"Our Hongji Hall is a purchasing point for Chinese medicinal herbs in Xiyuan County, so of course we buy them from individuals." The old man smiled warmly at Su Qing. "Young lady, do you have a Medicine Gatherer in your family? What sort of herbs have been collected?"

Su Qing smiled, pressing her lips together. "I’m the one," she said. "My family lives in the countryside, right by the mountains. I often go into the mountains to forage for wild goods, so I figured I might as well see if I could gather some medicinal herbs."

After hearing what Su Qing said, the old man sized her up. "Young lady, gathering medicinal herbs is no easy task. Many of them have to be found deep in the mountains. A young girl like you shouldn’t take such risks. If you want to gather herbs for a little pocket money, I’d suggest you look for medicinal insects, like large centipedes. If you bring them in, I’ll give you eight cents for each one. How about that? And when summer comes, you can look for cicada molts. I’ll give you two cents for each one."

"I’d still like to try. I won’t go deep into the mountains, just look around the outskirts," Su Qing said with a smile. "The only thing is, I’m not very good at identifying many of the herbs."

"Haha, that’s easily solved." Seeing her determination, the old man took a small booklet from under the counter. "This is an illustrated guide to some common medicinal herbs," he told Su Qing. "You can use it as a reference. When you bring the herbs in later, we’ll verify them for you here anyway."

"Oh, you’re just giving it to me?" Su Qing was surprised. ’She hadn’t expected him to simply give her the booklet; she had been wondering how she could ask to buy one.’

"It’s for you," the old man said with a laugh. "We give one of these booklets to everyone who brings herbs to sell to us."

"Thank you so much." Su Qing opened the booklet and glanced inside. It was filled with illustrations of common medicinal herbs with their names written beside them, but there were no further descriptions.

’That made sense.’ A lot of people weren’t very literate these days, so writing more probably wouldn’t help much. It was better to have detailed illustrations, making it easier for people to simply match the pictures to the plants they found.

Still worried, the old man reminded her, "Young lady, you must not go deep into the mountains by yourself. It’s too dangerous. There are large wild animals up there. Just stick to finding some of the easier herbs, all right?"

"Okay, I will," Su Qing agreed with a cheerful smile.

Seeing Su Qing’s smiling face, the old man nodded. His gaze fell on the scar on her left cheek, and he couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret. ’Without that scar, she’d be a lovely, delicate-looking girl. What a pity. Potent, aged herbs are so hard to come by now. Otherwise, a scar like that wouldn’t be a difficult thing to heal.’

’Ah, well. Better not to say anything,’ he thought. ’No point in giving the young lady false hope, only to crush it and leave her heartbroken.’

Delighted to have the herb booklet, Su Qing thanked the old man again and turned to leave. As she did, she came face-to-face with a man.

"Hey, you’re... you’re that young lady who came in for a consultation the other day." The man looked Su Qing over and recognized her instantly. It was hard not to—the scar on her face was too obvious, too easy to remember.

Su Qing froze for a moment. Then, looking at the man, she realized who he was. "Doctor Du?"

This was the very same doctor who had given Su Qing the prescription for her scar when Fu Yuzhen had brought her to see him.

Du Chaoran smiled. "That’s right. I didn’t expect to see you here. Are you looking for the herbs from the prescription?"

Before Su Qing could reply, the old man behind the counter spoke up. "Chaoran, is this the young lady you mentioned?"

"Yes, Teacher. This is the young woman I was telling you about," Du Chaoran quickly replied.

Du Chaoran then turned back to Su Qing with a smile. "This is my teacher, Mr. Gong. The prescription I gave you was one he taught me."

Su Qing was taken aback. ’I just came to the pharmacy for a booklet and ended up running right into his teacher.’

Mr. Gong smiled. "Young lady, I take it you’re looking for the herbs listed in that prescription?"

Su Qing felt a bit embarrassed. "Old Mr. Gong, I did have that in mind, yes. I’m sorry I didn’t mention it to you earlier."

"Haha, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I was hesitant to bring up the prescription myself," Mr. Gong said with a hearty laugh. "Speaking of which, if you’re looking for the herbs on that list, you only really need to find two of them. The others can all be purchased at the pharmacy."

Hearing this, Su Qing quickly asked, "Old Mr. Gong, which two do I need to find?"

Mr. Gong stroked his beard. "The Chicken Blood Vine," he said, "needs to be at least eighty years old—though for the best effect, over a hundred would be ideal. Then there’s the Purple Danshen, which also needs to be over a hundred years old. But both of those are incredibly hard to find these days. A young lady like you absolutely must not go into the deep mountains looking for them yourself. You can ask the local Medicine Gatherers about them. I’ll help you keep an eye out as well."

At this, Du Chaoran quickly turned to Su Qing. "You’re going into the mountains yourself? That’s too dangerous! Didn’t I tell you to ask the Medicine Gatherers?"

Su Qing hurriedly explained, "I am asking around! I just wanted to try looking for myself, too. What if I happen to find them?"

Mr. Gong smiled. ’Ah, to be young,’ he thought. ’If hundred-year-old Chicken Blood Vine and Purple Danshen were that easy to find, they wouldn’t have been absent from the market for so many years.’

"Alright, you can give it a try then," Mr. Gong said with a nod. "But you must be extremely careful."

"Okay, I will. Thank you, Old Mr. Gong." Su Qing replied with a bright smile, then looked at Du Chaoran. "And thank you, Doctor Du."

"It’s nothing," Du Chaoran said, waving his hand dismissively.

Su Qing knew that Du Chaoran must have come to speak with Mr. Gong, and the master and apprentice surely had things to discuss. "Old Mr. Gong, Doctor Du, I’ll take my leave now," she said quickly.

After Su Qing had left, Mr. Gong looked at Du Chaoran. "It’s the middle of the afternoon. Shouldn’t you be at work? What are you doing here?"

Du Chaoran stepped closer to Mr. Gong. "Teacher, the An Family came to see me again."

Hearing this, Mr. Gong’s expression grew stern. "I’ve told you, I will have absolutely nothing to do with the An Family. Have you forgotten?"

"No, but, Teacher..."

"Hmph!"

Seeing Mr. Gong’s reaction, Du Chaoran knew it was a lost cause. He sighed. "All right, Teacher. I understand your position."

"My position has always been perfectly clear. The real question is, why are you here pleading on the An Family’s behalf again?" Mr. Gong glared at Du Chaoran. "What’s in it for you?"

"You’ve got it all wrong, Teacher," Du Chaoran said hurriedly. "I just feel that An Zhihan is different from the rest of the An Family."

"Hmph. Can a rotten bamboo stalk produce a good shoot?" Mr. Gong snorted, shooting Du Chaoran another glare.