11 Understanding cancer?

"What the hell is this? Do you dare call these dried spiritless leaves as medicinal herbs?!! What nonsense are you spouting?! Don't even think about scamming me just because I am new here."

Su Lin hissed at the shopkeeper, wanting to bite off the man's head.

"Miss, please. I assure you. These are top quality medicinal herbs. The medicinal masters here usually prefer the dried version, that's why we don't carry any fresh ones."

The shopkeeper was sweating profusely and tried his best to console the agitated woman.

And this was not some run of the mill, street corner shop. In fact, this was one of the city's famous traditional herbal shops.

The pristinely clean and organized store had all of their herbal supply neatly shelved and preserved.

They actually boasted reasonable prices for high-quality goods.

However, the shop which had only ever received positive reviews since its opening, got its first dissatisfied grumpy customer today!

As an alchemist who has dealt with plants and precious herbs all her life, Su Lin just couldn't stand how the ignorant idiots were handling the herbs.

Most of them had lost about 99% of their efficacy!

And this fellow here was even charging her insane prices for this dried up useless waste and that too at extremely low quantities.

Why don't you go and rob a bank instead!

And how the hell, was she supposed to get rid of her cancer with this subpar herbal supply?!

Su Lin closed her eyes, and took a few deep breaths.

All this frustration was too much for her frail body to handle and slightly stirred a dizzy spell in her.

"This is tiresome. Being in this body is very tiresome..." Su Lin sighed.

Calming herself down, she patiently asked again.

"Okay. Give me a set of all the herbs you have. Don't leave out anything. Just 10 ounces of each herb is sufficient."

The shop keeper scurried along nervously and took out all the herbs one by one.

He hurriedly measured them, even adding a few extra ounces for a couple of the herbs here and there.

He then immediately parcelled them, rushed to the counter and handed them over to Su Lin.

The man badly wanted this strange nitpicking customer of his to leave his shop already.

If it was someone else, he would have already thrown them out of the shop. But this was Mrs. Shi... He had to grit his teeth and bear the insults... 

"Hmm. This is good." Collecting the big bag, Su Lin walked out of the shop.

Suddenly thinking of something, she turned around and asked, "Give me details about where you grow these herbs and harvest them."

Normally, the shopkeeper wouldn't divulge these details. But, how could a measly shopkeeper refuse to answer a member of the Shi family?!

So to avoid more trouble, he just straight up answered whatever he could.

"Sorry Miss. I personally do not grow and harvest any of these herbs."

"I buy some of them from the local farmers on the outskirts of the city and others I import from medicinal shops in different countries."

"Hmm... I guess that makes sense. Give me a detailed list of all the herbs and where you get them from. I will be having my dinner at the restaurant nearby. Drop it off there."

Su Lin didn't even wait for him to accept or deny. She authoritatively commanded and left behind the sweating guy.

She didn't mind using this authoritative image of hers at all. After all, she was the current Mrs. Shi, at least for now. She might as well use it while she can!

Just as she was finishing her bowl of soup, the shopkeeper promptly walked over and gave her a detailed list of herbs and their suppliers.

He even included the suppliers who supplied those stores!

Su Lin satisfactorily nodded and returned back to the hotel. She swiftly used the computer in her room to do some research and review these miscellaneous herbs.

But unfortunately, she couldn't find any specific details online except for the basic description, properties and common uses.

"That makes sense I guess. This should be akin to pill masters not openly sharing their pill formulas."

Su Lin rocked back and forth in the wooden chair and gazed at the night sky. "Hmm... What do I do now?"

She then looked up the type of cancer she had and the current treatment methods.

But since the old Su Lin was neither a scientist nor a doctor, she couldn't understand most of the scientific and medical terms, making this path very difficult and essentially a dead end for her.

"Hmm... I can't do this. These people and their medicine... They are so short-sighted..."

From the small amount of information she had managed to gather, Su Lin felt that the medicinal field in this world was in fact not that developed.

It was still in its infancy and had a long way to go!