Chapter 223: Shopkeeper Qi
Shang Wan held one hand of each as they walked back, saying first before the two children could protest: “General Chu sent a letter.”
The two little kids instantly settled down and no longer thought about the ants still carrying food.
Chu Xu tugged at Shang Wan, urging her to walk faster, eager to read the letter.
Although the child didn’t say it out loud, he had been thinking about it all along.
Yuan Yuan had short legs and couldn’t keep up, so Shang Wan bent down to pick up the little baby girl.
Yuan Yuan grinned and held the candied hawthorn she was gripping to her mouth, “Mom, bite!”
Shang Wan bit the top one, and the hawthorn wrapped in the sugar coating was so sour it made her grimace.
She rubbed her cheeks and let the little baby girl try one herself.
Yuan Yuan opened her little mouth and bit off a bit of the crunchy sugar coating, without getting any of the hawthorn inside.
Under Shang Wan’s gaze, the little one chomped away, eating all the sugar coating clean, while the hawthorn remained untouched.
She asked: “Why didn’t you keep eating?”
Yuan Yuan: “For the doggie!”
Shang Wan: “…”
No, whose good dog eats hawthorn?
·
The three entered the small courtyard through the back door, and Shang Wan heard a few faint whimpering sounds, like a weak little animal.
She was stunned for a moment before remembering that there were still five troublemaking guys locked in the room.
Yesterday was too busy and she hadn’t attended to them, almost forgetting.
After a whole night, surprisingly no one had come to rescue them.
Shang Wan handed Chu Zhao’s letter to Chu Xu and let him go read it at the little table.
“Yuan Yuan, let’s go read the letter.” Chu Xu reached out to hold Yuan Yuan’s hand.
Yuan Yuan hid her little hand behind her back and puffed out her cheeks.
The illiterate child had no interest in accompanying little brother to read the letter and just wanted to play with the dog.
Shang Wan ignored how the two children arranged things and pushed open the door to check inside.
The five people were still tightly bound, without food or water since yesterday, but there was no filth in the room.
Shang Wan lowered her hand from her nose and opened the closed windows.
Bright daylight streamed in, making the people in the room squint.
Starved to dizziness, the five didn’t even have the strength to curse.
Shang Wan dragged over a bench and sat in front of the five, propping her chin with one hand, “I accidentally forgot about you all. I have time today, so tell me—who are the masters behind you?”
The five reacted differently: some hung their heads with expressions unclear, some glared angrily at Shang Wan, and others begged her to let them go.
None seriously answered Shang Wan’s question.
Shang Wan sighed—did she really have to beat them before they’d be honest?
She rotated her wrist, curled her lips into a slight smile at the five, “Keep it down in a bit, don’t disturb the neighbors.”
“Ah!!!”
Chu Xu, who was reading the letter outside, was startled by the sudden scream and shuddered, quickly covering Yuan Yuan’s little ears, while Yuan Yuan covered Xiao Hei’s ears.
The customers in the shop heard the noise and curiously peered toward the door curtain.
Xiao Huan smiled, “The shopkeeper is setting bones for patients.”
Customers wanted to ask more, but Shi Tou shouted: “Jade Visage Powder has twenty boxes left, White Jade Paste only three bottles. Those who want to buy, hurry up—first come, first served!”
In less than a quarter of an hour, they sold out.
Someone asked: “When will you restock?”
Xiao Huan calculated the days and answered: “Ten days later.”
This date was set by Shang Wan in advance.
People who bought Jade Visage Powder and White Jade Paste these past two days would surely use them when they got home, and in ten days they’d see results. Selling again then meant no need to stockpile and no worry about unsold goods.
Besides, having taken Boss Zhong’s order, she had to make the medicine here first.
Shi Tou hawked: “Folks, don’t just stare at White Jade Paste—check out our shop’s All-purpose Ointment too. For bruises and swelling from bumps, one dab works wonders.”
Aunt Yao and others helped promote it too.
The screams from the backyard didn’t continue—not because the five unlucky ones stopped calling, but because Shang Wan found them noisy and dislocated their jaws.
Shang Wan beat each one thoroughly, targeting the most painful spots.
These people had tough mouths but not tough bones; soon someone couldn’t take it and wanted to confess.
Shang Wan reset the bones in his body.
“Shopkeeper Qi from Ji Min Apothecary sent me.” The man cried as he said, “He told me to wait for a crowd, get close to the medicine cabinet, and sprinkle rat poison into your medicinal herbs.”
Rat poison could kill people, and if word got out that Spiritual Medicine Pavilion’s herbs killed someone, all of Shang Wan’s preparations would go down the drain.
But sprinkling rat poison so obviously—was that looking down on her or on the doctor in her shop?
Shang Wan frowned—Ji Min Apothecary was the apothecary where she used to frequently sell medicine.
Sure enough, even the most pleasant business relationship couldn’t withstand competition from peers?
That Shopkeeper Qi looked kind and spoke kindly, but turned out to be a venomous snake in disguise.
Tsk tsk, appearances can be deceiving.
“And you, sent by Shopkeeper Qi too?” Shang Wan kicked the nearest woman.
The woman shook her head vigorously, staring at Shang Wan as if wanting to speak.
Shang Wan squatted down and reset her jaw too.
“No one sent me. My child is sick. I heard the nursery rhyme say All-purpose Ointment is good, but it’s too expensive, so I wanted to steal one bottle.” The woman kowtowed to Shang Wan, “I had no bad intentions—everything was for my child.”
Shang Wan sneered coldly, “Stealing medicine is stealing—don’t use the child as an excuse.”
The woman’s lips moved twice, “It’s not like your medicine isn’t too expensive. Us common folk can’t afford it.”
“All-purpose Ointment isn’t cheap, but the shop has affordable medicine, and a doctor gives free consultations. Go to the medicine cabinet, tell the doctor your child’s symptoms, get two doses—the herbs were half price yesterday, so two doses are only about thirty cash.”
“Don’t say thirty cash is too much. I run an apothecary, not a charity. Your clothes don’t have a single patch, and you’re plump—clearly not short of thirty cash.”
The woman was left speechless by Shang Wan.
Shang Wan stared at her: “If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll send you to see the official. Stealing means at least half a month in prison. I can even arrange for you to stay longer to fully enjoy the wonderful life in our county yamen prison.”
Hearing Shang Wan would send her to the official, the woman’s face changed, and she begged for mercy repeatedly.
“I’ll talk, I’ll tell the truth. I… I…” The woman glanced at the man who had just confessed, bit her lip, and said resolutely, “I’m sent by Shopkeeper Qi too!”
Shang Wan chuckled—Shopkeeper Qi really thought highly of her.
“What did he send you to do?”
“Shopkeeper Qi gave me three qian of silver to smear medicinal powder on other people amid the chaos.”
Yesterday during the search, Shang Wan had indeed found a packet of medicinal powder on the woman.
She had given the medicinal powder to Cui Musheng for appraisal but hadn’t gotten the results yet.
She asked: “What does that medicinal powder do?”
The woman shook her head—Shopkeeper Qi hadn’t told her. Yesterday she hadn’t managed to smear it on anyone before Shang Wan caught her, so she didn’t know the effect.
Seeing this, Shang Wan called outside: “A Nian!”
“Dada dada” footsteps approached, and Chu Xu poked his little head through the window, “What is it?”
The child’s eyes were a bit red, and his voice was off.
Shang Wan went over and rubbed the child’s head, “What’s wrong?”
Chu Xu shook his head.
Yuan Yuan stood behind Chu Xu, pointed her little finger at him, and made a wiping-tears crying face at her mother.
