The road is vague

Chapter 2 Jimin Hall

It takes about two hours to reach Hua'an Town by walking along the country road from Shanbei Village.

Li Mo, who was busy walking, heard shouting in the distance.

"Golden juice, tuberose, carrying a shoulder pole with heavy weights on both ends, people coming and going, please make way!"

He looked up and saw a group of porters coming towards him from afar.

He knew the leader, who was wearing a patched linen shirt and straw sandals with exposed toes. He walked briskly along the way. He was Uncle Cai, who lived at the east end of Shanbei Village.

The so-called golden juice and tuberose are the excrement of the people in Hua'an Town.

These country porters rush to the town early in the morning, collect these filthy things, and then work hard to sell them to farmers in the countryside to use as fertilizer, which can also be considered a way to make a living.

Li Mo quickly moved away and watched the team of porters go away.

Every profession has its own rules. The rule of these dung porters is not to greet acquaintances on the road, so as to avoid acquaintances being contaminated by their bad luck. Therefore, Uncle Cai did not stop at all after seeing Li Mo.

Even after the porters left, the stench still lingered in the air.

"Ren Zhong Huang is made by putting licorice powder into a bamboo tube, soaking it in gold juice for three days, then washing it with running water, drying it in the sun, dew at night, and the shade. It is then taken out by splitting the bamboo. It tastes sweet and salty and has a cold nature. It has the effects of purging fire and detoxifying, clearing heat and cooling blood. It can be used to treat symptoms such as erysipelas, febrile epidemics, malignant sores, and smallpox."

Li Mo recalled the medicinal properties and pharmacology of Ren Zhong Huang and continued on his way forward.

Before he knew it, it was noon. The surrounding terrain gradually became flat and a small town came into view. It was Hua'an Town. Even from a long distance away, Li Mo could hear all kinds of hawking sounds.

"Hot pancakes, hot pancakes!"

“Freshly cooked meat buns!”

"Sugar-coated haws……"

There were some bitter wild fruits picked from the roadside in his sleeves. After passing by the sour plum stall and the steamed bun shop, Li Mo stopped for a while in front of the candied haws stall.

A string of candied haws costs eight cents.

But thinking that the half a dozen copper coins in his arms was this month's expenses, he had to budget carefully, and his mother also needed to buy medicine for her illness, Li Mo could not help but control his greed and walked towards the three-story building at the end of the street.

Jimin Hall is located in the most prosperous area of ​​Hua'an Town.

To the east of Jimin Hall is the Chengxin Pavilion Pawn Shop, to the west is the Fengshan Restaurant, and across the street is the Blacksmith Street. Next to it is a market on the third and fifteenth of every month. Not far away are the township government office and the police station, where Brother Zhang Qin works, but they hardly ever meet.

After Li Mo returned to Jimin Hall, he first looked around the hall and saw that there was only one patient taking his pulse.

Then he walked through the pharmacy and came to the backyard. At this moment, there were three boys who were not much different from Li Mo's age in the backyard, following an old man, and doing preliminary processing on the herbs collected by the herbalists.

Li Mo hurriedly saluted respectfully to the old man.

"Teacher Zhang."

They were apprentices under the Jimin Hall and were not qualified to be called masters. They could only be called teachers, or doctors according to their positions.

"Ah."

The old man’s surname is Zhang. He is already in his sixties, with dark spots on his face. He wears a black gauze hat with a piece of jade inlaid on it.

Doctor Zhang is one of the four main doctors in Jimin Hall. As he grows older and his spirits decline year by year, he has begun to retreat behind the scenes and train apprentices.

The chief physician of Jimin Hall earned at least ten taels of silver a month and was considered a well-known figure in the town.

Below the attending physician are traveling doctors and pharmacists, more than a dozen of them. Some of them are away from home all year round, and their income is much lower.

The next job is to become a herbalist. Not only is their income unstable, but they often have to sleep in the open air. It is very dangerous and hard work. They might encounter a mountain beast, a mountain goblin or a water monster and die. This is the only way for apprentices with poor grades to make a living in the future.

"Go quickly and come back soon, and fetch the paper, ink, brush, and inkstone."

"Yes."

Li Mo hurried to the side room in the backyard. There were two bunk beds in the room, which was where he and three other apprentices rested. After Li Mo put away the food, clothes, wild fruits, and pottery sauce, he quickly ran to another room, took out paper, ink, brush and inkstone, and returned to Doctor Zhang.

The three apprentices with him were Wang Pan, Zhang Liming and Jiang Ming.

The yard was full of unprocessed herbs. Li Mo brought a bench and sat next to Wang Pan.

This was a little fat boy who was half a head shorter than Li Mo. He had fair skin and was obviously from the town. He had never suffered hardship since childhood. Although his eyes were staring at Doctor Zhang without blinking, Li Mo knew that he had already been daydreaming.

Doctor Zhang took out a herb and began to explain it.

"This is indigo flower, also known as Indigo. It has the effects of clearing away heat and detoxifying, cooling blood and removing spots, and purging fire and calming the nerves. People with cold stomachs should use it with caution..."

Doctor Zhang spoke for several minutes while holding the indigo in his hand, and Li Mo and others kept taking notes.

"But the principles of medicine can't just be memorized by rote. You need to observe, listen, ask, and palpate the patient before prescribing the right medicine. After class, you'll need to combine the many elements mentioned in medical texts like 'Shang Han Lun Miscellaneous Diseases,' 'Compendium of Materia Medica,' 'Dan Xi's Secret Method,' and 'Treatise on Plague,' and integrate them with the pathological characteristics of other prescriptions. I'll be giving you an assessment mid-month. The next herb is called Pinellia..."

Over the past two years, Dr. Zhang not only taught pharmacology, but also taught and educated people. It was here that Li Mo learned to read and write.

After Doctor Zhang explained the pharmacology of nine herbs in one breath, Li Mo encountered a few unfamiliar characters, silently memorized them in his mind, and decided to take the time to ask others for advice.

Time soon came to the afternoon hour.

The evening hour is called the evening hour, which is an unlucky time for all the countries in the Central Plains.

During this period of time, it is time to rest. You should put everything aside, go home and concentrate on feeding, and avoid being exposed to the sunset. Even if you have something to do outside and have to go out, try to hold an umbrella or rest in the shade.

After class, Li Mo returned to the side room, opened the rice in a purse that his mother had prepared for him, and opened the jar of meat sauce. Wang Pan took out dried fish and white rice, and the two sat together to share.

"Li Mo, the meat sauce your mother made is really delicious."

The little fat boy enjoyed his meal very much.

But Li Mo knew that the other family was much wealthier than his own. He wondered how much salt was used in those dried fish. Wang Pan simply didn't know how to appreciate what he had. As for Zhang Limin and Jiang Ming, one was the son of Zhang, the patrol officer, and seemed to have some connection to Doctor Zhang, making him a distant relative. The other was the scion of a wealthy family in Wusong Mountain, having come in through connections. Compared to Li Mo and Wang Pan's coarse linen, both wore satin and woven clothing, and they generally kept to themselves.

Zhang Limin, who had just returned from buying some meat buns on the street, smiled at Jiang Ming and said, "This time when I went back, my father arranged a marriage for me. It's with a girl from Shizhai."

A meat bun in the town costs three cents, and Zhang Liming spent thirty cents on this meal. Li Mo was a little envious.

The other party's words also attracted Li Mo and Wang Pan, and they couldn't help but look over.

"How about it?"

Hearing this, Jiang Ming asked curiously.

Zhang Limin sat on the edge of the bed, picked up a meat bun and stuffed it into his mouth, shaking his head and saying, "The sun is too strong over there in Shizhai, and the girls' skin is too dark. I saw them and I don't like them."

As the two of them were talking, Li Mo couldn't help but think of Zhao Siman, imagining the scene of marrying her home as his wife. He suddenly smiled excitedly and encouraged himself in his heart to work hard and not be lazy. So after finishing his meal, he picked up the "Compendium of Materia Medica" and combined it with the knowledge that Doctor Zhang said, and began to study the pharmacology and medicinal properties.

Wang Pan, who was also full, leaned back and fell on the bed with a satisfied smile on his face.

Jiang Ming noticed Li Mo's behavior and gave Zhang Limin a mocking look. Zhang Limin sneered openly, calling him a nerd, and said to Jiang Ming, "The test is in the middle of the month, so it's not too late to recite it in a few days. Let's go out for a walk?"

"Walk."

The two of them left Jimin Hall together.

Li Mo was not angry when Zhang Limin and Jiang Ming teased him as a nerd.

He has been in Jimin Hall for more than two years. Jimin Hall holds two assessments every month. However, the one who gets beaten the most each time is either him or Wang Pan.

Wang Pan was fine, at least he was really not diligent, so it was not unfair for him to be beaten.

But Li Mo acted like he was working hard all day long, but he failed every time he was tested, and was often punished with a ruler by Doctor Zhang. At the beginning, it could be explained that his basic skills were not good enough and he had to start from the basics of reading and writing. However, after so much time, Li Mo was already able to read and write proficiently, but he was still beaten after each test, and was naturally ridiculed by Zhang Liming and Jiang Ming.

But Li Mo did not give up his persistence.

Because he firmly believed that his mother's words were right, he should be diligent and focused in doing things, and should never be dishonest or cheat, otherwise he would end up deceiving himself and others and accomplishing nothing.

The reason why Li Mo was punished by Doctor Zhang after every assessment was that he always followed Doctor Zhang's requirements and meticulously combined various herbs with the medicinal properties and pharmacology in the books. This required him to spend a lot of energy, resulting in it being difficult for him to master all the homework left by Doctor Zhang during each assessment. The remaining herbs that he had not been able to study thoroughly naturally became the reason for Doctor Zhang to punish him with a ruler.

As for Zhang Liming and Jiang Ming, they usually memorized everything Doctor Zhang said in the last few days before the test to cope with it.

In front of the oil lamp.

Li Mo was flipping through the medical book seriously. This should have been another ordinary day.

However, as night fell, Doctor Zhang unexpectedly walked into the side room today. After looking around, he saw that Wang Pan had fallen asleep, and Zhang Limin and Jiang Ming were nowhere to be found. He then said to Li Mo, "Li Mo, come with me to Lihua Village."

Li Mo woke up in shock and quickly stood up, only then he noticed Doctor Zhang behind him.

Could it be that all the traveling doctors in the front hall have left?
"Yes."

After he got the medicine box, he supported Doctor Zhang all the way and followed a dark-skinned, stout woman in the front hall to Lihua Village.

"Doctor, you must save my man."

The woman kept crying all the way, shouting words like "it's a sin".

Lihua Village is not far from the town and can be reached in half an hour. It is already night, and Doctor Zhang keeps listening to the woman's nagging along the way, and seems to be feeling very tormented.

It happened that all the traveling doctors were out today. Doctor Zhang, out of his good intention to practice medicine and accumulate virtue, took the trouble to leave Jimin Hall. Li Mo naturally would not complain. He was extremely happy to learn some skills from Doctor Zhang.

The two men followed the stout woman and finally arrived at Lihua Village before the end of the night hour.

After Li Mo entered the room, he saw a man wrapped in a quilt. He was pale, his body was shaking constantly, he had dark circles under his eyes, and his eyes were bloodshot.

Li Mo made a mental diagnosis based on his own experience and came to a preliminary conclusion. He then waited on the side.

Doctor Zhang gestured to the woman to lighten the oil lamp a little.

After a preliminary pulse diagnosis, Doctor Zhang lifted the man's lower eyelid, looked at his tongue coating, asked the man some questions, and finally gave an answer that was not much different from what Li Mo had in mind.

"Are you frightened?"

"Yes."

Doctor Zhang said slowly, "In my opinion, your husband must have accidentally encountered an evil spirit, causing disordered qi and blood, and a weak constitution leading to convulsions. I will prescribe a prescription for you. Take the medicine on time every day and rest well for a while, and you will be fine."

"Evil and demonic? Yes, yes!"

The woman seemed to have thought of something when she heard this. She kept crying and slapping her thigh, cursing loudly, "It must be that evil book that's causing this. Ever since I read it, I've been talking about looking for Piaomiao Mountain and the Sun Palace every day. I'm so distracted all day long! I'm going to burn it now!"

Then the fierce woman found a gray-covered book and wanted to throw it into the stove.

Li Mo was shocked. This was a book. If he sold it at the market, he could get at least dozens of coins. He quickly stopped the woman.

"If you don't want it, you might as well give it to me."

Hearing this, the woman was stunned for a moment and looked at Doctor Zhang with a questioning look.

Doctor Zhang saw this, stroked his beard, and said thoughtfully: "If a fortune teller accumulates virtue, even gods and ghosts will not deceive him."

"If you're not afraid, take it."

Li Mo kept thanking him and took the book.

"The Misty Box?"

Although he didn't understand why, Li Mo still looked happy and put the book in his arms.

(End of this chapter)