The journey from Snake Creek Village to the county seat was long. They set out early in the morning, encountered bandits once on the road, rested twice, and only arrived at the county seat by evening.
Ergouzi finally saw the legendary county seat with his own eyes, opening his eyes wide to curiously observe everything.
Outside the county seat stood an earthen wall, at least ten feet tall, much higher than Old Moneybags Huang’s courtyard wall.
It was even more magnificent than he had imagined.
Looking over the city wall, he could see several tall buildings inside the city, at least five or six stories high.
Only then did Ergouzi realize that houses could be built so high and so exquisitely beautiful.
The city gate was at least twenty to thirty feet wide, with many people coming and going.
There were also many people like them, pushing wheelbarrows to pay taxes.
After entering the city, the group had only walked a few steps when they saw a group of ragged beggars rushing towards them, startling Ergouzi.
“Get lost!”
Laifu and Agui shouted while beating them with branches in their hands, finally driving the beggars away.
“These beggars bully the weak and fear the strong, specifically targeting newcomers from the countryside.”
“Laifu, let’s still go to the usual place to make do and rest for the night, then go to the County Yamen tomorrow morning.”
Old Moneybags Huang had Laifu lead the way, and everyone walked forward along a bluestone street.
On both sides of the street were various shops: tailor shops, candy and pastry shops, steamed bun shops, sundry goods stores…
It was Ergouzi’s first time seeing so many colorful and varied shops; it felt extremely novel, and he even forgot how to walk.
When passing a half-open wooden door, he poked his head in to see what was being sold inside.
He saw a woman walking out from inside the door, about the same age as his Auntie, but wearing very flashy clothes, and her lips were painted red, as if she had just drunk blood.
“Young man… come in and have fun!”
As the woman spoke, she reached out to grab Ergouzi, scaring him into quickly walking several steps faster.
“Thank you, Auntie, I’ll come next time!”
Ergouzi blushed, threw out a sentence, and left.
The aunties in the county seat were really enthusiastic; they were all strangers, yet they warmly invited him.
“Ha ha ha…”
Ergouzi’s awkwardness made all the tenant farmers laugh heartily.
“Ergou, why didn’t you go in!”
“It’s so much fun inside!”
“Never thought you were a small person with big ideas!”
“…”
Amid everyone’s uproarious laughter, Ergouzi roughly understood that this was the so-called hidden-door brothel he had heard about before, making his face flush red and he didn’t dare lift his head.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take you to have fun tonight, just five copper coins to give you a taste.”
Agui patted Ergouzi’s shoulder, winking, and the tenant farmers beside them burst into laughter again.
“You can skip two meals…”
“Having come all this way, can’t let it be for nothing…”
Judging by the way they chatted, they seemed to really intend to spend five copper coins here.
These people usually worked in the fields until they were as exhausted as dogs, being stingy even about putting salt in their vegetables.
Now they were actually willing to spend five copper coins on such meaningless activities.
At fourteen years old, he temporarily couldn’t understand this behavior.
Better to buy a meat bun to eat with those five copper coins.
Along the following road, they encountered several more half-open doors, with some women leaning against the doorframes, warmly greeting passersby.
Those tenant farmers laughed and joked, even bantering with them a few words.
Ergouzi didn’t dare to peek anymore; he could only blush and hurry past.
Just as he occasionally glanced around stealthily, he saw a medicinal herb shop on the street side, his heart stirred, and he memorized its location.
He had been thinking recently about adding some medicinal herbs to his Great Strength Pills, to give the pills a bit of medicinal taste.
And it had to be medicine that wouldn’t kill people; he wouldn’t do business that harmed lives for profit.
If these medicinal herbs could also have some nourishing and health-strengthening effects, that would be even better.
For this purpose, he specifically consulted Li Banxian for some knowledge about medicinal herbs.
Master Li Banxian was talented in both martial and literary arts, knowing everything under heaven and earth.
He introduced some nourishing and body-strengthening medicinal herbs.
For example, ginseng, Solomon’s Seal, and glossy ganoderma, but these medicinal herbs took a long time to grow and were expensive. Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
Ergouzi thought it would be best to buy seeds and grow them himself.
However, the entire Sanchazi Town had only one herbal medicine practitioner, who didn’t have these herbs and seeds.
He had long wanted to come to the county seat to see, but he had never traveled this far before, was unfamiliar with the route, and had heard there were bandits on the road, so he kept delaying until now.
At the end of this street, there was an empty space where several groups of people were already resting.
Mostly traveling merchants or landlords from other places coming to pay taxes.
Probably because there were too many people, staying at an inn wasn’t worth it, so they could only make do outdoors for a night.
Laifu brought a large bundle of firewood and lit a bonfire on the spot.
Old Moneybags Huang took out a large bag of dry food cakes to distribute to everyone; they skewered them on sticks and roasted them over the fire while eating.
“Tonight, everyone will take turns keeping watch, four people per group, each group watches for one shichen.”
Laifu and Agui, as Old Moneybags Huang’s confidants, often followed him to the county seat, arranging everything in an orderly manner.
After assigning tasks and eating their fill, several tenant farmers put their arms around each other’s shoulders and mysteriously discussed.
“Ergou, come on! Let’s take you out for a treat!”
Laifu patted Ergouzi’s shoulder and said with a smile.
“I’m not going!”
Ergouzi’s face flushed red; although he was somewhat curious, how could he dare to openly do such a thing.
Seeing Ergouzi’s embarrassed look, the few men burst into laughter again, then put their arms around each other’s shoulders and left.
However, not long after Laifu and the others left, Ergouzi also bid farewell to Old Moneybags Huang and left alone.
He certainly wasn’t going to look for hidden doors; when passing several such doors, people inside waved at him, but he kept his head down and hurried past.
He quickly found the medicinal shop he had seen earlier.
The shop’s interior was extremely simple, with only one table; he didn’t even see any medicine cabinets.
An old man sat behind the table, head bowed, fiddling with medicinal herbs in his hands. Hearing Ergouzi’s footsteps, he asked without looking up:
“Do you want an abortion, or treatment for syphilis?”
“I don’t want an abortion, I want to buy some medicine!”
Ergouzi quickly explained.
However, the old man seemed not to hear his words and continued asking:
“Do you want an abortion, or treatment for syphilis?”
“I don’t need an abortion, and I’m not sick!”
Only then did the old man lift his head and discover that the person before him was a young boy who hadn’t fully grown.
“No sickness, why are you here? At such a young age not learning properly, caught syphilis, and still won’t admit it!”
“I’m not sick!”
Ergouzi blushed, still wanting to stubbornly explain, but in the old man’s eyes, it was probably just a young person being too embarrassed to admit it.
The old man directly pulled out over a dozen small paper packets from under the table and threw them on the table.
“Two packets a day, taken internally and applied externally, 20 wen per packet.”
“I’m not sick, I just wanted to ask if you have ginseng here?”
Ergouzi felt this old man was very unreliable; how could he prescribe medicine randomly without asking about symptoms?
“Ginseng?”
The old man looked at Ergouzi with surprise, then waved his hand.
“No! Not only do I not have it, but most of the ginseng in the entire Anchang County is in the county magistrate’s hands. At most one or two leftover stalks are bought by Hong’an Hall.
You can go to Hong’an Hall to check.”
Then Ergouzi inquired about several other plantable medicinal herbs, but this place didn’t have any.
In the end, he only got a small packet of what was claimed to be cistanche seeds, costing him 100 wen.
The old man mysteriously told him that this thing grew in the desert outside the Great Wall, greatly nourishing kidney yang; whoever eats it will know.
However, Ergouzi wasn’t confident about being able to grow a variety from the desert outside the Great Wall; he could only try it first.
Through some conversation, Ergouzi also realized.
This old man only knew those few tricks, specializing in performing abortions and treating syphilis, as well as preparing some kidney-nourishing medicine that wouldn’t kill people; it seemed too unreliable.
“I have a kind of Great Strength Pill; eating it can increase strength. Do you want it here?”
As Ergouzi spoke, he wanted to take out the Great Strength Pills.
“No!”
Although the old man was unreliable, at this moment he was very firm, even revealing a trace of mockery.
Ergouzi felt a bit disappointed, put away the cistanche seeds, asked the old man about Hong’an Hall, and then headed towards Hong’an Hall’s direction. This chapter was copied from novelping . com without permission.
After walking out of this bluestone alley, there was a relatively wide street. The sky had just darkened, and shops on both sides of the street still had lights on.
While passing a meat bun shop, Ergouzi truly couldn’t resist the temptation and bought two meat buns, holding them in his hands while walking and eating.
The meat filling inside the buns was so fragrant, so oily; with one bite, his mouth was full of oil.
After eating two buns, he licked all the oil on his fingers clean.
Hong’an Hall was the largest medicinal herb shop in the entire Anchang County. The main hall inside was fifty to sixty feet wide, with many medicine cabinets standing, and the floor was paved with bright marble.
Ergouzi stood at the entrance and vigorously rubbed the mud off his straw sandals, also wiping the oil stains from his hands on his clothes, and only then walked in.
Inside, two physicians were seeing patients, and several apprentices were busy running around.
Here, not only could you see a doctor, but they also sold various medicinal herbs.
The shop also had many pre-made medicinal pills and plasters that anyone could buy and take directly.
As soon as Ergouzi walked into Hong’an Hall, an apprentice came to attend to him.
“Are you seeing a doctor or buying medicine?”
“I want to buy some medicinal herbs!”
As Ergouzi spoke, he curiously walked towards the rows of medicine cabinets, with many medicinal herb names written on the drawers.
Just then, from the corner of his eye, he glimpsed another man in green clothes entering the medicine shop door.
This person was precisely Zhang Youliang.
He had just seen him at Old Moneybags Huang’s house this morning; why was he also at the county seat?
Ergouzi didn’t want to meet his cousin, so he quickly turned around.
“Are the Origin-Nourishing Foundation-Fortifying Pills I wanted in stock now?”
The cousin seemed very familiar with Hong’an Hall, asking directly as soon as he entered.
“Coincidentally, we just got a new batch a few days ago, only about a dozen pills total.”
“Good! I want two pills.”
The cousin took out two silver ingots from his sleeve and threw them to an apprentice, then accepted a small porcelain bottle, tucked it into his chest, and left.
Ergouzi pretended to be reading the words on the medicine cabinets until his cousin had left, then he asked the apprentice beside him.
“What kind of medicine is this Origin-Nourishing Foundation-Fortifying Pill?”
“This is a secret formula pill from our shop; it strengthens the body and greatly nourishes vital energy, especially providing great help to martial artists.”
“How is it sold? How much for one pill?”
“This medicine is a bit expensive, 10 taels of silver per pill.”
He originally wanted to buy one pill to try, but never thought it would be so expensive.
One pill cost 10 taels of silver; his entire fortune was only 5 guan of cash.
To cover up the embarrassment of not being able to afford it, he lifted his eyes and casually looked around among the medicine cabinets.
Finally, he saw a drawer on a medicine cabinet labeled ginseng, ginseng flower, ginseng seeds, and ginseng leaves.
“Can I take a look at that drawer?”
The apprentice stepped onto a stool and pulled out the entire drawer for Ergouzi to see.
It turned out the drawer was divided into four compartments, containing ginseng leaves, ginseng flowers, ginseng seeds, and one ginseng stalk.
“How much for one stalk of ginseng?”
“This stalk is a wild mountain ginseng over ten years old, selling for 20 taels of silver.”
“Originally there were two stalks; we just used one a couple days ago. The Origin-Nourishing Foundation-Fortifying Pill earlier contained added ginseng.”
“Ginseng coming from the mountains has all been monopolized by the county magistrate. It’s only because our Hong’an Hall has strong connections that we can get one or two stalks.”
Saying this, the apprentice revealed a smug expression.
Ergouzi’s heart twitched; so expensive, even more unaffordable.
However, it strengthened his resolve to grow ginseng.
Perhaps he only needed one year to cultivate ten-year-old ginseng.
“How are these ginseng seeds sold?”
“This isn’t expensive, 60 wen per qian.”
Ergouzi had the apprentice pour out all the ginseng seeds in the compartment and weigh them; there were three qian and a half, totaling 210 wen.
Besides ginseng, he also bought some Solomon’s Seal seeds, costing 150 wen.
These seeds were originally medicinal herbs too; buying one or two kinds wouldn’t arouse suspicion, but buying too many wouldn’t be appropriate.
Finally successfully buying medicinal herb seeds, fulfilling a wish, he felt happy in his heart.
He also asked whether Hong’an Hall accepted Great Strength Pills, but naturally he was refused.
They thought he was a wandering charlatan; it was just that they were open for business and valued harmony, so they didn’t reprimand him to his face.
The Great Strength Pills he had originally been full of hope about, wanting to get rich from them, actually couldn’t sell a single pill.