Madam Chen asked with a bitter expression, “Brother Yi, are you not confident you can cure him?”
“I haven’t been studying medicine for very long. If I were to delay Accountant Chen’s condition, that would be truly unfortunate.” Xu Yi wasn’t being arrogant. Never mind him; even his parents, who had practiced medicine for decades, would never promise patients that they could guarantee a complete cure.
For an illness like Accountant Chen’s, curing it was certainly possible. It wasn’t any major ailment, just that it required enduring some suffering. However, in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was all too easy to die from such things if one wasn’t careful.
As for Accountant Chen’s character, Xu Yi didn’t trust him very much.
Therefore, he recommended Doctor Chen, whom he considered to have fairly good medical skills. Doctor Chen wasn’t like Sun Shitong. Sun Shitong’s medical abilities were mediocre at best; he could manage simple minor illnesses, but when it came to complicated cases or diseases with multiple symptoms, he struggled and was prone to misdiagnosis.
Since Xu Yi had said as much, what more could Madam Chen say? All her various emotions dissolved into helplessness.
After Madam Chen left, Madam He looked at the closed door next door and said softly, “Brother Yi, you were right not to agree. Madam Chen is a good person, but as for Accountant Chen…” Madam He didn’t like speaking ill of people behind their backs, but ultimately couldn’t hold back. “Last time, I heard Accountant Chen say you weren’t studying or taking the civil examinations anymore. The implications in his words were truly malicious; he’s not a good person.”
…Mentioning this matter inevitably led the conversation back to complaining about people.
It was getting late, and Xu Yi still needed to go to West Street, so he didn’t chat long with Madam He. Carrying the digestive pills he’d portioned out and wrapped in hemp paper, he arrived at the bustling marketplace of West Street.
Just as Madam He had said, West Street was exceptionally lively today. Hawking vendors, peddlers walking about with carrying poles, shops of all kinds, restaurants, teahouses; his two eyes couldn’t take it all in.
“Delicious meat buns! Three wen each, piping hot buns!”
“Buying flowers! Luxurious peonies! Yellow chrysanthemums!”
“Fried meatballs! Fried tofu! Fried meatballs…”
Xu Yi silently observed his surroundings carefully. Making the medicine pills had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, but also part of planning for the future. Now the pills were made and he had arrived at West Street, but he suddenly found himself in a bit of a predicament.
These pills… where should he sell them?
Xu Yi didn’t understand the rules for setting up stalls in Yanting County. Could anyone just set up like this? Did one need to pay money, or should he go to a broker’s office to find a middleman and contact merchant guilds to sign some papers? Xu Yi sighed softly. He should have asked Madam He; she would probably know.
However, thinking it over, since Madam He hadn’t mentioned needing any procedures, perhaps they weren’t necessary?
Xu Yi’s eyes moved, his gaze falling on a small stall nearby. The person minding the stall was a young man with naturally smiling eyes, in his twenties, wearing clean cotton short clothing.
“Young master, my candied fruits are delicious! They’re all preserved with good sugar, crisp and sweet, and the price is reasonable. Would you like a portion?”
“I’ll take one.”
What he sold at his stall were candied dried green plums, semi-dried, with a layer of sugar frost on them. They had a very sweet green plum fragrance.
After the young man wrapped up the dried plums he’d ordered, Xu Yi took out money to pay him and casually asked, “Setting up your stall here, is business good?”
The young man said with a smile, “It’s pretty good! There are lots of people on West Street, plenty of wealthy folks too, and they all love candied fruits.”
Not just candied fruits, all sorts of sweets and beverages were frequently purchased by wealthy households sending out their servant girls and matrons.
Xu Yi showed curiosity. “Do you have to pay money to set up a stall here?”
The young man was startled by the question, but seeing Xu Yi wearing a long robe and headscarf, he answered without suspicion, “It used to be free, but these past two years someone has taken control. They say if you want to set up a stall, you have to pay ten wen every day. Otherwise there’ll be trouble. Smashing up your stall would be the least of it.”
Xu Yi frowned. “The authorities don’t intervene?”
“They can’t manage it. Those people have powerful figures backing them.” The young man looked apprehensive and didn’t dare continue.
Xu Yi didn’t ask further. He’d already gotten the information he wanted.
Setting up a stall on West Street was possible, but required paying ten wen daily. It’s not much, but Xu Yi didn’t want to send money their way.
Having someone backing them meant either working for wealthy families or having connections with powerful officials supporting them. Whatever complex relationships were involved, Xu Yi had no intention of investigating.
First, it was troublesome. Second, he couldn’t solve that kind of trouble anyway.
Xu Yi wandered around the marketplace for a while longer. Before long, he entered a medical hall on West Street.
An apprentice in the reception hall was bandaging a patient’s wound. Seeing someone new enter, he inquired whether they wanted to see a doctor or buy medicine.
“Sell medicine,” Xu Yi said.
The apprentice’s interest was low. “What do you want to sell?”
Xu Yi asked, “Do you buy digestive pills? I made them myself.”
“Huh?” The apprentice thought he’d misheard. Looking again at the completely serious expression on the newcomer’s face and knowing the other person wasn’t joking, he laughed aloud and said, “This young gentleman is quite the jokester. This is a medical hall, not some miscellaneous general store. We don’t accept medicine pills of unknown origin.”
“Never mind medicine pills you’ve made, even freshly picked medicinal herbs, if we were to accept them, we’d have to carefully evaluate them. Poor quality ones we wouldn’t take at all. Besides, look at where you are! Do we lack doctors who can prepare medicine?”
That made sense. Xu Yi had been prepared for rejection when he walked into this medical hall.
Xu Yi thought for a moment and said, “The digestive pills I made use a different formula. They’re more effective than the commonly used digestive prescriptions and convenient to carry and take.”
The apprentice waved his hand impatiently. “Don’t want them, don’t want them.”
Xu Yi: “…” It seemed this quick approach wouldn’t work.
If this medical hall wouldn’t accept them, other medical halls probably wouldn’t either.
Xu Yi offered a respectful gesture and didn’t plan to persist further. At worst, he would just keep them and promote them to residents on South Street. Someone would need them eventually.
But just as Xu Yi was about to leave, he happened to hear a familiar voice at that moment.
It was Xing Yuesen.
Xing Yuesen walked out from the consultation hall, with the doctor who’d been holding consultations inside following him out to speak with him.
Xu Yi stopped in his tracks, hearing that Xing Yuesen had come to the medical hall to get medicine. The doctor spoke to him in quite a pleasant tone; one could tell he was being very courteous to Xing Yuesen.
“What are you standing here for? Why don’t you leave?” Having finished bandaging the patient, the apprentice saw that the young man still hadn’t left and tried to drive him out. “There’s no point in you staying. We don’t accept these medicines of unknown origin.”
Xu Yi: …
The apprentice’s voice was somewhat loud, drawing the attention of others.
Xing Yuesen turned around, his usually calm and composed face showing surprise, then quickly walked toward the person being urged to leave.
The doctor who’d been ignored paused, then followed forward to see what was happening.
“Brother Yi, to think I’d see you here!” Xing Yuesen had a talent for familiarity. Despite not having seen each other for so many days, upon suddenly seeing Xu Yi, he felt not the slightest bit of awkwardness. “Last time during my ten-day leave, I went to look for you, but unfortunately you weren’t home. I was planning to visit you again during my next leave in a few days.”
Xu Yi nodded, somewhat surprised. “Brother Xing came to find me?”
Xing Yuesen replied, “Yes! I waited half an hour, and when you didn’t return, I left.”
Xu Yi smiled apologetically. “When the weather’s clear, I go into the mountains during the day. I don’t return until it’s nearly dark.”
Xing Yuesen understood and nodded. “I see. It looks like next time I visit, I should let you know in advance.”
The doctor approached, and hearing their conversation, he frowned and asked the apprentice who’d been driving people away, “What happened? Why is there a commotion in the medical hall?”
The apprentice said in a fluster, “This young gentleman came to sell medicine pills. I said the medical hall wouldn’t accept them, but he still wouldn’t leave, so I told him to go…”
Xing Yuesen raised an eyebrow. “Brother Yi, what good medicine pills have you made?”
Xu Yi waved his hand. “Just ordinary digestive pills for treating food stagnation, abdominal pain, bloating… these sorts of symptoms. I was thinking of seeing if any medical halls would buy them, and if not, I’d make other arrangements.”
Hearing the name “digestive pills,” delight flashed through Xing Yuesen’s eyes. What perfect timing! He’d just been assigned the task by his father to purchase commonly kept medicinal supplies for the family, and Xu Yi appeared right before him.
So he spoke up, “Brother Yi, I’m actually in need of purchasing medicine right now. These digestive pills are excellent. Would you be willing to sell them all to me?”
Xu Yi paused. “I have several dozen digestive pills on hand. If you want them all… But, wouldn’t that be too many?”
“Not at all,” Xing Yuesen quickly said. “Our household is large. If we divide up several dozen digestive pills, each branch of the family won’t even get many. Besides, the climate has been unstable recently, and people easily develop indigestion after meals. Brother Yi, your digestive pills are exactly what we need.”
Xu Yi was stunned. Oh right, just because he’d transmigrated into an orphan didn’t mean other families had small households.
For a large household like the Xing family, twenty or thirty people would be quite normal.
The doctor nearby: “…”
Wait, have you two forgotten that this is a medical hall…