Chapter 24: Quiet Night of Medicine Preparation

  "Can't do that, your dad has already agreed to buy a quilt, anyway, one quilt won't cost much."

  "Now we can't afford to waste a single penny! Let's get through this tough time first, I don't want to be kicked out in the cold winter."

  "What's there to be afraid of? Can't you still live with your sister and her family?"

  "Father said so, he'd rather die than rely on his brother-in-law! Mother, we don't need to buy it, I can endure it, you can even bear with a quilt, and I'm younger than you, isn't my body better than yours? Don't worry! Anyway, you want me to buy it but I won't, that's all! Let's go home!" After saying this, Zuo Shao Yang walked back with his hands in his sleeves and his neck shrunk.

  Li family sighed, and had to follow behind, back to the Guizhitang. Told Zuo Gui and Huixiang about Zhao San Niang's deadline for New Year's Eve, they were originally full of hope, but after hearing it, they also stared blankly.

  "Today is already the 27th, and it's only three days away from New Year's Eve. Where can I come up with 3,500 yuan in such a short time?"

  "Or else, I'll think of a way to borrow money from someone again!" Liang said with a pout, but after saying this, she sighed: "All our relatives and friends have been borrowed from, now they all avoid me when they see me... Or else, Xiang, you go back and ask Hou Pu for help, find someone in the government to borrow some money?"

  "Still borrowing?" Xiang's eyes were about to well up with tears, and she said with a sorrowful face: "Is the money he borrowed for our family not enough? He has already borrowed all that can be borrowed. These past few days, people in the government office have been hinting at him to return the money in various ways. He doesn't even dare show his face in the government office!"

  Liáng shì jué wàng le, diē zuò zài dèng zi shàng. Yī shí guān, wū lǐ sǐ yì bān de chén jìng.

  English Translation:

  The Liang family was desperate, and sat down on the stool. For a moment, the room was as silent as death.

  "Let's eat!"

  The whole family sat down in silence, gnawing on the hard buns made of sorghum flour and black sesame seeds, drinking a bellyful of wild vegetable salt water soup, and considered dinner eaten. Xiang helped Liang's wife clean up, and without a word, went back home. Left Gui and his wife, as well as Left Shao Yang, each returned to their rooms to sleep, not even washing their faces.

  Zuo Shaoyang crawled onto the bed, wearing a quilted jacket and curled up under the covers, shivering with cold. He couldn't sleep no matter what. Just now he was still talking big, but it wasn't until he was really suffering from the cold on this winter's night that he realized how hard it was to bear. He thought to himself that this wouldn't do, and was afraid that if he slept till midnight, he would catch a chill. So he sat up cross-legged, leaning against the wall, wrapping the quilt around his body. Sitting up is warmer than lying down, but it's not good for sleeping or resting. Now the most important thing is to keep warm, not to sleep.

  He sat with his back against the wall, wrapped in a quilt, listening to the silence outside the window and gazing at the dim light outside the paper-covered window. It was the reflection of the snow on the ground. He felt very heavy-hearted, coming from modern society, having knowledge that exceeded that of people in the Tang Dynasty by over a thousand years, yet unable to help his family get out of their predicament. The more he thought about it, the more ashamed he felt.

  What should I do?

  Zuo Shaoyang's mind was constantly turning, recalling every bit of knowledge he had acquired since primary school, searching for a way to make a fortune. However, after thinking for a long time, he still couldn't think of a quick way to get rich.

  His mind was calculating, but his body didn't care about those things. Although he had taken this posture that could keep warm better than lying down, he still felt freezing and knew that if he continued like this, he would catch a cold again. Moreover, he couldn't sleep in such cold, so he got up with a start, climbed down the stairs, stood on the empty ground of the gunpowder house, and exercised his hands and feet by squatting. He thought to himself, tomorrow no matter what, I must think of a way to earn some money to buy two quilts, one for my parents and one for myself, otherwise this bitter life would be unbearable.

  After exercising for a while, I still felt cold and uncomfortable. Suddenly, I remembered that there was still half a bottle of hot wine on the counter, which was left over from treating the woman who had a difficult delivery earlier. Her family had given it to me. Why not drink some wine to warm up my body?

  Zuo Shaoyang hastily pushed open the door, tiptoed to the counter, and fumbled for the small half-bottle of wine. He pulled out the stopper, took a sniff, and was hit with a pungent smell of low-quality liquor that made him shudder involuntarily. In these difficult times, it's already a luxury to have any wine at all, let alone good wine.

  He picked up the wine jug, took a small sip first, swallowed it down, feeling very spicy, like a ball of fire rolling all the way to the middle of his stomach. Immediately after, he felt a warm air rush up, and couldn't help but feel a little joy in his heart - this stuff was still able to ward off the cold. He tilted his head back and gulped down two big mouthfuls, feeling extremely difficult to swallow. If there were some dishes to go with the wine, it might be better, but at home there was only pickled vegetables, and not much of that either - it was for accompanying rice, and he couldn't bear to secretly snack on it. He could only drink it straight down.

  The liquor burned as it fell into his belly, and the warmth quickly rose, reducing the chill in his body. His heart felt even more joyful, he shook the wine jug, estimating that there were still about two liang left, holding the jug he sneaked back into the room, closed the door, took another small sip, then placed the wine jug on the stove in the processing room, continuing to squat and move his hands and feet.

  After the wine's potency has risen, Zuo Shao Yang feels his body warm up a lot. As the intoxication rises, his central nervous system starts to get excited, and he can't sleep, thinking it's better to do something instead.

  This room is where they store medicinal herbs and process them for the pharmacy. The medicine cabinet has all sorts of herbs, and there are specialized stoves, pots, and tools for processing them. If we get kicked out on New Year's Eve, Zhao San Niang will confiscate these herbs anyway. Why not take this opportunity to prepare some commonly used modern medicinal pills? They'll come in handy when treating illnesses later on.

  As soon as he thought of this, he immediately became excited and pondered for a moment before deciding to prepare some emergency medicine pills like "Zhī Bǎo Dān". These medicines had relatively complicated procedures and needed to be prepared in advance; otherwise, it would be too late to prepare them when someone fell ill. This preparation couldn't be let known by his father and the others, so he could only do it secretly.

  Under the stimulating effect of alcohol, he acted promptly and found a fire striker to light up. He had learned how to use it to ignite, and after some effort, he finally lit the oil lamp. Holding the oil lamp, he began searching for the medicinal materials needed for the Treasure Elixir in the warehouse.

  After searching for half a day, he couldn't find the very important medicine, Hawksbill Turtle Shell, in the Treasure Dan. He was very disappointed. After thinking carefully and recalling that Hawksbill Turtle Shell was not used as a medicinal material in the Tang Dynasty, but first appeared in the Song Dynasty's "Newly Revised Materia Medica", it was not used as a medicinal material in the Tang Dynasty, and it was also a marine product, so naturally there wasn't any in the pharmacy.

  There is no carnelian, so the treasure pill cannot be made. Let's change to another one. After some thought, I decided to prepare "Zi Xue Wan". Zi Xue, together with Treasure Pill and Angong Niuhuang Wan, are known as the "Three Treasures" for clearing heat and opening orifices, which is a special medicine for treating heat closure syndrome, etc., often used to treat severe pneumonia, encephalitis B, high fever convulsions in children, and other symptoms of high fever, epilepsy and convulsions. This medicine comes from the Tang Dynasty's "Wai Tai Mi Yao", as a prescription has been used, indicating that the medicines contained have been used for a relatively long time in practice, and the efficacy is certain, before being recorded as a prescription in the book.

  The ancient formula for "Zi Xue Dan" requires the use of gold as a medicinal ingredient to calm the mind and soothe the spirit. The dosage is as high as 100 liang, which would be impossible to prepare if using the original formula. Fortunately, the modern formula for "Zi Xue Dan" has been improved and no longer uses gold or rhinoceros horn, nor does it use other rare medicinal ingredients. The preparation method has also been greatly simplified. The therapeutic effect of the resulting Zi Xue Dan is essentially the same as that of the ancient formula.

  Zuo Shaoyang quickly found all the medicinal herbs needed by Zi Xue and started decocting them over an open flame.

  The processing room was separated from Zuo Gui's bedroom by the empty medicine hall, and after closing the door, the outside noise became very small. Especially on the first night, Zuo Gui and Liang Shi gave their quilt to Zuo Shaoyang to cover himself, they had no quilt, froze for a night and couldn't sleep, so they sat up all night, didn't sleep for a whole night, and slept very soundly this evening. Zuo Shaoyang also made the processing of medicinal materials as quiet as possible, so they naturally couldn't hear anything.

  Zuo Shaoyang was drinking liquor on one side, while making urgent pills on the other. Not only did he configure Zixue, but also Huagai San, Jinfei Cao San, Yigong San and some other pill powders. In addition, he also configured commonly used medicines for external injuries to clear wounds, disinfect and promote tissue regeneration.

  He was busy until the fifth watch, finally finished preparing all the medicine pills, drank up all the burning wine, and only then extinguished the stove fire. After lighting a fire in the house, it became much warmer. He climbed onto the bed, exhausted from the whole night, and soon fell fast asleep.