Qin Junyao chatted with Doctor Sheng for a while longer before the apprentice finally pushed the cart to the backyard of the Qubing Hall.
The two apprentices parked the cart, both marveling at Qin Junyao's strength. They had taken turns pushing and supporting the cart, and had even switched places once during the journey from the alley to the backyard of the medical hall. Qin Junyao alone had managed to push the cart all the way to their clinic – truly remarkable.
Qin Junyao smiled and said nothing. The truth was, she had only managed to push carts filled with straw for two days as practice using the Hou family's cart.
Chicken head yellow solomon was retrieved from a large vat. Doctor Sheng casually picked up a few and examined them carefully before leading Qin Junyao back into the medical hall.
"Junyao, I know you didn't come out on your own. Let's get straight to the point."
"These yellow solomons are two to three years old. Not very old, but clean and of uniform size. We don't see fresh ones often here. I can offer you thirty wen per jin."
Qin Junyao pondered for a moment and proactively conceded two wen, her goal being to get Doctor Sheng to sign a non-disclosure agreement with her. Qin Junyao trusted binding interests more than personal character.
Doctor Sheng readily agreed. In business, a non-disclosure agreement in exchange for paying several hundred wen less was a good deal.
The yellow solomon weighed in at a total of three hundred and eighty-three jin. Qin Junyao earned ten taels and seven qian of silver, plus twenty-four copper coins.
As Qin Junyao was leaving, Doctor Sheng lent her a herbal illustrated guide. It contained information on where to find herbs, their origins, growth years, and maturity times. For Qin Junyao, this was a timely help. After thanking him, she had the apprentices help her push the cart to the outside of the medical hall's backyard gate.
Watching the backyard gate close, Qin Junyao stored the cart and the large vat into her space and left the medical hall. Seeing that she still had some time, on her way back to the grain store, she bought tools for cutting medicinal herbs, a drying rack for herbs, and drying trays. She also went to the general store and bought many grain bags and farming tools.
By the time Qin Junyao returned to the grain store, she had eight taels of silver left. Her back basket contained steamed buns, and in her hand, she held several maltose candies that looked like lollipops.
Qin Sen was sitting next to the grain store, with a broken bowl in front of him. Qin Erniu was squatting a considerable distance away from his uncle.
Seeing Qin Junyao walk towards Qin Sen, Qin Erniu quickly gestured.
When she reached Qin Sen, Qin Junyao looked down at the three copper coins in the broken bowl. She pretended to take a coin from her sleeve and put it in the bowl, then went to find Qin Erniu.
"Big sister, you scared me! I thought you were going to call someone?" Qin Erniu stood up and looked at the items Qin Junyao was carrying. "Why did you buy so many maltose candies?"
"Everyone gets a share. Second brother, what about Grandma and eldest brother?" Qin Junyao looked around but couldn't see Grandma Qin or the donkey cart.
Qin Erniu squatted down again. "Probably went to buy things."
Qin Junyao thought about the silver she had put into her space. She also wanted to go shopping, but unfortunately, she still had a debt of five hundred taels.
"Second brother, did third uncle always beg like this?" Qin Junyao had only ever seen beggars asking for alms by saying things like "Please help, good people will be blessed."
"Yes, third uncle doesn't bother people, and sometimes he gets more money by not speaking."
As they were talking, Qin Da Niu drove the donkey cart from one end of the street. On the cart were Grandma Qin and two large baskets of goods. Qin Junyao wondered what Grandma Qin had bought this time.
On the way back, Grandma Qin collected the two taels and one qian of silver that Qin Sen and the others had earned from selling dried yellow solomon and happily stuffed it into her clothes.
When they got home, Qin Junyao learned that Grandma Qin had bought cotton and medicine for Qin Sen, who suffered from illness when the weather turned cold. The five taels earned from selling grain and the remaining silver were spent clean again. This was a grandma who knew how to spend money.
In the afternoon, Old Man Hou came to the Qin family's house. Old Man Hou was there to deliver wheat seeds and to discuss digging a water cellar and a vegetable cellar. He conferred with Qin Father and Qin Sen in Qin Da Niu's room. Qin Junyao and Qin Xiaoyu were with Qin Mother in their own room learning needlework.
"Qin sister, Qin sister..."
Qin Junyao heard Fuzi's call and quickly put down the scraps of cloth she was holding and went outside. Needlework was not easy to learn.
"Fuzi, did you come by yourself?" Qin Junyao asked Fuzi, who was standing outside the fence.
"Qin sister, please come help me. I can't carry it." Qin Junyao walked over and saw a dead rabbit covered in dirt on each side of Fuzi's feet.
"Did you bring them yourself? Who told you to send them?" Qin Junyao stepped forward and picked up a rabbit. It was quite heavy.
Fuzi patted the dirt off his clothes. "I dragged it by its leg. My brother told me to send it. I didn't come this morning because you were out."
"Qin sister, can I come in and look?" Fuzi asked politely.
"Of course, please come in." Following Qin Junyao's words, Fuzi hopped into the yard. He looked around at the house with its adobe walls and straw-thatched roof. The window paper had been replaced with new ones, and two sheds had been added to the yard, one for the donkey and one for firewood.
Inside the house, each room was furnished with cabinets, tables, chairs, and large chests, making it look much wealthier than other houses in the village.
"Qin sister, this place was empty before. You've filled it all up!" Fuzi looked at two rooms and then walked over to Qin Junyao, heading towards Qin Mother's room.
"Mmm, this is my grandma..."
"It was also your mother and the others who helped us furnish the rooms. Does your mother know you're here?" Grandma Qin called out from inside the room, following the sound.
"Hello, Grandma Qin. My mother and the others went to Xibei City a couple of days ago to buy people, so they weren't home. Grandma Qin, I brought a rabbit!" Fuzi pointed with his little finger to the rabbit in Qin Junyao's hand.
Grandma Qin thought to herself, no wonder she hadn't heard about anyone coming to propose marriage; they weren't home. She reached out and took the rabbit, feeling its weight and nodding with satisfaction. "Stay for dinner later."
"Okay, Grandma Qin. My brother caught the rabbit, and my brother told me to send it." Fuzi emphasized "my brother" twice, causing Grandma Qin to pause on her way to the kitchen. "When you came, who did your brother ask you to see?"
"I wanted to see Qin sister myself."
"Alright, I understand. Go play with your Qin sister."
Qin Junyao watched Grandma Qin's retreating back, wondering about her words. Did Grandma know she owed Zhao Liangcai money?
When Old Man Hou left, Qin Mother secretly gave him more than half of the rabbit. The wheat seeds were bought by the Hou family, and they didn't charge for them. Favors were meant to be reciprocated. The remaining half rabbit was stewed, and the whole one was salted and hung to dry.
At the dinner table that afternoon, in addition to rabbit stewed with potatoes and the potato-filled buns Qin Junyao had bought, there were several cold dishes. Fuzi didn't eat any rabbit meat, picking instead at the green vegetables and cucumbers. He didn't eat enough at the table and even asked Qin Mother for a cucumber to gnaw on. Qin Junyao saw that he liked them, so she packed a basket with several cucumbers and tomatoes and sent him home with them. She had seen these vegetables for sale in Yan County, but they weren't as fresh as those from her space.
"Kneel properly. It's been a while since I disciplined you, and you've gotten bold. Who told you to give the rabbit away?" As soon as Qin Junyao returned after sending Fuzi home, she heard Grandma Qin scolding. She hurried into the room and saw Qin Mother kneeling on the ground, crying. Qin Da Niu and Qin Xiao Yu were kneeling beside Qin Mother. The others, standing or sitting, were in Grandma Qin's room.
"Grandma, what are you doing?"