Baicaotang has three main storefronts and a large hall. What catches your eye are several rows of maroon medicine cabinets with countless small drawers. Each drawer is embedded with a small piece of primary wood with the name of the medicinal ingredient written on it.
Ping'an smelled the familiar medicinal fragrance and felt indescribably excited. It felt great.
In his previous life, he started studying medicine at the age of 20 and retired at the age of 60. The hospital wanted to re-employ him with a high salary, but he refused. It was not because he was short of money. After working hard all his life, he wanted to travel around with his wife, who was also retired.
At this time, my son had already graduated with a doctorate in medicine and was preparing to return to China to work.
What a pity.
"Doctor Sun, are you busy? I brought some medicine."
Doctor Sun smiled and said, "Changsheng is here. I hope we have better medicine this time. If not, just ask Dazhuzi to weigh it. I will charge the old price."
Wan Changsheng smiled and said, "We found several Panax notoginseng plants this time. They are of good vintage. Doctor Sun, please take a look."
"Oh?" Doctor Sun stood up. The Panax notoginseng from the mountains is still very rare in the pharmacy if the year is good, and the effect is much better than that grown in the medicine shop.
Wan Changsheng carefully took out Panax notoginseng: "There are seven in total, all of good vintages."
Doctor Sun took it and looked at it. It was indeed five or six years old, without any scratches at all, and it was obvious that it had been dug out not long ago.
"It is indeed good. Here, Changsheng, I will give you twelve taels. Two of them are a little small."
Wan Changsheng tried not to show his joy, "Doctor Sun, whatever you say is fine."
Doctor Sun nodded and said, "Dazhuzi, give him the other medicines at the previous price."
Wan Changsheng picked up the herbs and walked to the big pillar.
Ping'an thought that Doctor Sun was a good person, so he took advantage of his young age to try and get a copy of the Herbal Collection.
"Doctor Sun, do you have Baicao Collection here? Can you lend it to me?"
When Doctor Sun saw that it was the baby Changsheng brought to ask him, since there were not many people around at the moment, he just teased him.
"Who are you to Changsheng? Do you understand Baicao Collection?"
Ping An said, "He is my father, I can understand, my mother taught me how to read."
His mother did teach him a little, but not much, because she herself didn't know many words.
"Oh? No way? Wan Changsheng doesn't seem to be married?" Wan Changsheng was introduced by his cousin who is a military doctor. He has been selling medicinal materials here for a year and a half.
Ping An lowered his eyes and said, "My name is Ping An. I am his stepson. My biological father has been gone for five or six years. I just arrived at his house a few days ago. I want to read Baicao Collection by myself so that my father won't have to waste his time teaching me."
Sun Cheng looked at the little child in front of him, who looked about six or seven years old, with fair skin and a very delicate face. His voice was childish but clear.
He felt a little sad: "Ping An, your father is a good man, you have made a fortune, well, I will let you read ten pages of Baicao Collection, and give you a quarter of an hour. If you can recognize half of it after a quarter of an hour, I will lend you the book for two months. This is the complete Baicao Collection, not the kind you buy in the bookstore."
Ping An took the book given by Doctor Sun. Wow, it was a very thick book, just like the books that children learned to read in their previous life. On the top were pictures of herbal medicines, drawn very clearly, and below were the names of the medicines, their uses, etc., with two types introduced on one page.
This book should be very expensive. It is exquisite in every aspect, but of course it cannot be compared with modern color prints.
Ping'an sat on a small stool nearby and looked at them. Of course he knew all these medicines, and his medicinal properties and uses were very clear to him.
In this life, in addition to having all the memories of the previous life, the greatest golden finger should be the photographic memory.
To be precise, it is not that I have photographic memory, but I have brought over the good memories from my previous life. I can remember more than 50% of things after reading them once, most of them after reading them twice, and I can basically memorize them after reading them three or four times.
So, in his previous life, he was an excellent student and was a top student among all the top students.
In the past few years of his life, life was really miserable. It was hard to fill his stomach. How could the mother have time to listen to her son's words? It was useless to say it.
Wan Changsheng took the silver handed over by Dazhuzi. The fields were worth 72 taels, and the rest of the medicine was worth 26 taels in total. It was a very good income.
He took six taels and one hundred coins, rolled it up in a cloth and placed it under the backpack, covering it with a piece of clothing.
I bought fresh medicinal herbs for 600 wen, and my son got a maximum of 200 wen, so I gave him half of that, which would be 100 wen.
Your son should know how much is due. You should teach him this from a young age: he should say what he means and do what he says. A person's character is very important.
He quietly stuffed ten cents into Dazhuzi's pocket without anyone noticing, then picked up the backpack and walked towards his son.
Doctor Sun waved at him secretly, signaling him not to come over for the time being.
"Doctor Sun, I have written down ten pages."
"You really remembered it? You don't have a quarter of an hour. Okay, I'll ask you questions and you can answer them."
Doctor Sun started from the first page, covering the words below with his hand, and asked him the name of the medicine, its properties, and its use.
Ping'an wanted to borrow a book to read at home, so he naturally put a lot of effort into it.
Needless to say, he answered all the twenty medicines on the ten pages correctly, and even described their properties and uses almost exactly.
There weren't many people around at the moment, so several doctors and waiters gathered around, and the more they listened, the more curious they became.
Wan Changsheng was also standing nearby. Looking at his son's little mouth talking without any panic, he felt extremely proud. He thought that this child was born with a talent for studying.
"Wow, that's amazing, Changsheng, your son has a really good memory, there is nothing wrong, Ping'an, uncle will lend you this book, please return it to me in three months, be careful not to damage it, this book is not easy to buy."
Ping An smiled and said, "Uncle Sun, I will definitely not break it, thank you."
Wan Changsheng came over and said, "Doctor Sun, how can you accept this? This is such an expensive book."
Sun Cheng waved his hands: "It's nothing, just don't damage it. This child is smart, it's good for him to study or learn medicine."
Wan Changsheng laughed and said, "We are going to send him to school in early August. A child this young must study. You guys are busy. I will take the child to the bookstore."
He could see that Doctor Sun liked Ping An, but no matter how much he liked him, he was unwilling to send the child to the pharmacy.
Most people would be overjoyed, but he wasn’t. He heard everything from the side just now, and the child did nothing wrong.
For such a smart child, we must give it a try.
The Baicao Collection was carefully placed at the bottom of the backpack. The father and son’s next stop was the cloth shop, the bookstore, and finally the wonton stall.
He didn't mention the matter of the child borrowing books. He had been in the military camp for seven years, and half of the time he helped the military doctor with miscellaneous tasks, and even took care of the wounded.
I spent a small part of my time helping to sort out medicinal materials and other detailed work. I know a lot about medicine, but it’s a bit narrow after all. Most of them are related to injuries, colds, fever reduction, etc.
It was a good thing that his son borrowed Baicao Collection, so that he could find time to study it. At least he could find more in the future when he went up the mountain. Money was really hard to earn. In the past two years, his monthly income was basically around two taels.
This is considered a high income in the village. After all, it is considered good for an average family in the village to save five taels a year.
But it is not enough to support a child to take the imperial examination.
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