Chapter Eighteen: The Young Apothecary

  Xiao Hong's head appeared, and the villagers' back-and-forth footsteps came to a halt.

  "Excuse me, are you Mr. Hong?" asked an old woman in tattered clothes, fixing her gaze on Xiao Hong.

  Grandpa Hong?

  This title made Xiao Hong quite surprised, but he also knew that this was referring to himself, and his nickname was likely given by Li Le.

  After some inquiry, Xiao Hong finally learned that the news of Lin Zi's injury was spread yesterday, and these villagers were all suffering from illness. However, the price of Miao Dan Medicine Hall was too expensive, and these poor villagers could not afford it, so they came to ask Xiao Hong for help, hoping that he could make it cheaper.

  He took a brief glance at these people, each of them thin and shabbily dressed. Xiao Hong hesitated, not because he despised them, but because this was his first time treating others' illnesses, and he felt somewhat apprehensive.

  However, after hesitating for a moment, Xiao Hong still nodded slightly: "Come in."

  As Xiao Hong said this, the old woman who had been talking to him all along flashed a hint of light in her eyes. With a thousand thanks, she slowly pulled up the frail old man leaning against the tree and supported him into Xiao Hong's room.

  Let the old man lie flat on his own broken bed, Xiao Hong can obviously observe that the old man's body is very weak, his eyes are dull, and his abdomen is swollen. Putting all these symptoms together, Xiao Hong has already had a rough idea in his mind.

  "Old man, where do you feel uncomfortable?" Xiao Hong asked softly.

  "It feels very cold, I don't want to eat anything, my body is tired, seeing greasy things makes me nauseous, after eating something I want to vomit. Before, I also took some herbal medicine for a cold, but it didn't get better." The old man replied weakly.

  Hearing this from Laozhe, Xiao Hong's eyebrows slightly moved, disgusted by the greasiness, it was very likely that there was a problem with his liver, and his body had a fever, possibly due to inflammation.

  Carefully stretching out two fingers, slightly prying open his eyelids, Xiao Hong discovered that the old man's sclera was slightly yellowish.

  That's right, it's chronic hepatitis!

  Xiao Hong basically, the cause of the elderly's illness can already be determined.

  After a moment of contemplation, Xiao Hong's mind instantly formed multiple prescriptions, but no matter which one, the efficacy was extremely slow, at least three to five months would be needed to basically recover. Looking at the old man again, if this continued, it wouldn't take two months for him to survive, let alone three to five months.

  Now, without a doubt, the most effective one is the magic tattoo. Without thinking much, Xiao Hong opened the drawer beside him and took out the ordinary anti-inflammatory medicine tattoo he had just made yesterday. This magic tattoo was originally just for practice, but unexpectedly it came in handy today.

  The old woman standing stiffly beside him, with dull eyes that flickered with a hint of brightness, saw the anti-inflammatory magic thread in Xiao Hong's hand.

  For poor villagers, where have they ever enjoyed such treatment with medication?

  Xiao Hong didn't pay attention to the old woman's reaction, drove the magic needle in his hand, and then gently pressed it on the old man's liver.

  In an instant, the old man lying on the broken bed only felt a warm current suddenly transmitted to his abdomen, and he felt a slight itch in his abdomen. The internal organs that had been frozen together seemed to start moving at this moment.

  The old man's tightly furrowed eyebrows also began to relax, and his dry complexion became noticeably rosier.

  Ten minutes had passed, and Xiao Hong slowly withdrew the anti-inflammatory medicine. The old man's face was now much better, his breathing no longer urgent, and he stretched out his hand to gently stroke the old man's forehead, which had already cooled down significantly.

  Such a discovery made Xiao Hong let out a slight sigh of relief, and then Xiao Hong slightly turned around, picked up a piece of paper and a pencil lead, and began to write on it with flying dragons and dancing phoenixes.

  However, at this moment, looking again at the old man lying on the bed, he suddenly got up, covering his stomach, with a look of anxiety in his expression, and quickly fixed his eyes on Xiao Hong: "Pharmacist, may I ask, where is the toilet?"

  "Go out, turn right, fifty steps, that's it." Xiao Hong said with an expressionless face. The old man's reaction was completely within his expectations, as the bad dead cells and bacteria were being expelled from his body at this time.

  After more than ten minutes, when the old man came back, although his steps were still floating, the whole person's complexion had become a lot fresher and clearer, which was much better than the dullness he had when he just arrived.

  "It's basically nothing serious now." Xiao Hong glanced at the old man and handed the prescription to the old woman: "This prescription is specially for adjusting the body of the elderly, just go to the Miao Dan Pharmacy to get the medicine."

  "Thank you, Master Hong, for your great kindness." The old woman took the grass paper, her face full of gratitude, but then her expression also filled with a hint of anxiety, and she asked cautiously: "How much does the medical fee cost?"

  The old woman was very clear that once the magic needle was used, its effect would be many times better than ordinary herbs, but the price would also be much higher.

  "This...” Xiao Hong hesitated for a moment, according to the usual price, a doctor's fee was at least twenty silver coins when using magic seals, but after taking a glance at the two old men, whose clothes were tattered and worn out, twenty silver coins would be an astronomical figure for them. However, if he didn't charge a medical fee, he couldn't possibly do it for free forever, could he? He wasn't wealthy to begin with, and his savings had been dwindling rapidly, with many places to spend money. At this rate, he'd become penniless in no more than a month."

  Just as Xiao Hong was hesitating, the old woman had already reached into her pocket and pulled out five silver coins. The coins were covered in stains and had lost their original luster, clearly having been treasured for a long time without being spent.

  "I know this is not enough, it's all our savings, I hope Master Xiao can accept it." The old woman fixed her eyes on Xiao Hong, saying, with a hint of hope in her eyes, but more fear and pitifulness, especially that dry, rough hand, dragging those few worn-out silver coins.

  He looked the old woman up and down again, and finally softened his heart. He waved his hand and said, "Alright, this time it's free. Take the money to buy some medicine for your husband and get him some nourishment."

  “Th...th...” The old woman was momentarily stunned, or perhaps it would be better to say that she was pleasantly surprised. Before this, they had heard of the pharmacist's kind deeds of giving free medical treatment to poor people, but those were always with cheap herbal medicine. Using the magical medicine pattern for free was still a first for them. For a moment, the old woman and even the elderly behind her were left speechless.

  Gradually, as I looked at the old woman's face again, the look of astonishment had slowly faded away, replaced by endless gratitude.

  To know that these five silver coins are their entire savings, taking them out would mean they wouldn't even have a place to eat tomorrow.

  "Mr. Xiao's great kindness, my husband and I will remember it, we hope to receive your blessing." The old woman said, then deeply bowed her waist, preparing to give Xiao a deep bow, and then left with gratitude.

  However, at this time, Xiao Hong had already made up his mind in secret. From now on, he must start charging for medical treatment. Yes, Xiao Hong wanted to be a good person, but that was on the premise of self-protection.

  Having made up his mind, Xiao Hong began to attend to the next patient...

  Later, the several patients who were received were not seriously ill, most of them had headaches and fever. Xiao Hong treated each one of them. The key point was that Xiao Hong started asking for payment, but he didn't open his mouth too wide, just to ensure that he wouldn't lose money, and let himself earn a little bit.

  It wasn't until 11 am that Xiao Hong sent away the last patient, turned around, and took a look at the money box. It was already filled with copper coins, and from time to time, he could still see silver-white colored silver coins.

  One by one, he counted the numbers, subtracting the cost of using magic patterns. In just a few hours, Xiao Hong made a total of fifteen silver coins, which was much easier to make money than being a miner who worked himself to death. This was still under the premise that Xiao Hong tried his best to reduce medical expenses.

  "It seems that this year and month, there are still jobs with technical content that can make money." Xiao Hong sighed, but he did not give up the idea of being a miner.

  There are many reasons, one of which is that only by being a miner can he have a constant supply of free stones to practice with. Second, the income from healing others is not stable for Xiao Hong at present. Third, he has a one-year contract with Dongcheng Quarry, and if he leaves halfway, he must pay a penalty of five gold coins, which is not a small amount for Xiao Hong's current situation.

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