Manbao also took the opportunity to promote himself, "I can recognize many other medicines."
"Oh, what other medicine do you know?"
Manbao jumped off the chair, ran out and brought back a dirty yam to show him, "Look!"
The shopkeeper looked at the long piece of yam in amazement, then glanced at Manbao and asked, "Did you dig this?"
"No, my eldest brother and his friends dug it!"
Isn't that something you are proud of?
The shopkeeper asked, "Do you know yam?"
Manbao said, "I recognize it."
There were many beautiful pictures in the medicine books that Manbao had read recently. She wrote them down one by one, and then counted them with her fingers and told the shopkeeper, "I have seen astragalus, licorice, and I also know ginseng, but I like red dates the most."
The shopkeeper simply started a conversation with her and asked, "Why?"
"Because the book says that red dates are sweet and crisp, and I like to eat sweet fruits."
"Do you have a medicine book at home?"
"I don't have any at home, but my classmate's family has some," Manbao said, "My classmate's family has a lot of books."
The shopkeeper's attitude became more serious. "Young lady, are you studying? I wonder which teacher you are studying with."
"My teacher's last name is Zhuang, and he is very good."
The shopkeeper found this little girl a little interesting. She seemed to think that everyone around her was powerful, including herself.
Her husband is awesome because he knows a lot; her classmates are awesome because they have read more books than her and have a large collection of books at home; her mother is awesome, her sister-in-law is awesome, her brothers are awesome, and even her nephews and nieces who only dare to look in at the door are awesome in her eyes because they always do things that she can't do.
The shopkeeper thought that she was amazing to realize this.
Of course, she also thinks she is great because she is very smart!
Manbao is a very talkative child. Even without the shopkeeper asking, she would take the initiative to tell her everything .
Of course, she was not shy, so she asked a lot of questions during the conversation. The shopkeeper was quite happy chatting with her, and he told her all about his family situation. If you ask one question, he will answer ten questions. So if he asks you one question, you should at least answer one question, right?
So Manbao found out that the shopkeeper's surname was Zheng, and he was also a doctor. There were only two doctors in Jishiditang in Luojiang County, besides Doctor Qin, who was the resident doctor, he was the other one.
Although he also treats patients, he does more work such as prescribing medicine, purchasing medicinal materials, and keeping accounts. In his words, he is in charge of the shop, so he is doing management work.
Doctor Zheng and his family are all here. He has been here for three or four years and is familiar with all the herbalists in this area.
Manbao would curiously ask, "What is a herbalist?"
"They are people who make a living by collecting herbs. However, there are not many families like them in Luojiang County, only two. Therefore, most of the herbs are transferred from other places." Since Doctor Zheng was willing to accept the Zhou family's medicine, he was not afraid to tell them, "For example, the herbs in our area include Arisaema, Radix Trichosanthis, Galla Chinensis, Peucedanum, Akebia, Millettia Spatholobi, Uncaria Rhynchophylla, Ophiopogon japonicus, Aster tataricus and Pueraria lobata. The herbalists basically know these herbs. Not only do they know them, they also know how to prepare them. The herbs sent to our pharmacy are basically already prepared."
He smiled and said, "Your family, who only send one or two herbs at a time, can't even be called an herbalist. But since what you send is what we use regularly , we accept them all."
Manbao was amazed, "Then won't they be able to make a lot of money?"
Doctor Zheng shook his head and said, "How much money can a herbalist make? They don't have land, and their food, clothing and shelter all depend on selling herbs. There are many snakes and insects in the mountains and forests, so it's not easy to collect herbs. You guys are better off farming."
"Why don't they have land?" Manbao said, "Every family in our village has land. The village chief said that if you don't have enough land at home, you can go and open up wasteland. We will provide you with enough land."
Doctor Zheng: “…”
He hesitated for a moment and said, "Maybe it's because he doesn't know how to farm?"
"If you don't know, just learn," Manbao said, "We didn't know the medicinal herbs before, but now we know them, and we will know more in the future."
Doctor Zheng took the opportunity to ask, "Will your family still sell medicinal herbs in the future?"
"I sell whatever I come across," Man Bao also took the opportunity to ask him, "Does your pharmacy still accept it? Do you accept all kinds of medicine?"
Doctor Zheng said that as long as it was medicine, he would buy it.
Manbao was happy and asked him, "Do you have a medicine book? Many medicines in my classmate's medicine book are not drawn well. I can't recognize them after looking at them for a long time. If you have a better one, please lend it to me. Next time I see a medicinal herb, I will be able to recognize it."
Doctor Zheng looked at Manbao's little face, and after a moment's silence, he went back to the backyard and found her a book. "Please return it to me after you finish reading it. Don't damage it."
Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang, who had just finished calculating two sums of money in a sweat, turned around and saw their youngest sister taking a book from the shopkeeper.
The brothers: “…”
Manbao happily took it, and carefully wrapped it with oil paper, then gave him the yam they had dug, "Uncle shopkeeper, take it back and stew it. Yam can be stewed with chicken to replenish qi and nourish the spleen, which is especially good."
Doctor Zheng's eyebrows twitched, and he asked with a smile, "You even know this?"
Manbao said proudly: "Of course, yam can also be made into yam cake."
Of course, Koko had just told her all this, because since she had taken someone else's book, she had to give something in return.
Koko said yam is good.
Doctor Zheng did not ask for her yam in vain, and still wanted to buy it from her by pound. He also said: "Next time you dig yam, don't bring it raw. Cut it into slices, dry it and bring it to the medicine shop. I will still charge you 20 cents per pound. You can also sell it raw at the market. Some wealthy families who are particular about it will buy it and make medicinal food."
Manbao didn't want his money and insisted on treating him to a meal.
Doctor Zheng thought about it and decided not to refuse, but he did not take all of them. He only kept two and said, "You can take the rest back."
Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang took a look at the book in their youngest sister's hand and bowed repeatedly to say goodbye to Doctor Zheng.
Doctor Zheng smiled and waved, "Don't damage my book, and remember to return it to me."
Manbao patted his chest and agreed, then climbed onto the cart with the book in his arms, and said to his elder and second brothers, "We have to go buy chickens."
Knowing that his youngest sister wanted to eat chicken again, Zhou Dalang thought of his mother and couldn't help but said, "Manbao , our family has already eaten four chickens. Mom said that if we buy more chickens, she will kick me and your second brother out. Don't waste money like this."
"Okay, then we won't buy chicken, we'll buy lamb!"
Zhou Dalang continued to persuade, and Manbao stretched out his hand to him, "Brother, give me the money we earned, and we can take it ourselves."
Zhou Dalang immediately shut up and stopped talking.
Zhou Erlang coaxed her, "Manbao, it's not safe for you to carry so much money. Let your elder and second brothers hold it for you."
"Then give me fifty cents to buy the meat, or I'll cry."
Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang were very conflicted. Manbao seldom cried, but they were very afraid of her crying because once she started crying she would easily become out of breath and would even vomit if she cried too much. She might be fine in the end, but they would most likely be scared to death, so after hesitating for a while, they still took out fifty coins and gave her.