Chapter 29: Ten Silver Taels

As soon as they exited the apothecary, Wang Chunlan let out a sigh, pressing her hand against her chest and tightly holding onto Song Liangzuo’s hand. “Liangzuo, how do you know all of that? I had no idea you could diagnose illnesses. You really scared me inside!”

Song Liangzuo sighed, knowing he had to concoct another lie. He anticipated that his mother would ask him about it.

“Mom, I don’t know how to treat patients. I just saw the doctors doing similar things when I delivered medicine to the Chinese medicine clinic before. That doctor saw me paying close attention, so he explained a few things to me, and I remembered them.”

Realizing it was just a stroke of luck, Wang Chunlan became even more anxious. She instinctively covered the ten silver taels hidden in her clothes, glancing back to see if anyone from the shop might come after her for the money.

Seeing that everything seemed normal behind her, she felt a sense of unease. “Make sure not to speak out next time. It’s not that simple to diagnose illnesses. Today we were lucky to encounter a friendly doctor, but if we had met someone stern, they might have blamed us for talking nonsense. Besides, if they use the medicine, you suggested and something goes wrong, we could end up in jail!”

Song Liangzuo noticed that his mother was genuinely frightened and understood her worries. “Got it, Mom. I won’t say anything again.”

Seeing her son looking up at her with wide, innocent eyes made Wang Chunlan feel a pang of guilt. He hadn’t done anything wrong; why was she raising her voice? She had scared him for no reason.

Ruffling his hair gently, she said softly, “Let’s hurry home and share this good news with your grandmother and the others. Also, do you think they will ask for the silver back?”

They had made only four hundred thirty-three coins from selling herbs today, but the shop owner had ultimately handed them ten silver taels, claiming it was to save their reputation.

She didn’t dare take the money, especially since it was handed to her by her son. She was feeling both happy and worried.

Happy because the silver would surely be enough to send her son to school, but worried that they might be demanded to return it.

It was troubling her greatly.

Song Liangzuo, dismissive of her concerns, replied, “Mom, you should keep the silver. No one will come after it.”

In the grand scheme of things, he had helped the Ren Jitang pharmacy considerably more than just this.

After all, if someone had died in the shop, their losses would have far exceeded what they were given.

Though the family who had come to get treated today were poor, it didn’t change the severity of the situation.

Wang Chunlan, suddenly recalling something, let out a comforting laugh. “You’re just a little boy, yet when you speak, I feel like I can trust you. I now understand what your grandfather meant when he said you were the grandson of the family and our hope—that much is true.”

“Mom don’t worry! I’ll study hard and become a great official one day, so you, Grandma, and my two sisters can enjoy life with me. But first, can we have a bowl of wontons?” Song Liangzuo said, his gaze fixed on a wonton stand not far away.

Wang Chunlan was enchanted by her son’s beautiful words, but they were quickly interrupted by his desire for a bowl of wontons.

Before she could even ask where they might find wontons to eat, she saw her son staring intently in a direction, realizing he was pointing to a food stall.

She placed her hand on his shoulder. “Alright then, let’s go have wontons today.”

Each bowl of wontons cost twelve coins, which made Wang Chunlan feel a pang of regret. She initially intended to only buy one bowl for Liangzuo and settle for a couple of buns for herself.

However, her son insisted that she also have a bowl of wontons.

After enjoying their meal, Song Liangzuo felt that it was still early and opted not to rush home. Instead, he led his mother back toward a nearby bookstore to inquire about the prices of writing materials.

His family often remarked that education was expensive, but they didn’t realize that the real expenses came from consumables like brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.

While he didn’t know much about the current situation, he recalled from history that writing was the foundational skill in the past. Poor penmanship would lead to disdain from others, and, during exams, an examiner had the right to disqualify poorly written papers.

Thus, students dedicated themselves to mastering calligraphy because improving their writing meant investing in brushes and paper—this was a significant part of the cost of education.

After roaming around, he felt that the ten silver taels he earned today were insignificant.

When he saw the xuan paper in the shop, he couldn’t help but inquire about its price, given its reputation. The shopkeeper mentioned one tael of silver for a stack of paper, which made Song Liangzuo frown slightly; this quality was nowhere near what he had seen before.

The cheapest paper, known as mao bian paper, cost seventy coins per stack, while bamboo leaf paper was set at one hundred coins.

He understood the difference between bamboo leaf paper and mao bian paper.

Bamboo leaf paper was smooth and required time to dry after being written on, preventing ink from blurring. On the other hand, mao bian paper was thin and soft, making it prone to smudging unless one used a thicker ink—something that wasted ink considerably.

The cheapest ink cost two hundred coins per block.

After considering everything, it seemed the most economical choice was actually bamboo leaf paper.

Brushes weren’t cheap either; a rabbit hairbrush cost eighty coins.

Understanding the prices, Song Liangzuo bought nothing.

Once they exited the store, Wang Chunlan noticed her son’s serious expression and tried to comfort him, saying, “These things aren’t expensive. Just focus on studying hard, and I’ll gather more herbs. We can afford everything then.”

“I understand, Mom!”

When they returned home, the sun was beginning to hide behind the mountains, playfully hinting at playing hide-and-seek with everyone.

Wang Chunlan noticed the house was empty, so she stored the blue fabric and silver coins in the eastern room. Next, she took some herbs out from her bamboo basket and called into the western room, “Liangzuo, I placed the herbs you bought on the table in your room. How do you want to process them? Do you need my help?”

Hearing his mother, Song Liangzuo dashed out of the western room, holding two soap pods in one hand and using the hem of his robe to gather a handful of about ten seeds of soapberry. “No need, I’ll do it myself.”

He had bought astragalus, privet, and toosendan at Ren Jitang, claiming it was on the house—all free!

On his way back, he had also picked some pine and cypress leaves. He planned to use these ingredients to brew a medicated shampoo because his head had been infested with lice lately, causing him to wake up scratching at night.

His two sisters weren’t much better off either; whenever they played together, he could see lice from their hair falling onto their shoulders.

Speaking of which, this remedy had been taught to him by his mother. Back at home, they used to brew some herbal shampoo for themselves every so often.

As he was preparing, he felt a sense of loneliness. His dad and mom were no longer there, leaving only his grandmother, mother, and two sisters behind.