Chapter 256 - 252: Anping County_1

Translator: 549690339

Spring Maiden gathered a few silver taels and stashed the household registry and travel pass on herself, before taking the two girls off the boat.

Soon after they disembarked, Xiao Chengjun also got off the boat with two guards.

On the dock, there were ready ox carts and mule carts available, all were trying to attract business.

Three women boarded a mule cart and headed towards the county town.

Yingbao, sitting on the cart, asked the old man who was driving, “May I ask, sir, what is most famous here?”

The old man lightly flicked his whip, and chuckled, “The most famous thing, would no doubt be our honey mandarins here. Every autumn, many merchant ships come to buy honey mandarins to transport to Beijing. However, it’s a pity that you’ve come at an inopportune time, as the mandarins are not yet on the market.”

“What delicious things do you have here?” Chen Zhao asked.

The old man flicked his whip and said: “There are plenty of delicious things. The entire Cross Street is full of snack shops; you ladies can go check it out.”

Yingbao: “Then please take us to Cross Street, sir.”

“Alright!”

The mule cart galloped at a brisk pace, and they quickly entered the county town.

The county town was named Anping County and, similar to Qinchuan County, it was a small town.

The mule cart went straight to Cross Street, the old man dropped them off thoughtfully at the entrance of an inn before driving off.

First, Yingbao took her mother and Chen Zhao to book a room in the inn before strolling through the market.

It was lunchtime, and there weren’t many street vendors, but there were quite a few shops open.

Spring Maiden took the two kids to a food stall for lunch, and then bought a carry basket from a general store.

Because her daughter mentioned wanting to buy a lot of stuff, she prepared in advance.

Then the group went to browse the shops.

As Spring Maiden lent all her clothes to Lady Wen’s family and had none for herself, Yingbao bought her several outfits at a clothing store, along with two pairs of cloth shoes suitable for walking.

Chen Zhao’s clothes seemed thin, and she didn’t have anything extra to wear in the chilly mornings and evenings, so they bought her two padded outfits, which moved Chen Zhao till her eyes were reddened.

Yingbao also bought two thick padded outfits for herself, in addition to two blankets.

These blankets would make them warmer when sleeping at night.

Although she had such items in her cavern, they were not conveniently accessible.

The three then visited a medicine shop and purchased several big packages of herbs for treating cold and flu.

The experience of Lady Wen’s family reminded Yingbao that it was uncertain when they could return home, so they needed to prepare for any potential problems.

After returning to the inn, while Spring Maiden sorted out the purchased items and Chen Zhao lay on the bed to sleep, Yingbao practiced the Step of Yu in their room.

Suddenly, there was a commotion, which seemed to be coming from next door.

“I say, Young Master Li, when will someone in your family come to pick you up? I’m a small-scale businessman, truly can’t afford…”

It was the Innkeeper’s voice, and it was also tinged with a whining tone.

Out of curiosity, Yingbao opened the door and peeked out.

She saw the Innkeeper standing in front of the door of the room next door, wiping his nose and tears, saying, “Young Master Li, It’s not that I’m rushing you, but you’ve been staying at my small inn for several months already. If this continues, I’ll be spending all of my savings.”

A few coughs were heard from the room, and a hoarse voice replied, “I-I’m sorry for the trouble. I’ve already sent a letter home, they’ll come to pick me up soon, could you give me a few more days…cough, cough, cough, cough…”

The innkeeper sighed, turned around, and left the room.

Yingbao quietly moved to the door of the next room and peeped inside. She saw a thin, frail man lying on a plank-bed, with a bamboo bookshelf beside the bed – the kind that scholars use.

Underneath the bookshelf was a bamboo examination basket, and through the openwork of the basket, she could see all kinds of examination utensils inside.

It seemed that this man was a scholar traveling to the examinations but fell ill and was stranded at the inn.

According to current dynasty laws, if a scholar who is on the way to his exams is detained due to illness and unable to return home, an inn cannot kick him out, instead they must have a doctor look at him.

The inn can later report the expenses to the County Government. The cost of the student’s board and lodgings and the cost of the doctor are then reviewed by the County Government, and then reimbursed to the inn.

However, the premise is that the inn must first pay this expense.

Presumably, this scholar has been in poor health for a long time, his family hasn’t come to pick him up, so the Innkeeper is worried that the scholar would die at the inn and came to ask.

“What’s wrong?” Seeing her daughter hesitating to enter, Chunniu asked.

Yingbao returned to the guest room and quietly said to her mother, “There’s a scholar in the neighboring room who seems very ill.”

“A scholar on his way for the exams?”

Chunniu sighed, “Doesn’t he have anyone with him?”

Those who go for the exams, generally have their families with them to some extent, or at least have a servant following them. Very few are alone.

Yingbao shook her head: “I guess not.”

She suddenly thought of her younger brother Jiang Jie. If he was to take an exam someday, they would definitely not let him go alone.

After a while, there was another noise outside. It turns out Innkeeper was back again.

Yingbao ran out again to check.

She saw that the Innkeeper was followed by a doctor who looked very impatient.

The two of them entered the room, the doctor didn’t even check the scholar’s pulse, he just glanced at him and told the Innkeeper, “There’s nothing I can do for him. It’s not that I won’t cure him, it’s just that he has been too physically deficient and is beyond medical treatment.”

As soon as the Innkeeper heard this, his face fell. He grabbed the doctor and asked, “Is he really incurable? What are we supposed to do?”

If a scholar died in his inn, that would be too unlucky.

The doctor withdrew his sleeve and said, “I’ve said all that I can. I’ll prescribe another remedy for him, you go and boil it for him to drink. Don’t bother coming to me after this.”

After saying that, he left the guest room.

The Innkeeper sighed, looked at the scholar lying on the bed, shook his head, and left the room.

Yingbao saw the scholar lying on the bed, pale as death and not moving.

She thought for a moment, then ran to catch up with the Innkeeper, “Uncle Innkeeper, wait a minute.”

The Innkeeper turned around, saw the child who had just checked in today, and asked, “What is it, little Miss?”

Yingbao said in all seriousness, “I am a shaman. I can cure that scholar.”

The Innkeeper was taken aback, looked up and down at the little girl in front of him, smiled and said, ” Little Miss, don’t joke around. I’m busy.”

Yingbao: ” I really am a shaman. I might be able to cure that scholar, why don’t you believe me?”

The Innkeeper sighed, “Alright, if you want to cure him, go ahead. If you really cure him, I won’t take a penny from you.”

Yingbao smiled, “Okay, but first I need to buy some yellow talisman papers and a cinnabar brush. Could you please buy them for me?”

The Innkeeper wiped his face, just about to brush her off and leave, when he saw the little girl take out a small spindle of silver and hand it over, “It has to be top-grade talisman paper and cinnabar, please buy more.”

“Okay!” The guest paid the silver first, so there was no reason for him not to take the business. At least he could make a commission.

The Innkeeper took the five taels of silver and personally ran to the City God Temple to buy a big pile of talisman paper, then went to the pharmacy to buy cinnabar.

Just when he returned to the inn, a waiter handed him the prescription the doctor had written.

The Innkeeper waved his hand: “Put it aside for now, we’ll talk about it later.”

He wanted to see what this child can really do.

Even if she couldn’t cure him, it wouldn’t matter, as he had already earned 800 coins from her.

At that point, he’ll use that money to get the medicine for the scholar, and with the remaining money, he might even be able to hold a funeral for him.