His words could cause a fortune to flow into a businessman's pocket in seconds or let a dream burst like a bubble. It has nothing to do with magic.
Selling ginseng at the century-old Tongrentang drug store, Jia has trained his eyes to become a sensitive detector which can distinguish the genuine natural ginseng from that grown in plantations, or even fakes.
Ginseng, especially the wild, uncultivated plants found in the mountains of Northeastern China, is regarded as the most valuable tonic among traditional Chinese medical herbs. A single shoot of genuine ginseng can fetch tens of thousands of yuan, while its cultivated counterparts are much cheaper.
Since the supply of genuine ginseng never meets the demand, some unscrupulous businessmen are peddling well-made counterfeits at dear prices.
But their tricks, no matter how meticulous, have never deceived Jia's eyes.
"If I fail to tell the fake ahe store suffer a big loss, but the customers won't benefit,'' Jia said.
Though no one knows clearly how much money -- maybe tens of millions of yuan -- Jia has saved Tongrentang from sly businessmen in more than four decades, Jia's colleagues all know for sure he lives up to his nickname -- the "Holy Guardian.''
While con artists are afraid of Jia, customers have full trust in him. Some clients who frequent the store will only buy ginseng when Jia is at the counter.
A Hong Kong woman comes to Jia's store every year, and each time she carries home ginseng worth as much as hundreds of thousands of yuan. But she will only make the purchase from Jia's hands. If she fails to fit an appointment with him into her schedule during the stay, she would rather make again.
People living in south Asia revere him so much that as long as a ginseng bears a card with Jia's seal mark, they take the goods as real.
With Jia's fame and unique skill, many companies -- both domestic and overseas -- dealing with ginseng sales want to hire him as consultant orr representattive of their local offices, but no one has succeeded.
Their offerings have been alluring: house, even a villa; cars; and a high salary, dozens of times more than that he gets from Tongrentang. But Jia has refused each of them.
"Tongrentang has been famous for its honesty, its good reputation and the great help it renders to customers,'' said Jia. "And I've been with it for half a century. It would be hard for me to leave it.''
Between Tongrentang and Jia, it's muthem together. Though Jia passed the official age for retirement 16 years ago, the store, which now has developed into a company group, has persuaded him to stay on.
"I'm the oldest company employee,'' Jia said, again with an optimistic smile.
Though he has never lied to the customer on the quality of ginseng , Jia once stretched the truth concerning an offer made by a kind-hearted customer.
Once in the 1980s, a Hong Kong customer was so satisfied with Jia's service that she wanted to present a gift to Jia.
Since electrical appliances were very hot then, the woman offered a large-screen colour TV or a refrigerator.
But Jia thanked her and told her he already had them all.
"Actually, I only had a small white and black TV at the time. I knew the present waspresenting China rather than myself in front of an overseas guest,'' Jia said.
Fully occupied in the store instructing customers on their purchase, Jia is also extremely busy after work.
Born into a Chinese medicine family, Jia also mastered acupuncture from his father. With his skill, he has cured countless people, among whom many are overseas patients.
No matter whether the patient is noble or humble, Jia has never rejected anyone. And he has never charged a penny for the spare-time service.
"It's my pleasure to offer help to people with my only skill. It's important to look at things from other people's shoes. Those who are suffering need help desperately. Why not lend them a hand?'' Jia said simply.
- BY : Pang Xiaolei
- SOURCE : Beijing Weekend1995.10.13
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