Di Ming

Chapter 49 A clever plan
Dr. Ning nodded her head.

Ning Caiwei immediately breathed a sigh of relief. She had prepared white paper and a homemade quill pen.

The door was also tightly shut.

Ning Caiwei handed the pen to her younger sister, reminding her:

"Don't write in the doctor's scribbled characters; write in a way that people can understand, otherwise I won't be able to read it."

Ning Qingchen gripped the quill pen in her small hand and wrote in a crooked, uneven manner:

"Initial diagnosis: Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection; rheumatoid arthritis. The cause of death six months later was likely: progression to severe pneumonia, leading to cardiopulmonary failure..."

Treatment recommendations: Three injections of amoxicillin-clavulanate potassium, eight to twelve oral azithromycin tablets... Maintain a calm mood...

"...After the pneumonia subsides, continue with two tablets of indomethacin and dioxin sodium daily..."

"...Qi Shaobao is an ancient person and has no drug resistance. This amount of medicine is enough to restore his immunity."

Since she wrote down these four kinds of medicine, it means that there are three or four kinds of medicine in the medicine box.

Ning Caiwei's face lit up with a smile, like a lotus flower suddenly blooming. She suddenly lifted her younger sister up and gave Dr. Ning a big kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you, Dr. Ning! Dr. Ning smells so good, so milky! Hmm, here's a noodle for you... Wet nurse, now you can drink milk!"

Ning Qingchen giggled, kicking her little legs in the air and stepping on her sister's face with her tiny feet.

Then Ning Caiwei tickled her little sister, making the baby giggle, and they were very affectionate and respectful to each other for a while.

Then, Ning Caiwei handed the baby to Galo, took a ten-tael silver ingot, and went to find Qi Baoguo.

Qi Baoguo, dressed in faded cotton sweatpants and wooden clogs with ropes, was flipping through account books in the West Flower Hall. The fifteen-year-old boy had a worried look on his face.

Father's debts are truly enormous. Even after selling everything in the mansion to pay off the debts, there's still a shortfall of 50,000 taels.

The creditors of the Confucius family alone include the Confucius family, the Mencius family, and the Yan family.

Qi Baoguo stomped his feet, the teeth of his clogs clanging against the blue bricks.

"Fourth Brother." Suddenly, a clear and beautiful voice rang out.

Ning Caiwei, with her hair tied in a bun, stood smiling at the doorway, her back to the morning sunlight, the downy hair on her neck clearly visible in the halo of light.

Qi Baoguo looked up and asked, "Hmm?"

Ning Caiwei walked into the sparsely furnished flower hall with an air of familiarity and took out the silver ingot from her embroidered purse.

It was gently placed in front of Qi Baoguo.

"Please lend me your fourth brother's scissors and steelyard to cut some loose silver and weigh it so it will be easy to use."

"Haha!" Qi Baoguo laughed, rubbing his hands together happily. "Sister, you've really found the right person. I love doing this kind of work."

He pointed to the six-legged drum stool in front of him, gesturing for Ning Caiwei to sit down, while opening a drawer and taking out a set of exquisite clippers and steelyard.

"Most of the clippers and balances sold by merchants cannot be trusted."

Ning Caiwei laughed and said, "That's why I came to find Fourth Brother. I don't trust him either."

Qi Baoguo picked up the silver ingot and, using scissors, began to cut along the thinnest edge, saying:

"You're just a little girl, you don't know that all businessmen are cunning. No matter the gender, business people are all as treacherous as devils. You can't easily trust them."

"Otherwise, why would our ancestors say that among scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, merchants are the lowest in status? They should be the lowest in status."

Ning Caiwei tossed her hair, gave a professional, fake laugh, and didn't say anything more, but her teeth were a little itchy.

Qi Baoguo lowered his head and carefully cut the silver into small pieces, each weighing half a qian (five fen) and the size of a soybean.

Then it was placed on the miniature scale pan of the steelyard, and it made a "ding-ding" sound.

He tilted his head, looking very intently at the markings on the steelyard, and said as if he had a toothache:

"Half a coin is a bit too much, it's a cent too heavy. I'll cut it a little smaller."

The second piece that Qi Baoguo cut was exactly half a coin after being weighed, not a penny off.

Ning Caiwei knew this was also a skill. How could she let this opportunity slip by? She immediately began to carefully observe how Qi Baoguo cut and weighed the meat.

Cutting and weighing silver is a common skill.

If you're not proficient in this skill, you'll suffer a lot of losses in silence.

Qi Baoguo cut out more than thirty "half-cent coins," weighed them one by one, and found the weights to be very precise. The error was no more than one li (the weight of half a needle).

Then he cut off several pieces of silver weighing two or five qian each.

They were all carefully weighed one by one.

Finally, a ten-tael silver ingot was transformed into a pile of silver fragments in three different sizes. Qi Baoguo then took out three palm-sized pieces of cloth scraps and packed the silver fragments of half a qian, two qian, and five qian into three small packages.

Then he pushed it in front of Ning Caiwei and laughed as if he had won a battle, "Alright. We're family, no need to thank me."

"Luckily, I'm a martial artist and can draw a bow with a stone's weight, so I'm quite strong. If it were someone else, how could they cut so many? Their arms would have been sore and numb long ago."

"I didn't train for nothing, did I? Haha."

Ning Caiwei was both grateful and speechless at how meticulously he had done the work.

So you learned martial arts and built up your strength just to cut money?

You have such great ambition!

Ning Caiwei thanked him, put away the loose silver, and left the West Flower Hall.

When I returned to Biyun Courtyard, I happened to see the chamber pot cart that came to collect night soil.

Galo had already taken out several toilets together.

The night soil worker was an elderly man of about fifty years old, wearing short brown straw sandals, with a dark complexion and a straw hat on his head.

He was a genuine member of the lower class.

At this moment, the old manure worker took off his straw hat, fanned himself, and leaned against the chamber pot cart, looking exhausted. His weathered face was very aged.

In the early Ming Dynasty, it was forbidden for ordinary citizens to wear straw hats. The "Great Ming Code" stipulated that only farmers were allowed to wear straw hats; otherwise, it was a violation of the law.

However, many of the laws and regulations in the "Great Ming Code" are now practically meaningless. Even straw hats are now worn by everyone.

"Grandpa," Ning Caiwei said politely, "I need to clean all of these toilets."

The old manure worker's face lit up with joy, and he quickly cupped his hands and asked, "How many days of washing does the young lady need?"

Ning Caiwei smiled and said, "Let's bathe for ten days."

The old manure worker asked, "Would you like to burn some incense?"

“Okay.” Ning Caiwei nodded. “As long as it’s clean, that’s fine. Incense would be even better.”

"It will cost extra." The old manure worker grinned, revealing his missing teeth. "Ten days of cleaning and incense burning, four toilets, and the young lady will receive five cents of silver, or a string of copper coins."

"Will you be paying in silver or gold, young lady?"

"Pay the silver," Ning Caiwei said, as she untied the purse at her waist, took out a half-coin silver bean, and stuffed it into the old man's withered, bark-like hand.

"Young lady, you are truly kind-hearted, like a bodhisattva." The old manure worker had seen countless people and sensed Ning Caiwei's kindness.

Because she was not only very polite, but also very generous, and she didn't haggle at all.

He rarely felt this kind of kindness, especially from a pampered heiress.

This girl is as beautiful as a flower, and she has a kind heart.

"Thank you for your hard work, old man. It must be tough in this sweltering heat," Ning Caiwei said.

The old manure worker bowed to Ning Caiwei before pushing the cart away with some difficulty.

Ning Caiwei returned the greeting, looking at the old man's retreating figure with a complicated expression.

……

Inside the Hengshuo Hall, Zhu Yin had already fought Qi Jin ten times, and hadn't won a single time.

They just persisted for a little longer.

"Let's take a break," said Qi Jiguang, who was sitting in front of the weapon rack. "My face is almost swollen from the fall."

On the weapon rack behind him, not to mention all eighteen kinds of weapons, there were at least swords, spears, halberds, clubs, maces, hooks, as well as wolf-headed halberds, firearms, and bows and arrows.

It's practically a mini armory.

Taking advantage of this moment, Zhu Yin took out the note that had been sent in from the Confucius Mansion from his sleeve. "Father, please don't be angry, take a look at this note..."

After being enlightened by Zhu Yin's words yesterday, Qi Jiguang no longer reacted with excessive anger.

He glanced at the note, and instead of getting angry, he revealed a strange smile.

The silver-haired veteran's expression was as if he had already secured victory before facing the enemy.

"Three days later, pack your bags and we're heading to Zhejiang!"

"Thirty-six strategies, walking is the best strategy!"

Although Zhu Yin guessed Qi Jiguang's intentions, he still flattered him with a smile:
"Godfather, what a brilliant plan!"

(End of this chapter)