Chapter 82 Hundred Herbs Hall
As June began, the Shu Prefecture region experienced continuous rain.
The rain that lasted for ten days dispelled the summer heat, but it also caused the Chishui River north of the city to rise by a foot, just level with the "flat" line on the Water Stele.
Although it hasn't reached the level of previous years' floods, it has already drawn the attention of the entire Shuzhou Provincial Administration Commission.
Right Envoy Yang Ye personally led a group to the dike to investigate the water situation.
In addition to ordering people to be on duty day and night, he also specifically ordered the Shuzhou Prefectural Government to make preparations, including the allocation of supplies, personnel deployment, and preventative measures.
For a time, yamen runners dressed in straw raincoats could be seen everywhere in the city, hurrying through every street and alley, notifying every household living in a low-lying area to clear the drainage ditches in front of their houses.
Even the Jishi Pharmacy had yamen runners coming to its door.
However, unlike residential houses, the East Market is a commercial area where shops are concentrated, and according to custom, each shop pays to hire people to maintain the ditches.
The amount of money was not much; each shop contributed three taels of silver.
Therefore, Chen Yi had the accountant Liu Quan take the silver and hand it over to the yamen runners, who would then register it and take it to the market guild.
Liu Quan saw the man off with great care, then turned back to the pharmacy. He saw Chen Yi sitting beside the doctors, intently watching them diagnose patients, and couldn't help but feel puzzled.
This shopkeeper is said to be a scholar and a talented man, but it seems he also has some knowledge of medicine.
Liu Quan asked the apprentice by the door, "Shopkeeper, have you been accompanying your master and the others to see patients these past few days?"
The apprentice recalled for a moment and nodded: "After the shopkeeper arrived, he did sit next to the master and the others."
"But whether he was seeing a doctor, I don't know."
Liu Quan understood and told him to continue wiping the doors and windows.
After glancing at Chen Yi, who remained focused, he followed him behind the counter and began working on the abacus, calculating the previous month's accounts.
Even the shopkeeper was busy, so he dared not relax.
Chen Yi naturally didn't care about this.
Three days have passed since everyone in the pharmacy signed and sealed the agreement. During this time, he arrived at dawn and did not return until dusk.
Aside from his regular rest time, he dedicates himself to improving his medical skills by incorporating the profound mysteries of medicine.
It cannot be said that they did not work hard.
After seeing off another patient suffering from a cold, Chen Yi gave the same diagnosis as the doctor, then picked up his teacup and took a sip.
He pondered for a moment.
He said, "Old Li, next time, reduce the amount of white peony root in the prescription by one mace. The effect will be the same, and the price will be two coins cheaper."
Old Li is the oldest of the four doctors at Jishi Pharmacy, and he is over fifty years old.
Although he is not a famous doctor, he has been practicing medicine for thirty years since he graduated from his apprenticeship, and his prescriptions have never been wrong.
Upon hearing Chen Yi's words, Old Li looked puzzled: "Shopkeeper, do you know medicine and prescriptions?"
Chen Yi didn't explain, but instead smiled and said something unrelated to medicine: "The people who come here are all poor, so it's good to save them some money."
The Dongshi area is mostly inhabited by people from remote mountain tribes or artisans from the Central Plains who come to make a living.
They endure wind and sun every day, making a living by performing.
The recent rainy weather has caused travelers to come and go in a hurry, leaving the artisans without income.
Just like the one who caught a cold earlier, judging from his accent, he should be from Yanzhou.
When he was getting medicine, he would wince at the mere sight of a single coin, a sight that made Chen Yi shake his head in disbelief.
Although he had seen many poor people and never thought of helping them, he did what he could to do as it was his duty.
Upon hearing this, Old Li did not agree. Instead, he said with a serious expression:
"Shopkeeper, if you truly understand medicine, you can easily change the prescription by just one qian (a unit of weight). But if you don't..."
Before he could finish speaking, Chen Yi raised his hand to interrupt him, saying, "Listen to me."
When Elder Li heard him say this, he paused for a moment before saying, "I will try the new prescription later. If it works well, it won't matter if I use one less qian of white peony root."
Chen Yi smiled and nodded, then got up to go to the inner room to pour water.
After he left, Old Li sighed with a troubled expression, muttering to himself, "What does an outsider know about medicine?"
The doctor next to them overheard their conversation and whispered, "Old Li, don't worry about whether the shopkeeper understands or not, just listen to him for now."
"Don't forget that he still has our 'crimes' on his hands."
Old Li glared at them: "Even if I really did something wrong, the prescriptions are the result of the older generation's hard work. How can they be changed so easily?"
The other three doctors, unable to persuade them, stopped trying and instead said, "The shopkeeper is being kind, saving those people money."
Old Li was still indignant, saying, "If he really wanted to be kind, he shouldn't have let Old Yan move out."
"The rules that Manager Wang set earlier were quite good. The prices of medicinal herbs inside the hall are high, while the prices at the herbal medicine shops next door are cheaper, which does save patients money."
"The shopkeeper's here, stop talking, Old Li..."
Chen Yi heard what they said, but ignored it.
Moving the herbal medicine shop out of the East Market was a necessary step.
Otherwise, the connection between Wang Ji, Boss Yan Hai, and Jishi Pharmacy would be too great and easily noticed by those with ulterior motives.
As for changing the prescription... it's a trivial matter, not worth mentioning.
Chen Yi didn't care about the old rules and traditions, especially since his medical skills had improved smoothly in the past three days.
I have reached a proficient level in the four diagnostic methods and acupuncture.
Combining the profound mysteries of a minor mastery of medicine with the "Treatise on Febrile Diseases," modifying a simple prescription for treating wind-cold is really nothing to brag about.
A day passed quickly.
Before dusk, Ge Laosan arrived in his carriage with Xiao Wuge and Xiao Die.
Xiao Wuge called out from afar, "Brother-in-law, I've come to take you back to the manor."
Upon hearing the sound, Chen Yi walked out of Jishi Pharmacy and said with a smile, "I think you just want to come out and have some fun."
Xiao Wuge chuckled a few times, realizing that his secret had been exposed.
He didn't bring up the matter of returning to the manor again, and bypassed Chen Yi before entering the Jishi Pharmacy.
Looking left and right, he seemed interested in everything.
Xiao Die moved closer to Chen Yi, looking at Xiao Wuge with him, and explained as she spoke:
"Young Master, the young Marquis has missed you terribly these past few days while you were away from the manor."
"If it weren't for the young lady stopping him, he would have come here the day before yesterday."
Chen Yi understood. Seeing that Xiao Wuge couldn't come out for a while, he simply went over and led him around the pharmacy.
He also introduced Liu Quan and others to him.
Liu Quan and the others were naturally respectful.
Despite his young age, Xiao Wuge was considered the most prestigious person by Liu Quan and the others.
Even though this pharmacy doesn't belong to the Xiao family, they still have to bow and address Xiao Wuge as "Young Marquis" when they see him.
I waited for a while.
Chen Yi instructed Liu Quan and the others to close the doors and windows, then took Xiao Wuge back home.
On the way, without him asking, Xiao Die and Xiao Wuge talked about the big and small things that had happened in the manor in the past few days.
Things are generally stable.
Except for the few days he was away, both Duke Zhang Xuan and Sun Fu arrived full of enthusiasm but left disappointed every time.
Xiao Die said that, but Chen Yi didn't think it was entirely true.
At least Sun Fu had a good time.
Xiao Wuge added from the side, "Brother-in-law, that Grandpa Sun is quite strange. Yesterday and today he tested my recitation of classics and asked me quite a few questions."
Chen Yi immediately understood Sun Fu's intentions and asked, "So, how was your answer?"
Xiao Wuge thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Grandpa Sun should be satisfied; he even praised me."
Xiaodie chimed in, "Old Master Sun did praise the young master, and even told him to spend more time reading books and less time fishing."
Chen Yi chuckled; it seemed that Elder Sun had already come to regard him as Xiao Wuge's teacher.
He hasn't even formally become an apprentice yet.
However, despite his thoughts, Chen Yi maintained the same attitude as before—not to get involved.
On the one hand, the matter of Xiao Wuge is to be decided by the old master and Xiao Wan'er.
On the other hand, he himself has also been quite busy lately.
For the past three days, besides studying medicine at Jishi Pharmacy, Wang Ji has been visiting him from time to time.
The new location for the herbal medicine shop has been found; it has been moved from the East Market to the West Market. And, as he requested, a spacious two-story wooden building was specifically chosen.
Meanwhile, various medicinal herbs are being gradually replenished.
Wang Ji's progress in this area was relatively smooth, but he was having trouble coming up with a name for the pharmacy and asked Chen Yi for advice.
In the end, Chen Yi gave three words: "Bai Cao Tang".
It is derived from Shennong tasting hundreds of herbs.
Although his ambition was not to heal the people, the underlying meaning was still somewhat related to it.
At this moment, Xiao Wuge said, "Brother-in-law, my eldest sister said she wants you to have dinner together at Jiaxingyuan tonight."
Chen Yi has no objection.
Not long after, the group returned to the mansion.
After washing up and changing his clothes, Chen Yi took Xiao Wuge to Jiaxing Garden.
Xiao Wan'er was still wearing a cloak, but today it was white.
It was the same cloak she wore the first night she met Chen Yi.
Chen Yi couldn't help but glance at her a few more times. The clothes were secondary; what he noticed was that she was in a good mood.
After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Big sister, is that batch of medicinal herbs almost ready to arrive in the prefectural city?"
Xiao Wan'er was preparing the meal when she heard this, and she didn't hide it from him, "Hua Tang sent a letter this afternoon. She has already picked up the people from the escort agency and is on her way here."
"However, the Chishui River has been turbulent lately, so she specifically mentioned that it might be two days later."
Chen Yi nodded, thinking to himself that the Hidden Guards seemed to only care about the Xiao family's trade affairs, but were rather lenient about things like the pharmacy business.
Seeing that he didn't respond, Xiao Wan'er asked about his time at Jishi Pharmacy, "Are you getting used to it there?"
"It's alright, better than I expected."
Chen Yi didn't forget to add a few words of praise, "Sister, you're a good manager with a keen eye for talent. The doctors at the pharmacy are all very good."
Xiao Wan'er had no suspicions, her beautiful eyes sparkling brightly, "You'll get used to it."
Chen Yi smiled and agreed.
Putting aside whether he was used to it or not, he couldn't let Miss Xiao know about Wang Ji and the others for the time being.
After all, Baicaotang is just starting out and will need some time to develop.
(End of this chapter)
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