Chapter 5

Zhang Grandpa returned before five o’clock in the afternoon.

As soon as he came in, he smiled and asked Jiang Nianzi: “Nianzi, did you have any patients this afternoon?”

“Yes.”

Jiang Nianzi took the ledger to Zhang Grandpa, which recorded the herbs used to treat Zhao Fanghu today.

The old man took the ledger and looked at it, laughing: “Oh, the patient today came to improve their complexion?”

He was indeed a skilled old Chinese medicine practitioner.

Jiang Nianzi didn’t try to be modest: “Yes, the patient said she’s getting married next month and wants to look better.”

“Hmm.” The old man nodded in satisfaction: “But improving complexion takes time, a month probably won’t show much effect.”

“So I gave the girl a whitening cream for external application.” Jiang Nianzi pointed to the herbs used below the ledger: “These herbs combined together, the beauty cream made for external application, combined with internal regulation medication, will have a faster effect.”

Zhang Grandpa looked down, his eyes showing some surprise.

Being well-versed in medical principles, he could tell just by looking at it where the effectiveness of this whitening cream lay.

Some of these herbs didn’t even have whitening properties, but they could neutralize the other herbs and easily remove yellowness.

He had never thought of combining them like this before.

“Did you come up with this whitening cream formula yourself?”

Of course, she had researched it.

Jiang Nianzi happily nodded: “Yes, that’s right.”

Her affirmative answer surprised and delighted the old man.

Although it wasn’t a prescription for treating diseases, being able to come up with a formula and combine it was indeed remarkable.

He had taken on many apprentices before, and it wasn’t that they weren’t intelligent, but most of them were a bit rigid, including himself. He had always followed the prescriptions and skills passed down from his ancestors, and he had never thought of creating something new.

“Little girl, you’re as smart as your grandma said.” The old man patted Jiang Nianzi’s forehead with satisfaction.

Being praised, Jiang Nianzi was indeed very happy, because she wanted to gain the old man’s approval and then talk to him about something.

“Alright, it’s getting late, you should go home, remember to come early tomorrow.”

“Okay…” Jiang Nianzi smiled at the old man, not leaving.

The old man looked at her with confusion: “Anything else?”

Jiang Nianzi was a little embarrassed, but she was eager to improve her family’s living conditions.

“Zhang Grandpa, that… I charged the patients who came to see you today according to your price list, but I added a little bit of a labor fee for the whitening cream…”

Seeing her embarrassment, Zhang Grandpa immediately understood, and his eyes lit up with laughter. This calculating little look was exactly like his junior sister.

“How much did you charge for labor?”

Jiang Nianzi held up one finger: “One yuan.”

The herbs cost a total of four yuan, and Jiang Nianzi charged one yuan for labor, which was a pretty high percentage.

Of course, it wasn’t just labor cost, the formula was the most important thing.

The old man was immediately amused, the charge was quite high.

“Okay, that one yuan is yours.”

“No, no, no.” Jiang Nianzi quickly shook her head: “Zhang Grandpa, this patient is also your regular customer, without you, even if I knew the formula, I wouldn’t be able to make money. I wanted to say, I’ll take half of that one yuan, and give the other half to you, what do you think?”

The old man had always liked his junior sister, and he hadn’t married until now because of her.

He liked her granddaughter, and even more so because the little girl was sensible.

But could the old man take her money?

He could just make money from selling herbs.

“Grandpa doesn’t want your money, you’re a thoughtful girl, from now on, for any patients you see in the shop, besides the cost of the herbs, the rest is yours.”

“Really?” Jiang Nianzi was very happy, but she wasn’t greedy.

“Zhang Grandpa, I can keep this one yuan for today, because our family is really short of money, but for the money from seeing patients in the future, I’ll split it with you, don’t refuse, otherwise, I’ll be ashamed to work here.”

Looking at the little girl’s serious eyes, the old man suddenly saw through her persistence.

Knowing that she didn’t want to take other people’s kindness for granted, he smiled helplessly: “Okay, that’s settled.”

–

Getting one yuan, Jiang Nianzi was almost moved to tears.

This was the first time she had earned money since coming to this world.

Thinking of her family’s kindness to her, Jiang Nianzi was full of hope.

She believed that with her abilities, she would definitely be able to live a good life.

So she didn’t plan to hide this one yuan.

She planned to buy some fatty pork to render lard.

Because they were out of oil at home.

The old man knew she was going to buy fatty pork, so he gave her two meat tickets.

Jiang Nianzi realized then that you needed meat tickets to buy meat.

She couldn’t refuse the old man’s temptation of these tickets, because she really needed them.

She didn’t hesitate, and directly took the old man’s meat tickets, and secretly promised in her heart that she would repay Zhang Grandpa’s kindness in the future.

In this era, fatty pork was more popular than lean meat.

When Jiang Nianzi went, there was only one pound left.

Fatty pork cost 80 cents a pound, Jiang Nianzi directly paid 80 cents and bought a pound of fatty pork.

Then she went to a small alley on another street. Now that the country was liberated, many people were openly selling vegetables in the alleys.

Jiang Nianzi only spent 10 cents and bought a pound of cabbage and two pounds of green beans.

At this point, Jiang Nianzi finally had a clear understanding of the prices in this era.

She kept the remaining 10 cents in her pocket.

It took Jiang Nianzi an hour to walk back to the village.

In her previous life, she was used to running a few kilometers without breaking a sweat, but her weak body couldn’t even manage an hour’s walk, she had to rest several times.

This frail physique.

She clutched her chest and gasped for breath.

Suddenly, a familiar voice came from afar.

“Zizi…”

“Sister…”

“Hmm?”

Jiang Nianzi looked up and saw Jiang Cheng pulling Jiang Doudou, both of them running towards her.

“Brother, Doudou? Why are you here?”

“To pick you up, Mom said she was afraid you’d be bullied alone.”

Those simple words made Jiang Nianzi speechless.

So this is what it feels like to be constantly remembered by someone?

Jiang Nianzi felt a little strange, even though she knew very well that she wasn’t the original character, why did she always feel a sense of closeness to this family that she couldn’t shake off?

She smiled and picked up the fatty pork and vegetables: “I bought some fatty pork, I’ll make some pork cracklings for you guys to eat later.”

This was meat.

She said it so casually, but Jiang Cheng and Jiang Doudou were shocked and their eyes widened.

In this era, people couldn’t even afford rice, meat was a rare treat that they could only eat once or twice a year.

Poor families couldn’t even afford it once a year.

Jiang Cheng and Jiang Doudou’s eyes were wide with amazement.