When the sound of abacus beads at Qingniu Medical Hall came to an abrupt stop, Su Wanyue's abacus beads snapped loose and flew off, the herbal hairpins in her double buns nearly poking straight into the ledger: "Brother Fan! The three major pharmacies have bought off all the herb farmers, forbidding them to sell 'Cyan Ox Seven' to us! Our supply is truly cut off this time!"
Zhang Yifan shook his abacus beads, toying with the medicinal seeds on the windowsill, the beads bouncing in the earthenware basin to form the character for "Steady." "Cut off, then let it be—" He chuckled softly, the beads rolling among the seeds to spell out "Plant." "We will plant our own." Su Wanyue's eyes widened, the beads bouncing along her sleeves into the character for "Barren." "Plant? Where are we going to find land? Hiring people to farm medicinal herbs costs even more!"
"The *Book of Lord Shang* says, 'When there are a thousand men of farming and warfare, and one man of debate and cleverness in the *Classic of Poetry* and *Book of Documents*, the thousand men will all grow slack in farming and warfare,'" the Protagonist tapped her forehead with an abacus bead, which bounced into the character for "Fields" right between her brows. "There is wasteland in the suburbs of Chang'an; we can hire peasant households to farm it, use abacus beads to keep accounts, and split the profits fifty-fifty—" The bead suddenly hopped onto her hairpin, spelling out "Win-Win." "The pharmacies cut off the 'supply,'…
Chapter 170