Chapter 4 Delivery of Medicines and Refunds from Danfang

Chapter 4 Delivery of Medicines and Refunds from Danfang

The breeze was blowing, and the air was fresh. Zheng Qiu squatted in the medicine garden, picking ripe herbs. The leaves used as medicine have to be cut with jade scissors, the roots used as medicine have to be picked out of the soil with a hoe, and the fruits used as medicine are best picked, just pick the fruit and keep it.

Incense medicinal vines, purple thorn fern, gas-solid grass, and water-swallowing smoked melon, only these four herbs have matured in the medicine garden, and the others are estimated to take some time.

The herbs grown in the riverside medicine garden are not delicate, and they are not as resistant to metal, soil, and wood as snow beans, and they need special preservation.

Zheng Qiu picked up the herbs into the basket, sprinkled some water on it, covered it with a damp cloth, and then left the medicine garden with the basket on his back. According to the rules of Zongli, every seven days, the medicine garden has to send the picked medicinal materials to the alchemy room.

Count the days, today is the time to deliver the medicine. Zheng Qiu used to follow his master to deliver it, but now he has to take care of the medicine garden alone, so of course he has to deliver it himself.

Apart from the medicine house and the medicine garden, the pill room is the place Zheng Qiu is most familiar with. The alchemy room was built at the highest point of the middle mountain, higher than the Lunxin Hall where the suzerain taught.

Danfang is different from other places, it is a big circle. There is a large patio in the middle of the building, under which stands a copper furnace more than four feet high. In the three years he had been on the mountain, he had never seen the copper furnace open for alchemy, maybe the big copper furnace was just a decoration.

The stoves that are actually used for alchemy are all placed under the eaves of the courtyard, and they are also surrounded by a circle. There are as many as thirty stoves. The stoves are big or small, fat or thin, and have different shapes.

"Is anyone here? Is anyone here? I'll see you off..." Zheng Qiu yelled as he stepped into the alchemy room, and when he saw what was going on inside, he quickly covered his mouth.

There are five senior brothers making alchemy in the alchemy room, so don't disturb them.

Zheng Qiu stood on tiptoe and leaned forward gently, lowered his voice and asked tentatively: "Senior brother, I am Zheng Qiu from the pharmacy, I am here to deliver the medicine, can I put it here?"

"Wait!" The senior brother in front of him didn't turn his head, and there was a hint of anger in his voice.

Zheng Qiu shrank his neck in fright, stuck out his tongue and quickly backed away, what did he do wrong, why is senior brother angry?

He turned sideways and looked forward secretly, and there was a pile of broken copper lying on the edge of the alchemy furnace, which turned out to be a frying furnace. No wonder the senior brother is in a bad mood, what are they refining, such a strong stove can blow it up.

Waiting and waiting, Zheng Qiu's legs felt a little sore from standing, he pinched his sleeves and patted the ground, then sat down cross-legged.

I don't know how many hours have passed, when Zheng Qiu was getting a little drowsy while waiting, a crisp sound from the stove woke him up. He raised his head and found that the senior brothers started talking aloud, and the one standing in the middle was holding a porcelain bottle in his hand, which must be the elixir that had just been refined.

"Congratulations, Junior Brother Mo's alchemy skills have improved to a higher level."

"Don't praise me. You see, I scrapped the pill twice and fried the furnace once. This is pure luck."

"You're being too humble. Senior brother is right. Luck is also part of the art of alchemy."

"Yeah, when will you turn on the furnace again so we can watch it a few more times."

"Um, this pill is too difficult, let me go back and try to figure it out, I can't refine one furnace at a time."

"Hahaha, it can't be bombed anymore, and the elders will have a headache."

After chatting like this for a while, the senior brother who told Zheng Qiu to wait just now turned to talk to him.

"Zheng Qiu, why are you alone, where is your master?"

Senior brother seems not to be angry anymore, and Zheng Qiu didn't need to lower his voice: "Oh, master asked me to take care of the medicine garden by the river, and I will deliver the medicine there."

"Can you take care of it? What medicinal materials are you sending today?"

"Incense medicinal vine, gas-solid grass, purple thorn fern, water swallowing smoked melon."

"show me."

Zheng Qiu turned around and hugged the basket to his chest, and held it up to show his senior brother. Unexpectedly, senior brother's brows gradually frowned, which made Zheng Qiu panic, and he tried to ask: "Master, senior brother, is the medicine wrong?"

"Didn't the master tell you that the medicine you send has to be screened first?"

"I-I don't know!"

Seeing Zheng Qiu in front of him panicked,

Brother Shi felt that he didn't need to argue with a child, so he said softly, "Forget it, forget about you. Give it to me. I'll select you and watch it. Next time, don't give it away directly." coming."

Zheng Qiu nodded and carefully watched the elder brother choose the medicine. The selection of medicinal materials for Danfang is really good. The medicinal vines are too thin, the leaves of Guqi grass are not round, the purple thorn fern should be selected with good color, and even the water-swallowing melons should pay attention to their appearance.

"Remember? These bad ones must be removed in the future, don't send them to the alchemy room." I saw the senior brother fetch the wooden box, put the selected medicinal materials into the box, and throw the rest back into the basket.

Zheng Qiu tilted his back, and there was still a lot of heaviness, and asked: "Brother, what about these? What about the rest?"

"Throw away the rest, it's useless."

"Huh? Throw them all away?"

"What do you do if you don't throw it away? Or ask your master."

"Oh." Zheng Qiu put the basket on his back and bowed to the senior brother, "Thank you senior brother, I will ask the teacher when I go back, and next time I must choose it before sending it."

After saying that, he turned around and walked out of Dan's room. When Zheng Qiu left, the young man in the alchemy room, who was called Junior Brother Mo by others, turned around from behind the alchemy cabinet and stared at Zheng Qiu's back for a long time.

"Junior Brother Mo, what are you looking at?"

"Ah! It's nothing, I was thinking about alchemy just now."

"No wonder you're improving so fast, you really work hard."

Back in the medicine garden, Zheng Qiu ran to see the Yiluo flower that the elder sister wanted to plant herself. The flowers are growing well, the petals are becoming more and more watery, and the purple color of the original flowers has faded slightly. When the purple color has completely faded and the flowers turn light yellow, they can be picked off and sent to the Cloud Palace.

As for those seeds, there is still no movement, and it is not known when they will germinate.

Hey, hey, two streamers of light flashed above his head, heading towards the main hall. Recently, there are more people returning to Zongli than usual, so I don't know what is special about it.

Zheng Qiu moved stools and lined them up, then climbed up and lay down on his back. The most boring thing about managing a medicine garden is this period of time. There are neither mature medicinal materials nor new species of medicinal materials. There is nothing but waiting. Unable to bear it, the sleepy bug continued to climb up, and Zheng Qiu simply pulled two grass leaves to cover his eyes.

"Master!" During dinner, Zheng Qiu tapped the rim of the bowl with his chopsticks, pouted, "You have something to hide and don't want to teach me."

"Where is the master, didn't he teach you all?"

"I went to the Danfang to deliver medicine today, and I was criticized. You didn't even tell me that I had to screen the medicine before delivering it."

"Oh, this is the master's negligence, the master is not good. Did you choose the medicine afterward?"

Zheng Qiu put the rice in his mouth: "I have chosen it. A senior brother chose it. Master, you will teach me how to sift medicinal herbs tomorrow. I only know the screening requirements for four kinds of medicinal herbs."

"Not tomorrow, the master will go down the mountain tomorrow."

downhill? Zheng Qiu blinked, Master rarely went down the mountain. "Master, what's the matter?"

"A Niu's daughter-in-law is about to give birth, I'll go get him some medicine to calm the fetus."

A Niu is a famous porter who lives at the foot of Yuexi Mountain, and Zheng Qiu and his disciples all ask him to deliver the rations up the mountain. Every time when A Niu came, Zheng Qiu was the first to rush up, calling out to Brother A Niu, while looking for delicious food in his box.

"Master, can I go then?"

Unexpectedly, the master put on a straight face: "Kids don't get involved in this kind of thing."

"Oh..." Zheng Qiu lowered his head, it seemed that he couldn't go down the mountain to play with him this time.