Chapter 2235: Chapter 2210: Revealing Their Identity

The group quickly returned with the medicinal herbs amidst the heavy rain.

The steward listened as they explained again in detail, then squinted his eyes, "Go fetch Man over here and ask him."

Man is the only doctor in the Small Town and runs a very small pharmacy that specializes in selling medicines for bumps, bruises, colds, and fevers. The Small Town is just that large, and Man’s pharmacy is right next to the Town Leader’s house, so he was quickly summoned.

"Man, check if these Baoji Pills are real or fake."

Man glanced at the pills stuffed into his hand and blurted out, "How would I know? Are there fake pills? Didn’t you ask clearly when you bought them?"

The steward and everyone: ...

Man looked at them and asked, "Did you snatch these?"

"No," the steward said through clenched teeth, "We bought them!"

Beside him, Yu shouted, "We bought them with real silver and gold from the merchants. They said they were Baoji Pills, and the Eldest even had them tagged with writing. We bought a total of five boxes; we’ve eaten three boxes, and only two boxes are left."

Man looked for a long time but really couldn’t tell, then said, "How can you tell with this? It’s turned out like this, you can’t even see what they’re made of."

Yu muttered under his breath, "But some people can tell."

Man looked at him and said, "Whoever can tell, go ask them."

Don’t think I don’t know about your argument with someone at the inn.

Yu was angry and turned to look at the steward.

The steward was silent for a moment, holding the items, finally heading to find the Town Leader.

The Town Leader was practicing his knife at the back. Hearing what the steward said, his smile fell.

The steward said, "Sir, two years ago, I sent someone to Yumen Pass. On the way back, Little Shiba caught dysentery and ate two boxes of these pills; the more he ate, the worse he got. By the time he returned to the Small Town, he was gone. If these aren’t Baoji Pills, then what did we give Little Shiba?"

The Town Leader gritted his teeth, clenched the knife in his hand, with a clang, placed it onto the knife rack, turned around, and said, "Go to the inn and call them here for clarification!"

The steward didn’t move, and the Town Leader realized these guests weren’t the previous merchants, but officials from the court. He took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and said, "Take the items, we’ll go in person."

The steward acknowledged and turned to tidy up the items. Of course, they wouldn’t go empty-handed.

The steward contemplated, instructed Yu to pack some seemingly good medicinal herbs as a gift, and added, "Bring along two baskets of sweet melons and some vegetables if there are any."

Yu: "... Steward, wouldn’t that be too stingy? At least bring a leg of lamb."

The steward gave him a sideways glance and said, "It’s just the time when sheep are gaining weight; we can’t even bear to eat the lamb ourselves, let alone giving away a leg."

Adding, "You don’t know, rich people don’t fancy meat; they fancy vegetables."

Now with the warm weather, it’s when vegetables in the Small Town are most abundant. The lakeside vegetable gardens have good soil and water, one harvest follows another, so vegetables aren’t expensive now.

Yu had no choice but to carry out two baskets of sweet melons from the backyard.

The steward asked him to come along, but Yu shook his head, "It’s too embarrassing; I just finished arguing with them."

"You have to go," the steward said seriously, "You’ll have to apologize later; otherwise, how will the Sir engage them?"

Yu: ...

Manbao said as soon as she entered the courtyard, "Let’s wash up first; after breakfast, we’ll take a stroll through the Small Town and check out their pharmacy."

Zhou Liru asked, "Aunt, did they deliberately display the medicinal herbs in front of us? For what? To embarrass us?"

Manbao wasn’t quite sure, "They probably want to sell medicine to us, right?"

Bai Shan at this moment already moved out of the misunderstanding and said, "They might not know you are doctors."

Bai Erlang was a bit angry, "Who would deliberately come here to trick us? Had it not been for Manbao and Liru, wouldn’t we have been tricked?"

Yin Huo said, "Them being able to occupy the stall location in front of us as soon as they arrive, who else but people from the Town Leader would do this? Let’s wait and see, maybe there will be more to come."

Then everyone went to wash up and tidy up.

Manbao and the others were having breakfast in the main hall when halfway through, the courtyard door was knocked upon, and a guard came to report, "Miss Man, the Town Leader is here."

Manbao nodded, "Invite him in."

Bai Erlang asked, "Should we go to the lake and invite Mr. Zhuang back?"

Manbao shook her head, "No need, just ask Assistant General Nie to come over."

If it comes down to a fight, Assistant General Nie is more useful than Mr. Zhuang, but if there’s no fight, they can solve it themselves.

The Town Leader, around forty years old, appeared both robust and lively. Manbao sized him up as she stood still on the steps.

The Town Leader met her gaze for a moment, then shifted his eyes to see six young people standing by the steps. Mr. Zhuang, whom he saw yesterday, was not present.

This would have been fine, but standing in the middle was actually a little girl, which took him by surprise.

This time, Manbao didn’t speak first, and neither did Bai Shan beside her, while Bai Erlang and the others stood behind them with bright, gleaming eyes, seemingly enjoying the spectacle.

The Town Leader slightly frowned, feeling these young people lacked manners, but he didn’t want to be the first to speak, appearing weak.

The guards sensed the odd atmosphere, just as they were about to speak, Assistant General Nie swiftly came over from next door, calling, "Lord Zhou—Ah, it’s the Town Leader."

Assistant General Nie had a government position, so the Town Leader could not posture in front of him, thus he turned amiably and said, "Assistant General Nie, I brought my child here to apologize."

He glanced at Manbao and the others, his smile faint, "My children were thoughtless, hearing the guests at the inn were rather generous, they took some medicinal herbs from our storeroom to sell. Though it breached our house rules, they meant no ill will toward the guests. However, upon returning, I heard some say they sold fake medicine."

He said, "I thought to come and see, hoping to resolve any misunderstandings, but if not..."

He tilted his head slightly to look at Manbao and Bai Shan, with an ambiguous smile, "But now it seems these young folks have some misunderstanding with us."

Assistant General Nie’s eyes flickered briefly upward towards Manbao, who still stood quietly on the steps, then he smiled insightfully and said, "The Town Leader misunderstood. Our Lord Zhou is not someone petty, but matters concerning medicine demand some seriousness."

The Town Leader was slightly stunned, followed his gaze to Manbao, and after locking eyes for a moment, asked, "Lord Zhou?"

Manbao nodded at him, her gaze swept over Yu, then she turned and said, "Town Leader, please come inside."

The Town Leader was somewhat behind on news; pausing a good while before following them in, pondering internally about how the court could have a lady official?

Could she be from the palace?

The Town Leader felt a bit disdainful, somewhat dismissive of people from the palace but didn’t express it.

Assistant General Nie, seeing his face, knew he didn’t recognize Manbao, perhaps hadn’t even heard of her; he looked at Bai Shan, just as Bai Shan nodded at him slightly, so Assistant General Nie smiled and followed them inside.

Inside, he began introducing both parties, "Town Leader, this is the leader of our mission, Lord Zhou, editor of Chongwen Pavilion and imperial physician at the Imperial Hospital. Lord Zhou, this is the Town Leader of the Small Town."