As spring reached its peak, the weather warmed, and the number of traveling merchants doing business in Shangjing started to increase. Each day, Laiyi Inn was packed with guests.
Lu Tong had stopped using the inn's kitchen to prepare medicinal herbs.
Firstly, the number of guests had increased, and the inn was filled with people from all walks of life, making it dangerous for a young girl to move about the inn at night. Secondly, borrowing the kitchen daily, even with the most amiable innkeeper, would likely lead to discontent, despite no complaints being voiced.
Fortunately, the silver coins from the sale of Puhuang Charcoal meant they could last another half a month without reaching a point of desperation.
Yin Zheng was leaning over the table, idly dipping her finger in tea and writing characters on the table.
Her handwriting was very beautiful, elegant, and delicate, in the graceful style of ornamental small script. Lu Tong couldn't help but glance over a few times.
Noticing Lu Tong's gaze, Yin Zheng paused, then quickly wiped the water marks on the table with her sleeve and said, "Miss, I..."
"It's very pretty," Lu Tong said softly.
Yin Zheng blushed: "Back in the brothel, we girls had to learn all sorts of things, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. I wasn't good at anything except writing, which was passable, but..." She did not continue.
Lu Tong understood. Clients visiting brothels would pay a fortune for a song on the pipa and lavish pearls worth hundreds of bushels for a game of chess with Qing Gui, but they might not be willing to pay silver just to watch a girl write.
Scholars' calligraphy was worth a thousand pieces of gold, while a courtesan's writing held no value. The distinctions between high and low, rich and poor were clearly delineated by society.
Yin Zheng loved writing, so when Lu Tong asked her to write on the white oil paper wrapping the medicinal tea, she did so with great care. She asked Lu Tong, "But why write on the paper used to wrap the medicinal tea?"
Lu Tong thought for a moment: "When you and I first came to the capital, we saw tea houses and stalls everywhere along the road. The people of Shengjing love their tea."
Yin Zheng nodded.
"Even the smallest tea stall always has fresh flowers on display, with attention to presentation, and even scholars reciting poetry and discussing literature, all exhibiting elegance."
Yin Zheng seemed to understand: "That's why you made medicinal tea."
Lu Tong smiled faintly.
She did not make medicine pills or powder, but tea. She also had Yin Zheng write poems on the paper wrapping the tea, not only for elegance but also to improve the product's appeal, in hopes that someone would be tempted to try it.
As long as someone was willing to try it, the rest would be much easier.
Yin Zheng dimly understood some of it but still worried, sighing, "I just don't know when someone will come to buy our medicinal tea."
Lu Tong looked out the window.
Across the way at the tavern, the flag fluttered in the wind, willow catkins floated in through the window, and swallows swooped low. Among the crowd of passersby, there was no telling which one would come knocking.
She withdrew her gaze, her lips curving into a faint smile.
"Soon."
...
As Yin Zheng worried about the lack of response to the medicinal tea they had sent out, on the other side in Renxin Medical Hall, Du Changqing, the young owner, was not at ease either.
In front of the long counter, there was only a thin account book. This thin book, from the end of the year to now, had only a few pages filled out—the income was truly pitiful.
Holding the account book, Du Changqing flipped through it repeatedly and, after a while, let out a heavy sigh from deep within his throat: "It's over!"
Ah Cheng was unperturbed. Every month, the owner would calculate how long it would be until the business closed down. Since the death of old master Du, the countdown was getting closer. He figured that in another month or so, there would be no need to calculate anymore.
Du Changqing was also somewhat troubled.
Renxin Medical Hall had no doctors now. To save expenses, he had sent away even the apprentices who dispensed medicines, leaving only Ah Cheng and himself. Relying on a few old patrons to sustain the business was unrealistic, let alone the fact that one's relevance fades with absence. After the death of Old Master Du, he went back to being a good-for-nothing playboy, and as his family's wealth thinned, his fair-weather friends no longer cozied up for favors nor did they fawn over him as before.
Worldly affections wax and wane with fortune, and faces turn with one's rise and fall. This has been the case throughout history, both in China and abroad.
As he was heaving sighs of distress, Ah Cheng, who was wiping the tables, came to a halt and looked towards the entrance in surprise, exclaiming, "Official Hu?"
Startled, Du Changqing glanced up and surely enough saw Official Hu's carriage outside. Official Hu hurriedly disembarked and was heading towards the shop.
Official Hu had visited just five or six days ago; by his reckoning, it wasn't time for another visit.
Perplexed but wearing a warm smile, he called out, "Uncle, what brings you here so suddenly?"
Official Hu strode into the pharmacy in just a few steps, his gaze sweeping the interior as he simply said, "The tea...the medicinal tea..."
Du Changqing was thoroughly confused, "What medicinal tea?"
"You... a few days ago... in the Spring gift you packed for me... that packet of tea, medicinal, medicinal tea!" Official Hu's stammer, triggered by his anxiety, flared up.
At those words, Du Changqing felt a cold jolt. Could there be something wrong with the tea? Naturally, he thought the worst—misbegotten items were the last thing a pharmacy wanted. It was the first time he'd met that woman, they rarely had Puhuang Charcoal worth three silver coins, and she'd even given him two complimentary items—she definitely had an ulterior motive.
He shouldn't have greedily sealed up that tea for Official Hu!
Still...he and Ah Cheng had also drunk some of the remaining tea over the past few days without any issues. Could it be that only one packet was poisoned? Spit it out, if only they had drunk the poisoned batch themselves. If someone had actually died, selling the entire medical hall wouldn't even cover the loss!
While lost in these anxious thoughts, Du Changqing nonetheless said, "Uncle, the truth is, someone else made that tea. They'd just dropped off the medicinal tea and left, we were also..."
"...that tea is extremely good!"
Du Changqing's intended words lodged in his throat.
After taking a sip of water handed to him by Ah Cheng, Official Hu's speech smoothed out, "I've been drinking it for five days. My congested nose has cleared up a lot! Even going to the riverbank is not a problem!" Official Hu was quite excited, "Changqing, that medicinal tea is excellent; it's relieved an old ailment of many years!"
Du Changqing stood thunderstruck.
Grasping his hand, Official Hu's eyes brimmed with genuine affection for the first time, "I always knew you were a filial child, but how could I, an elder, take advantage of a younger one? Here are twenty taels of silver," he fumbled two silver ingots from his chest, and pressed them into Du Changqing's hand, "I want to buy five more packets."
Ah Cheng, standing behind Du Changqing, was also completely taken aback by the unfolding scene.
Seeing that Du Changqing had not spoken, Official Hu added, "Oh yes, you were just saying? The person who delivered the tea ran off and can't be found? Do you still have the tea?"
Du Changqing snapped to and replied with an urgency, "Yes! Still have!"
His mind racing, he quickly beamed and said, "Of course, we have more. The person selling the tea is quite an eccentric recluse, originally planning to leave, but we hit it off quite well. We've become good friends, and she has agreed to supply medicinal tea to Renxin Medical Hall in the future." He continued, "Uncle, you've really come to the right place. In all of Shengjing, only our Renxin Medical Hall has this tea. Please drink some water and rest a moment. She doesn't live nearby, and delivering the tea will take some time; please wait."
While speaking, Du Changqing slipped the silver ingots into his sleeve and grabbed Ah Cheng, pulling him into the back room.
Sweat gathered on his forehead and the tip of his nose as he urgently asked, "Do you remember where those two people said they were staying?"
Ah Cheng looked blank.
Du Changqing was frantic.
He hadn't taken those two seriously at the time, and now that he needed to find them, he couldn't recall the address they mentioned.
"Laiyi Inn?"
Ah Cheng shook his head.
"Wealth-obsessed Inn?"
Ah Cheng waved his hands in negation again and again.
Du Changqing irritably raked his fingers through his hair, feeling regret for the first time in his life.
"Damn it," he exclaimed, both anxious and angry, "what was the name of that inn!"