Chapter 9: You're Too Shameless

"Carlos Yale actually brought reporters and TV crews?" "Looks like he's sitting on some serious dirt." "If Treasure Hall really gets exposed for selling fake medicine, their reputation will be ruined. Business will tank, and they might even be shut down for 'rectification.'" The onlookers buzzed, the crowd swelling by the minute. As for Wilson Zimmerman and Arya Zimmerman, they were already pacing like ants on a hot pan, completely at a loss. Carlos opened the bag of antler and set it in front of the cameras. He turned to the reporters. "Antler is a powerful tonic and expensive, so plenty of shady sellers fake it. Outsiders can't tell at a glance, but anyone in the field can." "Got to admit, Wilson's clever. He mixes real and fake antler in a certain ratio. The effect drops, but there's still some tonic effect, so people don't suspect a thing." He picked up a slice. "This one has a uniform honeycomb across the cut, and the tissue is tight. It's real. This slice also has a honeycomb on the cut, but it's uneven-some spots have it, some don't. The structure's poor. Obviously fake." "This piece's real. This one's fake…" Carlos sorted the real and the fake with quick, practiced movements. Cold sweat broke out across Wilson's brow. His face kept swinging from dark to pale. In no time, Carlos finished sorting the whole bag. He looked at the reporters. "Check the ratio-seventy percent fake, thirty percent real. Tell me, isn't Wilson's heart black?" "It's really black," the pretty reporter said, nodding. "Bullshit!" Wilson couldn't help cursing. "Treasure Pharmacy's antler is all real. We never adulterate. You're making this up!" Carlos shook his head with a small smile. "Still trying to bluff? I'll leave you speechless." He opened a woven sack, pulled out an induction cooker, a pot, and a bucket of water. "Someone grab a power strip." "I'll go." Aziel Warth-acting as a plant-darted to a nearby convenience store and brought one back fast. Carlos set the induction cooker to boil. When the water rolled, he said, "Fake antler turns mushy in ten minutes of boiling, and the water goes cloudy. Real antler won't cook to mush, and the water stays clear. Let's test it." He tipped the fake slices into the pot and put on the lid. Gulp! Wilson swallowed hard. This bastard knew too much. And he had clearly come prepared. Ten minutes later, Carlos lifted the lid. The water was murky, flecked with impurities. He dumped the water and the antler onto the ground, refilled the pot, and put the real slices in to boil. He gestured to the reporter. "Pick a few and try rubbing them. They should crumble with a little pressure." "Okay." The pretty reporter crouched and picked up a few slices, rubbed, and they turned to mush at once. Many onlookers came over to try. Every slice went to paste with one rub. But both the reporters and the crowd held their comments, waiting for the comparison when the real antler finished boiling. Ten minutes later, Carlos opened the pot. The water remained crystal clear, not a speck of residue. He dumped that out as well and waited for it to cool. "All right, grab a few and rub." The reporter used the same method and gasped. "Hey, this really doesn't crumble." The crowd tried one after another. "Doesn't crumble at all." "I went hard on this and it still didn't break. The earlier ones were fake, no question!" Wilson's sweat came down like rain. His face turned coal black. Arya's eyes glittered with venom as she stared daggers at Carlos. Carlos opened the bag of cordyceps. "Cordyceps are just as easy to test. Boil them. If the 'worm' and the 'grass' separate, it's fake. If they don't, it's real." Under everyone's gaze, he poured the whole bag into boiling water. In under ten minutes, more than seventy percent separated; fewer than thirty percent stayed attached. "Black-hearted! Wilson, you're black-hearted!" "Treasure Hall, the most famous pharmacy in Jenden, and it's this rotten? Absolutely shameless!" "Wilson, your herbs are expensive and the adulteration is serious. Aren't you afraid that money earned against your conscience will curse your descendants?" The onlookers roared with anger. All the cameras swung to Wilson. The pretty reporter walked up and said, "Mr. Zimmerman, can I ask-do the herbs at Treasure Pharmacy have this level of adulteration?" "Get lost! Get the hell out of here! I'm not answering your damn questions!" Wilson went red, fist cocked to swing at her, making her stumble backward. "If you refuse, we'll take this to the media, make Treasure Pharmacy's scandal public, and report to the authorities so they open an investigation," the reporter said. "You-!" Wilson trembled with rage and was about to lunge, but Arya caught his arm. She whispered something in his ear, and Wilson's anger twisted into a smirk. He sneered at Carlos. "At worst, I'll accept rectification and supervision, pull all adulterated goods off the shelves. Don't think this will hurt Treasure Hall's business. Let me tell you, I'm the Jenden Top Doctor, specializing in tricky, chronic ailments. Once the buzz dies down, Treasure Hall will be booming again." He acted as if nothing could touch him. Arya had just told him her fiancé, Ricardo Lapwood, would bury the whole matter. With the Lapwood family's backing, he had his confidence. The Lapwood family sat on over $500 million in assets and held serious sway in Jenden, with connections on both sides of the law. With the Lapwood family behind him, what was there to fear? Carlos snorted. "I've seen shameless men, but never anyone as shameless as you. 'Jenden Top Doctor'? Tell me, which big shot gave you that plaque?" Wilson: "…" "You made it for yourself, didn't you?" Carlos said coldly. "Hmph." Wilson gave a derisive snort. "So what if I did? Who in Jenden's traditional medicine can beat me and tear it down? No one. Otherwise, how would my 'Jenden Top Doctor' plaque hang for five straight years?" "That's because you're too shameless. Real masters can't be bothered to waste time on a loudmouthed fraud like you. Otherwise your plaque would've been smashed long ago." Carlos lifted the pennant in his hand. "I died once, and I stopped keeping my head down. I returned mean and meticulous. I came today not only to expose you and your daughter, but to speak for traditional medicine: I'll smash your plaque, slap your face, and see if you still dare to strut around shamelessly." "Ha ha ha!!!" Instead of getting angry, Wilson threw his head back and laughed. "You, a nobody, dare to challenge me in medical skill? You want to smash my plaque and slap my face? Are you insane? Do you even know your weight?" Arya glanced at the couplet on Carlos's pennant and burst out laughing, clutching her aching stomach. "If you're here to challenge a clinic, at least get a proper sign. A dirty poem under 'Healer for All' and you think you can kick the hall? That's the joke of the century." Carlos rolled his eyes. There was nothing dirty about his couplet. Her mind was filth. She couldn't grasp the meaning at all. He wouldn't say what that banner once meant to him. Instead, he said, "I'll use this banner to smash your plaque, make it echo across Jenden, then spread through the country and shake the world." "Ha! Blow it louder. Aren't you afraid the wind will snap your neck?" Wilson was almost rolling with laughter. Even many onlookers shook their heads with a rueful smile. Wilson's "Jenden Top Doctor" had its share of puff, but the man had practiced for decades. His skills were there. Even if he wasn't truly the top, no one dared claim they were above him. And Carlos? No reputation, living in the slum. If he had Wilson's ability, would he be too broke to live in a villa? Would he have been kicked out of the Zimmerman family? At that critical moment, Aziel Warth stepped forward. "Dr. Zimmerman, whether Carlos is bragging or not, he came to challenge you. You're not afraid to accept, are you?" "Afraid of that loser? Hell no," Wilson snapped. "Great." Aziel turned to the crowd. "Not to hide it-my problem is impotence. I'm thirty, and my 'second brother' has never stood at attention. I've been to countless hospitals with no cure, but I won't give up. They say Dr. Zimmerman's skill is superb, so I came to try. Since someone is challenging Dr. Zimmerman, I'll be the test subject. Whoever cures my impotence is the real top doctor." He really did have impotence. Yesterday at the hospital, Richard Wokey had enlisted him as a plant, saying only Carlos might cure it, so he played his part with gusto. "Good idea." "I support that." "Use him to decide who's better." The crowd clamored. "Fine!" Wilson agreed on the spot, sneering at Carlos. "Do you even dare to accept?" "If you dare, why wouldn't I?" Carlos said. "OK. Let's see whose medical skill wins. Whoever can get his 'brother' up and keep it up longer, wins. How about that?" Wilson proposed. "Works for me." Carlos nodded. The watchers leaned in, eyes bright. Who could make a man who'd been impotent for thirty years rise to the occasion? They waited to see.