The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1094 - 173: Ointment Recipe (Additional - for "Hua Xu’s Broken Dreams" Reward)

Chapter 1094: Chapter 173: Ointment Recipe (Additional Chapter for "Hua Xu’s Broken Dreams" Reward)

Second Madam Cheng: ...Having invited someone over, and it’s not like they made things worse without paying, should we send them away with a beating?

Just ten, five taels of silver, which household doesn’t have that bit of spare cash? Just enough to cover carriage fares, is that too much?

Manbao, who has scraped by penny by penny since childhood, and Second Madam Cheng, pampered with silks and jewels from birth, both gave each other puzzled looks, finding it hard to understand one another.

Second Madam Cheng cleared her throat and moved on from the topic with a smile, "Doctor Zhou Junior, I have been following your instructions and doing a set every day. Although it has caused some soreness, I do feel somewhat lighter. Would this be useful for someone who has been overweight for a long time since giving birth?"

Manbao said: "Each person’s situation is different. Since it has been a long time since the childbirth, it might not be due to postpartum weight anymore. I need to see for myself, but if this doesn’t suit her, there must be a treatment that will."

Second Madam Cheng nodded and dropped the subject.

Manbao smiled and was not in a rush.

Mr. Zhuang had mentioned that she was young after all. Although her reputation was great, with medical treatment, everyone is cautious, so they are all waiting.

Waiting to see if beneath her great reputation lies true substance, naturally, there would be many who would come to seek her out.

Shopkeeper Zheng thought the same, and as a fellow practitioner of medicine, he knew the extent of Manbao’s skills.

She might not be as formidable as the rumors suggest now, but she’s not even thirteen yet. With such high talent, the future is boundless for her.

What’s most important is the natural advantage she holds within the confines of the high-class inner courtyards.

Being a woman herself, many female patients, despite holding wealth and power, dislike seeking out doctors when ill, preferring to consult nuns, priestesses, or midwives instead.

He knew this was only the beginning. Once Manbao cures Second Madam Cheng, even if it’s just minor ailments and pains, her reputation will grow, and more patients will seek her out in the future.

If the lady of a household gets used to having Jishi Hall’s doctors for treatment, when the man of the house falls ill or other family members are sick, they would surely first seek out a Jishi Hall doctor.

Thinking thusly, Shopkeeper Zheng happily made up the ointment formula Manbao gave him.

He sniffed it and found it quite fragrant; upon inspecting the prescription, he could discern its skin-whitening effects, but that was all he could make out.

Curious, when Manbao came back to the pharmacy, he handed her the jar of ointment along with the bill and asked, "Where should this ointment be applied?"

"On the stomach." One of several remedies Teacher Mo found for removing stretch marks after pregnancy, Manbao had chosen it after considering its moderate price and the commonality of its ingredients, though it’s quite a hassle to prepare.

Manbao sniffed it as well and found it quite fragrant, with a slightly reddish hue – but that was just the color of the ingredients, not particularly strange.

She tested a bit on the back of her hand and nodded in satisfaction, "Not bad, Shopkeeper, how much for the labor charge?"

The Shopkeeper, seeing her apply it to herself, said: "No need to pay for the labor, just cover the cost of materials is fine. Wait, is it because your stomach is dark?"

Manbao: "...It’s not for me. It’s for Second Madam Cheng. After giving birth, she had some marks on her stomach. She was using her own concocted honey fragrance but I found it quite ordinary, so I prescribed this ointment for her."

She blissfully said, "Before coming here, Doctor Ji warned me not to casually hand out prescriptions for ointments and pills, so I didn’t give her the formula."

Shopkeeper Zheng: ...You don’t trust giving it to her, yet you still give it to me!

You gave this to me, so should I take advantage of this deal or not?

Shopkeeper Zheng was only troubled for a moment, then he cleared his throat and asked, "Does this ointment last?"

Manbao glanced at the jar and then pondered a bit, "It should last for about a month."

"How many jars will be needed to remove it completely?"

Manbao shook her head, "Hard to say, I’ve never tried it."

Shopkeeper Zheng thought for a moment and then said, "How about tentatively pricing it at five taels of silver per jar? We’ll see after Second Madam Cheng has used it and observed its effects."

Manbao’s mouth fell open, "Big shopkeeper, this doesn’t seem right. The total cost of the herbs was just over eight hundred wen."

Shopkeeper Zheng coughed lightly and said, "It also takes quite a bit of effort to process these herbs, not to mention the cost of concocting it. All things considered, it costs more than one tael."

"You’re making more than half in profit, that would be enough, so why are you making over four times the amount?"

"Cough, selling medicine... you know, costs like purchasing herbs also need manpower, and we have the shop’s rent to pay. All these are expenses, right?" Shopkeeper Zheng gently reassured, "You just go and tell Second Madam Cheng that she can rest assured with this price; it’s much cheaper than the scented honey she’s been using."

"The scented honey is made by her own family; it doesn’t cost anything."

"Nonsense, does making that not take effort and money? Plus, the honey added to it... right, the honey we use is top-quality wild honey, very expensive..."

Manbao watched Shopkeeper Zheng’s yapping mouth and thought to herself: You weren’t saying this when you were talking to me just now...

However, she had also begun to mull it over, realizing that this was what doing business was like.

But this business, making nearly five times the money, isn’t that a bit too deceitful?

Seeing her frowning in thought, Shopkeeper Zheng knew she was too naive and, fearing she would later leak the formula, quickly said, "Manbao, don’t think our price is too high. People like Second Madam Cheng will not complain about the price being high. If it’s priced low, they would actually be afraid to use it."

"But I’m not just selling to them; I want to sell to many people."

Shopkeeper Zheng was taken aback, then, after regaining his composure, he laughed and said, "For the common household, who would go to special effort to remove such marks?"

"Everyone desires beauty, who’s to say they wouldn’t?" Manbao said, "Every year, when spring comes and the flowers bloom, my Second Sister-in-law, while working in the fields, even picks wild flowers to wear in her hair. As long as they can afford it, they will buy it."

Shopkeeper Zheng stretched out a finger and said, "Even at cost price, earning just a bit for the hard work, selling at one tael of silver—do you think many people will buy it? One tael of silver, the waiters in restaurants outside earn just over two taels in a month; who would be willing to spend one tael on a jar of ointment?"

Manbao rummaged through her medicine chest, pulled out a piece of paper, and directly wrote down a prescription for him, "Here, this one’s cheaper, doesn’t work as well as this one, but it has some use."

Shopkeeper Zheng took the prescription, speechless for a moment, then folded it and put it away in his sleeve, saying to Manbao, "Priced at cost, it would still have to be five hundred wen a jar."

"Alright, then make this one five hundred wen, and sell the other a bit more expensive, five taels is fine."

Shopkeeper Zheng did not expect her to be so straightforward, feeling something was off, but now was clearly not the time to think about this.

He cleared his throat and asked, "Are you planning on giving the ointment formula to other shops in the future?"

Manbao shook her head, she wasn’t familiar with the other shops, why would she give it to them?