Chapter 20: Chapter 19 Wu Xiaosi_1
Ti passed like flowing water, and in the blink of an eye, it was March, with the weather growing warr day by day.
The willows were green, and the poplar flowers floated endlessly, beautiful won and scholars by the Luoyue Bridge enjoyed their outings non-stop, admiring the famous flowers, gathering good friends, and the streets were never short of fancy carriages and riders, with their gold saddles vying for the road, decorating Shengjing with a patchwork of reds and greens, a vibrant and beautiful ti.
With more people out and about, Chun Shui Sheng was selling well. Lu Tong piled the tea jars into a small tower and placed it at the very front of the wooden table at Renxin dical Hall, and had Yin Zheng write a piece of calligraphy to hang on the wall behind the table.
Many of the scholars who ca to buy the dicine tea would arrive at the dical hall without first noticing the tea, their gazes instead drawn to the calligraphy on the wall.
"Sitting quietly without weariness, a lone guest arrives, with a bottle of spring water to brew tea. A few plum trees greet the early spring, fine rain, and gentle breezes gaze upon the fallen flowers." Soone stood at the entrance of the dical hall, muttering the lines of poetry on the wall, then exclaid in a low voice, "Good writing!"
Lu Tong looked up to see a middle-aged man dressed in the garb of a scholar, wearing a square scarf and a blue long gown that had been washed white, with patches hidden at the elbows. The man appeared to be sowhat embarrassed and, with a flush on his face, asked Lu Tong, who was in front of the dicine cabinet, "Excuse , Miss, do you sell Nasal Congestion Herbal Tea here?"
Lu Tong didn’t say much, only gesturing to the small mountain of jar tubes, "One jar, four taels of silver."
The man appeared to be dressed in poverty and looked to be in poor health; a jar of tea costing four taels of silver must have been expensive for him, yet upon hearing the price, he took a deep breath and withdrew a worn pouch of indistinct shape from within his chest, shaking out a handful of jumbled and broken silver pieces.
Ah Cheng took them to weigh, and it was exactly four taels of silver to the fraction, so Lu Tong gave him a jar of the tea and instructed him, "Drink it two to three tis a day. One jar of tea can be divided and brewed over five or six days."
The scholar nodded in acknowledgnt, tucked the tea jar into his chest like a treasured possession, and then slowly walked away.
Once he had left, Yin Zheng watched his retreating figure with so puzzlent, "That man looks like he is short on silver, why did he still co to buy such expensive tea? Isn’t he just adding to his own burden?"
Lu Tong followed her gaze for a mont, then looked down to rearrange the jars, whispering, "Perhaps it is for soone he holds dear in his heart."
...
After leaving West Street, the scholar made his way around the temple entrance and entered a fresh fish market.
On one side of the market there were dozens of fish stalls filled with the sll of fish and blood. By this ti, the market was closing. He carefully made his way around the dirty blood and fish scales on the ground and turned into a thatched cottage.
The cottage was very run down, but it had been swept clean. Hearing soone approach, an elderly woman’s hoarse voice ca from inside, "My son?"
The scholar replied with a simple "Ai
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