Chapter 98: Measuring the Land

Chapter 98: Chapter 98: Measuring the Land

This was Bai Zhi’s first time at the pharmacy, but Hu Feng and Hu Changlin had been there many times.

Qingyuan Town wasn’t large. There were only a few pharmacies in total, and even fewer clinics—just two or three all together.

Hu Changlin had taken Hu Feng to every single one.

To cure Hu Feng’s amnesia, Hu Changlin had spared no expense or effort. Unfortunately, none of the clinics in town had any way to treat Hu Feng’s condition.

"What can I get for you folks?" an assistant asked, stepping forward to greet Bai Zhi and the others.

Bai Zhi said, "Excuse me, sir, do you sell silver needles? The doctor in our village asked us to pick up a bag of silver needles for him."

Hearing this, the assistant immediately smiled and replied, "Yes, yes, we do! You’ve come to the right place. We’re the only shop in all of Qingyuan Town that sells silver needles."

Bai Zhi smiled. "That must be it, then. Our village doctor specifically told us to buy them here and nowhere else."

The assistant’s smile widened. "Wait right here. I’ll go get them for you now."

After the assistant left, Zhao Lan lowered her voice and asked, "Zhi’er, why did you lie to him? We’re the ones buying them for ourselves."

Bai Zhi glanced at the people around them before replying, "Ordinary people don’t use silver needles. Since they don’t use them, they don’t buy them, and they don’t know the price. But it’s a different story if a doctor is buying."

She didn’t spell it out, but anyone who thought about it for a moment would immediately understand what she meant.

It dawned on Zhao Lan. ’Zhi’er is right! Why didn’t I think of that before? If she hadn’t said she was buying the needles for a doctor, the assistant could have quoted any price he wanted. What could we have done then?’

Hu Feng watched the petite girl in front of him with a neutral expression, but he was smiling inwardly. ’This girl doesn’t look very old, but she’s surprisingly worldly and thorough. It’s hard to imagine what’s going on inside that little head of hers.’

The assistant quickly returned with the silver needles in a dark red needle bag tied with a leather cord. When opened, it revealed an assortment of silver needles of various lengths arranged neatly inside. They were no match for the exquisite set she had used back in the 23rd century, nor were the sizes as comprehensive as in her old needle bag, but they would be sufficient for treating common illnesses.

However, this needle bag was missing two sizes of needles required for the acupuncture on Hu Feng’s head. ’Looks like I’ll have to find another way.’

After buying the needle bag, the four of them headed back to Huangtuo Village on the oxcart. It was nearly noon, so they ate some dry rations on the cart to satisfy their hunger. The oxcart moved slowly, so it would be at least two hours before they reached home.

Just as their oxcart was slowly making its way to the village entrance, they happened to see the village chief getting down from another oxcart.

When the village chief saw them, he hurriedly called out, "Zhao Lan, Bai Zhi, your residential plot and farmland have been approved! It’s a good thing you’re here. I’ll take you to measure the land right now."

To get this matter settled for them, the village chief had woken up extra early today and taken an oxcart to the government office in town. He had explained Zhao Lan and Bai Zhi’s situation to the Chief Clerk and submitted the application documents for a residential plot and private farmland.

Perhaps the Chief Clerk was in a good mood today. This sort of matter usually took several days to process, but unexpectedly, he had signed and stamped the application with a wave of his hand.

Zhao Lan and Bai Zhi were overjoyed. They hadn’t expected the matter of building their house to show progress so quickly. With the farmland also being allocated, even if it was too late to plant wheat, they could sow other crops and still have some harvest by autumn.

Bai Zhi helped Zhao Lan off the cart and thanked the village chief profusely.