Chapter 46 Drought

Ergouzi has lived in the mountains for several months, and now it is the spring plowing season.

There was no snow last winter, and not a drop of rain has fallen until now.

He was walking on a country road and found that there were no fewer people coming and going at night than during the day.

But everyone was in a hurry and didn't pay much attention to Ergouzi.

Now as long as we don't compete with them for water, even if the King of Heaven comes, no one will bother to pay attention.

Many people who are far away from the water source can only fetch water from the water source by carrying it on their shoulders and then pour it into their own fields.

But the landowners in the water source areas definitely disagree. These days, robbing water is tantamount to robbing food.

Along the way, he had seen more than ten fights in the fields over water sources.

Ergouzi can only be thankful that his 50 acres of land and the mountain spring water near Shekou Mountain are very advantageous in such disaster years.

Moreover, the spring in Shekou Mountain still produces water as in previous years and has not been affected by the drought.

When he arrived at the county town after walking all night, it was already dawn.

After entering the city, he first went to Huichun Hall, where he brought another sack of Dali Pills, all of which were sold to Sima Yi.

When I walked into Huichun Hall, I found that the business of Huichun Hall is very good nowadays, and there are many people queuing up.

I found a small bench and planned to sit next to it and wait for a while.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he lowered his butt, the bench collapsed with a click.

He himself weighs about 100 kilograms, and the sword behind him weighs 150 kilograms. In addition, the bench is not very strong.

This shocked the patients in the store, and some who knew him were whispering.

"This is the legendary Zhang Xiucai!"

"That's the fierce man who knocked the examiner out with a sword in the examination room."

"Ha! He's the one who destroyed the examination room and still owes a huge sum of 200 taels of silver!"

"Hahaha, I watched that exam too..."

"This is also a strange person..."

With Er Gouzi's sharp five senses, he naturally picked up all their whispers.

Unexpectedly, he was still quite famous in the county. After all this time, people were still talking about his deeds.

Ergouzi could only pretend not to hear these harmless gossips, but when talking about himself, his face still turned red shyly.

I also found a sturdy bench and carefully sat down on it. This time it didn't collapse.

After sitting alone in the corner and waiting for a while, Sima Yi came to see a patient after seeing him.

In order to avoid being noticed, Sima Yi led Er Gouzi into a house in the backyard.

"Now your business is booming and your money is flowing!"

There was no joy on Sima Yi's face when he heard this, but he sighed deeply.

“It’s good if I don’t lose money. Most of them are poor and hungry diseases, so don’t expect to make money from them.

My medicine also treats the symptoms but not the root cause. If I can eat a few full meals and two meals of pork, these diseases can be cured without medicine. "

Ergouzi probably understood a little bit about what Sima Yi said.

Due to the drought this year, many people are tightening their belts and living a tight life. Although they did not directly starve to death, they became extremely weak and suffered from various diseases.

Sima Yi is also kind-hearted. When these poor people are looking for medical treatment, the medicinal materials in the store often only sell them at cost price, or only make a small profit.

Sometimes, because they are soft-hearted and can't see the difference between life and death, they will even pour money into it.

Because the charges are cheap, the price is fair, and sometimes medicines are delivered for free, the business of Huichuntang is indeed getting better and better.

It's just that although the business is good, it is not profitable.

People who sell coffins hope that more people will die every day, and those who are doctors hope most that everyone will get sick.

Er Gouzi felt that Sima Yi's temperament, which did not see the suffering of the world, was not suitable for the profession of doctor.

After a few years of knowing each other, Sima Yi has become much quieter from the high-spirited young man he used to be. In his twenties, he actually has a few white hairs.

However, with Sima Yi's temperament, Er Gouzi doesn't have to worry about being betrayed by him when doing business with him.

In the past, when he was still young and didn't know the heights of the sky, he would sell rare spiritual objects.

As he got to know more about warriors, he realized how dangerous it was to do so.

Fortunately, I met someone like Sima Yi back then.

However, the Huichun Hall was full of people and he still planned to come see Sima Yi at night next time.

"There are 328 taels of silver in total. Should I exchange them all for Peiyuan Gubenwan?"

Sima Yi asked casually after counting Dali Pills.

Ergouzi replaced all Dali Pills with Peiyuan Guben Pills every time, and he was used to it.

"This time, help me purchase a batch of medicinal materials first, and use the remaining money to buy Peiyuan Guben Pills."

But this time, Ergouzi took out a list of medicinal materials.

"These medicinal materials, plus ginseng and cistanche deserticola, are the Peiyuan Guben Pills. Are you going to prepare the Peiyuan Guben Pills?"

When Sima Yi saw this prescription, he already guessed what Ergouzi was going to make.

The prescription of Peiyuan Guben Pills is not a secret. Many people know that they just lack enough old ginseng.

"I happen to have a few ginseng plants and some cistanche deserticola in my hands, and I plan to try some with them."

Ergouzi explained casually, and Sima Yi didn't ask any more questions.

Leaving the list of medicinal materials with Sima Yi, Er Gouzi went to Zhengwu Hall.

First, I returned all the books I borrowed last time. I stayed in the library for a long time and borrowed more than a dozen books.

He has now experienced the joy of reading. The pen, ink, paper and inkstone are all very expensive, and the cost of each book is very high.

The content that can be left on paper and passed down is the concentration of the experience of the predecessors.

Now that he has such an opportunity to learn from the predecessors, he must seize it.

Then he found the deputy hall master Sima and asked about the matter of recommending students. Sima Hong agreed.

After everything was done, Er Gouzi stayed in the county for only one day and returned to Shekou Mountain overnight.

When passing Anchang River on the way, he found that the water level of the river had dropped a lot.

If the drought continues like this, I am afraid that the river will also dry up.

If the drought continues for years, there will be no water to drink. He has to reserve more water in advance to prevent accidents.

He found a place where no one was around and took out the yellow gourd.

"Big big big..."

As the thought in his heart rose, the yellow gourd in front of him became visibly larger.

In an instant, it changed from the size of an embroidery needle to more than three feet high.

Put this big gourd into the river, and the water in the river formed a vortex and poured into the gourd.

After two hours of waiting by the river, I saw that the water level in the lower reaches of the river had dropped, but the gourd could not be filled.

If I keep pouring, I don’t know how much water I need to fill the gourd.

After several years, I still can’t figure out how big the limit of this gourd is.

At this time, the sky was slightly bright, and I could only turn the gourd back to the size of an embroidery needle, which he pierced into his ear, looking like an inconspicuous little earring.

Back in Shexi Village, Er Gouzi wrote a recommendation letter for Huang Laocai in front of him.

With this letter, he can go to Zhengwu Hall to study.

Huang Laocai’s family naturally thanked Er Gouzi profusely.

When Er Gouzi returned to the foot of Shekou Mountain, the stone foundation for building a house had been completed, and a stonemason was waiting for him.

"Master Zhang, the foundation of the house has been completed, and the stone mill and mortar you asked for are also ready."

The craftsman pointed to the two sets of oversized stone mills and mortars behind him and secretly smacked his lips.

Such a large stone mill cannot be pulled by two donkeys, and I wonder which animal this scholar is going to use to pull it?

Er Gouzi checked the foundation and stone mill, and happily paid the craftsman.

The craftsman took a bag of silver coins and breathed a sigh of relief.

The most difficult thing about working for these landlords is to settle wages.

Many times, after working hard for half a year, when it comes to settling wages, they are picky, find faults, and find all kinds of reasons to deduct.

This Master Zhang did not deduct a penny, and even gave a few more coins.

"Thank you, Mr. Zhang!"

"You're welcome. I may need you to work next year."

Er Gouzi said as he picked up the huge millstone, jumped up, and rushed to Shekou Mountain.

The head craftsman who had not walked far away knelt down when he saw this scene, and called the immortal master's magical powers.

Er Gouzi did not particularly avoid ordinary people. It is said that the county magistrate occasionally showed his magic to ordinary people.

So the people of the whole county knew that the county magistrate had magical powers.

After moving the stone mill and stone mortar to the top of the mountain and installing them, he tried to push the stone mill. It felt about the same and not very strenuous.

A stone mortar is needed to husk rice. He used to have a set, but it was too small and slow.

Grinding rice and medicinal materials with a stone mill can also be much more convenient and faster.

He has a lot of grain in his gourd, but it takes time to process it into powerful pills. He also has to study, practice, and farm every day, so it often takes a long time to sell a stone.

As a result, he failed to take one Peiyuan Guben Pill every day as he had planned.

As his strength increased, he needed to refine more and more spiritual energy.

In order to keep his strength growing rapidly, he had to improve his efficiency in making pills.