Chapter 21: The Veterinarian Liu Yitiao

"Well," Xia Dezhuang bowed his head, pondering, "How about one string?"

"One tael?" Liu Yitiao couldn't help but laugh. "One string of silver to save two doomed plow oxen? Uncle Xia, you really do have a shrewd abacus."

Xia Dezhuang's face flushed with embarrassment. Before this, he had already spent no less than eight hundred coins treating those oxen. If Liu Yitiao could cure them in one attempt, one string was indeed too little. He tried to raise his offer, "Then how about I add three hundred coins?"

Liu Yitiao merely grunted, saying nothing, as if he hadn't heard Xia Dezhuang at all.

Left with no choice, Xia Dezhuang continued to raise his price. "Five hundred coins?"

"Eight hundred coins?"

"Two strings! I can't go any higher, Yitiao, my worthy nephew. Two strings of silver is enough for an ordinary family to live on for four or five years already—it's not a small sum. The ox I sold your father just the other day was only five strings, wasn't it? This is nearly half the price of an ox!"

"Heh, Uncle Xia has a point. But the medicine I need isn't cheap either. If you care so much about the money, you could always sell your oxen to someone else—no one is forcing you to have me treat them, are they?" Seeing Xia Dezhuang still had the nerve to bring up the sale of the sick ox to Liu Laoshi, Liu Yitiao couldn't help but jab him.

"This..." Xia Dezhuang was rendered speechless. If he could still sell the oxen, he wouldn't have waited until now.

"Worthy nephew, just be straightforward with me—how much silver do you want to take the case?"

"Ten strings!" Liu Yitiao calmly raised a finger and declared without courtesy, "Not a coin less! Otherwise, I can't guarantee a complete cure."

"You! You might as well be robbing me!" Xia Dezhuang nearly leapt up, the flesh on his face quivering in indignation. He wanted to stomp his foot and leave in a huff, but in the end, he restrained himself.

Ten strings was a lot, but if they could really save the two plow oxen, it would still be worth it. Healthy, each ox could fetch at least thirty strings; if they died, he would be left with nothing. Xia Dezhuang didn't want to let go of this chance.

"Uncle Xia, if you can't accept it, go home and think it over. Ten strings of silver for a cure for two oxen suffering from dysentery—come back when you've made up your mind." Liu Yitiao was in no hurry; with dysentery, every lost day meant more risk, and he was sure Xia Dezhuang wouldn't take long to decide.

Moreover, Xia Dezhuang's visit today sparked an idea in him: perhaps being a veterinarian was a promising profession in this era. If he could train Old Liu to be a veterinarian of the new age, could there be a future in it?

"Fine! No need to think it over—ten taels it is!" In the end, Xia Dezhuang knew what really mattered.

Liu Yitiao looked at Old Xia with approval. Though he still felt some resentment over the trick played on Liu Laoshi, he admired the man's decisiveness. Getting up, he fetched pen and paper and placed them before Xia Dezhuang. "Then, Uncle Xia, please write out a note. You'll pay five strings upfront as medicine money and deposit, and the remaining five once the oxen are cured. We both sign, two copies, each keeping one as evidence in case of breach—what do you think?"

"That's reasonable," Xia Dezhuang nodded. This kind of contract was new to him, but since both parties were protected, there was no fear of betrayal.

"One thing I must make clear," Liu Yitiao continued, "the prescription is a family secret and can't be shared. Your oxen must remain here for treatment. In three days at most, I'll return two healthy oxen to you."

"Of course, if you don't trust me, it's best to find someone else."

"You're overthinking it, nephew. If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have brought my oxen today." Xia Dezhuang quickly signed, handed over the contract and five strings of silver. "I'll be back in three days to collect the oxen."

Liu Yitiao signed as well, smiling, "A pleasure doing business!"

He extended his right hand, but halfway through, he retracted it—realizing that the handshake had yet to become a custom in this era.

Sure enough, his odd gesture drew a puzzled look from Xia Dezhuang, but the latter, needing his help, said nothing. After putting away the contract, he took his leave, leaving the two oxen behind.

"Yitiao, even if Old Xia is a scoundrel, isn't ten strings a bit much?" Liu Laoshi emerged from the inner room, looking at Liu Yitiao with concern. Trading a few heads of garlic for ten strings—wasn't that a bit too ruthless?

Liu Yitiao sighed inwardly. His father was too honest: he'd been cheated, yet still worried about being unfair to others. Didn't he know that a scoundrel could only be dealt with by his own methods?

"Father, ten strings for two oxen's lives—is that really so much?" Liu Yitiao continued, "Xia Dezhuang isn't a fool. If he's willing to pay, it means my price is within his acceptable range. It's not excessive."

"But the actual cost is less than three big coins, and you charged him ten strings—that can't be right," Liu Laoshi still couldn't understand. "Our family has always been upright farmers, not the sort to make money with a guilty conscience."

Liu Yitiao was nearly driven mad. How could a mutually agreed transaction be considered unscrupulous?

"Father, how is this a matter of conscience? He pays, I treat—it's only right. I'm not cheating or robbing anyone—how can it be called unscrupulous?"

"If you want to speak of conscience, what about Xia Dezhuang tricking you into buying his sick ox? If not for my ability to cure dysentery, our five strings would have been lost for nothing. Am I the one lacking conscience? Compared to him, I'm almost a saint!"

Irritated, Liu Yitiao's voice rose, startling Liu Heshui out from the inner room.

She cast a glare at Liu Laoshi, having heard everything from inside, and she too was simmering with anger.

She came to Liu Yitiao's side, showing Liu Laoshi no kindness. "Yitiao is right—someone like Xia Dezhuang deserves a lesson. What's wrong with charging him ten strings? Even twenty wouldn't be too much!"

"You want to talk about conscience, but did he ever show you any? If he had a conscience, that sick ox would never have ended up in our yard! Yitiao is only trying to stand up for you, and instead you blame him? If you were so capable, why didn't you confront Xia Dezhuang yourself?"

"You, a woman, what right have you to speak here?" Liu Laoshi, embarrassed by her words, couldn't help but rebuke her.

Hmph!" With a snort, Liu Heshui turned and, holding Liu Xiaohui, returned to the inner room without another word.

"Father," Liu Yitiao said, "Mother's words may be sharp, but she's not entirely wrong. My handling of Xia Dezhuang isn't excessive."

"Brother Liu! Are you home? I’ve come to visit!" A strange, cheerful voice sounded outside.

Liu Yitiao noticed his father's face darken even further upon hearing it. Puzzled, he rose to greet their guest, only to see yet another rotund, richly dressed man appear at their gate.