Liu Xiaoman tightly gripped the warm, smooth VIP wooden token from Huichun Hall, the carved patterns pressing painfully into her palm. That pain, however, only sharpened her thoughts further.
Her gaze burned with intensity, piercing through the paper window of the hut and locking onto the direction of Qingshi Town. Only one thought echoed in her mind:
Start-up capital—she must obtain it.
This was the family’s only chance at survival.
In the early morning of Liu Family Village, the air carried the faint coolness of soil and vegetation. A light breeze brushed across their faces, invigorating the senses.
Li Xiuxiu and Liu Congming were already awake, cooking thin porridge. When they saw Liu Xiaoman shouldering her herb-gathering basket, worry was clearly written in their eyes.
Liu Xiaoman turned back and gave them a firm, reassuring look. She promised she would return with good news. Those four simple words carried all her resolve and strength.
She picked up her short sickle and made her way through the dense mountain forest, stepping high and low over uneven ground.
Activating system scanning, pale blue data streams flickered rapidly across her retina, analyzing terrain, vegetation, and species one by one.
The system performed its duties faithfully. Soon, an inconspicuous crack in the rocks was highlighted.
[Ding! Target medicinal herb detected. High quality. Immediate recovery recommended.]
Liu Xiaoman’s breath caught.
She quickly stepped forward, parting the entangling vines. A plant appeared before her—entirely jade-green, its leaf edges faintly glowing, exuding a subtle fragrance.
It was even better than the last one.
She knelt carefully, using her sickle to gently loosen the surrounding soil. When her fingers touched the roots, she felt a faint yet vigorous pulse of life.
She swiftly dug it out along with the soil, placing it into a specially prepared bamboo tube and wrapping it with moss.
Feeling the strong vitality within the tube, her heartbeat gradually quickened.
By her estimation, this herb was far more valuable than the hemostatic vine she had sold previously.
She quickly began calculating her negotiation strategy. This time, she wouldn’t just sell a single herb—she needed a long-term partnership, and enough upfront payment to sustain the critical early phase of the drought.
After gathering herself, she headed to Qingshi Town.
In Qingshi Town, the front of Huichun Hall was bustling with activity.
Liu Xiaoman pushed open the heavy wooden doors, stepping inside with the fresh scent of the mountains trailing behind her.
Shopkeeper Qian was seated behind the counter, fiddling with an abacus. Hearing the sound, he looked up and recognized her, a hint of surprise flashing across his face.
But he quickly composed himself. Noticing the wooden token in her hand, he smiled and invited her into the back hall.
“Little Xiaoman, a rare visitor indeed. What brings you here today?” Shopkeeper Qian’s tone was polite, though his eyes carried a hint of curiosity.
He gestured for her to sit, his gaze casually sweeping over her basket.
Liu Xiaoman smiled slightly, not answering directly. She simply said she had brought a “rare treasure,” enough to broaden his horizons.
Her voice was soft, yet carried unwavering confidence.
From her basket, she took out the bamboo tube and placed it gently on the table.
As the lid was slowly opened, a richer, sweeter medicinal fragrance instantly filled the entire room.
Shopkeeper Qian’s nose twitched.
His polite demeanor was immediately replaced by astonishment. He leaned forward almost instinctively, staring at the vibrant green herb inside the tube.
His expression shifted from shock to disbelief, then to overwhelming excitement.
“This… this is…” His hands trembled slightly as he carefully touched the leaves. His eyes gleamed, his throat bobbing as he struggled to form coherent words. He urgently asked about its origin, as if afraid it might vanish at any moment.
Seeing this, Liu Xiaoman knew the moment was right.
She calmly stated that it was cultivated through a “family-secret method,” subtly implying that this herb was not a one-time find, but something that could be supplied continuously.
Her words were vague, yet they left immense room for imagination.
“Shopkeeper Qian, this kind of herb isn’t accidental. If a long-term supply is possible…” she said, offering her proposal at the right moment.
She requested that the purchase price be three times the market rate, along with an upfront payment covering half a year—or even a full year.
Her words made Shopkeeper Qian’s heart tremble. A hint of difficulty appeared in his eyes, but his desire for the herb outweighed his hesitation.
After several flickers of internal struggle, he studied the young girl before him—seemingly thin and fragile, yet with remarkably steady eyes. In the end, he was convinced by her foresight and the immense potential behind the mysterious herb.
This was something unprecedented. Its effects were undoubtedly extraordinary.
“Long-term supply… upfront payment…” he murmured, tapping his fingers on the table.
He raised several detailed concerns, including quality standards and delivery schedules.
Liu Xiaoman held firm on the conditions of upfront payment and a long-term contract. She knew this was her only leverage.
Though her tone was youthful, it carried a shrewdness beyond her years, silently impressing Shopkeeper Qian.
“Girl, the upfront amount… is quite large,” he admitted, somewhat pained. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to pay, but such a sum required time to arrange.
Liu Xiaoman remained composed, though her tone carried a hint of urgency.
“These herbs are difficult to grow and time-consuming to harvest. Time is limited. If I don’t prepare early, I may not be able to ensure future supply.”
She subtly emphasized scarcity while also offering the possibility of partial payment first.
..
In the end, after weighing the pros and cons, Shopkeeper Qian made his decision with a decisive slap of the table.
He believed that something capable of producing such rare herbs could only come from one source.
He immediately signed a three-year supply contract with Liu Xiaoman, agreeing on pricing and delivery frequency.
Then he personally retrieved fifty taels of silver from the accounts office and placed it heavily before her.
The silver ingots glinted under the sunlight streaming through the window, dazzling to the eye.
Liu Xiaoman’s heart skipped a beat. A surge of fulfillment, mixed with an indescribable weight, washed over her.
These fifty taels of silver—heavy as a thousand pounds—represented hope for her family’s survival through the coming three-year drought.
Watching her carefully store the silver away, Shopkeeper Qian casually sighed, “Lately, grain prices in town seem to be quietly rising. Not sure why.”
As soon as he said this, he realized he might have spoken too freely and quickly waved it off, telling her not to mind.
However, that offhand remark struck Liu Xiaoman like a bolt of lightning.
The alarm in her mind rang instantly. The system’s earlier warning about changes in world rules now aligned perfectly with reality.
Yet outwardly, she remained calm, quietly observing Shopkeeper Qian’s expression to confirm that he had said it without deeper awareness.
With fifty taels of silver in hand, her emotions—joy and hope—intertwined, filling her chest with an unprecedented sense of power.
She stepped out of Huichun Hall and looked toward the bustling market of Qingshi Town, where crowds surged and voices of vendors rose and fell.
In her mind, a new, larger, and more ambitious plan was rapidly taking shape.
Behind her, Shopkeeper Qian even instructed his assistants to properly receive her, drawing curious and probing glances from nearby merchants.