A Jiu was startled.
It seemed this old man had cut his finger while trimming horse hooves, and blood was oozing out from between his five fingers.
“Old man.”
An old woman ran out from behind him. A Jiu immediately recognized her as the mother of Brother Yun Hao.
This elderly person must then be the father of Elder Brothers Yun Hao and Yun Jie.
“Yun Jie, hurry over here,” the old man called out.
As expected, Yun Jie came running out, his face pale with fright. “Father…”
A Jiu suddenly squatted down and took out the rope used to tie the horse’s hooves, binding the old man’s wrist. This was a method she had seen the older generation use to stop bleeding since she was little.
A Jiu remembered that the acupuncture technique for stopping bleeding could only guide blood upwards, avoiding the injured area.
After a few needles from A Jiu, the gushing blood immediately stopped.
“Oh my… are you, Miss Meng from Hua Lan Medical Hall?” The old woman’s tears had not yet dried when she recognized A Jiu’s acupuncture technique.
In the entire Nan Ming City, only this girl would insert needles into the ear when treating others.
A Jiu hesitated and looked at Yun Jie.
“Mother, you’ve mistaken her. This young lady is here to buy a horse; she is not Miss Meng from Hua Lan Medical Hall.”
Yun Jie’s face was even paler than before.
He was doing this for his elder brother’s safety.
“Yes, I am not some Miss Meng from Hua Lan Medical Hall. My surname is Niu,” A Jiu said, understanding the implications from Yun Jie’s gaze. She stood up and ran off.
“Yun Jie, I’m sure she is Miss Meng. Only she treats people by needling their ears.”
Yun Jie’s mother insisted.
“Mother, she really isn’t Miss Meng. Besides, a doctor who uses ear acupuncture might not be unique to Miss Meng.”
Yun Jie tried his best to explain, but his mother’s eyes still held a trace of suspicion.
“Ding dong, merit points increased by five. Your total score is sixty-six. Keep up the good work.”
A Jiu’s head ached at the system’s voice. If it weren’t for Lord Wang forcing her to treat a plague she knew nothing about, her merit points would have reached a hundred by now if she had stayed at Hua Lan Medical Hall.
The spring water would have expanded significantly, and she would have had enough water for use and irrigation.
Oh well, life is unpredictable. Let nature take its course.
A Jiu left Horse Hoof Street and headed straight for the rice shop.
She actually admired the King of Nan Ming. Under such harsh weather, he had managed to ensure the city’s populace had no shortage of water, food, or rice.
A Jiu hadn’t seen this kind of white rice in a long time.
As she touched it, it slipped through her fingers, and her mood brightened considerably.
“Boss, how much per jin?”
“Fifty wen!”
“Ah? So expensive?” A Jiu quickly withdrew her hand from her pocket in shock.
“Little girl, don’t you see the current situation? There are plenty of wealthy people outside the city, but the guild has a rule: no selling to outsiders. Looking at your attire, you’re not one of those refugees. I’m quoting you a price; you should be grateful.”
A Jiu counted on her fingers. Fifty wen per jin, one hundred wen to one tael of silver. That was only two jin. This was worlds apart from the jin weight her mother mentioned.
A Jiu took out the small pieces of silver her mother had given her. Calculating, she had only two taels of silver. Even if she spent it all, she could only buy four jin.
“Are you buying or not? If not, I’m closing up.”
The boss urged impatiently, his expression sour.
A Jiu snapped back to attention. “It’s only just past noon; why are you closing so early?”
“Because of those refugees from the north, I had several loads of grain robbed from me a few days ago,” the boss said, then gathered the bag of rice.
A Jiu felt weak but understood. “Then… then I’ll take four jin.”
A Jiu produced all the small pieces of silver she had.
She watched as the boss took them, placed them on the scale, and then examined them. He was so afraid of them being fake that he even picked them up and bit them one by one.
A Jiu’s brow furrowed so hard it ached. She wondered if the boss would kill her if he knew this money had been washed out of feces.
“Four jin, right?” The boss said as he packed the rice into a small cloth bag for her.
In these times, money was no longer as valuable. If she remembered correctly, rice that used to cost eight wen per jin was now being sold for fifty wen per jin.
Thinking of this, A Jiu stepped out the door, then suddenly pulled her foot back.
“Do you have any unhusked rice seeds?”