Chapter 75: Not Afraid of Strangers
Manbao also took the opportunity to promote himself, "I can recognize many other medicines."
"Oh, what other medicine do you know?"
Manbao jumped off the chair, ran out, and brought in a dirty yam to show him, "Look!"
The shopkeeper looked at the long piece of yam in amazement, then glanced at Manbao and asked, "Did you dig this?"
"No, my eldest brother and the others dug it out!"
Isn't that what you are proud of?
The shopkeeper asked, "Do you know yam?"
Manbao said, "I recognize him."
Manbao had recently read a book on medicine that had many beautiful illustrations in it. She wrote them all down, then counted them on her fingers to the shopkeeper, "I've seen astragalus, licorice, and I even know ginseng, but I like red dates the best."
The shopkeeper simply started chatting with her and asked, "Why?"
"Because the book says that red dates are sweet and crisp, and I like sweet fruits."
"Do you have a medicine book at home?"
"I don't have any at home, but my classmate's family does," Manbao said, "and my classmate's family has tons and tons of books."
The shopkeeper's attitude became more serious. "Young lady, are you studying? I wonder which teacher you are studying with."
"My teacher's surname is Zhuang, and he's amazing."
The shopkeeper found the girl a little interesting. She seemed to think that everyone around her was great, including herself.
Her husband is great because he knows a lot; her classmates are great because they have read more books than her and have a large collection of books at home; her mother is great, her sister-in-law is great, her brothers are great, and even her nephews and nieces who only dare to look at the door are great in her words because they always do things that she can't do.
The shopkeeper thought that she was amazing for realizing this.
Of course, she also thinks she is very good because she is very smart!
Manbao is a very talkative child. Without the shopkeeper asking, she would take the initiative to tell him everything about her family affairs.
Of course, she was not shy, so she asked a lot of questions during the conversation. The shopkeeper was quite happy chatting with her, and he told her everything about his family situation. If you ask one question, he will answer ten. So if he asks you one question, you should at least answer one, right?
So Manbao found out that the shopkeeper's surname was Zheng, and he was also a doctor. There were only two doctors in Jishiditang in Luojiang County, besides the doctor who was sitting in the hall, Doctor Qin, he was the other one.
Although he also treats patients, he does more work such as dispensing medicine, purchasing medicinal materials, and keeping accounts. In his words, he is in charge of the store, so he is doing management work.
Doctor Zheng and his family are all here. He has been here for three or four years and is familiar with all the herbalists in this area.
Manbao would curiously ask, "What is a herbalist?"
"They make a living by collecting herbs. However, there aren't many families like them in Luojiang County, only two. Therefore, most of the herbs are transferred from other places." Since Doctor Zheng was willing to accept the Zhou family's medicine, he was naturally not afraid to tell them, "For example, the herbs in our area include Arisaema, Radix Trichosanthis, Galla Chinensis, Peucedanum, Akebia, Millettia Reticulata, Uncaria Rhynchophylla, Ophiopogon japonicus, Aster tataricus, and Pueraria lobata. The herbalists are basically familiar with these herbs. Not only do they know them, they also know how to prepare them. The herbs sent to our pharmacy are basically already prepared."
He smiled and said, "A family like yours that only sends one or two herbs at a time can't even be called an herbalist. But since what you send is what we use regularly, we accept them all."
Manbao was amazed. "Then won't they be able to make a lot of money?"
Doctor Zheng shook his head and said, "How much money can a herbalist make? They don't have land, and their food, clothing, and shelter all depend on selling herbs. There are so many snakes and insects in the mountains and forests, how can it be so easy to collect herbs? You guys are better off farming."
"Why don't they have land?" Manbao said, "Every family in our village has land. The village chief said that if you don't have enough land at home, you can go and open up wasteland. We will provide you with enough land."
Doctor Zheng: “…”
He hesitated for a moment and said, "Maybe it's because he doesn't know how to farm?"
"If you don't know, just learn," Manbao said, "We didn't know the medicinal herbs before, but now we know them. We will know more in the future."
Doctor Zheng took the opportunity to ask, "Will your family still sell medicinal herbs in the future?"
"I sell whatever I find," Manbao also took the opportunity to ask him, "Does your pharmacy still accept medicine? Do you accept all kinds of medicine?"
Doctor Zheng said that as long as it is medicine, he will buy it.
Manbao was delighted and asked him, "Do you have a medicine book? Many of the medicines in my classmate's medicine book are not illustrated well. I couldn't recognize them after looking at them for a long time. If you have a better one, please lend it to me. Next time I come across a medicinal herb, I will be able to recognize it."
Doctor Zheng looked at Manbao's little face, and after a moment's silence, he went back to the backyard and found her a book. "Send it back to me after you finish reading it. Don't damage it."
Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang, who had just finished calculating two sums of money in a sweat, turned around and saw their youngest sister taking a book from the shopkeeper.
The two brothers: “…”
Manbao happily took it, and carefully wrapped the schoolbook in oil paper, then gave him the yam they had dug, "Uncle Shopkeeper, take it home and stew it. Yam and chicken can be stewed together to replenish qi and nourish the spleen, which is especially good."
Doctor Zheng's eyebrows twitched, and he asked with a smile, "You even know this?"
Manbao said proudly: "Of course, yam can also be made into yam cake."
Of course, these were all told to her by Koko just now, because she had to give something in return since she had taken someone else's book.
Koko said yam is good.
Doctor Zheng didn't want her yams for nothing. He still wanted to buy them by the pound. He also said, "Next time you dig up yams, don't bring them raw. Cut them into slices, dry them, and bring them to the medicine shop. I will still charge you 20 wen per pound. You can also sell them raw at the market. Some wealthy families will buy them to make medicinal dishes."
Manbao didn't want his money and insisted on treating him to a meal.
Doctor Zheng thought about it and decided not to refuse. However, he did not take all of them. He only kept two and said, "You can take the rest back."
Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang took a look at the book in Yaomei's hand and bowed repeatedly to Doctor Zheng in farewell.
Doctor Zheng smiled and waved his hand, "Don't damage my book, and remember to return it to me."
Manbao patted his chest and agreed, then climbed onto the cart with his books in his arms, saying to his elder and second brothers, "We have to go buy some chickens."
Knowing that his youngest sister wanted to eat chicken again, Zhou Dalang thought of his mother and couldn't help but say, "Manbao, our family has already eaten four chickens. Mother said that if we buy more chickens, she will kick your second brother and me out. It's not a waste of money."
"Okay, then we won't buy chicken, we'll buy lamb!"
Zhou Dalang continued to persuade, and Manbao stretched out his hand to him, "Brother, give me the money we earned, and we can take it ourselves."
Zhou Dalang immediately shut up and stopped talking.
Zhou Erlang coaxed her, "Manbao, it's not safe for you to carry so much money. It's better for your elder and second brothers to help you carry it."
"Then give me fifty cents to buy some meat, or I'll cry."
Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang were very conflicted. Manbao seldom cried, but they were very afraid of her crying because the child would easily become breathless when she cried, and would even vomit if she cried too much. She might be fine in the end, but they would probably be scared to death, so after hesitating for a while, they took out fifty coins and gave them to her.
(End of this chapter)
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