Seeing the old man drenched by the rain, his hair still wet and his gaunt fra trembling, Qin Ziwen said to Du Yu, "Du Yu, go boil a pot of water."
"Yes."
Qin Ziwen glanced at the large basket on his back. "Is this basket filled with dicinal herbs?"
"Yes." The old man hurriedly took out his basket. "The herbs inside aren’t worth much. Shopkeeper, feel free to take whatever you like."
Qin Ziwen asked, "Do you have these four: Honeysuckle, dandelion, Mint, and licorice?"
"I do, I do! These are common herbs. I picked quite a few this ti." The old man quickly dumped the herbs onto the table and sorted out the four types.
Du Yu ca out with a kettle of boiling water and three pottery bowls.
He first poured a bowl for Qin Ziwen, then one for the old man, and finally one for himself.
"Be careful, it’s hot," Qin Ziwen said.
A smile appeared on the old man’s face. "Thank you for your concern, Shopkeeper. Here are the herbs you needed."
He pushed the pile of sorted herbs forward.
A faint dicinal fragrance wafted over.
Qin Ziwen looked at Du Yu. "Go to the cellar, cut off so at, and cook it."
A short while later, the old man accepted the strip of cooked cured at. His eyes grew hot. Wiping away a tear, he said hastily, "Shopkeeper, you are a good man. If you need any herbs, just let know. If I co across them, I’ll bring them to you."
Qin Ziwen pointed to the Honeysuckle and other three herbs on the table. "If you find any more, just bringing more of these four types would be a great help."
The old man nodded quickly to show he understood.
The two chatted for a while longer before Qin Ziwen said, "It’s not safe at night. You can rest here for the night and leave at dawn tomorrow. I don’t have a spare bed, though. You can push so tables together."
"No, no, that’s not necessary. I can just sleep on the floor."
Qin Ziwen didn’t press the issue. He just went back to get a straw mat for him, then took the herbs and left the tavern. In any case, these people couldn’t get to his ho through the tavern. Wherever they ca from, that’s where they’d be when they left.
Night fell, and the hours passed without incident.
"You have successfully survived in the wilderness for a nineteenth day. You obtained a Card from the altar and snatched a rabbit from a leopard... Overall Score: 54."
"You have received the following rewards: [Building Card] Level 1 Congee Shed, [Building Card] Level 1 Farmland, [Building Card] Level 1 Pharmacy, Mountain Animal Encyclopedia Fragnt*2."
The next morning, Qin Ziwen looked at his rewards.
’Huh,’ Qin Ziwen thought. Two new types of buildings had appeared.
One was a congee shed, the other a pharmacy.
Thinking about recent events, Qin Ziwen decided to build the pharmacy first.
The pharmacy required a 4x5 ter empty space.
Qin Ziwen found an open area behind the bathroom.
He silently willed it to be used.
When the light faded, a small, elegant building of blue bricks and tiles stood before him. The small building was exquisite. He pulled open the main door.
The layout inside resembled a traditional Chinese pharmacy. One wall was covered with a cabinet of drawers for storing herbs, and a brown wooden desk stood in the front.
A faint dicinal fragrance filled the air.
’Could it be...’ Qin Ziwen’s expression shifted. He walked over and pulled open a drawer. It was empty.
He checked several more drawers; they were all the sa.
Qin Ziwen was speechless.
’Looks like I was overthinking things.’
[Level 1 Pharmacy: Level 1 dicine Fragrance, Level 1 Antiseptic]
’Well, what do you know. The fragrance in the air is actually an effect of the building itself.’
’Level 1 dicine Fragrance, of all things!’
Qin Ziwen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but besides the fragrance, there was also the Level 1 Antiseptic effect.
He went to the living room and began sorting the herbs he got yesterday into the drawers.
"Sir, this is from the dicine Gatherer yesterday." Du Yu ca in from behind, carrying a large bag full of herbs.
Qin Ziwen was surprised. "He left all of them?"
From the looks of it, this was nearly all the herbs the dicine Gatherer had in his basket.
"Yes, I believe so. And he rolled up the straw mat and left it by the wall," Du Yu nodded.
A complex emotion flickered in Qin Ziwen’s eyes. He hadn’t really thought much of it yesterday. He just figured they had made a deal—the dicine Gatherer gave him so herbs, so it was fine to let him stay the night in the tavern, since he couldn’t leave it anyway.
He really hadn’t thought about it too deeply.
He didn’t even know if people who left the tavern could ever return for a second ti.
For him and the dicine Gatherer, that might have been the one and only ti they would ever et.
Qin Ziwen looked at the herbs in the bag and asked Du Yu, "Do you recognize any of these herbs?"
Du Yu quickly shook his head.
Qin Ziwen was in a bind. He didn’t recognize them either.
Zhao Pu might know, but he couldn’t possibly bring Zhao Pu here.
That would reveal far too much.
He knew that human nature rarely holds up to scrutiny, so sotis it was best to eliminate the possibility of a test altogether.
"It’s fine." Qin Ziwen then dumped all the herbs from the bag onto the table and began sorting them into drawers by type.
"Sir, so you do recognize them," Du Yu said in surprise.
"I don’t. I’m just putting them away randomly. When soone who knows herbs cos along, we can rearrange them," Qin Ziwen said calmly. "By the way, Du Yu, take so of these herbs to apartnt 202 downstairs." Du Yu bowed. "Yes, sir."
After dealing with the pharmacy, it was ti for the congee shed.
Honestly, Qin Ziwen felt the na of this building was a little bizarre.
In ancient tis, congee sheds were used for disaster relief.
’So, is the purpose of giving a congee shed to provide disaster relief for the Gated Community?’
’The problem is, I don’t have that much grain.’
After so thought, Qin Ziwen went to the expanded area behind the guest bedroom. It was adjacent to the mining area, and there was still a 20x10 empty space.
Unlike the pharmacy, whose purpose was relatively clear, he decided to place it here.
The congee shed required an 8x7 area, a very large footprint.
He silently willed it to be used.
When the light faded, a huge thatched shelter stood in its place.
It was a simple structure built from wood, thatch, and broken planks, the joints tied directly with rope.
The core area featured a large iron pot over a ter in diater, sitting on a brick-and-stone stove. Next to it were several large bundles of firewood, and beside the stove, a large sack of rice.
Under the further reaches of the shelter, straw mats were laid out over a sparse layer of thatch. These mats were probably ant to be temporary beds.
’This thing... it really is a congee shed for disaster relief.’
Walking over to the stove, he looked at the large sack of rice. The "budget" for this shabby building had probably all been spent on this one sack.
He opened the sack. The rice inside wasn’t very fresh; it was likely old rice.
He chose to use Insight on the congee shed.
[Level 1 Congee Shed: Level 1 Attracts Vagrants, Level 1 Employnt]
Looking at the congee shed’s effects, Qin Ziwen couldn’t help but ponder.
’He thought he... probably, maybe, sort of... figured out the congee shed’s purpose.’
After all, it was written quite clearly.
Attract vagrants, then employ them. Wasn’t this just a way to recruit temporary workers? Just like in the old days, trading labor for food, work for relief.
As for how to attract them, Qin Ziwen’s gaze fell on the large pot in the center.
...
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