Shen Yuan and Xiao Ling spent three days traveling through villages near Jian'an City, collecting a cartload of medicinal herbs. When they passed through a nearby town, Shen Yuan bought some more herbs from middlemen, spending all her money.

With all her money gone, Shen Yuan felt empty inside. This feeling of being penniless was really unpleasant; she had to earn the money back quickly!

Three days later, the affordable pharmacy in Jian'an City officially opened for business.

Shen Yuan posted Xiao Ling's writing in black ink on red paper outside the door, which quickly attracted the attention of the neighbors.

"Angelica root only costs 30 coins per ounce, and astragalus root only costs 50 coins per ounce. This is much cheaper than at the clinic. I'm going to buy some to keep at home. I'll need it for making soup and medicinal wine in the future!"

"And if you buy enough medicinal herbs, you get a pound of eggs for free. A pound of eggs is worth a lot of money! This is such a great deal!"

"Also, look! This says that a packet of medicine for treating colds only costs ten coins. With the weather getting cold, everyone in the family is prone to catching colds, so I need to stock up on a few more packets!"

The sounds from the neighbors attracted passersby on the street, and more and more people stopped to watch. After reading the notice on the door, they flocked into the affordable pharmacy.

The pharmacy was immediately packed with customers.

"Give me ten packets of medicine for colds!"

"I want a pound of angelica root! A pound of astragalus root! And ten pounds of cassia seeds!"

"This is my prescription. Shopkeeper, please prepare thirty doses according to this!"

"..."

Seeing so many people, Shen Yuan smiled and called out, "Everyone, line up! We'll go one by one!"

After saying this, he said to the person at the top of the line, "Here is the medicine you requested, it will cost one hundred coins!"

The other party received the medicine, paid, and quickly moved on to the next person.

The pharmacy was orderly. Xiao Ling was in charge of finding the medicine, Granny Liu was in charge of weighing it, and Shen Yuan was in charge of packing, collecting money, and distributing eggs. Fortunately, the ready-made medicine for treating colds and the eggs were all prepared in advance and packaged, so customers could just pick them up and leave.

Shen Yuan was so busy all day that she barely had time to breathe.

As darkness fell and candles were lit outside, no one entered the pharmacy.

Shen Yuan knew everyone was tired, so she didn't let Liu Mama cook. Instead, she went to a noodle shop on the street and ordered three large bowls of beef noodles, which she brought back: "You must be hungry after a long day! Come and eat some noodles!"

Xiao Ling rubbed her sore shoulders and walked to the dining table.

Why did he feel like he wasn't here to recuperate at Shen Yuan's home, but rather to be a laborer?

Is it just my imagination?

Just then, a string of coins appeared on the table. Shen Yuan pushed the coins toward Xiao Ling and said, "This is your wages for today. Thank you so much!"

Xiao Ling raised an eyebrow.

I never imagined that Xiao Ling would one day have to work for someone else and earn money.

Xiao Ling picked up the copper coins on the table; this was his first pot of gold, and he had to keep it safe.

Shen Yuan breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Xiao Ling accept the money; she had been worried that he would refuse or think it was too little. Just then, she caught a glimpse of Xiao Ling hanging the string of copper coins on his waist.

Wearing gold on your waist is one thing, but wearing copper coins on your waist too?

Won't it rattle and clang when it walks? Shen Yuan couldn't quite understand this young master Xiao's quirk.

After the meal, Shen Yuan began to tally up the pharmacy's sales for the day.

She tapped away on the abacus, calculating quickly, and soon found out. She had sold a total of twenty taels today. She sold them cheaply, with a profit of only about 20%, which was four taels. After deducting the cost of the eggs, she had three taels left.

Shen Yuan was very satisfied with her achievement of earning three taels of silver in one day.

After all, a farmer's annual harvest is only about five to ten taels of silver, while she earns in a single day what others can earn in several months or even half a year!

Moreover, someone offered a high price of one hundred taels of silver to buy Crane Blood Flower today, but Shen Yuan was reluctant to sell it, otherwise the turnover would have been even higher.

Shen Yuan lay on the table, pondering her next plan.

She currently only has one prescription for treating colds caused by wind and cold. The prescription is an old one left by the legendary doctor Zhang. She has slightly adjusted the proportions based on her experience in treating villagers over the years, and has prepared three different dosages for children, adults, and the elderly, which are sold as finished medicine packets.

Next, she wants to develop more finished medicines, such as ointments for treating rashes, or medicinal soups for relieving summer heat, etc. Shen Yuan decided to study them carefully.

For the next three days, the place remained packed with customers.

The flow of customers gradually decreased after the egg giveaway ended three days later. However, new customers continued to come in, with daily turnover around five or six taels and profits of about five hundred coins, which was not much different from what Shen Yuan had expected.

Business is built up gradually. No matter how shrewd a merchant is, it is impossible to recoup the investment in a day or make a fortune without lifting a finger.

In this respect, Shen Yuan has a good attitude.

That very evening, Shen Yuan suddenly noticed that the Crane Blood Flower was wilting. She quickly moved the Crane Blood Flower to the courtyard and took out herbal medicine books to look at it.

These are flowers that she wouldn't sell even for a hundred taels of silver, so she can't just let them wither away.

She was hoping to keep the flower alive, so it would bloom twice a year and produce lots of petals. How could it die so quickly after only half a month? It's so delicate!

"Little Crane, Little Crane! You must hold on!" Shen Yuan bowed repeatedly to Crane Blood Flower, bowing again and again.

Xiao Ling came out of the woodshed and saw this scene, finding it somewhat amusing.

I've seen people grow flowers, but I've never seen anyone treat flowers like royalty!

When Shen Yuan saw Xiao Ling come out, she complained, "Tell me, I've been taking care of it like a precious treasure these past few days. I was afraid it would dry out if I watered it too little, and afraid it would drown if I watered it too much. How come it still died?"

Xiao Ling walked to the flowerpot, looked at it for a while, and then wrote with charcoal: [There's a lot of fog in the valley, and the weather has been sunny these past few days, so there must be insufficient water.]

“But I watered it a lot! The roots are almost rotting…” Shen Yuan’s words stopped abruptly as she suddenly realized what Xiao Ling meant by “mist.”

Because of the lack of sunlight, the valley is filled with moisture all year round. This moisture is invisible and intangible, and can only be felt through the skin.

The same applies to the Crane Blood Flower. It slowly absorbs moisture from the air by spreading its stems and leaves. Simply watering the roots can easily damage them and prevent it from living for long.

Upon realizing this, Shen Yuan immediately found a spray bottle and gauze. She wrapped the spout of the bottle with gauze, pondering how to make the water droplets poured from the spout finer and smaller.

Just as she was pondering this, she suddenly heard Granny Liu calling out, "Yuanyuan, we have guests!"

Shen Yuan quickly put down her work and went to the front hall.

She lifted the curtain connecting the front hall and the backyard and stepped into the front hall.

The little girl standing in front of the counter turned around. She was dressed in a pale yellow embroidered ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), with two pearl flowers in her hair and a pair of silver bracelets on her wrists. She was dressed like a maid from a noble family.

It was none other than Chu Qiuyue, whom they hadn't seen for many days.