Chapter 76

Xu Yi did not tell He Qiulin what he was thinking.

At the moment, He Qiulin is just a microcosm of the thousands of lower-class people who work for rich families.

But He Qiulin was a real person who appeared beside him, talked and laughed with him, and had a neighborly relationship that supported each other.

He and He Qiulin also had a relationship with Mrs. He, who was the first good person he met when he came here. Xu Yi always thought that such a person should not have such a hard life. If he could easily solve the He family's troubles, it would be a happy thing for Xu Yi.

"Tomorrow, I will help you explore the road first, and then go to Bao's house after you can walk without the help of a stick."

Xu Yi said to He Qiulin, who was looking forward to death.

He Qiulin's face turned red: "I, I will get well as soon as possible."

Xu Yi understood his eagerness to break free from the shackles of the Bao family and did not tease him: "Your injury was delayed for two days without medicine. Otherwise, he could get better faster. "

Fortunately, there is muscle-strengthening ointment and it is hard to say if He Qiulin can only walk around in two or three days.

He Qiulin immediately said: "Brother Yi, I can do it without a stick. Look at me...I can walk..."

He wanted to get up and show Xu Yi, but Xu Yi held him down with his palm and he couldn't move. .

He Qiulin looked at the hand holding his arm in shock. It was obviously the same as his own, but it seemed to be infinitely powerful.

Xu Yi frowned slightly: "Don't show off."

He Qiulin straightened the corners of his mouth: "..." He nodded obediently.

Finally, Xu Yi sent him back to He's house and told him to apply the ointment several times a day.

He came back to the room and sat in front of the case to write a message to Tao Qinghao.

*

Speaking of the Bao family, the fourth wife of the Bao family was in a state of uneasiness when she was seeing someone off that day, and could not sleep at night.

Silang Bao, who was sleeping with her, was woken up by her. He got up and lit a lamp. He looked at her in confusion and asked, "What happened? It made you unable to sleep."

Mrs. Tao turned over and sat up and asked, "I don't know, Mr. Lang." "

What should I know? I have to take care of the shop downstairs every day. Seeing that I am only the husband of the fourth house, they always try to get rid of me. I am busy during the day and have to worry about the house. There are not many husbands who are as miserable as me."

Bao Jia Shilang was also angry and sat on his chair glumly.

Mrs. Tao came over, put her jade hand on his shoulder, squeezed it gently and said softly: "Mr. Sir, I misunderstood me. I certainly don't want to bother you about things in the yard. It was the little brother from the second room who came to visit me a few days ago." I'm begging for help, and I've caused a lot of trouble."

Baojiashiro snorted, "The second brother wants to ask for someone, so if he's short of people, he'll go buy some from the dental shop."

After scolding him, he asked what the trouble was. thing.

When Mrs. Tao heard what he said, she knew that Shiro Bao was on her side.

In the past few years since she married into the Bao family, she has suffered a lot of grievances. Bao Silang is not a considerate person, so she is in charge of getting along with and managing each room on weekdays.

Regardless of the Bao family's superficial glory, behind the scenes, only the eldest and second bedrooms are in the limelight, while the third and fourth bedrooms are born to the younger wife. Their names are recorded in the lap of the eldest wife, but in the final analysis they are concubines. His status in the Bao family is not high, and he even has to look at the faces of the other two families.

Although Mrs. Tao is also a concubine, the Tao family's importance in the county cannot be compared to the Bao family.

What she was afraid of was that Doctor Xu would talk nonsense in front of Tao Qinghao.

Mrs. Tao picked out some words she could say to Bao Silang. She avoided the important and ignored the trivial, saying that it was the second roommate who beat, cursed and caused trouble, otherwise it would not attract outsiders to make irresponsible remarks.

Bao Silang said angrily: "What's the motive of this second brother? Maybe he thinks that I'm afraid of going to the eldest wife's room to argue."

He was thinking that now the Bao family has no one with real power to support their appearance, but because he married a sister from the Tao family, , the entire Bao family climbed high. At this moment, it was time to let the other rooms know that his fourth room was not so easy to bully. "No, the eldest lady must know about this."

Mrs. Tao smiled with satisfaction.

This matter has to cause a big fuss in the Bao family, and she cannot be left to clean up the mess alone.

The next day, the news reached the eldest lady's house.

The eldest wife was so angry that she immediately called the second wife into the room to lecture her, and made the young man kneel in the room to think about his mistakes.

The second bedroom has never experienced such grievances. He wants to speak ill of the fourth bedroom in the eldest wife's house, but he is also afraid that the eldest wife will come forward and embarrass the second bedroom even more.

Everyone in the family had their own thoughts, and they had all forgotten Mrs. Tao's original intention of bringing the matter to the eldest wife's house.

At this time, the post that Xu Yi handed to the Tao family had already reached Tao Qinghao's hands.

Tao Qinghao got the post and was surprised to see that it was written by Xu Yi. After opening it and looking at the content, his expression changed slightly. He called the boy next to him and asked about the concubine who married into the Bao family.

I learned that this concubine would come over to give gifts every year and festival, and would often come to the house to talk to his mother. His mother's offspring were not very popular, so she had to have a son and a sweet-tongued niece to please her and relieve her boredom. She also got a lot of good things in the big house of the Tao family.

I didn't expect that he would be so arrogant in private, and would be so underhanded and mean to a rented servant.

Tao Qinghao said to the boy who was with him: "Go and run for me, send five guan of money to He's house, give it to that boy He, and tell him that I will take care of this matter, and let him not worry."

Then he explained . Boy, tell him to tell Xu Yi that he doesn't need to go to Bao's house to ask for the rental book in person, he will send someone to deliver it.

If his sister-in-law still wanted to rely on the Tao family, there would be nothing to talk about without giving her any face.

Tao Qinghao made all the arrangements and went to his mother's house to say hello.

Such a trivial matter wasn't worth mentioning to taint his mother's ears. Tao Qinghao didn't reveal anything.

...

The boy moved quickly, and Xu Yi was a little confused when he came to Xu's house with the money.

"Is this what your husband told you?" he couldn't help but ask the boy who came over.

The boy nodded and said with a smile: "Lang Jun said that this is related to the Tao family's face after all. The concubine in the family is rude and it is wrong to beat and scold the servants at will. It's okay if the others don't have anyone to support them. This autumn I am your neighbor, Dr. Xu, and I cannot be wronged like this no matter what."

After saying this, he offered five guan of money to compensate He Qiulin.

Xu Yi looked at the bunch of money and accepted it for He Qiulin first.

Ask the boy again if Tao Qinghao has anything else to say.

The young man did not hide anything, and told all the regulations of his husband's family. He also said that Tao Qinghao would go to see the wife of the fourth room of the Bao family now, and the result should be obtained soon.

Xu Yi: "..."

Xu Yi wrote to Tao Qinghao just to ask if the fourth wife of the Bao family had a good relationship with him.

If it's not good, he will act directly. If it's good, he will restrain himself for Tao Qinghao's sake.

It was unexpected for Tao Qinghao to take action in person.

After the boy finished explaining, he bowed out of Xu's house and went back to Tao's house for business.

Xu Yi went to He's house without delay and took five pieces of money.

Mrs. He looked at the extra money and was shocked: "Where did this come from?"

"It was sent by the Tao family." Xu Yi was afraid that they would not know the relationship, so she told them about the Tao family and the Bao family. Regarding the relationship between Madam Fang, "This money is considered as compensation from the Tao family to Brother Qiu, so I will accept it for you."

He Qiulin looked at the money, happy and nervous: "Can you accept it?"

"Yes." Xu Yi was determined. nod.

While they were chatting, there was a knock on the door outside.

Xu Yi accompanied Mrs. He out and found out that it was the second housekeeper of the fourth room of the Bao family.

This time, the second housekeeper called out to people with a playful smile: "Doctor Xu, Mrs. He."

Mrs. He frowned and asked, "Why are you here?"

The second housekeeper quickly took out the rental book from his arms and reconciled the lease. Hand over the paperwork and take out another five taels of silver.

"I'm here to deliver the rental book. Mr. Qiu wants to cancel the rental. How can the lady disagree? No, let me bring the things over." The second housekeeper felt bitter, but he still wanted to smile at Madam He. He said, "Young boy Qiu was beaten in the Bao family. It's the fault of the Bao family. It turns out that my wife didn't stand up for you, and she feels regretful in her heart. Send me five taels of silver so that young boy Qiu can take care of himself." "

Ms. He stared at the five taels of silver and forgot to speak. In one day, they made two fortunes.

Seeing that Mrs. He didn't respond, the second housekeeper looked at Xu Yi for help: "Doctor Xu, please let Mrs. He take it."

At this time, He Qiulin walked out of the room holding a stick.

He calmly called "Mom" and said to Madam He, "Mom, please accept the money and let him go back."

Madam He accepted the money in a daze, and the second housekeeper hurriedly apologized and left with a smile, not daring to leave . Stay here longer.

...

In the He family house.

He Qiulin divided the five taels of silver in his hand into two parts and sent one part to Xu Yidao.

He said: "Brother Yi, this thing can be accomplished by you. Without your help, I don't know what to do. The money I got today was all for nothing, and I should give you a share."

Xu Yi: "..."

These words sound familiar.

It seems that he said something similar to Madam He a few days ago?

Now He Qiulin said this to Xu Yi, and Xu Yi didn't know how to refute it for a while.

Xu Yi waved his hand: "It's not in vain, you were injured so badly after all."

He Qiulin said happily: "With brother Yi's ointment, I'm almost ready."

After that, he said to Xu Yi Medicine money.

Seeing that he wanted to take out another five yuan from the remaining two taels, Xu Yi hurriedly stopped him.

"If I wanted to help you with the intention of getting money, I wouldn't have done anything. Just take the money as you should. It's just ten dollars in total. You have to do business later, so you have to keep it as capital. "

Xu Yi's persuasion was very useful, and He Qiulin gave up the idea of ​​continuing to give money.

He followed Xu Yi back to Xu's house and stood in the yard thinking for a long time. When Xu Yi's confused eyes fell on him, He Qiulin mustered up the courage to speak out his plans.

Xu Yi was very confused: "You want to follow A Xu and the others to concoct Xiaoshi Pills?"

He Qiulin said honestly: "No, I just want Brother Yi to know that your Xiaoshi Pills are now known to the whole county, and only A Xu and Ajin are making them." , is it too little? If you can let me make Xiaoshi pills and sell them in the market, I can make more money."

Xu Yi: "..." Yes, there are also sales agents. One way.

He was short of manpower now. He had originally heard Mrs. He mention it before, and had planned to ask He Qiulin to come to the house to help. But later He Qiulin said he wanted to do business, and Xu Yi gave up the idea.

Thinking that He Qiulin had this idea, Xu Yi pulled it out again.

"Do you really think so?" Xu Yi asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

He Qiulin nodded: "Brother Yi, do you think it is feasible? I can concoct it and sell it in the market. Brother Yi can count as my wages. If you sell Xiaoshi Pills to me, I will find a way to sell them to others." Go to Ducheng, the county seat."

Xu Yi thought about it for a while and felt that this idea was feasible.

He directly asked He Qiulin to choose, and He Qiulin chose the latter. He wanted to do business in the market.

The former is stable, just make Xiaoshi pills and help Xu Yi sell them. The latter required him to first pay for the pills and then think of a way to sell them. He Qiulin knew how difficult it was, but he didn't want to continue to be timid.

Xu Yi nodded: "Well, when you are fully recovered, come and find me."

...

One day later.

The caravan going to Zitong County is back.

As soon as the mule and donkey carts that Uncle Tang, Zhang Tiegou and others were riding arrived at the city gate, they immediately sent someone to notify Xu Yi of his arrival.

Xu Yi got the news and set off quickly from South Street. When he arrived at the gate of the county town, Uncle Tang and others were already unloading the goods.

They didn't take much rest on the way, their faces looked tired and excited, and they hadn't changed their clothes for several days. Fortunately, it was winter, and it was not easy to sweat in the cold weather. However, I saw that my clothes were a lot dirty, my hair was tangled in strands, mixed with the messy aroma of incense and strange odors, which made other people around me cover their noses and look sideways.

Uncle Tang and the others don't care what these people think of them.

They gained a lot from this trip. They dug out the goods they were entrusted to bring back and resold the remaining goods, making a lot of money.

But Xu Yi didn't see Zhang Tiegou in the crowd. After asking, I found out that Uncle Tang had arranged to run errands and call someone.

"Uncle Tang, you have worked hard all the way." Xu Yi said.

Uncle Tang wanted to raise his hand to pat him on the shoulder, but when he saw that his palm was dark, he put it down: "Come on, come on, let's see what I brought back for you."

He called Xu Yi to follow him, and continued: "You said you wanted rare medicinal materials in Yanting County, and I fell in love with this mountain eggplant at a glance. I heard the schoolboy selling medicinal materials said that this mountain eggplant can be used to make Mafei powder, so I brought it back to you."

Xu Yi's eyes showed . Surprised, he said to Uncle Tang: "Thank you, uncle, I am short of these medicinal materials."

Mountain eggplant, also known as Datura flower, Zuixin flower, etc., is said to be one of the main raw materials of Huatuo Ma Fei Powder. There is a record about Hua Tuo in the "Book of the Later Han·Hua Tuo Biography", saying that Hua Tuo once used Mafei powder to anesthetize the patient until he was unconscious before performing the operation. However, there is no very strong evidence for research on these, so many scientists feel that these are not the original prescriptions used by Hua Tuo. [Note 1]

However, in the Song Dynasty, there were anesthetics, but the medicinal materials used did have their origins as recorded in books.

One of them is "Sleeping Holy Powder", which is made from mandrake flowers and hemp flowers [Note 2].

Mandrake flower is another name for Datura.

Of course, in later generations, many people also tried to make the legendary "Ma Fei Powder", and later a practical prescription was made, which used datura, raw grass bird, angelica, and Chuanxiong. and Araceae.

In this prescription, datura, grassbirds and aroids are all poisonous, so the dosage should be used more carefully.

Xu Yi felt that compared to the unstable Ma Fei Powder, "Sleeping Saint Powder" was easier to concoct.

So, he asked Uncle Tang if he could buy hemp flowers.

Uncle Tang bought too many medicinal materials. He frowned, thought about it, shook his head and said, "I can't remember that many. I'll call someone later."

He called to the people unloading the goods, and there was a tall man. people came out of it.

It was the fierce and strong man from last time.

When the strong man saw Xu Yi, he was stunned and walked over quickly: "Master Tang."

"Bring the account book to Xu Xiaolang." After Uncle Tang said to the strong man, his eyes returned to Xu Yi and asked him explain.

"When we came back, we met a group of robbers. I was afraid of losing the account book, so I gave it to Ah Fu for safekeeping."

Ah Fu is the name of the strong man. His surname is Zhou, and his first name is Fu, which was given to him by his grandfather. name.

Uncle Tang looked at Xu Yi meaningfully and said, "Last time he wanted you to treat a person, it should be his grandfather."

Xu Yi focused on the "robbers" and marveled that they actually encountered a robber. , but seeing as they were intact, it should be fine.

Just as he was about to ask what was going on, Ah Fu came back with the account book.

"Here you go," he said hoarsely.

Xu Yi took the account book. The account book was a little rough and the paper was not very good. It contained all the goods purchased from Zitong County this time.

He flipped directly to the section on purchasing medicinal materials, looked through them one by one, and saw hemp flowers.

Uncle Tang came back after buying ten kilograms of hemp flowers. He planned to take some of them to the medical center and ask Xu Yi if he wanted them.

Xu Yi did not hesitate: "I want five pounds."

"So much?" Uncle Tang looked at him in surprise, "Can you use it all?"

After all, Xu Yi did not open a medical clinic. He only treated patients. Sometimes The patient is required to go to other medical clinics to get medicine.

Xu Yi simply said: "It's useful."

After hearing this answer, Uncle Tang stopped asking any more questions.

He asked Ah Fu to find the hemp flower, and then continued to talk to Xu Yi about other rare medicinal materials.

Because they were rare, Uncle Tang did not dare to buy too much, but the total price was not cheap. The five taels of face value Xu Yi gave was not enough, so he paid some in advance.

This...does not include the hard work of entrusting him to bring the goods back.

Xu Yi knew it well. After thanking Uncle Tang again, he asked if he was free tomorrow. He wanted to invite Uncle Tang to a restaurant for a drink.

"You have time, I just want to take a rest." Uncle Tang sighed. He didn't have the conditions to drink to warm up when he was out. How could he forget this when he came back?

While the two were talking, Zhang Tiegou came out of the city, and three servants in different clothes followed him back.

These three people were the servants entrusted by the customer to purchase goods on this trip, and they came here to inspect the goods.

Once they arrived, they got into the cargo being unloaded from the car.

Zhang Tiegou looked around, and when he saw Xu Yi, he shouted happily: "Hahahaha~ Brother Xu, I brought you a lot of crispy snacks."

Xu Yi smiled and said to him: "I'm waiting for you to come back, those crispy snacks Can you afford to buy so much?"

"Yes, it's so cold today." Zhang Tiegou rubbed his hands.

On his trip to Zitong County, thanks to the pig pancreas juice Xu Yi made for him, he inevitably had no charcoal basin to keep him warm while resting on the way. No fewer than five or six people in their team were so cold that they were chapped.

The cracks were cured by applying Xu Yi's pig pancreas juice on them.

He ran to the carriage and came back with a heavy package. When he opened it, he saw that it was filled with the thin crisps he mentioned.

Xu Yi exclaimed: "..." This is not a description of many, but actually a lot.

Zhang Tiegou really bought him a lot of crackers.

"This is enough for you and A Xu A Jin to eat for ten days, brother Xu." Zhang Tiegou said proudly.

Xu Yi didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and asked him with a smile: "When you brought so much back, you never thought that I wouldn't like to eat it?"

Zhang Tiegou was shocked: "How could it be! This thin crispy sub is only found in Zitong County, and you can't eat it normally. I The merchants passing by were all buying baskets, and I only bought half a basket."

After talking about it, he still felt that he had bought less.

Xu Yi: "..." He smiled inwardly and didn't say anything else.

He unwrapped the butter paper, and a fragrant smell like oil and osmanthus hit his face.

This aroma has a hint of sweetness. If you smell it carefully, you can smell the aroma of lard, egg, sesame and dough.

Xu Yi took out a piece, which was half the size of a palm, but the thickness of each layer of the cake was so thin that when it was opened with fingers, it made a crisp sound.

When you bite it again, you can see the crispy residue that falls off.

If there is anything special about this cake in the mouth, it is that it is so crunchy that you don’t need to chew it much, it just seems to melt in your mouth.

But after tasting it carefully, I felt that the cake was sweet but not greasy, and the taste was fragrant but not strong. After one swallow, I wanted to take another bite.

Seeing Xu Yi finishing the crispy snacks in one mouthful, Zhang Tiegou smiled with all his teeth exposed.

"I know that Brother Xu, you love food." Zhang Tiegou proudly put his hands on his hips and laughed wildly.

Xu Yi rarely laughed until his face turned red.

Not long after they were idle here, Zhang Tiegou was called away by Uncle Tang.

Xu Yi stayed to watch them work, thought for a while, rolled up his sleeves and joined in.

Xu Yi is not easy to touch other people's goods.

The goods he asked Uncle Tang to bring back did not need to be handled by others. After a while, he moved the medicinal materials to one of the mule carts.

The goods brought back were counted, and the people sent by the customers to check the goods pulled the ox cart to load the goods.

Uncle Tang didn't care to receive Xu Yi, so he asked Ah Fu to take him home first.

Zhang Tiegou had no time to spare. He had to guard the medicinal materials with two other guards so that idle men could not steal them while he was busy.

So Ah Fu jumped on the mule cart and shouted to Xu Yi: "Doctor Xu, get in the car."

He was withdrawn and didn't talk much. He didn't take the initiative to talk to Xu Yi along the way.

When they arrived at Shijing Lane, South Street, Xu Yi got out of the car. Ah Xu and A Jin heard the noise in the house. Seeing that Xu Yi was back, they ran over to carry the medicinal materials together.

Xu Yi looked like it had nothing to do with him and looked at Ah Fu in front of him in a daze, thinking that he would not speak again, when Ah Fu spoke.

Ah Fu turned to stare at Xu Yi, the scars on his face looked very fierce: "Doctor Xu."

Xu Yi looked back at him: "What's the matter?"

Ah Fu said in a low and hoarse voice: "I want you to go to someone. See a doctor."

The words were familiar. Xu Yi stopped and looked at him: "Who is it?"

Ah Fu said,

"He is blind in one eye, and he is almost blind in the other eye. Can you? Can you cure him?"

When Xu Yi heard this, he asked out of professional instinct: "Why is he blind?"

Ah Fu was a little confused by his question.

After a few breaths, Ah Fu said slowly: "It may have been many years ago, but one night I couldn't see the light when I lit the lamp."

Xu Yi pondered.

After a long time, Ah Fu saw that he didn't speak, so he reluctantly opened his mouth: "Really, it can't be cured."