Chapter 25: The Inevitable Measure

  It was still the sound of his mother, Mrs. Liang, chopping firewood in the kitchen that woke him up from his dream, and the sky outside the window had already brightened. Zuo Shaoyang hastily folded his quilt, went downstairs, and without being told, took a broom himself, opened the door of the medicine shop, and swept the snow at the entrance.

  The snow from the night before had again covered the road that was swept clean yesterday, he panted as he swept the floor, his fingers were almost frozen stiff, only then did he finish sweeping the snow in front of the pharmacy entrance. Then he took a small broom and swept the hall, using a cloth to wipe down the medicine cabinets, tables, and chairs. After finishing these tasks, Left Guizhong happened to get out of bed. Seeing him busily cleaning the pharmacy, he nodded slightly. Under Liang Shi's service, he washed up and drank a cup of hot tea that Liang Shi had brewed, slowly sipping it as he sat behind the long table in the pharmacy hall.

  Zuǒ Shǎo Yáng this time did not stand behind the medicine cabinet, he rolled up his sleeves and stood at the door, looking left and right at the people coming and going. There were only two and a half days left until the deadline for paying rent, and if they couldn't find the money by tomorrow noon, the whole family would be homeless. In these short two days, they had to find 3,500 wen, which was an astronomical figure for them!

  He gazed at the passersby and pondered how he could make money.

  Until noon, not only couldn't think of a way to make money, but even no patient came for treatment. Thinking about it, this is the end of the year, and soon it will be New Year's, who would come to see a doctor at this time? If it's an emergency, they would all go to a big hospital like Hui Min Tang, and wouldn't come to Gui Zhi Tang. Although yesterday cured a woman with a dead fetus that couldn't be delivered, but this is still far from enough to make Gui Zhi Tang famous and well-known, after all, the reputation of a medical hall and pharmacy is accumulated over the years by treating countless patients, not something that can be obtained immediately through one or two successful cases.

  After lunch, Zuo Gui originally looked up at the door with his face raised, but now he was huddled in his sleeves and lowered his head, so depressed that he wanted to bury his head under the table.

  Zuo Shaoyang finally couldn't stand it anymore, he had to take the initiative to attack, and absolutely could not sit and wait for death. He turned his head to Zuo Gui and said: "Dad, I'm going out for a walk. See if I can think of some way to make money."

  Zuo Gui lowered his head and grunted in a low voice, but didn't raise his head.

  He walked slowly along the street, his sleeves fluttering in the wind, towards Hui Min Tang. After a night of thinking, he realized that the only way to make money was through his medical skills. Sitting in the pharmacy with no one coming to seek treatment, he could only go out and find people to treat. And the place where patients gathered most was Hui Min Tang.

  He arrived at the gate of Huimin Hall, and although it was already close to Chinese New Year, there were still many people queuing up inside waiting for medical treatment. The patients went in and out with the support of their family members. Seeing him standing at the door, the pharmacy staff looked surprised, smiled and stepped forward: "Young Master Zuo has arrived, what brings you here? Are you going to sell musk again? Hehehe?"

  Zuo Shaoyang ignored his mockery and continued to gaze at the patients in the hall, sincerely hoping that these people had come to see him for treatment. If so, after a day of seeing patients, he might encounter several generous and wealthy patients with serious illnesses, perhaps enough to scrape together 3,500 coins. However, he was well aware that he was too young and unknown, and no one believed in his medical skills, so no one would come to see him for treatment.

  The shop assistant saw that he was ignoring him, curled his lips and still smiled: "Young Master Zuo, take a look at your convenience, I'll go in and get busy!" He turned around and entered the main hall.

  In the waiting room, patients and their families looked at him with their eyes. Two of them whispered: "This is the young master of Guizhitang, I heard that they cured a woman who had a stillbirth yesterday afternoon! The woman was not cured in Huimintang, but was cured by his father."

  "Is that so? I heard that Guizhitang Hospital is not very good at treating illnesses, they can't even cure a cold or headache, how can they possibly cure this illness?"

  "It's hard to say, others may have a secret recipe and might be able to cure this illness!"

  "That's right, it can't be said for sure."

  ……

  Upon hearing their discussion, Zuo Shao Yang's eyes suddenly lit up and an idea popped into his mind. He didn't care if it was useful or not; he just had to give it a try. He put down the hand that was hidden in his sleeve, adjusted his robe, and straightened the kerchief on his head before walking into Hui Min Tang and directly approaching the counter.

  Yesterday, the second shopkeeper of his pharmacy saw him coming over and sneered: "Is it Young Master Zuo? What kind of medicine are you going to sell at a high price today?"

  "Who's been selling you for a high price? Willing to buy and sell!" Zuo Shaoyang glared at him and muttered, "Why do you have to speak so unpleasantly?"

  The Second Master saw that there was a patient coming this way and hurriedly put on a smile, saying with a pleasant expression: "Does Young Master Zuo have some important business?"

  Zuo Shaoyang glanced around, leaned in and whispered: "Boss, do you know that the woman who came to your clinic two nights ago with a dead fetus that wouldn't come out was cured by our Guizhitang yesterday afternoon?"

  The Second Master's face was cold and stern as he stared at him for a moment, then said slowly: "What does Young Master Zuo mean by these words? Is it that you look down on the medical skills of our Huimin Hall?"

  "No, no, don't get me wrong, I'm just asking if you know about this thing?"

  "What if I know? What if I don't?"

  "Shopkeeper, you really misunderstood me. I didn't mean anything else. I came here today to sell this prescription to you. Do you have any interest?"

  "Oh?" The second shopkeeper sized up Zuo Shao Yang, seeing that he didn't seem to be joking, and turned his head to the side to instruct a colleague: "Quickly go and call for the head shopkeeper!"

  The head of the shop was a famous doctor, Mr. Ni, who was the elder brother of the second in charge. The two brothers ran this pharmacy together. Soon, Doctor Ni came out from the back room. After hearing what had happened, he too looked at Zuo Shao Yang with some surprise. A moment later, he said: "Mr. Zuo, please come inside to talk!"

  Zuo Shaoyang followed Ni Dafu into the back hall, where there was a small parlor. After they sat down, an attendant brought in two cups of tea and then retreated, closing the door behind him.

  Ni Daifu slowly said, "I heard about yesterday's events too. To be honest, I'm very surprised. I didn't think your esteemed hall could cure this terminal illness. I must express my admiration."

  Zuo Shaoyang smiled and said, "Well, to be honest, this prescription is a secret recipe passed down from my ancestors in the Zuo family. If we weren't in urgent need of money now, I wouldn't sell it. Does Doctor Nie have any interest in buying our prescription?"

  Ni Daifu gazed at Zuo Shao Yang for a moment and said, "Since it's the left family's ancestral recipe, can you make the decision to sell it to us?"

  "Of course." Zuo Shaoyang casually told a lie, "It was my dad who asked me to come. I've already said that we're in urgent need of money, otherwise we wouldn't be selling it. I also know that Huimin Hall is fair and has never cheated the young or the old, so you'll definitely give us a suitable price. That's why among all these medicine shops and clinics, I came to find your esteemed hall to discuss this."

  Listening to Zuo Shaoyang praising himself, Ni Dafu still looked calm and said: "How can I know whether the prescription you gave me is true or false?"

  "I'll write a guarantee for you, with the reputation of our noble Zhitang as collateral. I absolutely guarantee that this prescription is genuine. If you encounter similar medical cases in the future, you can try it out. If it doesn't work, I'll double compensate you! Moreover, with your skills, Doctor Ni, distinguishing between a real and fake prescription shouldn't be too difficult, should it?"

  Ni Dafu nodded slowly: "That's right, what price is Zuo Shaoyang preparing?"

  "Name your price, I trust you." Zuo Shao Yang also didn't know how much this prescription could sell for.

  Ni Daifu glanced at Zuo Shao Yang and said, "You set the price then. You're selling something, so you should be the one to name a price first. If it's reasonable, I'll buy it."

  "Is that so?" Zuo Shaoyang lowered his head in thought, then suddenly opened his five fingers and said: "Ten taels of silver!"

  "Haha......" Ni Dafu laughed, his white beard shaking as he gently shook his head: "Young Master Zuo is really good at joking, a prescription sold for ten taels of silver, it seems that Young Master Zuo has come to amuse an old man like me."

  "Who's joking?" Zuo Shao Yang's head felt a bit heavy, "This prescription has saved people's lives before, can't a life-saving prescription be worth ten taels of silver?"

  Ni Dafu stroked his white beard and said: "Do you know, I've been a doctor for over 30 years, how many cases of dead fetus I've treated?"

  Zuo Shaoyang shook his head.

  "Not more than thirty pieces! That is to say, it's hard to come across even one piece in a year!"

  "Huh?"

  "Does Young Master Zuo know that out of these thirty or so hopeless cases, how many have been cured by this old man?"

  Zuo Shaoyang shook his head again.