Chapter Forty-Three: Evil Meets Its Retribution

The Fourth Young Master personally weighed out the herbs, picked up the abacus, clicked the beads a few times, then looked up at An Yi. "Miss An, that comes to three hundred and ten copper coins. I'll give you five silver coins—is that agreeable?"

An Yi lowered her gaze, quickly did the math in her head, then looked at him calmly. "You’ve given me two coins too many."

"The weather is getting hotter, and these herbs for treating heatstroke are in urgent demand. The price of the golden-eared grass has gone up. Those extra two coins aren't a mistake—they're a deposit for the next batch of herbs, so you won’t sell your golden-eared grass to any other pharmacy," the Fourth Young Master explained.

"Your shop always offers a fair price. I wouldn’t sell my herbs elsewhere," An Yi replied, finding his explanation reasonable and giving him a gentle smile.

"Were all these herbs dug up by you alone?" he asked.

"My second brother and I dug and sorted them together," she answered.

He smiled, took five silver coins from the drawer, and handed them to her.

"Thank you, Fourth Young Master," An Yi said, receiving the coins with both hands.

Madam Luo also added, "Thank you, Fourth Young Master."

An Yi slipped the coins into her pouch and left the pharmacy with Madam Luo.

In a few days, it would be Luo Fugui’s fifty-fourth birthday, so Madam Luo took An Yi to the wine shop to buy some wine. By chance, they overheard customers chatting: "Have you heard? On the Dragon Boat Festival, Zhou Dageng got into an argument while watching the races and accidentally fell into the river."

"I heard. That was a month or so ago—everyone in town knows. But why bring it up now?"

"Yesterday his body surfaced. Someone fished him out."

"After soaking so long, could they even recognize him?"

"Recognize? Of course not. But if Lu Wu said it’s him, it must be him."

"His house is empty—who's going to bury the body?"

"People from the yamen dragged the corpse to the public mortuary and burned it."

"If you ask me, Zhou Dageng was a bully, always picking on the weak, foul-mouthed too. Better off dead—alive, he was just wasting food."

Madam Luo nodded in agreement and whispered, "Heaven has eyes. Good and evil will always be repaid."

An Yi’s lips curled slightly. If Heaven truly has eyes, when would it mete out retribution to Xinliu, sparing her the trouble of acting as Heaven’s instrument?

Heaven did hear the villagers’ prayers, sending two heavy rains that eased the drought. The villagers, exhausted after more than a month of hard labor, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But Heaven did not hear An Yi’s silent wish. Now that June was half over, the cocklebur flowers had faded and borne fruit, yet Xinliu still showed up from time to time, lively as ever, getting on An Yi’s nerves.

What annoyed An Yi even more was that Song Liu, that little gossip, had spread the rumor about digging herbs far and wide, boasting exaggeratedly about making a fortune. This set off a frenzy among the villagers, who swarmed into the fields to dig dandelions, shepherd’s purse, and pennywort, nearly wiping them out.

To An Yi’s surprise, someone had told An Younian’s family about this, and Madam Zhu sent word asking Madam Luo to visit.

Early the next morning, Madam Luo went and only returned close to noon. Clearly, the An family hadn’t invited her to stay for a meal. Seeing that her mother looked well, An Yi waited until after she had eaten before asking, "Mother, what did they want?"

"What else? It was about the herbs. Who knows where they heard we earned dozens of taels of silver selling herbs," Madam Luo said, both exasperated and amused.

An Yi frowned. "And what did you tell them?"

"I said you were just fooling around, picked a few herbs and made a little pocket money to buy sweets. Dozens of taels? I’ve lived this long and never even seen that much silver," Madam Luo replied with a pout.

"Did they believe you?"

Madam Luo gave a dismissive snort. "They can believe what they like. If they want to dig herbs and manage to earn dozens of taels, good for them."

An Yi couldn’t help but laugh at that.

That evening, An Yi ran into Li Yuan’er, who was returning from digging herbs. As they were about to pass each other, Li Yuan’er suddenly called out, "Xier."

An Yi looked up at her.

"I’m sorry," Li Yuan’er said, her face full of guilt.

An Yi’s expression didn’t change. "Why are you apologizing to me?"

"I went digging for herbs too."

An Yi smiled lightly. "The whole village is out there digging. One more won’t make a difference."

"But they are they; I..." Li Yuan’er struggled for words, bowed, and said, "Xier, I’m sorry."

With that, she turned to leave. An Yi watched her slightly stooped figure, her gaze softening. "Sister Yuan’er."

Li Yuan’er paused and turned back. "Xier, is there something else?"

"Sister Yuan’er, you won’t make any money digging herbs this way. If you’re willing, I can teach you," An Yi said gently, looking into her eyes.

"Xier, you’re so kind. But there’s no need. It’s better if I don’t make any money—then Mother won’t send me out to dig herbs," Li Yuan’er replied with a smile.

An Yi heard the hidden meaning in her words and smiled. "Sister Yuan’er, I know many kinds of herbs. You won’t be taking business from me."

"Xier, my family doesn’t need the money from herbs. My father and eldest brother catch snakes—they can sell them for good silver."

An Yi knew she spoke the truth. The Li family was well-off. Jiang Shi and her three sons were always well-dressed and well-fed, while only Li Yuan’er and Li Guyu wore rags and were thin as sticks.

Aside from Luo Fugui’s family, who hadn’t joined in, the rest of the villagers were madly uprooting herbs everywhere, which caught Physician Lu’s attention. After examining what they had dug, he advised, "You shouldn’t dig anymore. Most of these herbs won’t be bought by the pharmacies; you won’t make any money."

"How could you say that? Xier from the An family has sold several batches in town—she made a fortune," the villagers retorted. In other matters, Physician Lu’s words might have carried weight, but when it came to money, people would risk anything. Obsessed with getting rich, they paid him no mind.

Unable to stop them, Physician Lu went to the An family to find An Yi, the one who started the herb-digging. He was direct, coming in and asking, "Xier, how did you learn to recognize these herbs?"

"I read books—all the medical books have them," An Yi replied. Since the villagers had started digging herbs, she had expected him to come. She fetched three books from the inner room and placed them before him.

Physician Lu flipped through the books, his brows deeply furrowed. After a long silence, he said gravely, "Xier, you dare go out picking herbs to sell with just these three books? If you ever dig up something poisonous by mistake, it could end in tragedy."

"Physician Lu, I only gather herbs to sell, not to treat patients. I haven’t sold them to anyone who doesn’t know medicine—I sell to the pharmacy, and the shopkeeper’s never found anything poisonous mixed in. Besides, even if I made a mistake, the shopkeeper and the physician there would catch it. How could it cause harm?" An Yi retorted, raising her brows.

Physician Lu fell silent, deep in thought. After a long pause, he asked, "Xier, would you be willing to become my apprentice?"

Both Madam Luo and An Yi were taken aback.