System Only Gives Me Useless Gifts

"Wow! Boss, this place looks ten times better than when I sold it to you!" Pao Lie cried out as he looked inside the new herbal shop.

Everything was brighter and cleaner than before. The soft warm light from the new fixtures enhanced the wood tone of the trims and panelings of the medicine cabinets. The medicine cabinets were stripped of the ugly chipped brown paint and re-stained to bring out its natural color.

Li Yun had originally wanted to hire Ersan to redesign the space, but Ersan was going crazy working on his thesis. Li Yun knew Rouxi had a good eye for colors and had asked her to help with the design. He hired a contractor to fix some things and did most of the finish carpentry work himself during the weekend.

Rouxi chose the color finishes and selected the furnishing. Most of the furniture was for the second floor, which he didn't even look at when he checked out the place originally. The space was unused even by the previous owner, but it was easy to convert it into a bedroom space and small workroom.

Hanging above the small covered porch was a new wooden sign carved with the word, Dong Xuan Clinic. The hours of operation were written on a framed sign attached to the door, stating Saturday and Sunday. Li Yun had wanted to open up on the first day of spring, but couldn't complete everything until the following week. He didn't expect his first guest to be Pao Lie, the former owner.

As Pao Lie continued checking up the new decor, he noticed a familiar-looking woman behind the counter. Li Yun was nearby, but busy on the phone sounding very upset about something.

"Ah, Meimei!" Pao Lie finally recognized the woman. "Are you working here?"

She nodded and assumed he had recognized her from her livestream. She then turned her attention back to Li Yun who was still on the phone with the wholesaler.

Li Yun had ordered medicinal products from a wholesaler to stock up his store. He also wanted to test the medicinal on his own and to understand their properties. The best way to test them was to consume the products himself. That way, he was able to analyze the molecular structure. It was better than looking at it under a microscope. The problem was, some of the products he had ordered weren't the correct products and some were slightly toxic. Luckily, his body's had an amazing ability to neutralize the toxin. Usually, by the following day, he would be sweating it out or emptying it out via his rectum. But it also meant he couldn't use his body to analyze the effect on a normal person. After going through all the products, he called up the wholesaler and threatened them with a lawsuit.

"Look Mr. Li," the wholesaler said on the phone. "It's purely accidental. We handle hundreds of orders a day. Just a simple mistake doesn't warrant a lawsuit."

"That's b****** and you know it," Li Yun called out on their excuses over the phone. "I ordered from your site because I know you're a local company. It doesn't take too much to have people go over there and investigate your warehouse."

"Mr. Li, I know you're upset, I could reimburse you on astragalus root."

"While you're at it, you better reimburse me for the licorice, it has been improperly stored and is pretty much worthless. The Chrysanthemum × morifolium you sold me is actually Chrysanthemum indicum. Don't get me started on the Lycium barbarum, it's Berberis vulgaris, which is completely unsafe if not used correctly."

"Uh, Mr. Li, did you test all our products?"

"Of course I f****** did after one of my customers got sick, if they sue me, you better hope your warehouse is emptied before I call my lawyer over there!" Li Yun screamed into the phone.

"I understand Mr. Li, I'll reimburse your complete order," the man on the line was sweating a bit.

After seeing the refund come through on his phone, Li Yun hung up the phone with his mood suddenly back to normal. Rouxi started laughing from behind the counter.

"You don't even have a real customer," Rouxi commented.

"Me, myself. I'm the sick customer. Besides, almost half the products they sent over are crap," Li Yun had thrown out a good portion of herbs that weren't up to his standards; he wouldn't resell them for human consumption. With everything settled, he turned to look at Pao Lie but wasn't sure why the former owner was still there. He was sure all the paperwork for the real estate transfer was set, "Mr. Pao, why are you here?"

"I just bought another property nearby, so I stopped by to say hello, " Mr. Pao stated.

"Oh, are you still planning to open a restaurant?"

"Yep, it should probably open in a month or two," Pao Lie continued to explain all sorts of plans he had for his restaurant. Unlike real estate, he seemed to really like food. He had just signed a deal with the contractor when he noticed that the herbal shop was restored. He wondered how Li Yun was able to fix the shop and make it look so nice. Every time he had hired contractors to renovate the space, they all fell ill.

"If you're wondering why I'm not sick, it's because I had a contractor install a radon mitigation system," Li Yun replied. "When they removed the bodies from the well, some of the equipment damaged the foundation, and radon gas was emitted. It's probably why people were getting sick."

"Ah, no wonder, no wonder!" Pao Lie never thought that it would be an issue; he knew it wasn't those dirty things the old ladies on the streets were gossiping about.

The radon gas was emitted at the same time the bodies were discovered. However, radon wasn't enough to make people sick unless they were overly sensitive. Li Yun wondered if that was the law of cause and effect in Tao where everything worked through a series of coincidences.

"I see the sign said this is a clinic," Pao Lie wondered if Li Yun was even licensed.

Li Yun pointed to a copy of his license on the wall, next to the business certificate.

"You're a doctor?" Pao Lie was a bit surprised.

Li Yun nodded.

"Ah, I see, you're working full time, and that's why you only open up on the weekend?" Pao Li could put two and two together.

"Mr. Pao, since you're here, would you like to be my first customer?" Li Yun asked.

There had been a few people peeking in to ask about the shop, but no one requested any service yet. Li Yun wasn't in a hurry to see patients, he was still researching different herbs and prescriptions while consulting with Elder Yi Bao.

"What's the cost?" Pao Li didn't believe in TCM, but Li Yun was a licensed doctor.

"It's dependent on my mood, but I'll treat you for free," Li Yun stated, he did get a very deep discount on the property.

"So what sort of service do you provide?" Pao Lie was skeptical of anything that was free.

"Just basic health consultation and herbal remedy," Li Yun replied. "Give me your wrist. Normally I would take you to the back, but do you care about privacy?"

Pao Lie shrugged, "I don't care if Meimei does a livestream on this."

"Mr. Pao, I'm not going to film you even if you ask, my viewers don't care about this sort of thing," she mentioned casually.

"You watch her live stream?" Li Yun asked, always a bit amazed that people had so much time on their hands.

Pao Lie nodded. "Meimei is a brilliant food critic. Any restaurant she goes to gets a boost for the next few months."

"Really?" Li Yun never tried watching her broadcast since he thought it would be some mindless chibo and it was weird watching your girlfriend on screen.

"Please don't start, focus on your patient," Rouxi commanded.