Poisonous Peasant 'Concubine' Ch 74 Part 1 - Hyacinth in Bloom

Apr 09, 2026

Chapter 74 Part 1 — Hiring People to Build his Big House

“Not doing business?”

Seeing that the shopkeeper was still standing there blankly, Ling Jingxuan cast him a cold glance.

Of course he intended to meet the county magistrate eventually—but definitely not now. When it came to his medical skills, he had no wish to draw too much attention. Rather than being constantly begged to treat patients, he preferred a quieter sort of busyness.

“Ah? Yes—yes, of course.”

Snapping back to his senses, the shopkeeper hurriedly suppressed the confusion written all over his face. After clearing his throat to steady himself, he forced a smile and asked, “Young master, are you here to seek treatment or— ahem—to purchase medicine?”

Originally he had been about to ask whether Ling Jingxuan needed a consultation or wanted to fill a prescription. But remembering that the man had even devised a treatment for the plague, the shopkeeper awkwardly changed his wording midway. With medical skill like that, who knew how high his expertise truly went? How could he possibly need treatment from them?

Without the slightest pause, Ling Jingxuan began listing medicines as if the names were already prepared on the tip of his tongue.

“Do you have ejiao? Also: clove, cyperus root, lime powder, pepper, turtle bone, deer antler, and dried dogwood root—five qian each. Snake bed seed, zishao flower, and dodder seed—one qian each. Musk, three fen.”

The string of unfamiliar medicinal names left everyone in the shop dizzy. It took the shopkeeper quite a while before he wiped the cold sweat from his brow and replied cautiously,

“We have everything you asked for—except ejiao. Perhaps the young master doesn’t know: ejiao is an extremely precious substance. It has always been reserved for the imperial family. The method of preparing it is known only to the head physician of the Imperial Medical Bureau. Ordinary people simply cannot obtain it.”

“Is that so?”

Ling Jingxuan raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

Originally he had intended to buy some ejiao to help Ling Wang-shi recover her health. He hadn’t expected that in this world, ejiao was reserved exclusively for the women of the imperial family. The rigid hierarchy truly was severe.

Forget it, he thought. I’ll just make some myself when I get back.

He would only need to spend some time simmering it down for her. The only question was whether the key ingredient—donkey hide—would be easy to buy.

“Prepare the medicines according to the amounts I listed,” he said as he walked with Yan Shengrui toward the counter. “Also, do you sell complete sets of silver acupuncture needles?”

The shopkeeper followed respectfully at his side.

“We do have a set,” he said cautiously. “But the price is somewhat high, and the quality isn’t the best. If the young master has friends in the prefectural capital, it might be better to ask them to bring back a finer set.”

There were many varieties of acupuncture needles. In a small place like this, being able to assemble a full set was already difficult—let alone guarantee their quality.

“No matter. Bring them out for me to see.”

Ling Jingxuan casually found a chair and sat down, speaking with complete indifference.

The quality of the needles did not truly affect the effectiveness of acupuncture. What mattered was the skill of the physician wielding them.

“Yes, please wait a moment.”

The shopkeeper bowed and hurried into the back courtyard. After quite some time, he returned carrying a small leather pouch.

Ling Jingxuan took the pouch and gently opened it.

Inside lay a neat row of silver needles of varying lengths and thicknesses—more than twenty in total. The finest of them were as thin as strands of hair, while the shortest measured just over ten centimeters. Each needle gleamed with a cold silver sheen.

He pulled one out and examined it carefully before nodding in satisfaction.

“Mm. Not bad. I’ll take this set. Do you have any other medical instruments?”

The needles certainly couldn’t be considered top quality. Still, they were made of genuine silver. Compared with the stainless-steel needles commonly used in modern times, these were far superior.

In his previous life, he had once traveled deep into the western mountains to seek out a famous craftsman just to obtain a proper set of silver needles. He had spent an enormous sum before finally acquiring them.

Truly good tools were things that came only by chance.

“Medical instruments?”

The shopkeeper looked completely baffled.

Aside from gold needles or silver needles… what other medical instruments could there possibly be?

“Forget it if you don’t. Have you finished preparing the medicines?”

The shopkeeper’s reaction had already given him his answer, so Ling Jingxuan did not dwell on it any longer. He put away the silver needles and prepared to leave.

As for the scalpels and other surgical tools he wanted, it seemed he would have to commission someone to forge them specially. Better safe than sorry—if one day someone in the family required surgery to survive, lacking proper instruments would cause enormous trouble. Preparing early meant avoiding future danger.

“Y-yes… it’s ready. May I ask the young master’s honorable name?” the shopkeeper asked, still unwilling to give up as he accepted the medicine packets from the assistant and handed them over. “To be honest, the county magistrate thinks very highly of your medical skills. He’s been searching for you. Before leaving Datong Town, he repeatedly instructed me that if I ever saw you, I must invite you to the county seat…”

Ling Jingxuan did not even let him finish. He raised a hand and cut him off coldly.

“Please tell the magistrate, for me, that my medical skills are quite ordinary and not worth remembering. That prescription that day only worked because I happened to have seen that illness before. How much?”

He would have to be insane to invite trouble for himself.

In an era where ordinary people had almost no rights at all, once word spread that his medical skills were extraordinary, the problems that followed would be endless.

“Ten taels of silver. At least tell me your surname, young master?” the shopkeeper asked timidly, glancing at him and the silent man standing beside him.

“No need.”

With that, Ling Jingxuan took out a ten-tael silver ingot and casually tossed it over. Then he turned and left with Yan Shengrui, carrying the medicine packets.

“Young master—!”

The shopkeeper chased after them unwillingly, but by the time he reached the doorway, all that remained was the back of their tall carriage rolling away.

Watching the carriage disappear into the distance, the shopkeeper could not help sighing again and again. From their two brief encounters, he had already sensed that this “divine doctor” was not an easy man to approach.

Still, he could not understand it.

Which physician did not dream of fame across the land? Of saving lives and helping the world?

Why did this one seem so utterly indifferent—almost even disgusted by the idea?

Once they settled inside the carriage, Yan Shengrui stroked his chin thoughtfully and looked at Ling Jingxuan.

“Musk, dodder seed, deer antler, clove… Jingxuan, you’re not planning to make that kind of medicine, are you?”

His peach-blossom eyes sparkled with curiosity—and a hint of excitement.

Those ingredients were all known aphrodisiacs.

Could it be that his Jingxuan… was getting impatient?

“What nonsense are you thinking about?” Ling Jingxuan rolled his eyes helplessly, having seen straight through his thoughts. “Relax. It will never be used on you.”

He was indeed planning to make aphrodisiac medicine, but certainly not for themselves. He was nowhere near that desperate.

Besides, who said an aphrodisiac formula could only produce aphrodisiacs?

In medicine, nothing was absolute. The same prescription, prepared through different methods, could yield entirely different results. Some medicines could save lives; others, made from the same ingredients, could become deadly poison.

“Ugh… would it kill you to let me fantasize a little longer?”

His dreams shattered instantly, Yan Shengrui shot him a resentful glare.

He knew it—there was no such good fortune waiting for him.

Aside from that one time when they had merely kissed each other on the cheek, their relationship had made no real progress since then. How could things suddenly leap forward so dramatically?

Sigh…

When would he ever get the chance to taste that sweetness again?

For a mighty Prince-General, it was truly a pitiful state—to spend his days thinking only about stealing another kiss. If the supreme ruler in the imperial capital ever learned of it, he would probably be furious enough to order the extermination of nine generations of his clan.

…Though, come to think of it, he himself was included in those nine generations.

“Big Brother? Brother Rui? What are you talking about? What medicine?”

Blinking in confusion, Ling Jingpeng looked back and forth between them curiously.

When it came to matters like this, he was clearly still rather innocent.

“Nothing. You don’t need to know.”

Ling Jingxuan had no interest in serving as anyone’s teacher for such “education.”

While they were speaking, the carriage stopped once more—this time in front of Xinyuan Restaurant.

All three of them got down from the carriage. Song Gengniu stayed outside to wait.

It was almost noon, and the restaurant was about to enter its busiest hours. People flowed in and out constantly, while the waiters’ loud calls rang out from time to time.

“Brother Ling, you’re here! Please, come upstairs and have a seat.”

Seeing them from afar, Shopkeeper Zhang came forward warmly to greet them. As he led them upstairs, he did not forget to instruct a waiter to bring tea and pastries, and at the same time asked him to notify the people he had already arranged to meet them.

Xinyuan Restaurant had three floors in total.
The ground floor catered to ordinary diners. Although the tables and chairs were grand and luxurious, they inevitably carried a somewhat vulgar air.

From the second floor upward were all private rooms, specially designed for wealthy patrons who liked to show off their status or valued privacy.

Shopkeeper Zhang led them directly to the most secluded and luxurious private chamber on the third floor. The interior décor could be described in only two words—

utterly extravagant.

After everyone sat down, Ling Jingxuan spoke with rare politeness.

“Brother Zhang, I hope we’re not troubling you.”

Although today was not a market day, the restaurant’s business seemed quite good. Noon was approaching, and as the Shopkeeper, Shopkeeper Zhang should have been very busy.

“No trouble at all. It won’t take long,” Shopkeeper Zhang waved it off with a smile. “Since I knew you were coming today, I contacted several construction team leaders when I returned. They’ll be here shortly. All of them have good reputations for their craftsmanship. You can meet them all and decide for yourself which one you want in the end.”

“Many thanks, Brother Zhang.” Ling Jingxuan nodded. “To be honest, I bought several people from Liu the broker today. Originally, I planned to build part of the house first and expand slowly later. But now that doesn’t seem possible anymore. Since the work has to be done sooner or later, I might as well finish everything at once. If all the teams are capable, I’ll hire them all—each team responsible for a portion of the construction. That way the work will go faster.”

He had already thought this through while riding in the carriage.

The largest tasks would be the main residence and the compound walls.

The main residence went without saying—it was where they would live, so it had to be the best. In fact, he had already drawn the architectural plans before leaving home that morning. Whichever construction team proved capable of building it would be assigned the task.

As for the compound wall, the work itself wasn’t technically difficult, but the area it needed to enclose was enormous.

Ling Jingxuan planned to build walls from Yuehua Ditch in the east all the way to the foot of Xiaogong Mountain in the west, enclosing every piece of land he had purchased. That way, no troublesome people would be able to disturb them in the future.

The rear of the property, however, required no wall at all.

There was no fortress more natural—or more secure—than Mount Yuehua itself.

The villagers might not understand such things, but he did. In general, wild beasts deep in the mountains would never easily descend into human settlements unless some catastrophic natural disaster forced them down.

More importantly, he possessed the Crescent Moon Spring.

Even if wild animals did come down from the mountains, he wasn’t worried. Through his observations over the past months, he had confirmed that the spring water not only stimulated plant growth but also had a strong attraction for animals.

Take the two wolf cubs at home for example. Whenever they saw him, they would howl excitedly.

But when he refilled their water bowl with spring water, they would immediately fall silent. Sometimes they even wagged their tails at him, almost as if they understood something.

They were practically becoming little spirits.

Sometimes Ling Jingxuan even wondered—if they kept drinking the spring water like this year after year, would they eventually become spirit beasts?

…Ahem.

Alright, that was getting off topic.

The conclusion remained simple: no wall was needed at the rear.

Pinyin & Notes

Ejiao (阿胶 / ējiāo) – A traditional medicinal gelatin made from donkey hide, commonly used in Chinese medicine to nourish blood and strengthen the body.
Qian (钱 / qián) – A traditional weight unit used for medicine, about 3.7 grams.
Fen (分 / fēn) – A smaller medicinal weight unit, about 0.37 grams.
Snake bed seed (蛇床子 / shéchuángzǐ) – A Chinese medicinal herb often used for warming and circulation.
Dodder seed (菟丝子 / tùsīzǐ) – A tonic herb commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine.