As the carved wooden doors of the medical clinic on Vermilion Bird Street were pushed open, the heavy fragrance of medicinal herbs blended with earthy aromas rushed over them. Before Su Wanyue even unbuckled her horsewhip, she saw an apprentice running out carrying a bucket of spent medicinal dregs, a crooked wooden Ghost-Face Lantern wedged right against the rim—the very Honeysuckle pattern Zhang Yifan had sent yesterday.
"Young Shopkeeper, the farmers buying medicine have practically worn down our threshold!" The apprentice wiped his sweat, sending a few Notopterygium Root leaves spilling from the bucket with a rustle. "They're all saying that using the fertilizer made from your medicinal dregs makes the napa cabbage so sweet it tastes like candied fruit!" Su Wanyue raised an eyebrow, the Honeysuckle by her temples trembling slightly as she stepped into the back hall.
Seven or eight elderly men had gathered around the medicine cabinet, clutching wrinkled prescriptions in their hands while their eyes remained fixed on the ghost-face woodcarving atop the cabinet. "Shopkeeper Su, please dispense some Cyan Ox Seven for us!" Old Man Wang, who stood at the front, rubbed his hands together, his cloth shoes still stained with fresh mud. "The cattle in our village ate the medicinal dreg feed, and even their cud-chewing smells medicinal. That sickly old yellow ox can pull two stone millstones now!"
Chapter 50