Xiao Man passed quaint, old-fashioned pawn shops and traditional medicine shops that smelled of fragrant herbs. She stepped into each one to take a look, but they only had a few gold and silver items for sale and nothing worth a second glance. She did, however, end up spending quite a bit of time in the herbal medicine shops.
These days, besides filling prescriptions, the herbal medicine shops also sold patent medicines and tonics in their glass display cases. The packaging was completely different from what you would find in the pharmacies of the future. Some products were even stored in porcelain bottles and bowls, like herbal jellies. To put it nicely, the packaging was simple and elegant; to be blunt, it was clumsy and rustic. Xiao Man examined each item carefully, finding it all rather endearing and interesting.
