Chapter 15: The Eyes are Peeing

Today was market day, and it was still morning. The streets were quite lively.

Song Liangzuo walked ahead while the grandmother followed closely behind with a bamboo basket on her back, watching her precious grandson with an adoring expression as he jostled among the crowd, eager to see what was happening.

He didn’t linger too long at any one spot; after a brief look, he would move on, tugging her along with his curiosity.

Whenever he stumbled upon a stall, he would inch closer to peek. If he saw a few idlers squatting nearby chatting, he would sneak over to listen. If he encountered a scholar dressed in a blue robe, he would muster up the courage to greet them, taking advantage of his innocent childhood status.

This filled the grandmother with pride; her clever grandson was engaging with scholars!

He darted into the rouge shop and the tailor’s shop, and the grandmother let him go freely. However, when he aimed to slip into the Chinese medicine shop, the grandmother grabbed him firmly and coaxed him, “Clever grandson, this is a pharmacy; we shouldn’t go in.”

To her, entering a pharmacy without needing medicine was an omen of bad luck, a place only to visit when one was ill.

But Song Liangzuo pointed curiously at an old man who had just walked in, saying, “Grandma, I just saw that old man has a flower peeking out of his bamboo basket. That flower is the honeysuckle I saw by the hunter’s place! He’s taking it into the pharmacy; could it be that flower is a medicinal herb? Can it sell for silver?”

This wasn’t just Song Liangzuo’s imagination—he genuinely saw the honeysuckle sticking out of the man’s basket.

At that moment, he felt ecstatic. He had originally wanted to check out the private school to see if he could find any opportunities, but who would have thought the pharmacy would provide him with a breakthrough first?

“What flowers? Those won’t fetch any coins! We have plenty of flowers growing in the fields, yet no one goes to sell them. We’re not going there; it’s bad luck!” the grandmother insisted sternly.

“Grandma, what you mean is that sick people go in and out of pharmacies, so you think it’s unlucky, right? It’s not that the medicinal herbs are bad. They’re for saving lives; how could that be unlucky?” Song Liangzuo corrected her.

The grandmother realized her words had slipped out, and seeing her grandson speak words that resonated with her own thoughts, she quickly nodded.

Noticing that his grandmother was more open-minded, he looked at her with anticipation and said, “Grandma, how about letting me go in for a look? I want to see if that flower can really sell for money.”

“Fine, I’ll go in with you,” the grandmother declared with determination, but was stopped by Song Liangzuo.

He thought mischievously: if he went in alone and stayed for a while, when he emerged, he could tell her that he learned a lot; after all, he’d find out how various herbs, like cow tongue grass and dandelion, were all medicinal herbs.

This was a way for him to gain knowledge without directly applying himself.

If his grandmother went in with him, then everything he learned, she would also know—the knowledge would not multiply infinitely.

“Grandma, if you go in with me, they’ll surely think we’re there to get medicine, but we aren’t. I’m just a child; I can slip in unnoticed and watch for a bit. If it turns out we can sell it for money, we could go pick it ourselves and then trade it for coins. You won’t need to worry about me; you’ll be able to see me from here!”

Song Liangzuo pointed at the counter inside the shop.

Looking at the pharmacy sign, her thoughts drifted as her gaze fell upon a long row of reddish-brown medicinal cabinets.

She didn’t need to go in to know that those cabinets were filled with countless small drawers, each marked with a distinctive wooden label indicating the names of various medicinal herbs.

She was aware that commonly used herbs were stored in the upper drawers for easy access during preparations.

Lighter and lesser-used herbs were placed in the higher drawers, and heavier herbs were contained in the lower drawers, while the fluffy ones were stored in the largest drawers at the very bottom.

Don’t ask how she knew all of this—a habit developed from doing homework after school in her uncle’s pharmacy since elementary school.

As she gazed at the familiar items, Song Liangzuo felt a wave of emotions and the urge to pee.

The grandmother, unaware that her precious grandson was reminiscing, ultimately decided that she could agree to let him in. She thought, “Going into the pharmacy without needing to get medicine isn’t that necessary,” and after a moment’s hesitation, nodded. “Just look and don’t talk too much; come back out quickly.”

Song Liangzuo nodded eagerly and scampered into the pharmacy. The shop boy saw the little lad enter and was about to approach him to ask what he needed when suddenly the boy grinned and darted towards the counter, running up to the old man who was pulling out herbs from his bamboo basket.

“Oh, so he is the old man’s grandson,” the shop boy thought, deciding not to approach further.

The old man noticed someone had suddenly come close and looked down to see a timid little boy staring up at him. He smiled at the boy, who then quickly turned away and ran off.

Not thinking much of it, the old man assumed it was just the child of the patient accompanying him.

However, just a few steps later, Song Liangzuo, filled with curious excitement, returned to the side of the old man.

Song Liangzuo unintentionally showcased what a charming misunderstanding looked like; the shop staff believed he was the old man’s grandson, and the old man thought he was part of the pharmacy.

The counter was too high for him to see what the old man was getting; he could only listen intently.

Inhaling the fragrant smell of herbs in the pharmacy, he felt a familiar scent deeply fill his senses, and he instinctively rubbed his eyes.

“Brother, this basket of fresh honeysuckle can only fetch you twenty wens. Also, this five-year-old Tianqi is worth some silver; but this one from just under three years is a bit too early for harvesting. Since you’ve brought it, I’ll give you two taels of silver for both.”

Upon hearing he could sell for two taels of silver, the old man’s smile widened, “Alright, alright, just give me what you think is fair! By the way, I’ll also need some herbs from that prescription you gave me last time.”

The transaction proceeded quickly, and Song Liangzuo was concerned his grandmother might be waiting outside anxiously. Thus, he hurried out.

When the grandmother saw him come out, she quickly waved to him but noticed his eyes were slightly red. She was furious, “Clever grandson, what’s wrong with your eyes? Did they give you trouble?”

Fearing that his grandmother would cause a stir, Song Liangzuo hurriedly shook his head. “No, Grandma, I’m fine. I just got a bit used to the smell of the herbs inside, so I rubbed my eyes with my sleeve.”

Only then did the grandmother realize. She had seen him rubbing his eyes before and assumed it was because the smell had irritated him.

Seeing him come out safely, she was about to pull him away when Song Liangzuo stopped her again, “Grandma, we’re not in a hurry; let’s wait for that old man to come out. I want to ask how much they pay for cow tongue grass and dandelion. I saw him bring those herbs out, and the shopkeeper was willing to pay. I ran too fast and couldn’t hear the price.”

Song Liangzuo lied; the old man had not taken out those two medicinal herbs at all.

He wanted to know the prices because those herbs were abundant in the fields at this time, and given their potent medicinal properties, if the pharmacy collected them, he could easily dig those herbs up instead of plucking grass.

“What nonsense are you talking? Aren’t those just wild vegetables we ate a month ago? How could they be considered medicinal herbs?” The grandmother exclaimed as she raised her hand to feel his forehead.

Before Song Liangzuo realized what was happening, he heard the grandmother mutter, “Not a fever!”