Er Gouzi has lived in the mountains for several months, and now it is the spring farming season. There was no snow last year, and there has not been a drop of rain until now. He was walking on the country road at this time, and found that at this late hour, there were as many people coming and going as during the day. But everyone was in a hurry and didn't pay much attention to Er Gouzi. Now as long as they don't compete with them for water sources, even if the king of heaven comes, everyone is too lazy to pay attention. Many people are far away from the water source, so they can only carry water from the water source on their shoulders and pour it into their own fields. But the landowners of the water source will definitely not agree. These days, grabbing water is equivalent to grabbing food. Along the way, he has seen more than ten fights in the fields for water sources. Er Gouzi could only be thankful that his 50 mu of land was close to the spring water in Shekou Mountain, which was very advantageous in such a disaster year. Moreover, the spring water in Shekou Mountain still produced water as in previous years and was not affected by the drought.
When he walked all night and arrived at the county town, it was already dawn. He went to Huichuntang first when he entered the city. He also brought a sack of Dali Pills, all of which he would sell to Sima Yi. When he walked into Huichuntang, he found that Huichuntang was doing very good business now, and there were many people queuing up. He found a small bench and planned to sit next to it and wait for a while. Who knew that when he sat down, the bench collapsed with a click. He weighed about 100 pounds, and the sword behind him weighed 150 pounds, and the bench was not very strong. This scared the sick people in the store, and those who knew him were whispering. "This is the legendary Zhang Xiucai!" "He is the fierce guy who knocked the examiner out with a sword in the examination room." "Ha! He is the one who destroyed the examination room and owed a huge sum of 200 taels of silver!" "Hahaha, I also watched that exam..." "This one is also strange..." With Er Gouzi's keen five senses now, he naturally heard all their whispers. Unexpectedly, he was actually famous in the county, and after so many years, there were still people talking about his deeds. These harmless gossips, Er Gouzi could only pretend not to hear, but when talking about himself, his face still blushed shyly. He found another sturdy bench and sat on it. It didn't collapse this time. After sitting alone in the corner and waiting for a while, Sima Yi came to see him after treating a patient. In order to avoid being seen, Sima Yi led Er Gouzi into a house in the backyard. "You are doing a prosperous business now!"
Sima Yi's face was not happy when he heard this, but he sighed deeply. "It's good that I don't lose money. Most of them are poor and hungry. Don't expect to make money from them. My medicine can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. If you can have a few full meals and two meals of pork, these diseases can be cured without medicine." Er Gouzi also roughly understood what Sima Yi said. Because of the drought this year, many people are tightening their belts. Although they didn't starve to death directly, they became extremely weak and suffered from various diseases. Sima Yi is also a kind-hearted person. When facing these poor people who come to see a doctor, the store often sells the medicine at cost price or makes only a small profit. Sometimes, because of weakness and unwillingness to see the separation of life and death, they even pay money. Because the fees are cheap, the prices are fair, and sometimes the medicine is given away for free, Huichuntang's business is indeed getting better and better. But although the business is good, it is not profitable. A family selling coffins hopes that more people will die every day, and a man wants everyone to get sick. Er Gouzi feels that Sima Yi, who can't bear the suffering of the world, is not suitable for being a man. After knowing each other for a few years, Sima Yi has become much quieter from the vigorous and energetic young man before. In his twenties, he even has a few strands of white hair. However, with Sima Yi's temperament, Er Gouzi does not worry about being betrayed by him when trading with him. He was young before, and didn't know how high the sky was, so he sold rare spiritual objects. As he got to know more about warriors, he realized how dangerous it was to do so. Fortunately, he met someone like Sima Yi back then. However, there are many people in Huichuntang now, so he still plans to change to Sima Yi later this time. "A total of 328 taels of silver, or should I change them all into Peiyuan Guben Pills?" Sima Yi asked casually after counting the Dali Pills. Er Gouzi always changes all the Dali Pills into Peiyuan Guben Pills, and he has gotten used to it. "This time, help me purchase a batch of medicinal materials first, and then buy Peiyuan Guben Pills with the remaining silver." But this time, Er Gouzi took out another list of medicinal materials. "These herbs plus ginseng and Cistanche deserticola will make Peiyuan Guben Pills. Are you going to prepare Peiyuan Guben Pills?" When Sima Yi saw the prescription, he guessed what medicine Er Gouzi was going to make. The prescription of Peiyuan Guben Pills is not a secret. Many people know it. They just lack ginseng of sufficient age. "There are a few old ginseng and some Cistanche deserticola in the store. I plan to mix some and try." Er Gouzi explained casually, and Sima Yi didn't ask any more questions. Leaving the list of herbs with Sima Yi, Er Gouzi went to the martial arts hall.
First, he returned all the books he borrowed this time. He stayed in the library for half a day and borrowed more than a dozen books again. He has now experienced the joy of reading. The pen, ink, paper and inkstone are all very expensive, and the cost of each book is very high. The content that can be passed down on paper is the concentration of previous experience. Now that he has such an opportunity to learn from the past, he must seize it. Then he found Deputy Hall Master Sima and asked about the matter of recommending students. Sima Hong promised to come. After everything was done, Er Gouzi stayed in the county town for only one day and returned to Shekou Mountain overnight. When passing Anchang River on the way, he found that the water level of the river had dropped a lot. If it continues to be so dry, I am afraid that the river will also dry up. If there is a drought for many years, there will be no drinking water at that time. He must reserve more water in advance to prevent accidents. He found a place with no people around and took out the yellow gourd. "Big, big, big..." As his thoughts rose, the yellow gourd in front of him grew visibly. In an instant, it grew from the size of an embroidery needle to more than three feet high. Put this big gourd into the river, and the river water formed a vortex and poured into the gourd. After guarding the river for two hours, he saw that the water level of the river had dropped a lot, but the gourd could not be filled. If he kept pouring, he didn't know how much water he would need to fill the gourd. After several years, he still didn't figure out how big the limit of this gourd was. At this time, the sky was slightly bright, so he could only turn the gourd back to the size of an embroidery needle, which he pierced into his ear, looking like an inconspicuous little earring. Back in Shexi Village, Er Gouzi wrote a letter of recommendation for him in front of Huang Laocai. With this letter, you can go to the martial arts hall to study. Huang Laocai's family naturally thanked Er Gouzi profusely. Er Gouzi returned to Shekou Mountain. The stone foundation for building a house had been completed, and a stonemason was waiting for him. "Master Zhang, the foundation of the house has been completed, and the stone mill and mortar you want are also ready." The craftsman pointed to the two sets of oversized stone mills and mortars behind him and secretly smacked his lips. Such a large stone mill, two donkeys can't pull it, I don't know which animal this scholar is going to let pull it? Er Gouzi checked the foundation and stone mill, and happily paid the craftsman. The craftsman took a bag of silver and breathed a sigh of relief. The most difficult thing about working for these landlords is to settle the wages.
Many times, after working hard for half a year, when it comes to settling wages, they are picky and find all kinds of reasons to deduct. This Mr. Zhang did not deduct a penny, and even gave a few more coins. "Thank you, Mr. Zhang!" "You're welcome. I may need you to work next year." Er Gouzi said, and he had already picked up the super large millstone, jumped, and rushed to Shekou Mountain. The head craftsman who had not walked far away knelt down when he saw this scene, and said that the immortal master had great magical powers. Er Gouzi was not particularly shy about this. It is said that the county magistrate occasionally showed his immortal skills to the common people. Therefore, the people of the whole county knew that the county magistrate had great magical powers. After moving the stone mill and the stone mortar to the top of the mountain and installing them, he tried to push the stone mill. It felt about the same, not very strenuous. Rice husks need a stone mortar. He had one before, but it was too small and slow. Grinding rice and herbs with a stone mill is much easier and faster. He has a lot of food in his gourd, but it takes a lot of time to process it into powerful pills. He also has to study, practice, and farm every day, so it often takes a long time to sell a stone. So much so that he couldn't do it even though he planned to take a pill of Peiyuan Guben pill every day. As his strength increases, he needs to refine more and more spiritual energy. In order to keep his strength growing rapidly, he also needs to improve his efficiency in making pills.