Chapter 22 Medicinal Materials Purchasing Station
The person in charge of purchasing medicinal materials was an old man with gray hair. He was sitting there taking a nap out of boredom.
Xie Yun walked over and said, "Old comrade, could you please help me take a look and see if we can accept these things?"
The old man opened his eyes and raised his eyelids, a little surprised on his face, as if he hadn't expected someone to come and sell medicinal herbs. Usually in the summer, a group of children would come to him to sell cicada shells and scorpions, but at other times of the year, basically no one came.
The old man stood up, looked into Xie Yun's basket, then looked at Xie Yun and asked, "Where did you find this?"
"It's in a remote corner of the mountains. I stumbled upon it while working in the fields and picking sour dates on the mountain. Want to keep it?"
"Collect. But I collect dry ones here, and yours are wet."
"Then I'll go back and dry it and bring it back to you. How do I receive it?"
The old man pulled out a price list from the drawer under the table and flipped through the pages. "Rehmannia root is 0.80 yuan per pound, Polygonatum sibiricum is 1.2 yuan, and Angelica sinensis is 0.98 yuan."
Xie Yun asked, "Can you show me this?"
"Give."
The old man was very generous and gave the price list directly to Xie Yun.
Xie Yun flipped through a few pages and asked, "Do you have a pen and paper? Lend me some. I'd like to copy down the catalog of medicinal herbs I need to buy later."
The old man was amused and asked her, "Even if you know the names, can you match them? Do you know what these herbs look like?"
Xie Yun was also happy. "Some know. Most don't. Old comrade, do you have a book on how to identify medicinal herbs? Do you have medicinal herb seeds? Do you know which medicinal herbs are suitable for growing here?"
The old man looked at her and thought to himself that this girl was quite shameless, trying to get something for nothing from him.
He pursed his lips, took out a notebook and a pen from the drawer, and tore two pages of paper from the notebook and gave them to her. "Copy it."
Xie Yun smiled broadly, "Thank you."
She bowed attentively, then picked up a pen, bent over, and began to copy. Actually, she had a photographic memory, so just reading once would be enough, and she didn't need to copy it, but she had to pretend, so she copied it home and showed it to her mother and brother.
Xie Yun's handwriting was beautiful and neat, and she wrote very small, fearing she wouldn't have enough paper. The old man sat back and waited, taking a moment to glance at her handwriting. He curled his lips and said, "Write bigger. If it's not enough, I'll tear off another sheet for you. These tiny words hurt my eyes."
Xie Yun chuckled, "I just try to save as much as possible. There's nothing I can do about it. I'm used to it."
The old man looked at her patched hem and sleeves, then glanced down at her trousers with some patches on them, and the two big patches on her knees. He couldn't help but curl his lips again. The young girl, with a fair and beautiful face, dressed like this, even if she was clean and tidy, it was still a bit eye-catching.
Xie Yun didn't know what he was thinking and continued to copy the book with great concentration.
She always wore her most tattered clothes when she went out because she was not sure if she could completely avoid offending this era. After all, she lived in a relatively free time and was more casual in what she said and did. If she said something wrong or did something wrong, the tattered clothes could make up for it a little.
Her identity as a poor peasant is her protective shield in this world!
In fact, the purchasing station usually purchases more than 30 kinds of medicinal herbs. Xie Yun finished copying them in a short time without using up even a single piece of paper. However, she folded both pieces of paper and put them in her pocket.
Even in difficult times, a piece of paper is good.
The old man twitched his lips, fished out a dog-eared book from the drawer, and asked, "Which brigade? What's your name?"
"He's from the Liushutun Brigade, his name is Xie Yun."
Xie Yun answered quickly, reaching out and taking the book from the old man as he spoke. "Would you like to register my name and lend me the book? Thank you! I will definitely try to collect more herbs and contribute to the country and its people!"
Old man: “…”
He originally planned to point out to her the medicinal herbs that might appear in Taoyuan, tell her where they might be, and ask her to remember them.
I didn’t expect this girl to be so good at building a ladder for herself!
And she grabbed it right away!
If he wasn't worried about tearing the book, he would definitely not let go!
The old man glared at her, but Xie Yun didn't seem to notice at all. She took the book and happily began to read it.
This is a book called "Modern Practical Chinese Medicine", which may be the prototype of the "Pharmacopoeia". Each herb has corresponding illustrations and introductions, which are very detailed.
[Inside pages of Modern Practical Chinese Medicine published in 1958]
The old man asked her, "What's the character for your name?"
"A treasure who is proficient in both civil and military affairs."
He was proficient in both civil and military affairs, and also had money. But these days, being rich was not something you could talk about.
The old man wrote down her name and said, "Your name is quite rare."
"My dad named me that. He has high hopes for me."
"I see. So you are now a man of both civil and military talents?"
Xie Yun rolled his eyes. "Half a talent, maybe? He studied until the first year of high school, with excellent grades. He was also very good at bomb throwing and bayonet fighting in school. Now he's farming at home. Well, all for the country and the people."
Old man: “…”
He waved his hand and said, "I'll lend you the book. Once the herbs are dried, send them to me. Bring the book back to me when the time comes. Be careful when you read it, and don't let me damage it. There should be plenty of those three herbs you picked on the hill west of Liushutun Brigade. We also have small thistle, sanguisorba officinalis, and mugwort. If you pick them, dry them, and bring them to me, I'll give you some money."
"Understood. Thank you. I'll come back in a few days."
Xie Yun stood up, bowed to him again, turned sideways to block other people's sight, took out a handful of peanuts from his pocket and placed them under the old man's notebook, then picked up his basket, held the book in his hand, turned around and walked out of the supply and marketing cooperative.
Walking to a place where there was no one, she put the book into the space.
After Xie Yun left, the old man dragged the notebook into the drawer as if nothing had happened, holding it with one hand, for fear that the peanuts would fall into the drawer and make a noise.
A small handful of peanuts, only about ten.
But the old man raised the corners of his mouth and looked very happy.
He was willing to lend the book to Xie Yun because, firstly, he saw that the girl was thick-skinned and was afraid that if he didn't lend it to her, she would yell at him. His current status was sensitive, so it was best not to cause trouble. Secondly, he could tell that the girl was someone who cherished books. So, he just lent it to her!
When he was young, he made his way around the city and worked as an apprentice in a clinic. He learned medical skills and saved some money. Later, he returned to his hometown, opened a clinic, got married and had children, and lived a good life.
Later, with the public-private partnership, the clinic closed down. He went to work at the commune health center. Two years ago, when things got chaotic, he was assigned here to collect medicinal herbs. Aside from not getting paid and having to work for free, he wasn't put in a difficult position.
The main reason is that although he can be considered a "capitalist", his "capitalist" status is not too serious, and he has saved a lot of people and has a good reputation.
His son, who wasn't interested in studying medicine and was a teacher at the commune middle school, had also been affected in the past two years. He stopped teaching and had been idle at home. He was criticized several times in the beginning, which had demoralized him.
The family lived a tight life. Although he dressed better than Xie Yun, he was not necessarily better off than Xie Yun.
He was reluctant to eat these peanuts, so he took them home after get off work as snacks for his grandson.
The little girl is quite sensible.
Xie Yun returned home before lunch. Zhang Ruifeng had already returned and picked up half a basket of insect pupae mixed with some small sweet potatoes.
As soon as he saw Xie Yun, he asked, "How is it? Do you want to accept it?"
"I'm collecting herbs. I'm collecting dried herbs. I'll send them to him after I dry them. I'll go out this afternoon to see if I can pick some more. I'll dry some and send them to him. The old man who collects herbs is quite nice. He even lent me a book. He told me to learn a few more herbs so I can collect them and sell them when I see them. He has a lot of things, so I even copied a copy and brought it back."
"Okay, it's at least an income."
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