Their group hadn’t reached adulthood yet, so they were all still growing. Liu Huan was an exception, as he should have grown enough by now. However, whether it was Yin Huo, who was the eldest, or Manbao, who was the youngest, they had all grown a bit during this period.

While eating noodles, Manbao said, "I’ve summed it up. Firstly, it’s because we’re still young and in our growth phase, especially the three of us. As for Yin Huo, he was previously sick and didn’t grow much, but now that he’s healthier, he’s started growing again."

"Secondly, we’ve been eating a lot of meat recently." While traveling, besides wild vegetables, they seldom found anyone on the grasslands to buy vegetables from, so mostly they ate meat.

Sometimes, to aid digestion, they’d drink meat broth. Only then could they eat the wild vegetables cooked in the broth—the guards didn’t even get the wild vegetables to eat.

"Thirdly, it’s because we’re constantly on the move and getting sunshine every day."

Bai Shan asked, "What’s that got to do with sunshine?"

"It definitely matters. Just like flowers and plants need sunlight to grow tall, humans are the same."

Bai Shan replied, "... Are we the same as flowers and plants?"

Manbao nodded, "All things in the world grow because of light—just differences in intensity, brightness, or darkness."

Bai Shan started to ponder.

Manbao asked, "Did you manage to sell the prescription?"

Bai Shan looked at her intently, then pulled out a money pouch from his sleeve and handed it to her. "I sold it."

Manbao’s eyes widened in surprise as she immediately opened the pouch and poured out its contents—three silver ingots, two weighing two taels, and one weighing one tael.

Manbao was stunned, "You really sold it?"

Bai Shan stared at her, "Surprised?"

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Manbao admitted, "I thought you were too confident, and that trying it out would be good for you."

"Then why didn’t you go in with me?" Originally, he thought it might be because she’d bought a lot of herbs from the pharmacy the last time and felt it might not be good to go in to sell the prescription. Who would’ve thought...

When he entered and asked about medicinal wine, the shopkeeper hinted that they didn’t deal in medicinal wine. He initially thought it was because they didn’t have a prescription, and fortunately, when something felt off, he asked a few more questions...

Manbao explained, "Medicinal wine is also wine. It’s fine for personal brewing, but for a pharmacy to sell it, they must report to the authorities. It’s not just that—brewing medicinal wine requires time, and the choice of herbs is very strict. Most of us doctors brew it for personal use or to give to friends and relatives. If patients need some, they can use it in the pharmacy, but buying it to take home is difficult."

"Firstly, the quality of medicinal wine is hard to control. Even the same batch can have varying effects due to differences in herbs. Secondly, the herbs used for brewing can be toxic. If not properly processed, toxins can form, and for doctors and pharmacies, selling something without ensuring safety is not an option."

Because Bai Shan was an insider, Manbao spoke frankly, "Who knows if something might be added to the medicinal wine sold? That would be an unsolvable issue."

"If a brewed decoction or ointment has issues, the source can be traced. For decoctions, you can examine the residues; for ointments, the same batch will have consistent quality, and if something’s added, it can often be detected."

But medicinal wine is different—it’s all brewed using aconite. If a customer buys it and adds unprocessed aconite to it, after some time soaking, good medicinal wine turns into toxic medicinal wine. How would a pharmacy argue this case?

Therefore, medicinal wine is typically used only within the pharmacy, and generally not sold externally.

"There are exceptions," Manbao said. "For instance, if it’s a trusted family, and I personally think medicinal wine would be beneficial during a consultation, I’ll prescribe it and prepare it for them."

Bai Shan asked, "Does it go through the pharmacy?"

"Depends. If I’m on a house call, it might not go through Jishi Hall, but if Shopkeeper Zheng is involved, it probably would. It’s not fixed," she explained. "The variables in medicinal wine are too large, so pharmacies usually don’t compete with doctors over this small profit."

That’s why she was so surprised that Bai Shan managed to sell it, and for such a substantial amount of five taels.

Manbao couldn’t resist touching the silver ingots again, grinning widely, "It’s all mine?"

As Bai Shan’s noodles arrived, he took a two-tael ingot from her hand and tucked it into his pouch, "Sixty-forty split: you sixty, me forty."

Manbao had no objections, mostly because she hadn’t expected the pharmacy to actually buy the prescription, especially since the prescription was copied from the Imperial Hospital.

Curious, Manbao asked, "How did you manage to sell it?"

Bai Shan said nonchalantly, "Nothing special. When I heard they didn’t have medicinal wine, I expressed some regret. I mentioned that our group was heading to the Western Regions and might not return until after winter. Unprepared for the harsh northern climate, we wanted to buy some medicinal wine to fight the cold. Since the pharmacy didn’t have it, I asked if they had any spicy liquor we could purchase and then brew with herbs ourselves."

Manbao’s interest was piqued. She immediately asked, "And then?"

"Then we started chatting," Bai Shan glanced at her and said, "Liangzhou isn’t large, and since the smallpox epidemic in Xiazhou, fewer people from the south and east have come here. We’re quite noticeable as a group, especially since we’ve been shopping and also visiting the Great Wall and the Governor’s Mansion. The pharmacy’s shopkeeper knew me."

He recalled something and smiled slightly, "Naturally, they also knew you."

Manbao was taken aback. He explained, "Knowing that the prescription came from you, the shopkeeper offered five taels of silver to buy it and promised to brew two vats of medicinal wine for us for free. They started preparing the herbs and wine now, and it should be delivered to the post station by nightfall."

Manbao blinked, "Am I that famous?"

Bai Shan replied, "Rumor has it that after our visit yesterday, the Governor’s Mansion invited doctors to review the prescription and inquire about acupuncture. Their family doctor was also involved."

So perhaps when Zhou Man and the others went to the pharmacy to buy herbs the day before, the staff didn’t know who she was, but they likely knew by the following day.

Manbao pondered for a moment and began to feel a bit smug, "Turns out I’m quite impressive!"

Bai Shan nodded, "Indeed, very well-known."

The two of them dug into their noodles, while discussing, "I’ve checked; there are two pharmacies in Liangzhou. Should we visit the other one as well?"

Bai Shan had no objections; five taels was a significant amount, enough to buy many things.

However, Daji said, "Young master, it’s getting late. We should go back and prepare our luggage."

Bai Shan and Manbao could only express their regret. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

After the two finished their bowl of noodles, they returned to find Bai Erlang and the others organizing their bags. Seeing them, they said, "Teacher instructed us to reorganize our belongings for easier access later. We bought a lot of things this morning, and we need to sort out the previous items as well... Hey, why do you two smell like mutton soup?"

The noodles they just had were cooked with mutton broth.

Manbao and Bai Shan were surprised, "We walked back in the wind the whole way, and you still managed to smell it?"