Dad, don't be greedy! My brother climbed into the emperor's bed, and I became famous overn

Lu Qinghe was extremely efficient in his work and very thrifty in his spending.

The craftsmen they brought were numerous and inexpensive, and their work was so efficient that it left no room for complaint.

And they make the most of old items.

This left Gu Mingyue both impressed and speechless.

The partition wall was demolished in just one day.

The old bricks that were removed were stacked neatly at the base of the backyard wall, and people said they could use them to build a flower bed embankment later.

The stoves were built the next day, with three large stoves lined up in a row. The fireboxes were made of refractory bricks from the old kiln, which were even stronger than new bricks.

The medicine cabinet was a secondhand item he found in a closed-down old pharmacy in the east of the city.

It's about 80% new. I sanded the paint off the surface, and when I leaned it against the wall, it looked brand new.

Gu Mingyue opened the drawer and looked inside. The brass pull ring was polished to a shine, and there wasn't a single grain of dregs in the medicine drawer.

"How much did this medicine cabinet cost?" she asked casually.

"Twelve taels." Lu Qinghe flipped through the account book without looking up. "The original price was at least fifty taels. The shopkeeper was in a hurry to get rid of the stock to pay off his debts, so I got a bargain for my boss."

Gu Mingyue's lips twitched.

She really doesn't need him to pick up the bargains for her.

The desk and chairs for the consultation were custom-made by a carpenter.

It uses the cheapest elm wood, but the mortise and tenon joints are tightly fitted and very stable.

Gu Mingyue reached out and pressed on the table, but it didn't budge.

It must be admitted that it's hard to find fault with Lu Qinghe's work.

The plaque above the entrance has also been carved.

Lu Qinghe personally supervised the engraver to complete the six characters "Pujitang Juhong Pharmacy" stroke by stroke.

The characters are neat and the knife work is deep and sharp. After being coated with tung oil, it looks quite impressive from a distance.

Even the cost of making the plaque was saved.

The backyard is more than twice as spacious as the front yard.

After Lu Qinghe and his men finished measuring the dimensions, they returned to the front hall and opened the book to make a few strokes.

"Master, the backyard has a net area of ​​approximately 400 square feet. After dividing it into a medicinal herb storage room and a lime room, most of the yard is still empty. What do you plan to do with it?"

Gu Mingyue stood in the center of the courtyard and glanced around.

The courtyard wall had been newly repaired; the gaps had been filled with broken bricks, and a layer of lime had been applied to the top of the wall.

The tree against the wall on the north side has gnarled branches, and its shade can cover most of the yard.

Many of the blue bricks on the ground were broken, but Lu Qinghe's craftsmen had already filled the potholes with gravel.

"We'll share a large dormitory-style room."

Lu Qinghe paused for a moment.

"A dormitory-style room?"

"Yes. Two rows of long bunk beds were built against the north wall, one row for ten people, and two rows for twenty people. A three-foot-wide aisle was left in the middle so that people wouldn't step on each other when they got up at night."

"If we extend it further west, we can add two more rows. Fully accommodating 80 to 100 people."

Lu Qinghe did not immediately start writing, but instead looked up at her.

It's unclear whether the owner acted on a whim or had planned it all along.

Gu Mingyue's expression was normal, and she gave a casual explanation.

"A charitable institution should have a place to shelter the homeless. Providing medicinal meals during the day and a bed at night is what makes it a proper place to do good deeds."

"The guys on night duty also need a place to rest. We can't expect them to be dozing off against the wall in the middle of the night."

The statement that the charitable institution took in refugees makes sense.

However, the refugees in the southern part of Kyoto did not have household registration, so they were not eligible for the government's soup kitchens.

During the coldest days of last winter, seven frozen corpses were carried out from the vicinity of Powa Lane, wrapped in tattered mats, and thrown into a mass grave outside the city, without even leaving their names.

The Gu family opened a charitable hall and left dozens of shared beds for these people; there was nothing wrong with that in terms of both reason and sentiment.

But Lu Qinghe always felt that something was wrong.

A dormitory for 100 people, three large stoves, and a backyard of 400 square feet.

This scale doesn't seem like doing charity work.

It's more like...preparing for something.

He lowered his eyes, temporarily suppressing the thought, and wrote a line in his notebook.

With the shop settled, the next step is to prepare the medicine for epidemic prevention.

All medicinal herbs need to be ordered in advance.

If we purchase now, it will take at least a month for all the goods to arrive and be put into storage.

After noon, Gu Mingyue called Lu Qinghe to the temporary table in the front hall.

As a boss, she likes to push her highly skilled employees to work at full speed.

She handed him a list.

"Mr. Lu, please go and purchase these medicines."

Lu Qinghe took it and glanced at it.

His brows furrowed.

The list contains seventeen medicinal herbs.

Scutellaria baicalensis, Isatis indigotica, Atractylodes lancea, Angelica dahurica, Pogostemon cablin, Lonicera japonica, Forsythia suspensa, Bupleurum chinense, Citrus reticulata peel, Glycyrrhiza uralensis...

Each herb was followed by an absurdly large quantity.

Scutellaria baicalensis, 30,000 catties.

Isatis root, 50,000 jin.

Atractylodes macrocephala, 20,000 catties.

Lu Qinghe read through the list from beginning to end.

"Master."

Lu Qinghe's voice was steady, but tinged with doubt.

"This amount... are you planning to open a pharmacy, or are you going to brew medicine for half of Kyoto?"

Gu Mingyue sat behind the desk, holding a cup of cold tea, and slowly took a sip.

"Mr. Lu, didn't I tell you? This year is unlucky, so we're stocking up on medicine to ward off bad luck. Of course, it's also a way to boost wealth."

Without hesitation, Lu Qinghe replied, "A typical traditional Chinese medicine shop consumes only a dozen or so kilograms per day."

"Three thousand catties of Scutellaria baicalensis can be sold for more than half a year."

"Thirty thousand catties..."

He swallowed back the words "enough for ten years".

"Besides..."

The shop was located in a remote, impoverished alley, with no decent residents for half a mile around. Who would buy medicine there?

But after glancing at Gu Mingyue's eyes, he swallowed the rest of his sentence.

Those eyes were resolute and assertive, an aura that was not at all like that of a sixteen-year-old girl.

Lu Qinghe couldn't help but become more polite and respectful.

"If we stockpile so many medicinal herbs and can't sell them, won't we lose money?"

Gu Mingyue seemed to have been prepared.

She calmly put down her teacup and tapped the list with her finger.

"Yitang is a long-term business."

"As for how to use it, I have my reasons. Mr. Lu, just go ahead and make the purchase."

Having said all that, Lu Qinghe couldn't say anything more.

He nodded and carefully looked through the list of medicinal herbs again.

Scutellaria baicalensis clears heat and dries dampness.

Isatis root has the function of clearing heat and detoxifying.

Atractylodes macrocephala, which dries dampness and strengthens the spleen.

Patchouli is used to dispel dampness and stop vomiting.

Honeysuckle and forsythia disperse wind-heat...

Each of these ingredients, taken individually, is a common medicine.

But looking at them together...

These are all commonly used medicines in epidemic disease prescriptions.

Lu Qinghe stared at the list for a long time before finally folding it up and tucking it into his sleeve.

The next three days.

Lu Qinghe traveled to all the major and minor medicine merchants in and around the capital city.

This amount of goods is too much for one company to handle.

He divided it into five parts, distributed them to five pharmacies, and then negotiated a lower price.

The final actual expenditure was over 37,000 taels, which saved nearly 3,000 taels compared to the budget approved by Gu Mingyue.

He meticulously recorded the money he saved in his account, not a single penny was missing.

Gu Mingyue looked at the accounts, remained silent for a moment, and could only say dryly, "...Thank you for your hard work."

All seventeen medicinal herbs have been procured.

Lu Qinghe neatly stacked a stack of papers and placed them on the table.

"Boss, these are the supply orders and inspection schedules for each supplier."

Each page was marked with the pharmaceutical company's name, delivery date, acceptance standards, and even the company's credit rating at the end, all in tiny handwriting.

"The first batch of goods will arrive tomorrow morning. I've arranged for two workers to oversee the arrival in the backyard. Before the herbs are put into storage, each bag must be weighed, inspected for color, and smelled. Any herbs found to be infested with insects or moldy will be returned on the spot."

Gu Mingyue took it and flipped through it, somewhat surprised.

The timetable was much more detailed than she had expected.

"Please have a seat, sir."

Lu Qinghe was just about to sit down and rest his feet.

As a result, Gu Mingyue took out another purchase order, placed it on the table, and pushed it over.

Since the people sent by the King of Qi are so capable.

Then do more.

Lu Qinghe: "..."