Chapter 161
Chapter 161
Maelis’s breath quickened. Zinnia’s words sent a sharp pang through her chest. Hearing that Zinnia was strangled at birth, all her anger was instantly extinguished, as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her.
Maelis shot Zinnia a sharp look, the resentment in her eyes slowly fading, but her words still biting. “As if we owe you anything,” she snapped.
Zinnia said, “For Timothy and Yosef, I made Chamomile tea and Soothing Soup. They required the use of a century–old ginseng, worth at least 1.6 million. There is a long list of other premium–grade ingredients as well.
“All my medicines are of the highest quality. I’m offering you fair prices. For a two–month course, the total cost is 3.3 million.
“As for the Moon Scar Cream you use, the minimum market price is 300 thousand per bottle. At auction, even several hundred thousand yuan per bottle is considered cheap.
“I gave you three bottles in total. I won’t charge you auction prices; just the market price, so that’s 1 million.”
Since Maelis insisted on being so calculating, Zinnia decided to play along with her rules. She thought, ‘If we’re settling accounts, let’s do it fair and square. I won’t take advantage of her, and she won’t take advantage of me.’
Zinnia rattled off a detailed list, leaving the Shaw family utterly stunned.
They might not be familiar with medicine, but they understand the value of a century–old ginseng. They thought, ‘She is exaggerating. Even our family might not be able to produce a century–old ginseng. How could a country girl like her possibly have one?‘
Maelis’s anger flared up again. She said, “Zinnia, have you gone money–mad? How could a country bumpkin like you possibly have century–old ginseng? And the face cream I use was given to me by Betty, none of your damn business!”
Zinnia took out her phone and displayed the ginseng appraisal report. She said, “Here’s the appraisal report. You should still be able to find the herbal residue from the medicine I prepared at your home. Feel free to have it tested.
“I’ll compile a detailed list of the medicinal ingredients I provided and email it to you. Moore’s Herbary conducted the valuation. If you have any doubts about the prices, feel free to have them appraised by other accredited institutions.
“If there are significant discrepancies in the quotes, feel free to submit the lowest valuation to me for confirmation.”
Zinnia scrolled through her phone and pulled up the patent certificate for Moon Scar Cream. She said, “As for the face cream you’ve been using, Mrs. Shaw, this is the patent certificate for the cream. You can have it verified.
“I don’t know how you claim Betty got the cream, but I am certain I am the only one who has access to it. Unless she took it from me and gave it to you under my name, then she must have stolen it.
“I’ve lost a total of five bottles, worth 1.6 million. That’s enough for me to file a police report and press criminal charges against her.”
Maelis was momentarily stunned by Zinnia’s threat of criminal charges. She thought, ‘Betty was just released from detention. If she went back, what would happen to our family’s reputation?‘
Her voice sharpened with desperation as she snapped, “Don’t you dare slander Betty!”
“The police will figure out if it’s slander or not,” Zinnia shot back, showing no mercy.
The three Shaw brothers were stunned by how much had come to light. They thought, ‘How many things has Betty been hiding from us? And Zinnia isn’t at all what we thought. There’s more to her than meets the eye.
‘She grew up in a small town, yet could so easily come up with a century–old ginseng and other rare medicinal ingredients. The Lynn family couldn’t have provided them. After all, when Zinnia prepared those medicines, she had virtually no connection to them.‘
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