Chapter 21: One Thousand Taels

Grandfather Lizheng leaned forward, inching closer to Song Jinxiu, and asked uncertainly, “Could it be… one hundred taels?”

His voice trembled slightly, and his small eyes stared unblinkingly at Song Jinxiu, as if awaiting a divine judgment.

Song Jinxiu gave a mischievous smile. Her voice was soft, but every word rang out clearly: “It’s one thousand taels.”

Thud!

Grandfather Lizheng lost his balance and slipped off the stool, landing squarely on the ground.

Song Jinxiu: …

She had only meant to tease this biased yet kind-hearted old man a little, but hadn’t expected such a dramatic reaction.

Grandfather Lizheng scrambled to his feet in a hurry, clutching the stool for support. Hunched over, he looked at Song Jinxiu and asked, “What did you say? O-One thousand taels?”

He lowered his voice. “You’re not lying, are you?”

Song Jinxiu blinked. She had lied—so now what?

Grandfather Lizheng’s beady eyes shone like searchlights, his hands frozen in place, not daring to tremble, terrified that Song Jinxiu might shake her head and deny it.

Song Jinxiu: …

She really couldn’t stand the way this old man was acting.

Forget it. She did have several hundred taels on hand anyway, and with the space in her possession, it was only a matter of time before she could earn the full thousand.

Better to use this opportunity to come clean and avoid suspicion later about the source of the silver.

With that in mind, Song Jinxiu said, “Grandpa Lizheng, the man I saved is really wealthy. I just reached into his clothes and pulled out a handful of banknotes. Each one is worth a hundred taels. I counted—ten in total.”

Grandfather Lizheng stood there, mouth agape, utterly incredulous.

“Heavens above! They aren’t fake, are they? Girl, bring one out and let me have a look. Let’s see if it’s the real deal.”

“Ah? Well, the banknotes aren’t fake,” Song Jinxiu said, feeling as though she’d just shot herself in the foot.

Why had she insisted on teasing this old man?

And why had she felt the need to show off?

Now look what she’d done—where was she supposed to find those banknotes?

“A-Anyway, I gave them to Physician Li. He’s helping me exchange them for silver. He didn’t have much on him at the time, so he gave me four hundred taels first. The rest… he’ll bring in a couple of days.”

As she spoke, Song Jinxiu took out a few silver ingots and showed them to him.

To her surprise, the Lizheng shot her a glare, his voice filled with exasperation as he scolded, “Aiyo, you silly child, you really don’t know anything! Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘Don’t flaunt your wealth’?

And another thing—if you needed to exchange banknotes, you should’ve let Grandpa help you! How could you trouble Physician Li for something like that?

You don’t know his background. What if he decides not to give the silver back?

No, this won’t do. I’m going to get it back for you. That kind of money needs to be in your own hands to feel secure.”

As he spoke, he turned to leave, startling Song Jinxiu so much that she quickly grabbed his arm.

“Grandpa, Grandpa, please don’t! If you do that, I’ll lose all face!”

“Which is more important—face or silver?” Grandfather Lizheng said sternly, unmoved.

Just as he was about to step out the door, Song Jinxiu hurriedly called out, “Grandpa Lizheng, please hear me out first! Let me go ask for it myself. If he refuses to give it back, then you can step in. All right?”

She quickly added, “Physician Li never said he wouldn’t return it. Besides, while we see a few hundred taels and feel like our hearts are going to leap out of our chests, it might not be anything special in his eyes.”

Truthfully, Song Jinxiu didn’t think much of it either. She didn’t have a clear concept of money yet—one thousand taels felt about the same as saying a thousand bucks. Saying it aloud didn’t weigh on her at all.

What she didn’t realize was that those one thousand taels had already stirred up a massive wave in Xiao Shancun.

Song Jinxiu continued, “If you go ask him directly like this, it’ll seem like we’re afraid he’ll try to pocket it.”

“Even if we are actually afraid,” Song Jinxiu said, “people still have their pride, don’t they? Besides, my Big Brother’s leg still needs to be treated here, doesn’t it?”

Seeing grandfather Lizheng hesitate and stop in his tracks, Song Jinxiu quickly added,
“How about this—I’ll go and ask for it. I’ll tell him you need the money to buy land for us. Banknotes or not, with you watching over it, are we really afraid we can’t get them exchanged for silver?”

Only then did grandfather Lizheng nod. “Mm. Alright. Just say that. Go on—I’ll wait here. If he refuses to hand it over, you come straight back to me.”

“Yes, yes, of course. Jinfang, pour some water for Grandpa Lizheng,” Song Jinxiu said quickly.

Chunsheng wanted to say: Where did a thousand taels come from? Wasn’t it just ten taels?

But seeing how confident his sister looked, speaking with such clarity and conviction, he started to believe her a little.

Even though sister could spin a lie without batting an eye, she wouldn’t go so far as to deceive Grandfather Lizheng. After all, if they couldn’t produce the money, the truth would come out immediately.

Besides, he didn’t know why, but he had this inexplicable faith in his sister—that whatever she did, there was always a reason behind it.

No wonder Chunsheng seemed so calm. Truth be told, he and Jinfang were alike in one regard: to them, copper coins were real money.

As for silver, he’d never even seen it before growing up—only in the past few days had he come to recognize what it even looked like.

And even when he held a piece of silver, he still had to mentally convert it into copper coins just to grasp its true value.

Meanwhile, Song Jinxiu headed gloomily to the front hall. She stared at the back of young Physician Li, who was seated and attending to patients, feeling a wave of frustration.

There was no such thing as those banknotes—how was she supposed to ask him for them now?

Should she… go pawn something else again?

Forget it. This was the only way—otherwise, there was no way she could conjure up several hundred taels out of thin air.

Young Physician Li had just finished examining a patient. When he looked up, he caught sight of Song Jinxiu lifting her foot to head out.

He quickly stood and walked over to her. “Hey, little Shigu, going out? Are you short on anything? I’ll go with you.”

Ugh!
Song Jinxiu rolled her eyes in an unladylike fashion. “Who are you calling Shigu? Young Physician Li, don’t go around making things up.”

“Soon enough, you will be,” he said with a grin. “I’ve already written to my grandfather about this—told him everything. He’ll definitely agree to take you as his disciple. I’m just getting used to calling you that early. That way, once he formally accepts you, it’ll roll right off my tongue.”

Song Jinxiu was already in a foul mood, so her tone came out sharp.

“Did I ever say I wanted to study medicine? Just because you want me to take a master, I have to take a master? My Big Brother already said it ages ago—I’m fine doing anything, just not cut out for medicine.”

“Aiya, how could he say that? You’re so gifted—it’d be a waste if you didn’t learn the healing arts. I’ll go have a word with him.”

“Hey, you can’t!”

Grandfather Lizheng was still there.

Suddenly, a familiar figure flashed past her peripheral vision. Looking closely, Song Jinxiu spotted the sneaky old man peeking around the rear courtyard gate—wasn’t that Grandpa Lizheng?

So he didn’t trust her and had followed her out to keep an eye on her?

Song Jinxiu quickly stepped in front of Young Physician Li, blocking his path with a wry smile. “Young Physician Li, I need to discuss something with you.”

Young Physician Li looked puzzled. “What is it? Can’t we talk while we walk? Don’t stand in the way.”

Lowering her voice, Song Jinxiu murmured, “Mafeisan, that is…”

“Mafeisan? What about it?”Young Physician Li suddenly raised his voice.

Then, with a look of utter shock, he blurted out, “You—you—you don’t mean you actually know the secret formula for Mafeisan, do you?!”

Song Jinxiu was stunned. “Didn’t you just say you didn’t even know what Mafeisan was? Why are you getting so worked up now?”

Young Physician Li’s eyes widened. “Nonsense! What physician doesn’t know about Mafeisan? The Sage of Medicine and his Mafeisan are legendary! My family’s known for treating external injuries—we grew up hearing stories about him.

“They say the Sage of Medicine was once imprisoned because he refused to serve exclusively as Lord Cao’s personal physician.

To ensure his medical knowledge would be passed down, he entrusted his life’s work, the Qing Nang Shu, to a prison official.

But that official was a coward, afraid of getting implicated, and didn’t dare accept it. In a fit of anger, the Sage of Medicine burned the book himself.”

“Although the prison official managed to snatch back the Qing Nang Shu, the book had already been badly burned, leaving only a fragmented copy. Because of that, many formulas—including Mafeisan—were lost to history.”

“Sigh, what a pity, such a terrible pity,” Physician Li lamented, pounding his chest in regret.

Then, all of a sudden, he grabbed Song Jinxiu’s arm tightly. “You have it, don’t you? You must have it, right?”

“I have your damn nerve!” Song Jinxiu snapped. “That day, you put on such a convincing act—pretending you had no idea what Mafeisan was. And I actually believed you!”

She angrily tried to yank her hand back. What’s with this guy and his grip? Why’s he holding on so tight?

“What are you doing? Trying to back out of the deal or something?”

Just then, Grandfather Lizheng’s stern shout rang out from behind them.

Song Jinxiu: …

Seriously, what’s with this old man and his booming voice? He nearly scared the life out of me!