"Back in my day, I was a famous doctor all over the countryside. Of course I recognize fo-ti root. I'm not just bragging, you know. After I retired, the local clinic in my village asked me to come back to work. I was going to accept, but my son wouldn't have it. He insisted I move to the city to enjoy a comfortable life, so I reluctantly came." The old man prodded the fo-ti root. "The quality of the large one is decent, but the small one's no good—it's too young. With herbs like this, the bigger and older they are, the more potent they become. If you're using it as a health tonic, I can go back to my hometown and dig some better ones up for you."
"Oh, you have them in your hometown too?"
"What don't we have in the mountains?"
Cecilia Adler declined. "I couldn't ask you to do that. You're getting on in years—what if you twisted your ankle climbing the mountain?"
