The road from Shexi Village to the county was long. They had set off early in the morning, encountered bandits once, and rested twice. It wasn’t until dusk that they finally arrived at the county.
Ergouzi finally saw the legendary county town and looked around wide-eyed, curious about everything.
Outside the county was an earthen wall over ten feet high—much taller than the wall around Huang Laocai’s courtyard.
It was far more grand than he’d imagined.
Beyond the wall, several tall buildings could be seen, each at least five or six stories high.
Only now did Ergouzi realize that buildings could be built so tall, and made so exquisite and beautiful.
The city gate was at least two to three zhang wide, and people were constantly going in and out.
Many, like them, were pushing wheelbarrows to deliver taxes.
After entering the city, they hadn’t gone far when a swarm of ragged beggars rushed at them, giving Ergouzi quite a fright.
“Scram!”
Laifu and A’Gui shouted while lashing at them with branches, finally driving the beggars away.
“These beggars bully the soft and fear the tough—they target country folk coming to the city for the first ti.”
“Laifu, let’s rest at the usual spot tonight and head to the county office tomorrow morning.”
Huang Laocai had Laifu lead the way. They walked along a cobbled street.
Both sides of the street were lined with shops—tailor shops, candy and pastry stores, bun stalls, general goods…
Ergouzi had never seen such a colorful array of stores before. It was so novel that he didn’t even know how to walk properly.
Passing a half-open wooden door, he craned his neck to peek inside to see what was being sold.
A woman stepped out. She looked around the sa age as his Aunt, but wore a flashy outfit and had lips painted bright red, as if she had just drunk blood.
“Young man… co in and have so fun!”
She reached out to grab him, startling Ergouzi into hastening his steps.
“Thanks, Auntie, maybe next ti!”
He walked away quickly, blushing as he left a sentence behind.
Aunties in the county sure were warm—didn’t even know him but still invited him so enthusiastically.
“Hahahaha…”
His flustered expression set off a burst of laughter among the other tenants.
“Ergou, why didn’t you go in!”
“It’s really fun inside!”
“Didn’t expect you to be so cheeky for your age!”
“…”
From everyone’s teasing, Ergouzi finally realized—this must be the dark alley place he’d heard others ntion. His face turned scarlet, and he didn’t dare lift his head.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take you tonight—just five copper coins to get your first taste!”
A’Gui patted Ergouzi on the shoulder, winking. The tenants burst into another round of laughter.
“Skip two als if you have to…”
“We ca all this way—can’t leave empty-handed…”
From the way they chatted, they really seed ready to spend five copper coins there.
These n worked like dogs in the fields and were stingy even with salt for their als.
Yet now they were willing to spend five copper coins on sothing so pointless.
At 14, Ergouzi couldn’t understand this behavior at all.
Better to use those five coins for a at bun.
Along the road, they passed several more half-closed doors, where won leaned at the entrances, warmly greeting passersby.
The tenants chuckled and flirted back.
Ergouzi didn’t dare peek again and could only rush past, red-faced.
But when he occasionally sneaked a glance, he spotted a dicine shop by the street and made a ntal note of the location.
Lately, he’d been thinking of adding dicinal herbs to the Strength Pills to give them a dicinal taste.
The herbs had to be non-lethal—he had no intention of making money by killing people.
If they could even have so health-boosting properties, that would be even better.
To that end, he had specially asked Li the Half-Immortal for knowledge about dicinal herbs.
His master, Li the Half-Immortal, was a master of both civil and martial arts—nothing under heaven was beyond his expertise.
He had introduced several tonic herbs, like ginseng, polygonatum, and lingzhi. But these herbs took a long ti to grow and were expensive.
Ergouzi thought it’d be best to buy seeds and grow them himself.
But there was only one herbal doctor in all of Sanchazi Town, and he didn’t have these herbs or seeds.
He’d long wanted to visit the county but had delayed it due to the unfamiliar road and rumors of bandits.
At the end of the street, there was an open space where several groups had already gathered to rest.
Most were traveling rchants or landlords from other places bringing taxes.
Maybe it was too crowded or too costly to stay at inns, so they had to make do outside.
Laifu brought a large bundle of firewood and built a bonfire on the spot.
Huang Laocai took out a big bag of dry biscuits and distributed them to everyone. They roasted them over the fire and ate as they went.
“Tonight, we’ll take turns keeping watch—four n per shift, one shift per hour.”
Laifu and A’Gui, being Huang Laocai’s trusted aides and seasoned travelers, handled everything neatly.
After tasks were assigned and everyone had eaten their fill, several tenants slung their arms over each other’s shoulders and whispered mysteriously.
“Ergou, co on! Let’s pop your cherry!”
Laifu slapped Ergouzi on the shoulder, grinning.
“I’m not going!”
Ergouzi blushed furiously. Though he was curious, he wouldn’t dare do sothing so bold.
Seeing his flustered expression, they laughed again, then slung arms and left together.
Not long after Laifu and the others left, Ergouzi also went up to Huang Laocai and excused himself to leave alone.
Of course, he wasn’t looking for the dark alley. When he passed by those doors again and was beckoned inside, he kept his head down and hurried past.
Soon, he found the dicine shop he’d spotted earlier.
The interior was extrely bare—just a single desk, no visible dicine cabinets.
An old man sat behind the desk, fiddling with herbs. When he heard Ergouzi’s footsteps, he didn’t even look up and asked:
“You here for an abortion, or venereal disease?”
“I don’t need an abortion—I just want to buy so herbs!”
Ergouzi quickly explained.
But the old man didn’t seem to hear and asked again:
“Abortion or venereal disease?”
“I don’t need an abortion, and I’m not sick!”
Only then did the old man raise his head and see a young boy who hadn’t even fully matured.
“No illness? Then why are you here? Little brat’s up to no good—caught a venereal disease and too embarrassed to admit it!”
“I’m not sick!”
Ergouzi blushed and tried to explain again, but in the old man’s eyes, he was just a shy kid trying to deny it.
The old man directly pulled out a dozen small paper packets from under the table and threw them onto the surface.
“Two packs a day, take one orally, apply one externally—20 wen per pack.”
“I’m not sick. I just wanted to ask if you have ginseng here?”
Ergouzi felt this old man was really unreliable. Who prescribes dicine without even asking about the illness?
“Ginseng?”
The old man looked at Ergouzi with surprise, then waved his hand dismissively.
“Nope! Not only do I not have any, most of the ginseng in Anchan County is in the hands of the County Magistrate. At most, a few leftover roots are bought up by Hong’an Hall.”
“You can try checking over there.”
Ergouzi asked about a few other herbs that could be planted, but none were available here.
In the end, he only got a small packet of what was supposedly desert cistanche seeds, which cost him 100 wen.
The old man whispered mysteriously that this herb grew in the outer desert, was a powerful kidney tonic, and whoever used it would know its effects.
But since it was a desert species, Ergouzi wasn’t confident he could successfully cultivate it. He decided to give it a try anyway.
After so conversation, Ergouzi realized the old man really only had a few tricks—he focused on abortions, venereal diseases, and dubious kidney-tonic pills. Completely unreliable.
“I’ve got a kind of Strength Pill—it boosts strength when taken. Do you want to try selling it here?”
Ergouzi spoke as he reached for the pills.
“Nope!”
Though the old man was flaky, he was firm this ti and even gave a mocking smirk.
Ergouzi was a bit disheartened. He stored away the desert cistanche seeds, asked for directions to Hong’an Hall, and headed in that direction.
After exiting the narrow stone alley, he reached a wider street. The sky had just gone dark, and the shops on either side still had their lights on.
As he passed a at bun shop, Ergouzi couldn’t resist the temptation and bought two at buns. He held them in his hands, eating as he walked.
The at filling was fragrant and oily—one bite, and oil gushed in his mouth.
After finishing both buns, he licked the oil off his fingers until they were clean.
Hong’an Hall was the largest dicine shop in Anchan County. Its main hall was over five zhang wide, with rows of dicine cabinets and a polished marble floor.
At the entrance, Ergouzi scrubbed the mud off his straw shoes vigorously and wiped the oil on his clothes before stepping in.
Inside, two doctors were seeing patients, and several apprentices were bustling about.
The shop not only offered consultations but also sold all kinds of herbs.
There were also many pre-made pills and ointnts available for anyone to purchase and use imdiately.
As soon as Ergouzi walked in, one apprentice ca over to greet him.
“Here to see a doctor or buy dicine?”
“I want to buy so herbs.”
As he answered, Ergouzi had already walked curiously toward the rows of dicine drawers, reading the nas labeled on each.
Just then, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that soone else had entered the shop—a man in a green robe.
It was Zhang Youliang.
He’d just seen him that morning at Huang Laocai’s house—why was his older male cousin also in the county town?
Not wanting to run into him, Ergouzi quickly turned his back.
“My Peiyuan Gutben Pills—are they back in stock yet?”
His cousin seed very familiar with the shop and asked straight away upon entry.
“Just arrived a few days ago—we only have about a dozen.”
“Great! I’ll take two.”
Zhang Youliang pulled two silver ingots from his sleeve, handed them to an apprentice, then took a small porcelain bottle and tucked it into his robe before leaving.
Ergouzi kept pretending to read the cabinet labels until his cousin had gone, then quietly asked the apprentice beside him:
“What are Peiyuan Gutben Pills?”
“They’re a secret formula pill made by our shop—strengthens the body, boosts Yuanqi, especially helpful for martial artists.”
“How much are they?”
“They’re a bit pricey—ten taels of silver each.”
Ergouzi had originally wanted to buy one to try, but he didn’t expect them to be so expensive.
One pill cost ten taels of silver, and all his money only amounted to five guan.
To cover his embarrassnt, he continued browsing the labels on the dicine drawers.
Finally, he saw one labeled “Ginseng,” “Ginseng Flower,” “Ginseng Seed,” and “Ginseng Leaf.”
“Can I see that drawer?”
The apprentice stepped onto a stool and pulled the entire drawer out for him.
Inside, it was divided into four sections: ginseng leaves, ginseng flowers, ginseng seeds, and a single ginseng root.
“How much for the ginseng root?”
“That one is a wild ginseng root that’s over ten years old—20 taels of silver.”
“There were two originally—one was used a few days ago to make the Peiyuan Gutben Pills.”
“All the mountain-grown ginseng is already monopolized by the County Magistrate. Only we at Hong’an Hall have enough pull to get one or two roots.”
The apprentice spoke with clear pride.
Ergouzi’s heart clenched. So expensive—he definitely couldn’t afford it.
But it only strengthened his resolve to grow ginseng himself.
Maybe he just needed a year to cultivate ginseng that looked ten years old.
“How much are the ginseng seeds?”
“Those aren’t expensive—60 wen per qian.”
Ergouzi asked him to pour out all the ginseng seeds in the drawer. They weighed three and a half qian, totaling 210 wen.
In addition to the ginseng seeds, he also bought so polygonatum seeds, which cost 150 wen.
These were also dicinal herbs. Buying a couple types wouldn’t raise suspicion—but buying too many might.
Finally, he had successfully bought herbal seeds—fulfilling a wish and feeling delighted.
He asked whether Hong’an Hall would be interested in buying his Strength Pills—but was naturally turned down.
They thought he was a street scamr. Still, they were courteous enough not to call him out in public.
The Strength Pills he had hoped would make him rich—turned out, he couldn’t even sell one.
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