You Promised to Be an Idle Son-in-Law, How Could You Become a Land Immortal?-Chapter 82: Hundred Herbs Hall

As June began, Shu State was plagued by incessant rain.

Ten straight days of rain washed away the summer’s oppressive heat, but it also caused the Chishui River north of the Prefecture City to rise by a foot, its surface now flush with the "Level" mark on the Water Level Stele.

Though it hadn’t yet reached the critical flood levels of previous years, it was enough to put the entire Shu State Governor’s Office on high alert.

Right Envoy Yang Ye personally led a team to the dikes to assess the water conditions.

In addition to posting guards on round-the-clock duty, he specifically ordered the Shu State Prefectural Magistrate’s Office to make preparations, from allocating supplies and deploying personnel to implementing other preventive measures.

In response, government officials in raincoats could be seen hurrying through every street and alley of the Prefecture City, notifying households in low-lying areas to clear the drainage ditches in front of their homes.

Even Jishi Medicine Hall received a visit from the government officials.

However, unlike residential homes, the East Market was a commercial district. By custom, the shops pooled their money to hire workers for the maintenance of the drainage ditches.

The amount was not large—just three taels of silver from each shop.

So, Chen Yi had the accountant, Liu Quan, give the silver to the government officials. After they registered the payment, they would take it to the market guild.

After courteously seeing the officials out, Liu Quan returned to the Medicine Hall. He saw Chen Yi sitting beside the Physician, watching him diagnose a patient with rapt attention, and couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

’This Shopkeeper is supposedly a talented scholar, so why does it seem he’s also dabbled in the Medical Dao?’

Liu Quan asked the apprentice by the door, "Has the Shopkeeper been watching your master and the others treat patients these last few days?"

The apprentice thought for a moment, then nodded. "Ever since the Shopkeeper arrived, he has indeed been sitting beside my master and the others."

"But whether he’s actually watching the consultations, I couldn’t say."

Liu Quan nodded in understanding and told the boy to continue wiping the doors and windows.

After another glance at the still-focused Chen Yi, he went behind the counter himself. With the clatter of his abacus, he began to tally the previous month’s ledgers.

’Even the Shopkeeper is busy,’ he thought. ’I can’t afford to slack off.’

Chen Yi, of course, paid them no mind.

Three days had passed since everyone at the Medicine Hall had signed the agreement. Throughout this time, he arrived at dawn and didn’t return home until dusk.

Aside from his regular breaks, he spent all his time immersing himself in the Profound Mysteries of the Medical Dao to improve his Medical Skill.

He was nothing if not diligent.

After another patient suffering from a cold was seen off, Chen Yi, who had reached the same diagnosis as the attending Physician, picked up his teacup and took a sip.

After a moment of thought.

He said, "Elder Li, next time, reduce the white peony root in the prescription by one mace. The effect will be the same, but the price will be two wen cheaper."

Elder Li was the oldest of the four Physicians at Jishi Medicine Hall, well over fifty years of age.

Though he wasn’t considered a renowned doctor, he had been practicing for thirty years since completing his apprenticeship, and his prescriptions had never once been in error.

Hearing Chen Yi’s words, Elder Li looked at him strangely. "Shopkeeper, do you understand Medical Skill and prescriptions?"

Chen Yi didn’t explain. Instead, he smiled and changed the subject. "The people who come here are all from poor families. It’s good if we can save them a little money."

Most of the people in the East Market were from the remote Mountain Race or were artisans from the Central Plains trying to make a living.

They braved the elements day after day, performing on the streets to survive.

With the rainy weather these past few days, any travelers who came to the East Market hurried on their way, leaving those artisans with no income.

Take the man who just came in with a cold—judging by his accent, he was likely from Yan State.

When paying for his medicine, it pained him to part with every single wen. Seeing this, Chen Yi couldn’t help but shake his head to himself.

While he had seen plenty of poor people and never thought of offering them personal charity, he was happy to do what he could when it was part of his job.

Elder Li, however, remained unconvinced. He said with a serious expression,

"Shopkeeper, if you truly understand Medical Skill, then changing the prescription by a mace is one thing. But if you don’t..."

Before he could finish, Chen Yi raised a hand to cut him off. "Do as I say."

Seeing his resolve, Elder Li was stunned for a moment before replying, "I will try the new formula later. If there are no issues, reducing the white peony root by one mace shouldn’t be a problem."

Chen Yi smiled, nodded, and got up to pour himself some water in the back room.

After Chen Yi left, Elder Li sighed, his expression troubled. He muttered, "What does a layman know about Medical Skill?"

A Physician nearby, having overheard their conversation, tried to placate him in a low voice. "Elder Li, don’t worry about whether the Shopkeeper knows what he’s doing or not. For now, just listen to him."

"Don’t forget, he’s still holding our ’confessions’."

Elder Li glared at them. "Even if I truly did something wrong, these formulas are the culmination of our predecessors’ life’s work! They can’t just be changed on a whim!"

Seeing they couldn’t persuade him, the other three Physicians gave up and changed the subject. "The Shopkeeper means well, trying to save those people some money."

Elder Li was still resentful. "If he really meant well, he wouldn’t have made Old Yan move his shop."

"Shopkeeper Wang’s old arrangement was good. The herbs in the hall were expensive, but the herbal medicine shop next door was cheap. That truly saved the patients money."

"The Shopkeeper’s coming back! Quiet down, Old Li..."

Chen Yi heard them but chose to ignore their words.

’Moving the Herbal Medicine Shop out of the East Market is a necessary step.’

’Otherwise, the connection between Wang Ji, Boss Yan—Yan Hai—and Jishi Medicine Hall is too obvious and could easily be discovered by someone with ill intentions.’

’As for changing the prescription... such a trivial matter wasn’t even worth discussing.’

’Chen Yi had never cared much for hidebound tradition, and besides, his progress in the Medical Skill had been smooth these past three days.’

’Both his Four Diagnostic methods and Acupuncture Skill had reached the Skilled Level.’

’By combining the Profound Mysteries from his Minor Success Realm of Medical Dao with the "Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Miscellaneous Diseases," modifying a simple prescription for a common cold was a triviality.’

「The day passed quickly.」

Just before dusk, Ge the Third arrived in a carriage with Xiao Wuge and Xiaodie.

From a good distance away, Xiao Wuge shouted, "Brother-in-law, I’m here to take you home!"

Hearing his voice, Chen Yi walked out of Jishi Medicine Hall and said with a laugh, "I’d say you just wanted an excuse to come out and play."

Having been found out, Xiao Wuge just chuckled sheepishly.

He dropped the topic of going home and darted past Chen Yi into Jishi Medicine Hall.

He looked left and right, finding everything fascinating.

Xiaodie sidled up to Chen Yi. As they both watched Xiao Wuge, she made sure to explain,

"Sir, the Young Master has really missed you these past few days you’ve been away."

"If Eldest Miss Xiao hadn’t stopped him, he would have followed you here the day before yesterday."

Chen Yi understood. Seeing that Xiao Wuge wasn’t likely to emerge anytime soon, he simply walked over and gave him a tour of the Medicine Hall.

He also introduced Liu Quan and the rest of the staff to him.

Liu Quan and the others were, of course, extremely respectful.

Despite Xiao Wuge’s youth, in the eyes of people like Liu Quan, his status was of the absolute highest nobility.

Even though the Medicine Hall didn’t belong to the Xiao Family, they still had to bow and address him as ’Young Master’ upon seeing him.

After a short while.

Chen Yi instructed Liu Quan and the others to lock up, then he and Xiao Wuge headed for home.

On the way, Xiaodie and Xiao Wuge began to fill him in on all the goings-on at the residence over the past few days without him even having to ask.

For the most part, things had been peaceful.

The only exception was that during his absence, Duke Qian, Zhang Xuan, and Sun Fu had both visited, each time arriving in high spirits only to leave disappointed.

That was how Xiaodie put it, but Chen Yi suspected it wasn’t the whole story.

Sun Fu, at least, seemed to have enjoyed himself.

His suspicion was confirmed when Xiao Wuge added, "Brother-in-law, that Grandpa Sun is a strange fellow. Both yesterday and today, he quizzed me on my recitation of the classics and asked me a whole lot of questions."

Chen Yi knew exactly what Sun Fu was thinking. "And how did you do?" he asked.

Xiao Wuge thought for a moment, then nodded. "Grandpa Sun seemed satisfied. He even praised me."

Xiaodie chimed in, "Mr. Sun the Elder did indeed praise the young master. He also told him to spend more time reading and less time fishing."

Chen Yi chuckled. ’It seems Elder Sun already considers himself Xiao Wuge’s teacher.’

’And they haven’t even performed the discipleship ceremony yet.’

But that was just a passing thought. Chen Yi maintained his previous stance: he wouldn’t get involved.

For one, Xiao Wuge’s affairs were for the old master and Xiao Wan’er to decide.

For another, he had plenty of his own matters to attend to lately.

Over the past three days, in addition to studying the Medical Dao at Jishi Medicine Hall, he also had to deal with Wang Ji, who came to find him from time to time.

A location for the new Herbal Medicine Shop had been found; it was moving from the East Market to the West Market. Just as he had requested, they had specifically found a spacious, two-story wooden building.

At the same time, they were gradually restocking all kinds of medicinal herbs.

Wang Ji’s progress on this front was smooth, but he was stumped when it came to a name for the shop, so he asked for Chen Yi’s input.

Ultimately, Chen Yi gave him three words: "Hundred Herbs Hall."

It was taken from the legend of Shennong tasting the hundred herbs.

Although his ambition wasn’t to heal all the people of the world, the name’s sentiment was fitting enough.

Just then, Xiao Wuge said, "Brother-in-law, my sister said you should join her for dinner at Jiaxing Garden tonight."

Chen Yi naturally had no objections.

Before long, they arrived back at the residence.

Chen Yi washed up, changed his clothes, and then went with Xiao Wuge to Jiaxing Garden.

Xiao Wan’er was still wearing a cloak, a white one today.

It was the same one she had worn the night she first met Chen Yi.

Chen Yi couldn’t help but take a second look. It wasn’t about the cloak; he could tell she was in a good mood.

Thinking for a moment, he asked, "Is that shipment of medicinal herbs close to the Prefecture City?"

Xiao Wan’er was setting out the dishes. She answered openly, "Huatang sent a letter this afternoon. She has already met up with the Escort Agency and they’re on their way here."

"However, the Chishui River is turbulent lately, so she specifically mentioned they might be delayed by a couple of days."

Chen Yi nodded. ’It seems the Hidden Guard only cares about the Xiao Family’s Mutual Market affairs,’ he thought. ’They’re rather lax about things like the Medicine Hall business.’

When he didn’t respond, Xiao Wan’er asked about his work at Jishi Medicine Hall. "Are you settling in alright over there?"

"It’s fine. A bit better than I expected, actually."

Chen Yi didn’t forget to add a few words of praise. "You manage things well and have a keen eye for talent. The Physicians at the Medicine Hall are all quite skilled."

Xiao Wan’er took his words at face value, her beautiful eyes sparkling brightly. "I’m glad you’re settling in."

Chen Yi smiled and agreed.

’Whether he was settling in or not was beside the point,’ he thought. ’For now, he couldn’t let Eldest Miss Xiao find out about Wang Ji and his plans.’

’After all, Hundred Herbs Hall was just getting started and would need more time to get on its feet.’