Chapter 87 Secretly Leaving the House
The Second Master was out, and Mengxi's worries came back to her mind. She planned to sneak out of the house, mainly to visit her Yichun Hall. Once the Second Master left, it would be easy for her to go out since she was the oldest in the courtyard. But it would be difficult to get past the old lady, who would call her over from time to time to relieve her boredom. It would be terrible if she was called when she was out.
Mengxi has been frowning these past two days, racking her brains to figure out how to avoid the old lady from leaving the house. Zhiqiu, Zhichun and the others secretly thought that the Second Master had left, and the Second Mistress was uneasy. She was secretly happy that this mistress had finally come to her senses and realized that she was worried about the Second Master. If Mengxi knew what they were thinking, she would definitely hit her head against the wall. She would be even more wronged than Dou E.
Perhaps God had become aware of Mengxi's scolding and felt that he should help her. Otherwise, how could God grant her wishes? Just when Mengxi was racking her brains to figure out how to get around the old lady and leave the house, the opportunity came.
It turned out that Concubine Jing in the palace had been ill recently, and the Emperor Jin had granted the old lady and the first wife permission to come to the palace to visit her. The old lady also said that she could stay in the palace for one or two nights. Mengxi was overjoyed when she heard this. Not only the old lady but also the first wife were avoided this time. She was so excited that she did not sleep for half the night. She ordered Zhiqiu and Zhichun to prepare things and sneak out of the house at night. Zhiqiu looked at the second wife worriedly:
"Is this possible? The mistress leaving the house is a big deal, and the Second Master is not here. We should ask the old lady for permission. There are hundreds of eyes watching us in this house."
"I have requested permission. I won't tell you whether it is approved or not. Even with these servants following us, we can't go to Yichun Hall. This opportunity is rare, so I can't care so much."
"Those concubines have been coming to pay their respects to you every day these days, trying to curry favor with you. If you leave, they won't be able to find you, so they will inevitably become suspicious, especially Miss Xiu. I don't know how many spies she has planted in this courtyard, watching you, waiting for you to make any mistakes so that they can punish you."
"Tell Zhidong to tell the concubines in each room that I have been feeling unwell for the past two days and ask them to save their time and not come to pay their respects. Since Miss Xiu has been making trouble these days, they are used to locking the door in the east wing. Tell Zhixia to lock the door after we go out and find a place to play."
"Second Madam, then..."
"Don't talk nonsense. Just prepare as I say. Tomorrow I will dress up as Zhichun and go out with you. Then prepare some men's clothes. When we leave the house, we will dress up as men and no one will recognize us when we walk on the street."
Zhiqiu opened her eyes wide. How could the Second Mistress come up with this?
The next morning, because she had to go to the palace, the old lady left at 3:00 am. Mengxi sent the old lady and the first wife away and returned to Xiaoxiangyuan at 5:00 am. As soon as she entered the east wing, she packed up and washed her face with the prepared medicine to make her face look slightly red, like a bronze color tanned by the sun, so that it would not look too abrupt when she put on men's clothes. Then she asked Zhiqiu to comb her hair into a maid's hairstyle and changed into Zhichun's clothes. She and Zhiqiu left Xiaoxiangyuan through the side door. The carriage had been prepared and the driver was their own man. They walked all the way to the mansion gate. The second gate had been arranged long ago, so they went out without any effort. The two of them went out of the mansion and came all the way to Yichun Hall. Old Man Li and Li Du had been waiting outside the door for a long time.
Mengxi got off the car and looked up. She saw a two-story building with a hip roof and a wooden structure. The building was covered with glazed tiles and looked majestic. The entrance was paved with blue bricks and there was a pair of chestnut-brown doors with a couplet on them:
The first couplet is: Heaven sends down hundreds of magical herbs to help all living beings
The second line is: The World Bank Medicine Ancestor Medical Virtue Miao Shan Tang
There was a huge plaque on the door with three large characters on a blue background and silver edges:
"Yichun Hall"
Li Du and his son stepped forward to pay their respects to the Second Madam. Mengxi arrived early, and it was not yet opening time, so the main door was not open. The father and son led the Second Madam in through the side door. Two waiters were sweeping the dust in the hall. When they saw the shopkeeper respectfully welcoming the two distinguished guests, they hurriedly stopped what they were doing and stepped forward to pay their respects.
Mengxi indicated that it was unnecessary and looked around the pharmacy. He saw a counter facing the door with an abacus and account books on it. On both sides were wooden shelves with various pills and plasters on them. In the back was a row of drawer shelves storing various Chinese herbal medicines. There was a wooden staircase facing the side door on the left. Going up the stairs was a corridor. Passing through the corridor, he entered the hall on the second floor. There was also a couplet at the door:
The first couplet: A hundred people save the world and have good medicine
The second couplet: I only care about the spring grass while helping the poor
Horizontal banner: Healing the world with medicine
Mengxi followed Li Du and his son into the . The layout of the hall was similar to that of the first floor, but it was more exquisitely decorated. Mengxi was very satisfied with it. After going downstairs, Li Du accompanied Second Grandma and Zhiqiu to the backyard. The backyard was even bigger. Opposite was a row of tall warehouses, and on both sides was a row of small rooms, which were used for living and making medicine. Li Du reserved an upper room for Second Grandma and sent someone to clean it every day so that she could come and stay occasionally.
Mengxi and Zhiqiu went straight into the room to rest for a while. After a simple wash and changing into men's clothes, they came out and carefully visited the entire backyard under the guidance and introduction of Li Du. At this time, Li Du had already recruited all the shop assistants in the store. After the second grandmother changed into men's clothes, he introduced her to everyone as Li Mengtan. Li Du told the assistants that this was their big shopkeeper, the owner of Yichuntang, but he was traveling outside all year round and rarely returned to Pingyang. Today he just came back for inspection. Mengxi simply said a few words of encouragement and the future prospects of the medicine hall, and then told them to disperse. He and Li Du came to the account office, where Old Man Li was already waiting.
After listening to Father Li's report on the business situation over the past month and taking a brief look at the accounts, Mengxi, based on her past life experience and the current situation of the pharmacy, made some suggestions for improvement. Father Li had been running the pharmacy for a lifetime, and Second Grandma's brief words were immediately clear. She mentioned the key points and nodded repeatedly, thinking: Such a simple truth, how come they haven't figured it out after running the pharmacy for a lifetime? It was even more surprising that Second Grandma, who never left the house, actually understood business. She was in awe of this master and would worship him like a god in the future.
Not to mention, after they improved , their business became more and more prosperous. This is a story for later. Mengxi finished handling everything and was about to go back home. When she looked up, she saw Li Du and his son standing aside, hesitating to speak. She said casually:
"Anything else?"
"Second Madam, since the opening, no one has been interested in the medicine on the second floor. Occasionally, one or two people come up, but when they see the price, they turn around and leave without saying a word. Second Madam, aren't the prices of the medicine on the second floor a bit too high? In my opinion, the cost of the medicine on the second floor is not high anyway, so why not lower the price?"
It turned out that the pills on the second floor cost dozens or even hundreds of taels of silver each, which was a sky-high price in Da Qi. When Mengxi priced the drugs on the second floor when the pharmacy first opened, she remembered the drug prices in the 21st century, where drugs that cost only a few dollars could be priced sky-high. She simply copied the cost of a few taels of silver and increased the price by dozens of times. Moreover, not many of each type of pill were made, under the pretext that "scarcity makes things valuable", with the intention of plundering the wealth of those dignitaries.
