Xu Yi didn’t tell He Linqiu what he was thinking.
In these times, He Linqiu was merely one instance among thousands upon thousands of common people from the lower classes who served wealthy households.
But He Linqiu was someone who had appeared vividly in his life, someone he had laughed and talked with, a neighbor they had supported each other as. Between him and He Linqiu was Madam He, who maintained their relationship. Madam He was the first kind person he had met after arriving here. Xu Yi always thought that such people shouldn’t have to toil so hard their entire lives. If he could easily resolve the He family’s troubles, it would also be a happy thing for Xu Yi.
“Tomorrow, I’ll scout the path first. Wait until you can walk without needing a cane, then we’ll go to the Bao household.”
Xu Yi said this to He Linqiu, who looked somewhat ready to face death itself.
He Linqiu’s face flushed red with embarrassment, “I… I’ll recover as quickly as possible.”
Xu Yi understood his urgency to break free from the Bao family’s constraints and didn’t tease him, “Your wounds were delayed two days without medicine. Otherwise, you would have healed even faster.”
Fortunately, there was Flesh-Growing Ointment. With only wound medicine, it would be hard to say whether He Linqiu could be up and walking in two or three days.
He Linqiu immediately said, “Brother Yi, I can manage without the cane. Look at me… I can walk…”
He tried to stand up to show Xu Yi, but Xu Yi pressed him down with one palm and he couldn’t move.
He Linqiu stared in shock at the hand pressing down on his arm. It looked no different from his own, yet seemed to possess infinite strength.
Xu Yi frowned slightly, “Don’t push yourself.”
He Linqiu pressed his lips into a straight line, “…” He nodded obediently.
In the end, Xu Yi escorted him back to the He household and instructed him to apply the ointment several more times each day.
Returning to his room, he sat at his desk and wrote a note to Tao Qinghao.
–
Speaking of the Bao household, after the Fourth Madam of the Bao household sent people away that day, her mind had been unsettled. That night, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
Fourth Master Bao, who shared her bed, was awakened by her. He got up and lit a lamp, looking at her in confusion and asking, “What happened? What’s keeping you awake?”
Madam Tao turned and sat up, asking in return, “Husband doesn’t know?”
“What should I know? Every day I have to manage the shops. Those old servants see that I’m merely the fourth branch’s master and always like to squeeze me out. I’m busy during the day, and when I return, I still have to worry about household matters. There aren’t many masters as unfortunate as me.”
Fourth Master Bao was also annoyed, sitting in his chair sulking unhappily.
Madam Tao walked over, her jade hand resting on his shoulder, gently kneading as she said softly, “Husband has misunderstood me. I naturally couldn’t bear to trouble you with courtyard matters. It’s just that a few days ago, the young master from the second branch came to demand a servant from me, and it created a troublesome situation.”
Fourth Master Bao snorted coldly, “What servant does the second branch want now? If they’re so short-staffed, they should go buy some from the brokerage.”
After venting his anger, he asked what the trouble was.
Hearing him say this, Madam Tao knew that Fourth Master Bao was on her side.
In the years since she married into the Bao family, she had suffered many grievances. Fourth Master Bao wasn’t someone who knew how to be considerate either. The daily interactions and management of relationships between the various branches all fell to her.
Though the Bao family appeared prosperous on the surface, in truth, only the first and second branches stood out. The third and fourth branches were born of concubines. Though nominally registered under the Grand Madam’s name, at the end of the day, they were of concubine birth. Their status in the Bao household wasn’t high. They even had to watch the faces of the other two branches.
Though Madam Tao was also of concubine birth, how could the Tao family’s weight in the county town compare to the Bao family?
What she feared was that Doctor Xu would gossip about her in front of Tao Qinghao.
Madam Tao selected some things she could say to tell Fourth Master Bao. She made light of the serious matters, only saying that the second branch had beaten and abused servants and caused trouble. Otherwise, outsiders wouldn’t have come to criticize them.
Fourth Master Bao said furiously, “What are the second branch’s intentions? Do they think I’m afraid to go reason with the Grand Madam?”
He calculated in his mind that the Bao family currently had no one in real power to maintain appearances. Rather, because he had married a daughter from the Tao family, the entire Bao household had climbed to a higher branch because of it. Now was the time to let the other branches know that the fourth branch wasn’t so easy to bully. “No, the Grand Madam must know about this matter.”
Madam Tao smiled with satisfaction.
This matter needed to become a big deal in the Bao household. She couldn’t be the only one left to clean up the mess.
The next day, the matter reached the Grand Madam’s chambers.
The Grand Madam had a fierce temper. She directly summoned Second Madam to her room for a lecture and made the young master of the second branch kneel in the room to reflect on his mistakes.
The second branch had never suffered such humiliation. They wanted to make a scene in the Grand Madam’s chambers and speak ill of the fourth branch, but feared that if the first branch intervened, the second branch would be even more embarrassed.
All four branches of the family had their own thoughts, forgetting what Madam Tao’s original intention had been in making such a fuss in the Grand Madam’s chambers.
At this time, the note Xu Yi had sent to the Tao household had reached Tao Qinghao’s hands.
Tao Qinghao was very surprised to receive a note from Xu Yi. Opening it to read the contents, his expression changed slightly. He pulled over a nearby servant boy and asked about the concubine-born sister who had married into the Bao family.
He learned that this concubine-born sister would come to send gifts during festivals and often came to the house to talk with his mother. His mother’s fortune with children was thin. She had only him as a son. Having a sweet-tongued married concubine-born niece to please her and relieve her boredom, she had received many good things while in the main branch of the Tao household.
Who would have thought that privately she was so domineering, even treating a hired servant with such stinginess and cruelty.
Tao Qinghao said to his personal servant, “Go run an errand for me. Send five strings of cash to the He household and give them to that He boy. Tell him I’m handling this matter and he needn’t worry.”
He then instructed the servant to tell Xu Yi that he didn’t need to personally go to the Bao household to demand the contract. He would have someone deliver it.
If this concubine-born sister of his still wanted to rely on the Tao family to conduct herself and wouldn’t even give him this much face, then there was nothing to discuss.
Tao Qinghao arranged everything one by one, then went to his mother’s chambers to pay his respects.
This small matter wasn’t worth bringing up to soil his mother’s ears. Tao Qinghao didn’t reveal anything.
…
The servant boy acted quickly. When he arrived at the Xu household with the money, Xu Yi was also a bit dazed.
“Your young master instructed this?” He couldn’t help but ask the arriving servant.
The servant nodded and said with a smile, “The young master said this concerns the Tao family’s reputation after all. The concubine-born sister from our household was discourteous. Beating and scolding servants at will is wrong to begin with. If others have no one to support them, that’s one thing, but this Linqiu is Doctor Xu’s neighbor. No matter what, we can’t let him suffer such grievances.”
After speaking, he presented the five strings of cash, saying they were compensation for He Linqiu.
Xu Yi looked at these strings of cash and first accepted them on He Linqiu’s behalf.
He then asked the servant if Tao Qinghao had given any other instructions.
The servant held nothing back, relating all his master’s plans. He also said that Tao Qinghao was now going to meet with Fourth Madam of the Bao household and should have results very soon.
Xu Yi: “…”
When Xu Yi wrote to Tao Qinghao, he had only wanted to ask whether this Fourth Madam of the Bao household had a good relationship with him or not.
If not, he would act directly. If so, he would show some restraint for Tao Qinghao’s sake.
He hadn’t expected Tao Qinghao to take action personally.
After the servant finished conveying the message, he bowed and left the Xu household to return to the Tao household to report.
Xu Yi didn’t delay and took the five strings of cash to the He household.
Madam He looked at the extra money in shock, “This… where did this come from?”
“The Tao family sent it.” Xu Yi, worried they might not understand the relationship, explained the connection between the Tao family and Fourth Madam of the Bao household. “This money is the Tao family’s compensation to Brother Linqiu. I took the liberty of accepting it on your behalf.”
He Linqiu looked at the money, both happy and nervous, “We can accept this?”
“Yes.” Xu Yi nodded with certainty.
As they were discussing the matter, knocking sounds came from outside.
Xu Yi accompanied Madam He outside and discovered it was the second steward from the fourth branch of the Bao household.
This time, the second steward wore a fawning smile as he greeted them, “Doctor Xu, Madam He.”
Madam He frowned and asked, “What brings you here?”
The second steward quickly pulled out the rental contract and termination documents from his chest and handed them over, then took out an additional five taels of silver.
“I’ve come to deliver the contract. If Linqiu wants to terminate it, how could our madam not agree? See, she had me bring these things over.” The second steward felt bitter inside but still had to smile at Madam He. “Linqiu was beaten at the Bao household. The fault lies with the Bao family. Our madam didn’t stand up for you before and feels regretful about it. She sent me to bring five taels of silver so Linqiu can recuperate during this time.”
Madam He stared at the gleaming five taels of silver, stunned speechless. In one day, they had actually come into two windfalls.
Seeing Madam He’s lack of response, the second steward looked pleadingly at Xu Yi, “Doctor Xu, please have Madam He accept it.”
At this moment, He Linqiu walked out from the house leaning on his cane.
He calmly called out “Mother” once, then said to Madam He, “Mother, accept the money and let him go.”
Madam He dazedly accepted the money. The second steward hurriedly left with an apologetic smile, not daring to stay longer.
…
Inside the He household.
He Linqiu divided the five taels of silver in his hands into two portions, presenting one portion to Xu Yi.
He said, “Brother Yi, this matter succeeded entirely because of you. Without your help, I wouldn’t have known what to do. The silver we received today was all gotten for nothing. You should have a share.”
Xu Yi: “…”
These words sounded familiar.
It seemed a few days ago, he had said similar words to Madam He?
Now that He Linqiu was using these words back on him, Xu Yi didn’t know how to refute for a moment.
Xu Yi waved his hand, “It’s not exactly gotten for nothing. After all, you were injured so severely.”
He Linqiu said very happily, “With your ointment, Brother Yi, I’m almost completely healed.”
After speaking, he tried to give Xu Yi money for the medicine.
Seeing that he still wanted to take out five qian from the remaining two-plus taels, Xu Yi hurriedly stopped him.
“If I had been helping you with the intention of taking money, I wouldn’t have intervened. You should keep this money. All told, it’s only ten strings of cash. You still need to do business afterward and should keep it as capital.”
Xu Yi’s persuasion was very effective. He Linqiu gave up the idea of continuing to give money.
He followed Xu Yi back to the Xu household and stood in the courtyard deliberating for a long time. When Xu Yi’s puzzled gaze fell on him, He Linqiu gathered his courage and spoke his plans.
Xu Yi was very confused, “You want to help Ah Xu in preparing digestive pills?”
He Linqiu said honestly, “Not just that. I was thinking that your digestive pills are now known throughout the county town, but only Ah Xu and Ah Jin are making them. Might that be too few? If I could help them in preparing digestive pills and then take them to sell at the market, we could earn more money this way.”
Xu Yi: “…” Right, there was also the route of consignment sales.
He was currently short on manpower. Originally, when Madam He had mentioned it before, he had intended to have He Linqiu come help at his house. But later when He Linqiu said he wanted to do business, Xu Yi had dismissed that notion.
Thinking that He Linqiu had this idea, Xu Yi pulled that notion back out.
“You truly think this way?” Xu Yi narrowed his eyes slightly as he asked.
He Linqiu nodded, “Brother Yi, do you think it’s feasible? I can prepare them and also take them to sell at the market. Brother Yi can pay me wages, or if you sell the digestive pills to me, I can find ways to sell them to other counties. Either would work.”
Xu Yi thought for a while and felt this idea was feasible.
He directly let He Linqiu choose for himself. He Linqiu wanted to go to the marketplace to do business.
Participating in production was stable, only requiring preparing digestive pills and helping Xu Yi sell them. Sales required him to first pay money to buy the pills, then find ways to sell them. He Linqiu knew how difficult this was, but he didn’t want to continue being timid and cowardly.
Xu Yi nodded, “In that case, when your wounds have fully healed, come find me.”
…
One day later.
The merchant caravan that had gone to Zitong County returned.
The mule carts and donkey carts that Uncle Tang, Zhang Tiegou, and others rode had just reached the city gates when they immediately sent someone to notify Xu Yi to come.
Xu Yi received the news and hurried from South Street. When he arrived at the county town gates, Uncle Tang and the others were already unloading cargo.
They hadn’t rested much along the way. Their faces showed fatigue mixed with excitement. They hadn’t changed clothes in several days. Fortunately, it was winter and the cold weather meant they didn’t sweat easily. Still, their clothes looked much dirtier, their hair matted into clumps, mixed with chaotic incense scents and strange odors, causing others around them to cover their noses and look askance.
Uncle Tang and the others didn’t care how these people viewed them.
This trip had yielded rich rewards. After subtracting the goods commissioned to be brought back, the remaining goods, if sold off, could earn quite a bit of silver.
However, Xu Yi didn’t see Zhang Tiegou in the crowd. Upon asking, he learned Uncle Tang had sent him off to run an errand and summon people.
“Uncle Tang, you’ve all worked hard on this journey.” Xu Yi said.
Uncle Tang wanted to raise his hand to pat his shoulder, but seeing his palm was grimy, he lowered it, “Come, come, come, see what I brought back for you.”
He called Xu Yi to follow him while continuing to speak, “You said you wanted medicinal herbs rarely seen in Yanting County. I immediately took a liking to this datura. A student selling medicinal herbs said this datura could be used to make Mafei Powder, so I brought it back for you.”
Xu Yi’s eyes revealed delight as he said to Uncle Tang, “Thank you, Uncle. I’m in great need of these herbs.”
Datura, also called datura flower or intoxicating heart flower, was said to be one of the main raw materials for Hua Tuo’s Mafei Powder. In the Record of Hua Tuo in the Book of the Later Han, it was recorded that Hua Tuo had used Mafei Powder to anesthetize patients before cutting open their abdomens and backs so they felt nothing before performing surgery. However, none of this had very strong evidence for verification, so many scholars believed these weren’t Hua Tuo’s original prescriptions.
But during the Song Dynasty, there were anesthetic medicines, though the herbs used did differ somewhat from what was recorded in books.
One of them was “Sleeping Saint Powder,” prepared from datura flowers and cannabis flowers.
Datura flower was another alternative name for datura.
Of course, among later generations, there were also many who attempted to create the legendary “Mafei Powder.” Later, a workable prescription emerged that used datura, fresh aconite, danggui, chuanxiong, and Arisaema.
In this prescription, datura, fresh aconite, and Arisaema were all toxic, so the dosages used had to be even more cautious.
Xu Yi thus felt that compared to the insufficiently stable Mafei Powder, “Sleeping Saint Powder” was easier to prepare.
So he asked Uncle Tang if he had bought cannabis flowers.
Uncle Tang had bought back too many medicinal herbs. He frowned and thought, then shook his head, “I can’t remember that many. Wait a moment, I’ll call someone.”
He shouted into the group unloading goods, and a tall person emerged from inside.
It was that fierce-looking burly man from before.
The burly man saw Xu Yi, paused, then quickly walked over, “Master Tang.”
“Bring the account book for Young Master Xu to look at.” Uncle Tang said to the burly man, then returned his gaze to Xu Yi to explain.
“On the way back, we encountered a group of bandits. I was afraid of losing the account book, so I gave it to Ah Fu to keep safe.”
Ah Fu was the burly man’s name. His surname was Zhou, given name Fu, a name his grandfather had given him.
Uncle Tang looked meaningfully at Xu Yi and said, “Last time he wanted you to treat someone. It should have been his grandfather.”
Xu Yi’s focus was on “bandits.” He marveled that they had actually encountered bandits, though seeing them all unharmed, they should be fine.
Just as he was about to ask what had happened, Ah Fu returned with the account book.
“Here.” He said hoarsely.
Xu Yi took the account book. It was somewhat crudely made, using inferior quality paper. Inside, it recorded all the goods purchased on this trip to Zitong County.
He directly turned to the section on purchasing medicinal herbs and looked through line by line, finding the cannabis flowers.
Uncle Tang had bought back ten jin of cannabis flowers. He planned to sell part to medical halls and ask Xu Yi if he wanted some.
Xu Yi didn’t hesitate, “I want five jin.”
“That much?” Uncle Tang looked at him in surprise. “Can you use it all?”
After all, Xu Yi didn’t run a medical hall. He only treated patients, and sometimes even had patients go to other medical halls to fill prescriptions.
Xu Yi said simply, “I have a use for it.”
Hearing this answer, Uncle Tang stopped asking.
He had Ah Fu find the cannabis flowers, then continued discussing with Xu Yi several other rather rare medicinal herbs.
Because they were rare, Uncle Tang hadn’t dared buy too much, but added together, the price wasn’t cheap. The five-tael paper certificate Xu Yi had given wasn’t enough, so he had advanced some funds.
This… didn’t even include the fee for the trouble of bringing goods back for him.
Xu Yi understood clearly in his heart. After thanking Uncle Tang again, he asked if he was free tomorrow. He wanted to invite Uncle Tang to a tavern for drinks.
“I’m free. I need to rest my feet anyway.” Uncle Tang sighed. On the road, there had been no opportunity to drink and warm up. Now that he was back, how could he forget this pleasure?
As the two talked, Zhang Tiegou emerged from the city, followed by three servants dressed differently.
These three were servants of clients who had commissioned goods to be purchased on this trip. They had come to inspect the goods.
As soon as they arrived, they dove into the goods that had been unloaded from the carts.
Zhang Tiegou looked around. Seeing Xu Yi, he shouted happily, “Hahaha~ Brother Xu, I brought you lots of crispy cookies!”
Xu Yi smiled and said to him, “I was just waiting for you to return. If you bought so many crispy cookies, can they keep?”
“They can! It’s so cold.” Zhang Tiegou rubbed his palms together.
On this trip to Zitong County, thanks to the pig pancreas soap Xu Yi had made for him, when they rested along the way, they inevitably lacked braziers for warmth. In their group, no fewer than five or six people had developed chapped skin from the cold.
They had all been cured by applying the pig pancreas soap Xu Yi made.
He ran to the cart and brought back a rather heavy package. Opening it to look, inside were all the crispy cookies he had mentioned.
Xu Yi marveled, “…” This wasn’t “many” as a figure of speech, but actually many.
Zhang Tiegou had truly bought him back lots of crispy cookies.
“These are enough for you and Ah Xu and Ah Jin to eat for ten days.” Zhang Tiegou said proudly.
Xu Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He smiled and asked, “Bringing back so many, didn’t you think I might not like them?”
Zhang Tiegou was shocked, “How could that be! These crispy cookies are only found in Zitong County. Other places don’t have them. I saw traveling merchants all buying them by the basketful. I only bought half a basket.”
By the end, he even felt he had bought too little.
Xu Yi: “…” He smiled inwardly and said nothing more.
He unwrapped the outer yellow oiled paper, and a fragrance mixing oil and osmanthus-like aroma hit his face.
This scent carried threads of sweet fragrance. Sniffing carefully, one could detect the aroma of lard, egg fragrance, sesame fragrance, and the scent of crispy dough.
Xu Yi took out one piece. It was half a palm in size, but each layer of the pastry was extremely thin. When his fingers broke it open, it made a crisp “snap.”
Taking a bite, one could see the flaky crumbs falling.
What was special about how this pastry tasted was that it was so crisp it hardly needed chewing, as if it would melt in the mouth.
Yet tasting carefully, one found the pastry sweet but not cloying, flavorful but not overpowering. After swallowing one bite, one wanted another.
Seeing Xu Yi eat the crispy cookie bite by bite, Zhang Tiegou smiled, showing all his teeth.
“I knew Brother Xu would love eating this stuff.” Zhang Tiegou proudly planted his hands on his hips and laughed wildly.
Xu Yi’s face rarely reddened from his laughter.
They didn’t idle for long before Zhang Tiegou was called away by Uncle Tang.
Xu Yi stayed to watch them work, then after thinking, rolled up his sleeves and joined in.
He couldn’t touch other people’s goods.
The goods he had Uncle Tang bring back for him didn’t need to pass through others’ hands. Before long, he had moved these medicinal herbs onto one of the mule carts.
The goods brought back were inventoried. The servants sent by the clients to inspect goods then loaded them onto ox carts.
Uncle Tang had no time to entertain Xu Yi, so he had Ah Fu escort him home first.
Zhang Tiegou wasn’t free either. He had to guard the medicinal herbs with the other two guards, unable to let idle loafers steal during the busy time.
Thus, Ah Fu jumped onto the mule cart and called to Xu Yi, “Doctor Xu, get on.”
He was unsociable and didn’t talk much. Throughout the journey, he didn’t initiate conversation with Xu Yi.
When they arrived at Stone Well Lane on South Street, Xu Yi got off the cart. Ah Xu and Ah Jin inside the house heard the commotion and came out. Seeing that Xu Yi had returned, they ran over to help move the medicinal herbs together.
Xu Yi, seeing Ah Fu looking like the matter had nothing to do with him, staring blankly ahead, thought he wouldn’t speak again when Ah Fu did speak.
Ah Fu turned his head to stare at Xu Yi. The scars on his face looked extremely fierce, “Doctor Xu.”
Xu Yi looked back at him, “What is it?”
Ah Fu’s voice was low and hoarse, “I’d like to ask you to treat someone.”
These words were very familiar. Xu Yi stopped moving and looked at him, “Who?”
Ah Fu said, “My grandfather.”
“He’s blind in one eye, and the other eye is almost unable to see too. Can you cure him?”
Hearing this, Xu Yi, out of professional instinct, asked, “How did he go blind?”
Ah Fu was somewhat stunned by this question.
After several breaths, Ah Fu slowly said, “It’s been many years. One night when the lamp was lit, he couldn’t see anymore.”
Xu Yi pondered.
After a long while, Ah Fu, seeing him remain silent, struggled to open his mouth, “Does that mean… it can’t be cured?”