Old Madam Su finally managed to shake off the villagers and, not daring to delay, hurried home.
Meanwhile, Old Man Su had sold the ginseng, bought some grain, and even hired a horse cart.
Just as he was about to head back, he happened to come across a few thugs in a small alley beating up a little boy.
“You filthy beggar—do you even know how much my clothes cost? And you dared to dirty them just by touching!”
Another one chimed in, “Even if we sold you, you couldn’t pay for it. Got that? Crawl on the ground for me!”
The boy’s clothes were ragged and ill-fitting. In some places, they were so torn that his frail, bony body was visible.
He had several injuries, though fortunately none seemed too serious.
Old Man Su saw the boy scramble to his feet and run toward him. Normally, he wasn’t one to meddle in other people’s business—if it were in the past, he would have ignored it.
But thinking about everything that had happened in his family recently, he increasingly felt that his little granddaughter might be a fairy sent from heaven.
For her sake, he decided he should be kinder. And now that the boy had run right up to him, this was the perfect chance to do a good deed and earn some blessings for his granddaughter.
As he looked at the thugs chasing after the boy, he noticed someone familiar among them—Liu Wen from the neighboring village.
And Liu Wen seemed to be the leader. Well, that made things much easier.
“You bunch of brats! What are you doing here? Bullying a child?”
The pursuing thugs froze for a moment.
But when they saw it was just an old man nearing fifty, what was there to be afraid of?
One of them, a tall fellow with a rough, bandit-like air, sneered, “Old man, I suggest you mind your own business. This is between us and that beggar. If you know what’s good for you, get lost now—or I’ll beat you too.”
Old Man Su turned to Liu Wen. “Liu Wen, what do you say? Want to spar with my son again?”
Liu Wen immediately spotted Sanlang standing behind him.
Damn it—what rotten luck today.
Their group of young punks might get away with bullying the elderly or children, but if it came to a real fight with Su Sanlang, they’d likely scatter and run. Worst case, he’d be the one left behind getting beaten.
Besides, that man—who knew what he’d been raised on? He was unbelievably strong. There was no way to win against him.
Seeing that the old man knew their boss, the thug who had spoken earlier quickly shut his mouth.
“Fine, for your sake, I’ll let this little beggar go this time. But he’d better not fall into my hands again.”
With a cold snort, Liu Wen led his gang away.
The rescued boy repeatedly thanked Old Man Su. “Thank you, thank you for saving me.”
Su Sanlang helped the child up. Judging by his appearance, the boy was only about six or seven years old.
“Why are you wandering alone? Where are your parents?”
At the mention of his parents, the boy lowered his head. Neither Old Man Su nor his son noticed the flash of cold hostility in his eyes.
It quickly disappeared, and when he looked up again, his eyes were filled with tears.
“I live with my grandfather now. We stay in a broken temple not far from here. My grandfather is sick, so I came out to see if I could beg for some money to buy medicine.”
Su Sanlang didn’t press further. If the boy avoided mentioning his parents, either they had abandoned him or they were gone. Either way, he must have his hardships.
At Old Man Su’s signal, Su Sanlang took out a tael of silver and handed it to the boy.
That amount of silver was more than what a farming family could earn in a year. Old Man Su knew how expensive medicine was—just a few copper coins wouldn’t be nearly enough.
If you’re going to help someone, you might as well help them thoroughly. He considered it a way to build good karma for his granddaughter.
“Take this silver. We also have a little girl at home—consider this a way of gathering blessings for her.
Use the money to cure your grandfather, and then look for another way to make a living.”
After saying that, he gently patted the boy’s head, then left with Su Sanlang to head home.
The little boy stood there, staring fixedly at the father and son as they walked farther and farther away. He lowered his head and looked at the tael of silver in his hand, gripping it tightly again and again.
If I ever have the ability in the future, I will repay this great kindness.
When Old Man Su and Su Sanlang entered the village, many people saw them.
They were riding on an ox cart loaded to the brim with goods—there was even a large amount of grain.
In these hard times, every household was struggling just to get by. No one expected that the Su family secretly had so much money.
Inside the Su family’s main hall—
Three large baskets were placed on the floor, all filled to the top with goods. Several big sacks of grain were also piled nearby.
Outside, a few village women were chatting noisily. Old Madam Su quietly shut the door.
The whole family sat down on stools in the hall, while the younger boys were still outside playing and hadn’t returned yet.
“So, old man, how much did you sell it for?” Old Madam Su asked.
Su Sanlang excitedly chimed in, “Mother, I’ve never seen so much money in my life! Guess how much?”
Old Madam Su slapped him lightly on the back of the head. “Stop keeping me in suspense—just say it!”
Rubbing his head, Su Sanlang grinned. “160 taels—exactly 160 taels, Mother!”
Old Man Su added, “The ginseng sold for 120 taels. The notoginseng and other herbs sold for 40 taels.”
Everyone in the family widened their eyes in shock.
They had expected a good price—maybe 20 or 30 taels—but never imagined it would reach 160.
A farming family couldn’t even earn a single tael in a whole year, yet this one sale of medicinal herbs brought in such a huge amount.
Old Madam Su asked in disbelief, “Old man, how did the other herbs sell for as much as 40 taels?”
“Notoginseng is quite valuable,” he explained. “That alone sold for over 30 taels. The ordinary herbs only fetched about five or six taels.”
Hearing that, Old Madam Su couldn’t help but feel delighted. Just a small amount of herbs had sold for five or six taels. And according to their precious granddaughter, there were plenty of such “ordinary” herbs in the mountains.
Doesn’t that mean our family is about to strike it rich?
Then she suddenly remembered something.
“Oh right—after you left, I took our precious girl up the mountain again. You wouldn’t believe it—those wolves brought her two salt lingzhi mushrooms!”
“She said they’re called ‘yan zhi,’ and they’re even more valuable than regular lingzhi. We also dug up some more herbs… Oh! And we found another ginseng plant!”
Su Sanlang immediately shouted in shock, “What? Another ginseng?!”
“You idiot!” Old Man Su snapped. “Keep your voice down! Do you want the whole village to know we found another one?”
Looking at his useless son, he almost felt like slapping him again. There were still women chatting right outside the door, after all.
Realizing his mistake, Su Sanlang quickly shut his mouth.
They had never heard of this “yan zhi,” but ginseng—they definitely knew. They had just returned from selling one and were still basking in the joy, and now another surprise had come.
As the head of the household, Old Man Su began discussing their plans.
“Old woman, the villagers have already seen us bring back so much grain all of a sudden. We need an explanation.”
Old Madam Su thought for a moment. “Since our precious girl plans to teach the villagers how to recognize herbs, why don’t we say she first met a master who taught her how to identify medicinal plants? That’s how we found the ginseng and bought all this grain.”
Su Sanlang asked, “Why not just say herbs? If we mention ginseng, won’t that make them realize we earned a lot of money?”
“You fool,” she replied. “If we don’t say that, then when we build a new house or send the children to school later, won’t we need even more excuses?”
Old Man Su slapped the table decisively. “Alright, it’s settled. After lunch, I’ll go talk to the village chief.”
“Fine,” said Old Madam Su. “I’ll go prepare the meal now. Then you can take our precious girl with you.”