Chapter 73: A Grazing Sheep Takes a Life in the Street, While a Heap of Medicinal Herbs Goes Unnoticed

It was a stroke of luck for Grass-Eater Chen Shuisheng, who had just suffered a setback with Monkey-Skin and mistakenly sold angelica as ginseng, losing two taels of silver in the process. His heart was aching over the loss, but unexpectedly, a young lamb ready for slaughter came to him.

"Oh? Heaven truly has eyes—this is a life-saving prescription. I suppose the patient is like a flower planted in a jar, doomed not to live long." Chen Shuisheng scrutinized the prescription the youth handed over, where it was clearly written: a finger-length of ginseng, two taels of prepared rehmannia, seven qian of white peony, one tael of licorice...

Though Grass-Eater Chen Shuisheng only understood the basics of medicinal herbs, years of selling medicine had taught him enough about life-saving prescriptions. The one the youth brought today was called Hanging-Life Decoction, used in old times to prolong a dying person’s breath while waiting for a skilled physician.

Chen Shuisheng understood: if one had to resort to this prescription, eight or nine times out of ten, the person was as good as gone.

"Alright, young master, please wait a moment; I’ll prepare the herbs for you right away," he said with a fawning smile, and hurriedly began gathering the ingredients according to the prescription. Naturally, he shorted the weight here and there: only one tael and five qian of prepared rehmannia, only six qian of licorice...

Beside Chen Shuisheng’s stall sat an elder, white-haired and bearded, surnamed Xu—known for his fairness, respected by all at Huichun Alley as Elder Xu. Though aged, Elder Xu’s eyes were sharp; he recognized the youth’s urgency and noticed Chen Shuisheng’s blatant short-selling.

After a moment’s hesitation, Elder Xu spoke in a grave tone, "The child’s family is in crisis; could you not, just this once, show some heart and give him a fair deal?"

His words were careful—no one wanted open conflict among neighboring stalls—so he advised Chen Shuisheng to weigh the herbs properly for the youth, without shorting him.

But Chen Shuisheng took offense, his face darkening as he loudly retorted, "What nonsense are you spouting, old man? I, Chen Shuisheng, always conduct fair business! Are you trying to undermine me in front of my customer, steal my business?"

He deliberately raised his voice, inviting nearby vendors to watch the commotion. Everyone knew that undermining another’s stall was a grave taboo at Huichun Alley, something utterly despised.

Fortunately, the other vendors all knew Chen Shuisheng’s character well; instead, they comforted Elder Xu, advising him not to waste his breath on such a scoundrel.

Elder Xu fell silent for a moment, then said coldly, "Fairness lies in the heart, and Heaven sees all. Do not act with a guilty conscience; three feet above your head, the gods are watching. Good and evil will be repaid in the end, whether sooner or later."

Chen Shuisheng bristled at these words, and had it not been for the crowd holding him back, he might have resorted to violence.

Luckily, the youth urged him on, and Chen Shuisheng finally took out his scale and pretended to adjust the weights, quickly wrapping up the herbs and handing them over.

"Ten taels of silver," Chen Shuisheng said calmly.

What nerve—he was asking for an exorbitant price! The vendors around looked at him with disdain; aside from the ginseng, the youth’s prescription contained nothing but common herbs, worth at most six or seven taels. Moreover, Chen Shuisheng had actually given angelica instead of ginseng.

The youth, face flushed, stammered as he held out his purse, "Sir, please have mercy; I only have six taels and three qian, all from pawning my mother’s wedding hairpin..."

"Give it here," Chen Shuisheng snapped, grabbing the purse and muttering, "Damn it, I’m feeling generous today—just take it and go."

The youth, believing Chen Shuisheng to have shown kindness, thanked him profusely and left.

Chen Shuisheng, having lost three taels to Monkey-Skin but now swindling six taels and seven qian from the youth, was overjoyed and began planning which brothel to visit that evening.

"Yes, that new girl Cui’er—beauty and talent, I heard she learned some tunes in Jiangnan and plays the flute excellently..." he mused, his gaze turning lecherous.

"Hmph," Elder Xu snorted, his voice stern. "When the master craftsman Lu Ban invented the wooden balance scale, he said: ‘On the rod, one tael per star, sixteen stars in total, each corresponding to a celestial body. They are divided into Northern Dipper Seven Stars, Southern Dipper Six Stars, and Three Stars of Fortune, Wealth, and Longevity. In trade, being short one tael diminishes fortune; short two taels, loses wealth; short three taels, cuts lifespan.’"

Elder Xu emphasized ‘cuts lifespan’ heavily, then stared at Chen Shuisheng and continued, "Come, let me see if your scale’s heart is yellow, white, or pitch black!"

Chen Shuisheng, scolded by Elder Xu, was humiliated and about to flare up—then suddenly remembered something.

He had just given the youth herbs that, by prescription, should have totaled one tael and two qian, but he had shorted each ingredient, and in sum, lacked exactly three taels!

"Short three taels, cuts lifespan."

Chen Shuisheng felt a chill in his heart, guilty but unable to protest, forcing himself to point to his scale and claim, "White heart. Mine is a white heart."

Everyone knew his character and merely sneered at him.

The youth returned home with the herbs; his father hurried to brew the medicine, reducing three bowls of water to one and feeding it to his bedridden wife.

Unexpectedly, the life-saving decoction, once swallowed, took less than half an incense stick’s time to claim the poor woman’s life—her eyes rolled back and she passed away.

Father and son stared at each other in silence, tears streaming; another half hour passed before the skilled physician arrived.

After learning the whole story, the physician sifted through the dregs in the stove, glanced at them, and announced that not only were the herbs short in weight, but, most critically, the vital ginseng had been replaced with angelica.

Ginseng replenishes energy and prolongs life; angelica, on the other hand, nourishes the blood. The poor woman, bedridden for years, could not withstand such a tonic and died as soon as she drank it.

After the physician left, father and son, consumed with grief and anger, each took a butcher’s knife and went to Huichun Alley in the Western Market.

Chen Shuisheng sensed trouble and tried to escape, but was caught by the pair, who stabbed him in the heart.

Thus, Chen Shuisheng’s fate fulfilled the prophecy: ‘Short three taels, cuts lifespan.’

The father and son, having committed murder in the street, were promptly handed over to the authorities and sent to prison.

As for the instigator, Monkey-Skin watched all this from the shadows, witnessing especially Chen Shuisheng’s blood splattering on the spot, which nearly scared him to death.

Though Monkey-Skin was a thief and a scoundrel, he wasn’t stupid; the father and son had killed, but they had their reasons. Jian’an Capital was not like other places, and the magistrate, Tang Li, was no fool. A thorough investigation would surely uncover Monkey-Skin’s own theft and fraud, and he’d be facing a murder charge.

With this realization, Monkey-Skin didn’t linger, but turned to leave.

Yet, he glanced at Chen Shuisheng’s stall of herbs. Since Chen Shuisheng was a lone wolf, now dead, the herbs had no owner.

It was Monkey-Skin’s ill fate; his eyes spun, and he hatched a wicked plan.

To flee, one needs money, doesn’t one?