Chapter 54 Opening a Chinese Medicine Hall
When the group arrived at Zhiqiu's house, Mengxi asked the servant to pass a message to Zhiqiu's brother Li Du, and ordered the servant to wait outside. She, Zhiqiu and Zhichun entered the inner gate. At this time, Li Du had already received the letter and came out to greet them. He had received the letter yesterday and thought that only his sister had returned, but he did not expect that his sister's master had also come. After listening to his sister's introduction, he was shocked and knelt on the ground:
"Li Du kowtowed to Second Grandma. Li Du will never forget Second Grandma's great kindness to the Li family."
As he said this, he kowtowed three times.
Mengxi stretched out her hand to support him:
"Brother Li, please stand up quickly. Zhiqiu has been with me ever since, and she is like my own sister. Brother Li, please don't be so formal."
Li Du then stood up, lifted the door curtain, and let the second grandmother and others in. As soon as they stepped into the house, Mengxi realized what it meant to be penniless. It was called a house, but it could only shelter from the wind and rain. There was a bed, two torn quilts, a wooden window, and broken window paper swaying in the wind, which made the house look even more desolate. When Zhiqiu saw Old Man Li, he took a few quick steps forward, knelt down on the ground with a plop, and hugged Old Man Li and started crying.
Li Du hurried over to help Zhiqiu up: "Sister, get up quickly. If you do this, Dad will be even more sad."
When Father Li saw his daughter coming back, he was so excited that he couldn't speak. With trembling hands, he kept pulling Zhiqiu up. Zhiqiu finally got up and held her father's hand and leaned on the bed. After a long time, Father Li said:
"Please forgive me for being ill and unable to come to you. If you can let Cui'er come back to see me, I will die with peace of mind. I will repay you for your kindness in my next life."
Old man Li was also crying as he spoke. After hearing this, Zhiqiu started crying too.
After listening to what Old Man Li said, Li Du moved the only broken chair in the room, wiped it with his sleeve, and let the second grandmother sit on it.
Mengxi took a look and felt that if she really sat on the chair, it would fall apart immediately. If she didn't sit on it, the Li family would definitely feel even more uncomfortable. So she sat on it empty-handed and sighed secretly. This was really more uncomfortable than standing. Zhichun handed the pastries in her hand to Li Du.
Mengxi chatted with Li Du about business for a while. After listening to Li Du's clear and logical explanation and seeing that he looked honest and sincere, not like a treacherous person, Mengxi decided to stick with his original idea.
Although Mengxi had the idea of opening a pharmacy, he didn't know what kind of person Li Du was and wanted to meet him first, so he never told Zhiqiu about it. After all, this was not a trivial matter and if he entrusted the task to the wrong person, the consequences would be disastrous. Now that he met him, the matter was settled.
So she started chatting with Old Man Li about medical matters. Old Man Li was even more surprised to hear about Second Grandma's knowledge. He could not have imagined that a woman who never left the house actually knew so much about medical skills and pharmacology. When he asked questions that he usually did not understand, Second Grandma could always answer them in an orderly manner, which always made him feel like he had suddenly seen the light. Old Man Li was amazed and worshipped Second Grandma to the sky.
Mengxi also deliberately displayed her talents today in order to conquer the father and son of the Li family. Seeing that Old Man Li was completely convinced by her, she ordered Zhichun to send the pills that she had prepared earlier to the old man. This was the medicine she had prepared based on Zhiqiu's description of the old man's condition these days. She asked Old Man Li to try it. Old Man Li originally thought that he was not far from death. Today, after meeting the Second Madam and listening to her conversation and knowledge, he had long believed in her medical skills. When he saw the pills she sent, he also knew that the pills were expensive, so he had no doubts and felt that he had really met a noble person who could save him. He only regretted that he could not get up from the bed now and could not kowtow to the Second Madam to thank her.
Mengxi asked again what Li Du was doing now. When the father and son of the Li family heard it, they both sighed. It turned out Li Du had not found a suitable job because his father was ill and needed someone to take care of him. After all, he was born into a scholar family and could not do physical work. He had time constraints if he found a job as a waiter in the business, and could not take care of his father. The two of them had been living off their savings. They had sold everything that could be sold at home, and now they were still spending the money from Zhiqiu's selling her body and the money she had asked someone to send them two days ago. Old man Li had to take medicine every day, and it seemed that he would go hungry again.
Mengxi was secretly delighted when she heard this. It was not that she had no sympathy, but she was happy that she came at the right time. This timely help was more likely to win people's hearts than icing on the cake. So she told Li Du about her idea of opening a pharmacy. She wanted Li Du to go out and find a pharmacy to run first in the next few days. Later, she would prepare some exclusive pills and send them over to expand the business slowly. She also promised that she would provide the money and secret recipes for this pharmacy, and the Li family would run it, and give the Li family father and son a second-level equity. The Li family father and son, including Zhiqiu, were stunned when they heard this, and looked at the second grandmother in disbelief. Li Du pinched his thigh hard, and when he was sure that what the second grandmother said was true, he and Zhiqiu both knelt down and kowtowed to the second grandmother. Mengxi hurriedly asked them to stand up. Father Li asked Li Du to get a pen and ink, and immediately wrote a contract of sale, signed and stamped it, and handed it to the second grandmother.
Mengxi took it and looked at it. It turned out to be a death contract. She thought that old man Li was also from a scholarly family, so how could he be willing to be someone else's slave? Na Zhiqiu also threatened to die and agreed to sign a living contract before his father agreed to sell him. But today, he signed a death contract without hesitation, and it was between both father and son, selling himself to her, Li Mengxi, not the Xiao family. She was so moved that she almost tore up the contract. Then she thought, after all, she was alone now , and she had to be on guard against others. With this piece of document, she could always be prepared. If the father and son of the Li family were really loyal to her, then it would be a piece of waste paper. She would not regard them as slaves. After all, she was a modern person. She supported equal human rights in her bones, and there was no such thing as hierarchy in her concept. Thinking of this, she took the contract and was about to speak when she heard a noise outside. Li Du was about to go out to see, but the door was kicked open and Zhang Damao strode in.
It turned out that on that day, when Zhang Damao heard that Li Cui was sold to the Xiao family, he ran to the Li family and scolded them for a long time. But when he saw that the Li family had become penniless and had no more money, he gave up and had no more ideas. After all, if the Xiao family stomped their feet, Pingyang City would shake, and if they coughed, the whole Pingyang would catch a cold. How could a lowly punk like him afford to offend them?
Today, I was strolling on the street with some friends and saw a gorgeous carriage in front of the Li family's house. After asking around, I learned that it was Li Cui who had been sold and came back to visit her family. It had only been a few days since she was sold, and yet she was able to come back to see her parents. How could the master be so easy to talk to? She must have climbed into the master's bed, and the master took advantage of the freshness to pamper her and let her come back. Thinking of this, I felt a nameless jealousy and immediately became furious I brought a few people over to humiliate Li Cui.
To be honest, he would never dare to offend the Xiao family. First, he thought that even if the Xiao family accepted Li Cui, she would at most be a maid. If Li Cui was humiliated when she returned home, she might not dare to tell the Xiao family. Even if they did, the Xiao family would not stand up for a maid. They might blame Li Cui for being a playboy and causing trouble everywhere. Second, his jealousy blinded his mind. For a man, what he couldn't get was the best. When he thought about Li Cui following someone else, he was furious and angry. He kicked the door open and went into the room, pointing at Li Cui and cursing.
