Chapter 246: Study Tour
After the New Year, the Spiritual Medicine Pavilion chose an auspicious day to open for welcoming guests.
Hearing that the Spiritual Medicine Pavilion was opening today, with the latest shampoo cream launched, the regular customers all came to join in the fun.
In no time, the Spiritual Medicine Pavilion was packed with people.
The shop assistants were already accustomed to it, methodically guiding guests to queue up to settle the bill. Those trying to take advantage in the chaos or skip paying couldn’t escape the sharp eyes honed by the shop assistants.
Shang Wan stood behind the counter recording accounts, taking the opportunity to chat with regular customers and promote the freshly made membership cards.
There were two kinds of membership cards, divided into gold cards and silver cards.
They looked roughly the same, both small wooden pieces less than a palm-sized with hollow carved patterns, specially treated with medicinal liquid for excellent toughness and not easily damaged.
The difference was that the silver card had silver thread edging and peony carved on the face; the gold card had gold thread edging and peony carved on the face.
Any customer with accumulated consumption over fifty taels at the Spiritual Medicine Pavilion could spend ten copper coins to get a silver card, engraved on-site with the name by the craftsman hired by Shang Wan, for personal use only, enjoying a 10% discount on any product purchased at the Spiritual Medicine Pavilion.
Customers with accumulated consumption over two hundred taels at the Spiritual Medicine Pavilion could get a gold card for free, also with real-name registration, for personal use only, with an 20% discount on all products purchased at the Spiritual Medicine Pavilion.
If the membership card is lent to others and discovered, it will be confiscated.
After hearing Shang Wan’s introduction, almost every qualifying customer got a membership card.
A silver card only costs ten coppers, and the gold card is free. Getting a card makes buying medicine cheaper, so it always feels more cost-effective to get one.
Shopkeeper Shang is practically giving them money!
Because everyone was so enthusiastic about getting cards, the engravers couldn’t keep up.
Shang Wan picked up an engraving tool and joined the engraving team.
Her speed was incredibly fast; in the time a master engraver did one card, she could do three.
If someone came to the counter to settle the bill, she could also handle recording accounts on the side.
Capable, beautiful, and good at making money—countless people envied Lu Chengjing for marrying such a good wife.
Someone heard from who-knows-where that Shang Wan agreed to marry because of Lu Chengjing’s handsome face, so they tried to seduce her with their looks, hoping she’d have an affair.
Shang Wan flatly rejected them.
To seduce her, they at least needed to be as good-looking as her own fox, right?
There was more than one such person. After Lu Chengjing found out, he instantly felt a strong sense of crisis, transformed into a male fox spirit, and personally seduced Shang Wan so she had no thoughts for anyone else.
Shopkeeper Shang thought that a slightly richer night life was pretty good too.
Winter passed, spring came, and summer arrived; pedestrians on the road gradually wore thinner clothes.
In July, at noon with the sun high, it was so hot that no one wanted to go out.
After lunch, everyone on the manor was resting in their own rooms.
“Sis, brother-in-law sent a letter saying their group has arrived at Fengxiang Prefecture, and they’ll be home in about five or six days.” Shi Tou ran excitedly into the side hall with the letter to report the good news.
Shang Wan put down the small porcelain bottle, reached out to take the letter, and read it line by line.
Three months ago, Lu Chengjing and Qiao Yu’an, along with three fellow students, went on a study tour together, heading south to see the local customs and broaden their horizons.
Every six or seven days, Lu Chengjing would send a letter back, not only reporting safety but also sharing his interesting experiences outside, complete with drawings.
Whenever a letter arrived, the family’s evening entertainment gained one more activity: reading the letter together.
This letter had little content, but between the lines, one could see the words “eager to return home.”
After reading the letter, Shang Wan’s eyes gained a bit more smile.
Yuan Yuan tiptoed and stretched out her small hand to grab the letter; Shang Wan simply handed it to her. “No drawings this time.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Even if her dad’s letter was all words, Yuan Yuan wouldn’t mind.
The little one held the letter, head down, reading word by word, and surprisingly didn’t get many wrong.
If this got out, the title of genius would be unavoidable.
But Shang Wan still wanted to keep a low profile and had agreed with Dean Luo of Sanshan Academy not to spread it.
Dean Luo was a slightly chubby little old man who always smiled. After learning from Shi Tou that Lu Chengjing had started teaching Yuan Yuan, when he came to the Lu Family for a meal, he casually tested Yuan Yuan with a few questions.
Not only did Yuan Yuan answer them all, she also had her own unique ideas, different from other children Dean Luo had seen.
Getting excited, he continued testing her on recognizing characters. Everything Lu Chengjing had taught, Yuan Yuan recognized.
Although she still couldn’t write many complex characters, at only two years old, she was already amazing compared to ordinary children.
Dean Luo immediately wanted to take her as a disciple.
He planned to make Yuan Yuan his last disciple.
Regardless of what Shang Wan and Lu Chengjing thought, Yuan Yuan herself refused.
The little baby girl said her master had to be super super super amazing, excelling in both civil and martial arts, and good-looking too.
Clearly, Dean Luo didn’t meet Yuan Yuan’s standards for a master.
Dean Luo wasn’t angry when he heard it; instead, he felt Yuan Yuan had spiritual qi and her own opinions, exhorting Lu Chengjing to cultivate the child well and not neglect her just because she was a girl.
With Lu Chengjing going on the study tour, Yuan Yuan lacked a teacher, so Dean Luo offered to handle her lessons during the months he was away.
With Shang Wan watching, Lu Chengjing agreed.
Dean Luo was indeed a good teacher; he got along well with Yuan Yuan, not restricting the little one’s play, but ensuring she learned everything she should.
Yuan Yuan had a good brain and memorized quickly, giving Dean Luo a strong sense of achievement as her teacher.
“Good girl, put the letter in the box in the study room.”
“Okay.” Yuan Yuan agreed, her small hands deftly folding the letter paper into a small square, then pinching it as she walked out.
Shi Tou sat in the spot next to Shang Wan, picked up the small porcelain bottle and sniffed it; the pungent smell rushed straight to the top of his head.
He quickly turned his head away, pinched his nose, and asked, “Sis, what’s in this bottle?”
“Poison.” Shang Wan was concise, took back the porcelain bottle, and added, “One drop seals the throat.”
Shi Tou: “…”
What was his sis making poison for?
He looked around to make sure no one was there, then leaned closer and cautiously asked, “Sis, who do you want to deal with? Don’t do it yourself, let me.”
Shang Wan glanced at him. Did she seem that ruthless in this kid’s eyes? Poisoning at the drop of a hat?
Shi Tou actually read Shang Wan’s look, touched his nose, and muttered softly, “You don’t poison, you just beat them directly.”
Those who ran into his sis’s hands either died cleanly or, if they lived, tsk tsk, really suffered.
“This bottle was something Duanmu accidentally made. He couldn’t use it, but felt it was a pity to throw it away, so he gave it to me.” Shang Wan plugged the bottle with the wooden stopper and put it away in her space.
What on earth was he researching to accidentally make such a vicious poison?
Shi Tou was extremely curious and planned to ask Divine Doctor Duanmu later.
“Right, sis, Xiao Huan tonight…”
Suddenly, Steward Dai led Niangzi Shu in hurriedly, interrupting Shi Tou.
Seeing Niangzi Shu’s expression off, Shang Wan restrained her smile and asked, “What happened?”
“The merchant caravan is missing.” Niangzi Shu spat out these words heavily without even sitting down, her face growing two shades uglier.
