As the medicine grinder at Qingniu Medical Hall crushed the dried tangerine peel, Su Wanyue's abacus beads dropped with a "clack" onto the ledger, causing the herbal hairpins in her double buns to quiver. "Brother Fan! The three major pharmacies have squeezed the price of 'Cyan Ox Seven' down to three hundred wen! Our cost alone is five hundred wen—isn't this forcing us to starve?"
Zhang Yifan gently rattled his abacus, the beads hopping across the characters "Cyan Ox Seven" to spell out "STABLE." "What is there to panic about? When a wolf pack surrounds its prey, rabbits that run blindly only run themselves to death. Instead—" He chuckled softly, his abacus beads tracing an arc across the frame, "—why not set a trap and let the wolves walk right into it?"
Anxious, Su Wanyue wrung her hands, her abacus beads leaping between her sleeves to spell "CHAOS." "What time is it, and you're still speaking in riddles!"
Chapter 167