“Hrm! You should have put in more effort when you were studying. You couldn’t even distinguish the signatures of the few master apothecaries. What have you learned in the last ten years?” Bai Ji started at his brother wishing that he’d be more studious.
“Ugh… but we have ge ge. I don’t need to take over the family busy, why try so hard, eh?” Bai Zhi has guilty conscience and wouldn’t dare look his older brother in his eyes, but was still making up excuses for himself.
“Neither did Big Uncle and Third Uncle. If they were all like you, our Jimin Hall would have been outcompeted by the other three big herbal shops and gone out of business a long time ago. The rise of a family could not be propped up by just one or two individuals. Everybody in the family must work together as a team for that to happen.” Bai Ji felt helpless inside. He never should have defended his brother when he was being punished! He just hoped it wasn’t too late just yet.
“Alright! I will learn from ge ge in the future, okay?” said Bai Zhi, honestly expressing his commitment in the future. With the exception of their father, Bai Zhi would only listen to his brother who was just only born 15 minutes before him. Yet he still didn’t understand what his older brother being so respectful to the little girl has to do with him learning about herbs.
Bai Ji sighed and addressed his confusion for him, “We have been looking at herbs processed by the sage apothecary since we were kids, and you still couldn’t recognize them?’
“Ge! You meant the little girl’s herbs were processed by the sage apothecary?” Hearing the name of the sage apothecary, Bai Zhi, who had just sat down, jumped up and started pacing back and forth in the room, “What am I going to do? I think I have offended her. Would she hold grudges and never sell the sage apothecary’s herbs to Jimin Hall?
“Ooooooh…. And I was wondering why that old man Zhao was fighting us over the herbs. So he figured that out as well. Ayaya, what to do, ge – I think I really messed up this time. Do you think dad will banish me from the family?”
If slapping himself a few times could make things right with the little girl, Bai Zhi would not hesitate to smack his face swollen. It was always said that little girls were the pettiest. She must hate him by now, then she’d project her hatred for him onto Jimin Hall….. oh, heavens! Earth! Just strike me with lightings!”
“What craziness are you talking about? Did the little girl clearly state that she processed those herbs herself? You think the sage apothecary’s herbs were only worth tens of dollars? Not even 50 taels of gold could have bought that!” Bai Ji was speechless, did his young brother left his brain at home during this trip?
“Eh? If it wasn’t made by the sage apothecary, then why were you so respectful toward the little brat?” When Bai Zhi heard that, his heart that was about to pop out from his mouth finally returned to its normal location.
Bai Ji picked up a piece of arrowroot, stuck it in front of his younger brother and asked, “Look at this piece carefully and tell me what do you see?”
“This arrowroot was simmered. And the technique was mediocre!” That was Bai Zhi’s conclusion after he had studied the arrowroot.
“Normally arrowroot was simmered with bran, but this one has a hint of rice smell to it. Do you get it now?” Bai Ji frowned. If his younger brother couldn’t even answer this basic question, then he must consider sending him back home to start learning about herbs with all the beginner kids in the family.
“Smell of rice? You mean that was Mr. Sage Apothecary’s unique method of ‘Rice Soup Simmered Arrowroot’?” With a stroke of luck, Bai Zhi was finally able to figure out what that piece of arrowroot was so special.
“Exactly. Up to this point, with the exception Mr. Sage Apothecary, his disciple Mr. Jiang would be the only other person to simmer arrowroot with rice. Early this year, Mr. Jiang had announced that he would not be accepting disciples anytime in the near future. By that token… there is only one possibility!” Bai Ji’s eyes were lit up with a colorful aura.