Gu Youyou said with a faint smile, "Remember, this stuff is a hassle to make, and it’s not cheap!"
Qin Changlin’s amber eyes suddenly brightened as he blinked thoughtfully, then he nodded vigorously, "I get it, Sister Youyou, I understand now..."
Gu Youyou laughed, handed over the remaining five jars of chili sauce to Qin Changlin, and said, "Then it’s settled; I’ll leave these things with you. I’m counting on you and look forward to the good news in three days!"
Gu Youyou had long decided that Qin Changlin had chosen the wrong profession by becoming a doctor, and when she had sixty taels of silver in hand, she could hardly believe her eyes.
She quickly did some math in her head. The value of silver in this era was about the same as during the Wanli period of the Ming dynasty—one tael of silver could buy two shi of ordinary rice, with one shi being around ninety-five kilograms. That meant one tael could buy about one hundred ninety kilograms of rice, or three hundred and eighty catties.
Considering that the price of family rice ranged from two and a half to three and a tenth yuan per catty, one tael of silver would be roughly equivalent to a thousand yuan.
After crunching the numbers, she realized that silver was quite a bit more valuable back then than it is now, inflation really has a far-reaching impact!
Six jars of chili sauce traded for sixty thousand yuan? The Gu Family was far stronger than Lao Gan Ma!
Gu Youyou almost couldn’t resist grabbing Qin Changlin by the neck to ask him how he achieved it.
Had he swindled some rich tycoon?
Qin Changlin was grinning like a cunning merchant, yet Gu Youyou found him adorably foolish and cute at that moment!
"Sister Youyou, are you satisfied?"
Indeed, surpassingly satisfied!
But Gu Youyou didn’t let her excitement show right away, and she asked calmly, "It’s fine! But I’m curious about how you did it?"
Qin Changlin took Gu Youyou aside, and in a low voice, he said, "My master has been out on a call and hasn’t returned, so I’ve been seeing all the recent patients."
"Mhm!" Gu Youyou could understand that.
He went on mysteriously, "Do you know about Master Fu from our town?"
Gu Youyou nodded her head; she didn’t get out much, so how could she know?
Wait, that sounded familiar!
Ah, right, her family’s eldest aunt used to belittle her by suggesting she become Master Fu’s concubine. That must be the same Master Fu, right?
Gu Youyou asked, "How many Master Fus are there in town?"
That was him then, Gu Youyou’s mouth twitched.
"Did you sell them all to him?"
"Yeah!" Qin Changlin laughed and nodded, saying, "That Master Fu is in his forties, quite overweight, and also suffers from some deficiency-cold syndrome! I prescribed him over a dozen bitter prescriptions, but they were so bitter he couldn’t stand it and came back the next day, asking if he could change a few herbs or if there was another way to treat it.
So, I took out Sister Youyou’s chili sauce and made him a dish with it. Master Fu himself is a food lover, especially fond of spicy food, and once he ate it, he couldn’t stop.
I told him that forgoing medicine was not an option, but I could decrease the number of prescriptions he had to take if we added medicinal food therapy.
The food therapy was to add Sister Youyou’s chili sauce to his meals every day. He realized he could cure his illness while enjoying such a tasty treat, and was overjoyed. He bought all six jars on the spot."
Oh boy, this was not in line with Gu Youyou’s initial plan. She had wanted to attract more wealthy customers. After all, she couldn’t possibly sell her chili sauce to only Master Fu next year.
Well, never mind, in the end, Qin Changlin was a help after all.