35 – Mutual Probing, Big Purchases

“Little gentleman, did you say that your master is the well-known Old Doctor Chen?”

Master Ma’s smile faded, and his expression turned serious.

“It seems the villagers all refer to him as such.”

The tension on Lu Qing’s face eased slightly as he answered.

“Yes, Master Ma, my little brother here goes to Old Doctor Chen every day to study.”

At this moment, Wang Da’an seized the opportunity to chime in.

Master Ma scrutinized Lu Qing and Wang Da’an for a moment before suddenly smiling.

“Ah, so you are a proud student of Old Doctor Chen, I must apologize for my previous impoliteness.”

Master Ma solemnly bowed to Lu Qing, startling him into taking two steps back.

Waving his hands in a panic, Lu Qing said: “I’m not worthy of such a title. I’m just learning a bit about herbs from my master; I can’t even diagnose illnesses yet.”

Seeing Lu Qing’s honest demeanor, Master Ma couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Regardless, it was impolite of me earlier. How about this, I’ll cover the cost of the meat you bought at this stall?”

“That won’t do.” Lu Qing shook his head repeatedly. “My master taught me never to accept something without earning it.”

“But I did offend you earlier, so consider this meat my apology.”

However, no matter how Master Ma insisted, Lu Qing just shook his head, firmly refusing his offer.

On the side, Wang Da’an watched with wide eyes.

It was the first time he had seen Master Ma be so polite to anyone.

And that person was his little brother, Lu Qing.

Seeing Lu Qing continuously refuse Master Ma’s gift, Wang Da’an grew anxious inside.

That was several kilograms of meat being offered for free. What was Ah Qing thinking?

Despite his inner anxiety, Wang Da’an did not directly accept for Lu Qing.

He knew Lu Qing was educated and had the guidance of a learned doctor. Lu Qing surely had his reasons for refusing.

Seeing that Lu Qing was determined not to accept his apology gift, Master Ma had a sudden inspiration and smiled again.

“The little gentleman is indeed virtuous, worthy of being Old Doctor Chen’s proud student. How about this, I noticed you had trouble with the silver, so why don’t I exchange it for you?”

The butcher, upon hearing this, quickly said: “That’s right, little gentleman. Here, only Master Ma is capable of exchanging that silver for you.”

Lu Qing hesitated briefly before nodding, “Then I’ll leave it to you, Master Ma.”

He took out the silver, and Master Ma, upon seeing the fine snowflake-patterned silver, became more convinced by Lu Qing’s words.

Common village boys wouldn’t be able to get such high-quality silver.

After weighing it, Master Ma smiled and said: “This silver is about six qian, which is roughly equivalent to six hundred copper coins.”

Master Ma then took a cloth bag from his person, drew out two small strings of copper coins from inside it, and handed the bag to Lu Qing.

“The copper coins inside should equal your silver. Count them and see.”

Lu Qing accepted the bag and didn’t hesitate to start counting.

Wanting to help but knowing he wasn’t good with numbers, Wang Da’an stood by anxiously.

Lu Qing swiftly counted the coins.

Seeing Lu Qing count so skillfully, Master Ma narrowed his eyes.

Among villagers, it’s rare to find someone literate. Anyone who could count accurately up to a hundred was already impressive.

Lu Qing’s speed in counting showed that numbers were no challenge for him.

Master Ma grew increasingly sure that Lu Qing was indeed the apprentice of that famous doctor.

Soon, Lu Qing finished counting.

He looked up: “It seems there’s extra.”

Inside the bag were six hundred fifty copper coins, fifty more than the silver’s equivalent.

“Consider the extra fifty coins a bonus for the high quality of your silver,” Master Ma smiled.

Lu Qing thought for a moment and did not refuse anymore.

He knew that Master Ma was trying to befriend him.

But he had already declined the other party several times; he couldn’t really ignore face completely.

Moreover, this wasn’t a bad opportunity for him to understand the outside world.

“The money has been exchanged, young master can buy things at ease now. By the way, I still don’t know the young master’s name?” Master Ma took the opportunity to ask.

“My name is Lu Qing.” Lu Qing said, then pointed to Wang Da’an beside him, “This is my fellow villager, Brother Wang.”

“Master Ma, my name is Wang Da’an.” Wang Da’an said somewhat obsequiously.

“Wang Da’an, not bad.”

Master Ma, of course, could see that Wang Da’an was just an ordinary rural youth.

However, he still nodded to him with some grace.

But even with just this, Wang Da’an was already excited, his face turned red.

“Brother Lu Qing, I wish you a pleasant time here. I still have some matters to attend to, so I’ll take my leave.”

Master Ma was a man who understood boundaries and did not take the opportunity to follow Lu Qing around but chose to keep his distance.

Regarding this, Lu Qing was, of course, pleased to see.

Though he intended to befriend Master Ma, now was not the right time.

Because currently, their strengths were not equal.

For now, it was merely due to his identity as “Old Doctor Chen’s disciple” that gained him this regard.

After Master Ma left, Lu Qing approached the meat stall again.

“Boss, can I buy meat now?”

“Of course.” The meat stall owner beamed, “Young master, so you are Old Doctor Chen’s disciple, no wonder you look so dignified!”

Lu Qing glanced at his patched clothes, feeling somewhat speechless.

This is called dignified?

“What, the boss also knows Old Doctor Chen?” Wang Da’an asked curiously.

“Young man, what are you saying? Who within ten miles doesn’t know Old Doctor Chen? Last year, my wife got postpartum cold and almost died; it was Old Doctor Chen who cured her. He is a famous divine doctor in these parts!”

“Since that’s the case, boss, shouldn’t you give us a discount on this meat?” Wang Da’an took the opportunity to say.

“Discount, of course, a discount!”

Finally, the meat stall owner waived off the small change, charging Lu Qing three wens less for the meat.

After buying the meat, Lu Qing and Wang Da’an continued shopping at the big market.

Not long after, they had bought a large pile of things.

Mainly grains and some daily necessities.

Among them, the grains were the most purchased.

In addition to these, Lu Qing also bought some vegetable seeds and needle and thread.

The vegetable seeds were for planting more vegetables in the courtyard.

He couldn’t always go out to dig wild greens.

As for the needle and thread, it was because the big iron needle they used as a fishhook at home was already heavily worn.

He needed to make more fishhooks for backup.

Lu Qing also saw fish for sale at the market. He asked about the price and found it cheaper than pork.

But it made sense. For the bottom-tier civilians of this world, fat was very important, so even pork had fatty meat being more expensive than lean meat.

Fish, on the other hand, had little fat and wasn’t very filling.

It was only the wealthy nobles who were willing to spend a lot of money for a bite of freshness.

To the common folk, if given a choice, they would even prefer pork to fish.

After buying all these things, Lu Qing’s six hundred and fifty copper coins were mostly gone.

He also bought two large bamboo baskets. Then he and Wang Da’an, carrying and lifting, managed to take all the stuff.

With somewhat heavy steps, the two of them left the big market and headed back to the village.