Chapter 22 Chapter 22 The Deal is Done "You want to...
"You want to make a deal with me?"
Shopkeeper Yu looked incredulous, as if he had heard a joke.
Zhao Mingsheng nodded and said seriously, "Yes."
"In Qingkang Town, all businesses related to medicinal materials are in the hands of Xing'antang. I'm afraid we can't do any business." Shopkeeper Yu thought she was here to buy medicinal materials and shook his head and said to her.
"I'm not afraid of you laughing at me, I'll tell you the truth."
He didn't hide anything and told her everything about the shop. "Look at those two walls of medicine cabinets. Nine out of ten are empty. Xing'antang has a monopoly on all the medicinal herbs in Qingkang Town." He smiled wryly. "Occasionally, some herbs of poor quality are sold to me."
Zhao Mingsheng looked at Manager Yu with sympathy.
A drugstore doesn’t even have any medicinal materials. Even the Zhao family pharmacy has more medicinal materials than this, right?
I didn't expect Xing'antang to be so domineering. No wonder I didn't see any pharmacies on that street before. I guess they all went out of business.
Zhao Mingsheng didn't understand why this pharmacy was still struggling?
Soon she had the answer.
At this time, a hunchbacked woman with a sallow complexion walked in. Seeing Manager Yu, she rushed over as if she had found a life-saving straw.
"Doctor Yu! Please save my child, he has epilepsy again!" He was about to kneel down as he said this.
Shopkeeper Yu seemed to recognize this person. He hurried forward to help her up, then said helplessly, "It's not that I don't want to help you, but your child's epilepsy requires a dose of medicine every three days to control it."
Epilepsy isn't fatal, but it causes severe, painful convulsions throughout the body. If left untreated, it can affect intelligence. With consistent medication, the condition can be controlled.
However, the prescription for treating epilepsy has very strict ratios, and every medicinal ingredient must be present in full and in full quantity, without any one being missing.
Shopkeeper Yu turned around, unable to bear to look at the woman's expression. He said, "What you took last time was the last prescription I can make." He clenched his fists and said helplessly, "You'd better go to Xing'antang and buy some medicine."
The woman's body suddenly went limp and she fell to the ground. Her eyes were blank and she mumbled through her cracked lips:
"Poor people like us who can't even get enough to eat, how can we afford Xing'antang's medicine... Am I really going to watch my child suffer?"
Zhao Mingsheng felt a little sad when she saw her like this, and wanted to help her, so she asked:
"What other herbs are missing?"
Shopkeeper Yu lowered his head and said without holding out hope, "We're still missing one more ingredient, Poria cocos."
Even if he knew how to prepare the medicine, he would be helpless without the most important ingredient, just like a soldier on the battlefield without a gun.
"Do you think this is okay?"
Shopkeeper Yu raised his head and saw the girl in front of him had taken out a cloth bag and opened it in front of him. He looked inside and saw half a Polygonum multiflorum and half a palm-sized Poria cocos lying quietly inside.
His eyes lit up immediately and he said with ecstasy, "Great! With this Poria cocos, the recipe is complete!"
Hearing that it could be used, Zhao Mingsheng breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as he pushed the bag over. "Then you can take it and prepare medicine for this lady."
Saving lives was the most important thing, so Shopkeeper Yu didn't bother to be polite with her. He skillfully cut off an appropriate amount of Poria cocos and grabbed other herbs. In a short while, he had prepared a prescription.
The woman was a little bit unbelievable when she received the medicine package. Her son was saved?
She trembled and searched her body thoroughly before she fished out a dozen copper coins. She choked out a sob and said, "Thank you... Thank you, Doctor Yu! How much is this medicine?"
Shopkeeper Yu took five copper coins from her hand and said, "No price increase, five copper coins will suffice as usual. You should thank this young lady. Without her Poria cocos, I couldn't make the medicine."
After hearing this, the woman immediately turned around and kept bowing to Zhao Mingsheng to express her gratitude.
Zhao Mingsheng felt awkward because of her trick. She waved her hand and said, "You should go make some medicine for your baby as soon as possible."
The woman then stopped and left in a hurry.
After sending the woman away, Shopkeeper Yu said with a smile, "Girl, thank you so much today. If it weren't for your Fuling, I wouldn't be able to help her. I owe you a favor."
He returned the five copper coins given by the woman, plus one or two taels of silver, to Zhao Mingsheng.
"Why did you only charge her five copper coins, but give me an extra ounce of silver?"
"For poor people like me who can't afford medicine, I only charge a price they can afford." He paused and then said, "But I can't take advantage of you. Your Poria cocos is worth this price!"
At his insistence, Zhao Mingsheng accepted the money. He then asked the question in his mind:
"Since Xing'an Hall is suppressing you, why are you still trying to hold on to your shop?"
Shopkeeper Yu said with a sad face: "Xing'antang's medicine is expensive. Many poor families who can't afford it will come to me to buy medicine. For them, I have to prescribe medicine every day."
Zhao Mingsheng looked at him with a touch of admiration. Her determination to cooperate with him grew even stronger, and she brought up the previous deal again.
"Can we talk now? I'm not here to buy herbs, I'm here to sell them."
Shopkeeper Yu was pleasantly surprised, "Selling medicinal herbs?" He was a little embarrassed after being surprised. "After being suppressed by Xing'antang for so many years, I've almost spent all my savings..."
Zhao Mingsheng soothed him, "I'll sell the herbs to you at the normal market price. It won't be too late to raise the price later when you become rich."
She knocked on the porcelain vase on the table. "I want to discuss another business with you. I'll leave these two bottles of Qibao Meiran Pills with you for consignment. You should know the price of these pills better than I do. After they are sold, you get 40% and I'll get 60%."
Shopkeeper Yu was somewhat moved by what he said.
In the early years, he and Xing'antang could be said to be on equal footing, but ever since Xing'antang had fawned over the county magistrate, and later used a thousand-year-old ginseng to get in touch with people in the palace, his own medicine shop had been targeted and became what it is today.
If there is a steady supply of such excellent quality medicinal materials, we will be able to achieve great things in time. By then, Xing'antang will be nothing.
Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! I promise you. But I don't want a penny from the consignment of the pills."
Zhao Mingsheng couldn't persuade him and had to agree.
"Then I wish us a happy cooperation!"
After finishing the business, Zhao Mingsheng was about to leave when he was stopped by Manager Yu.
"You haven't told me yet, how exactly is the Poria cocos in the Qibao Meiran Pills prepared?"
"Don't worry about the price, just give it to me at the regular price." Zhao Mingsheng knocked on the porcelain vase on the table. "This is another business I want to discuss with you."
Zhao Mingsheng had almost forgotten and quickly explained: "Poria cocos is still prepared using the same basic method as human milk. I simply replaced the human milk with goat's milk."
Shopkeeper Yu asked, somewhat puzzled, "Isn't goat's milk even more fishy than human milk?"
"If you boil it with almonds, it won't have that fishy smell."
This was a recipe Zhao Mingsheng came up with one day while cooking goat milk. She tried it with both human and goat milk, and found that the Qibao Meiran Pills made with goat milk were more effective than those made with human milk.
Shopkeeper Yu was so shocked that he wanted to go back and try it out immediately, so when Zhao Mingsheng said he was leaving, he happily saw him off.
After leaving the pharmacy, Zhao Mingsheng suddenly remembered that her mother asked her to bring back some flower seeds before she left in the morning, so she turned around and went to the seed store again.
Mrs. Meng loved to plant flowers and plants, and the Zhao family's yard was filled with them. Some flowers were not beautiful after their blooming period, so they had to be planted with new ones in time.
But Zhao Mingsheng didn't know much about these flowers and plants, so she bought some seeds of various flowers.
Remembering that the spiritual field in the space was still empty and two-thirds of the medicinal field was still empty, she bought some vegetable seeds such as cucumbers and tomatoes and planned to go back and plant them in the spiritual field and medicinal field.
After buying the things, Zhao Mingsheng went to the teahouse where he and Zhao Qingyue had agreed to meet and wait.
As soon as she entered the teahouse, Zhao Mingsheng was surrounded by the delicious aroma of various teas. She chose to sit by the window. The teahouse was built by the river, and the breeze from the window could reduce some of the stuffiness.
After she sat down, Dr. Tea came over warmly.
"What refreshments would you like, young lady?"
She was indeed a little thirsty after walking around for so long, "Give me a pot of jasmine tea."
After ordering tea, Zhao Mingsheng noticed that the tea master was still waiting nearby, showing no signs of leaving. She quietly glanced around at the other guests and discovered that every table, without exception, had ordered some snacks and desserts in addition to their tea.
Zhao Mingsheng guessed that the Tea Doctor was probably waiting for her to order some desserts.
The tea master probably saw that this was Zhao Mingsheng's first time at a teahouse, so he smiled and said, "My desserts are quite good, and they're considered a specialty in Qingkang Town. Miss, please order one to try."
Zhao Mingsheng suddenly remembered her favorite dessert when she was in the Marquis' Mansion. It was sweet and cool, and it was perfect for the current season. She hadn't eaten it for a long time and now she was a little greedy when she thought about it. So she asked with a glimmer of hope:
"Do you have any ice cream here?"
Dr. Tea agreed immediately, "Yes. Please wait a moment, young lady. Your tea will be served shortly."
After a while, the jasmine tea came first.
The small and lovely white jasmine petals rise and fall in the porcelain cup with a white background and blue lace edges. The white flowers and green stems match the clear soup, which is very beautiful.
Zhao Mingsheng took a sip and found the floral fragrance to be just right, neither too strong nor too weak. The tea had a lingering fragrance on his lips and teeth, with a hint of sweetness.
She drank tea and looked at the scenery outside the window.
A black carriage slowly passed by under the shade of the willow trees by the river. A gentle breeze blew the willow branches, creating ripples on the water. It also blew up a corner of the carriage curtain, revealing a pair of slightly pale lips and an angular and tense jaw, which flashed by.
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