Chapter 1575 Summer Heat Part 2
Zheng gave the remaining medicine to Fang, but felt it was not enough, so she sent someone to Jishidiang to buy more.
How could Manager Zheng know what watermelon frost was? Even if his brother was the imperial physician, it was impossible for Imperial Physician Zheng to tell him everything about the Imperial Hospital.
Some medicines are not prepared properly and cannot be told to others, even to close relatives.
Someone like Zhou Man who used it directly... Well, she is the owner of the recipe, so she has the right.
But Manager Zheng was completely confused, but he quickly came to his senses and realized that this was the medicine his brother had vaguely mentioned that Zhou Man would use to trade for a place in the Imperial Hospital.
He suppressed his urge to find out more and told the Bai family's servants that this kind of thing had not happened outside yet, so it would be better not to tell anyone about it and to ask Doctor Zhou in person.
Dr. Zhou was having a great time playing in the suburbs, and he and Bai Shan didn't return home until almost evening.
County Magistrate Tang got off the bus halfway and went back to work overtime, not feeling happy at all.
When Manbao entered the house, she happened to meet a servant who had just returned from buying medicine. She said, "Watermelon Frost, come to me. We don't have it in Jishiditang."
However, Manbao not only gave Fourth Sister-in-law some watermelon frost, but also prescribed her a bitter medicine. She said, "You are suffering from internal heat and liver fire, so take the medicine."
Fang didn't like taking medicine very much, but since Manbao had already taken it out, she had no choice but to drink it.
Manbao said: "Drink one bowl tonight and it should be fine. Drink another bowl tomorrow morning and it will be almost gone. It's not very serious."
It was indeed not serious. The next day, Fang no longer felt any sore or itchy throat. Because it was hot, the family did not go anywhere and simply moved to the open pavilion in the garden to play.
There were mats on the ground for the three children to sit and play. There were some tables and chairs on the side facing the water. Bai Dalang was writing furiously with the three of them.
Mr. Zhuang was woken up by them this morning. He couldn't bear to see them being so careless, so he simply gave them homework and asked them to finish it today.
But the study was not much cooler, so they moved to the Changxuan, which was next to the water and had a breeze, so there was not much heat.
Fang, Lu and Zheng sat on the edge of the mat with their needles and thread, sewing while watching the three children playing around at their feet.
Zhou Lixue and his friends brought in tables and chairs from outside and placed them next to their aunt. Then he sat on the chairs and sighed, then rolled up his sleeves and spread out a pen and paper.
Bai Erlang was a little distracted and glanced cautiously at the gentleman who was lying on a recliner reading a book at the other end of the pavilion. He always felt that the gentleman's eyes were closed at the moment and he was not reading.
He quietly kicked Manbao's foot and motioned her to look.
Manbao looked up and whispered, "He fell asleep."
Bai Erlang immediately felt relieved and turned to talk to Zhou Lixue and the others, "What are you doing? Do you have homework too?"
"We finished our homework a long time ago," Zhou Lixue said. "This is a job I took on for a bookstore to copy books. Oh, I'm almost sick of copying this 'A Brief Analysis of the Analects,' and the bookstore owner won't give me another copy."
As he spoke, Zhou Lixue glanced at Bai Shuping next to him with some envy and said, "Shuping is good. His handwriting is better than ours. Now he can copy four books. He can choose any one of them."
Bai Jilang asked, "Are you so short of money?"
"To earn some money from writing," Zhou Lixue said. "Besides, things in the capital are too expensive. A meat pie has risen to eight cents."
Bai Shan looked up when he heard this and asked, "Did you get scammed? Aren't meat patties on the street always six cents?"
Zhou Lixue: "No, that stall is right next to our school. It used to sell for six cents, but last month he said that meat and rice and noodles were expensive, so he raised the price by one cent. The day before we went on holiday, he said that other stalls had raised their prices to eight cents, so they had to raise theirs too, otherwise they wouldn't be able to do business and people would be dissatisfied."
Zhou Ligu immediately said, "Although the price has increased by another cent, the meat patties are bigger than before. We think we haven't lost anything. Everyone still likes to buy them there."
Zhou Lixue: "In comparison, the price of the books we copied hasn't increased in any way. It's been several months now, and the price is still the same as it should be."
Everyone: ...
Bai Shan casually replied, "Don't even think about it. If the price of books goes up again, readers will have no more to live."
He turned to Manbao and said, "It's the summer harvest time now, and the autumn harvest is also approaching. I'm afraid that the grain harvest is a foregone conclusion."
Manbao was a little worried, "I don't know what the situation is like at home."
Bai Dalang was also worried. "Let's write back and ask. Also, we should store some food at home."
Fang, who was not far away, heard this and said, "We haven't bought rice or flour from the grain store in a long time. All we eat and use is the rice provided by my aunt. Now that the price of grain has gone up, there's no need for us to compete with others for this life-saving food, right?"
Manbao nodded and said, "If we buy too much, the price of grain will go up."
Zheng said softly, "Don't worry about food. There will always be enough. Not to mention far away, our family also has a farm in the suburbs of Beijing. Even if the harvest is poor, we can always get some."
Moreover, Longzhou is not far from the capital, so the children don’t need to worry about these things. Even if something is missing, they will not lack food.
When Fang and the others heard this, they were no longer worried. However, Bai Shan and the other three couldn't help but frown slightly, feeling a little worried.
If the timing is not right, the government will be prone to turmoil. It will take a long time for it to maintain stability.
But they looked at each other and found that they were still students and could not do anything for the time being, so they sighed and continued to do their homework.
Manbao also felt that he was powerless. As a result, when he entered the palace to work the next day, he had just sat down and before he could even get comfortable, he was invited by the eunuch to the Zhanshi Mansion in front.
Dean Xiao and Imperial Physician Liu were also there, both of them sitting half-way on chairs, with their hands flat on their knees, sitting upright.
Manbao walked forward curiously and saluted the prince, looking at the three people curiously.
The Crown Prince handed her a memorial and said, "The weather is dry and hot right now, and many people across the country have suffered from heatstroke and fainted. Therefore, the court plans to purchase some herbs to combat the heat. This is the prescription listed by the Imperial Hospital. I was wondering if you have any other good ones?"
Manbao took it and took a look. There were two prescriptions written at the beginning of the letter, and the budget for medicinal materials was below. The medicinal materials that needed to be purchased were calculated by stone, which shows how much was needed.
Manbao said: "These two prescriptions are very good."
The prince glanced at Xiao Yuanzheng and Doctor Liu, then said to Eunuch Wu, "Please ask the two doctors to go to the side hall and rest for a while."
Eunuch Wu bowed in agreement and quickly asked the two of them to go to the side hall to rest first.
After they left, the prince said, "This budget is too high. The Ministry of Revenue will probably not approve it. Do you have any cheaper recipes?"
Manbao was surprised and said, "This prescription is already very cheap. One dose of medicine is only about nine cents. If the Ministry of Revenue and the drug dealers purchase directly, it should be even cheaper, at most six cents per dose."
After all, she is a doctor who has worked in Jishidiang, so she should know the price of the medicine.
See you at 6pm
(End of this chapter)
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