Chapter 9: Husband, Will You Continue Taking the Imperial Examinations?

A woman seeking a doctor, and a female doctor at that, it had to be about those matters, right?

But Chu Yue had already made it clear to Lu Xinghe that she only had a basic understanding of medicine. Besides, she had majored in Western medicine in her previous life, and Chinese medicine was just a supplementary field. She wasn’t very good at pulse diagnosis or prescribing medication.

“Thank you for your kind offer, shopkeeper. But I only know a few medicinal herbs because my neighbor is a traveling doctor in our village. I’m not qualified to diagnose illnesses seriously.”

The shopkeeper looked regretful. “That’s a pity.”

Chu Yue pointed to the medicinal herbs on the counter. “Shopkeeper, if you buy herbs, could you calculate the price for me?”

“I do.”

After a moment, the shopkeeper looked at Chu Yue and said, “Girl, since you understand herbs, I won’t beat around the bush. You have a lot of Bupleurum, and the quality is good, so I’ll give you 800 wen for it. The two pieces of Panax notoginseng, I’ll give you 600 wen^[1]Units of Currency (Wen): A unit used for copper coins. Often referred to individual coins. (Liang): Tael or liang, a measure of silver weight, equivalent to around 37 grams in most dynasties. … Continue reading

 for them. The rest are common herbs, so I’ll give you 100 wen for them.”

As he spoke, the shopkeeper tapped the abacus beside him.

“That’s a total of one tael and five hundred wen. How does that sound? If you’re happy with it, I’ll buy all your herbs.”

What could Chu Yue say? She immediately nodded.

“Okay, I’ll sell them.”

Lu Xinghe was surprised. A basket of herbs could sell for so much money.

At that moment, he couldn’t help but feel that perhaps marrying her had been a good decision.

After the shopkeeper paid Chu Yue, Lu Xinghe spent another two hundred and sixty wen buying medicine for Yun Cuihe. Then, the two of them left the pharmacy together.

It was a good thing they had sold the wild boar and medicinal herbs. Otherwise, with just the few hundred wen earned from the handkerchiefs and copying, it wouldn’t have been enough. Buying medicinal herbs would have taken up most of it.

No wonder Lu Xinghe, with his decent conditions, didn’t have many girls willing to marry him.

In this era, being able to eat was the key.

Chu Yue couldn’t help but think, she already had a foundation in medicine. If she could find a good teacher and learn traditional Chinese medicine again, that would be great. Most of the doctors who saw patients in these pharmacies were male. If she understood medicine, she would probably be quite popular with the wives, right?

By the time they finished their tour of the town, it was already noon. The vertical sunlight was so intense that it made both of them blink.

Lu Xinghe pushed the cart and led Chu Yue to a small stall. They spent thirteen wen on two bowls of noodles and a pot of tea. Chu Yue had been thirsty all morning and her throat felt like it was going to crack. As soon as the tea arrived, she poured herself three large cups.

“Tired?”

Lu Xinghe suddenly asked, though still a child, she had followed him around all morning without a single complaint. He wondered what her life had been like in Niutou Village.

Chu Yue was slightly taken aback and shook her head. “I’m okay.”

But in reality, her legs were already sore, she just didn’t say anything. After all, they didn’t know each other very well, and she was embarrassed to mention it.

Lu Xinghe knew she was trying to be tough and his handsome face held an unyielding expression. “After we finish eating, we’ll go buy things, you can ride the cart back home.”

Chu Yue pursed her lips, she wanted to refuse, but before she could say anything, the noodle vendor brought over their noodles.

After eating the noodles and finishing their tea, they left thirteen wen and headed to the grain store.

It was noon, and it was extremely hot outside, so there were no customers in the grain store.

As soon as Lu Xinghe and Chu Yue pushed the cart to the entrance of the grain store, the attendant guarding the door’s eyes lit up, and he quickly stepped forward to greet them.

“What can I get for you, esteemed guests?”

“We need thirty pounds of brown rice,” Lu Xinghe said.

Brown rice was five wen per pound, so thirty pounds would be one hundred and fifty wen. If they hadn’t earned some money today, Lu Xinghe wouldn’t have dared to buy so much. Usually, they bought it in ten-pound increments.

Chu Yue stepped forward and tugged at Lu Xinghe’s sleeve, pointing to the discounted rice on sale at the entrance.

“Husband, let’s buy some old rice too.”

While old rice didn’t taste as good, it was easier to swallow than brown rice. New rice was eight wen per pound, so the price of old rice shouldn’t be much different.

Besides, in the current situation, stocking up on more grain was definitely a wise choice.

The attendant listened and quickly smiled as he introduced, “This young lady has a good eye. This rice was stored last year, from the harvest of the year before. Because the weather has been relatively dry the last couple of years, it’s been preserved well and doesn’t have much mildew smell. We eat this kind of rice at home. It’s only five wen per pound, the same price as brown rice. It’s a bargain.”

Chu Yue had also grabbed a handful of rice and smelled it. As the attendant said, it was indeed true.

Besides, it was only five wen per pound, such a good deal didn’t come around often.

Excitement filled Chu Yue’s face. Since they had brought the cart today, they could buy more and take it back.

She gently pinched Lu Xinghe’s sleeve, tiptoed closer to his ear, and whispered, “Husband, should we buy more old rice? The drought is ongoing, and if there’s no harvest, there will definitely be a famine. The price of grain will probably go up then.”

The soft voice in his ear made Lu Xinghe swallow nervously. He turned his head and looked at Chu Yue’s bright eyes. His throat twitched.

“Okay.”

After all, there were so many mouths to feed at home, and they had some extra money.  Buying more grain was a good precaution.  He turned to the attendant.

“How much old rice do you have left?”

The attendant held up two fingers. “About two hundred pounds.”

After a moment of thought, Lu Xinghe spoke again. “Give me all of it.”

“Okay, esteemed guest, please wait a moment. I’ll go to the warehouse and bring all the remaining old rice.” The attendant was a little excited. He didn’t expect to meet such a big customer in the middle of the day.

If this deal went through, he would get a few copper coins in commission.

In the end, they bought two hundred pounds of old rice and thirty pounds of brown rice, for a total of one tael and one hundred and fifty wen.  Chu Yue then used her sweet talking skills to persuade the grain store to give them five pounds of white flour, half-price, before she was satisfied.

After all this hustle and bustle, they should have enough grain to last the family until next spring.

The cart, which had been light before, groaned under the weight of the two hundred pounds of old rice.

Fortunately, next to the grain store was a shop selling oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.  Because salt was so expensive, Chu Yue only dared to buy five liang.

They say three baskets of rice for one liang of salt. While it wasn’t that exaggerated, it was indeed shockingly expensive at fifteen wen per liang.  Those five liang of salt cost a whopping seventy-five wen, enough to buy fifteen pounds of old rice, which would last for a while.

Besides salt, she also spent fifteen wen on some Sichuan peppercorns, ginger, and garlic cloves.  She also spent thirty wen on a small jar of brown sugar.

After buying the seasonings, they pushed the cart back home.

As soon as they left Nanping Town, Lu Xinghe looked at Chu Yue while pushing the cart beside him.  “Get on the cart. I can push it.”

Chu Yue shook her head. “No, it’s too heavy.”

Lu Xinghe looked ahead. “It’s downhill from here.  You can get off and help me push when we reach an uphill section.”

Only then did Chu Yue agree to get on the cart.

Sitting on the cart, she looked at Lu Xinghe, who seemed to be pushing with ease.

“Husband, will you continue taking the imperial examinations?”

Lu Xinghe’s movements froze for a moment, then he returned to normal.

“It’s probably not possible.”