At the end of the year, the pharmacy is very busy, because the people are afraid that the pharmacy will not open before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and the family has a small illness and disaster and has nowhere to buy medicine.

Because of the need for confidentiality, all the medicines in Lu's pharmacy will not leave a paper record, before Hui Niang and Zhou first memorized the amount of each medicine, and then let a few maids memorize it, and the same prescription has to be dispensed with several different dosages according to different conditions.

The medicine sells well, Hui Niang and Zhou's dispensing is a little too busy, the whole family goes into battle, the big scale and the small scale have prepared a lot, the front hall sells medicine and dispenses the medicine, in fact, it is also to show the process of dispensing to the patient, so that the patient knows that Lu's pharmacy is not adulterated in the process of dispensing, and the difference in the amount of medicine is calculated very carefully, although this does not help the patient's condition much, but it makes the patient's family feel at ease about the quality of the medicine in Lu's pharmacy.

On the twenty-eighth day of the lunar month, it is the period of the Fucheng market, and this day is the busiest day for the pharmacy.

There was an endless stream of people buying medicine outside the pharmacy, and after noon, some of the more in-demand commonly used medicines were sold out, and even Xie Yun'er had to come over to help dispense them.

Because the news that the pharmacy had a doctor sitting for consultation had not yet spread, many patients did not know that there was a famous doctor from the capital in the pharmacy, and Xie Yun'er had a very leisurely life in the past two days. On this day, Hui Niang was really busy, and Xie Yun'er insisted again and again, so they dispensed medicine together.

This is the first time that Xie Yun'er has mastered some details of the prescription, including the composition of medicinal materials and the proportion of dispensing.

Before, she just used her eyes to distinguish the smell, and then used her nose to smell the smell, although * is not far from ten, but there are some medicinal herbs that are used in small amounts will be ignored.

After all, Xie Yun'er comes from a medical family, and she only needs to prepare these prescriptions once in person, and Hui Niang has no defense against her, but Shen Xi is faintly worried.

Xie Yun'er is a member of Lu's Pharmacy at the moment, but she is afraid that she will open her own medical clinic in the future and steal his "exclusive secret recipe" that concentrates the essence of Chinese medicine for thousands of years, which will be very bad.

At noon, Yang's Pharmacy also sent someone over to "ask for medicine", it turned out that not only Lu's Pharmacy had a good business, but also Yang's Pharmacy had a booming business, and the medicine configured in advance was basically sold out, while Yang's Pharmacy had no prescription, so it had to rely on Lu's Pharmacy to supply.

was very busy, and the main hall of the Chamber of Commerce sent someone to say that several northern merchants came over and needed Hui Niang to entertain them, which made Hui Niang anxious...... With so many things suddenly crowded together, she felt overwhelmed.

"I'll leave the pharmacy to you first, I'll go to the Chamber of Commerce to have a look, after all, it's a guest from afar, so I can't be lazy."

Hui Niang hurriedly took off her apron, because dispensing medicine on the counter would inevitably involve powdered medicinal materials, which would be difficult to dispose of when contaminated on her body, so she would put an apron around the pharmacy. To meet guests, she must have the dignity of the head of the chamber of commerce, and it is necessary to be neatly dressed.

After going upstairs to change her clothes, Hui Niang sorted out her appearance and prepared to go out alone.

Zhou hurriedly said: "It's better for my sister to go out with a girl...... Xiu'er, keep up with your grandmother's daughter. ”

"Okay." Xiu'er was originally the most stupid one among the maids, and what she was best at was moving and lifting as a maid.

Hui Niang shook her head: "The pharmacy is busy, Xiu'er stays, let Xiaolang go with me." ”

Xiu'er's face was full of disappointment, seeing that Huiniang insisted, and Zhou was not reluctant, she instructed: "Xiaolang, don't make your aunt angry on the road, you know?" ”

Shen Xi stuck out his tongue, the old lady didn't say this, why did he make Hui Niang angry? Anyway, the Zhou family also dislikes him for making trouble at the counter, and it is a good thing to follow Hui Niang to the Chamber of Commerce to see the world.

Hui Niang took Shen Xi to the main hall of the Chamber of Commerce, and several merchants from the north were drinking tea at this time.

These merchants were all seeing Hui Niang for the first time, and after seeing that the head of the Chamber of Commerce was a woman and shrewd and capable, they all sincerely said some words of admiration.

There are a few shopkeepers here in the Chamber of Commerce, mainly the merchants who operate rice and grain in the city, and this time we want to talk about the purchase of grain in the coming year, although this matter has nothing to do with Hui Niang, but Hui Niang, as the head of the Chamber of Commerce, often needs her to come forward.

Among the people present, Shen Xi was dispensable, he sat on the small bench behind Hui Niang, and Hui Niang seemed to be playing a double reed, Hui Niang discussed things with these merchants in front, he listened in the back, and occasionally talked to Hui Niang in a low voice, giving Hui Niang ideas.

Although the southerners eat rice, the people also have a certain demand for millet in the north, and the main wheat in the north is the main product, so the people have to use flour to buy from the north.

Tingzhou Chamber of Commerce, since the beginning of the month of Layue, there have been shops from all walks of life to join in, but the number of rice and grain lines is not much, so there is not much advantage when negotiating prices with foreign countries.

After getting to the point, these northern merchants became extremely domineering, with an arrogant attitude, and the meaning expressed over and over again: Just set such a high price, you like to talk about it or not.

It was the first time Shen Xi had seen such a domineering merchant, and he didn't have a humble attitude when doing business, as if others owed them money.

The price could not be negotiated, and these merchants said that they would wait until the next year to negotiate.

But after the New Year is the spring famine, the people in the city are just short of grain at that time, and it is also the best time of the year for the rice and grain store business in the city.

Waiting for a few merchants to leave, a shopkeeper of a rice grain store sighed: "In charge, it's not that we have to bother you, it's really that these merchants used to like to raise prices, and the millet and wheat business in Fujian and Zhejiang is basically monopolized by them, and we have nowhere to buy other people's." ”

Hui Niang frowned and said: "Rice and grain are a major event related to the lives of the people, so there are no other merchants to sell here?" ”

The shopkeeper said helplessly: "It's not that others don't want to transport, it's that the mountains and rivers are far away and the transportation is inconvenient, and the other is ...... The background of these people is not simple. ”

As soon as these words came out, Hui Niang immediately understood. To put it simply, these people are actually doing business for officials, and they have the support of the government behind them, and they just want to engage in monopoly operations to make huge profits.

Shen Xi secretly wondered, no wonder these people were all, it turned out that they had no fear.

Hui Niang nodded and said, "If it doesn't work, let people ask where they live, and we'll visit you tonight." ”

The shopkeeper hurriedly waved his hand: "No, these people are arrogant, if we come to the door in person, it will make them even more arrogant...... And these people stay overnight in the Qing|Lou Chu Pavilion, and it is inconvenient for the family to go to this kind of place. ”

Although Hui Niang was shrewd and capable outside, her face changed slightly when she heard the last sentence.

As a woman, even showing her head has been criticized, and if she goes to such unclean places as Qinglou Chu Pavilion again, she will be even more gossiped about. Hui Niang herself doesn't care much about this, and the clear ones are self-purifying, but now she represents the Chamber of Commerce, and her face is damaged, which is equivalent to losing the face of the Chamber of Commerce.

"Then I'll go back and think about it."

Hui Niang sighed, let the people from the rice grain store go back first, she stayed in the main hall of the Chamber of Commerce, and at the same time wanted to be quiet, she also wanted to hear Shen Xi's opinion.

When the others left, Hui Niang sent Zhike downstairs, and then said: "Xiaolang, I didn't expect the matter of the Chamber of Commerce to be so tricky, these northern businessmen with official backgrounds...... It's hard to deal with. ”

Shen Xi said with a smile: "When the Chamber of Commerce was established, didn't my aunt say that she was ready to meet all difficulties?" ”

Hui Niang pursed her lips and smiled: "You ghost spirit, now that your aunt is in trouble, you will only laugh at your aunt?" Say if you have a good idea. ”

Shen Xi pouted: "I'm not a living Kong Ming, how can I have an idea for everything?" I used to come up with so many good ideas with my aunt, and my aunt didn't say anything about giving a reward or anything......"

Hearing Shen Xi's first half of the words, Hui Niang lamented in her heart, it seems that there is really no way to do this, but when she heard the second half of the sentence, she suddenly felt that Shen Xi actually had a countermeasure, and she just wanted to get some "benefits".

"Then what reward do you want to say?" Hui Niang stared at Shen Xi, her eyes were full of encouragement, "As long as you say it, if your aunt can do it, she will definitely help you." ”

Shen Xi held his head and thought about it, and finally laughed and said, "Save it first, and then I will discuss it with your aunt when I think about it later." ”

"Ghost spirit, aunt promised you, you can quickly say what you can do."

Shen Xi showed a sly smile on his face, and talked eloquently: "Aunt, I see that these people are very conceited, and there is no one in their eyes, thinking that they have the support of the government and monopolized the market, so we have to buy their rice grain." ”

Hui Niang nodded, Shen Xi analyzed the truth.

"Their biggest weakness is conceit, it is true that they can prevent other merchants from transporting rice and grain to Fujian and Zhejiang, but they can't stop us from going to the north to buy rice and grain in person."

Shen Xi continued to analyze, "In the past, the shops in the city, whether they were rice and grain stores, medicine shops or cloth shops, were all small businesses, and they could only rely on purchasing merchants in terms of supply. But now that the Chamber of Commerce has been established, we can no longer maintain this business model, what we lack, we have to send people to the place of origin to buy, and can not wait for others to traffick, so as to grasp the source and price. ”

Hui Niang's eyes suddenly became deep, and she carefully considered the feasibility of what Shen Xi had mentioned.

She always felt that even if the Chamber of Commerce was established, it was only to lower the price when negotiating business with the outside world, but even if it was lowered, these middlemen would also make a lot of money from it.

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PS: First update!

There are still twelve hours before this book is on the shelves, and the Son of Heaven asks for collection and recommendation ticket support!