Chapter 213: Giving Gifts
Lu Chengjing listened in confusion, “If that’s the case, why doesn’t Marquis Anle bring Zhong Li’s mother back to the mansion?”
Even as a concubine, it would be better than being a concubine outside; at least Zhong Li wouldn’t be pointed at the backbone because of his status as a son of a concubine.
How did Shang Wan know what Marquis Anle was thinking?
She shrugged, “Zhong Li follows his mother’s surname; maybe this mother and son don’t want to enter the marquis’s mansion.”
Boss Zhong looked like a man with a lot of ideas.
Shang Wan thought of Zhong Li’s self-introduction, the “li” meaning abandoned by everyone including family, combined with his background; there was probably a rather twisty story involved.
Lu Chengjing remembered something and reminded, “They saw through A Nian’s identity; we don’t know if those assassins are related to them, so we need to watch A Nian more closely.”
Shang Wan nodded in agreement and muttered, “When exactly are the Chu Family Army people coming?”
The kid was almost raised as part of her own family.
·
Days passed day by day, the shop’s decoration progressed vigorously, and the villagers learned that the Xiucai Scholar’s family planned to pay people to process medicinal herbs.
One could learn a skill and make money; where else could such a good thing be found?
Immediately, some villagers came to the door to inquire about it, all wanting to strive for themselves or their family members.
But upon asking, they learned that the people had already been selected.
Someone unwillingly asked, “Who all have been selected? I’m diligent, definitely not worse than them.”
Xiao Huan politely poured herbal tea for them and listed a few people, such as Aunt Zhou, Aunt Yao, Li Xiaoshan, Li Xiaomei, Yuan family siblings, Wu Family Wife…
The person understood upon hearing; these families all had more interactions with the Xiucai Scholar’s family, and they usually provided support for whatever happened.
People have closeness and distance; with such a good thing, naturally they thought of them first.
The person left awkwardly, and Xiao Huan politely saw them off.
In the initial stage, Lu Chengjing naturally wouldn’t include the whole village; he would first find some people to try, and if feasible, then find more according to the apothecary’s needs.
If everyone in the village was involved from the start, with too many people it would be hard to manage, and who knows how much trouble it would cause.
Yuan Musheng had already started teaching Aunt Zhou and the others a few days ago; as discussed with Lu Chengjing, he first taught the processing methods for a few commonly used medicinal herbs.
Lu Chengjing’s original intention wasn’t for these people to process all kinds of medicine; people’s energy is limited, so everyone learning separately and specializing in one or two major categories would be fine.
Aunt Zhou and the others learned very seriously; after two days of continuous study and Yuan Musheng’s nod, they went to the Lu Family to pick up medicinal herbs to practice.
Among them, Yuan Lang and Yuan Qiao picked it up the fastest; the two usually helped their own father process medicinal herbs, so doing it alone was also quite smooth.
Rong Niangzi was worried that the two children wouldn’t do it well and specially watched from the side.
If not for the rule of at most two people per family, she also wanted to earn this silver.
When the shop’s whitewashing was completed, everyone’s learning results were also displayed in the Lu Family’s courtyard.
The quality varied; Aunt Yao, Li Xiaomei, and the Yuan family siblings had the best quality medicinal herbs.
Li Xiaoshan puffed his cheeks and secretly tugged Li Xiaomei’s sleeve, “Xiaomei, teach me again when we get back.”
Li Xiaomei glanced at Li Xiaoshan’s herbs and softly suggested, “Second Brother, even Dad did better than you; you should still follow Big Brother to learn woodworking.”
Li Xiaoshan: “…”
Aunt Zhou and Wu Family Wife Chen Shi were also asking Aunt Yao for advice; the three usually got along well, and Aunt Yao didn’t hold back, explaining the points to note in detail.
Actually, Yuan Musheng had lectured on these, but when really putting them into practice, these beginners inevitably missed one or two things.
Lu Chengjing collected everyone’s medicinal herbs; because the quality differed, the wages given naturally varied.
Everyone had no objection to this; those who did well got more, which made sense anywhere.
The other villagers in the village were all paying attention to the Lu Family’s movements; seeing Aunt Zhou and the others really taking money out, each one wished they could take their place.
Wasn’t it just washing, cutting, and drying? They could do it too!
Quite a few people crowded around asking questions; Aunt Zhou and the others answered good-temperedly at first, but later directly drove them away and went home to process the newly picked medicinal herbs.
Lu Chengjing kept four people—Aunt Yao and the other three—alone.
Xiao Huan poured herbal tea for everyone and sat down next to Li Xiaomei.
Li Xiaomei asked softly, “Sister Xiao Huan, what does the Xiucai Scholar want with us?”
“It’s a good thing.” Xiao Huan smiled and patted her head; the little girl was timid and probably feeling anxious inside.
Xiao Huan guessed right; Li Xiaomei was indeed feeling uneasy, worrying if she hadn’t done something well.
But soon, the anxiety in her heart disappeared.
Lu Chengjing kept the four to help process ointment, with wages doubled.
The formula for boiling the ointment was just an ordinary healing medicine formula, copied by Lu Chengjing from a medical book.
They could earn more money, and the method wasn’t difficult; as long as they were careful, there would be no problem, so the four naturally wouldn’t refuse.
Lu Chengjing watched the four memorize the healing medicine formula before letting them leave.
Shi Tou had already prepared the medicinal herbs for boiling the ointment, one portion per person, roughly enough for five boxes of ointment.
Because Lu Chengjing didn’t say not to share the formula, after Yuan Lang got home, he recited the formula to his father.
No matter how Yuan Musheng listened, it seemed like just a very ordinary healing medicine formula with average effects, not as good as the one he had pondered out himself.
After thinking, Yuan Musheng simply wrote out a healing medicine formula by memory and had Yuan Lang send it to Lu Chengjing.
When Yuan Lang returned, he had fifty taels of silver in his arms.
The silver was payment for the medicine formula.
Yuan Musheng just wanted to help, and this fifty taels of silver made him both amused and exasperated.
Rong Niangzi waved at Yuan Lang, “Quickly send the silver back to Uncle Lu.”
Her husband’s life was saved by the younger brother’s wife; how could they take so much silver for just one medicine formula?
Yuan Lang was about to run out upon hearing, but Yuan Musheng called him back, “Wait, Dad will go with you.”
In the end, the money wasn’t returned.
When the father and son returned, they had an extra jar of pickled vegetables and two jin of pork in their arms.
Yuan Lang turned to look at his father, “Dad, will Mom scold us?”
Not only did they fail to return the silver, they also took things; it was like taking both bribes and gifts.
Yuan Musheng reached out and patted his son’s head, “With Dad here, if your mom scolds you, just hide behind Dad.”
Yuan Lang looked at his hand: “Dad, you just touched the pork and didn’t wash your hands.”
His mom had just washed his hair this morning!
Yuan Musheng: “…”
·
Ever since the villagers knew that processing medicinal herbs really earned money, Xiao Huan found that more people from the village were sending things to their family.
When she went around the village, everyone tried every way to stuff things into her hands and then ran off—mostly vegetables just pulled from the fields, melons if they had them, fruits if they had them, sometimes even eggs or duck eggs.
When she went to the riverside to wash clothes, those wives and aunts were so enthusiastic it was as if they wanted to help her wash them, scaring Xiao Huan into choosing times with fewer people to wash clothes; she was really afraid of being squeezed into the river by the scrambling crowd.
Shi Tou was deprived of the pleasure of farming.
The young and strong men in the village took turns tending his six mu of land, even helping water it; when he went to the fields and happened to run into them, they grinned big teeth at him, grinning so much that his back felt chilled.
The villagers knew the Lu Family was raising livestock, and Shi Tou found a pile of fodder at the doorway every day, not knowing who sent it.
