It's hard for my elder sister. I rely on the mountains to farm and pay off my debts.

The shopkeeper was startled when he saw Song Zhi come in, then smiled and said, "Madam, you haven't been to the shop for a while. Are you here to sell medicine today?"

Song Zhi shook her head. "The herbs in the shallow mountains have been picked almost completely, and the deep mountains are too dangerous. Since there's a herb market in the city now, my family made some food and brought it over to the county to sell."

The shopkeeper felt a little disappointed when he heard this. After all, the young lady processed the herbs very cleanly. If he sent them to him, he only needed to prepare them simply and he could make a lot of money.

He put away his thoughts and asked again, "Are you here for a medical consultation or to buy medicine today?"

Song Zhi reported, "Peppercorns, star anise, Chinese yam, and angelica, four kinds of herbs."

The reason why Song Zhi also ordered some yam was that yam has the effect of strengthening the spleen and stomach, replenishing qi and strengthening the deficiency. It is most suitable to buy it back and cook porridge for the weaker younger brother to eat.

Secondly, it was to confuse the shopkeeper so that he would not easily detect her intentions.

Sure enough, after Song Zhi reported the herbs, the shopkeeper asked with a little surprise: "These herbs have different medicinal properties, so you can't use them randomly."

Song Zhi had already thought of an excuse. She shook her head and said, "I don't know. A doctor in the village asked me to buy it."

When the shopkeeper heard this, he didn't say anything more. He just asked, "How much of each kind do you want?"

"Can I have half a pound of each?"

The shopkeeper looked at Song Zhi in surprise again and said, "I need to tell my wife that the other three herbs are easy to find. They are all available locally and the price is not too expensive."

"But the star anise has to be shipped all the way from the south, and the price is quite high. Madam, are you sure you want that much?"

Song Zhi didn't think too much about it. She paused for a moment and asked curiously, "Then I wonder how much it would cost to buy half a pound of star anise?"

"One hundred coins are required!"

That's two hundred coins per jin. How could southern goods be sold in the north at such a high price? Even the precious sugar cane shipped from the south only cost seventy coins per jin.

Song Zhi pondered in her heart. In order to better fit her current identity and image, she said a little embarrassedly: "Then give me twenty cents for each kind." (One hundred grams).

The owner of the drugstore asked the little pharmacist to weigh the medicine.

He calculated the price of the herbs while using an abacus. "Madam, the herbs you bought this time are: star anise forty coins, Sichuan pepper for ten coins, Chinese yam for seven coins, and white angelica for six coins. The total is sixty-three coins."

Song Zhi took out a bunch of money from the small cloth bag she carried with her, counted out thirty-seven coins, and handed the rest over, "Boss, please count them."

After the shopkeeper counted the amount, he packed the herbs from the little medicine boy and handed them to Song Zhi.

After Song Zhi accepted the herbs, she thanked the shopkeeper and then turned around and left the shop.

She walked up to Song Ping who was waiting outside and suggested, "Brother, should we go to another shop?"

Song Ping was puzzled, "Why is this?"

"I just thought about it. Although we mine and buy separately, it's a bit suspicious that two people came at once to buy spicy herbs. Let's go to another store and learn more about the market for herbs."

Song Ping didn't understand why he needed to know about the market for herbal medicines, but he had a good habit of never interfering in matters he didn't understand.

In addition, I mentioned earlier that my elder sister and Doctor Zheng know some medicinal herbs.

He didn't ask anything and followed the people to the pharmacy in the east of the city.

Since they changed the pharmacy this time, Song Zhi no longer needed to let her elder brother and others wait outside. She led them directly to the largest and most luxurious clinic in the city.

Song Ping stood outside and said awkwardly, "Should we change to another shop? This one looks expensive!"

Song Zhi shook her head. "I once had a fight with the owner of another pharmacy."

"Don't worry, big brother. We only buy herbs and don't treat patients. If the price is too high, we won't buy it."

Song Ping was unaware of this. He glanced at the crowded clinic and said subconsciously, "There are too many people in the clinic, so I'll take them outside and wait for you."

Song Zhi thought about it and nodded in agreement, "Then big brother, you guys just wait a moment, I'll be out soon!"

After Song Zhi left, Song Ping asked his younger brother and sister-in-law about the competition with the medicine store that his eldest sister mentioned.

Talking about that, Song An and Song An's eyes were full of excitement.

The two little guys talked to each other about the glorious deeds of their sister.

Song Ping was also stunned when he heard this.

I didn’t expect that the elder sister was so strong at home and she is still so brave outside!

Not only did he have a great argument with the owner of the drugstore, but he also made the other party suffer such a great loss. No wonder this girl didn't want to go to that drugstore!

There were many patients in the clinic, but as soon as Song Zhi entered, a pharmacist came forward and asked, "Which patient is this, and what's wrong with you?"

Song Zhi shook her head. "I'm here to buy medicine, not to see a doctor."

The little pharmacist nodded and led people to the counter where they lined up to get medicine.

"Please wait here. When it's your turn, show the prescription to the shopkeeper, pay the money, and then you can take the receipt to get the medicine."

After saying that, he no longer cared about Song Zhi and went straight to the door.

While waiting, Song Zhi looked around the clinic. It was a big shop after all, and although there were many people, it didn't look messy.

There are also long benches outside the clinic for patients waiting in line to rest.

When it was Song Zhi's turn, the shopkeeper asked her for a prescription.

Song Zhi apologized, "I came here in a hurry today and forgot to bring the prescription, but I remember all the herbs needed: 2 qian of fennel, 1 qian of cinnamon bark, 1 qian of cloves, 2 qian of ginger, and 1 qian of licorice. Please help me get fourteen prescriptions."

The shopkeeper was very familiar with prescriptions. As soon as Song Zhi told him the name of the medicine, he knew it was a prescription for warming the middle and dispelling cold.

Without asking any more questions, he began to count on his abacus and said to Song Zhi, "If one pair here costs eight coins, then fourteen pairs will cost a total of one hundred and twelve coins."

Song Zhi took out a string of money from her cloth bag, and then took out a handful of copper coins. As she counted them, she asked curiously, "Boss, why do I need so much money for just these five herbs?"

The shopkeeper took a look at the coarse linen clothes Song Zhi was wearing and explained,

"The cinnamon bark you use in this herbal remedy must be purchased from those herbalists from the south. They have to come all the way here, so the price is naturally high! One ounce of it costs nearly five cents."

Song Zhi nodded as if she understood, then handed the counted copper coins to the shopkeeper and continued to ask, "Shopkeeper, how much is this eight cents?"

The shopkeeper thought that the other party had bought the medicine before and wanted to ask about the price. Since they ran a shop, the price was public and there was nothing to hide.

So he casually quoted a number, which was about the same as the price of the shop he had bought before.

The same price.

After the shopkeeper counted the number, he told the pharmacist to prepare the medicine.

Song Zhize waited on the side, deep in thought, not knowing whether the merchants really asked for a high price or whether the prices set by the city's medical clinics were high.

She didn't know at the moment, but she would ask about it when she had the chance to meet the drug dealer from the south next time.