Baishong Town, Ruyi Pharmacy.
“Manager, are you buying medicinal herbs?”
Lin Qingfu, the manager who was currently tallying accounts, looked up upon hearing the voice and was surprised to find that the man before him was the same person who had come to sell wild boar innards just a few days ago.
Lin Qingfu felt a spark of interest and said with a smile, “Little brother, did you go back into the mountains? As long as the herbs are in perfect condition and their efficacy isn’t compromised, I’ll take as many as you have.”
Lu Xuan nodded and casually took a cloth bundle from the basket on his back, opening it right in front of Manager Lin.
After seeing what was in the bundle, Lin Qingfu gasped, “Century-old ginseng—!? And lingzhi! He Shou Wu!?”
Lin Qingfu rubbed his hands in excitement, and with Lu Xuan’s permission, carefully examined the treasures before him.
“Great! The quality is perfect, not a single bit of damage. Judging by the size and these features, it’s at least 140 or 150 years old!” Lin Qingfu cradled the ginseng, his face flushed with excitement.
Occasionally, hunters or herbalists would be lucky enough to find a century-old herb. But finding even one was extraordinary; this kid had three at once!?
The lingzhi and He Shou Wu were even more outrageous—they were packed directly into a basket. A rough sweep showed at least a dozen or so, every one of them in excellent, intact condition.
The quantity was so high that one couldn’t help but suspect he was just packing mushrooms.
But the luster, the shape, and the smell—these were undeniably lingzhi!
Manager Lin looked at Lu Xuan as if he were looking at a deity.
Finding so many aged “fairy herbs” in one go—if not a deity, then what was he?
Lu Xuan lifted his chin slightly. “Are you buying?”
“Of course I’m buying!” Lin Qingfu replied quickly, his tone full of urgency, as if fearing that Lu Xuan might change his mind and take the herbs to another shop.
Lu Xuan nodded. “Make an offer. If it’s reasonable, I’ll sell.”
The viewers in the livestream pricked up their ears.
Lin Qingfu didn’t try to cheat him; he gave a fair price immediately: “The ginseng is the oldest and has the most uses, so I can offer five hundred taels. The lingzhi and He Shou Wu are of good quality and look very mature. I can offer thirty taels per lingzhi… let me count how many there are—eight! That’s two hundred forty taels. I can offer eighty taels per He Shou Wu, and there are four, so three hundred twenty taels.”
Although Lu Xuan wasn’t familiar with the prices of precious herbs in this era, after observing Manager Lin’s reaction for a moment, he nodded. “That’s acceptable.”
Lin Qingfu rejoiced. “I’ll get the silver notes for you right away!”
Lin Qingfu quickly retrieved the banknotes and handed them to Lu Xuan.
It was one thousand sixty taels in total. Because Lu Xuan had requested it in advance, Manager Lin provided 100-tael notes, with the sixty-tael remainder made up of six 10-tael silver ingots.
Watching the silver notes and ingots in Lu Xuan’s hands, the viewers in the livestream were as excited as if they had earned the money themselves.
[So much money!]
[One thousand taels, if I’m not mistaken, that’s equivalent to one million star coins, right? Money is too easy to earn!]
[I’m envious! When will I ever earn this much money in one go!]
[Don’t forget, the host found more than just three precious herbs. If he sells them all… I’m literally turning green with envy.]
[I want to crawl through the screen and go treasure hunting in the mountains!!!]
[Rubbing off some of the host’s good luck.]
[Good luck is one thing, but it’s mostly because the host is strong.]
[Exactly. Primitive tigers and bears are indeed less vicious than mutated beasts, but if an ordinary person without abilities or modern firearms encountered them, they’d be dead for sure.]
[Without the strength to protect oneself in the deep mountains, finding century-old herbs is one thing, but getting them back out safely is a whole different problem.]
It wasn’t that the other viewers hadn’t thought of that.
It was just… they understood the logic, but it was still hard not to be jealous watching Lu Xuan earn so much silver so easily.
Manager Lin carefully stored the herbs and said enthusiastically to Lu Xuan: “If you find more good herbs next time, little brother, send them over as soon as possible!”
A glint of interest flashed in Lu Xuan’s eyes as he said languidly, “There’s no need to wait until next time.”
Lu Xuan pulled a 300-year-old ginseng root from the basket. Watching Manager Lin’s jaw practically hit the floor, he said, “Is the manager still buying?”
Lin Qingfu almost shouted “Yes!” in his excitement. But as the words reached his throat, he thought of his nearly depleted liquid capital and swallowed them back hard.
This ginseng was at least 300 years old. The value of ginseng over a century didn’t just double every hundred years; it often tripled or more.
At over 300 years old, it would fetch at least two thousand taels. If he met someone generous, it could sell for even more.
The remaining banknotes in his hand totaled less than one thousand taels; he couldn’t even afford half of it.
Fearing he would lose control and try to snatch it, Lin Qingfu painfully looked away and sighed: “The value of this ginseng is too high; I’m afraid my pharmacy can’t afford it.”
Lu Xuan wasn’t surprised. He tapped his finger on the counter and asked, “Does the manager have a suitable place to recommend? I have no use for these herbs myself; they need to get into the hands of professionals so more people in need can benefit from them.”
Manager Lin originally wanted to ask if Lu Xuan could hold onto the herbs for a while so he could scrape together the money, but hearing this, he guessed the young man was in a rush to sell.
He sighed inwardly again before composing himself and offering a suggestion: “There are three pharmacies in town, but the other two are smaller and have less business than mine; they definitely won’t be able to come up with that much silver. If you want to get a good price, you’d better try ‘Baiyutang’ in the Prefectural City.”
“Baiyutang is a century-old brand with a large business; they can definitely afford the price. While they have fixed herb merchants and herbalists they work with, they would never refuse such an aged herb.”
Lu Xuan raised an eyebrow. “Prefectural City?” Not the County Seat?
He was about to ask why it wasn’t the County Seat, but then realized: who said the nearest town must be a County Seat?
Couldn’t there be small towns around a Prefectural City?
Moreover, the Prefectural City being closer was a good thing for him.
The larger the city, the more wealthy people there were, meaning goods could sell for higher prices, and he could purchase ample supplies in the shortest amount of time.
Realizing this, Lu Xuan inquired about where to hire a carriage.
After receiving his answer and thanking the manager, he left the pharmacy and went straight to the carriage rental. He paid one hundred copper coins to hire a carriage to the Prefectural City, setting off without wasting a second.
Hiring a carriage from Baishong Town to the Prefectural City took just under half a day. It was just after 8:00 AM when he left Baishong Town, and by 1:00 PM, they had arrived at the Prefectural City.
When he stepped out of the carriage, Lu Xuan’s face was somewhat grim.
Although the carriage traveled on an imperial road, the limitations of the era were clear. Even on the imperial road, Lu Xuan—accustomed to modern asphalt roads and sedans—wasn’t used to it. The jolting journey had almost rattled his internal organs.
After paying the driver, Lu Xuan stood at the city gate for quite a while before he recovered.
The viewers in the livestream were quite emotional, offering him half-hearted comfort before bragging about how smooth and comfortable it was to drive their interstellar suspension vehicles.
Lu Xuan: “…”
Seeing Lu Xuan’s deadpan expression, the viewers laughed heartily, feeling refreshed; the frustration of having been jealous for so long was instantly relieved.
Lu Xuan ignored the spiteful viewers, asked for directions to Baiyutang, and made his way there.
Baiyutang truly lived up to its name as a century-old brand. Not only was the storefront several times larger than Ruyi Pharmacy, but there were also a huge number of customers coming and going to see doctors and fill prescriptions. The assistants were busy off their feet.
Lu Xuan walked in, looked around, and stopped directly in front of a man who looked like the manager. Without a word, he took out the 300-year-old ginseng and showed it to him.
The middle-aged manager, who was somewhat thin, saw his eyes light up.
Lu Xuan said coolly: “I have other herbs of similar or even better quality. Are you buying?”
The manager knew this was a massive client and hurriedly said, “Please, little brother, come to the back to talk.”
In the small room dedicated to private business, before the manager could speak, Lu Xuan took out the items he intended to sell one by one.
One century-old ginseng, half a basket of red and purple lingzhi, ten plump He Shou Wu roots, and finally, the 300-year-old ginseng.
The manager’s eyes were fixed on these old herbs, which were rare even in a pharmacy like this, and he couldn’t help but ask: “Little brother, where might you have obtained these herbs?”
Lu Xuan glanced at him. “Do you have to ask for the source when buying medicinal herbs?”
Realizing his mistake, the manager was about to apologize, but Lu Xuan said languidly: “You can see from the fresh soil on the roots that these were picked recently. I found them deep in the mountains. If you’re interested, give me a price. If it’s fair, I’ll sell them all. If not, I’ll take them elsewhere.”
The manager naturally couldn’t let a wealthy client who had walked in on his own accord leave, so he quickly assessed the age of the herbs.
“Seven hundred taels for the century-old ginseng, eight hundred taels for the lingzhi… three hundred fifty taels for the He Shou Wu, and for the 300-year-old ginseng…” The manager hesitated for a moment before gritting his teeth. “I can offer three thousand taels.”
Lu Xuan calculated: a total of four thousand eight hundred fifty taels.
“You should also be buying animal-based medicines, right?”
The manager nodded instinctively. “Of course.”
Lu Xuan nodded, and to the manager’s shock, he pulled a full tiger skeleton from his basket, minus the meat. He hadn’t processed the tiger head; it was too big and obviously wouldn’t fit in the basket, so he had left it.
After the tiger bones, he took out the tiger penis, bear gallbladder, and two pairs of deer antlers.
“Selling all of these.”
The manager’s mouth fell open in shock.
Although Baiyutang worked with many herb merchants and hunters often sent them animal medicines, fierce beasts like tigers and bears weren’t things an average hunter could handle.
The tiger skeleton and penis looked very fresh, likely hunted only a short while ago.
Was it this young man who hunted them?
But he didn’t look very strong—did he really have such incredible ability?
The manager was suspicious, but having already spoken out of turn once, he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. He quickly rallied and offered a price.
“Sixty taels for the tiger skeleton, twenty taels for the tiger penis and bear gallbladder combined, and since the two pairs of deer antlers weigh over twenty jin, I can give you thirty taels.”
It was hard to judge the value of these animal medicines, but given the completeness and weight of the tiger skeleton, the price was naturally quite high.
Lu Xuan was satisfied with the price. “That’ll do, let’s settle.”
As soon as he got the silver notes, Lu Xuan handed the herbs to the manager without hesitation.
The viewers in the livestream, seeing the stack of silver notes in Lu Xuan’s hands, were all thrown into a collective frenzy again.