Chapter 96: Traveling to the Ancient Times to Open a Clinic 10: Lack of Medicine
Uncle Yang waved his hand. "Don't bother you. You still have other patients to see. If you have medicine, I'll buy it directly from you and I'll pay for it."
Before Shen Qian could say anything, Uncle Yang said, "Mrs. Fang from Qingtian Village is actually my cousin's aunt. Our whole family knows that you treated her shoulder. You are an excellent doctor. Today's incident was caused by the people at Qingyu Pharmacy. You just need to give me the medicine."
After hearing what the other party said, Shen Qian stopped forcing him and prepared the "Ma Gui Tang" he prescribed, which included ephedra, cinnamon twig, white peony root, licorice and other herbs in a certain proportion for him, for a total of three prescriptions.
"These five hundred coins."
Uncle Yang was a little surprised. He originally thought that since medicinal materials were in short supply in Anrong City, the prices of medicinal materials in Jimin Hall would also rise. Unexpectedly, she actually charged a normal price.
He gave the money readily and left.
In fact, most of the seeds and seedlings that Gu Jingxing had brought to her before were common medicinal herbs such as licorice, angelica, astragalus, and white peony. She has planted some of them in the courtyard now. Now is the time when winter and spring come and go, and colds are more common. Recently, she takes her maid to the mountains to dig for medicinal herbs every week. With the systematic navigation of medicinal materials distribution, it is easy for her to dig the medicinal materials she needs.
Most of the medicinal materials that An Rong lacked before were those that promoted blood circulation and removed blood stasis. Medications for wind and cold were not in short supply and their prices were stable, but in order to avoid any accidents, Shen Qian also stocked up some from the Shunyi pharmacy.
I didn't expect to use it this time.
However, Shen Qian did not expect that Qingyu Pharmacy would be so ruthless as to refuse to dispense medicine from Jimintang's prescription.
Chen Qian immediately sent Meixiang to Shunyi Pharmacy to inquire about the situation of cold medicines, but Meixiang soon came back with a worried look on her face.
"Miss, Shopkeeper Feng said that many people in several counties have caught colds recently, and medicines for treating colds are starting to run out."
As expected, it seems that the last batch of medicinal materials I asked Manager Feng to stock up was a good idea.
"But why are all the cold-relief herbs out of stock at Shunyi Pharmacy, but still available at Qingyu Pharmacy?" Ling Yuan was somewhat indignant.
Shen Qian still knew too little about this world, but based on her experience, it was not difficult to guess.
"They can open such a big pharmacy in Anrong, so they must have their own channels and connections."
After Ling Yuan disappeared for a while, he came back with a message:
"Miss, I have already found out. Maybe there were no patients coming to Jimintang before, so the interests of other families have not been affected. Now Jinrentang has joined forces with Qingyu Pharmacy to boycott Jimintang's prescriptions."
"Jin Ren Tang usually only receives distinguished guests who submit their name cards. Most of the patients we receive are villagers from nearby villages. Their interests have not been affected at all. Why do they insist on boycotting Jimin Tang?" Shen Qian was puzzled.
"From what I've heard, the owners of Dejitang and Huichuntang have contacted Jinrentang and asked them to contact Qingyu Pharmacy."
Shen Qian understood now. She had learned about these clinics before. Dejitang was good at bone setting, while Huichuntang was good at epidemic diseases.
After a little inquiry, they found out that she was good at needle therapy and could make her own plasters. If she became famous, it would definitely affect the business of these two families.
Jin Rendang probably couldn't stand the idea of a woman like her opening a clinic, so he stepped in and blocked her path.
In their opinion, as long as Qingyu Pharmacy does not dispense medicines based on Jimintang's prescriptions, it will be difficult for her to continue running this clinic.
It's a pity that they forgot. If she didn't have any support, how could she dare to open a clinic in Anrong City where she was unfamiliar with the place?
She knew from the last time she went to Qingyu Pharmacy that she would never be able to cooperate with this pharmacy, so she went to Shunyi Pharmacy to stock up on medicines in advance, but she didn't expect them to be so ruthless.
Seeing that Chen Qian was silent, Ling Yuan spoke again: "It is said that the backers behind Qingyu Pharmacy and Jin Ren Tang are the Zhou family."
"Zhou family?" Shen Qian suddenly remembered something: "The current queen and queen mother also have the surname Zhou, right?"
"Yes, the power of the relatives outside the family is huge. They control the government and the circulation of many materials. For example, medicinal materials have always been managed by the Zhou family. Anrong is a small place, and the Zhou family's influence is limited, but they still have connections in a roundabout way."
Chen Qian suddenly understood: "That makes sense. That's why Jin Ren Tang has his eyes on the sky and only treats officials and their families, and Qing Yu Pharmacy also treats patients according to the conditions. It turns out that he has a backer behind him."
To be honest, she has some old grudges with the Zhou family.
Princess Shaoyang was the most precious jewel in the crown of Empress Zhou and Emperor Yongtai, and was said to be deeply loved by Empress Dowager Zhou.
When Gu Jingxing was so anxious to send her out of the capital, Shen Qian originally thought that he must have blocked the marriage between Gu Jingting and Princess Shaoyang just because he was afraid that she would cause trouble.
But now thinking about it, Gu Jingxing had taken care of her many times, and even took care of her when she went to find her mother in the capital. He sent her away for her safety.
If she stayed in the capital, Princess Shaoyang would probably take action sooner or later.
I really didn't expect that even if I hid in a small border town like Anrong, I still couldn't escape the power of the Zhou family.
An idea suddenly flashed through Shen Qian's mind. Which side did Gu Jingxing stand on? As a general, did he also side with the Zhou family?
Of course, it is useless to think too much about this issue. After all, the Gu family is married into the royal family. Queen Zhou has three legitimate princes, and the second prince is currently the most popular. If Gu Jingxing had a little bit of common sense, he would not go against the future prince and the forces behind them.
After thinking this through, Shen Qian understood even more clearly that she had to find a way to face the future difficulties on her own and could not rely too much on Gu Jingxing. For a period of time afterwards, because many medicines in Shunyi Pharmacy were out of stock, and Qingyu Pharmacy and other medical clinics were boycotting Jimintang's prescriptions, Shen Qian simply stopped prescribing medicine after patients came to her. She directly collected the consultation fee and the medicine fee together, using Jimintang's own medicinal materials and supplementing the golden needle treatment. The effect was better than directly prescribing medicine and letting patients pick up and decoct the medicine.
If there were any herbs that were short in the store, she would regularly exchange them in the system's gold coin mall and mix them with the existing herbs so as not to arouse the suspicion of the maids.
As Shen Qian's assistant, Cui Liu would go up the mountain with Ling Yuan every few days to collect herbs.
But even so, Jimin Hall soon faced a considerable challenge.
The business of Jimin Medical Clinic is indeed better than before, but they are all sporadic patients. From one day on, residents of Anrong City also gradually came to Jimin Hall, and most of them were patients suffering from colds.
Nowadays, medicinal materials are in short supply, and colds are becoming prevalent again. Shen Qian feels that this cannot continue.
She went to ask Feng, the manager of the Shunyi pharmacy, but heard him tell another story. Because of the heavy snow in Liangzhou, there was a famine and the number of refugees increased. They were wandering around. The court allocated grain for disaster relief. At the same time, it also noticed that several nearby states were suffering from an epidemic of colds and a shortage of medicines. So the superiors ordered people to deliver the medicines to solve the urgent problem.
Anrong is also among the disaster relief recipients. All we need to do is wait patiently for supplies such as medicines for colds and flu, and the shortage of medicines will definitely be alleviated.
However, a strange thing happened. It was said that the relief grain and medicinal materials were transported to Liangzhou by land and water. The land batch encountered robbers on the way, and the officers and soldiers transporting the grain suffered heavy casualties. The grain was also robbed. The water batch was even more bizarre. A large ship lost control in the river and directly overturned three official ships transporting grain and medicinal materials.
Shopkeeper Feng sighed, "The cold medicine was about to be delivered, but who could have thought that something like this would happen on the way? This is a fatal mistake. Not only Anrong, but also the people in the nearby counties and prefectures will suffer."
Shen Qian felt something was wrong when he heard the news.
Nowadays, the medicines for treating colds are out of stock all over the city. Although Qingyu Pharmacy still has them, the price has risen to a sky-high price of one or two taels of silver per prescription.
Most people in the city cannot afford the money and can only endure it. Some people really can't bear it anymore, so they heard that they could get medicine by seeing a doctor at Jimin Hall, so they came here to try.
Chen Qian could have used some of the herbs she grew and dug herself, and some from the gold coin mall, but this time the cold epidemic came with great force. Although she reminded herself to use them sparingly every day, she couldn't just stand by and watch people die, so the number of people being treated in the system was rising sharply, but the gold coins in the gold coin mall were decreasing.
"Ling Yuan, can you still contact your master and ask him to get some medicine for the cold?" Chen Qian finally couldn't bear it anymore and spoke to Ling Yuan.
Ling Yuan replied, "Miss, we have already reported the news about Anrong City. The Lord hasn't responded yet, but I believe he will arrange for someone to send medicine soon."
Wu Hen had reported the situation here before. Originally, the medicinal materials would have been delivered along with the disaster relief supplies, but it was probably because the supplies encountered an accident on the way last time, so they were blocked.
However, the lord will definitely arrange for someone to deliver it. We just need to wait a little longer. As long as we get through this most difficult time, the medicinal materials will definitely be delivered.
Chen Qian felt that this situation could not be solved by a few pharmacies and clinics, and the county government must be notified as soon as possible.
She wrote the petition herself and asked Ling Yuan to ask the county yamen runners to pass it on.
But for several days, Shen Qian waited at the gate of the county government office every day, but never received a response.
Shen Qian personally went over to the yamen runner and said, "My dear brother, my petition is very important. It concerns the cold epidemic in the entire city of Anrong. The lives of the people are hanging by a thread. I urgently need the government to allocate medicinal materials. Could you help pass it on?"
The yamen runner said impatiently, "Go away, go away! You've come here several times, aren't you annoying me? Our county magistrate is busy and has no time to see you!"
"Then has the complaint been delivered for me?"
"Send it, send it. The county magistrate is busy with all sorts of things every day, how can he care about such a small matter?"
Chen Qian was speechless. This kind of miscommunication was nothing but a waste of time. She also understood that it was useless to go to the county government office. She might as well go back to Jimin Hall to see more patients.
So in the following period of time, Chen Qian encouraged himself to hold on while trying his best to treat more patients with colds. Every day when he opened his eyes, he would see patients, give acupuncture, and boil medicine with the maids and servants in the mansion.
Due to the scarcity of medicinal materials, she did not boil medicine directly for the patients. Instead, she boiled the medicinal materials herself behind the clinic and then distributed them to the patients.
During the initial diagnosis, patients who are in the onset stage can receive the first batch of decocted medicine first, while patients in the recovery stage can only receive the second or more batches of decocted medicine.
Of course, all patients were informed of this operation method in advance and accepted the treatment without objection.
Using this method, Chen Qian struggled to hold on for another ten days. Until today, the gold coins in the gold coin mall have been completely used up, there is no cold medicine to be found in the nearby mountains, there is still no news from Gu Jingxing, and the Shunyi pharmacy has been out of stock for a long time.
Jimintang has now reached an embarrassing situation where it has reached the end of its rope.
At this time, a woman was holding her child at the door of the clinic and begging for help: "Doctor Shen, can you save my child?"
There were many people coming to see the doctor today. Jimin Hall was not big to begin with. At this moment, Chen Qian was giving acupuncture to an old man in the inner room. When the old man came, Jimin Hall was short of several medicines for treating colds. Chen Qian explained the situation before giving him acupuncture.
However, the uncle also heard that the prices of medicines at Qingyu Pharmacy were ridiculously high. Since there was no treatment available elsewhere, he might as well let this female doctor give it a try. Maybe after acupuncture, he would feel a little better without taking medicine. As long as he could get through the most difficult days, he might be able to survive.
There are many patients these two days, so the four maids have come to the clinic to help.
At this time, Cui Liu and Mei Xiang were also outside explaining to the patients about the current shortage of medicine in the clinic.
Others may understand, after all, there is no medicine elsewhere.
But the woman held the child and cried sadly, and kept asking Doctor Shen to help her think of a way to save the child.
Cui Liu noticed that the woman seemed to be a little abnormal, so she quickly stepped forward and took the child from her arms, then shouted loudly for Su Yun to help support the woman.
I don't know whether she was sick or excited, but she fell to the ground and fainted.
Seeing this, Ling Yuan hurried forward and helped Su Yun to help the fainted woman into the inner room, and also brought her daughter in.
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