Chapter 70: Chapter 55 Dai Sanlang_2
Sister Song arrived at the butcher shop, and by now, it was almost evening. Only a little bony scrap meat was left in the shop, and Dai Sanlang was tidying up the cutting board, about to close up for the day.
Sister Song loved to buy meat at this time. The price right before closing was almost half what it would be in the morning.
"Sanlang," Sister Song said familiarly, "same as always."
Dai Sanlang grunted in acknowledgment, gathered the scrap meat from the wooden cutting board, and wrapped it in oiled cloth.
He furrowed his brow, his figure resembling a bloated little hill. Due to the summer heat, sweat rolled down his forehead, soaking through his thin shirt and making it visibly damp. At a glance, he looked like a huge, just-out-of-the-pot, soy-braised sweet dumpling.
"Sanlang," Sister Song could not help but say, "Have you put on more weight recently?"
Dai Sanlang didn’t answer.
"This won’t do," Sister Song said. "You eat meat every day, and getting heavier isn’t the solution. Think about it," she leaned in closer, "When will you ever settle down?"
Dai Sanlang paused his cleaning, and his face reddened somewhat.
Butcher Dai had taken a liking to Widow Sun from the rice shop on West Street for a long time. However, Widow Sun liked handsome men, choosing not by silver or by skill but by face alone. Dai Sanlang was far from the words "handsome and courageous," so to this very day, he hadn’t even caught Widow Sun’s gaze, only nursing a secret heartache.
Seeing his dejected appearance, Sister Song wanted to offer some words of comfort, but then she had an idea and said, "Speaking of which, Doctor Lu from Renxin Medical Hall just released a new medicine today. They say it can help people slim down and lighten their bodies."
Dai Sanlang was startled: "New medicine?"
"That’s right. The Nasal Congestion Herbal Tea that Doctor Lu prepared before was quite effective. Why don’t you give it a try? It’s expensive, but it might be worth it." Sister Song was actually just speaking off the top of her head and hadn’t really thought that Dai Sanlang would buy it. Firstly, the new medicine was very expensive, costing five silver a pot. Who would buy it just to shed a few pounds? Secondly, she had never heard of a man who cared that much about looking good.
After Sister Song picked out the remaining meat and left, Dai Sanlang closed up the shop. Instead of heading straight home as usual, he stood at the door contemplating for a good while before he headed in the direction of West Street.
West Street wasn’t far from the East City Temple Entrance. The days were long in summer, and it got dark late. By the time Dai Sanlang reached Renxin Medical Hall, the sky had nearly turned completely dark, and aside from the food shops that still had their lights on, most of the smaller stores had closed up.
Du Changqing and Ah Cheng were just about to leave the hall when they saw a large, tall, fat man coming toward them. This man had two gleaming cleavers hanging at his waist and his chubby cheeks jiggled alarmingly as he walked, quite a frightening sight.
Du Changqing was startled and bravely stood at the doorway, saying, "Wha—what do you want?"
Dai Sanlang looked up at him. Du Changqing stared back resolutely. After a moment, Dai Sanlang looked away and muttered sheepishly, "I want to buy some medicine."
"Buy medicine? What kind?" Du Changqing asked, suspicious.
"It’s that..." the fat man seemed to find it hard to speak and stammered, "the one that can... slim and lighten the body..."
"What’s that? Speak up!"
Lu Tong came from behind Du Changqing, placed the oil lamp on the table, and said, "You want to buy ’Xianxian,’ right?"
The flickering light illuminated Dai Sanlang’s face and clearly showed the large beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead from nervousness. He nodded bashfully and grunted softly in agreement.
Du Changqing looked at Lu Tong in surprise.
Lu Tong took out a white porcelain jar from the medicine cabinet behind her and said, "Five silver a pot, should last about half a month, how many would you like?"
The price was certainly not cheap for Dai Sanlang, who made his living selling pork. However, he simply swallowed and said, "I’ll take two pots for now."
Lu Tong passed the two pots of "Xianxian" over to him. "Take it three times a day, brew it precisely on schedule." After a pause, she asked Dai Sanlang, "Can you read?"
Dai Sanlang shook his head.
"Then listen to me, you need to follow these instructions. There are restrictions when taking this medicine, and you can’t use it arbitrarily, or else it won’t work properly." Lu Tong explained the medicinal restrictions to him in detail, repeating them three times until Dai Sanlang nodded to show he had remembered. He wasn’t one for many words. After buying the medicine, he took the pots and left.
Du Changqing watched Dai Sanlang’s sturdy figure leave, murmuring to himself in bewilderment, "I never imagined that the first person to buy your medicine would be a butcher."
He had pictured the first customer might be a slender, graceful young girl, or perhaps a plump and well-pampered noble lady – never in his wildest dreams had he expected a pig slaughterer.
Dai Sanlang carefully placed the medicine pots, covered in pink paper, at his waist. Paired with his meat cleaver that reeked of pork fat, it was indeed an indescribable sight.