Merchant and doctor

Chapter 1830 A set of cauldrons has several
Qu Shang Bridge, a famous scenic spot during the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, has always been a gathering place for literati and scholars. Nowadays, 70-80% of the old relics in that area have been reduced, and it has now become a well-known antique and second-hand market. In terms of fame, it is much better than the "Huatian Ghost Market". However, in terms of transaction volume, it is much inferior to the "Huatian Ghost Market".

Rumors circulate in the industry that the goods traded at Qu Shang Bridge are mostly mid-to-high-end, and the merchants there clearly look down on their counterparts at the "Flower Field Ghost Market."

After parking his car, Bian Mu hurried towards the west end of the market.

Sima Kui arrived a little earlier and was standing in front of a pile of stalls, looking down at a small train engine. It looked like it was made of white copper and the workmanship was quite exquisite, unlike a later imitation.

Not far from Sima Kui stood a man, about thirty-five or thirty-six years old, of medium height, wearing a simple version of Hanfu, summer clothes, with sunglasses hanging around his neck, holding a large folding fan in his right hand, seemingly not fanning himself, and a hand-sewn Chinese cloth bag slung across his shoulder, loose and seemingly empty. This man occasionally exchanged a few words with Sima Kui, as if he were a friend of Sima Kui.

"Senior! I'm sorry to have kept you waiting! My apologies!" Bian Mu stepped forward and said politely.

"Look how polite you are... Come! Let me introduce you, my friend, Brother Wu! This is the famous Master Bian!" Sima Kui introduced the two of them with a smile.

Mr. Wu was a very refined-looking man, with fair skin and long, narrow eyes like silkworms, resembling a scion of a scholarly family. He also appeared remarkably composed.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Sima Kui gestured and took the lead in heading southwest of the market. Bian Mu and Mr. Wu followed closely behind. Along the way, Bian Mu learned that Mr. Wu owned many budget hotels, Chinese fast food restaurants, and supermarkets in the city. He was usually very idle and lived a leisurely life.

"Fengxizhai" is an old shop specializing in antique calligraphy and paintings, as well as the Four Treasures of the Study. When Sima Kui arrived at the shop, he stopped in his tracks.

"This is it, it's run by Brother Wu's friend, come in and have a chat!" With that, Sima Kui stepped into the store.

There were only three or four customers in the shop at the time, sitting at several tables with staff members sitting there discussing business. When Mr. Wu and his group entered, a man in his fifties quickly came out from behind the counter to greet them.

"Oh my! What brings Mr. Wu here? Please have a seat!" As he spoke, the man quickly instructed a young male waiter to make some tea.

After taking their seats by the window, Mr. Wu lowered his voice and said, "Recently, a medicine cauldron has appeared on the market, and the rumors about it are quite strange. This Mr. Bian is my friend. If it's convenient, could you tell my esteemed friend about the origin of that cauldron?"

Upon hearing this, the man was taken aback for a moment, but his expression quickly returned to normal.

"That thing isn't worth much. The real one is in the hands of Old Master Yu. It's never appeared on the market before. It's called the Kuiwu Fangding. There are seven in total, and Old Master Yu only has one. It's listed in the order of the character 'Wu'. The first one is called the Kuijia Yuanding. I've never seen it. Someone drew a picture of it, a hand-drawn one, but the shape has changed. I heard it's been lost for a long time. Right now, in Lijin City, only the one Old Master Yu has is the real one. The others have long been scattered to various places. Usually, almost no one inquires about this thing." The man gave a quick introduction, clearly a seasoned veteran in the market.

"Oh...then...what's the deal with that statue in Pan Shaojie's hand?!" Sima Kui interjected from the side.

"It seems he was asked to set up a small game for fun. If you gentlemen would like to know the details, please allow me to make a phone call and ask." The man seemed very polite. "Of course! Thank you for your trouble!" Mr. Wu replied with a smile.

"You're welcome!" With that, the man got up and left.

The tea was excellent. Bian Mu and the other two sat there, drinking tea and chatting about the benefits of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches naming system...

After a while, the man hurried over.

"Here's the thing... You must be Bian Mu, the head of the clinic! Young Master Pan was asked to play a joke on you, nothing more. He's known for his boldness since he was a child, and he practiced traditional martial arts for a few years, so... when he heard that Head Bian was both scholarly and martial, and was currently the most popular doctor in the city, he always heard news and anecdotes about Head Bian wherever he went, and he was a bit unconvinced! So he wanted to ask you out for a chat, but unexpectedly, Head Bian was very composed and didn't pay any attention to him at all. Young Master Pan was so angry that he told people that if he was ever unhappy, he would definitely go to your clinic and cause you some trouble. Recently, it seems that they haven't been able to find a capable assistant who can match you. Also... they haven't been able to find any patients with relevant difficult and complicated diseases, so things have been peaceful at your clinic... That's all I can find out, please forgive me!" The man spoke very politely and humbly.

Bian Mu had a pretty good impression of this person.

“I see… Luckily, I’ve been too busy with other things lately to bother with him. Thank you, sir! I’d like to ask you a few questions. Are there a total of seven cauldrons?” Bian Mu asked with a smile.

"That's what they say, but actually I've never seen any of the actual items," the man told the truth.

"What specific uses do they have?" Bian Mu pressed.

"These... are all hearsay, not to be taken seriously, mostly just rumors and mystification! You are a legitimate and popular doctor, you wouldn't believe those baseless rumors, would you?" the man replied with a smile.

“I don’t think so. Let me ask you another question: were those seven medicine cauldrons concentrated in the hands of one family back then, or were they scattered among several medicine schools?” Bian Mu continued to ask.

"I don't know about that, but... I heard that many people in your line of work are not convinced by you and want to use these things to test your abilities. Also... isn't the old man of the Yu family getting old? I heard that you are quite skilled in pharmacology, and it seems that there are many things in their sect that they haven't figured out. Are they trying to provoke you out of your ignorance and see if you are really capable or just pretending? If you are really capable, you might actually be able to figure out those things. But we also wonder why, since everyone here is a celebrity, we can't just sit down and have a proper chat instead of going through all this trouble. What's the point?" the man said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.

"There might be something else going on here, so... please keep an eye out for us in the future and let us know if there are any new developments," Sima Kui interjected with a smile.

The man smiled and indicated that it was no problem.

After finishing their tea, the group chatted for a while longer. Bian Mu felt he couldn't get any more information out of them, so he asked the two men to get up and take their leave.