The shopkeeper took Li Yun into the lobby in the backyard. After they sat down, the medicine boy brought tea, poured it for the shopkeeper and Li Yun, and left.

The shopkeeper picked up the tea, took a sip, and then went straight to the point and spoke to Li Yun.

"Madam, your herbs are of very good quality. I am very satisfied and will buy them all." The shopkeeper told Li Yun that he wanted to buy all her herbs.

"Shopkeeper, I wonder what the price of those herbs is? If the price is not right, I won't sell them to you." Li Yun just wanted to know the price. If the price is unreasonable, it will be useless no matter how much you like it.

"Madam, the common herbs such as Corydalis yanhusuo, honeysuckle, dandelion, plantain, liquorice, saposhnikovia, and bupleurum are 200 wen per catty; Huang's herbs are more expensive, 300 wen per catty; Gastrodia elata is the most difficult to find, so it is more expensive, 5 liang per catty. Are you satisfied with this price, madam?" The shopkeeper gave a reasonable price based on the quality of the herbs.

"Wow!" Gastrodia elata is so expensive? It's much more expensive than she imagined.

"This price is very reasonable, just what I expected. Let's just go with the price the shopkeeper said." Li Yun was definitely very satisfied with the price and agreed immediately.

"Okay, since Madam has no objection, let the medicine boy weigh the herbs." Seeing that Li Yun agreed, the shopkeeper immediately asked the medicine boy to weigh the herbs.

"Thank you for weighing them!" Li Yun asked the shopkeeper to call the medicine boy to come and weigh the herbs.

Soon, the medicine boy came over with a scale.

The medicine boy weighed the herbs and told the weights: "Five catties of Corydalis; twenty catties of Honeysuckle; six catties of Cattail Gourd; fifty catties of Plantain; twenty catties of Licorice; five catties of Saposhnikovia; six catties of Bupleurum; thirty catties of Rhizoma Coptidis; sixty-six catties of Gastrodia." After the medicine boy finished weighing the herbs, he gave the table recording the herbs to the shopkeeper.

"Madam, the white herbal medicine is 200 wen per catty, which makes a total of 112 catties, for a total of 22 liang and 400 wen; the Huang's is 30 catties, 300 wen per catty, for a total of 9 liang; the Gastrodia elata is 66 catties, 5 liang per catty, for a total of 330 liang.

The total price of the herbs was three hundred and sixty-one taels and four hundred wen.

Madam, is this price correct?" The shopkeeper told Li Yun the price of each herb, the quantity, and finally the total price while using an abacus.

It is said so clearly that even an illiterate village woman can understand it.

"Shopkeeper, there's no mistake in the calculations. They're very clear and accurate. You've read a lot of books, haven't you?" Li Yun had actually figured out the mental arithmetic long ago. Modern mental arithmetic is no small feat; it's both fast and accurate. After a while, the shopkeeper also typed it out on an abacus, which is why she praised him.

Abacus is a national treasure. No matter which dynasty it is, it is indispensable. Even schools in the 21st century teach students to use abacus, and many pharmacies also use it.

"Madam, did you find any ginseng when you were digging herbs? If you did, I'd buy it at a high price, especially if it's old." The shopkeeper was now busy with the task assigned by his boss and wanted to try his luck to see if the village woman in front of him could help him find ginseng.

"I do have ginseng. I was planning to take it to the county town to sell. The price there should be reasonable. I just don't know what the shopkeeper would offer. If it's the same as the price in the county town, I can sell it to him." Li Yun hadn't planned to sell ginseng in town. She said this because she wanted to see what the price was in town. Only when she got to the county town would she know how to quote a price so as not to be cheated.

"Madam, if the ginseng is of good quality and of high age, I will buy it back at the price in the county town, and save you the transportation fare to the county town." The shopkeeper was delighted when he heard that there was ginseng. Maybe the village woman in front of him really had the ginseng he wanted.

Li Yun took out five ginseng stalks wrapped in red cloth from his backpack, placed them on the table, opened the red cloth, and revealed the five ginseng stalks.

The shopkeeper went forward and took a look. He saw that all five ginseng plants were of good quality and well preserved without any damage. It was obvious that the person who dug the ginseng was an expert. He then looked at the age of the ginseng.

"Holy crap!" the shopkeeper was so surprised he had two large ginseng plants, both older and better quality than the one his boss wanted. He was determined to buy the two and offer them to his boss, which would give him a chance for promotion.

"Madam, these two ginsengs are very old. One is eight hundred years old, and the other one is five hundred years old. Their quality is superb and very rare. I'll give you the price in the county: two thousand taels for the eight hundred year old ginseng, and one thousand taels for the five hundred year old ginseng. What do you think?" The shopkeeper looked at the ginseng in his hand with reluctance. He must buy back these two ginsengs. They are the keys to his promotion. He will agree to any conditions. The shopkeeper looked determined to get them.

"Oh shit!" Li Yun was secretly shocked. It turns out that ginseng is so valuable. If he had known earlier, he would have bought a few plants from Haoduoduo and sold them. Maybe he could have gotten a good price for them.

"Since you are so sincere, I will sell it to you at this price." Li Yun began to deceive the shopkeeper, pretending to be very experienced, as if he was willing to sell it to him out of pity for the shopkeeper.

"Thank you, ma'am. I'm willing to give you a satisfactory price for the other three ginsengs, although they are younger." The shopkeeper agreed to sell the ginseng to Li Yun because he was so willing to do so. He was very grateful, although the price he offered was the county price and he did not cheat her.

Most people would definitely bargain again and raise the price a little bit until the other party disagrees and refuses to buy, and then they would sell it at the highest price.

So the shopkeeper was prepared. As long as the village woman in front of him was not too excessive, he would pay for it himself to buy her back.

What he didn't expect was that the village woman in front of him did not play by the rules and readily agreed to sell ginseng to him.

Such a village woman is not greedy, has good character, and is worth making friends with.

"This ginseng is a hundred years old, so I'll give you three hundred taels. The other two ginsengs are several decades old, so I'll give you a total of two hundred taels. What do you think, ma'am?" The shopkeeper picked up the ginseng and introduced the age of the ginseng and the price he offered to Li Yun.

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