Denghuaxiao

Chapter 57 Slim

On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in Shengjing, there was a dragon boat race under the Luoyue Bridge. People at that time loved to bathe in Yilan Tang at noon. It is said that "a mouthful of water at noon is a good tonic for three years."

Acheng carried the bucket out of the house, preparing to fetch some well water to make tea at noon. Yin Zheng was sitting on the couch making jujube rice dumplings, while Du Changqing was leaning on the bench and feebly reminded Lu Chen, who was sitting in front of the medicine cabinet: "Doctor Lu, we haven't had any income in a month."

 Lu Zhu said nothing.

 “Xianxian” has always been ignored.

 Fifty taels of silver is too high a price for ordinary people. In addition, medicinal tea itself does not cure chronic diseases such as nasal congestion, which always makes people a little skeptical.

As for the former old customer Hu Yuanwai, he was not interested in this kind of herbal tea that could be used to nourish the skin and lighten the body. Even if he wanted to take care of the business, he couldn't take care of it. The hospital became much deserted for a while.

Du Changqing's patience was limited. Seeing that money was only coming out but not coming in every day, he could not help but feel anxious. However, Lu Yan was even more incompetent than him, and Du Changqing only dared to complain a few words, but was really helpless.

Just as he was talking, a figure ran from a distance at the end of the long street. It was noon in summer, and today was the Dragon Boat Festival. All the people in the city went to watch the dragon boats under the Luoyue Bridge. The West Street was very deserted, and suddenly such a shadow appeared. , which seems strange.

The shadow rolled across the long street under the scorching sun and went straight to Renxin Medical Center. He rushed into the shop in one breath and before Lu Zhuo could speak, he shouted loudly: "Medicinal tea! I want two cans of medicinal tea!" "

Du Changqing stood up from the chair with a "swish", walked forward quickly, and smiled warmly at the only guest this month: "What kind of medicinal tea do you need?"

The person who came was a shrewish woman with a slightly plump figure. Without saying anything, she just pointed at the white porcelain jar hidden among the pomegranate flowers: "That's the one!"

 “Xianxian?” Du Changqing was stunned.

This herbal tea has been sitting in the medical clinic for nearly a month without anyone paying attention to it. The pomegranate flowers picked by Acheng have withered, and only the bare dead branches are left in front of the medicine cabinet, decorated with pink paper on the white porcelain jar. It looks so pitiful.

 “This herbal tea…” Du Changqing wanted to explain.

The woman interrupted him: "You can lose weight if you drink it, I know it!"

Seeing this, Yin Zheng stepped forward with a smile and asked, "How do you know, eldest sister, that drinking this herbal tea can help you lose weight? But someone told you?"

The woman said: "What did someone tell me? I saw it with my own eyes! Dai Sanlang, a pork seller at Miaokou in the east of the city, used to be as fat as a pig, but after drinking your medicinal tea, he has become a handsome man now, respectable Very good!"

Because many vendors on West Street have gone to see the dragon boats today, there are few shops open. Next door, Tailor Ge is leaning against the door to have tea, squinting his eyes to listen to the gossip. When he heard the words, he couldn't help but said: "Nonsense! Who is Dai Sanlang?" I’ve never seen it before. The waist is wider than my dustpan. Can it be matched with a handsome man?”

The woman took one look at Tailor Ge's generous figure and sneered: "Isn't that right? That guy is different now than before. Even Widow Sun is rushing to talk to him. If you don't believe it, go to the temple gate in the east of the city yourself. Take a look!"

She said this with great certainty, which made Tailor Ge choke up and couldn't answer her words for a while.

Du Changqing still wanted to speak, but someone's voice came from outside the door: "I bear witness, she is not talking nonsense!"

Everyone turned around and saw that the person who came was Mrs. Song, holding a bamboo basket in her hand. She was running out of breath. Before she arrived, a voice rang first: "I went with Dai Ji, sister Sun, and Dai Sanlang now." He is very handsome and looks much more heroic than Shopkeeper Du!"

Du Changqing: “…”

Mrs. Song's silk shoe shop is here, and she is known to all the vendors on West Street. She is not a talkative person. For a moment, everyone stared at her suspiciously and asked, "Isn't it possible? What about Dai Sanlang?" How can everyone know it and still become a handsome man?"

Sister-in-law Song ignored her and rushed into Renxin Medical Center. She said to Lu: "Doctor Lu, my sister asked me to buy a can for her girl. Do you still have this?"

"Yes." Lu Yan took out a jar from the medicine cabinet and handed it to her, and asked Du Changqing to weigh the silver. Du Changqing made two deals in an instant. He was still dazed and had not recovered from this huge surprise when he heard Acheng's voice ringing from the end of the long street: "My boss... my boss!"

The young boy dragged a wooden bucket and ran from the end, as if someone was chasing him behind him. He ran to Renxin Medical Center in one breath. Du Changqing looked at the empty bucket in his hand and asked doubtfully: "You are not fetching water?" Gone? Where’s the water?”

Acheng wiped the sweat from his forehead and said tremblingly: "...It's so scary."

 “What’s scary?”

“As soon as I walked to the long well at the end of the street, a group of people suddenly came and asked me where to go to Renxin Medical Center. I thought that I should lead them, but who knew that I would lead them..."

Hearing this, Du Changqing became even more confused: "What's wrong with the leader? Is the leader gone?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly heard a loud roar in the distance of the long street. Everyone looked up and saw a large, dark crowd suddenly appearing at the end of the originally deserted street. This group of people included both men and women. The figure was strong and plump, and when he ran, he seemed to be trampling the long street to pieces. Following the ups and downs of the vibration, a group of people ran towards the medical center like crazy, saying as they ran: "Xianxian, leave me two Can Xianxian!”

 “I came first, I want it!”

　　"Go away, I came first, the shopkeeper gives it to me first!"

Yin Zheng was stunned.

Lu Zhen made a prompt decision and just said "close the door" and pulled the door back.

There was a "bang" sound, like someone hitting the door, and then the sound of "ping ping ping pong" sounded, accompanied by chaotic shouts: "Buy medicine, we want to buy medicine!"

 “Open the door! Why do you close the door?”

 “Stop hiding, come out and do business quickly! Don’t hide in there and keep silent!”

Countless people gathered at the door of the medical center and banged the door vigorously. From deserted to crazy, it seemed that it only took an instant.

Yin Zheng was a little surprised, while Lu Zhuo looked calm.

 Only Acheng looked at Du Changqing helplessly.

Du Changqing swallowed: "...it's really...terrifying."

 …

The madness at the entrance of Renxin Medical Center lasted for a long time.

Lu Zhen waited until the people outside calmed down a little before opening the door.

No one at Renxin Medical Center has seen what Dai Sanlang, who sells pork at Chengdongmiaokou, looks like now, but I think this person is really different from before, otherwise so many people would not have seen Dai Sanlang now. After that, I rushed here to buy "Xianxian" without hesitation.

There are many more people buying medicine than Du Changqing expected. The "Xianxian" made by Lu Zhu a few days ago was sold out in an instant, leaving only the bare pomegranate branches swaying.

A chubby man searched unwillingly among the pomegranate branches for a long time, but finally couldn't find the extra can. He looked at Lu Huo pitifully: "Doctor Lu..."

 Lu Hu said: "Don't worry, I will make and sell another batch of fibers in the next few days."

The man was originally very depressed, but his eyes lit up when he heard this, and he responded happily. Seeing this, the customers behind him who had not bought anything asked Lu Chen to make more, or to pay the money first, so that they could order the medicinal tea in advance to avoid not being able to get fresh goods.

Yin Zheng finally sent these people away with coaxing and deception, and closed the shop door in advance under the envious eyes of the neighbors on West Street.

It was almost dusk, and the lanterns on the shop floor were lit in advance. Du Changqing carefully took out the iron box and held a handful of the silver earned today. He let the silver grains flow from his fingers, still doubting that he was in a dream.

Yin Zheng came over, was speechless for a moment, and said: "I have counted it three times. Shopkeeper Du, today we sold fifty cans of fiber. Here are two hundred and fifty taels of silver. Excluding the one hundred taels you gave the girl some time ago." I made a hundred and fifty taels of medicinal materials today."

"One hundred and fifty taels..." Du Changqing sat on the chair and murmured a few words. He suddenly turned around and grabbed the corner of Lu Zhuo's skirt, looking up at her as if looking at the God of Wealth enshrined in a temple, "Doctor Lu , you are really the great savior of Renxin Medical Center, and the living bodhisattva of me, Du Changqing!"

Lu Zhen stretched out his hand, pulled out the skirt he was holding, and said, "It's a pity that there is no extra medicinal tea today."

"It doesn't matter!" Du Changqing slapped his thigh and pushed the iron box in front of Lu Zhu: "Take the money here and let's make more. If it's not enough, I still have it! We can make as much as we can, take advantage of these Live your life and make a lot of money from him!"

 He swept away the gloominess of the past few days, and his eyes and brows were full of joy.

Acheng stared at him: "Boss, didn't you say you have no money?"

Du Changqing spat at him: "What do you know? If I didn't say this, what would happen if all the money was lost? There must be a housekeeper in the family!"

 A Cheng couldn’t accept this.

Yin Zheng couldn't stand it: "But this morning you persuaded the girl to trade for something else..."

"I'm blind and have bad eyesight. Of course Miss Lu won't care about me." Du Changqing was able to bend and stretch, and sighed: "Those people have praised Dai Sanlang to such a high level that I want to meet him." , What nonsense are you making up that you can match my prowess? In just one month, can you lose weight and become a handsome man? "

“The girl said that drinking medicinal tea can help you lose weight, of course you can lose weight.”

Du Changqing waved his hand: "But I originally thought that only women in Shengjing love beauty, but I didn't expect that men are the same."

Lu Tong said: "It's not necessarily because of love for beauty. After all, people's words are scary." She pulled out the dry pomegranate branches from the flower pot, "No matter whether it's a man or a woman, they don't like to be pointed out from behind." "That makes sense. "Du Changqing nodded, looked at Lu Shun and thought for a while, then suddenly asked: "Doctor Lu, have you made this herbal tea before?"

 Lu Zhuo raised his eyes.

Du Changqing touched his nose: "How else could you be so sure that this herbal tea is very effective? I haven't seen you test the medicine with anyone."

Lu Zong gathered the dry pomegranate branches together and said, "I've done it before." Then he raised his head and met the shining eyes of the three people in the room.

She paused and thought for a while before slowly speaking: "When I studied medicine with my master, about five or six years ago, a lady came to my master and wanted him to develop a magical elixir for her to slim down. "

Lu Tong sat down on the chair, still holding the pomegranate branch in his hand.

"This lady and her husband were a young couple, playing the harp and playing the harp, and had children. According to what she said, when she was young, she was slim and beautiful. She just took care of the household all the time and had difficulty taking care of herself, so when she came back to her senses, I found that I had aged, looked shabby, and was bloated and unsightly."

 The three people in the room did not speak, and listened to her quietly.

“Her husband wanted to take in a concubine, who was pretty and graceful, and completely different from her.”

"She hates and loves her husband. She hates that he is so unlucky and neglects his wife who has devoted so many years to her, but she also loves him because he still has some old feelings for her, because the concubine he took into his room, no matter whether it is Her appearance, clothes, and smile all look like her eighteen-year-old self."

“So she found my master and hoped that he could develop a magical elixir for her and take it to make her waist as soft as a weak willow, so as to win back her husband’s heart.”

“My master gave me this task and asked me to make this elixir for her.”

The lights in the house were dim, and the wind from the small courtyard blew through the felt curtain, blowing the fire to the point of falling.

Lu Zhen's eyes gradually became lost in thought.

She still remembered the appearance of the woman. She was wearing a long, washed-out, brown dress. Because the road on Luomei Peak was slippery on a rainy day, there was a lot of mud on the dress. It was obvious that she had slipped on the road. The woman took out the silver box from her arms. The silver ingots in it were rubbed until they shined brightly. She took them in her hand and still had human body temperature.

 The dusty woman looked at Yun Niang as if she were looking at all the hope in the world.

However, Yun Niang's consultation fee is expensive, only a hundred taels of silver, and she cannot afford to pay Yun Niang to make medicine for her.

 After being rejected by Yun Niang, the woman seemed to have lost all her spirit and collapsed on the ground. Lu Tong stood aside, his heart also clenching for this man.

Perhaps seeing the sympathy in Lu Yun's eyes, Yun Niang looked at her with a smile: "Although I can't make medicine for you, this girl can. Why don't you ask her?"

The woman was startled, and subconsciously looked at Lu Huo, with hope rising in her eyes again.

Being looked at like that, it was difficult to say no. Lu Yan struggled for a long time and finally nodded with difficulty: "I... try."

She received the woman's consultation fee, and worked from dawn to dusk to make medicine for the woman. She read countless medical books, tried drinking countless medicinal juices, and even thought about it in her dreams at night. Yun Niang watched her efforts with interest, her eyes unclear about her emotions.

 Until later…

 “Then what?” Acheng was fascinated by what he heard, and when he saw that Lu Zhuo didn’t say anything further, he couldn’t help but ask.

Lu Zhen came to his senses, paused, and said, "Then I made this medicine and gave it to her."

“Did she become very beautiful after drinking the herbal tea? Has her husband changed her mind since then?” The boy was very anxious.

Lu Zhen was silent for a moment: "No."

Acheng was stunned.

"She drank the herbal tea and indeed became much slimmer. From the back, she looked like a young girl who had not left the palace. However, her husband did not change his mind and still took the concubine into his house."

"How could it be?" Acheng couldn't help but said angrily, "She has become beautiful, why does her husband still have a concubine?"

Yin Zheng sneered: "She just lost weight, but after all, she is not as attractive as the newlyweds. What's more, men can change their hearts even if they find an immortal. How can it be restored with just herbal tea? If you use **** to influence others, your **** will fade. Love is relaxed, and love will never be forgotten. How can a young couple be as fresh and interesting as they are?"

"Agree." Du Changqing nodded, "Men are not good things. Now that you have found a concubine, don't talk about caring about old relationships."

Acheng was frustrated: "Why is this..." He then raised his head and asked Lu Chen: "What happened to this lady after that?"

"I don't know." After a long time, Lu Zhen said, "I haven't seen her again."

 “Hey.” Acheng let out a long sigh, looking a little regretful. This was not the ending he wanted.

After hearing a not-so-pleasant story, everyone's previous joy of making money was diluted a lot. After summarizing the medicinal teas to be produced and sold in the next few days in the shop, Du Changqing left with Acheng.

Yin Zheng was busy in the yard, picking out the medicinal materials to be used tonight and putting them into bamboo baskets one by one.

 Lu Zong returned to the house in the small courtyard, and the shadow of the plum blossom tree in front of the window fell on the table. A handful of dead pomegranate branches were placed on the table, looking thin and cold.

Lu Zhuo fiddled with the wick and placed a small handful of dead branches on the oil lamp. The flames made a scorching "peeping" sound, and a small smell of burning came out of the oil lamp, suddenly breaking the darkness of the night. Tranquility.

 She lowered her eyes.

 Actually, she met that woman later.

The woman who had lost weight after taking the medicinal tea returned to Luomei Peak again. Lu Zhu saw her again. She was no longer bloated and could even be called lonely. Her skinny body was dangling in her robe, like a withered pomegranate. On the branches, there are no beautiful flowers, only withered and twilight.

 Obviously she had achieved what she wanted, but her eyes looked even more desperate than before.

She gave away all her money and asked Yun Niang to make a magical elixir for her to rejuvenate her youth, so that she could return to her original state.

 But is there any magic pill in this world that can rejuvenate one’s youth?

Yun Niang smiled and pushed back the hand holding the silver.

 The woman's face was ashen.

"Actually, it doesn't have to be so troublesome. If you want to win back your husband's heart, it's very simple."

Yun Niang stretched out her hand, handed over a snow-white porcelain jar, and whispered in the woman's ear, "Here is poison. It is colorless and odorless. If you use it for a month, the person will die and no one will notice."

Yun Niang let go of her hand, looked down at the bewildered woman, and said softly: "If he dies, he won't change his mind."

Lu Zhen stood behind the house and watched the woman staggering down the hill, holding the porcelain jar in her hand tightly.

 A month later, Lu Huo heard that a woman in the town at the foot of the mountain poisoned her husband and then threw herself into a well. She ran back to the house, where Yun Niang was making wine-steamed chicken. The kitchen was filled with the refreshing aroma of mellow wine and steamed chicken, but Lu Yan felt like retching.

Yun Niang turned around with her chopsticks and looked at her with a smile, as if she was watching a lame and funny play. Finally, she asked: "Can you see clearly?"

 Lu Zhen didn't speak.

Yun Niang said calmly: "Medicines can't cure people, poison can."

 Medicine cannot heal people, but poison can.

On the flickering flames, the last dead branch of the pomegranate flower has burned out, leaving a scorched black spot on the table, and no trace of the original splendor can be discerned.

Yin Zheng shouted in the courtyard: "Girl, the medicinal materials are sorted."

Lu Zong responded, cleaned up the ashes, and walked out of the house with an oil lamp.

 Poor, I always get mistaken by my waist...

Perhaps Xianxian is not a medicine, but a poison.

Just like herself, she has never been a doctor who saves lives and heals the wounded.

Yun Niang, a real crazy critic. .

 (End of this chapter)