Chapter 43 Exposed

  Zuo Gui Dao: "Can you speak?"

  The old woman opened her mouth and made a sound that no one could understand. Seeing the crowd staring at him in surprise, Zuo Gui explained to everyone: "This is a common phenomenon of aphasia after stroke, which requires slow rehabilitation to recover, and it won't be so fast for the time being."

  Those men finally felt at ease, and the old woman's son bowed to Zuo Gui with his hands clasped together: "Zuo Langzhong, please trouble yourself to prescribe a few more doses of medicine and cure my mother's illness?"

  Zuo Gui looked embarrassed and said, "This is a stroke, not something that can be cured in three to five days. The recovery time will be relatively long, possibly over ten days or even several months, it's hard to say for sure. Long-term medication is necessary." After speaking, he turned around, put his hands behind his back and sat down behind the desk.

  As soon as the medicine was taken, it had an immediate effect. The old woman's son suddenly gained confidence and heard that Left Guizhen was talking about the cost of the medicine. Previously, at Hui Min Tang and other pharmacies, people would charge four taels of silver for a prescription, and if they couldn't afford it, they would say it couldn't be treated and drive them out. This Gui Zhi Tang only charged twelve cents per prescription, and one dose was effective, really meeting a noble person.

  Among the men who came, there were several relatives of the old woman, including her son and nephew. The rest were fellow workers who helped carry the body. After discussing for a while, the sons and nephews gathered together to pool their copper coins, which only added up to nine cents.

  Miao Peilan took out the purse from her bosom, poured out all the copper coins inside, which were the eight cents that Zuo Shao Yang had given her to buy firewood earlier, and handed them over to the man.

  That man gratefully patted his waist and said: "Pei Lan, thank you, I'll pay you back as soon as I make some money."

  Miao Peilan smiled and stepped aside.

  The man held seventeen copper coins and walked to the left of Guizhi's table, cupping his hands with a smile: "Old Langzhong, we gathered together, just these, not enough for two doses of medicine, can you first dispense the medicine, we will go back and gather money, and definitely pay you the medical expenses. We know that this medical expense is already a loss for you, we have already owed your kindness, and dare not owe again, I guarantee to pay you the full medical expenses."

  "Alright, I'll give you two more doses, enough for two days. After finishing them, bring the old man back for a follow-up examination and I'll adjust the medication accordingly."

  "Thank you! Thank you!" The man put 17 cents on the table, hurriedly cupped his hands and bowed, "We are still short of 7 cents, we will definitely send the medicine money over in these two days."

  Zuo Gui nodded and gazed at Zuo Shao Yang for a moment before saying slowly, "Zhong Er, according to the prescription, add two more packets of medicine for them to take back and use."

  Zuo Shaoyang agreed, picked up the medicine package, took out four purple snow medicine pills, walked to the bedside, handed the medicine package to the man, explained the decoction method and taking method, then turned his back to Zuo Gui, handed the medicine pills to the man, and said in a low voice: "Take this one separately, once a day, morning and evening, one pill each time."

  The man repeatedly thanked him and took the medicine. He also thanked Zuo Gui, brought his wife, and followed several other men carrying the old woman out of the door.

  Miao Peilan's face had a smile again, she glanced at Zuo Shao Yang, smiled sweetly and followed him out with her head down.

  Zuo Shaoyang hastily stepped forward and said: "Miss Pei Lan, are you returning to Lao Huai Village? It's getting dark, it's not safe on the road."

  Miao Peilan turned back and smiled: "I'm going to the construction site where my sister-in-law and others are staying, there are many sisters from our village working there. I'll be back tomorrow morning. Don't worry."

  Zuo Shao Yang listened to her patiently explaining and was delighted to nod in agreement.

  As they walked away, Huixiang happily said to Zuogui: "Dad, I didn't expect your medical skills to be so amazing! I originally thought that the medicine shops in Hui Min Tang wouldn't accept them because the medicine was too expensive and these people couldn't afford it. Who would have thought that with just twelve cents worth of medicine, you could cure their illness? If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have had to be a bad person either, hehe!"

  Zuo Shaoyang sneered: "You're coming to flatter now, but just a moment ago you were saying that Dad's medical skills are mediocre and can't cure this illness!"

  "I'm not afraid of the medical expenses being too expensive, we can't afford it! Now this medicine only costs 7 or 8 cents, and there's still room to make a profit."

  "Are you only counting the cost of medicine? What about rent? That's got to be added on, doesn't it? It can't be much more than ten cents. And for treating a patient, it's just one or two cents profit. No wonder they're not making a loss! Alas, your father has no choice but to come to our Guizhitang clinic, where all the patients are so poor, they begrudge spending even half a cent, and try to save every penny they can. If the medicine fees are set too high, who will come for treatment?"

  "We can differentiate our treatment, for those with money, we can charge a higher price when they see the doctor, and for the poor, we should charge a lower price."

  "Right," said Angelica, "the consultation and medicine fees at Hui Min Tang are several times higher than ours. I just can't understand why so many people still go there to see a doctor."

  Mr. Liang sighed, "Others like the Huimin Hall's Doctor Nai have been summoned by the king and his ministers to diagnose their illnesses, people are willing to spend more money just for the fame, but those with money all go to famous pharmacies and clinics for treatment, who would come to our place? Like the wealthy family that Zhong'er and his father met in Laohuai Village yesterday, it's been so many years and only this one time!"

  "After all, it's still that our reputation is not enough. However, Dad has successfully treated three difficult and critical cases in a row, and accumulated some reputation. In the future, as long as we continue like this, our reputation will slowly increase."

  "Right! This time's patient, isn't it the one who heard about our pharmacy's treatment of dead fetus retention and came to seek medical help? So, flowers bloom and butterflies come, Father will continue to show off his skills, cure more critical and difficult cases, and our Guizhitang's reputation will grow. When the water rises, the boat will rise too, then we can raise our consultation fees, and still provide free diagnosis and medicine for the poor, achieving both fame and fortune."

  "Sister, aren't you thinking too far ahead? The rent for this house hasn't been settled yet. Adding up what we earned in Wasteland City today and just now, it's only about 30 or so wen. We still owe 2,110 wen, and tomorrow is the 30th of the last month of the year. Zhao San Niang will come at noon, what are we going to use to pay the rent?"

  "You're really something! Which pot doesn't open, mention which pot! What else can be done? Move house, right, Dad?"

  Zuo Gui sat there with his sleeves wrapped around him, lost in thought, as if he hadn't heard them talking at all. Huixiang found it strange and asked in a low voice, "Dad, what's wrong?"

  Zuo Gui stood up, glanced at Zuo Shao Yang, walked into the kitchen with his hands behind his back, and a moment later, a loud voice came from the kitchen: "Zhong Er, come in!"

  The sound was somewhat cold, Zuo Shao Yang and his mother and sister exchanged a glance, wondering what had happened, and hastily replied, entering the kitchen. There, they saw a pile of medicinal dregs on the stove, which had already been dug up. Zuo Gui stood there with his sleeves rolled up, his face cold: "What's going on?"

  Zuo Shaoyang saw the medicine dregs and realized they were from the medicine he had just decocted for Lao Dainai, and his heart skipped a beat as he stammered: "Wh-what's going on, Father?"

  Zuo Gui stretched out his hand, picked up a piece of dregs from the medicine residue, and handed it to Zuo Shao Yang: "What is this?"

  After decocting the Chinese medicine, most of the medicines can retain their original shape. This medicine is also like this, it's a piece of Lingyang Pian. Zuo Shaoyang smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to respond.

  Zuo Gui threw away the Lingyang Pian, and picked up another one from the medicine dregs. It was a Shuanggou Teng. He glanced at Zuo Shaoyang, put it down, and picked up another piece, which was Fushenmu. Zuo Gui shook his head and said, "Are these medicines for Xunming San?"

  Zuo Shaoyang lowered his head: "No."

  Zuo Gui said sternly: "The medicine was brewed by you, what's going on?"

  Liáng shì and Huí xiāng stood at the kitchen door listening, seeing Zuǒ guì get angry, Liáng shì suddenly panicked, hurriedly came over to say: "Old master, let's talk things through..."

  "What are you talking about! It's all your fault!" Zuo Gui's voice suddenly rose, "He dares to secretly switch medicines now! What if something goes wrong? Who's going to take responsibility?"

  Zuo Shaoyang immediately recalled that before crossing over, he had suggested adding a dose of Huanglian to the patient's medication, which had annoyed the director. In the other person's eyes, this behavior was a serious distrust of their medical skills, and could even be seen as provocative. Even if his substitution had been reasonable, the other party wouldn't care about that and would only seize on the previous change in medication to launch a fierce attack.