Gu Yuzhi was listening with great joy to his servant's report: "Your Highness, the people of Changzhou now know that our Wen family is going to open a pharmacy. Today, when I went out to buy supplies, quite a few people stopped me and asked me questions."
"Of course I can't give a definite answer. I'll just leave it vague and let them guess."
Looking at the servant's animated expression, he couldn't help but think of the exaggerated movements and expressions of opera singers. He thought that if the servant were to learn opera, he might become very good at it.
At this moment, he had no idea that someone was plotting against him. Even if he did, he would wave his hand and think it didn't matter. After all, he was just a child. He had Chief Secretary Xie and Guard Qi protecting him from the front, and his elder brother, the Emperor, supporting him from behind.
Amidst the curious and expectant gazes of the people of Changzhou, Wen's Pharmacy finally opened for business.
Gu Yuzhi sat in a private room in the restaurant across the street, perched on a chair, his little hands pressed tightly against the windowsill as he looked down. Red silk covered the signboard of Wen's Pharmacy, and firecrackers were set off in circles. Manager Mu, along with his servants and accountant, kept bowing and greeting the people around them, his face always smiling: "Thank you for your support, folks. In a quarter of an hour, the auspicious time will arrive, and we will set off firecrackers, unveil the red silk, and Wen's Pharmacy will officially open for business."
"I would rather the herbs in our pharmacy gather dust than have people come to buy medicine! But if people need medicine, I hope they can buy effective and inexpensive herbs."
As soon as Manager Mu finished speaking, cheers erupted from the surrounding area, and some people even clapped.
Gu Yuzhi didn't understand and turned to Xie Changshi: "Xie Changshi, what did Manager Mu mean? Why are these people applauding him?"
He felt that Manager Mu was not a good manager; how could he say he wanted the medicinal herbs in the pharmacy to gather dust?
If no one buys it, he'll lose a fortune!
Chief Secretary Xie smiled broadly and said, "Your Highness, a pharmacy is a place where people get medicine and treat illnesses, so Manager Mu's words mean that he hopes everyone will stay healthy."
Gu Yuzhi nodded his little head, now he understood.
Gu Yuzhi could never forget the scenes he witnessed at the disaster relief site last time.
In addition, he hated taking medicine, and for a moment he felt that what Manager Mu said made a lot of sense: "If only everyone could stay healthy."
He puffed out his cheeks and suddenly felt that he shouldn't have opened a pharmacy.
Chief Secretary Xie chuckled at his childish words, but also understood the hidden meaning behind them: "Your Highness, how can people not get sick when they eat grains and vegetables? When you get sick, you need to see a doctor and take medicine. Affordable medicines can save ordinary people more money, so Your Highness need not doubt that opening a pharmacy is a good thing."
Gu Yuzhi then remembered Li Ji Trading Company. He tapped his head and muttered, "It's already the new year. I need to work harder to ensure that the people of Mobei are no longer troubled by snow disasters."
After that major snow disaster, there were several more blizzards. Fortunately, Prefect Qi organized the refugees to repair their houses early on, urged them to go up the mountain to cut firewood, and kept each other warm on weekdays. They finally made it through the coldest days of winter.
The auspicious hour had arrived, and Manager Mu personally lit the firecrackers. The crackling sound quickly echoed throughout the entire West Street, and the people laughed and backed away, creating a very lively scene.
Gu Yuzhi covered his ears with both hands, stood on tiptoe and looked down. He felt that the firecrackers looked like snakes, and sometimes they would wriggle.
He watched with great interest, occasionally letting out exclamations of surprise, as if setting off firecrackers was a very novel thing.
Chief Secretary Xie and another guard protected him silently until all the firecrackers had finished exploding, at which point the two of them took a small step back.
The air was filled with the smell of burning firecrackers, which made Gu Yuzhi feel particularly uncomfortable. He lowered his head and spat several times, as if trying to expel the smell.
Outside the window, Manager Mu called out loudly, "The plaque is being unveiled!"
The surrounding people excitedly gathered around again, watching as Manager Mu and the accountant took down the signboard from either side. The words "Wen's Pharmacy" shone brightly in the sunlight.
Gu Yuzhi immediately recognized that the calligraphy on the plaque was written by Xie Changshi himself. Only then did he suddenly remember that he had previously been thinking of stealing Xie Changshi's calligraphy to sell...
He stuck out his tongue. "What a sin! Luckily, Chief Secretary Xie doesn't know about this, otherwise he would definitely be punished by copying the Thousand Character Classic ten times!"
With the red silk ribbon lifted, the pharmacy officially opened for business. The surrounding crowd gradually dispersed, and the street soon became somewhat deserted.
Even Gu Yuzhi himself, having lost the excitement, obediently jumped off his chair and sat at the square table. Xie Changshi then pushed open the door and had a servant bring up the prepared food.
Hearing the hawking sounds that had reappeared outside, Shu Xiaohan couldn't help but say, "Tsk tsk, if this were modern times, once the red silk was lifted, the crowd would rush in to buy everything."
However, she had been severely reprimanded by Manager Wen before, and now she dared not mention the opening event again, after all, the two eras were hundreds of years apart.
After hearing Shu Xiaohan mention the opening event several times, Manager Wen's eyes lit up: "Teacher Shu, are people in modern times all that rich? Giving away eggs for the opening?"
Although eggs are not as expensive as other meats, they are still a type of meat. Ordinary families don't usually eat them, so they save them up and take them to the market to sell, which can be exchanged for some meat.
Gu Yuzhi also focused his attention on Teacher Shu. He was particularly curious about the world that Teacher Shu had described, where one could travel by plane or high-speed rail from Beijing to Changzhou in less than two hours.
If their travel were as convenient and quick as Teacher Shu's hometown, he would no longer have to worry about getting nauseous from riding in a horse-drawn carriage...
"What's the big deal?" Teacher Shu waved her hand, indicating that it was nothing. "There are many people in our area who run chicken farms. They produce so many eggs every day that you can't even count them all. But there are good and bad aspects."
What's that saying again? "A chicken that's twenty days old, a duck that's thirty days old, and a fat pig that's three months old enters every household."
This era is backward, but everything that can be imported is a truly green product, without any technology or rudimentary processes involved.
It's just that she can't taste these natural, unprocessed things now.
Ms. Shu, whose living environment had been very simple since she started school, was completely unaware that she was being tricked into revealing information by Manager Wen.
Shopkeeper Wen nodded and continued along with Teacher Shu's words: "How can having eggs to eat be a bad thing? It's just that not many people here can raise chickens and ducks. Otherwise, I would be willing to suggest that Your Highness do something like what you said, such as holding an opening event."
“Our business isn’t going to stop here. With Teacher Shu here, His Highness’s fiefdom will surely have a bumper harvest next year, and opening a grain store will be inevitable then.”
Teacher Shu was extremely pleased with this compliment, but she also knew that in this backward era where people relied entirely on the weather, she absolutely couldn't make any overly confident statements...
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