“Doctor Sun, why did Brother Yi come by?” Li Ji entered the main hall, scratching his head as he asked Sun Shitong, who was sitting inside the medicine cabinet.
Sun Shitong scolded irritably, “Why should we care about him?”
The embarrassment and anger of being exposed still lingered. He snorted through his nose, making his goatee quiver, then suppressed the fury in his chest and asked in a low voice, “What did you find out? Did you learn anything?”
Li Ji had already grown accustomed to Sun Shitong’s mercurial moods, so he lowered his eyes and voice to report what he’d learned. “I found something out. I went to the Yang family at Flat Road Lane first and happened to run into Madam Yang decocting medicine. She said a Young Doctor Xu had examined the pulse of their son Rong’er.”
Young Doctor Xu…
Sun Shitong furrowed his brow, pondering who this Young Doctor Xu could be.
Just then, he heard Li Ji continue, “Madam Yang thought I was looking for that physician, so she gave me an address. It’s in Stone Well Lane…”
The voice suddenly stopped. The two men’s eyes met, and both thought of Xu Yi, who had just left!
Young Doctor Xu… Stone Well Lane…
Li Ji stood stunned and speechless. He’d been so anxious to return that he hadn’t thought much about who this Young Doctor Xu living in Stone Well Lane could be, but now, calming down, he realized this person was none other than his former classmate.
“You didn’t hear wrong? The Xu boy abandoned literature to study medicine?” Sun Shitong’s eyes darkened as he stared at Li Ji, wanting to detect any falsehood in his expression.
But Li Ji was just as shocked as he was, swallowing before saying, “I didn’t mishear. That’s what Madam Yang told me.”
Sun Shitong’s fists clenched inside his wide sleeves. A scholarly young man who didn’t understand worldly matters was now buying medicine and had undergone such a drastic personality change. No wonder he’d felt such a strong sense of strangeness. So this was where the problem lay.
He couldn’t help but sneer coldly. Did the boy really think that reading a few books and looking at some medical texts would allow him to master the medical arts?
How naive and laughable.
“Forget…” Sun Shitong was about to say forget it, but the words shifted in his throat, and he suddenly asked, “Did you ask that Madam Yang why she suddenly changed physicians for her child to one who just started learning medicine?”
Li Ji froze. “…”
He stammered in reply, “Doctor Sun, I… I forgot to ask.”
“Fool! Your blockhead never learns. You can’t even handle such a small task properly. How can you expect to be a good apprentice?” Sun Shitong’s anger flared up. After scolding him, his tone became earnest again. “I want to teach you properly, but what about you? You can’t do anything right. How can I feel confident teaching you medical skills? That would only harm you!”
Li Ji’s face burned with shame from the scolding. He didn’t dare raise his head, almost wanting to bury it in his chest.
Sun Shitong couldn’t see his expression clearly, but seeing both his ears turn bright red, he finally let out a heavy sigh.
“Forget it. No use saying more. From now on, pay more attention to that Xu boy, and try to find out what his plans are for the future.” Having said this, Sun Shitong waved his hand at Li Ji, indicating he should go busy himself with other matters.
The more Sun Shitong acted this way, the more Li Ji took the matter to heart.
Having been an apprentice for over three years, he’d always hoped to truly learn useful medical skills so he could complete his training and escape this place, no longer having to act according to Sun Shitong’s moods.
…
At noon, the sky was overcast but rainless, with a cold wind blowing. The chill of the late spring cold hadn’t yet receded.
Tree branches swayed, and on the damp South Street road, stalls were gradually set up. The sounds of lively hawking arose, and the simple ancient street regained its usual bustling atmosphere.
Returning home, Xu Yi’s hands ached from the cold after carrying the medicinal herbs. He rummaged through his chest and found a padded jacket to put on, wrapping himself up tightly.
Now that he’d bought all the medicinal herbs, he should quickly get to work making the digestive pills.
Without resting, Xu Yi went to the kitchen to look around and found tools that could be used for storing medicine: earthenware jars, pottery basins, and pottery bowls.
With everything ready, it was time to put his skills to use.
Throughout the history of traditional Chinese medicine, there had been many prescriptions for eliminating food stagnation, which came in different forms: powders, decoctions, or pills. They could strengthen the spleen, eliminate food stagnation, stimulate appetite, eliminate belching, soothe the liver and relieve depression, strengthen the spleen and benefit qi, among other effects.
Coming from different people, the formulas would also differ. The digestive pill Xu Yi was making was called the Xin’an County Digestive Pill.
It came from the hand of the famous physician Chen Qingyun during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. To help the laboring poor afford cheap and effective digestive medicine, Chen Qingyun developed the “Qi-Regulating and Stagnation-Resolving Powder,” which he later improved by making it into pills convenient for consumption, commonly called digestive pills.
Afterward, these digestive pills remained popular for over two hundred years. Even in modern times, many families still chose these digestive pills as a regular household medicine, showing how high their medicinal value was.
Xu Yi also came from a medical family. Starting from his great-grandfather, their family had practiced medicine. He naturally had the formula for digestive pills, and not only that, his family had once improved upon the Xin’an County Digestive Pills.
Making medicine wasn’t yet effortless for him, but he was very familiar with the process.
He picked out liushenqu, zhishi, and malt, which all needed to be roasted. There was also a flavoring called asafoetida that needed to be soaked in vinegar before being processed separately for use.
After preparing these, Xu Yi chose the method of soaking in decoction, steaming the cakes, and then rolling them into pills.
First, he steamed the hawthorn until cooked, removed the outer skin, and kept the soft, mushy flesh inside.
Hawthorn had a sour and slightly sweet taste that stimulated the appetite. After steaming, it had the effect of eliminating accumulation and stagnation and improving the intestines and stomach. He scooped this hawthorn flesh into a bowl to set aside, then Xu Yi proceeded to process the other medicinal herbs.
Medicinal herbs like green tangerine peel and dried tangerine peel all needed to be soaked until soft enough to be easily crushed by hand. Next, he could scoop these herbs out and place them in a steaming basket to steam them through again over water.
Once steamed, Xu Yi could mix all the medicinal herbs together and use a rolling pin to roll them into thin cakes, then cut them with a knife into small squares of the same size.
Placing the small squares in his palm, he rolled them round and round until they became the size of seeds.
That is, pills about two centimeters in diameter, just the right size to pop in one’s mouth and chew for consumption.
Xu Yi’s startup capital was limited, and the medicinal herbs he’d bought didn’t make many digestive pills, only eighty pills in total.
The rolled pills needed to air-dry, so Xu Yi spread them on a winnowing basket and placed it on the wooden rack in the kitchen.
This wooden rack was also drying ripened heshouwu. On rainy days, it was hard to dry, so the ripened heshouwu still needed to continue drying.
Coming out of the kitchen, Xu Yi saw that the sky outside was gradually darkening. If he made dinner now, it would be a bit too late.
He went out and called to an idle hand outside, asking the man to help buy some dinner and bring it back.
Oh no, wait, it should be two portions. Little Huang also needed to eat dinner.
“Woof woof woof~”
With a stranger approaching, Little Huang stood up alertly.
The idle hand heard the dog barking inside and sensibly stopped two steps away without approaching further. After listening to what food Xu Yi wanted to buy, he reached out to take the money and left.
Xu Yi didn’t need to worry about the man taking the money and not returning. To make it in the “idle hand” profession, credibility was extremely important. If someone underreported prices while overcharging, stole food, or committed similar acts and was caught red-handed by their employer, they could be beaten with boards by the authorities, have their qualifications revoked, and be unable to work as an idle hand anymore.
Before long, the idle hand came running back carrying what Xu Yi had requested.
Xu Yi’s purse was tight, so he didn’t put on airs by trying to tip the idle hand. The idle hand wasn’t disappointed either. South Street had many poor people, and he rarely saw anyone willing to tip.
Closing the door, Little Huang’s sensitive nose came over, his tail wagging so fast it created afterimages.
Xu Yi divided out food for him and sat at the stone table in the courtyard to open his portion. He’d asked the idle hand to buy a bowl of braised tofu with a meat topping. The fatty and lean pork was minced and mixed with mashed garlic, roasted over fire until fragrant, then stewed with tofu in a jar with braising sauce over low heat.
Lifting the lid, a tooth-achingly delicious aroma wafted from the jar. Piping hot, the braising sauce poured over the rice turned it a sauce color, and eating it filled one’s mouth with the fragrance of meat.
After eating his fill, Xu Yi returned the jar to the idle hand, who would return it to the shop.
…
Two days later, the weather cleared.
The warm sun shone on his body, and Xu Yi felt completely refreshed as he performed a set of Thunderclap Tai Chi.
Finishing the form, this time he didn’t feel his arms were weak or immediately tired upon stopping. Instead, he felt invigorated and could continue for another two hours.
Xu Yi returned to his room and changed out of his short jacket, putting on a refined cotton cloth robe. Wearing a blue-gray headband, he looked every bit the scholarly young man.
There was no mirror in the room. When he first transmigrated, Xu Yi had observed his reflection in water. This body’s appearance was fifty percent similar to his modern self. Between his brows was the tender immaturity of youth, but because of his twenty-plus years of experience in his previous life, the youthful face carried a composure and ease that didn’t belong to his body’s age.
This was already a great change from the original person’s pure scholarly temperament.
Madam He felt this most deeply.
Now when she saw Xu Yi handling those unfamiliar medicinal herbs, she was no longer as surprised as when they’d first met. Holding a bowl of winter melon soup in her hands, she came to knock on the Xu family’s door.
Today was Grain Rain (when early crops show their shoots), one of the twenty-four solar terms.
On this day, the common people of Yanting County would cook winter melon soup, symbolizing that eating winter melon soup could eliminate all illnesses.
The Xu household now had only Xu Yi alone, and Madam He guessed he’d definitely forgotten to cook winter melon soup, so she’d made an extra portion for him.
Sure enough, when Xu Yi saw Madam He coming to deliver winter melon soup, he froze for a moment.
Madam He said, “I knew you’d forget, Brother Yi. This year’s winter melon soup has goji berries and lotus seeds added, it’s better than previous years’ winter melon soup.”
Wealthy families would add many ingredients to their winter melon soup: dried river shrimp, lotus seeds, red dates, meatballs, fish balls, peanuts, and some even added ginseng, embodying the capriciousness of the wealthy.
Poor families had just pure winter melon soup with salt. Adding goji berries was already quite good.
Xu Yi came back to his senses and smiled sheepishly. “Thank you for remembering me, Madam He. I’d completely forgotten about eating winter melon soup today.”
Madam He said, “What’s there to thank me for? I was cooking it anyway. I just added one more portion.”
Xu Yi ate the winter melon soup, washed the bowl clean, and returned it to Madam He.
Madam He asked, “Brother Yi, you’re not going to dig herbs today?”
The previous two times, she’d seen Xu Yi go dig herbs wearing old short jackets. Today he was wearing a robe, so he certainly wouldn’t be going to do manual labor.
“That’s right. Today I want to go take a look at West Street,” Xu Yi said, then paused. The digestive pills he’d made had finished air-drying last night.
He wanted to take them to West Street. West Street had many wealthy people, and perhaps he could sell his digestive pills there.