Chapter 5
“Big sister, you stepped on my cricket!”

The handsome guy looked at her with tears in his eyes.

“Oh! I’m sorry!”

Xia Qingqing quickly jumped away.

Under her foot lay the corpse of a cricket.

The young man painfully picked up the cricket, knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face as he cried,

“Qiang! My dear Qiang, how did you die? You can’t die! We’ve been through so much together, I’ve always treated you like my own flesh and blood, and now I have to bury you, sob sob sob…”

Xia Qingqing stood there in shock, wondering if she had encountered a fool.

Wasn’t Qiang just a cricket? Could he be faking it?

A pale, bearded middle-aged man hurried over, kneeling on the ground to comfort the young man,

“Young Master Liu, please don’t be sad. I’ll go catch you another cricket in the grass! We should go to Xinglin Hall for your treatment!”

Young Master Liu? Xinglin Hall?

Xia Qingqing seemed to catch some crucial information.

“Hmph! You owe me a cricket!”

Young Master Liu immediately got up, grabbing Xia Qingqing’s arm and glaring at her angrily.

“You owe me! You owe me! How old are you, acting like a child?”

Xia Qingqing had a look of confusion on her face, not knowing what to do.

Here stood such a tall and handsome guy, yet his expression was like that of a five or six-year-old child. Didn’t he know that in ancient times, men and women should not have physical contact?

Xia Qingqing quickly shook off his grip on her arm.

The surrounding crowd had already gathered, eager to watch.

“Hahaha! Foolish Young Master Liu is out playing again!”

“Foolish Young Master Liu loves to fight crickets; just yesterday, he was playing with my six-year-old son!”

“This girl has been stuck with a fool; if she doesn’t catch a better cricket to compensate him, she probably won’t be able to go anywhere today!”

The crowd was buzzing with discussions, and it seemed everyone was familiar with this foolish Young Master Liu!

“Hmph! Big sister, hurry up and catch one!”

The boy, referred to as Young Master Liu, stared at Xia Qingqing with red eyes like a child, urging her on.

“Young Master Liu, your Old lady is still waiting for you to see the doctor! Let’s hurry! If we delay, your Old lady will spank you!”

The middle-aged man pulled Young Master Liu’s arm, anxiously trying to help him leave quickly.

“You’re going to Xinglin Hall? I happen to be going too; can we go together?”

Xia Qingqing thought it would be convenient to go together.

“Alright! That way you don’t have to sneak away! I can keep an eye on you at all times!”

Young Master Liu nodded.

“Sigh! Young Master Liu, you worry too much. Since I promised to compensate you, I will definitely do it! I am a person of my word!”

Xia Qingqing patted her chest in assurance.

“That’s more like it! I’m not a baby anymore; I’m already six years old, so don’t think you can trick me!”

Young Master Liu’s words made Xia Qingqing stumble a bit.

Indeed, this Young Master Liu had some intelligence issues. No wonder he needed to go to Xinglin Hall for treatment; perhaps his mother had deprived him of oxygen when he was born, and it affected his brain!

Forget it, I won’t argue with someone of low intelligence.

“No! No! I have candy, do you want some?”

Xia Qingqing hurriedly took out the malt candy she had just bought on the street.

“I won’t eat things given by strangers! My grandmother said, don’t let strangers harm you!”

Young Master Liu turned his head away.

“Such a high level of vigilance for a child!”

Xia Qingqing remarked casually.

“Child? You’re the child!”

Young Master Liu, angry, turned his head back to glare at her.

The middle-aged man watched as Young Master Liu reacted to Xia Qingqing’s words, alternating between expressions, and secretly laughed behind his hand.

Young Master Liu usually spoke to strangers with his head held high, ignoring them completely. Today was truly unusual; he had chatted and argued with this girl for quite a while!

Xia Qingqing and Young Master Liu bickered all the way as they walked.

Finally, the two arrived at Xinglin Hall.

Young Master Liu must be a valued guest; as soon as he entered the shop, someone personally welcomed them and led them to the back courtyard.

Xia Qingqing stayed in the front hall by herself.

“Don’t let that girl run away; she still owes me a cricket!”

Before leaving, Young Master Liu made sure to remind the pharmacy staff.

Xia Qingqing felt like a herd of grass mud horses galloping past her.

The apprentice at the pharmacy nodded repeatedly, “Don’t worry, Young Master Liu, we won’t let her escape!”

“Miss, what brings you to Xinglin Hall?”

The apprentice smiled at the delicate and lovely girl in front of him. Although she looked slender, her pair of bright, lively eyes sparkled with starlight.

“Oh! I made some pills myself and wanted to ask if you would buy them?”

Xia Qingqing took a porcelain bottle out of her bag and handed it to the apprentice.

The apprentice was surprised to take the porcelain bottle, opened the cork, and smelled it.

His expression changed drastically.

“The pills made by the young lady have a fragrant aroma. What is your name, and what is the name of this medicine? What diseases does it primarily treat?”

Xinglin Hall had always been short of pharmacists, and unexpectedly, this girl turned out to be a master in making medicine. It takes decades of skill to make such good pills!

Seeing that she was not yet fifteen, it was likely that her family had prepared the pills for her to sell at the pharmacy.

Xia Qingqing noticed that the apprentice was knowledgeable and clasped her fists in response:

“My name is Qingqing, and what I made is the Powerful Detoxification Pill, which can basically remove about 70-80% of the toxins in the body!”

“Powerful Detoxification Pill!”

The apprentice repeated.

“Miss Qingqing, please follow me to the back courtyard; I will take you to see my master!”

“Thank you, kind sir, for leading the way!”

Xia Qingqing imitated the ancient manner of politeness.

She followed the apprentice to the back courtyard, which was spacious, with a row of rooms piled with medicinal materials, exuding bursts of medicinal fragrance.

People were busy fetching medicinal materials, some were cutting herbs, and others were pounding medicine.

Everyone was diligently performing their tasks, busy and happy.

The apprentice led Xia Qingqing into one of the rooms.

Inside, there were tall medicine cabinets, and a middle-aged man was weighing herbs.

“Master, this young lady brought a bottle of Powerful Detoxification Pills; the medicinal fragrance is pure, please take a look!”

The apprentice presented the medicine bottle to the man.

The man put down the scale in his hand, his face filled with suspicion as he took the bottle and opened the cork to smell it.

His expression also changed drastically.

“What is your name? Which esteemed medical family does your elder come from?”

Xia Qingqing clasped her fists and bowed, “My name is Qingqing; I learned to make these by studying medical books!”

In her past life, Xia Qingqing came from a family of traditional medicine, said to be descendants of the Medicine King, and she was the eighteenth generation inheritor.

Her family treasured the medical book “Thousand Gold Prescriptions.”

The middle-aged man and the apprentice both looked at her in disbelief.

Making such pills requires decades of experience to get the proportions of various medicinal materials right; if one ingredient is off, the effects can be completely different.

The middle-aged man and his family had been searching for the formula for this kind of medicine for a long time.

Unexpectedly, today a girl brought them this kind of pill.