Chapter 257: Chapter 253: Scholar_1

Translator: 549690339

Yingbao received the yellow talisman paper and cinnabar, as well as a brush, brought by the shopkeeper.

She ground the cinnabar into a fine paste with a drip of water and drew an eviction talisman with the brush.

The quality of the talisman was not very good, its lines were still a bit twisted and warped, but it looked passable.

Unfortunately, she had forgotten to obtain a peach wood sword, a priest robe, and a priest hat. Otherwise, she could have been a proper Forbidden Curse Master.

The shopkeeper stood beside the child, watching her fumble around with a puzzled expression on his face.

He dared not judge the quality of the talisman she drew, but it seemed that the little girl might indeed be a shaman.

When she was chanting and drawing the talisman, her mother and sister showed no surprise, indicating that she often treated people this way.

The shopkeeper began to feel hopeful.

They all arrived at the scholar’s room, Yingbao kept muttering the incantation several times, now she only needed to perform the corresponding gestures and recite it.

She then walked in the Yu Steps twice, murmuring all the while, took out a small porcelain vial of potion from her bag, and made the scholar drink it.

This scholar looked to be in his twenties, bearded, disheveled, and with a strange smell emanating from his body.

Yingbao stepped back and told the shopkeeper, “Have someone heat some water as he needs a wash.”

The smell, she thought, was enough to make someone faint.

Fortunately, the chamber pot in the room was cleaned every day; otherwise, the whole room would have been stinking.

The shopkeeper nodded, “I do have people clean him every now and then or else he wouldn’t look human.”

The scholar slept as soon as he had taken the medicine, and everyone left the room.

That night, taking advantage of Chen Zhao and his mother’s sleep, Yingbao entered her spiritual domain (Dongfu) and started to arrange the seeds.

She sprinkled seeds of each vegetable around the Pupil Spring, including flax.

She also cut open ripe watermelons and cantaloupes, took out their seeds and planted them.

As for litchi and longan, she took out their seeds and buried them in the black soil for sprouting, planting around twenty or thirty of each.

She then checked the ginseng she had buried in the black soil and found out one of them had actually sprouted.

Heavens! The ginseng has finally sprouted!

Yingbao was overjoyed, and she spent a long time watching the tiny sprout.

When they will bear fruits, she would plant a lot of ginseng.

She also had to figure out how to grow San Qi (Panax notoginseng) and Huang Qi (Radix astragali).

It would be best if she could find fresh San Qi and Huang Qi, and at that time, she could directly plant them in her spiritual domain.

The next day.

The shopkeeper came knocking early in the morning: “Little doctor! Little doctor!”

Chen Zhao’s mother(Spring) opened the door: “Shopkeeper, what’s the matter?”

“Scholar Li is capable of getting out of bed.”

The shopkeeper said with a delighted face: “Please excuse the call, little doctor. Can you take a look at him to see if he is better?”

Hearing this, Yingbao immediately ran over, “I’ll have a look.”

She had only given him one vial of Five Ding Chi liquid diluted by the Pupil Spring to drink. It doesn’t make sense for it to have taken effect so quickly. Could it have been the effects of her incantations and talisman drawing?

The group of them went to the room next door and saw that the scholar was sitting on the edge of the bed. His hair was well-combed, and his clothes had been changed — altogether, he looked much more invigorated.

However, his emaciated cheeks and the full-face beard made him look haggard.

Upon seeing Yingbao, Scholar Li stood up and took a deep bow: “Thanks to the life-saving grace the little doctor. I, Li Xu will never forget it.”

Yingbao nodded with a profound look on her face, “Saving lives is our duty, Mr. Li, you should not worry about it.”

She took a quick look at Li Xu: “Do you feel unwell anywhere?”

Li Xu honestly answered, “I feel a dull pain in my chest, and my limbs lack strength.”

“Come over here, I’ll take your pulse,” Yingbao said, taking a seat by the small table.

As instructed, Li Xu sat down on one side and extended his slender wrist.

Yingbao took his pulse and listened to his back.

The man seemed to have lung disease, somewhat like the lung disease that her Uncle Er suffered from.

Apparently, due to exposure to harsh weather and the lack of timely treatment, his health deteriorated step by step.

Yingbao thought for a moment, had the shopkeeper bring some paper and pen, wrote a prescription, and then asked him to get the herbs.

She also took out a small vial of potion from her bag and gave it to Li Xu to drink.

Without hesitating, Li Xu drank the potion, not a drop remained.

The shopkeeper gave the prescription to the errand boy and told him to go and get the medicine from the pharmacy. Then he turned to Yingbao with eager eyes. “Um, little doctor, do you make house calls?”

Yingbao shook her head: “I do not.”

She planned to return to the boat in the afternoon, so how could she make house calls?

The shopkeeper sighed, “To tell you the truth, my daughter who lives in the west of the city has been married for almost three years but has yet to conceive. I was hoping you could examine her.”

Yingbao replied, “Sorry, I am not free for house calls, and we will be returning to our boat this afternoon.”

Upon hearing that she was leaving in the afternoon, The shopkeeper became anxious and quickly asked, “Then, then can I bring my daughter here for you to see?”

Yingbao relented and nodded, “Of course, but I will only provide consultation, and not the medicine, as the medicines I have are very precious.”

She picked up the small porcelain vial that Scholar Li have drank from and said, “A vial of such potent medicine needs ten taels of silver.”

“What?” Both Scholar Li and the shopkeeper were taken aback.

“Te…Ten taels?” Scholar Li’s hands and feet started trembling.

From yesterday till now, he accidentally had drunk twenty taels of silver. What on earth should he do now?

Li Xu bowed to Yingbao again, “I apologise, but I currently don’t have twenty taels of silver. Could you please tell me your address? Once I get the money, I shall personally deliver it.”

Without hesitation, Yingbao wrote down her address on a paper and gave it to Scholar Li.

Li Xu took the paper, blew on the ink to dry it, carefully folded it, and put it in his book box.

Seeing his serious attitude, Yingbao began to develop a good impression of him.

No matter whether he would deliver the silver or not, his attitude was quite appealing.

The shopkeeper bit his lips, “I’ll immediately go and fetch my daughter. Could I kindly request you to stay put?”

Yingbao: “Alright, make it quick. My mother and I need to go out to buy some things later.”

She had not bought the local grains and vegetable seeds yet. She planned to visit the morning market and browse around. Even if she could only gather one or two kinds, it would be good.

“I’ll be back very soon!” The shopkeeper hastily went out, leaving his ten-year-old son to look after the shop, while he personally went to fetch his daughter from her in-laws’ place.

After the shopkeeper left, Yingbao took out a packet of medicinal pills from her bag.

“There are thirty pills in this packet. Take one every day. Should you not fully recover after finishing them, come to find me in my hometown.”

Li Xu hesitantly took the packet of pills and asked, “How… how much are these pills?”

“One tael of silver per pill. So thirty taels for thirty pills.” Yingbao replied.

Li Xu almost dropped the packet from his hands, he hurriedly shook his head, “I appreciate the kindness, little doctor. But my family is in financial straits, I’m afraid I’ll not be able to repay such a large amount of money.”

He tried to return the packet, but Yingbao stopped him, “It’s no problem. Once your health improves and you become a successful candidate at the imperial exam, you can repay me.”

Li Xu with a troubled look on his face asked, “What if I don’t pass the exam?”

The imperial exams are tough, who could guarantee that they would pass?

“If you don’t pass, you can come to my hometown and open a school to tutor children as repayment of the debt.”

Yingbao greatly respected scholars and saved him for this very reason.

“Alright,” Li Xu gave another deep bow, “Then I shall reluctantly accept it.”