Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

After Ji Manchuan and his companion unloaded the goods, parked the mule cart, and put some fodder in the mule trough, they finally had time to sit down.

The moon was bright and the stars were few. The family sat around the apple tree, while the little children had already gone to sleep.

Ji Manchuan briefly recounted his visit to his two older sisters' homes that day, and everyone fell silent after listening.

Grandpa Ji knew that his second daughter still resented not letting her get a divorce back then.

But what could he do? For generations, people had never heard of a woman from a farming family getting a divorce. Besides, would anyone want her after a divorce? His second daughter was strong-willed to begin with, and with the added stigma of a divorce, how would she cope in the future?

Besides, he had four sons, but only Ji Mancang got married back then. They hadn't even separated from their original homes yet and were all crammed into this courtyard. As for the old maid who had returned from her divorce, how were the other sons supposed to find wives?

Sigh, he has to consider his sons, and besides, he'll have a granddaughter in the future. If she ends up with a divorced aunt, finding her a husband will be difficult.

Ji Yongling didn't pay much attention to her second aunt, because in the original owner's memories, her second aunt had almost never come back. She was more concerned about her eldest uncle's illness.

Judging from Ji Manchuan's description, Yu Fengshou has likely contracted pneumonia, a potentially fatal illness in ancient times without antibiotics. She had originally planned to start making Baibu Tincture these past few days, but now it seems she'll have to go to her aunt's house with her father instead.

By the light of the moon and torches, Ji Manling took out a notebook sewn with needle and thread, which she had hurriedly made after returning home in the afternoon. She said to the people in the courtyard, "Today, the two cartloads of medicinal herbs sold for a total of ten and a half taels of silver. After deducting the cost of the herbs, which was a little over five taels, and the wages for everyone, I only made about four taels of silver."

"My goodness, Ling'er, how much did you say? Four ounces, did I hear that right?" Ji Manqing exclaimed in surprise.

"Slap!" Ji Manchuan slapped Ji Manqing's arm hard. "Keep your voice down."

"Hiss, Third Brother, go easy on me! Are you trying to murder me for money?" Ji Manqing said, clutching his arm in dissatisfaction.

"Your skin is so thick and tough, if I slap you, it'll feel like a mosquito bite. Look at you, so delicate, like a young lady!"

Looking at Ji Manqing's exaggerated expression, Ji Yongling smiled helplessly and continued, "I took a closer look at Xu Dong's place today, no wonder they wouldn't accept the medicinal herbs our villagers brought. Firstly, these herbs are too common and readily available; they can get them themselves. Secondly, our villagers' herbs don't look very appealing."

Ji Manqing retorted somewhat unconvinced, "What's wrong with it? Medicinal herbs are just herbs that have been dried! What's the point of drying them into flowers?"

Ji Yongling shook his head and said, "Good appearance is essential for good sales. In our village, we just dig up the herbs and dry them on the ground. But pharmacies look at the quality and age of the herbs when they buy them. Although our herbs are about the same age and are dried well, their quality and appearance are not good, so they are not willing to buy them."

Grandpa Ji nodded: "That makes sense. When choosing a wife, you have to consider her looks, and when buying things, you have to consider their quality. So, in your opinion, how should we air them out from now on?"

Ji Yongling said, "When we dry medicinal herbs in the future, we should first clean them up. We should clean the dry, withered, and muddy roots, then tie them with hemp rope and hang them on poles to dry. This way, the herbs will be clean and won't wrinkle, and their color and appearance will be good. Also, some herbs that can be stored for a longer period of time should not be sold in a hurry. They should be stored according to their age and sold separately according to their age, as the prices will be different."

After thinking for a moment, Grandpa Ji said, "Clean it up, tie it up and dry it. It'll be a bit of a hassle, but as you said, the pharmacy is willing to take it, and I reckon they'll offer a high price. I think it's a good idea."

Ji Manchuan laughed and said, "That's good. Next time we collect medicinal herbs, we'll tell everyone that we'll dry them like this from now on."

Ji Manqing happily said, "That's great! This way, we won't have to worry about people not buying our medicinal herbs. Ling'er, you're so clever! By doing this, we can sell the same herbs for a higher price than others."

Ji Yongling smiled and said nothing more.

She also wanted to say that the price of medicinal herbs is not only related to their quality and age, but also to their place of origin. Herbs from different places have different medicinal effects. For example, some medicinal herbs in later generations are only good when they are produced in certain specific places, while those grown in other places are much less effective.

However, in an era before meteorology and geography existed, this point is best left unsaid.

Seeing that it was getting late, the old man got up and said, "Alright, go to sleep. You must be exhausted from traveling all day. We can talk about tomorrow's matters tomorrow."

The next day, the three Ji brothers, along with Ji Yongbai, delivered two cartloads of medicinal herbs to the county. Ji Yongling also went to get medicine for Yu Fengshou, leaving only Ji Yongbai to help the old man with the bookkeeping and collection of medicinal herbs.

"Excuse me, is this the Ji family's house?" came the voice of an unfamiliar old woman from outside the door.

"Who? Who are you looking for?" Ji Yongbai asked as he walked toward the door.

Ji Yongbai saw an old woman standing outside the courtyard, her clothes covered in patches, holding the hand of a thin child, and asked, "Grandma, who are you looking for?"

The old woman grinned, revealing black holes where two front teeth had fallen out, and said, "I heard that your family sells miracle cures for worms, isn't that right?"

Ji Yongbai nodded: "Yes, it's my sister selling them."

Upon hearing this, the old woman immediately became happy and grabbed Ji Yongbai's hand: "Oh, child, I've finally found you! I've been asking around for two days before finally finding your house. My two grandsons have been complaining of stomach aches. Sometimes when the pain is so bad, they roll around on the ground, their faces turning blue. It's quite frightening. The doctor in the county prescribed some medicine, but it hasn't helped. I heard that the children might have worms in their stomachs, so I came to your house to ask you."

Upon hearing this, Ji Yongbai realized it sounded similar to what Ling'er had described about having worms in her stomach. He turned and called out into the courtyard, "Grandma, Grandma, someone has come to buy Ling'er's medicine."

Yang wiped her hands on her apron and came out, asking, "Who's buying medicine? Did you bring the baby?"

Because people have been coming to buy medicine recently, and Ji Yongling wasn't home yesterday, so the people who came didn't get any medicine. Today, she specially left a few packets for Yang Shi, and repeatedly told her that she must bring the children to drink it. One packet per child, no more, mainly because she was afraid that someone would be greedy and take too much medicine, causing adverse reactions.

The old woman at the door hurriedly said, "I brought it, I brought it. I heard that your medicine can only be given to children who come to the door, so I brought my eldest grandson. My youngest grandson is too young to walk this far, so I didn't bring him."

As she spoke, the old woman took out two coins from her sleeve and handed them to Yang. Before coming, she had already inquired about the Ji family's rules and knew them, so she didn't dare to haggle.

Madam Yang took the money, looked at the old woman and the listless child beside her, and sighed, "The child is pitiful too. Wait here, child, I'll bring you the medicine."

A moment later, Yang came out with a bowl of medicine and handed it to the child at the door. The child took it but did not drink it directly. Instead, he looked at the old woman beside him.