A Western Doctor’s Happy Farming Life[1] Chapter 16

Hearing the sudden-changed decision made by the old man, Song Qinghan couldn’t even believe his ears. He stammered, saying, “Wh.. what? What did you say? ”

Without any further explanation, the old man took out a small-sized ingot from his clothes and put it into Song Qinghan’s hands. He lifted the bag full of the fruits and asked, “Is that enough?”

Holding the ingot, Song Qinghan turned to look at Wu Dahu with an intention of asking for help.

Wu Dahu nodded and then made a slight bow with his hands folded in front, saying, “That’s a lot, thank you. Do you mind my asking if you are the famous miracle-working doctor in Huichun Shop?”

The old man smiled and waved his hand, saying, “What miracle-working doctor? How come there exists such an all-powerful doctor in this world? I am just nobody.”

After that, he thought for a moment and said to Song Qinghan, “One week later, take another bag of these fruits to the Huichun Shop. If this fruit is confirmed to be indeed effective, and I will buy them all again. If it is useless though, I won’t blame you for anything, but I hope you will stop exaggerating the medical functions of this fruit, is that a good deal for you?”

Song Qinghan was in a daze hearing that. He then nodded and answered, saying, “Of course. If it shows no usefully medical functions at all, I won’t sell it again.”

The old man gave him a serious look, nodded and then turned around and left.

After the image of the old man disappeared from his sight, Song Qinghan sighed with emotion, saying, “How generous the old man is. We got the whole bag of the fruits sold all at once and he even takes them back for a self trial…”

Seeing that he did not understand, Wu Dahu explained, “So it turns out that Doctor Luo was once the Imperial Physician in the palace. Since he is old, he forced himself to a retirement and came back to his hometown. For his sake, Huichun Shop specially opens a pharmacy here. There is no need for him to manage the entire shop. What he only needs to do is meeting the patients when he is in mood. Therefore, his duration of the treatment is not fixed. But in such a case, there are still plenty of people coming over in meeting such a miracle doctor.”

Song Qinghan said with envy, “When can I have such treatment like him?”

It was the first time Wu Dahu heard him say such words. After a pause, he asked, “Do you want to be a doctor and run a pharmacy?”

Song Qinghan thought that Wu Dahu took his words so serious, he waved his hand and explained, “I just think it’s good to be able to become a top talent in a specific career and becomes a controller of his own life. I don’t mean to run a pharmacy or something. What I can do is just the stitches and sewing stuffs, it will kill me to let me recognize those herbs!”

If it wasn’t that hard to read “Compendium of Materia Medica”, a book recorded details of medical herbs, he probably would have chosen to study Chinese traditional medicine instead of Western medicine in the past.

After all, the profound knowledge of Chinese medicine was far more interesting in his point of view. The marvelous effect of different medicinal herbs together was much more fun than western style pills.

Wu Dahu nodded, as if he had understood what Song Qinghan explained, but somehow looked dumb standing there, and then he looked up at the sky aiming to estimate the time, saying, “Let’s go find a place to have lunch. After lunch, we’ll go buy something.”

Song Qinghan hadn’t eaten anything yet outside since they got here, so he said excitedly, “Great, so what are we gonna eat then?”

But as soon as he said this, he was dispirited and said in a grievance, “You people here can’t even use the seasoning. What kind of decent food can they make? It was better to chew the dried meat… ”

Wu Dahu looked at him with amusement, put away the rest stuffs while rubbed Song Qinghan’s head, saying, “Let’s check it out and you will see.”

After bidding farewell to Butcher Chen, they walked towards an alley.

Seeing that Wu Dahu was leading him on a messed route , and the more remote they went, the more the road got more far-off, Song Qinghan couldn’t help but ask, “Why would someone run his business in such a place? If their guests possess a bad sense of direction, they probably can’t find a way.”

Wu Dahu was in a daze, with a unseen smile hidden in his eyes. He explained, “The shopkeeper of that shop has bad legs, so he can only cook at home. Although he is not that kind of famous at cooking, for me, I have tasted the best dish there, which is even more delicious than the one in any restaurant. Those who show up in his place are always the regular ones. That’s why he can keep running his business.”

As the two were talking along the way, a small shop appeared in front of them. A ferocious, middle-aged man sat behind the counter, it seemed that he was doing accounts.

Wu Dahu led Song Qinghan and walked directly to the table in the center, saying to the man, “Manager Jing, I would love to order the three signature dishes and a pot of heated wine.”

Jing Ge raised his head and looked at the two, with a surprised look on his face. He stood up and said, “It’s you again, this is your husband?”

Song Qinghan noticed that he was in a limp when walking. It seemed that he had indeed hurt his legs.

Wu Dahu nodded slightly and said with certainty, “Yes, this is my husband, Song Qinghan.”

This was the first time Song Qinghan heard Wu Dahu introduce him in such a formal manner. A strange feeling flashed across his mind and somehow he felt a bit sweet.

Jing Ge laughed and walked into the curtain in a flash.

After he left, Song Qinghan carefully inspected the whole shop.

However, besides tables, chairs, counters, and some miscellaneous items, there were no other decorations, neither the menus.

He said thoughtfully, “Maybe it is because the ones who come over here are all acquaintances, he doesn’t even need to place a menu on table, is that right?”

Wu Dahu nodded, in agreeing the guess of Song Qinghan. He continued to explained, saying, “There’s another reason. He is somehow a rather capricious cook here, what dishes he will make depends on what ingredients he has bought that day, without a fixed style of dish. In that case, something like menu is not a must here.”

Song Qinghan was amazed. He thought that if this cook was in the modern world, he would certainly be a master living in the seclusion.

Jing Ge didn’t let them wait too long, he carried three dishes, two bowls, two cups of tea, and a pot of boiling liquor showing up in front of them.

Seeing the fish in the plate getting cooked by the splash of the boiled oil, the fish shrunk slightly, looking like a living fish, Song Qinghan knew how fresh the food was.

He took up the chopsticks, picked a piece of fish meat, and dipped it in the soup and put it into his mouth.

The fresh taste of fish, mixed with the sweetness of the tomatoes, the wonderful flavor seemed to be dancing on Song Qinghan’s tongue, stimulating every inch of taste buds of his.

He couldn’t help sighing, “OMG, It’s really delicious, it’s far more beyond my imagination!”

Wu Dahu also taste the dish of fish, he nodded with satisfaction and said in the direction of Jing Ge, “Manager Jing, you’ve got a better cooking skill now. You totally deserve the title of the Palace Cook.”

Jing Ge waved his hand and said with modesty, “I am just a cook making dishes. Not a so-called Palace Cook as you said. Don’t even flatter me, I won’t give you discount though.”

Seeing how funny he was, Song Qinghan and Wu Dahu looked at each other and smiled.

Wu Dahu ate the food while drinking the wine. He gave a glimpse on Song Qinghan and found that he was looking at the cup in his hands curiously, and then he spoke in hesitation, “You want to drink?”

Song Qinghan nodded in a look of poult pecking the rice. But he then realized his pregnancy. He coughed softly and said awkwardly, “I just want a taste. I won’t drink much.”

Before he finished his words, Wu Dahu poured a cup of wine and put it in front of him.

Song Qinghan picked up the cup of warm wine with curiosity and gently sipped it by his lips. He frowned slightly and said in a strange tone, “That’s not a good taste at all.”

Before Wu Dahu opened his mouth to say something, Jing Ge was a bit upset hearing that. He patted the account book on the table and said with his eyes wide open, “How many kinds of wine have you ever tasted before? How dare you say that is not a good taste? Even the long-reserved wine in the Xiangpiao Restaurant is not a rival to mine.”

Song Qinghan nursed a grievance, saying in a wronged tone, “It’s really hard to drink. I can’t taste any flavor of it but a spicy suffer to my throat…”

Well, there existed all kinds of wine in the modern world? Beer, red wine, champagne…each had a special and unique taste. No wonder Song Qinghan, whose mouth was indulged with various flavors, would dislike this kind of wine made in a rough process.

Seeing that Jing Ge still got something to retort, Wu Dahu interrupted him and said, “Han has never drank wine before, so it’s a normal feeling for him from the first taste and gets his throat suffer. Besides, he doesn’t gain any gloom that requires him to get drunk from this wine. He’s just telling the truth.”

Jing Ge snorted twice and picked up the account book again, it seemed that he was not going to bring himself into an argument.

Song Qinghan sneaked close to Wu Dahu’s ear and whispered, “Once our own wine is ready, can we sell it here?”

Wu Dahu burst into laughter. He did not have much expectations for the flavors of the wine made of cherokee rose. However, he did not want to hurt Song Qinghan, so he said, “As long as Manager Jing feels that it is a good wine with a good taste, then it will work. After all, he likes wine the most.”

Song Qinghan rolled his eyes and stopped conceiving a fight back to Jing Ge who was yelling at him just now. At present, he got another plan in his mind. That the image of he gained benefit from this bossy cook, and counted the coins he earned from him caused him laughed.

After lunch, Wu Dahu took out a bunch of coins from his clothes and put them on the counter, while Song Qinghan felt a bit grudge over that.

Although the three dishes were all delicious, it was too expensive that these dishes costed them two hundred coins.

However, Wu Dahu didn’t respond. After bidding farewell to Jing Ge, he led Song Qinghan out of the alley.

Song Qinghan was still struggling with money stuffs along the way. Thinking of small ingot that Master Luo had given him, he could not help but ask, “How many copper coins is that ingot worth?”

Wu Dahu taught him to measure the weight of the ingot, and then he explained, “This equals around ten silver coins. One hundred copper coins equal one silver coins, therefore, this ingot values around one thousand copper coins.”

Song Qinghan thought for a while. In modern times, a single fructus momordicae cost five or six Yuan. That sack just now contained around two hundred fruits. In this method of counting, it was kind of fair to trade with that old man.

“Then what now? Should we go to buy a new bed now?”said Song Qinghan, and then he looked at Wu Dahu.

Seeing that he was eager for the new bed, Wu Dahu hesitated for a moment and nodded, saying, “Then let’s go to buy a new bed first.”

The two walked towards the woodworking shop. Song Qinghan looked over and saw that the shop was full of unprocessed woods, he then asked in doubt, “Where’s the bed for selling? Don’t you sell any furniture? ”

Hearing this, the person inside came out and asked, “You want a bed? What size do you want? And what material?”

Wu Dahu didn’t think too much. He asked directly, “How much is an elm bed in six feet wide?”

The man glanced at him in surprise and laughed softly, “Well, mate, you’re kind of an expert. Let’s make it clear, I only charge you 15 silver coins.”

Hearing that, Song Qinghan took a deep breath, he didn’t expect that an ordinary bed would cost that much.

They didn’t even have that much money.

Wu Dahu shook his head and said decisively, “Ten silver coins.”