Chapter 33: Agreeing to Lin Shanye’s Request to Sell Medicine

“What beast?” Lin Shanye asked, not having heard clearly.

Only then did Song Liangzuo realize he had said something he shouldn’t have. His small eyes darted around, and he smiled curiously, asking, “Is this a pangolin? It’s my first time seeing one. Why don’t you take it to the pharmacy yourself?”

“My grandfather hurt his back trying to catch it yesterday, so I need to stay home and take care of him. If you’re willing to help, I promise to return the favor in the future. If you’re not willing to help, I won’t force you,” Lin Shanye said, his mood a bit depressed by the end.

Upon hearing that the hunter’s grandfather was injured, Song Liangzuo immediately forgot about the items in the bamboo basket and hastily asked, “Is the hunter’s grandfather seriously hurt?”

Regardless of his own grandfather’s relationship with the hunter, he remembered that the hunter had helped him through tough times recently. He kept this matter in mind, focusing on how the hunter’s grandfather had helped him without concern for any exchanges that may have taken place.

Lin Shanye shook his head. “I don’t know. Grandpa said it’s not a big deal, but he won’t even move. Can you help me?”

Lin Shanye pointed to the items in the bamboo basket.

Song Liangzuo couldn’t help but smirk at him, teasing, “I’m not like you, telling on me the moment I asked you to take me up the mountain. Just leave the things here. I happen to be going out tomorrow, and I’ll take care of it for you. Have you sold this kind of thing before? What’s the price?”

Lin Shanye, a bit embarrassed, explained, “The whole village knows you’re your grandma’s precious one. I didn’t dare take you up the mountain.”

Seeing Lin Shanye’s serious explanation, Song Liangzuo realized he might have pressed a bit too hard. He waved his hand dismissively. “Enough about that. Let’s talk about the price.”

“We sold a slightly smaller one before for one or two, six hundred wens.”

“Wow, didn’t expect this thing to be quite valuable.”

Although Song Liangzuo often went to the pharmacy, he only knew the prices of plant-based medicinal herbs like cardamom or rehmannia, but those were not ready for harvesting yet.

As for the prices of animal-based medicines, he was completely unaware.

He had never gone up the mountain and didn’t have resources in the area. Hearing Lin Shanye’s words gave him a judgment. If a smaller one could sell for over a tael of silver, then this bigger one should easily fetch two taels.

At this moment, Lin Shanye said, “Just as long as the price is not lower than this.”

Song Liangzuo nodded, indicating he understood.

“Consider it a favor owed to you.” After saying this, Lin Shanye turned to leave.

When the adults came home that day, Song Liangzuo mentioned this matter and also said that he had promised to take the items to the county for Lin Shanye.

The old woman simply commented, “We’re all from the same village; it’s good to help if we can. It’s not that big of a deal. Liangzuo, have you packed all the medicinal herbs for tomorrow’s trip to the county?”

“Grandma, they’ve been packed. I checked the dried herbs at home, and if I don’t go to the county the day after tomorrow, I’ll definitely go the day after that.” Song Liangzuo had collected quite a few herbs at home during these two days.

He didn’t want to leave the herbs in the house; getting the silver as soon as possible was what mattered. Otherwise, if he exchanged his copper coins and something went wrong between him and the pharmacy, preventing the herbs from being sold, he would be in for trouble.

“Go ahead; I’d be glad to go every day.” The elderly woman couldn’t hide her joy upon hearing they were going to the county the day after tomorrow; a trip there could bring back a good sum of money.

After that, each family member started getting busy with their own tasks.

The old woman went to the kitchen to prepare food, Wang Chunlan took a shoulder pole and a water bucket to fetch water from the creek outside the village, and the two sisters from the Song family went to the backyard to feed the chickens and pigs.

“Hey, sister, wait for me! Today, Mom and I brought back several earth dragons from the field. I want to take them to feed the chickens,” said Song Pandi, running towards the backyard with a bamboo tube.

Song Liangzuo, who was busy arranging the herbs on the ground, immediately looked up upon hearing his second sister.

He muttered under his breath, “Earth dragon? Isn’t that just an earthworm?”

Hmm, earthworms can be bred, and they multiply quickly. If he could help raise a lot, his family’s chickens would have more earthworms to eat, which would mean more eggs for the family!

With this thought, Song Liangzuo forgot about the herbs he had just dug up and got up to chase after his sister, shouting, “Second sister, don’t feed the chickens the earth dragons yet; let me see them first!”

“Little brother, what’s so interesting about earth dragons?”

“I just want to see; wait for me!”

Hearing the children’s playful voices, the old woman in the kitchen couldn’t help but smile slightly.

Thanks to Song Liangzuo’s quickness in running and calling out, Song Pandi hadn’t tossed the earth dragons into the chicken coop yet. When he reached the backyard, he said he wanted to keep the earth dragons.

“Little brother, what’s wrong? I can’t do it.” Song Pandi looked troubled.

“Second sister, think about it: earth dragons are in fertile soil, right? So, we can just keep them in the soil!” Song Liangzuo guided his sisters.

“Then, that’s easy! I’ll put them in our vegetable garden,” Song Pandi said, planning to dump the earth dragons from the bamboo cylinder into the vegetable patch.

Song Liangzuo had to step in to stop her. “Second sister, it’s not like that.”

“I also think it’s not right. If you pour them into the ground, how will we catch them again if they run away?” Song Zhaodi, the elder sister, said with a puzzled expression while looking at Song Pandi.

Song Pandi felt her elder sister’s point was valid but wasn’t able to think of a solution. She could only scratch her head, her little face scrunched up, “Then what should we do? I don’t know how.”

“We can put some soil in an old basin and keep them in there; that way, we won’t have to worry about finding them later,” Song Liangzuo suggested, pointing to a broken basin under the shade of the house.

The Song sisters had long been taught by their grandmother that Song Liangzuo was the only boy in the family and their younger brother, so whatever he wanted to do, they wouldn’t question if it could be done; they would just follow him.

One sister went to get the basin while the other was in charge of digging the soil.

Song Liangzuo was responsible for guarding the earthworms he had caught that day.

After a quarter of an hour, they had set up a new home for the earthworms. Song Pandi clapped off the dirt from her hands as if completing an important task, “Okay, let’s leave it like this.”

“Little brother, what do they eat?” Song Zhaodi asked.

Thinking for a moment, Song Liangzuo replied, “Feed them grass, but we need to pay attention to what kind of grass they like.”

“I’ll do it! I’ll come to feed them every day!” Song Pandi happily declared.

The earthworm-raising activity was just a small episode in the evening. After everything was settled, the children dispersed, and Song Liangzuo continued to work with the herbs while the two sisters continued gathering pig feed.

Meanwhile, the chickens in the coop clucked and complained about the meat that had just flown away.