Selling medicine at twenty, I happened to save a life along the way.

“Sixth Master, shall we investigate the other party’s identity?” a burly man whispered.

“What nonsense are you talking about? She’s my lucky star! Do you realize how much profit her words could bring us? If we offend her, she’ll never care about me again. What would we do then, idiot?” Sixth Master Lai glanced at the paper in his hand and quickly summoned someone to speed up the production of the playing cards.

Meng Yun led the tool man Jin Yanchuan through a few turns. Seeing no one around, she hurriedly took off her clothes and changed back into her original outfit.

“Wife, is the game over? Was I good? You didn’t let me speak, and I didn’t say a word,” Jin Yanchuan smiled brightly, awaiting his wife’s praise.

“Ah Chuan, you were amazing! Well done!” Meng Yun kissed him on the cheek.

“Wife, shall we play another game?” Jin Yanchuan asked.

“No, didn’t we gather some herbs yesterday? Let’s find a pharmacy to sell them and use the silver to make you new clothes,” Meng Yun said.

“What about buying gifts for your parents and siblings? You haven’t bought anything for yourself either,” Jin Yanchuan turned to ask.

“You’re such a thoughtful guy, everything’s planned. We’ll buy for everyone,” Meng Yun said, feeling delighted. They had income and a plan to deal with that scoundrel Zhou Shiren, plus they’d found a powerful ally.

Wanqing Town had several pharmacies and clinics. Meng Yun wasn’t very familiar with the place but noticed a long line outside Tongrentang Pharmacy. Surely, the doctors there were skilled.

“Waiter! Hey, waiter!” Meng Yun pulled Jin Yanchuan, pushing forward.

“Queue up, queue up! Go to the back of the line!” The waiter looked down his nose, his tone rude and disdainful.

Meng Yun immediately lost her mood to sell herbs. What kind of person was that?

“Ah Chuan, let’s go find another place,” Meng Yun pulled Jin Yanchuan away.

“What’s wrong, wife? No more selling herbs?” Jin Yanchuan followed, carrying a basket.

“See that waiter’s arrogant look? He looks down on us, but we don’t serve people like him,” Meng Yun muttered.

“Right, we won’t serve him,” Jin Yanchuan said, frowning at his wife’s anger.

Across from Tongrentang was Huichuntang Clinic, with a queue too but shorter.

“Waiter, do you buy herbs here?” Meng Yun pushed forward, clutching Jin Yanchuan tightly—no matter what, she wouldn’t lose her little husband.

“Yes, miss, please wait a moment. Doctor Wen is seeing a patient now. He’ll be with you shortly,” the waiter replied.

“Okay,” Meng Yun stepped back and stood aside with Jin Yanchuan.

After nearly half an hour, a man in his thirties emerged. He wore a long, elegant dark green robe, had a short beard, and well-defined features, radiating sincerity and uprightness.

“You’re here to sell herbs?”

“Hello, doctor. These are the herbs we gathered. Please see if you’ll buy them.” Meng Yun set down the basket and emptied the herbs onto the ground.

“Hmm.” Doctor Wen flipped through them and suddenly spotted something: golden buckwheat and ground ivy—excellent remedies for lung heat cough, pulmonary abscess with pus, breast swelling and pain, and bleeding. Such herbs were rare, found deep in the mountains.

“You gathered these? Do you know their names?” Doctor Wen asked.

“This is golden buckwheat, used to treat lung heat cough, pulmonary abscess with pus, breast swelling and pain. This is ground ivy, which stops bleeding and, when combined with other herbs, promotes blood circulation and removes stasis. This is rehmannia root, and this one is silkworm droppings…” Meng Yun introduced each one.

“You know your herbs well,” Doctor Wen affirmed.

“I only know a little,” Meng Yun replied modestly.

“Ha! You’re too humble. These herbs are good. Some are common around here, so we have plenty, but I’ll buy them all.” Doctor Wen went inside and returned with a small scale, weighing them one by one.

“These are unprocessed, so the price is lower. If processed, they’d fetch more than twice the price,” Doctor Wen explained as he weighed.

“Ground ivy is 800 copper coins per jin; this is 3 jin 2 liang. Golden buckwheat is 750 copper coins per jin; this is 6 jin 3 liang. Rehmannia root is 500 copper coins per jin; this is 1 jin 6 liang. Silkworm droppings are 1 tael of silver per jin; this is 8 liang…” Doctor Wen paused, then calculated.

“Miss, that comes to a total of 7 taels 8 qian of silver.”

“Thank you, Doctor Wen,” Meng Yun said politely.

Doctor Wen instructed the waiter to take the herbs to the back yard.

“Miss, bring me any good herbs you find in the future,” Doctor Wen said.

“Sure,” Meng Yun said, pulling Jin Yanchuan to leave.

Suddenly, a commotion erupted at Tongrentang, with a woman’s anguished cries echoing loudly.

People at Huichuntang and passersby turned to look.

The crowd was too dense to see clearly. Within moments, Meng Yun and Doctor Wen saw two men carrying a seven- or eight-year-old child running toward them, followed by family members and onlookers.

“Doctor, please save my son!” The woman knelt before Doctor Wen. Judging by their attire, the family was well-off.

“Put the child down so I can examine him.” Time was life; Doctor Wen hurried forward.

The child’s airway was likely blocked; his face was purple and swollen, barely breathing, the pulse at his wrist nearly gone, his body still warm but faint. The child was near death.

“You arrived too late. I’m sorry, I can’t help,” Doctor Wen said helplessly.

The woman sobbed loudly, clutching the child. “My son!”

Meng Yun rushed over, feeling the child’s neck for a pulse—there was a faint one every seven or eight seconds. If not soon, it would vanish.

“Give me the child,” Meng Yun said, taking him. She turned the boy over, formed her right hand into a fist, placed it two fingers above the navel, covered it with her left hand, and struck the abdomen sharply.

“Ah! What are you doing? The child’s in this state—how can you torture him?” the woman cried, trying to tear Meng Yun away.

Meng Yun couldn’t free her hands and braced for the woman’s attack.

“My wife is saving him,” Jin Yanchuan said as a tall, slender figure stepped between them.

The woman’s fist landed on Jin Yanchuan’s chest.

Her family pulled her back. “Is this young lady really saving him?” they questioned skeptically.

“Are you all fools? If she wasn’t saving him, would she be playing around? My wife only plays with me,” Jin Yanchuan said confidently, standing in front of Meng Yun, uttering those embarrassing words.

Meng Yun’s determination almost faltered.

“What kind of rescue method is this? Never heard of it,” someone whispered nearby.

Doctor Wen seemed to understand. “The young lady is applying external pressure to shock the airway, to dislodge the obstruction inside the trachea.”

As if to confirm his words, the child suddenly coughed up something. Curious onlookers came forward to see—it was a lump of hemp.