Chapter 107 Herbal Tea, Legendary Drama
Su Ze followed the long queue and walked to Huimin Pharmacy. He only saw Huang Tiju, the pharmacy he had seen last time, and two Minzhuangs maintaining order. Huang Tiju’s son was guarding Holding a big pot, he was pouring sour plum soup to the customers queuing up.
Upon seeing Su Ze, Huang Tiju quickly put down what he was doing and enthusiastically pulled Su Ze into Huimin Pharmacy.
Huang Tiju bowed for a long time and said movedly: "Thank you so much for the prescription!"
Su Ze also didn't expect that the sour plum soup was selling so well. He only saw the flames coming out of the decoction shop in the back of Huimin Pharmacy. , Huang Tiju recruited two new apprentices to make soup in the back.
Huang Tiju said with a glowing face: "After my benefactor gave me the recipe, Master Fang bought pots and pans. From the beginning, he followed the benefactor's instructions and served soup at the door for free." "At the beginning, the people heard that it was just for ordinary drinking
. No one came to line up for the soup. Later, Mr. Fang came up with a way to use sweet soup to attract street children to line up. It became popular the next day." "By the third day,
everyone who had drunk the sour plum soup was Come and line up. If Mr. Fang hadn't invited Minzhuang from the government office to maintain order, the pharmacy would have been destroyed that day."
Su Ze was not surprised by this result. Sour plum soup is a drink that has been popular for hundreds of years. It can still be seen in modern society where materials are extremely abundant, which is enough to see the strong vitality of this drink.
Sugar itself is very popular in this era. Although Huimin Pharmacy does not put a lot of sugar, this rare sweetness can already make children flock to it.
Thanks to Su Ze's free marketing tactics, the sour plum soup gained a reputation in Nanping County, and business naturally improved.
Huang Tiju is really grateful to Su Ze now. With the sour plum soup recipe provided by Su Ze, Huimin Pharmacy can earn more than ten taels of silver every day.
After excluding the cost and labor, as well as the shares given to Fang Ruolan and Su Ze, we still have five or six taels of silver.
This was unimaginable in the previous Huimin Pharmacy!
With this income, Huang Tiju hired another apprentice after many years, and replenished some medicinal materials for Huimin Pharmacy, so he was finally able to treat people.
The popularity of sour plum soup has also led some people who really cannot afford to go to private hospitals to try their luck at Huimin Pharmacy.
For these people, Huang Tiju tried his best to prescribe cheap medicines without making any money from the medicinal materials. The medical treatment business of Huimin Pharmacy was also getting better and better.
Huang Tiju knew that all of this was due to Su Ze. At this time, he did not regret Fang Ruolan's proposal to give Su Ze dividends. He carefully took out a cloth bag from the back room, handed it to Su Ze and said, "My dear friend
, This is your dividend."
Dividend?
Su Ze saw the black pieces of silver in the cloth bag (none of the silver circulating in the market was white), and after weighing it, there were nearly twenty taels.
Su Ze said in surprise: "When I gave the prescriptions to the pharmacy, I didn't ask for any dividends."
Huang Tiju immediately said: "This is what Mr. Fang is giving to you. This is the profit from the pharmacy's drinks some time ago." Twenty percent, I was planning to send you to the county school after the market closes today. Isn't it just the right time for you to come?"
Su Ze also didn't expect that the woman in brocade clothes disguised as a man turned out to be a very particular person, and even took it upon herself to share the dividends with Su Ze. .
Anyway, the recipe was his own, and Su Ze accepted it with a smile.
"Huang Tiju, this sour plum soup is selling well, what about the herbal tea?"
Huang Tiju said awkwardly: "My dear, the herbal tea can't be sold, so Mr. Fang took the initiative and removed the herbal tea counter."
After saying this, Huang Chengchang also took a peek at Su Ze.
Su Ze was not unhappy, but asked: "Why can't herbal tea be sold?"
Huang Tiju said in detail: "Herbal tea tastes bitter, and adding sugar can't cover up the bitterness. People can't get used to it. And it clears away heat. To detoxify, ordinary people don’t need anything to clear away heat and detoxify.”
Su Ze understood now that he had made an empiricist error.
Herbal tea sells well in modern society because many people today eat meat every day and have barbecue and supper after three meals. Naturally, they need to drink herbal tea to clear away heat and detoxify.
Barbecue restaurants and hot pot restaurants sell the best herbal tea. Maybe what they sell is not herbal tea, but a healthy indulgence, the holy water that dissolves greasy food. As for whether high-sugar canned herbal tea has the effect of clearing away heat and detoxifying, then Only God knows.
But in the Ming Dynasty, ordinary people could not eat much meat all year round, so they had no need to clear away heat and detoxify.
Sour plum soup has no health benefits, but has a sour and sweet taste, but it is the favorite of ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty.
Su Ze reminded himself to remember this lesson, and he said to Huang Tiju: "I didn't think clearly, and I wasted Huang Tiju's medicinal materials." "My
benefactor, the sour plum soup has already saved Huimin Pharmacy! We Father and son must thank you very much!"
After saying this, Huang Tiju knelt down again. Su Ze helped him up and said, "Don't be too polite, but I happen to have two things that I want to trouble Tiju." "
Yes. Just say so!"
Su Ze took out the list of medicinal herbs in his pocket, handed it to Huang Tiju and said, "The first thing is that our Changning Guard needs to buy some medicinal materials, but there is no way, so we ask Huang Tiju to help." Huang
Tiju He picked up the list of medicinal materials and saw that there were some common medicinal materials on it. He immediately said: "Easy to say, I will help you prepare these medicinal materials in the past two days and send them to Changning Guard!"
Su Ze was overjoyed after hearing this. I thought that I had written two prescriptions before and had such a good relationship.
There are many varieties of medicinal materials, and the quality varies greatly. It is difficult for people who are not knowledgeable to understand them.
With Huang Tiju's help, Su Ze can start practicing liver medicine skills after returning to Changning Guard.
He quickly took it into his arms and said, "Please give me an estimate of the price, and I'll give it to you according to the order."
Huang Tiju quickly took his hand and said, "What did my benefactor say? These are all nonsense." Please accept the valuable herbs. If you need anything else, just talk to me!"
Su Ze finally used the [Appraisal] skill to roughly estimate the price and left three taels of silver behind.
Su Ze took out his pocket again, showed the rock candy and said, "This is the rock candy made by our Changning Health Department. Does the pharmacy want it?"
Huang Tiju took out the rock candy and saw the slightly yellow rock candy and said, "My dear friend, this is too expensive. I can't afford the sour plum soup. How about I ask Young Master Fang if you want it?"
Su Ze thought about it for a while. Ordinary people who buy sour plum soup must not be able to afford rock sugar. That Young Master Fang should be quite powerful in the county. Maybe she can eat these rock candies.
Su Ze nodded, Huang Tiju asked his son to drink six bamboo tubes of sour plum soup, and then Su Ze left Huimin Pharmacy.
In the magistrate's office, Magistrate Fang was discussing matters with the magistrate. A boy came out from the back house carrying a tea bowl and handed it to Magistrate Fang.
Looking at the dark brown herbal tea in the tea bowl, Fang Zhifu reluctantly held his nose and drank it.
Liu Tongpan is a very discerning official who is best at figuring out what is going on. In modern terms, he is an old licker in the workplace. Ever since Magistrate Fang took office, he has been licking the new Magistrate very comfortably. Now he is Magistrate Fang. ’s close deputy. "Master Mingfu is not feeling well? You are the parents of our people in Yanping Prefecture. Don't overwork yourself and injure your body!"
Liu Tongpian said, "Sincerely," and wished he could persuade Magistrate Fang to go back to the back house and lie down now.
Magistrate Fang waved his hand and said: "It's okay. I just got a little bit of cold wind a few days ago and my teeth hurt a little. This is the herbal tea my daughter made. I drank it yesterday and it's better. But my daughter is worried and insists that I do it again." Drink for a day."
Liu Tongpuan said half flatteringly and half sincerely: "The daughter-in-law of the royal family has a heart of benevolence and filial piety, which is really enviable by my subordinates."
A filial daughter? hehe.
Magistrate Fang felt that his daughter was testing the effect of herbal tea on him, but it was not easy to make a fool of himself in front of his subordinates.
Magistrate Fang just said vaguely: "I don't know where she got the recipe from, but after drinking it for a day, my teeth really don't hurt anymore."
Liu Tongpian was also suffering from toothache. When Magistrate Fang heard this, He said, and immediately said: "Master Mingfu, can you give me a prescription? To be honest, my subordinate's teeth hurt these days."
Liu Tongpian immediately said: "But the prescription belongs to the female young master of the house. I heard the order I love reading, so I have a rare book from the Song Dynasty here to exchange for this prescription for toothache."
Compared with Su Ze, Liu Tongpan's gift-giving skills are at least Level 10.
The magistrate's eyes lit up when he heard about rare books from the Song Dynasty.
The so-called rare books refer to those engraved ancient books that have good journals and bindings, are long-lasting, rarely circulated, and have academic and historical value.
People in the Ming Dynasty loved collecting books, and the first-class books were naturally bamboo slips from the Qin and Han dynasties and manuscripts from the Han and Tang dynasties.
However, they are all top-notch antiques. Except for the royal family and the top civil servants, ordinary people cannot afford them.
Due to the popularization of woodblock printing technology in the Song Dynasty, it was easier to spread books than in the Han and Tang Dynasties. Official and private bookstores specializing in printing books also appeared, so the Song Dynasty had the most ancient books.
Ordinary officials and scholars have made it a trend to collect better-preserved books printed in the Song Dynasty.
Magistrate Fang was also a good scholar, so he agreed immediately after hearing this.
When the servant was called, Magistrate Fang coughed and said, "Did you hear it just now? Tell the lady to copy the prescription to Liu Tongxuan." After a while,
the servant came back with two bamboo tubes.
He knelt down and held up the bamboo tube and said: "Sir, the lady said that the kitchen has brewed a large pot of this herbal tea. Master Tongpan can just drink it directly. If you want it tomorrow, you can send someone to Tongpan's house." "
Magistrate Fang was a little unhappy, but thinking of his precious daughter's temper, he had to say: "What the little girl said makes sense. I watched her tinkering for several days to cure my toothache. I guess the prescription is quite complicated. Since There is ready-made herbal tea, Liu Tongpan, just take it back and drink it." Liu Tongpan
was not angry at all, but said cheerfully: "The young lady of the Mingfu family has thought carefully! It also saves the subordinates. The trouble of boiling the medicine is just a trouble for the young master."
"Song Dynasty Rare Book will send someone to deliver it to you when I get back."
After saying this, Liu Tongpian left the prefect's Yamen with the bamboo tube in his hand.
Fang Ruolan was still working tirelessly to promote herbal tea, and Su Ze led the horse to the county school. The county school now was much more orderly than when they came here.
The messy carriages at the door dispersed. Su Ze greeted Menzi, led the horse and entered the county school.
The students from Yanping Academy and Fu were still there, but unlike last time, these students were all in a hurry and did not gather together in twos and threes to brag and chat like the last time they came. This made Su Ze very confused.
You must know that the students of Yanping Academy and the students of the prefecture are basically scholars. It means that the young people with the highest academic qualifications in Yanping Prefecture gather in the small county school. It should be as noisy as the universities in later generations.
The county school was like this last time. Students gathered in small groups to talk or debate with each other, making the entire county school as noisy as a market.
But the atmosphere in the county school today was completely different. The students were all frowning and hurriedly walking around with their books in their hands, and no one was seen talking on the roadside.
Could it be that Hai Rui fixed it? It's impossible. Hai Rui is just a county school teacher. How can he control the students of the academy and the students of the government?
Su Ze arrived at the dormitory with questions. Chen Chaoyuan, who lives in the county seat, had already arrived at the dormitory first. After the two exchanged pleasantries, Su Ze couldn't help but asked: "Brother Chen, why is the atmosphere in the county school so
weird today? What happened? "
Chen Chaoyuan said with a smile: "Recently there has been a great literary event in our Nanping County, and the students in the entire county school are holding back their excitement." "
What great literary event?"
"Chen Shanchang of Yanping Academy has a friend who traveled to this county. County, this gentleman is also an important person in the contemporary literary world. Since he is a scholar, he naturally wants to do something elegant in the literary world."
Su Ze understood what Chen Chaoyuan meant, and probably Chen Shanchang invited some great scholar to give lectures. What.
But what does this have to do with ordinary scholars?
Chen Chaoyuan continued: "The new Mr. Tuohu is a well-known musical master in the country, and he is especially good at coaching opera troupes. This time, Mr. Tuohu, a distinguished scholar in the literary world, took out three unique copies of the Song Dynasty as a bonus and asked all the scholars in the city to write one. Come up with the text of the play."
"The text of the play?"
Chen Chaoyuan nodded and said, "Mr. Tuohu said that North and South operas and legendary plays can be used, and the themes are not limited. If he wins the first place, Mr. Tuohu's troupe will rehearse it directly. I heard that Mr. Tuohu will continue to go south. If the troupe can continue singing all the way, it will really become famous in the southeast!" "
It's a pity that I don't know the music, otherwise I would have wanted to participate."
Su Ze was stunned for a moment, this was not a script competition. ? Are all the intellectuals of the Ming Dynasty having such a good time?
However, during the mid- to late Ming Dynasty, culture flourished and drama also developed tremendously.
Northern Opera, also known as Yuan Zaju, is a type of drama that has flourished since the Yuan Dynasty. For example, the famous "The Injustice of Dou E" is a Yuan Zaju. However, the structural requirements of Yuan Zaju are relatively high, and they must be composed of four pieces, one wedge and one lead singer. Nowadays, it is gradually replaced by Nan Opera and Legend Opera.
Among them, Nan Opera is a kind of drama that originated in Zhejiang. It is structurally freer than Zaju. In addition to the lead singer, "Bin Bai" (narration) is added to better express the plot.
The legendary opera is a long-form opera that combines northern and southern operas. The genre is freer and the episodes vary in length, but the plot is more complete. It is now very popular among scholars in the south of the Yangtze River.
Some theater troupes rehearsing legendary plays are packed with seats as soon as the performance is performed. During the climax of the song, some people throw gold and silver on the stage, and some chase the actors and treat them as guests of honor, with treatment comparable to that of contemporary stars.
Su Ze asked doubtfully: "Isn't this dynasty banning opera? Why is Mr. Tuohu still openly recruiting for opera?"
Chen Chaoyuan said with a smile: "As long as the ancestors are not insulted in the opera, how can anyone ban opera? Today's strict There is also a theater troupe in Ge's hometown."
Well, it is indeed the ancestral precept of Schrödinger of the Ming Dynasty.
Su Ze held her chin, opera?
(End of chapter)