Chapter 99: Can It Really Cure?

One hundred taels, in gold?

Even though Ye Xin Ran had mentally prepared herself, she was still shocked by the price.

“Why are they selling it so expensively?” she asked.

“Apparently, the ointment contains rare and precious medicinal ingredients like snow lotus, ginseng, and Qi Lin blood,” Li Mo explained.

“Especially the Qi Lin blood, which can only be extracted once a year, so they can only produce five bottles.”

Li Mo both scoffed at the jade skin ointment while also speaking with great knowledge about it. From his expression, it was clear he was almost envious.

“One hundred taels in gold… this sounds like a good business. Let’s take their business from them!” Ye Xin Ran said calmly.

Li Mo was stunned at first, then his face lit up with joy. “That’s right! Why didn’t I think of that? No matter how famous their Shun Yi Tang jade skin ointment is, as long as our Snow Facial Ointment makes a name for itself, we’ll eventually surpass it.”

He looked at Ye Xin Ran with excitement. “Sister-in-law, I was narrow-minded before. I even thought our Snow Facial Ointment was overpriced! But now I see, our Snow Facial Ointment can rival Shun Yi Tang’s jade skin ointment! As long as we surpass them, sister-in-law, I’m willing to make no profit at all.”

“Do you have a grudge against Shun Yi Tang?” Ye Xin Ran asked.

“Of course! One day, I’m going to make Yong Le Hall bigger and stronger, and trample Shun Yi Tang underfoot!” Li Mo declared passionately.

“Right, trample them!” Li Qiao added, egging him on from the side.

Ye Xin Ran couldn’t help but laugh at their enthusiasm.

“Well then, let’s focus on selling our Snow Facial Ointment. I’ll still give you the share we agreed on,” she said.

“Mm-hmm!” Li Qiao nodded. “No problem. Watch me work my magic.”

They put up the notice, announcing that Snow Facial Ointment was officially on sale.

Li Qiao rubbed his hands together, mentally rehearsing the sales pitch Ye Xin Ran had just taught him, eager to show his skills when customers arrived.

But things didn’t go as smoothly as he had imagined.

They waited for a long time, but not a single customer came in to buy.

“What’s going on? Didn’t so many people ask about the price a few days ago? Why is it that now that the goods have arrived, no one is showing up?” Li Qiao was confused.

Li Mo furrowed his brows.

“Could it be that the county is too small, and there are more people interested in gossip than actual customers?” he wondered.

Ye Xin Ran responded, “Then we’ll have to find a way to make our ointment famous. Once it gains a reputation, people from other counties will come to buy it.”

“But if no one is using it, how can we make it famous?” Li Qiao looked down at the ointment. “If no one uses it, it won’t get any recognition. And if it doesn’t get recognized, no one will want to use it!”

He looked up at Ye Xin Ran. “This is a vicious cycle!”

“Everything is hard at the beginning, I’m prepared for it,” Ye Xin Ran replied.

The situation where no one was asking about the Snow Facial Ointment continued until the evening.

Though not many people came into the shop to ask, there was a crowd gathered outside, watching the scene unfold.

They were pointing at the red paper and discussing whether the ointment was effective or not.

“Yong Le Hall has a good reputation, but this thing is so expensive. What if it really doesn’t work?”

“Exactly! If it were a couple of taels, I could buy it and give it a try, but this is just too expensive.”

“Shun Yi Tang’s jade skin ointment is way more expensive, and it’s still in short supply!”

“How can it be the same? The jade skin ointment has the miraculous effect of transforming decayed into divine. Can this Snow Facial Ointment do that?”

Ye Xin Ran overheard the discussion and walked out of the shop.

“Everyone, I haven’t seen the jade skin ointment you’re talking about, but I can guarantee that our Snow Facial Ointment can definitely remove the scars from everyone’s body,” she said confidently.

“That’s what you say, but there was that story about the woman whose scars disappeared. Who knows if that’s true or not?”

“It’s definitely true,” Ye Xin Ran replied. “Because I’m the woman from that story.”

“But… your face doesn’t look like it ever had any scars.”

“Exactly, your face looks perfect now. You can just say whatever you want about the past.”

“Do you want to see for yourselves?”

Ye Xin Ran scanned the crowd.

Many people nodded in agreement.

She continued, “Alright, tomorrow, anyone who wants to try removing their scars for free can come and sign up in our shop.

We will select the most suitable person from the applicants and let her use the ointment every day. She will show everyone the results of the treatment.”

“Free treatment?”

“Sounds good! I want to sign up!”

“I want to sign up too!”

“Don’t just sign up recklessly. What if you end up disfigured?”

“Yeah, nothing good comes for free. What if the ointment ruins your skin? Then they’ll say it’s your own fault for wanting to use it, and since they didn’t charge you, what will you do?”

“That can’t be right. They rely on this to make money, how could they ruin their own business?”

“Who knows? Anyway, I’m not going to try it.”

The crowd dispersed.

The next day, Ye Xin Ran arrived at the shop early. Sure enough, there was a long line in front of the shop.

“Can I try it?” a voice asked.

A woman in her fifties asked.

She had a long scar on her hand, and it seemed to have been there for some time.

Just as Ye Xin Ran was about to answer, a large, strong woman pushed forward and said, “You’re so old already, what are you trying this for? Don’t waste the opportunity, let me have it instead.”

She pushed the older woman aside and continued, “Shopkeeper, I want to try the ointment, but we need to make it clear, if it ruins my face, I won’t accept it. Even if it’s untreated, my face still looks quite good.”

Ye Xin Ran looked at her face and noticed a small crescent-shaped scar above her eyebrow.

“Your scar is too small, it doesn’t meet the requirements,” Ye Xin Ran directly refused.

Afterward, a few more people came in, but either their scars were too small or too hidden, so there wasn’t anyone suitable for the demonstration.

“How about we just choose someone from this crowd?” Li Mo suggested, looking at the gathering crowd.

“Let’s wait a bit longer!” Ye Xin Ran replied.

After a while, a woman entered the shop.

She was followed by a teenage girl.

The young girl seemed very shy, and her face was covered with a thin veil.

“Shopkeeper, my daughter wants to try your ointment. Do you think it’s possible?” the woman asked.

Ye Xin Ran looked at the girl. The girl had delicate eyes and a pretty face.

“What happened to her?” Ye Xin Ran asked.

“It’s my fault. When she was young, I didn’t watch her carefully, and she got scratched on the face by a tree branch while playing outside,” the woman explained as she tried to lift the veil from the girl’s face.

The girl quickly turned her face away to avoid it.

Ye Xin Ran said, “She meets the age requirement, but for this treatment, we need to show the progress of the scar recovery every day. If she is afraid of showing her face, that will be a problem.”

“What should we do then?” The woman was anxious. “Tao Hua, show the shopkeeper your face. If you get chosen, you won’t have to hide your face with a veil anymore! Why are you hiding?”

The woman spoke quickly and urgently.

The girl just covered her face with her hands and shook her head repeatedly.

Ye Xin Ran raised her hand to signal for the woman to stop talking, then gently placed both hands on the girl’s shoulders. “I used to have a scar on my face too. Do you want to treat your face like I did?”

The girl looked at Ye Xin Ran with hope in her eyes and quietly asked, “Can my face really be treated?”