Chapter 7 Chapter VII

After getting out of Gao Laosan's seafood shop, Ruan Dacheng started shopping in Daji. It was late in the evening, but the market was still very lively. On both sides of the bluestone-paved street, pedestrians were constantly shuttling. Those carrying baskets, carrying loads, leading horses, and pushing carts all passed in front of him, giving him A bustling and lively feeling also gave him a sense of fulfillment.He felt that being in this noisy crowd, his life had some kind of support.He looked at the vendors and the figures passing in front of him, and thought to himself for countless times that one day in the future, most of these people might be in Hongmen and join him in rebelling against the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty!

He has to build his own incense hall!He has to get the meeting book from Gao Laosan!The Hong family in Qingpu had to be named Hong instead of Gao!So, he immediately thought of many familiar faces.He thought of Yang Laosi and Lu Niupi, who were like filial sons, and those brothers and men on the ship who respected him.This is where his foundation lies!He wants to rely on these people to build the Xiangtang! Walking on the street, under the impact of the noise, his head gradually became a little dizzy, and his steps became heavy.He touched his forehead with the back of his hand, and found that his forehead was hot.The injury on the thigh was not healed yet, and bursts of pain reminded him, reminding him that the hot flashes on his forehead might be caused by the injury on that leg.

He wanted to find a pharmacy to grab some medicine. After walking for more than ten steps, I saw a small pharmacy at the left side of the street. The pharmacy was called "Baojitang". The front door was very quiet, so Ruan Dacheng turned and entered the pharmacy. In the shop, a gentleman in a blue silk gown was sitting in front of the desk on the right side of the gate, feeling the pulse of a foreigner.That gentleman is about forty years old, thin and flat, like a standing shadow.His complexion is blue and dark, his eyeballs are sunken, the color of smoke is heavy, the beard on his pointed chin is very long, but the long beard is very slender and sparse, like wisps of misty cooking smoke, Ruan Dacheng feels that he does not look like a gentleman practicing medicine, but rather Like a half-dead ghost, he already doubted his medical skills.

That gentleman was quite arrogant, seeing Ruan Dacheng coming in, he was not in a hurry to greet him, but just gave him a fixed look, raised his chin, and signaled him to sit down on a bench, and he just felt the pulse of the foreign haired man. . Yang Maozi was a tall, fat man with curly hair, grayish yellow, a high and pointed nose, faint blue eyeballs, and his clothes were different from those of the townspeople. The clothes were short to the knees, and the sleeves were small and thin. The pocket was attached to the outside, and the inside of the pocket was bulging, and it was unknown what was in it.Ruan Dacheng noticed that in this summer, foreigners also wear socks, but the socks are different from Chinese socks. They are as thin as window paper. It fits snugly around the ankle and looks just as good with or without it.The shoes on the feet are also different, like the slippers worn by rich people in Qingpu, except that there is an extra wooden sole on the heel, and there are uppers on it.

Ruan Dacheng sat on the bench, looked at the foreigner from head to toe carefully, and secretly compared this foreigner with the grass-like people in Qingpu Town. The more he looked at it, the more he felt that foreigners were nothing. Belongs to waste!Ruan Dacheng is not uncommon, he has also seen foreigners from various countries in the Nanyang region - he often meets each other on the street, but it is the first time that he stares at a foreigner so closely for inspection.From Ruan Dacheng's point of view, the foreign hairs all look the same, they are all beaten blind by God, think about it, why do good people have blue eyes, why do they have yellow hair?What kind of system is this?Can this still be called a decent person?

Thinking about it this way, Ruan Dacheng felt that he was very noble—at least in front of these morons, he was very noble.He disdainfully moved his eyes away from the toes of the foreign-haired man, and raised his eyes to look at his own kind on the grand master's chair. Unexpectedly, when he raised his head, he met the gaze of the foreign boy, who was also looking at him! When his eyes and Yang Maozi's eyes suddenly met, Yang Maozi nodded to him and smiled.When Yang Maozi grinned, he grinned his lips, revealing half of his golden teeth, which made him feel very strange. "Hello sir!"

That foreign boy can also speak Chinese! He braced himself up, nodded, and said perfunctorily, "Okay! Okay!" "Are you feeling unwell?" The foreign-haired boy poked his yellow-haired head in front of him. "Uh! Uh! Get some medicine!" The foreign-haired boy said again: "Very good! Very good! If you are sick, you should see your husband! This is very important! Very important!" Ruan Dacheng smiled arrogantly, but did not speak. Yangmaozi introduced himself like an old acquaintance: "My, my name is Jackson, and I live in Nansipo! Open a store, open a Nanhuo store. Welcome to sit in the store! I would like to have a chat with you Qing people. Make friends, I really like you Qingguo..."

The foreign boy seemed to want to continue, but it was Mr. Shadow who had his pulse interrupted him.Mr. Ying had finished his pulse, let go of the foreign-haired man's hand, and said unhurriedly: "Old Jie, this problem is not really serious, it's nothing to do with the Guan pulse and the two inches, but the Chi pulse is a bit scary! You Maybe you feel uncomfortable in your heart?" Yang Maozi turned his head and said to Mr. Shadow repeatedly: "Yes! Yes! My heart hurts and I feel swollen!" Mr. Shadow nodded his shriveled and weightless head, and said with great confidence: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter! It's just filled with some gloom, as long as you, Old Jie, take a dose of my medicine, it will be effective! I'll give it to you Open the next party!"

Mr. Shadow grabbed a wolf hair ink pen on the desk that had almost lost all its hair, squeezed the nib of the pen on the wet inkstone, brushed and started to write, and when he finished writing, he summoned the shop assistant like a duck. A clerk about seventeen or eighteen years old hurried over, carefully carrying the prescription with wet ink on it, and went behind the counter to get the medicine for the foreigner.Mr. Shadow yawned deeply, bringing out tears and snot. Wiping his face with a small handkerchief, Mr. Shadow said to Yang Maozi: "Old Jie, you have to bring me some of that stuff! The price should be fair, we are old acquaintances, aren't we?" Yeah? You can't be as harsh as you are to others!"

Yang Maozi smiled and said: "No problem! No problem! I... mine, the most fair! I take your medicine, you take my medicine, ours, friend! Good friend! How can I deceive you? If To lie to you, in your words, is to destroy the world!" "Okay! Okay! You, Old Jie, are friends!" As soon as he finished his sentence, Mr. Shadow yawned loudly again, and the snot and tears he had just wiped off gushed out again. "However, you can't let John Li know about this! That guy is a stupid bull! Let John Li know that yours and mine are all over!" "Understand, understand! It's not the first time that you, Old Jie, have confessed!"

At this time, the clerk in the store had already grabbed the medicine, wrapped seven or eight small packages, tied them together with string, and handed them to Yang Maozi: "Master Jie, it's all ready!" Uncle Jie shrugged his shoulders and left with the medicine bag. Before leaving, he smiled at Ruan Dacheng and showed off his golden teeth once again. Ruan Dacheng pretended not to see, and didn't even nod his head.Through the brief conversation between Mr. Shadow and that foreign boy, Ruan Dacheng understood a simple fact, that is, that foreign boy sells foreign medicines, and Mr. Shadow takes foreign medicines. Both guys are a little out of character. ! Sure enough, after the foreign boy left, Mr. Ying couldn't bear it anymore, and called the boy to make tea for Ruan Dacheng, but he slumped into the back hall by himself.After touching two packs of cigarettes, Mr. Shadow came out again.This time, Mr. Shadow's energy level is much better, his sunken eyes are full of energy, and his face has turned a little red, as if he was a different person. Mr. Ying sat down on the grand teacher's chair again, attentively looked at the wound for Ruan Dacheng, and after seeing the wound, he looked at the root of his tongue. Finally, he stuck out three stick-like fingers to feel Ruan Dacheng's pulse. When feeling the pulse, Ruan Dacheng said: "Sir and that foreign-haired man are so familiar!" Mr. Shadow said: "Very familiar! Very familiar! The guy who left just now has a foreign name called Undead Jackson, and the people in the town call him Lao Jie. It's not easy to call him Lao Zhan. Beheading is unlucky. There is also a Maozi who has a Chinese surname, Li, named John. He is a little unfamiliar with the old man, and he does not get along well with that old man. I don't understand either." "Do they often come to your pharmacy?" Mr. Ying complacently said: "Come here often! Come here often! Both boys come here often! In comparison, the old Jie comes more often. They say that nothing is good in Qing Dynasty, but this medicine is good! The medicine is amazing Li! They are very convinced that a root of grass can cure all diseases!" Ruan Dacheng said sarcastically: "The medicine from Maoziguo is not bad either! A few sips will boost your energy!" Mr. Ying was even more proud, as if he had met a bosom friend, he said again and again: "Good advice! Good advice! Taking that foreign medicine really boosts your energy! You haven't tried it, so you don't know it. As long as you take it a few times, you really don't want to part with it." Don’t eat! Right now, the emperor wants to ban it, ban it! Eat what you eat, love what you sell, it’s a fair thing, neither stealing nor robbing, the emperor wants to take care of it, alas!” Ruan Dacheng said: "So, the emperor made a mistake?" Mr. Ying hurriedly said: "Don't dare! Don't dare! I don't dare to say such a thing!" Ruan Dacheng said again: "If you go on like this, aren't you afraid of being tricked by Maozi?" But Mr. Ying said proudly and confidently: "He fooled us, huh! How much water is there in the bellies of his fellows? He can't fool us! We Chinese are so smart! We all look like fucking monkeys! Take me for example, I take Maozi’s medicine, and Maozi also takes my medicine. I take Maozi’s medicine, and the price is 20 to 30 percent lower than the market price—if the price is too high, if we don’t buy it, can he deceive us? It’s different when he takes my medicine. My medicine is priceless, so give it whatever you want! The disease that Lao Jie saw just now, I know it’s just because of excessive playfulness, and his life is a little bit weak, so I will give it to him. I lured him to take medicine, and cheated him of two taels of silver with just a few medicines, what's wrong? Can he cheat us?" Ruan Dacheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he stopped talking about the foreign medicine, and brought up another topic: "Aside from secretly selling foreign medicine, what else do these two bastards do? Does the government don't care about selling foreign medicine? " Mr. Ying said: "Li Yuehan doesn't sell foreign medicines, that guy Guang Laojie does - he doesn't dare to sell them publicly, he just sells them privately, there are a lot of people taking foreign medicines in the town, the government has no choice but to turn a blind eye and close one." Eyes. Sometimes they scratch, and then loosen after a while, and eat what they eat. The two of them opened a shop in Nansipo, selling some southern and foreign products. In secret, they also preached and preached some things about God. Gospel." Ruan Dacheng was startled, and thought to himself: These two brats are really not good guys!They not only sell foreign medicines, but also preach heresies!If everyone in the town believed in their cult, who would join Hongmen?Who will work hard to restore Daming? We need to find out the situation of that cult! "What else do they preach but the gospel of God?" Ruan Dacheng pretended to be very interested and asked. Mr. Ying said: "There's a lot of talk! It's also very nice! For example, they said that the earth is round, like a big pear, there are five continents and four oceans on the earth, and our celestial dynasty is not the center of all nations. We live on a continent called Asia. They also say that the earth is moving and revolves around the sun throughout the year, and the moon revolves around our earth, so there are winter, summer, spring and autumn, and sunrise and autumn. Sunset, moon waxing and moon waning!" Ruan Dacheng chuckled: "Fucking nonsense!" Mr. Ying said: "Who says it's not? But, having said that, it is good to believe in religion. If you believe in religion, everyone in the world will be brothers. Everyone will share the blessings, share the difficulties, and have help in times of trouble! Right now, there is a famine, Those who believe in religion are better than those who do not believe in religion! John Li is very generous, and rewards the believers with a lot of money!" Ruan Dacheng was even more surprised: the whole world is full of brothers of foreign men, where should he find his Hongmen brothers? "Sir, do you also believe in religion?" Mr. Ying laughed and said: "Believe, but it's not true belief, it's just for the benefit! Jesus, God, it's all nonsense!" At this time, the pulse was finished, so Mr. Ying changed the topic, talked about pathology and pharmacology, and then waved a bald ink pen to write a prescription for Ruan Dacheng, prescribing some external medicines. When the man picked up the medicine, Mr. Ying had already calculated the price of the medicine. Ruan Dacheng took out a string of money and handed it to Mr. Shadow. Mr. Ying sprinkled the money on the table, nodded randomly, and said with a charming smile: "I have given you too much money, and it seems petty to give it to you. Let me add some more medicine for you! One more money for cinnamon, and more red sage root." One money, how about it?" Mr. Shadow has a perfect face of a businessman. Ruan Dacheng thought it was funny, and felt cheated for a moment, and he knew in his heart: Mr. Ying's medicine may not be able to kill people, but it may not be able to cure diseases. But it's not easy to lose face, this kind of treasure may be useful in the future, besides, he has said so many things for him, it is not too much to reward him with two. So, Ruan Dacheng said: "Don't add more medicines, and don't need to look for money, just forget it!" Mr. Ying was very happy, thanked him repeatedly, and after the clerk packed the medicine, he personally carried it to Ruan Dacheng, and respectfully sent Ruan Dacheng out of the shop gate. Standing at the door, Mr. Shadow yelled responsibly: "Cook the medicine carefully at the burner, pour the cinnamon first!" Ruan Dacheng was dizzy, and the hot flashes on his body were obviously getting worse. He ignored Mr. Shadow behind him and walked across the street. That night, Ruan Dacheng was seriously ill, entered Lu's residence, fell asleep on the bed, and had nightmares all night long.In the dream, Gao Laosan, Mr. Shadow and the foreign hairy boy all turned into green-faced and fang-toothed ghosts, entwining around him and making noise.Later, he dreamed that they turned into a magic tree with intertwined roots, and human heads hung on the magic tree like apples. It was a weird dream indeed.