Chapter 372 - Medicine (2/2)
To the public, her excuse was ”Royal Prince Yang is kind and rewarded our family with several prescriptions for treating colds and coughs. I am still young and my medical skills are as good. I dare not give treatment easily. The Tongren Medicine Hall in town has doctors with excellent medical skills and high medical ethics. You can go there for medical treatment; I only sell pills and medicine here...”
When the people who came to seek treatment saw that the rumored legendary doctor was actually a little girl in her teens, they had some doubts in their hearts. They dared not insist on her treating them after hearing her explanation. However, upon hearing that the prescriptions for the pills and medicinal liquids came from Royal Prince Yang, the villagers became convinced and the sales steadily rose.
When winter came, no one could guarantee that they and their families won't suffer from having a cold. The pills were sealed with wax on the outside, as long as they were properly sealed, there's no problem for them to sit for half a year. Thus, almost all the people who had the financial means would buy some pills as precautions!
Doctor Sun, who had returned from the capital, heard about the Yu Family's pills and rushed to Dongshan Village. He braved the snow and wind to sit down and have a long discussion with Yu Xiaocao and her father. It seemed like he was having a discussion with the pair of father and daughter, but in actuality, it was with Yu Xiaocao who was in charge.
The two sides came to an agreement: Tongren Medicine Hall would provide the medicinal herbs and the Yu Family would be in charge of the production. The profits would be split in half. In fact, Doctor Sun wanted to buy the prescriptions at a high price, but Yu Xiaocao didn't agree.
Once the prescription was taken out, Doctor Sun would have noticed something was fishy. The medicinal herbs, formula, and manufacturing weren’t the most important things. The most important thing was the mystic-stone water in Yu Xiaocao's hands. Without this, even if Tongren Medicine Hall got the prescription, it would be of no use.
However, in this way, Yu Xiaocao, who had only rested for a few days, was busy again. Every day, she would crush herbs, mix them, roll them, and seal them... Although there were Yingtao and Yangliu to help her, Yu Xiaocao was still busy to the point as if she had two heads. The profit from the pills and the medicinal liquid was considerable. Her family had earned nearly one hundred taels in half a month from selling the pills and medicinal liquid alone. After cooperating with Tongren Medicine Hall, she basically had a business without making an investment. Why not share some of the profit and hire some people to help?
As a result, a production line had been set up for the production of pills. There were specifically assigned people in charge of the steps of grinding, rubbing, sealing and etc. The mixing was the only thing handled by Yu Xiaocao. The east and west wing of the west courtyard were vacated as the operation room of medicinal pills and liquid. She hired ten young matrons and maidens from the village. Although the weather was freezing cold outside, it was very busy inside the room.
The volume of sale for the medicinal pills and liquid was surprisingly good. Not only the Tongren Medicine Hall in town, as long as there was a branch of Tongren Medicine Hall in the area, they would sell the Yu Family’s medicinal pills and medicinal syrups. Especially in the capital, if the children of the officials and nobility got sick, they didn’t like to drink bitter medicine. With the medicinal syrup, it was no longer a problem to coax the children into taking their medicines. The medicinal liquids of the capital were sold out as soon as they arrived. In order to buy the sweet medicinal syrups, there was a long line in front of each Tongren Medicine Hall.
Because of the effectiveness of the pills and medicinal liquids became gradually known by the public, the sales became even better, and shortage became a common thing. Tongren Medicine Hall repeatedly urged the Yu Family to expand their production. The whole courtyard next door was used by the Yu Family as a workshop for making pills and medicinal liquid. They employed twenty more people, and had two work shifts, day and night. Yet they still couldn't meet the demands of Tongren Medicine Hall.
When Doctor Sun once again asked the Yu Family to increase production, Yu Xiaocao protested, ”Doctor Sun, the most critical step in the preparation of medicinal liquids and pills is all done by me alone. Even if I had three heads and six arms, I still wouldn’t be able to handle everything myself! Look at me, I'm so tired that I've begun to lose weight! If I keep pushing myself, my body will break down, and then I won't be able to make medicinal liquid and pills.”
Doctor Sun saw that Yu Xiaocao's chin had become pointier. Although he wanted to talk about the prescription again, he also thought that if one didn't reach the end of one's resources, who would be willing to sell their golden goose? For the sake of long-term interests, Doctor Sun stopped rushing her. Instead, he told Yu Xiaocao to take a rest.
Yu Xiaocao was really tired recently. It wasn’t hard to make pills and potions. She wrote down the proportion of the various medicinal herbs and gave it to the Yingtao, who had been helping. Yingtao was very flattered. Her young miss trusted her so much that she gave her the secret recipe for the medicine without any reservations…
The young girl was moved to tears and choked trying to show her loyalty. She repeatedly promised to keep and protect the prescription properly. The best way was to keep the prescription in her mind. It took her several days to be able to remember the prescription. The paper that Yu Xiaocao gave her was burned to ashes in the stove. Yingtao's heart was filled with fire, 'Only the young miss and her would be the only two people in the world to know the prescription for the medicines!'
Yingtao could stand out from so many maidservants in the General’s Estate because she had her own outstanding points. Soon, she picked up Xiaocao's job and became even more efficient than Yu Xiaocao! After two days of observation. Yu Xiaocao was completely relieved. She left all the burdens behind and was only responsible for providing the mystic-stone water. Hence, the most leisurely person in the family was her.
After a while, in the villages near Dongshan Village, there was almost no one who didn't know that there was a teen girl in the Yu Family who could make very effective medicinal liquid and pills. Many people who came to ask for medicine would call her ‘Little Doctor Yu’. In actuality, she was a pharmacist at best, and a cheating pharmacist at that.