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Chapter 151: Measure the Heart and Call it a Hundred Diseases Cabinet (asking for monthly tickets)
Lang Xiaoba hesitated for a moment before saying, "Actually, the Pingtian Society wants to build a temple entrance. Even if we don't care, it will be difficult for them to do so.

Sanniang would not agree at first.

The members of the Sanniang Society have always firmly believed that the Three Fire Goddess is still alive and that a temple cannot be built while she is alive, so they cannot stand seeing other secret societies building temples in the city.

As long as someone spreads this news, the Sanniang Society will "weigh" whether you have the qualifications.

Even if you pass the Sanniang Society, the weirdos in the city will still not accept it.

Establishing a temple in the city is the same as establishing a hall. Not only must you convince the living, but you must also gain the approval of the ghosts."

Song Lu was very interested in this kind of "jianghu anecdote" and said, "Let's go find the Sanniang Society!"

Fu Jingyu said: "By the way, ask them to help find Zhang Lao Ya."

Xu Yuan stood up and said, "Then let's go together. Captain Lang will lead the way."

……

Most of the halls in Champa are located in the south city.

A large number of boatmen, laborers, coachmen, porters, etc. rely on the canal docks outside the city to make a living. They are the main source of gang members.

Lang Xiaoba led everyone to the south of the city, passed by the South City Patrol Office of Champa Office, turned east, and walked onto a busy street.

"This is Guanglan Street. You gentlemen may not think it's a big deal, but for those secret societies that make a living in the market, being able to establish a branch on this street is the only way to be considered a well-known name in Champa!"

Song Lu looked at it with great curiosity, then pointed to a restaurant and asked, "Which gang's branch is this?"

"This is the 'Wuweilou' where we often eat at the South City Patrol Office. It's a serious business place."

Song Lu blinked: "Didn't you just say..."

"This street can't be full of gangs," Lang Xiaoba said with a wry smile. "Such a good location, wouldn't it be a waste to use it all for gangs? Most of them are legitimate businessmen.

Not only that, the gangs here will also work hard to maintain order and not allow other gangs to cause trouble.

After all... the monthly fees paid by the owners here are much higher than those elsewhere."

After walking for a while, Lang Xiaoba pointed to a brothel in front and said, "That's the Pingtian Society's Champa branch."

Xu Yuan took a look and wrote it down.

Lang Xiaoba pointed to four different clans along the way and said, "Including the Sanniang Clan, there are only five clans in Champa that are qualified to enter Guanglan Street. If other clans want to enter, they will have to kill them with real weapons."

Song Lu already had experience. The gangs along the way were either brothels or casinos. She looked for similar places on both sides of the street, thinking that they must be the gangs of the Sanniang Society.

"Captain Song." Lang Xiaoba suddenly called her, "We've passed by this place."

Song Lu looked back: Huode Jishiditang.

“Is this a pharmacy?”

"It's here." Lang Xiaoba said with a smile.

The Sanniang Society's hall is different from other sects.

There were several rather impressive carriages parked in front of the drugstore, but there were also ordinary people in shabby clothes coming in and out.

Regardless of wealth or poverty, everyone who enters looks extremely conflicted and hesitant at the door.

The people who came out had faces full of hope and pain.

The shop assistant saw someone blocking his door and jumped out with a sullen face, ready to scold him. But when he saw Lang Xiaoba, he immediately put on a smile and said, "Oh, isn't this Mr. Lang? What brings you here..."

Lang Xiaoba didn't give him a good look, pointing at the people coming in and out: "How many people have you cheated again?"

"How can it be called a trap? You know, we in the Three Fire Old Mu Society all carry a 'moral fire' on our backs. If we do something unscrupulous, we will be the first to burn.

We sell life-saving medicines, and we don’t set the prices.

They come to buy medicine because they can't find it anywhere else. We sell it to them, and we're truly doing good deeds!"

Lang Xiaoba was too lazy to tell him this: "Who is in charge of the hall today?"

"Ge Huotou is here." "He's not qualified, so which fire master is here?"

The shop assistant took one look at Xu Yuan's official uniform and immediately said, "Please come inside first. I'll go to the back hall to ask."

The shop assistant led the way. As soon as Xu Yuan entered the door, he saw a ten-foot-high portrait enshrined in the main hall, which almost made Xu Yuan trip over himself.

Who else could the woman in the portrait be but Aunt Wang in her youth?
Below the portrait, against the wall stood a huge medicine cabinet, with a large scale placed in the open space in the middle.

The beam of the scale was as thick as a child's arm and seven feet long, but there were no stars engraved on it.

The weight was strangely just a bamboo cage the size of a fist.

People who came to ask for medicine were queuing up on the side.

It was the turn of a wealthy old man wearing a square scarf and a hemp robe. He bowed to the medicine cabinet and said, "Please give me medicine for my young son."

After a while, a medicine drawer in the medicine cabinet opened with a clang.

The pharmacist sitting nearby took out the medicine pills and placed them in the bamboo basket. He said to the old man, "Give me the money."

The old man gritted his teeth, took out four silver bills from his pocket and placed them on the scale.

One hundred taels of silver per note!

But the weight on the scale remained motionless, pressing down heavily.

The pharmacist on duty laughed and said, "It seems that this young boy doesn't hold much importance in the master's heart."

The master gritted his teeth again, took out four hundred taels of silver notes and put them on the scale, and the weight was slightly tilted up.

The master had to raise the price again, and finally put in a full 1,600 taels of silver notes, and the scale was barely level.

The pharmacist took the banknote and handed the medicine pill to the master: "Okay, take it back and give it to the young master. It will definitely cure the disease."

The old man walked away with a sad face.

The next one is a poor scholar who wants to seek medicine for a courtesan’s confidante.

In the end, the scholar, with a sad face, wrote down a receipt saying "I will keep accounts for Sanhuo Laomu for five years", put it on the scale, and then bought the pill.

This will delay you for five years and you won't be able to take the imperial examination.

But there were also people who asked for medicine from the medicine cabinet, but the cabinet remained silent.

It was beyond saving, and the man collapsed to the ground and burst into tears.

Song Lu's eyes widened as he watched. Lang Xiaoba said, "What's being weighed is the weight of the person they want to save in their hearts.

They need to put the highest price they can pay for the patient on the scale before they can take the life-saving pill."

"This craftsmanship is amazing." Song Lu praised.

A hint of pride appeared on the shop assistant's face. "We have three sets of these 'hundred-disease cabinets' and 'weighing scales' in our Sanhuo Laomu Club. They were all left behind by the Three Fire Goddess."

As soon as this was said, the beam of the scale suddenly turned horizontally.

If this scale were a person, it would be like... it was concentrating on doing something, and suddenly someone next to it said something, which caught its attention.

Fu Jingyu also nodded and praised: "Clever!"

The shop assistant smiled and raised his hand, leading the group to a nearby door: "Please come this way, sirs."

Xu Yuan and others followed him.

No one present noticed that the beam of the scale was slowly rotating horizontally following Xu Yuan's movements.

Just as Xu Yuan's figure disappeared behind the door, the "weight" suddenly fell heavily to the ground with a thud.

It was originally a light bamboo cage, but it actually smashed a hole directly on the blue brick floor of the main hall!

(End of this chapter)