At this year's Apricot Blossom Banquet in the imperial capital, the most famous thing was neither the stunning dance performed by the bridge of Reflecting Moon, nor the splendid essays the gentlemen penned in the lakeside pavilion at the center of the lake, but rather a medicinal drink sold at Huichun Medical Hall, one known as "Rippling Wave."
People said this drink could greatly relieve blocked noses, allowing those refined scholars who spent every spring streaming tears and mucus indoors to finally emerge into the daylight again. For the men of letters who, in past years, had missed the city's spring scenery because of chronic sinus blockage, it was nothing less than rain after drought, charcoal in the snow.
And besides that, it had such an elegant name.
Rippling Wave. Merely hearing the words made one feel fragrance gather between tongue and teeth, as if one could already see the first spring waters rising, their green surface trembling in the light.
Rumor also said that the person selling the medicinal drink in Huichun Medical Hall was a young woman with a slender figure and a face like a painting, and that this same young woman was the physician seated in consultation there. That only made people more curious.
Thus, over the past few days, half the customers came to catch a glimpse of this so-called "beauty of medicinal drinks," while the other half came to indulge their own sense of fashionable refinement. Day after day there was an endless stream of people buying Rippling Wave, and the front of Huichun Medical Hall became crowded with carts and horses, utterly unlike the deserted doorway of only a few days before.
Du Zian counted the silver taken in, his face blooming wider than a chrysanthemum and his voice sweeter than if it had been smeared with honey. "Doctor Lu, in these five days we've sold thirty jars of medicinal drink. After deducting costs, we've cleared a full hundred taels. Heavens above," he said, hardly able to believe it himself, "since my father died, this is the first time I've seen so much silver!"
Qingluan leaned over the medicine cabinet and smiled at Lu Li. "Miss was right. As long as the drink had a good name, there truly was no need to worry that it wouldn't sell."
Lu Li lowered her head and continued sorting herbs. At that, she only smiled faintly.
Qingluan knew poetry, and Lu Li had asked her for many lines concerning willow catkins before choosing Rippling Wave as the drink's name. Most of the people close to Zhao Yuanwai were literary gentlemen with more taste than thrift. They cared for elegance and had money to spend. With only a bit of guidance from Zhao Yuanwai, such people naturally came to try the drink.
And once word passed from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred, the capital—never lacking those eager to chase the newest fashion—would only send more and more buyers.
Besides, Rippling Wave truly was effective in relieving nasal congestion. Once people had used it and understood its benefits, they would naturally return.
As Xiaofu tucked one ingot of silver after another into a strongbox, Du Zian stared at Lu Li. The longer he looked, the more an idea seemed to take hold of him. At last he blurted out, "Doctor Lu, I can tell you're clever. Even if you weren't making medicinal drinks, you'd surely succeed at whatever else you did. Why don't the two of us join forces and go into business? We'll cut a bloody path through the merchants of the capital and become the richest people in Great Liang. What do you say?"
He truly dared to dream. Lu Li replied flatly, "I say not interested."
"Why not?" Du Zian said earnestly. "I have money, and you have brains. If the two of us work together, we'll be unstoppable."
Qingluan could not help interjecting, "Boss, if you really do have money, perhaps you should raise my young lady's wages first. Times are hard. Becoming the richest people in the realm is the sort of thing my young lady doesn't dare dream of."
Du Zian glanced at Lu Li, who remained unmoved, and clicked his tongue. "I know, I know. Doctor Lu is high-minded and noble. All she wants is to suspend the pot and save the world."
Lu Li gave a quiet hum of assent.
Still unwilling to give up, Du Zian pressed on. "Doctor Lu, won't you at least think about it?"
Lu Li looked up at him. "If Manager Du has time to think about such things, he'd do better to go find more ingredients for the medicinal drink. Today is the fifth day. The first group of customers to have bought and brewed it should be seeing results already. If nothing unexpected happens, tomorrow there will only be more buyers."
"Really?" Du Zian's spirits shot up immediately. He sprang to his feet and called Xiaofu over to help move more herbs. "Come on, come on! Xiaofu, let's haul in more. We can't let Doctor Lu wear herself out."
With success lifting his spirits, he glanced outside as he walked and even sang out in a theatrical tone, "When dead wood meets spring once more, I imagine things over at Jishi Hall must be filled with rage riight nooow—"
...
Qian Shouyi truly was sitting on a lump of stagnant anger.
Several nights of poor sleep had left his face swollen, and even the smile he habitually wore now looked stiff and forced.
A few days earlier, a crowd of cultured gentlemen had suddenly appeared at Jishi Hall, all asking after medicinal drinks. Qian Shouyi had people inquire into the reason and learned that Zhao Yuanwai's speech at the Apricot Blossom Banquet had aroused widespread curiosity and brought Huichun Medical Hall no small amount of business.
Zhao Yuanwai had been a close friend of Old Master Du during the latter's lifetime, and after the old man's death, he had always shown Du Zian a bit of extra care. Truthfully speaking, if Zhao Yuanwai had not dropped by every so often to buy medicine, Du Zian's shabby medical hall would never have lasted until now. Qian Shouyi had long disliked Zhao Yuanwai: a pompous old pedant who put on airs and was as irritating as he was sanctimonious.
So after learning that Zhao Yuanwai had been the one to lead customers there, Qian Shouyi was full of contempt.
In his mind, Du Zian, driven into a corner in his desperation to revive the hall, had dragged in some woman of uncertain origin to sit in consultation, then invented some ostentatious medicinal drink in an attempt to appear refined, all while borrowing Zhao Yuanwai's help. A flimsy trick of opportunism like that might fool people for a short while, but there was no way it could last.
Yet for some reason, even though he reasoned it out like this, Qian Shouyi could not shake a lingering unease.
He paced back and forth in the spacious rear courtyard of Jishi Hall, fingers twisting the silk cord at his waist so hard that he forgot all about the fresh potted orchid that had just bloomed.
Seeing how restless he was, Zhou Ping tried to soothe him. "Manager, there's truly no need to worry. Nasal blockage and chronic sinus congestion are difficult to treat in the first place. Our hall's nasal pills sell best every spring. Right now, the people buying that medicinal drink are mostly drawn there by what the scholars at the Apricot Blossom Banquet said. Most of them only want to seem fashionable and refined. Once they've brewed it for a few days and seen no effect, naturally they won't buy it again."
Qian Shouyi considered this and thought it sounded reasonable enough. "That's true. Most of those scholars don't even hold official rank. A crowd of smelly bookworms, forever puffing themselves up at their own expense. A jar of Rippling Wave costs four taels of silver, not a small sum. Even if they are willing to spend money for the sake of elegance, they won't agree to act as suckers day after day."
"Exactly," Zhou Ping nodded. "And besides, Huichun Medical Hall has boasted so loudly about the drink's efficacy. Once those customers take it home and discover it does nothing, we won't even need to lift a finger. The spit of those scholars alone will drown them. Why trouble yourself?"
Qian Shouyi's eyes flickered. After pondering a moment, he beckoned a clerk over and spoke softly into Wenji's ear. "Go outside and spread a little gossip. Say that Huichun Medical Hall's Rippling Wave works immediately to relieve nasal blockage and is astonishingly effective. Spread it widely in markets and near temple gates."
The young clerk nodded and quickly left.
Qian Shouyi's brows relaxed again.
The ordinary people who gathered in markets and at temple entrances did not have the wealth of a refined gentleman like Zhao Yuanwai. Those thrifty middle-aged women, in particular, counted every bit of silver they spent. If they paid dearly for a medicinal drink only to find it had no effect at all, they would surely march straight to Huichun Medical Hall the very next day.
That was how flattery killed: the higher one raised a thing, the harder it fell.
Qian Shouyi bared his teeth in a smile, his eyes and brows as benevolent as a laughing Buddha.
He had long regarded the shop at the street corner as something already in his possession. He had even planned how he would renovate and redecorate it after taking it back. He was merely waiting for the day he could hold its deed in his hands.
There could only be one medical hall in the western market. And as for Du Zian...
Qian Shouyi gave a cold snort.
A wastrel ought to behave like a wastrel.
What business did he have pretending to turn over a new leaf?