Children of Loulan

Chapter 173 Accidental Rescue

After saying this, they were about to step aside, and they intended to ignore the person they had beaten under the carriage.

Looking at their expressions, Bai Xi spoke again: "Wait!" He pointed at the man on the ground and asked, "What's going on? Who is he? Why are you hitting him?"

One of them said, "He is a liar. He said he is a doctor and wanted to work in our pharmacy. But when he treats patients, the prescriptions he prescribes are all a bunch of random weeds, and there are few real herbs. Our shopkeeper is afraid that he will hurt people, so he won't let him prescribe medicine anymore!"

The man nodded and bowed when talking to Bai Xi, but he was full of anger when talking to the man who was beaten. "But he was so good that he quarreled with the shopkeeper, saying that our shopkeeper made money by cheating, and finally broke a medicine jar. Our shopkeeper let us beat him out!"

Bai Xi frowned after hearing this and looked at the man lying on the ground. He was covered in dust and blood and looked very pitiful.

Bai Xi looked at the fierce attackers again: "Is that true?"

The attacker immediately raised his hands to the sky with a sad face and swore: "Sir, swear to the heavens, our pharmacy has been in this capital for decades. How dare we cheat the sick people out of their money for medicine!"

Bai Xi saw that they didn't seem to be lying, so he looked up at the plaque of the drugstore, which had the three big characters "Yichun Tang" engraved on it. He knew this drugstore, which was quite famous, so this shouldn't have happened. So he immediately believed what the attackers said.

Just as he was about to lower his head to ask about the man who was beaten, Bayer came out of the carriage. She looked at Bai Xi and said, "The princess already knows everything about this matter. The princess said that someone should take him to heal his wounds first, and we will pay for the broken medicine jars!"

When the attacker heard this, he immediately apologized with a smile: "The princess is kind-hearted, but that medicine jar is not worth much..."

Before he finished speaking, Bayer immediately took out a tael of silver and handed it to him: "The princess said that since you are taking people away, you have to settle the remaining debt, so that there will be no trouble in the future!" After the man took the silver, he nodded and bowed and entered the pharmacy!

Bai Xi sighed. He was very confused as to why the princess wanted to save such a person, but he still followed the instructions and said to the two guards accompanying him, "Take him back to the palace first, and then find a doctor to check his injuries."

The two men nodded quickly and then helped the injured man away!

After dealing with all this, Baixi got back on the carriage. Hanguli asked through the curtain: "Baixi, is there a place in this capital where poor people can live together?"

Bai Xi replied, "Yes, Princess, do you want to go and have a look?"

Hanguli responded softly: "Well, let's go and have a look!"

The carriage soon began to shake again. After traveling for an unknown amount of time, it finally came to a slow stop.

Bai Xi jumped off the carriage and said, "Princess, we're here!"

After Hanguli and Baier got off the carriage, they were shocked by the scene before them. The people here were dressed simply, with patches on their clothes, some were in a hurry, while others were carrying loads on their shoulders and walking through the streets shouting and selling.

This was in stark contrast to the prosperous area they had seen before, as if one was heaven and the other was hell.

Hanguli couldn't help thinking of Baiya Village where she once lived. Although it was poor, it was at least warm. But here, the life of the poor seemed to be even more difficult than in Baiya Village.

She couldn't help but ask Bai Xi: "Why is it like this here?"

Bai Xi told her: "Most people here can only barely make ends meet. Some of them were born and raised in the capital, some couldn't make it in their hometowns and wanted to come to the capital to make a living, and some came to seek refuge with their relatives, but in the end... they can only barely survive in this place!"

Hanguli frowned and couldn't help but sigh. This is how the world is. Rich people can spend hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver a day, while poor people can't even earn three or five taels of silver in a year!

She followed Bai Xi in the slums for a long time, but could never see the end.

Suddenly, a question occurred to her: "Is there a pharmacy here?"

Bai Xi replied: "Yes, but there are only three."

Hanguli decided to go and see these medicine shops in person. When she walked into the first medicine shop, she found that the medicinal materials there were all common varieties and the prices were relatively low. Then she went to two other medicine shops and the results were the same.

Hanguli thought, it seems that these pharmacies are quite conscientious, at least ordinary people can still afford medicine when they are sick. But for those who are poorer, the medicine is also very expensive. After all, there is no land in the capital, and everything needs to be bought. Even if you earn a few cents by carrying a bag, you have to deduct the cost of food and drink, so there is not much left!

After strolling for a while, Hanguli ordered to go back home. She immediately asked Baixi about the situation of the slum through the curtain, and from Baixi she learned that the slum was located in the southwest corner of the capital. In the early years, that place was not a slum. Later, it was said that because of the constant oppression of a corrupt official, the people there wanted to escape, so they had to sell their houses and shops at a low price.

Although the corrupt official was later punished, the problems that remained were never resolved. Because the houses there were cheap, more and more low-income people flocked there, especially in the last twenty years or so. The population increased dramatically, which led to the place directly becoming a slum!

However, Hanguli was still somewhat puzzled. She asked Baixi: "Since it is so poor there, why don't you choose to leave?"

Bai Xi sighed and replied, "Princess, you don't know that most of those poor people don't have any skills or knowledge. They don't know where to go, and they are used to that lifestyle, so they choose to stay there. There are still a small number of people who are capable and knowledgeable, and they want to show their talents in the capital, but they have no opportunities, so they can only wait like this silently!"

After hearing this, Hanguli couldn't help but feel a little compassion in her heart. This also reminded her of the time when she lived in Yuexiju. Although the palace looked prosperous and bustling on the surface, in fact, many palace servants of low status could not get treatment from the imperial doctors and eventually died with hatred. Therefore, she thought that there should be many people in this place who could not afford to see a doctor.

Based on this, she began to think about whether she could open a medicine shop where everyone could afford medicine. As for the medicinal materials, she could choose the herbs she had used before in Yuexiju. Not only were they low in cost, but their efficacy was slightly inferior, but they were more than enough to treat the disease.

As her thoughts continued to expand, she felt that this idea was more feasible. However, she suddenly realized a key problem - what about the doctor? How could a pharmacy be without a doctor? If she hired an inexperienced doctor, it might lead to misdiagnosis; but if she hired an experienced old doctor, she was afraid that the other party would be dismissive of her small pharmacy located in the slums.

She hadn't thought of a solution to this problem yet, but just as they entered the palace, a servant came to report: "Princess, the man who was sent back to the palace has woken up, and he said he wants to see you!"