Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The previous medicines which she had bought were for conditioning organs, but old sandalwood was gentle in nature and helped promote each medicines’ characteristics and minimize side effects.
Except… it was an ancient method that was very demanding on the apothecary’s judgment and skills. Also, its prescription and method of use were long lost, so barely anyone used it now.
The middle-aged man had heard a little about it because his family had been in the Chinese medicine industry for generations.
It seemed that this young lady must have a Chinese medicine expert in her family.
The middle-aged man gathered his thoughts and replied even more courteously. “I know someone specializing in incense, who sells old sandalwood. His shop is nearby. I can give you his name card. Why don’t you go there and check it out?”
If there was no guest in the inner room, he would have taken the young lady there himself. Decent apothecaries were hard to come by, let alone one who was well-versed in ancient prescriptions.
The middle-aged man quickly packed the medicines, found the name card, and handed everything to Huo Yao.
“Thanks.”
Huo Yao took her things and turned to leave. The middle-aged man thought for a moment before calling her back. “Although we don’t have any 100 year old tortoiseshell, we have 60 year old ones…”
Huo Yao halted in her steps and turned her head sideways to reply indifferently. “It’s fine. Although a 60 year old tortoiseshell might be just as good as a 100 year old one, medication is all about accuracy and the slightest difference will have major consequences.”
Then she left the store.
The middle-aged man was stunned. He went into a daze for a long time until an old man came out from the inner room.
“Why are you looking so shocked? Hurry up and lock up the store!”
Heng walked up to the door and said, “Master, a young lady just came to buy medicine and had a very unusual prescription.”
The old man took out a rather old looking book from a drawer and casually asked with little interest. “Oh? What medicines did she buy?”
Heng told him about the four medicines which Huo Yao had asked for.
“I told her that we didn’t have 100 year old tortoiseshells, but she didn’t want our 60 year old ones. Then she asked me about the old sandalwood and left…”
The old man looked a little surprised, but he glanced at the inner room and cut Heng off. “Enough. Leave the chit chat for later tonight.”
He picked up a few things and went inside.
Heng said, “Yes, Master.”
He locked up and followed him into the room.
The scent of sandalwood was far stronger here than outside.
Min Yu leaned lazily into the redwood chair with his hand on the side table. He prodded the incense in the incense burner every now and then with incense chopsticks. Despite his unconstrained and laid back appearance, his face looked sallow.
“Young Master Min, considering your physical condition, other than using medicine to condition your body slowly, I have no other way for treating it now,” said the old man.
Zhuo Yun’s face turned darker as he stood next to Min Yu. He said, “But the medicine seems to be losing its effect. Isn’t there anything else you can try to prevent it from aggravating?”
The man smiled bitterly and shook his head.
He opened that old book and handed it to Zhuo Yun. He said politely, “This book was handed down in my family by my ancestors. There are things we can try in there, but considering my ability, even if I can create the medicine, I can’t be sure about its efficacy or whether it will have side effects on Young Master Min…”
