meters in size, with a bathroom inside. The surrounding area wasn't particularly luxurious, but the foot traffic was decent, and there were many residential areas nearby, making it just right for opening a clinic. Bai Nongxin also rented a place near Wang Xu's chosen storefront, slightly larger than Yun Cheng's Xiangxiang Pavilion, also two stories high, which could be renovated to create ten or so private rooms. It would also be convenient for Wang Xu to go there to eat normally.

  "Jo big brother, just these two, we won't change anymore, the rent and all that will follow the market trend, otherwise I don't want it." Wang Xu said to Qiao Bin Kai after selecting the storefront.

  Bai Nong's new house rent is only over 800, and he can barely accept it if he doesn't take it. The two storefronts are worth at least tens of millions a year, even if Qiao Bin Kai doesn't care, he can't just want it for free.

  Qiao Bin Kai is indeed a seasoned veteran of the business world, and naturally wouldn't quibble over such a small matter with Wang Xu. He smiled and said: "You can also call me 'big brother', definitely not at market price, let's say 80% off, and I'll have the person in charge of the store talk to you about it later."

  With the storefront settled, Wang Xu felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Having a place made everything else easier to handle. After lunch, Wang Xu moved out of Qiao Bin Kai's house and started living with Bai Nong Xing.

  It's said that Wang Xu is going to move away, Qiao Binkai tried to persuade him to stay, but seeing Wang Xu's determined attitude, he could only give up. These two days, he also noticed that Wang Xu was not comfortable staying at home, except for sleeping at night, he couldn't stay at home for the rest of the time.

  Bai Nongxin originally said that he would waive Wang Xu's rent, and his heart felt a little better, but unexpectedly, renting out one store again made him owe Wang Xu a great favor.

  His store is much larger than Wang Xu's clinic, and Qiao Binkai also gave a discount of 20% on the face of Wang Xu, which is equivalent to saving tens of thousands of yuan per year. Compared with Wang Xu's monthly rent of 800 yuan, the difference is not trivial.

  Because he had promised Wang Xu, Bai Nongxin directly asked for help to take care of the decoration of the clinic. As for this decoration, Wang Xu was indeed an outsider, fortunately, he agreed to do it, and also handed over Luo Hansheng's word to Bai Nongxin, asking him to help with the signboard and plaque, while he himself focused on running errands for medicine.

  In recent years, the national Chinese medicinal materials market has been slowly taking off. As the provincial capital of Jiangzhou, Zhongjiang City has a number of medicinal material markets, but after Wang Xu ran around for three days in a row, he still couldn't find any reliable suppliers.

  On the one hand, Wang Xu has very strict requirements for the quality of medicinal materials. Every kind of medicinal material must be personally inspected and screened layer by layer. At the same time, the quantity of medicinal materials is not large, so in the eyes of those medicinal material merchants, it is naturally dispensable and there is little profit to speak of.

  These days, although Chinese medicinal materials have a starting trend, the price is not very high after all. The suppliers of medicinal materials are making profits by relying on quantity and private goods. Either you need a large amount or you can't ask for too much. People like Wang Xu are really rare.

  Chinese medicinal materials are divided into two categories: wild and cultivated. Cultivated ones do not have the same efficacy as wild ones, and their prices differ greatly. When these suppliers deliver medicinal materials, they naturally mix some cultivated ones with the wild ones; otherwise, the price would be absolutely outrageous.

  Before, when he was at his hometown, Wang Xu had also helped out in Wang He Nian's clinic, but this kind of thing, negotiating prices and looking at goods with people, was still a first for him. After three days, he was already somewhat exhausted.

  After a day of futile efforts, Wang Xu dragged his exhausted body back home. As soon as he entered the door, Bai Zijie smiled and came over to greet him, serving tea and pouring water for Wang Xu.

  Leaning on the sofa, looking at Bai Zijie's face full of smiles, listening to her chirping words, Wang Xu suddenly felt very warm and cozy, as if a day's fatigue had been swept away in an instant.

  It has to be said that Bai Zijie is a very optimistic and sensible girl. When Wang Xu first met her, she was suffering from diabetes and couldn't even attend school normally, but in front of people, she still had a happy smile on her face. Now that the disease on her body has improved and recovery is in sight, she is even happier, with almost no moment without a smile on her face.

  She knew that Wang Xu had not been very smooth in running medicine materials these days. Every day when Wang Xu came back, she would massage his back and tell jokes to make him forget the white eyes and resentment he received from the medicine material merchants.

  "Come, Zijie, stop pinching, sit down and rest for a while, your body hasn't recovered yet." Lying on the sofa with his eyes closed for a while, Wang Xu opened his eyes, patted the side of the sofa, and said with a smile.

  "I'm not tired, I've recovered a lot and can still pinch for a while." Bai Zijie shook her head, tilted her head to look at Wang Xu, her long hair inadvertently brushing against Wang Xu's cheek, and smiled to ask: "Brother Wang Xu, can I learn medicine? How about being your apprentice?"

  "Why did you suddenly think of studying medicine?" Wang Xu asked with a smile.

  "I've seen so many doctors for my illness, but none of them were effective until I took the medicine prescribed by you, Wang Xu. Now that I've learned medicine, I can treat many people like me." Bai Zijie said seriously.

  Maybe it's because she didn't have a mother since childhood, and Bai Nongxin spoiled Bai Zijie so much that even at the age of twenty, Bai Zijie's thoughts are still very innocent and her heart is very pure.

  "First, study hard and after you graduate, follow me to learn medicine." Wang Xu said with a smile, for a moment, he had the idea of wanting to take good care of this girl, such an innocent girl, he really couldn't bear to see her being corrupted by society's dye vat.

  "Really." Bai Zijie was very happy, pouting her mouth and saying: "Actually, I wanted to apply for the medical college from the beginning. My mother died of illness, but my father said that girls studying medicine have no future."

  "How can that be, your sister Xue is a doctor." Wang Xu said with a smile, as he spoke, he reached out and pulled Bai Zijie's wrist, pulling her over from behind him to sit on the sofa: "Take a break, you're exhausted, when Uncle Bai comes back, he'll have to settle accounts with me."

  "It's not like that." Bai Zijie rolled her eyes: "Dad said you're a good person, now doctors like you are very rare, we're lucky to have met you."

  Someone gave Wang Xu a "good person" card, and he was really at a loss whether to laugh or cry. Nowadays, the two words "good person" have also become distorted...

  Two people sat in the living room, chatting occasionally. Talking to Bai Zijie made Wang Xu feel very relaxed, without having to think too much, saying whatever came to mind. The living room would occasionally erupt with bursts of "heh heh" laughter.

  The two were chatting happily when Wang Xu's phone suddenly rang. He took it out and saw that it was Zhang Tianyou, the owner of the tea house, calling him. These past few days had been so busy that he almost forgot about this person.

  "Hello, Boss Zhang, what's up? Got a call about something?" Wang Xu asked with a smile.

  "Hehe, Weihua took the medicine according to your prescription for two days and has shown significant improvement. Old Pei wants you to come over for a meal as a thank you, don't know if you have time." Zhang Tianyou asked with a smile, clearly in a good mood.

  Wang Xu glanced at the time, it was already 5 pm. These past few days, Bai Nongxin had been busy with the renovation of the shop's facade and came back relatively late. He and Bai Zijie were making do with their meals together. He himself didn't know how to cook, and he couldn't bear to let Bai Zijie do it either. Now that Fu Dongquan was inviting them, it was just right to bring Bai Zijie along to scrounge for food, so he smiled and agreed.

  He also remembered that Zhang Tianyou had mentioned last time that Fu Dongquan was originally in the business of selling medicinal materials, and today's visit happened to be a good opportunity to ask about it. If possible, they could also purchase medicinal materials from Fu Dongquan, which would save them a lot of trouble.