TTLJDFL chapter 11

Ever since yesterday, Li Jinlu worked his magic and healed Li Zhuzi’s foot.

Li Jin’s status in Li Zhuzi’s heart suddenly rose by a level.

If before, Li Jin was like an hopeless lump of mud in Li Zhuzi’s eyes, now, Li Jin’s demeanor could almost be said to be worth more than gold, like a reformed scoundrel.

It was just past seven o’clock, and there were already many women and elderly people carrying shoulder poles or bamboo baskets by the roadside.

They carried their own eggs or embroidered pouches, ready to take them to the town to exchange for money.

As for the main labor force at home, the middle-aged and young men, they were all busy harvesting the wheat in their own fields.

Previously, Li Jin had judged, based on the intensity of the heat, that it should be June recently; now, seeing the golden wheat and the figures of everyone working, Li Jin was even more certain that this was the busy farming season of June.

Leaving the village and walking along the dirt road for less than five minutes, he first saw the river where people had washed clothes yesterday.

Next, on both sides of the road were golden wheat fields.

Li Jin noticed that almost all the fields were planted with wheat, though there were still differences.

In some plots, the wheat grew particularly well.

Each grain of wheat was full and plump, and the plants were taller than those in the neighboring fields.

However, in other fields, many weeds had grown, preventing the wheat from absorbing the nutrients in the soil, resulting in stunted growth. This depended on the diligence of the farmers; those who regularly came to remove weeds naturally had wheat that grew well.

A little further ahead, Li Jin even saw that the weeds in a field were growing faster than the wheat.

Li Zhuzi pointed at the field and said, “…Hey, if your family’s land isn’t properly taken care of, you won’t even be able to pay this year’s rent.”

Li Jin: “……” So that was the plot his family got.

Li Zhuzi looked at Li Jin’s expression and said, “Even though we’re all from the same village and the village head only symbolically takes a bag of flour as rent, I’m afraid you won’t even be able to get a bag of flour from that field this year.”

“I know you are educated and don’t work in the fields. In previous years, your mother managed the fields, and last year it was your husband’s turn. As a result, last September, when your husband was pregnant, he planted the wheat straw, and this year, being so heavy with the pregnancy, he had no time to pull weeds, which is why it grew like this.”

Li Jin looked at this piece of land and was already thinking about what kind of seeds to buy to plant.

But Li Zhuzi saw that he wasn’t saying anything and thought he was taking his anger out on her husband.

Li Zhuzi quickly said, “This isn’t your husband’s fault at all. When weeding the wheat, his belly was already big and he couldn’t bend over.

You didn’t ask for help back then, that’s why the field ended up neglected.”

Li Jin turned his gaze to Li Zhuzi and said, “I won’t bully him anymore.”

If these words had been spoken by Li Jin in the past, Li Zhuzi certainly would not have taken them seriously.

Aren’t all the weak men in the village who like to beat their wives like this?

They get drunk and violently beat their wives, and then, upon sobering up, they kneel before their wives, crying and apologizing, promising never to make the same mistake again.

Such men share a common trait: they are incapable, unable to work the fields, and consider washing clothes and cooking beneath them.

Marrying a wife is like marrying a maid, one who doesn’t spend any money.

She has to take care of the husband’s whole family every day, have kids, and when she has free time, she has to do some sewing or mending to make a little extra money for the household.

Of course, most of that sewing money is taken by the husband to buy alcohol.

And after getting drunk, he starts beating his wife again.

It became a vicious cycle.

In the past, Li Jin was the kind of person like that. So when Li Jin said things like ‘I won’t hit my husband from now on,’ it just went in one ear and out the other.

But this time, Li Zhuzi felt it was different.

Even though Li Jin’s expression wasn’t as sincere as usual, and even the promise itself sounded kind of flimsy.

A simple ‘I won’t bully him anymore.’
But it was said in such a calm tone that made Li Zhuzi feel that Li Jin was serious this time.

Li Jin didn’t continue the topic and instead asked Li Zhuzi about the habits and prices of some crops.

Li Zhuzi didn’t suspect anything, after all, even though Li Jin was a man, he really could keep his hands completely away from farming .

Instead of thinking of himself as the head of the family, he was pampered by everyone like a sheltered young lady who didn’t know the ways of the world.

Li Jin naturally had no idea what Li Zhuzi was thinking; he just wanted to quickly understand this world and improve his family’s situation.

“After the busy farming season is over, the villagers will plant some seasonal vegetables, like rapeseed, chives, scallions, and so on.

But usually, these are just for their own families. Only the village chief’s vegetables are taken to the town to sell.”

Li Jin thought that in ancient times, villages were basically formed by a few large families coming together.

The village chief held a lot of power; he could allocate land, declare what the entire village would plant that year, and even monopolize the supply of vegetables to the town.

However, Li Jin had no intention of selling the vegetables his family grew.

There were always only three people in his family, and the child still couldn’t eat vegetables.

But he needed a variety of vegetables. With this piece of land, if it was cultivated well, the family wouldn’t have to worry about food.

“Brother Zhuzi, how much is the price of rapeseed?”

Li Zhuzi said, “It depends on how much you need. Your family currently has only two acres of land. Generally, one acre is planted with one bag of rapeseed, costing four wen.

However, this price is also subject to change, and different types of rapeseed will certainly cost different amounts.”

Li Jin nodded to indicate that he understood.

He asked about the prices of other items as well, but to avoid arousing Li Zhuzi’s suspicion, Li Jin only inquired about crops.

Anyway, the original owner had never done any farming, so he definitely didn’t know much about this. Li Zhuzi didn’t think much of it either.

By the time they got to the town, it was just past eight o’clock.

Li Zhuzi was going to deliver the chopped firewood to a wealthy family in town, and as they were just entering the town, he pointed out the direction of the clinic to Li Jin.

“I don’t know the name of that clinic, but everyone from our village goes there to see the doctor. The doctor and the shopkeeper are good people, they never give us random medicine.”

It turned out that there were three clinics in the town.

The one Li Zhuzi referred to was relatively remote, not on the main street, which was why the prices were cheaper.

After thanking him, Li Jin parted ways with Li Zhuzi. Li Jin said, “Brother Zhuzi, I will return after selling the herbs; we will not go together.”

Li Zhuzi replied, “Alright, I still need to use the ox cart to transport some other things; you go back first.”

After the two went their separate ways, Li Jin didn’t go to the other two clinics and just headed straight in the direction Li Zhuzi had pointed out.

After all, Li Zhuzi’s advice was based on experience, which was way faster than him blindly searching around. Besides, a clinic that could open on the main street must have some backing and definitely wouldn’t be short on the kind of herbs he had.

Going to that slightly more secluded clinic Li Zhuzi mentioned might actually be the place to sell the herbs.

The apprentice at Xinglintang is behind the jujube-red lacquered cabinet studying ‘Siwu Decoction.’ In the morning, the clinic has few patients, so he has time to recognize characters and learn a bit of something.

By the fourth quarter of the si hour (ten o’clock), patients will gradually increase, and he will have to go to the backyard to decoct medicine, watching the heat the whole time, leaving no time to read.

This apprentice is named Zhou Gui. Judging by his name, his family hopes that he will become a person of status in the future.

Zhou Gui heard approaching footsteps outside the door and thought, who’s sick so early in the morning to come here.

Looking up, he only saw an incredibly handsome face. The person was wearing simple cloth clothes, and his hair was tied back casually with a ribbon.

But he had a tall, graceful figure, and a certain scholarly elegance naturally showed in his mannerisms.

Zhou Gui thought, this must be a scholar.

He wondered again, how could a scholar be so handsome?

He did not suspect that the person in front of him was a beautiful ger’er; after all, this person was quite tall.

When entering, he had to slightly bend his waist after lifting the bamboo door curtain to avoid his head brushing against it.

Moreover, there were no conspicuous red moles on his face. He must be a proper and genuine man.

Zhou Gui first spoke up: “Sir, may I ask your surname? Are you here seeking medical treatment?”

Li Jin said, “No need for formalities, my surname is Li. I’m not here for treatment, but to sell medicine. I wonder if your clinic needs any?”

Zhou Gui was momentarily stunned. The herbs for their clinic were all specially gathered from the mountains every year.

It’s not that they didn’t accept loose herbs, but many villagers couldn’t tell the difference between medicinal herbs and weeds, and didn’t really know how to properly pick them. This meant that most of the herbs collected by the villagers were basically unusable.

Zhou Gui hesitated a little; he had originally thought that this person came from a wealthy background. Although Mr. Li wasn’t dressed very well, he exuded the refined aura of a nobleman.

Unexpectedly, the first thing this person did was to sell medicine.

Zhou Gui hesitated somewhat because of this person’s appearance, but in the end, his judgment was overcome by looks.

He said, “Go ahead and take out the herbs for me to see. If they are properly sorted and undamaged, I will then call my master to appraise them.”

Li Jin expressed his thanks, then took down the basket and began taking out the bundles of sorted medicinal herbs.

These herbs were still very fresh, some even had dewdrops on them.

Zhou Gui was stunned at the sight—because although the types of herbs Li Jin had brought were not many, each herb was very well processed, and neatly bundled and sorted. When the cotton strings were untied, there wasn’t a single weed in any of the herbs.

“This is Scutellaria baicalensis, Cimicifuga… and this…”

Li Jin said, “Schisandra.”

Zhou Gui thought to himself, fortunately he had hesitated for a moment earlier.

Although the man in front of him was here to sell medicine, he truly possessed real skill!

These herbs were handled much better than those processed by the employees of their pharmacy!

For instance, the roots of Scutellaria baicalensis can be used medicinally, and the rootlets of each plant here are perfectly intact!

Moreover, they were uniform in size, and all of top quality!

Zhou Gui did not dare to be negligent; he quickly stood upright and bowed to Li Jin, saying, “Please wait a moment, sir, I will go call my master.”

Li Jin nodded: “Thank you.”

After a short while, someone lifted the curtain that separated the main hall and the inner courtyard and strode in.

Seeing the neatly arranged medicinal herbs on the table, he said, “There really is Schisandra!”

That person finished inspecting the medicinal herbs before looking at Li Jin.

He couldn’t help but feel inwardly amazed—what a handsome young man.

“Did you collect all these herbs yourself?”

Li Jin nodded in affirmation.

“All for sale?”

“Yes.”

The man, about forty years old, thought for a moment and said, “My surname is Wu, and I am a doctor at Xinglin Hall. I will take all of these herbs. According to the market price, it comes to a total of three hundred wen. But your herbs, whether in quality or appearance, are all very well prepared, so I will add ten wen extra.”

So, in total, it was three hundred and ten wen.

Li Jin took the money, expressed his thanks, and prepared to leave.

Doctor Wu stepped over and stopped him: “Mr. Li, will you be collecting medicinal herbs regularly from now on? If the quality is always like this, I can give you an extra ten wen each time.”

Li Jin stopped and discussed with Doctor Wu the frequency and quantity of herbs he would provide in the future.

The two quickly reached an agreement, deciding that the first day of the beginning, middle, and end of each month would be the time to supply medicinal herbs to Xinglin Hall.

This time, due to the tight schedule, only a small amount was collected, and next time Li Jin decided to prepare a bit more.

After leaving Xinglintang, Li Jin’s wallet had gone from being completely empty to holding three hundred and ten wen.

He couldn’t help but sigh, realizing that no matter the time, knowledge is the most legitimate and quickest way to make money.
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