Chen Erzhu had been here a few times before, so he was fairly familiar with the place.
He took the lead and walked in, with Bai Yujie immediately following.
The market was bustling inside, with many small stalls selling various medicinal herbs lining the streets, as well as some shops dealing in all sorts of herbs, all open for business at the moment.
Chen Erzhu wasn't familiar with the price of wild ginseng, especially those with some age to them.
So, he planned to get a feel for the situation first.
After walking for a while, he saw a shop specializing in ginseng and decided to go in.
The owner was a friendly middle-aged man in his forties, slightly plump, who immediately greeted them with a smile, "Are you two here to buy ginseng? We have all kinds of ginseng here, American ginseng, wild ginseng, and even lingzhi and deer antler. What are you looking for?"
Chen Erzhu's eyes lit up, "Do you have any aged wild ginseng? What's the price?"
The owner nodded immediately, glancing up and down at him. Perhaps seeing that his attire was quite ordinary and Bai Yujie's was also rather plain, he didn't seem inclined to show them the goods, instead saying, "To be honest, wild ginseng is extremely rare, especially the aged ones. Each one is worth a fortune because they're just too scarce! Nowadays, 90% of the ginseng on the market, claiming to be wild, is actually artificially cultivated! But to be fair, while the artificially cultivated ones are less effective, they're cheaper!"
Chen Erzhu got the hint, "So, you don't have any wild ginseng here?"
The smile on the owner's face faded a bit, and he glared at him, "What do you mean by that? I specialize in this business; how could I not have any? It's just that good things need to meet the right person, don't you think?"
Alright, Chen Erzhu understood that the owner looked down on him, thinking he couldn't afford it, so he didn't even bother to show it.
Frowning slightly, he said in a deep voice, "Owner, why don't you show me? How do you know I can't afford it? As the saying goes, you can't judge a book by its cover!"
The owner scrutinized him again, noticing his calm demeanor, a slight smile on his lips, and a subtle aura of authority despite his simple attire. He seemed not to be an ordinary person.
With a laugh, he said, "Alright, alright, since you're sincere about it, I'll let you have a look. This is the treasure of my shop; I spent quite a bit of money to acquire it back then!"
He placed the box on the table and opened it gently, a hint of pride on his face.
Chen Erzhu and Bai Yujie both looked on curiously. Once the box was opened, they saw a light yellow ginseng tied with a red string lying inside. It was quite large, about seven or eight centimeters.
After a few glances, Chen Erzhu said, "Judging by the looks of it, this wild ginseng should be over ten years old, right?"
The owner's eyes lit up immediately, and he said with pride, "Young man, you have a good eye. This wild ginseng is a full twenty years old. Just one root soaked in water has extraordinary medicinal effects!"
Hearing this, Chen Erzhu calculated in his mind. If this seven or eight centimeters was twenty years old, then his seventeen or eighteen centimeters must be over forty years old?
Thinking this, he couldn't help but be surprised and asked, "Owner, how much is this wild ginseng selling for?"
The owner smiled and slowly raised two fingers.
Bai Yujie was startled, "Twenty thousand?"
The owner glared at her, "Are you kidding? Two hundred thousand, not a penny less!"
"What, two hundred thousand??" Now it was Bai Yujie's turn to be shocked. She stared with wide eyes, exclaiming in disbelief, "You're robbing people!"
The owner's face darkened, glaring at her, "You really haven't seen the world. I knew from the start you couldn't afford it, but consider it a learning experience!"
With that, he carefully put away his wild ginseng.
Bai Yujie looked at him angrily, feeling indignant. Why did this owner look down on people?
He then asked, "If a wild ginseng over twenty years old is priced at two hundred thousand, then wouldn't one over forty years be four hundred thousand?"
Unexpectedly, the owner shook his head immediately, laughing, "No, no, no, wild ginseng becomes more valuable the older it gets. If there really is one over forty years old, it would probably be at least five or six hundred thousand!"
"What, that expensive??"
Chen Erzhu's eyes widened in surprise. Did this mean he was about to strike it rich?
Suppressing his excitement, he immediately asked the owner, "Do you buy them?"
The owner didn't catch on, "Buy what? Kid, you can't even afford the twenty-year-old one, why are you asking about the forty-year-old, acting like you have that kind of money?"
Chen Erzhu was speechless. Looking at the small scale of the shop, he figured it was unrealistic to expect the owner to shell out over a million to buy his wild ginseng, so he gave up on the idea.
"Owner, which shop in this market is the most powerful?"
The owner immediately replied, "Of course, it's the Hundred Herbs Pavilion. It's a well-known medicinal company in all of Xihai City!"
"Alright, thank you, owner!" Chen Erzhu said with a smile, turning to leave.
The owner quickly said, "Hey, young man, the stuff at the Hundred Herbs Pavilion is even more expensive. You can't afford my things, so don't bother going there!"
Chen Erzhu stopped, turned to look at him, and said, "Who said I'm going to buy something? I dug up two wild ginsengs in the mountains and plan to sell them!"
"What?"
The owner was stunned, then quickly became enthusiastic, "Oh, young man, why didn't you say so earlier? It's all a misunderstanding! Young man, quickly show me your wild ginseng. Don't worry, I'll give you the best price here. The Hundred Herbs Pavilion is a big shop that bullies customers; you'll definitely get ripped off there!"
Bai Yujie commented, "I think we'd get ripped off here instead!"
The owner's smile froze, and he quickly explained, "How could that be? You two look like locals, right? To be honest, I'm a local too. Don't worry, locals don't cheat locals!"