Chapter 6 The Landlady

  Zuo Shaoyang's eyes were still unaccustomed to the dim light in the house and couldn't see other conditions clearly. Huixiang had already spoken up: "Dad! Mom! We're back."

  That thin old man just hummed and heard an old woman's voice in the darkness: "Xiang, go cook!"

  Zuo Shaoyang suddenly understood that the thin, bearded old man was the father of the deceased he had possessed, and would also become his own father, the old doctor Zuo Gui who liked to use cassia twig in his prescriptions. The elderly woman with a hoarse voice in the darkness should be his mother, Liang Shi.

  All I heard was a woman's voice cutting in sharply from the dimness, "Hey! You've got food to eat, how come you don't have money to pay my rent? I'm telling you, Left family, don't try to fool me like this. I've been waiting here for half a day already. If you don't give me the rent today, then forget about eating!"

  The old woman sighed and said, "Third daughter, we're not unwilling to give it to you. You've seen for yourself that only two patients have come in the whole morning, and the total medical expenses are just over ten cents. We've already given it all to you, but we really can't take out any more money. In these chaotic times when people don't even care about their own lives, who has the money to see a doctor? That's why opening a pharmacy isn't profitable either. It's hard to even make ends meet. Please be understanding..."

  "It's up to you whether you make money or not! Let me tell you, with the New Year approaching, as the old saying goes, 'people pass the year but debts don't!' There's no carrying over of debt from last year! This year's debt must be collected this year! With the New Year just around the corner, if it were just a few hundred coins I owed, I wouldn't pressure you. But this year, you owe me rent for my house, plus the accumulated amount from previous years, plus the money you borrowed from me for medicine, marrying off your daughter and all sorts of other things, totaling 9,070 coins! Alright, I'll let it slide a bit, consider me unlucky, I won't take that extra 70 coins. But you must pay back the 9,000 coins!"

  Zuoshao Yang asked on the road, Xie Xiang already knew that in the early Tang Dynasty, one or two taels of gold were equal to ten taels of silver, equal to one guan of copper coins, and equal to one thousand wen of copper coins. Equivalent to 5,000 yuan. That is to say, one wen coin is equivalent to five yuan.

  Guizhitang owes 9,000 yuan in rent, which is equivalent to 45,000 RMB. This amount of money is a staggering figure for this old and shabby pharmacy.

  That old woman said, "Third Sister, we really can't afford to pay the money. Let alone 9,000 coins, even if it's just 9 coins, we can't come up with it right now. We're supposed to be eating a meal, but all we have is coarse bread made from black flour mixed with wild vegetables in the pot. The black flour was given to us by the He family for half a catty during the New Year, and the wild vegetables were picked by Xiang and his brother when they went up the mountain to collect medicine. This year... wu wu wu, it's really impossible to get through!"

  "Alright! Stop crying in front of me, who doesn't have their own difficulties? You cry and I want to cry too. My husband left me this house when he died, and we women rely on the rent to eat. If I don't collect it, I'll be left with nothing but northwest wind to drink! Left family's, please, just help me out, give me the rent first!"

  Zuo Shao Yang listened to the two women talking in the dimly lit room, and at first couldn't see clearly. Gradually his eyes adapted to the light, and he finally saw that one of the women was a young woman sitting on a high-legged round stool, with her legs crossed, holding a cowhide paper tube in her hand, constantly taking things out of the tube and throwing them into her mouth, her pointed chin moving rapidly as she chewed, swallowing loudly. The light wasn't bright, so he couldn't see what she was eating.

  Mother Liang stands beside her, wearing a jacket with sleeves rolled up, and looks back with an unclear face.

  The old man sitting behind the long table never spoke, but only rolled up his sleeves and lowered his head to gaze at the ground, it was unclear whether he was thinking about something or being forced by debt and had no face to see people.

  At this time, the sky was almost dark. Huixiang took over the medicine bag from Zuo Shao Yang's shoulder and quickly entered the adjacent wing room to put it down, then came out again, crossed the main hall, and went into another wing room. Soon, a dim oil lamp lit up in the wing room, slowly floated out, but it was Huixiang holding it, walking to the long table, putting the oil lamp on the table. Said to the old man: "Father, my brother fell down the mountain cliff today while picking herbs, and hit his head, you take a look."

  Father Zuo Gui hadn't spoken yet, when Mother Liang had already rushed over, shouting in alarm, and grasped Zuo Shao Yang's shoulder, looking up at his face: "Zhong Er, are you hurt? Is it serious? Let mother take a look."

  Zuo Shaoyang looked at the dim light, saw clearly this face full of wrinkles, like a rugged yellow soil slope, a pair of turbid eyes struggled to open wide, staring at him, full of panic.

  Zuo Shaoyang wanted to call out "mother", but facing this unfamiliar woman, he couldn't bring himself to say it, and instead muttered vaguely: "I'm fine, just a little scratched."

  Zuo Gui finally lifted his head and looked at Zuo Shao Yang: "Sit down, let me take a look where the injury is."

  Zuō shǎo yáng sat on a round stool beside the long table, bowing his head: "The back of my head, there's a cut, some blood came out, it's nothing."

  Zuo Gui stretched out his two thin hands to hold Zuo Shao Yang's head, and with the dim oil lamp, he squinted his eyes to examine: "Hmmm! There is a wound, quite long, but it has already healed and stopped bleeding. How do you feel? Do you have a headache or feel like vomiting?"

  "I don't feel like throwing up, and I don't have a headache either, I'm fine."

  "Give me your hand and let me feel your pulse."

  Zuo Gui took Zuo Shao Yang's wrist, stroking his white goat-like beard with one hand, and carefully felt his pulse with the other. After a moment, he nodded slowly and said, "Hmm, your pulse is normal, nothing's wrong."

  "Hold on, nothing's wrong yet? Father, brother must have fallen hard, he...he can't even remember...sigh, I'll talk to you all later!"

  The landlord who was urging for debt payment stood up and walked over: "You pay the rent first, then chat slowly. I also need to hurry back home."

  Li said with a bitter face: "Third Sister, we really don't have any."

  This young woman is their landlord of Guizhitang rental house, surname Zhao, third in order, called Zhao San Niang.

  Zhao San Niang smiled coldly: "Fine, let's see how it goes. If that's the case, then don't blame me for being impolite. I expected this outcome. Tonight, you'll move out! Move immediately!"

  "Move? In this cold winter month, where do you want us to move to? Our Guizhitang rents your house to open a pharmacy and has been here for many years. We also have some regular customers who come to see the doctor frequently. If we move, first, we can't find a suitable house, second, these regular customers will be gone."

  "This is none of my business! You want to eat, I also want to eat! Can't just starve with you, can we? You owe me a total of 9,000 wen, since you can't pay up, then use medicine to settle the account!"

  Li and Zuo were both startled, looked at each other, and Li said with a bitter face: "Third Sister, these medicines were all bought on credit by us. If you take them away, what can we do?"

  "Mind you, I don't care about that! You owe others money, and you also owe me money! I don't care where you borrowed the money to buy these medicinal materials from! And another thing, even if we add up all these medicinal materials, they're not worth more than 9,000 wen. Originally, I wanted to seize your house as collateral for rent, but since I know what's in your house is also worthless, it's not worth much. This year is almost over, and I won't be too excessive, so I'll let you take them away. Alas, who made me have a good heart? It's like throwing copper coins into the water! I'm giving you one hour to pack up, and after one hour, I'll bring people to take back the house. If you don't move out by then, I can only ask someone to help you move! - Ah yes, there's a saying 'when a person dies, their debt doesn't die', even if you move away, you still have to pay me back the money you owe! I'll find people to come and collect the debt! That's all, I'm going back to eat!"

  Landlord Zhao San Niang said, and stepped out to leave.

  Li and Ai hurriedly begged, but Zhao San Niang seemed to have made up her mind, only saying that she would bring people to collect the house an hour later.

  Zuǒ shǎo yáng qiāng bù shàng qián, dàshēng dào: "Zhào āyí, ā bù, Zhào shěn, ā bù, Zhào sān shěn, nín děng yīxià, wǒ yǒu huà yào shuō."

  Translation:

  Zuo Shaoyang hastily stepped forward and said loudly: "Aunt Zhao, no, Auntie Zhao, no, Third Aunt Zhao, wait a minute, I have something to say."

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