life
The person who came to pick them up was the coachman who had not shown his face before.
Although Father Jiang has not returned home, he is still thinking about the annual pharmacy competition.
This competition was organized by Xu's Pharmacy. Pingzhou suffered less drought than other states because there were more pharmacies in Pingzhou.
In addition to Liangdu Pharmacy and Xu's Pharmacy, there are other pharmacies, but because they do not sell as many things as these two and they were only set up here in recent years, they are not very popular. Usually, the customers who come here are those who live nearby and do not want to walk far to Liangdu Pharmacy or Xu's Pharmacy to buy things.
Before leaving in the morning, Jiang's mother was already waiting for her at the door.
Jiang Nian was surprised that Jiang's mother would leave the courtyard, and stood at the gate waiting for her to come out. Then she thought that it must be Jiang's father who sent her a letter asking her to prepare Jiang Nian's travel supplies.
After all, this year is different from previous years.
The insect repellent formula developed by Jiang Nian has already gained considerable influence in Pingzhou and its surrounding areas, unlike previous years when it was lackluster. Jiang's father is eager to see how the insect repellent formula performs during the five days of the competition.
Therefore, in the morning, Jiang's mother waited at the door and repeated the process that Jiang's father had to go through when participating in the competition in previous years, and answered the questions that Jiang Nian had asked Guizhi to ask.
"You told me earlier whether there was any agarwood placed in the carriage?"
It was still early in the morning. Seeing that Jiang's mother was interested in communicating with her, Jiang Nian paused and said, "Yes."
"I did put some in the train earlier... because I get motion sickness, so I put some incense to help with the smell."
"The agarwood is packed in a wooden box. What problem did you encounter?"
Jiang's mother spoke slowly and rarely stood outside the courtyard for long periods of time.
Today, Jiang Nian spent a long time in the bedroom getting dressed. After all, she was going to demonstrate her insect repellent method in front of many people, so she had to dress neatly. However, she didn't expect that Jiang's mother didn't want to disturb her, so she didn't send anyone in to call her, but just stood at the door waiting.
Although the wind in the mansion was not strong in the early morning, it was cool with the morning dew.
Jiang Nian quickly stepped forward, half-covering the door on the side before turning around and answering, "...Not really, it's just that my daughter originally remembered that the box should have patterns on it. When she came back from the teahouse earlier, she was a little bored, so she picked it up to play with it."
"Pattern?"
Mother Jiang looked at her for a moment, then suddenly coughed a few times and shook her head. "There aren't any patterns on it. You must have remembered it wrongly."
Thinking about it, Jiang Nian smiled and replied, "Then my daughter remembered it wrongly."
"It's cold here. Mother, please go back to your room first. I will bring you the good news about the competition."
Mother Jiang had nothing else to say to Jiang Nian, but looking at this person who looked somewhat similar to her, she paused for a moment and finally sighed, "Okay, then be careful on the road."
At this time in the morning, the sun was not yet as glaring as it was now when I was in the carriage and saw it through the window. The sky was blue and the sunlight was still a little cool.
Thin clouds passed through the sky, leaving a dark shadow on the ground.
Jiang Nian and Jiang's mother turned around and said goodbye, then stepped out of the threshold of the mansion.
In that moment, in that instant, the shadows dissipated and the light returned.
—
The location for the competition was chosen in a mountain not far from Pingzhou City.
You can walk or take public transportation here. There are several roads leading to this place. Because Xu adds a lot of crisp copper wires for this competition every year, this competition is famous both inside and outside Pingzhou.
In previous years, Xu's Pharmacy wanted to use Liangdu and other pharmacies as its own foil, so it went to great lengths to organize the event.
This year, they were a little wary of the Liangdu Pharmacy, so they spent less money on publicity. But because of the base of visitors from previous years, even if they didn't go there this year for publicity, some people would still make time to visit this free place to kill time.
Many children would come here to have fun, taking advantage of the information of "Which is the best medicine store in Pingzhou?"
When Jiang Nian arrived at the competition venue, there were already quite a few people gathered there.
A few years ago, the Xu family had divided the rice fields used for their respective competitions into several parts, and each pharmacy had a unique dedicated area.
In order to use Liangdu Pharmacy as a promotional item for their own anti-parasitic formula, Xu's Pharmacy deliberately placed Liangdu Pharmacy's competition rice fields next to theirs, so as to highlight the quality of their own anti-parasitic formula.
This year, Shopkeeper Xu was not as confident as in previous years. He felt a little timid and was frightened because Sun Dun's head appeared in the store yesterday. He wanted to change the location of the rice field in Liangdu Pharmacy, but was beaten back by the people who came to watch.
"In previous years, we came to watch your competition just to see which insect repellent was better, yours or Liangdu Pharmacy's. Now you've torn apart the rice fields they used for the competition, and we have to run around everywhere. What's the point?"
"Besides, Liangdu Pharmacy has launched a new anti-parasitic formula this year. Shopkeeper Xu, aren't you curious about which is better, yours or theirs?"
"I heard you were promoting this 'new' product of yours this year, but it's an improvement on the original design. We're all here because we're curious to see which one is better, yours or Liangdu Pharmacy's."
Shopkeeper Xu was surrounded by the others in a circle and was retreating repeatedly.
Seeing that Shopkeeper Xu was a little timid and wanted to escape, the crowd became even more relentless - this year's competition was different from the previous ones. This year, two leading Pingzhou pharmacies had launched their own new insect repellent products, and Liangdu Pharmacy was cheaper than Xu's pharmacy.
The customers standing on Xu's side, either those who remained neutral or those who bought the anthelmintic formula from Liangdu Pharmacy but thought that the more expensive anthelmintic formula from Xu's Pharmacy was better, were all waiting here just to get the result of this competition.
Seeing is believing, let the results of this competition become the standard for them to purchase insect repellent.
Shopkeeper Xu opened his eyes in fear. Yesterday at noon, a human head of Sun Dun appeared on the counter, and he was so frightened that he couldn't sleep all night.
He was afraid that Sun Dun would tell him in his dream that he would die a miserable death, and he was also afraid that the person who killed Sun Dun would come to trouble him - putting the head of the person from Xu's pharmacy on the counter of his pharmacy, wasn't it obvious that they were going to cause trouble for him?
The people pressing towards him were like Sun Dun's incarnation, one head, two heads, each head with eyes and a wide mouth, spit spurting out of it. They asked him questions one after another, as if they were asking him to die:
"You killed me."
"Why don't you die?"
"When will you die?"
"Will you die with me?"
The more Shopkeeper Xu opened his eyes and trembled in fear, the more the crowd in front of him looked like countless Sun Dun's heads piled together, each one growing out of the shoulders, crowded with other faces, and growing blood and flesh, asking him:
"Yesterday I paid with my life for trying to find out Fangzi's secrets. Today, since you're dealing with Fangzi's people, to be fair, will you also meet those Liangdu people like me and pay with your life?"
Shopkeeper Xu's legs trembled as if he was resisting something. His legs went limp and he fell to his knees on the slope.
When the people around saw that Shopkeeper Xu had suddenly fallen ill, they all ran over to pull him back, calling out to him, "Shopkeeper Xu—"
"Shopkeeper Xu——"
"Shopkeeper Xu——"
The man squatted on the ground, his head in his hands, his lips trembling as he muttered something under his breath. His head was tightly protected under his arms.
Everyone was afraid that his madness would flare up and he would get into trouble. They also saw the shopkeeper saying something that they feared might cause him to have a serious illness, so they stepped back a few steps and then moved closer to listen.
"Don't come any closer, don't come any closer, I haven't done anything wrong, I haven't..."
“I just want to make money!!”
Everyone was shocked and turned to look at each other, muttering something like "They are crazy about making money", and then they all dispersed.
Jiang Nian stood in the distance and watched from afar, without taking a step forward, just watching the drama in silence.
Guizhi, who followed, leaned forward and looked. Her eyesight was excellent, and she spotted Shopkeeper Xu kneeling in the crowd. She smiled and said, "Could it be that Shopkeeper Xu is afraid of the young lady's insect repellent prescription, so he wants to withdraw from the competition and start playing rogue?"
Jiang Nian quietly watched the entire incident unfold, then shook his head slightly. "I went to rest after returning yesterday. Did you hear any rumors about Xu's pharmacy on the street yesterday?"
Guizhi's thoughts on the show were interrupted by Jiang Nian's words. She was stunned for a moment before answering, "Yes, I did, but it sounded a bit ridiculous, so I didn't tell the young lady."
"Since Miss wants to hear it, I'll tell you now—it's nothing serious. Yesterday at noon, a human head appeared on the counter of Xu's Pharmacy."
"The face of the head had been scratched so many times that it was impossible to recognize its original appearance."
"But Shopkeeper Xu was also strange. He knew who he was at a glance. He ran out of the pharmacy screaming and hiding in the crowd on the street."
"Afterwards... the pharmacy was cleaned up by the others."
Jiang Nian paused for a moment and immediately knew who had done it.
It was simply that Xiao Yingzhu felt that the little tricks used by the shopkeeper Xu were really petty, but they were as noisy as mosquitoes and flies. He felt that it would be better to cut off Sun Dun's head and give it to him as a return gift.
She was silent for a brief moment, then immediately put on an expression of surprise, as if she hadn't realized the situation was this way. She pressed on, "So that's the case? Didn't you report it to the police? Who put the head on the counter—and why didn't anyone notice it?"
Guizhi shook her head, looking very secretive: "Guizhi doesn't know about this, and they didn't tell us about what happened later."
Jiang Nian nodded and sighed, "At noon, there shouldn't be a lot of people on the street. How come no one saw who put the head on the counter?"
Guizhi nodded in agreement: "Yes, some people say that Shopkeeper Xu did something bad in the past, and the vengeful ghost came to remind Shopkeeper Xu."
The people surrounding Shopkeeper Xu poked him for a long time, but when they saw that he was slumped on the ground with no response, holding his head in his arms and maintaining his original posture stiffly, they sighed "useless" and dispersed.
Jiang Nian calculated the time when everyone was leaving, reached out and pulled Guizhi. Guizhi immediately understood the situation, put away her expression of watching a show, pretended to have just arrived, and walked forward with Jiang Nian.
"What's going on?"
The crowd that had dispersed saw the second protagonist of the competition coming over, and they gathered around again, talking about what had just happened, and finally their eyes all fell on the bag in Jiang Nian's hand.
"Did Miss Jiang bring the extremely effective insect repellent formula we used earlier?"
"It looks very small. Is it another insect repellent?"
"Miss Jiang, Miss Jiang, I heard from the guy at the Liangdu counter that you'll continue to hold promotions. Is that true? Are you moving your shop's items next door to expand it?"
"What's the difference between the bottle in your hand and the insect repellent sold in the pharmacy?"
“…”
Manager Xu was useless, but with the arrival of Jiang Nian, everyone's curiosity was aroused again.
Jiang Nian was not about to miss this good opportunity, so he kept it a secret and said, "This is a new product that our Liangdu Pharmacy will be launching. You can take a look at the insect repellent effect in the experimental field this time, and then compare it with the one from Xu's Pharmacy, and make your choice."
Everyone stared at Jiang Nian intently. Seeing her confident look, they became curious about the mysterious insect repellent wrapped in the cloth bag. They all gave way to Jiang Nian and waited for her to go to the rice field that belonged to her and was used to verify the effectiveness of the insect repellent.
Jiang Nian didn't feel anything despite being star-struck by everyone. However, Shopkeeper Xu, who was acting crazy and not receiving any sympathy from others, came to his senses immediately and looked with hatred at Jiang Nian, who was being adored by everyone not far away.
It was that little girl who made him suffer so much!
If it weren't for her, Sun Dun would definitely be intact now. How could he have returned to the medicine shop with only a head left?!
As the competition date approached, he was worried that Liangdu Pharmacy would resort to shady tactics, so he paid people to find out about the Jiang family.
He chose to count from the time when Liangdu Pharmacy launched the new anthelmintic formula, and pushed it back a few months. He asked people to check, and it turned out that there was nothing related to the anthelmintic formula. However, there was an incident that was neither big nor small, but somewhat related.
That was in May. Mr. Li rejected Jiang Nian's confession of love. Jiang Nian didn't know what gift Mr. Li gave him. He went home heartbroken and closed the door for a few days before waking up from his coma.
Shopkeeper Xu sat on the cold ground, when suddenly a cold wind blew from behind, as if warning his heart that he had already discovered a little bit of the truth.
——There is an obvious difference between that Jiang Nian and the current Jiang Nian. His personality has changed drastically after he woke up from the coma.
She used to be reluctant to take over a drugstore, but now she can run it in an orderly manner.
Did the person inside the body change?
Thinking of this, the shopkeeper felt a chill, rubbed his arms, raised his head, and happened to meet Jiang Nian's gaze when he was talking to someone else.
As if she had a premonition of what he was thinking, Jiang Nian paused in her conversation with someone else, looked over here, and a soft smile slowly appeared on her lips.
The smile seemed gentle, but it instantly gave Shopkeeper Xu goosebumps.
!
This Jiang Nian is definitely not the original Jiang Nian!
This Jiang Nian...this Jiang Nian was replaced by someone else!
Shopkeeper Xu was horrified and took a few steps back. When he turned around, he saw another person who looked like a ghost.
The mysterious Duke Xiao actually appeared on the other side of the crowd.
Xiao Yingzhu just looked in the direction of Jiang Nian. After a moment, as if she felt his frightened gaze, she looked back.
Those eyes, as deep as a cold pond, were without any emotion, cold and still, as if reflecting his future death.
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