It has been rainy in Beijing since February, and it got even worse in March.
Flowers in the garden often bloom in the morning and wither in the afternoon.
Many people in Yongzhonghou Mansion fell ill and coughed non-stop.
Xiangxiang came to Qianru and said that the same thing happened to their Hedong County Prince's Mansion.
Especially Changsunji coughed all night, and only slept for a short while during the day when he couldn't stop coughing.
"I heard from people that this is because of the bad luck in the year, so I need to go burn incense and pray for blessings from the gods!"
So the two sisters agreed to go to the temple to offer incense together.
The nobles in the capital preferred Miaofa Temple when offering incense, but due to previous disputes, they had no choice but to choose Zixia Temple as their second choice.
Generally speaking, Zixia Temple is the most popular Taoist temple in Beijing.
Although most of the people who come in and out are ordinary people, who are a bit less noble, the old temple master Kumu Taoist always opens the door every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month to donate doctors and medicines.
It’s been like one day for decades.
Therefore, there are many devout pilgrims here.
Especially on the first and fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, it is basically difficult for late-arriving pilgrims to squeeze in through the mountain gate.
Therefore, the two of them deliberately and tactfully avoided these two days.
March 12th is a good day for Xiangxiang. It is said that everything will go well.
In order to burn incense this time, she personally made many lucky bags and put a penny in each lucky bag. She planned to wait until she got to the temple to pray for some talismans and put one in each bag.
Then give the blessing bag to other pilgrims in need to accumulate blessings for the county and prince's palace.
Qianru prepared the medicinal materials and sent people to Zixia Temple early to prepare them. When the time came, she set up a big pot at the mountain gate and applied the medicine in the name of Yongzhong Hou Mansion.
The two sisters worked hard for two days, but something unexpected happened when they arrived at Zixia Temple.
The talismans in the temple are sold out.
Xiangxiang's lucky bag lacked good intentions and contained only a penny. He felt that he couldn't afford it, so he had to pour it all out and donate sesame oil money.
But Qianru's medicine is in short supply.
A pot of medicine has been boiled three times, and hundreds of people are waiting in line to get it.
At present, the cold medicine in the capital was surprisingly expensive. She thought that there might not be so many pilgrims on the first or fifteenth day of the lunar month, so she only bought more than 500 taels of medicinal materials.
This situation is obviously not enough!
Xiangxiang whispered, "We just want to accumulate some blessings. You don't need to engage in such a big battle, right? There are hundreds of thousands of people in the capital, and it won't be enough even if you lose all your family wealth."
She also thinks this is true, but more and more people are queuing up to receive the medicine. If they withdraw now, wouldn't it be very embarrassing if they are scolded for being stingy?
How to do it?
The maid suggested boiling the medicinal residue a few more times. Other wealthy families she had seen did this. When the medicinal smell faded away, the pilgrims would disperse on their own.
She walked over to the pot and smelled it.
The medicinal smell is still very strong, so it seems feasible.
As soon as she thought about it, she did it.
Sure enough, some pilgrims felt that the smell of the medicine was weak and left in despair.
But when I do this, I always feel uneasy with my conscience.
There seem to be many voices in my ears scolding me for being "unkind".
Just when she felt guilty, Liu Tang jumped in front of her and said, "Hey, are you doing something good? How many times have you boiled the medicine?"
She blushed involuntarily and hurriedly asked him to keep his voice down.
Liu Tang made the sign of the cross to her disdainfully, and she raised three fingers shyly.
"What?" Liu Tang exclaimed, "You are so stingy that you actually cooked it thirty times."
"What nonsense did you say? It's only been three times."
Liu Tang picked up the dregs of the medicine and smelled it, "Don't blame me for not reminding you, the taste of your medicine has faded. If you continue to distribute it, your Yongzhong Hou Mansion will become a big joke tomorrow."
"How can I become a laughing stock when I do good deeds?" At this time, she noticed a strong smell of medicine on Liu Tang's body and suddenly realized.
This guy must have stocked up on medicinal materials and wanted to rip her off.
When I asked, it turned out to be true.
"If it weren't for the recent weather being too humid, I definitely wouldn't sell it to you cheaply, how about you? Think about it?" Liu Tang saw that she was a little indifferent and said: "You are high-ranking nobles, so just send this little medicine to pass it on."
You will definitely be laughed at if you go out!"
By doing such a good thing, isn't it just to accumulate some blessings and earn a little good reputation?
Is it going to be self-defeating?
Liu Tang saw that she was a little shaken, his eyes rolled around a few times, and he used a provocation.
"It is said that Princess Nandu and the Prince Consort will donate medicine and medicine at Miaofa Temple in the near future. She is a member of the royal family, so she must be generous. If you are so picky, you will definitely lose face if you are taken out."
"Yes, no matter who we are compared to, we will never be compared to them." Xiangxiang excitedly grabbed Qianru's hand and encouraged her to be more generous.
She gritted her teeth and gave up. She ordered people to put up a sign saying that the Hedong County Prince's Mansion and the Yongzhong Marquis Mansion would apply medicine at Zixia Temple for three days from the 13th to the 15th.
This heart-wrenching decision made her unable to eat and drink water after returning home.
Liu Tang quadrupled the price of a pack of cold medicine for five coins and sold it to them.
In order to meet the huge cost of medicine in the next three days, she and Xiangxiang each paid 10,000 taels.
This huge expense left only fifty taels of silver in the books of the Yongzhong Hou Mansion.
In the afternoon, Shangguan Yuan came back happily and told her that in order to celebrate the wedding of the princess and the consort, the emperor decided to hold a spring search.
"Ru'er, I remember that the saddle you gave to Jiang Xiaotian that year was good. Where was it made? I plan to get a new one."
Qianru's teeth trembled nervously, and she kept saying: "Why bother your majestic Marquis to do this little thing? I'll send someone to take care of it later. By the way, when will the spring search be done?"
"The emperor said to pick a sunny day to do it, no later than the end of the month."
There are only ten days left, where can I get so much money to buy an expensive saddle?
She was so sad that she almost shed tears, but she couldn't shamelessly tell him that she had just spent all her family money.
She had no choice but to go to Liu Tang with a low eyebrow and discuss returning some medicinal materials.
But it is really uncomfortable to do such things like betraying one's promise and asking for one's face.
She was outside Liujiazhuang, hesitating and unable to move, when she unexpectedly met Chang Sunji and his wife.
When Xiangxiang got off the carriage, he puffed up his cheeks with a look of reluctance. When he saw her nearby, he lowered his head in embarrassment.
Qianru felt much more comfortable knowing that the couple wanted to do the same thing as herself.
The three people discussed for a while and decided to work together to return 30% of the silver from Liu Tang.
Liu Tang is a well-known money man. One word of money is worth ten shrewd businessmen.
They didn't get a penny back, and were forced to help him sell medicinal materials in order to make money.
As early as last year when he came back from the battlefield, Liu Tang started planning to resell medicinal materials.
For this reason, he lost all his money and mortgaged Zhuangzi, and even borrowed money everywhere to purchase a large number of medicinal materials for treating wind and cold from Jiangnan, especially those for reducing fever and relieving coughs.
Nowadays, Liujiazhuang has more than a dozen rooms of medicinal materials piled up.
If you sell the medicine for two ounces, you will make a lot of money!