Chapter Text
In a workshop in Yunping City...
There lived a young boy of age fifteen.
He was once, an apprentice of the local apothecary, Doctor Fu Mingxin.
He was a widower, and his children couldn't be bothered with their father's trade, finding it boring. Even if said job got them living in a better lifestyle by the way! Ingrates! Well, since marrying, after helping out with wedding expenses, they never got a single coin from their annoyed father since.
It so happens that a boy was looking for work, too, and found this young boy who was willing to get hired for any job.
This boy was ten year old Wei Ying.
He has a courtesy name Wuxian. But courtesy names are only afforded to the rich, gentry and members of Cultivational Sects.
This means the kid, was a child of cultivators who never returned home from a dangerous hunt. Its impossible for this kid to be a rich kid to begin with. If he was, he'd have 'quite the attitude' by now that will get him in big trouble he won't survive from.
So he took in little Wei Ying, on the condition that 'From now on, your name is Wei Wuxian. Commoners such as us, aren't allowed to use two names. Only the smarmy rich, noble families and cultivational sects can have boys with two names. And Wuxian is your professional name. So use it from now on until the day we die. You can only keep the name Ying in your heart, in memory of your parents.'
He taught the boy well, but it became clear that his apprentice is a once-a-century genius, that he can actually trust Wuxian with handing out medicines, and has the ability to surpass him as well.
He poured all his teaching into the boy as because he's an old man, 'he is feeling it' to the boy's dismay as he would be alone again!
'Don't worry Wuxian...its simply a fact. A part of life.' Doctor Fu told Wuxian on his deathbed, with city officials as witness to his final moments with the boy. 'In fact, living as long as I did is already a luxury for us commoners. Things happen. Monster attacks, plagues, bandit attacks, murder attempts, illnesses...those things that kill people, I avoided by sheer miracle as I dedicated my life to giving life with my pharmacy and never had disputes with anyone other than my moron sons.' he said solemnly. 'That I can accept my death by natural cause...that my body can no longer simply go on just for being an old geezer. You'll come to this stage eventually, so don't cry.' he chuckled, weakly patting his crying apprentice who is now, a young man.
'I was saved by you as I thought I will die with regrets as I truly treasured my shop that I built with my wife and my trade that enabled me and my family to live well, yet my sons are such ingrates to the shop that gave them a well-off life. Yet they look down on medicine, finding it an unmanly job than inherit from their parents...then I met you. You gave me hope that our shop will not disappear and carry it on. That I have an heir. I can have my body sleep here, and go meet my wife in Diyu with no regrets.'
Now that the old man died from old age, he made his apprentice his heir by law to his store and made it so ironclad that it is indisputable. That the doctor's sons can't do a thing about it. Wei Wuxian was their father's legal heir to his pharmacy. And he was a skilled pharmacist to boot in his area of Yunping.
There are four clinics, one per district and a partner apothecary. Daybreak Pharmacy is paired with the Southern Clinic, Peaceful Bliss Infirmary as its medicine provider. He gets orders from the Clinic, and he delivers. The Pharmacy also has suppliers.
But unknown to everyone in Yunping...
Wei Wuxian is a Cultivator. The obvious sign he is one, was his incredible beauty combined with smooth, poreless, soft skin and his pitch-black glossy and vibrant hair, a sign he formed his core at a very young age. But hardly anyone knows that among commoners. But the more obvious sign is that he owns a lot of qiankun bags on his person! And only cultivators can use Qiankun Bags! But he's swordless...so he's a non-threat.
(or so they thought, he hides it elsewhere)
And as a Pharmacist who earns 50 silver a month, he was considered an eligible bachelor for marriage. But should his reputation smell better, he'd get more income. Truthfully, he earns more than that from hundreds of customers, but he has to pay his suppliers who keeps him well-stocked in the cupboards, so in the end, what's left to him is his actual monthly income just as how his mentor taught him when he was taught how Economics works in his lessons, after learning Hanzi and Math from him.
Thing is, he felt his heart wasn't ready for that sort of thing yet. The mere idea made him UNCOMFORTABLE.
Too soon? Marriage? And he's only 15! Not only that, his parents would tell him,
'Marry for love, little baobei. Engagements through matchmaking never end well. Its just being chained to misery and bitterness.' he was told. 'Marry for love. The person you love who loves you back. Just like me and your a-niang.'
So yes, he told the local matchmakers he would NEVER marry until he was thirty as an excuse!
'15 is too young!' he would cry. 'Maybe when I feel I'm mature enough for that sort of thing so PLEASE take me off the Bachelor's List!' he wailed whiningly at the Southern District Matchmaker, Madam Yang who grumbled and pouted, but customer's word is law...
And when no customer around?
He keeps his mind sharp while actively cultivating by constant study and research.
Then after that, train his body in his workout workshop.
His pharmacy has two days off. Which he uses for Swordsmanship Training. His body is skinny right now, having just started due to years of dedication to study. But at least he's not completely defenseless.
One day, in the fifth month of his career since his master's death, he has a visitor.
He usually gets prostitutes as customers, really...that, or men yelping in pain when trying to get into his shop.
Certain people yelp from getting electrocuted by his barriers yet others can safely enter that got people asking why.
'Oh dear customers, an apothecary doesn't just save a life, an apothecary can also hurt or kill others if someone sells poison or is asked to make one for a client.' Wuxian would say. 'Master Fu and I aren't that kind of apothecary and people who knows us knows that. So I paid for security barrier applications that electrocute customers who wants to ask me to make poison for them or those who wants to hurt me and keep them out of my shop. Only those who wants medicine for illness can safely get in here for my wares. My shop keeps out scumbags like those.'
'Heee...'
'Its not like Master Fu is around any more to protect me with his scary face, so my anti-scumbag barrier is an investment I saved up for.'
Needless to say, that's a guarantee that Apothecary Wei never sells poisons and bad drugs.
Such is his reputation.
And now...his customer is a unique one. A bunch of kids whom he helps out sometimes. He gives the children large steamed buns filled with eggs, mushrooms and certain vegetables which he steams, dices and mixes with sauce the size of noodle bowls. Very large but very nutritious to poor kids. Besides, his special bun is a meal in one already. The bun made out of rice flour, source of protein and vegetables! He would also teach them Hanzi and Math needed in life, so they can find jobs by apprenticing like he had done.
But one of the kids, Xiao-Bei ran inside.
'Xian-gege, me and the guys found a really sick person!' Xiao-Bei reported. 'They're gonna carry him in here now!'
'And not the Infirmary?!' Wuxian sputtered out.
'Too far and the big lug is heavy!'
The children brought in a young man dressed like a farmer. He has a 'sweet, delicate face' girls would coo over and want to be their boyfriend.
The problem with the guy, is that he was naturally-frail. A problem carried to adulthood due to being born premature. This is one thing nobody can cure. All he could do, was give comfort and relief with some Yang-Based Tonics...and bottoms-up!
Sadly, medicine tastes yucky, his tonic was no exception and the guy woke up from the taste alone, coughed in disgust and went 'Bleeeh!'
'Well, hello there! My Yang Tonic works quickly on Cultivators while taking two hours on normal people!' Wuxian chirped cheerfully, also outing that the boy was a cultivator. 'The street kids I help out found you passed out and brought to me since the local clinic is too far for their wee bodies to carry you all the way there.' he explained. 'By the way, that costs 1 silver due to presence of Ginseng.' he added as the boy sheepishly paid up. 'But still, at your condition...can you go home or you need help?' Wuxian asked in concern.
'Ah...I'm here o-on business, actually...' said the boy, paying up a silver from his pouch. 'Jiejie is talking to suppliers shorting her lately so she's very angry, while I'm supposed to find us an Inn to spend the night in...any place you'd recommend?'
'Well, lucky you the annual festival just ended so tourists left three days ago, so inns and hotels are all vacant and recently-cleaned!' Wuxian grinned. 'I recommend the Inn named 'Lilypad Pond'. Because it's the type of inn that goes all the way. Eatery on first floor, Rooms second to fifth floor, plus bath service and laundry service is provided, all for 5 silver. Eatery expenses is separate from stayover amenities by the copper though.'
'A-alright...thanking Apothecary for help.' said the boy with a shy smile.
'By the way, you're also nutritionally-deficient, making your case worse...so steam these foods, not boil or scald them as those takes away the benefits, washing away into the water when I experimented on myself for it and my late master reamed my ear off for it till he saw positive results. And make sauces out of yang-type grinded savory-type spices to make bland veggies taste better. You got too much Yin too, a bad mix with your malnourished condition.' Wuxian advised, giving the boy a list of vegetables and mushrooms in neat handwriting written with the thinnest brush known for calligraphers and painters. 'Stir-frying them is OK too, as long as its sesame oil used only. Sesame oil is also medicinal. No sesame, steam em'. Other oil causes blood vessel blockage, so nope.'
'This one thanks Apothecary.'
Wen Ning consulted his sister about the list he got just to make sure the boy isn't a quack or taught wrong as the boy did have a master, after taking her to Lilypad Pond after booking a room for two with bath and laundry service.
And his sister is the renowned legit and only female doctor Wen Qing.
'This is legit, A-Ning.' Wen Qing confirmed, looking into the list. 'So he knows his stuff. But still, I never thought that boiling or scalding vegetables actually ruins the goods in vegetables...no wonder results takes way too long despite my own research and I've been wondering for years why.' she said with a frown. 'For now, only our family and customers will benefit from this.'
'Y-yes Jiejie.'
'So what is this shop run by a boy your age?'
'It's called Daybreak Pharmacy run by Wei Wuxian.' said Wen Ning. 'He's apparently famous in southern Yunping for his good looks, friendly-playful personality, his reputation that he will never sell nor make poison for anyone, and his shop has a barrier that keeps out scumbags with intent to harm him and his shop through painful electrocution.'
'Heee...'
However, during the time Wen Ning asked around, when a certain name was uttered, a man also asked around.
This soon got to Jiang-zongzhu, Jiang Fengmian.
The man turned out to be an informant.
'I see...very well, I'll pay this pharmacy a visit.' he said with a soft smile. 'And he's doing well but still, a little check-up won't do much harm.'
So he paid a visit, arriving after dinner.
He came to a scene of a boy looking like a silver-eyed male Cangse Sanren with the angular features of Wei Changze dressed in Apothecary Robes, hair worn into a scorpion braid and handing out the biggest steamed buns he's ever seen to what's clearly street kids with a bowl of soup. The kids are clearly fresh from the baths, and their clothes were the wash-and-wear kind that the color of the fabric has seen better days. Then again, handmade goods are expensive that only the wealthy can afford to have a full closet of clothes. The only things that are new, are the shoes.
'O-Oh my?'
'I hope you don't mind, dear customer.' Wuxian's voice was playful with a teeny warning hint in his smile.
'Ah no, I don't mind, just surprised.' Fengmian reassured kindly. 'In all my years...nobody was ever kind to street children. Those who are actually nice, can barely spare anything either.'
'Cruel truth, that one.' Wuxian snorted. 'But really, anyone can, as these steamed buns I make only cost 20 copper in the market, 60 copper a day in total for a child. They just won't do it and pretend the children aren't there. I know too well what its like, before Master Fu found me. So I resolved to be the good adult street children can come to until they can walk on their own by finding employment or become a cultivator.' he said bitterly. 'So how may I help Jiang-zongzhu?'
'I have been looking for you for many years to no avail, until I got word that you're a city away all this time when I was looking for you in areas around Yiling where your parents last left you.' said Fengmian.
'Indeed, I was there for years, until Master Fu found me, looking for heirs since his three sons refused to take on the shop.' said Wuxian. 'He decided I was it, educated me in Pharmacy, Economics and Mercantilism until his deathbed by old age. I am officially his heir and new owner of this shop. I'm to keep it alive and pass it down to my heir when I'm an old geezer myself.'
'You mean you don't want to be a cultivator like your parents? You have a Golden Core.' Fengmian pointed out, baffled.
'I am one. I don't walk the path of the sword, but I cultivate through my job instead.' Wuxian grinned. 'Growing rare herbs became easy as 1-2-3 with my methods and attuned to pharmacy instead. These ickle kids are my students as well in regards to growing that core, physical conditioning, Hanzi, Math, Etiquette and Survival Skills Training before I can send them off to your sect as they're wasted in the streets. Once they have a core, they will come soon.'
'Mm. I will welcome them as soon as they're ready.' Fengmian promised, taking note of the children. 'They're doing well under your care! How old are they?'
'Oh, 8 is the youngest, 11 the oldest. Been looking after them since I was thirteen with Master's permission back then.'
Fengmian did a double-take as he looked at the children, and unable to believe the numbers Wuxian stated. The kids are taller and bigger than their age suggests!
'Wait--what?! They're big for their age!' they're bigger than his own son A-Cheng when he was that age long ago...what'd they do wrong?
'Ohoho! Those buns they're eating are medicinal steamed buns of my own design!' Wuxian chuckled. 'It contains healthy fillings good for growing children to combat malnutrition! Qi helps in faster food absorption too thus heals weakened bodies faster...and my eldest kids, Huan Song, Ye Ling, Mu Jing(F), Lu Qian, Bai Lian(F), and Qiang Rou(F) is ready to go soon, you may as well take them with you to Jiang Sect, ready for Grade 3 Hanzi and Math, and Cultivational Lessons for young gentlemen and ladies.'
'Alright, new talent is welcome any day.' Fengmian agreed. 'I'll be back for the next batch next year.' and he left with the children in question, after the kids bid each other goodbye. The kids have camaraderie among themselves already!
'Xian-gege, are they gonna be OK?'
'They will be. After all, they are trained well.' Wuxian smiled mysteriously. 'They'll be the best in their generation just like you when your time comes to go to Jiang Sect. After all, Attempt the Impossible is the motto.' he said with a wink. 'After this, go to active cultivation base training two hours before bed.'
'Yes~!'
And it would be weeks later that Fengmian found out just how exactly, did Wei Wuxian train his orphans in terms of combat skills which was what he deems 'the basics'...needless to say, he adopted their ways and changed the curriculum.