In early spring, it's warm and cold.

The mountain city of Yuzhou is covered with lead clouds, and the residual snow on both sides of the stone steps of the wharf has not disappeared.

On the wide wharf, there are countless large and small canopy boats, coolies and boatmen carrying heavy goods of all colors, stepping on long pedals, busily loading and unloading goods.

Yuzhou is a mountain city, and from the wharf to the main street, there are hundreds of steep stone steps paved with bluestone slabs. From the high entrance of the main street, you can see the entire busy wharf, but this is the outlet, so no one who does the stall business wants to set up a stall here, except for Yang Xianmao.

At this moment, he was sitting at the top of a wide bluestone slab at the entrance of the alley, his hands on his knees, and his eyes staring blankly at the busy dock. The large bluestone slab beside him was covered with a white cloth on which a few common herbs were placed. His herb doctor's floor is empty on the white cloth, unlike other herb doctors, who have to write boastful words such as "ancestral secret recipe" and "Hua Tuo's reincarnation".

It had just started spring, and the cold wind was still cold, but he was only wearing a thin green cloth robe. The wind from the docks made his hair a little messy.

He has been setting up a grass medicine stall at the entrance of the alley of Yuzhou Wharf for more than a month.

He has nowhere to go.

When he came back from the desolate world, he found that just as Venerable Ling Xiao said, a hundred years had passed, and he had come to the third year of Song Shenzong Yuanfeng a hundred years later.

He went to his hometown of Xuanzhou, and sure enough, as Venerable Ling Xiao said, his parents, wife, and children were no longer alive, and there were no descendants left, and there was no relatives or friends he knew.

He didn't go to the imperial court to verify his identity, and no one could believe that he was the divine doctor Lord Yang a hundred years ago. He didn't have this mood either, after learning that he was the only one living alone in this world and committing "five evils and three shortcomings", he was extremely disheartened and had no interest in anything, including fame and fortune.

His storage bag and all the things in it disappeared, and the yin and yang true fire and vitality on his body were also gone. All that was left was the set of surgical instruments and medicines he had taken out to heal the three demons at that time, the small golden compass of Guiguzi in his arms, and the sword of Shang Fang that had been tempered by the water of the Styx.

He was desperate to get away from the familiar sad place and find a place where he could talk quietly about his life.

So, he came to the riverside, randomly found a merchant ship that trafficked goods for a long distance, and got a job as a shipwright, and the merchant ship was going to Yuzhou. In this way, he supported the ship and pulled the fiber on the merchant ship, and worked hard with a group of shipwrights, all the way to Yuzhou, thousands of miles away.

It was far away from his familiar world, a completely unfamiliar environment, where he felt he could find a moment of peace.

So, he quit his job as a boatman, went ashore, bought this outfit with the money he earned from supporting the boat and pulling fiber, set up a medicine stall at the wharf, treated the coolie boatmen at the wharf and the poor people in the area, and earned a few copper coins to make ends meet.

Unlike other herbalists in that he doesn't shout, he doesn't solicit business, he doesn't greet people who squat in front of the stall and might want to see a doctor. His gaze was just blankly staring at the surging river and the busy wharf, and no one knew what this little man was thinking.

Therefore, his grass medicine stall business is very poor, it is difficult for a few people to patronize it a day, and it is rare to earn a few copper coins, but he spends very little every day, he eats cold rice balls when he is hungry, drinks cold water when he is thirsty, and lives at night in the cheapest inn on the dock where a nearby peddler and pawn often live, and with those men who rub their feet with stinky sweat and drink bad wine with gourds, they are crowded on a paved adobe with only straw mats and hard erections without burning kang.

He hardly spoke, and when others accosted him, he just glanced at others and walked away, so the innkeeper, the man, and the peddlers and pawns in the same room all said that he was a strange man, and those who had good deeds privately speculated that this young man either had a problem with his head or something sad.

At this moment, it is already afternoon, the sky is more overcast, the clouds are very low, almost rubbing the roof, the black pressure looks like it is going to rain, the pedestrians hurriedly speed up the pace, and some people who go out have a tarpaulin paper umbrella under their armpits, ready to shelter from the wind and rain.

Yang Xianmao didn't have any expression, and didn't seem to pay attention to the rain at all. He kept the same posture, hugging his knees and turning his head to look at the pier and the river. It wasn't until his stomach rumbled that he took out a hard rice ball from his arms, stuffed it into his mouth, bit off a piece with great difficulty, and chewed a few bites in his mouth. He took a worn-out gourd resting on the bluestone slab beside him, unplugged it, and drank a few sips of cold well water. Then, he didn't wipe the corners of his mouth, and continued to look at the river sluggishly.

Next to his herb doctor's stall was a dilapidated tea shop, with many bamboo chairs on the bluestone slabs at the door and the lobby inside, and the cracked square tables were placed in such a messy manner. Towards the end of the evening, only a few idle old tea drinkers were still here to spend time.

The tea shop is run by the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, the daughter-in-law is a little widow, surnamed Xia, and her boudoir name is Xia Yinhua. The round face and chin are small, the willow eyebrows are curved, the nose bridge is straight, the thin red lips are fast mouths at a glance, the body is slightly plump, but the waist is extremely thin.

Xia Yinhua's life was hard, her man was seriously ill, and the fortune teller Mr. Yin and Yang said that he wanted to be happy, so his wife asked the media to say goodbye, and said that Xia Yinhua, a hard-working person, came to the door to be happy. It's a pity that Chong Xi couldn't succeed, and her husband didn't even get into the cave room and died. Xia Yinhua also became a little widow with yellow flowers, and followed her mother-in-law to take care of this dock tea shop for a living.

She has a very cheerful and pungent personality, and at the moment she is wearing a blue cloth apron, rolling up her sleeves, talking and laughing with those old tea customers, holding a large teapot in her hand, and mixing water from time to time.

Her mother-in-law sat behind the counter, her face wrinkled, her mouth shriveled, her small eyes dripping, staring shrewdly at the passers-by at the door, judging the tea customers who might come in, and then shouting loudly at Xia Yinhua to hurry up and greet the guests.

Yang Xianmao set up a grass medicine stall on the bluestone slab next to her door, Xia Yinhua saw that he was young, alone here, no one patronized all day long, felt that he was honest and stupid, just gnawed cold rice balls and drank cold water every day, very pitiful, and was hot for a while, so he poured him a bowl of hot water, but he didn't expect this little Langzhong to just shake his head and not answer, nor look at her, nor speak, still staring at the dock in a daze, so angry that Xia Yinhua splashed a bowl of hot tea on the ground angrily, saying that he was a wooden lump, so he didn't bother to pay attention to him.

At this time, it was already evening, and the last few old tea customers also got up to say goodbye and left, the dark clouds were lower, and the wind was blowing with rain, Xia Yinhua began to open the door board and prepare to close the door, and saw that Yang Xianmao was still sitting on the bluestone street stall and stared at the dock in a daze, seeing that he was thinly dressed, his body seemed to be trembling slightly, as if he felt very cold, and his heart was a little soft, holding a door panel in his hand, and said loudly: "It's dark, don't you go back?"

Xiao Langzhong still ignored it. Xia Yinhua stomped her feet, secretly scolded herself in her heart, pouted and continued to open the door panel.

At this time, an old man covered his cheeks, ran over from the other side of the bluestone street, wiped a handful of sweat, saw Yang Xianmao's herb doctor stall still there, wiped a handful of sweat, took a few breaths, and said happily: "Fortunately, it's still there, oops, it's really a life......

Saying that, the old man came to Yang Xianmao's herb doctor stall and squatted down and said, "Hey, Xiao Langzhong, fortunately you haven't left yet, this is really a life-saver." Come on, give me another pack of the medicine powder I bought last time to cure toothache, and my tooth hurts again. ”

Yang Xianmao didn't look at him either, opened a large wooden box next to him, took out a porcelain bottle from it, poured some medicinal powder on a small piece of straw paper, wrapped a small paper bag and handed it to the old man, and said, "One penny." ”

This month, Xia Yinhua saw that this Xiao Langzhong was treating people, and he only charged one penny each time, so he kindly reminded him that other herb medicine stalls charge at least five pennies for selling pills, and some also charge ten cents, and he honestly only charges one penny each time, which is a loss to himself, but this Xiao Langzhong didn't hear it, and ignored it at all, so angry that she scolded Xiao Langzhong for deserving of poverty.

She didn't know that Yang Xianmao knew that she was the life of "five disadvantages and three shortages", and after the money could not be kept, she was extremely disheartened, so she simply charged only one penny for each time she saw a doctor, which was enough to buy two rice balls, so she only charged one penny for every time she saw a doctor.

This time, Xia Yinhua saw that Xiao Langzhong only charged a penny, but she didn't bother to persuade again, and then went to the door.

The old man put a penny of copper coins on the white cloth stall above Xiao Langzhong, grinned, showed a mouthful of rotten teeth, swished cold, and said: "I said Xiao Langzhong, your medicine is good, and it doesn't hurt soon after using it, but it hurts again after a few days." You can't break the root of this medicine!"

Yang Xianmao did not have any expression in his words: "If you want to cut off the roots, you have to pull them out." ”

The old man scratched his head and said, "I'm afraid of pain, I'm the most afraid of pain, last time I went to a herbalist to extract a tooth, the pain made me roll in bed for three days and three nights." - Do you have a pain in tooth extraction?"

"It doesn't hurt. ”

Yang Xianmao said lightly, still didn't look at the old man, just looked at the river flowing eastward on the pier in the twilight.

The old man said: "The herb doctor who extracted my teeth before also said that his tooth extraction was not painful, and it was not that Lao Tzu rolled on the bed in pain. The old man inhaled the cool air, muttered, stood up, took a few steps forward, pinched the small packet of medicine in his hand, and said to himself, "This packet of medicine powder is enough to last for a few days, and when the time comes, you will have to spend money to buy it from him." I just had a pain and pulled this tooth out!"

Thinking of this, the old man turned around, squatted in front of the stall and looked at Yang Xianmao and said, "Is it really not painful for you to extract your teeth? Can you guarantee that? If it really doesn't hurt, I will pay double the amount for your tooth extraction." If it hurts, I won't pay, do you dare to pack the ticket?"

Xia Yinhua, who was on the door panel, interjected angrily and said: "You still have this idea for only a penny? You are too picky, aren't you? Is it easy for people, setting up a stall here on this cold day, and you still want to rely on it to make a penny. ”