Chapter 66: Choosing What’s Right, Not What’s Pricey
The pharmacy clerk first held out a bottle. “This one has the best effect. 109 yuan a bottle.”
Jian Xingxia smiled and pointed toward the bottom row of the same category counter. “I want to look at those.”
The clerk grew rather displeased, heavily setting down the beautifully packaged medicine in her hand. “I already told you, this one has the best effect!”
Jian Xingxia looked at her. “Are you a doctor? Or do you have a licensed pharmacist certificate?”
“You didn’t ask what kind of person will be using the medicine, how old they are, or if they have any underlying conditions. Second, you didn’t ask what the patient’s symptoms are, what illness they have, or if the medicine they’re buying was prescribed by a doctor… You didn’t even ask me about the expected prognosis, yet you firmly insist this one has the best effect?”
Jian Xingxia only looked gentle and mild; she rarely got into conflicts with others. But having taken care of herself alone for so long, she hadn’t smoothly grown up purely by relying on a good temper.
The pharmacy clerk’s face turned white and red in turns. She was defiant but couldn’t produce a more logical argument. After holding it in for a long moment, she sullenly pulled several bottles of medicine from the absolute bottom of the medicine cabinet.
“If you can read it, look at it yourself. I can tell you’re not a doctor either; you just want to pick something cheap.”
Jian Xingxia was too lazy to snap back.
She simply picked up the medicines and examined them closely. Sure enough, even though physical pharmacies were quite a bit more expensive than online stores, none of the bottles the clerk brought out exceeded forty yuan.
Still, Jian Xingxia carefully checked the ingredient lists to compare prices.
Her main goal today was hiring Lin Sanniang. Especially after hearing from Dahei that the flow of time was different, she estimated that a considerable number of days had passed on Lin Sanniang’s end. Therefore, she had hired the temporary worker for the maximum time limit early this morning—six hours.
According to Lin Sanniang’s wages, she could earn up to sixty yuan at most. Lin Sanniang could afford any of these bottles of medicine.
Jian Xingxia breathed a sigh of relief. She patiently and repeatedly checked the medicine formulas. For a few things she wasn’t sure about, she even opened her phone to look them up. Xylitol was out, but she needed to check on maltodextrin.
This caused the pharmacy clerk to roll her eyes heavily. But Jian Xingxia simply focused on her own task.
Very quickly, she made her selection: a bottle of Motherwort Paste with a formula derived from the Compendium of Materia Medica. The ingredient list consisted entirely of Chinese herbs and was almost completely identical to the prescription Lin Sanniang had given her.
It seemed the doctors of the Daliang Dynasty truly possessed some genuine skills. The Compendium of Materia Medica combined with modern industrial technology made it an even more powerful combination.
For such an excellent prescription and medicine, a 200g bottle only cost 12.8 yuan.
Jian Xingxia held the medicine. “I want two bottles of this.”
The clerk unhappily grabbed two bottles. She didn’t even give Jian Xingxia a bag, saying coldly, “Scan the code!”
Jian Xingxia didn’t care about her attitude either. After scanning the code, she kept browsing around the pharmacy.
The clerk yelled, “You’re done buying, what are you still looking at?”
Jian Xingxia smiled. “How do you know I’m done buying? I also want to buy Cold Clearance Granules, Banlangen Granules, Xiaochaihu Granules, Chuanbei Pipa Paste, Jizhi Syrup, Stomach-Healthy Digestive Tablets, Huoxiang Zhengqi Liquid, Danshen Tablets, Dihuang Pills, Heart-Saving Pills, Wuji Baifeng Pills, Ejiao Sheets, Yunnan Baiyao…”
The clerk thought Jian Xingxia was just talking nonsense to make trouble. But looking again, Jian Xingxia was holding her phone, and the screen truly displayed a long list of medicine names.
Cold sweat instantly broke out on the clerk’s forehead. Could she have run into a major client? Or a secret inspector on an unannounced visit? Whichever it was, it wasn’t something her previous attitude could handle.
The clerk’s attitude immediately did a 180-degree turn. She hurriedly ran out from behind the counter, her face entirely covered in smiles, eager to serve Jian Xingxia.
“Right away, right away! You want to look at these kinds of medicines, right? I’ll fetch them for you immediately.”
Jian Xingxia picked up each one to look at the formula list and asked for the prices. It was a highly tedious process. The clerk ran back and forth until she was sweating profusely, fetching medicines and checking labels.
“Give me nine boxes of this Huoxiang Zhengqi Liquid.”
The clerk complied, and Jian Xingxia scanned the code. Once scanned, she took the medicine and prepared to leave.
Looking at the massive pile of medicines left on the counter, the clerk was dumbfounded. She instinctively blurted out, “You’re only buying the special-offer Huoxiang Zhengqi Liquid? Nothing else? You’re not buying them? If you’re not buying them, why did you look at so many? Wasting my ti—”
Halfway through her sentence, she remembered the matter of the secret inspector again and quickly swallowed her words back down. She could only watch blankly as Jian Xingxia walked away, not daring to say another word.
Jian Xingxia, on the other hand, felt thoroughly refreshed.
She had thoroughly looked over the clean-ingredient traditional Chinese patent medicines she had researched beforehand in the pharmacy today and compared their prices. Physical stores still carried overhead costs, so almost everything sold was more expensive than online, except for the Huoxiang Zhengqi Liquid that happened to be on promotion.
A box contained ten vials, and three boxes on special offer only cost five yuan. Jian Xingxia bought nine boxes in one go, spending only fifteen yuan. This item was useful for the villagers and also useful for the temporary workers; buying a bit more to keep on hand would be helpful.
As for the other medicines, they were all cheaper online.
This incident with Lin Sanniang and the timeline served as a reminder to Jian Xingxia: buying certain things on the spot when needed wouldn’t be in time; it would either be expensive or arrive too late. It was better to buy them in advance for backup.
It was just that she had originally intended to slowly compare them herself—doing this to save money wasn’t something to be ashamed of. But unfortunately, that eye-rolling clerk had suddenly popped out, insisting on serving her, bringing out every type of medicine for her to look at and compare.
Cough. Since the clerk insisted on being so enthusiastic, she wouldn’t stand on ceremony.
Leaving the pharmacy, Jian Xingxia used her phone to selectively buy some of the medicines she had just looked at that were suitable for emergencies. She wanted to buy them all, but unfortunately, combining what was in her pocket and her phone, she only had a little over nine hundred yuan left. She truly didn’t dare spend it all.
She only selected a few emergency, over-the-counter medicines to buy. Jian Xingxia didn’t push herself either, choosing the cheapest options.
Perhaps to modern people, the purity and concentration were a bit lower, so the effect wouldn’t be as amazing. But judging by the effective result of the cold granules on Lin Sanniang, it was obvious that for ancient people who had never taken modern medicine, even the most ordinary medicine was enough to produce massive effects.
Since that was the case, she would still prioritize cost-effectiveness. She would choose what was right, not what was pricey. Emergency and life-saving measures came first; everything else could be planned over the long term.
After buying the medicine, Jian Xingxia was just about to enter the supermarket to find Liang Chengcheng when Liang Chengcheng emerged, lugging two massive bags.
“Xiaxia! Quick, help me carry these!”
Jian Xingxia quickly reached out to help. The moment she took them, she was stunned. “So heavy! Orange, what did you buy?”
Liang Chengcheng feigned innocence. “I didn’t buy much. I just craved instant noodles, tossed noodles, and hot and sour rice noodles, so I bought a few packs of each flavor.”
“I also bought a few biscuits, potato chips, and dried plum candies.”
“There wasn’t any pickled mustard tuber for breakfast, so I bought a few jars of Lao Gan Ma, side dishes, mushroom sauce, beef sauce, and things like that…”
“When we gathered the vegetables earlier, there wasn’t any plastic wrap, so I bought some plastic wrap, fresh-keeping bags, and vacuum-sealed bags…”
“I’m not used to your laundry powder, so I bought laundry pods, fabric softener, and scent beads…”
“Mmh, I’m also not used to the shampoo, body wash, face cream, and lotion, so I bought a little bit of each…”
