Chapter 47: Shown Out with a Broom

The deputy manager paid Shaoyang no attention. His gaze remained on Zuo Gui, who frowned and stroked his beard in offended silence.

Clapping his hands, the man gave a cold snort.

“Opportunities don’t wait, Physician Zuo. I have come in person to buy it. If you refuse and come begging us to buy after I’ve left, I cannot promise we will. And the price certainly won’t be the same!”

Shaoyang sprang up in anger. Before he could speak, someone called from outside.

“Is Physician Zuo at home?”

Madam Zhao!

Of all the moments for her to arrive. Swallowing his anger, he answered and opened the door.

There she stood with a snack in her hand. Not hawthorn this time, but roasted melon seeds. A broad-shouldered, thick-waisted man followed her.

She glanced at Shaoyang. “Where’s your father?”

Her manner angered him further. “Inside,” he replied just as coldly.

Madam Zhao strode in with the burly man behind her, cracking seeds as she went. At the sight of the deputy manager, she immediately put on a smile.

“Why, it’s Huimin Hall’s deputy manager! What brings you to Guizhi Hall? Have you come for treatment? Oh, what am I saying! Your own establishment is a medicine shop and clinic, and famous at that. Why would you come here to consult a physician?”

“Quite,” he said loftily.

He looked her up and down, noticed the heavy-jowled man at her back and gave a little laugh.

“So it’s you, Madam Zhao. What a coincidence! We were just talking about you.”

“About me? What were you saying?”

He glanced sideways at Zuo Gui.

“I hear Guizhi Hall owes you a considerable sum in rent and debts and refuses to pay. Is that so?”

Madam Zhao had a loud mouth. She told everyone about the matter, both to display her own generosity and to have people laugh at the Zuo family, putting pressure on them to pay sooner. Many knew about it. With patients constantly passing through his shop, the deputy manager had naturally heard.

Madam Zhao shifted her ample hips and rolled her eyes.

“Indeed! Several thousand wen, and not a single coin of rent paid all these years!”

“We’ve paid most of the rent over the years, a little at a time,” Madam Liang said with an appeasing smile. “After those payments, we owed nine taels. These last few days, we’ve paid another three thousand nine hundred wen in two instalments. Only five thousand one hundred remains. And you agreed we could pay it in two parts: two thousand one hundred on New Year’s Eve, and three thousand on the fifteenth of the first month.”

“Yes, exactly.”

Madam Zhao held out a plump white hand.

“Today is New Year’s Eve. Two thousand one hundred wen. Hand it over.”

Zuo Gui picked up the one-tael ingot from the table and offered it to her.

“Here is one tael. There has been too little time to raise the rest. Could you give us a little longer?”

“No!” she said flatly. “I made it clear. The whole two thousand one hundred by New Year’s Eve, or out you go. Since you cannot pay, don’t blame me for being heartless. Will you leave yourselves, or shall I have someone help you move?

“My cousin here is a rough fellow. He’s strong enough to shift things, but his eyesight isn’t good. If something gets dropped or broken, you can’t blame us.”

The man stepped forward, rubbed his bald head and glared at the family, the flesh of his face trembling.

Zuo Gui shook his head and sighed.

“Enough. We’ll move.”

Shaoyang could do nothing either. They had failed to pay the rent and put off their debts for so long. The landlady was entitled to reclaim her premises. Dejected, he turned to pack.

“Wait!” The deputy manager smiled, undisguised pleasure in his face. “Let me make the offer once more, Physician Zuo. Sell us the prescription and you’ll have nine hundred wen. Pawn some worn padded jacket or other and swallow your pride enough to borrow a little. You can scrape up two hundred. That will cover the remaining eleven hundred. Well?”

“You’re taking advantage of our predicament!” Shaoyang snapped.

“You needn’t sell.”

The man calmly flicked the hem of his robe.

“Understand this, Physician Zuo: Huimin Hall is trying to help. We’re putting a great piece of meat right into your mouth and you won’t eat it? What do you want instead? Once I leave, you can live on the north-west wind!”

Madam Zhao looked puzzled. “Huimin Hall wants to buy their prescription?”

“Yes—no! Who said we wanted their prescription?” He stiffened his neck. “Our head manager is a renowned physician! He has treated princes and ministers in Chang’an. Why would Huimin Hall need to buy a prescription from Guizhi Hall?”

“Then what did you mean?”

“Our head manager has a kind heart. He saw their pitiful state: running a clinic, up to their necks in debt, unable even to pay the rent, about to be thrown out on New Year’s Eve. Fellow practitioners ought to help one another. But he could hardly give them money outright, so he found an excuse and offered to buy a prescription. Enough to pay this first portion of your rent, too.

“And what do they do? Put on airs and demand more! They think our offer too small!”

Growing more pleased with himself, he gestured expansively.

“You can see for yourself, Madam Zhao. Money there for the earning, and they won’t take it. I’d say they’re counting on your soft heart and deliberately avoiding payment. People like that deserve to be thrown out to starve!

“Never mind. I cannot be bothered to argue. That is my price, Physician Zuo. Will you sell or not? One word. I haven’t time to sit here chewing it over!”

Zuo Gui rose slowly and fixed his eyes on him.

“I would have had no objection to selling you the prescription. But you… you go too far. An honourable man does not accept food flung at him in contempt. As long as these old bones can move, I can walk the villages, treat patients and feed my family. And I have a dutiful son besides.

“Even if I must starve and die in the street, I would not trouble you to concern yourself.”

Under the rebuke, the deputy manager’s face alternated red and white. Crossing one leg over the other, he brushed his robe and spoke resentfully.

“Offer you respect and you throw it back. Still, the journey was worthwhile. Seeing Guizhi Hall close down is something! A shop for treating illness and saving lives, and you’ve managed to run it into the ground. Quite an achievement!”

Huixiang stepped forward, her face livid, and pointed at him.

“Out!” she shrieked. “Get out!”

He recoiled, lost his balance and nearly fell from the chair. After several stumbling steps, he regained his footing and straightened his clothes, thoroughly discomposed.

“What right have you to drive me out? Your landlady has evicted you. This is no longer Guizhi Hall! Aren’t you carrying a banner through the streets these days, ringing a bell as travelling physicians? I hear you’ve been setting up a stall at the market too. Why aren’t you out ringing your bell and earning—”

Huixiang turned, seized the long broom Shaoyang had used to sweep snow and brought it down on him.

He fled with his hands over his head, but not quickly enough to escape several blows across the back. Red-faced and panting on the opposite side of the street, he pointed at her. He wanted to shout abuse, but had his dignity to consider. He could only stammer, “Truly… women and petty people are impossible to deal with!”

Huixiang charged out with the broom. He turned and ran, stepped on snow trodden into a slick of ice and fell flat on his face. His hat flew off and one shoe came loose, drawing roars of laughter from the onlookers.

At the sound of her curses coming closer, he abandoned hat and shoe, scrambled up and scurried away with his head covered. Fortunately, he was nimble enough to escape after a few more strokes of the broom.

Huixiang stood at the street corner, one hand on her hip, and shouted after him for a while before carrying the broom back into the shop.

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