Chapter 18: Making a fortune of six thousand taels by selling medicinal herbs! (Minor revision)...
Ruyi Pharmacy in Baisong Town.
"Shopkeeper, do you buy medicinal herbs?"
Lin Qingfu, the shopkeeper who was doing the accounting, looked up when he heard the voice and was surprised to find that the man in front of him was the same person who had come to the pharmacy a few days ago to sell wild boar stomach.
Lin Qingfu's heart skipped a beat, and he said with a smile, "Young man, you've gone into the mountains again? As long as the medicinal herbs are intact and their efficacy is not affected, I'll take as many as you have."
Lu Xuan nodded, then casually took out a cloth bag from the basket on his back and opened it in front of Manager Lin.
When Lin Qingfu saw what was inside the cloth bag, he gasped. "A century-old ginseng—!? And lingzhi! He Shou Wu!?"
Lin Qingfu rubbed his hands excitedly and, after obtaining Lu Xuan's permission, carefully examined the treasure in front of him.
"Great! The ginseng is in perfect condition. Judging from its size and features, it's at least 140 or 150 years old!" Lin Qingfu carefully held the ginseng in his hands, his face flushed with excitement.
Occasionally, a hunter or herb gatherer might be lucky enough to discover a century-old herb. But finding even one is remarkable, and this kid managed three at once!?
The Ganoderma lucidum and Polygonum multiflorum were even more outrageous; they were packed directly in baskets. A quick glance revealed at least a dozen plants, each in excellent condition.
But there were so many that one couldn't help but suspect they were mushrooms.
But its color, appearance, and smell clearly indicate that it is Ganoderma lucidum!
Lin Qingfu looked at Lu Xuan as if he were looking at a god.
To be able to find so many aged "miracle herbs" all at once, what else could it be but a deity?
Lu Xuan slightly raised his chin and asked, "Will you accept it or not?"
Lin Qingfu replied quickly, "Of course I'll take it!" His eagerness in his tone suggested he was afraid Lin would change his mind and take the herbs to someone else.
Lu Xuan nodded, "Name your price, and I'll sell if it's right."
The viewers in the live stream perked up their ears.
Lin Qingfu didn't try to fool him and gave him a fair price: "Ginseng is the oldest and has the most uses. I can offer 500 taels. The quality of the Ganoderma lucidum and Polygonum multiflorum is also good, and they look like they've been aged for a long time. I can offer 30 taels for each one. Let me count how many there are in total... eight! That's 240 taels in total. I'll offer 80 taels for each Polygonum multiflorum plant. That's 320 taels for four plants in total."
Although Lu Xuan was unaware of the prices of precious medicinal herbs in this era, he nodded and said after observing Manager Lin's expression for a moment.
Lin Qingfu said happily, "I'll get you the silver notes right away!"
Lin Qingfu quickly retrieved the silver notes and handed them to Lu Xuan.
The total was 1,060 taels. Because Lu Xuan had made a request in advance, Manager Lin gave him 100-tael silver notes, and the change for 60 taels was 6 ten-tael silver ingots.
The viewers in the live stream were so excited when they saw the silver notes and gold ingots in Lu Xuan's hand that they felt as if they had earned the money themselves.
Wow, so much money!
[One thousand taels, if I'm not mistaken, is equivalent to one million star coins, right? That's too easy money!]
I'm so envious! When will I be able to earn this much money all at once?!
[Don't forget, the streamer found more than just three precious medicinal herbs. If they sold them all... I'd be so envious.]
[I really want to climb over the screen and go treasure hunting in the mountains!!!]
[Riding on the streamer's good luck.]
Good luck played a part, but the main reason was probably the streamer's skill.
[That's right, primitive tigers and bears are indeed not as ferocious as mutated beasts, but if an ordinary person without superpowers or firearms doesn't encounter them, they'll die.]
Without sufficient resources to protect oneself in the deep mountains, even if the mountains are full of century-old medicinal herbs, finding them and safely smuggling them out would be a problem.
Other viewers weren't unaware of this.
However... they understand the reasoning, but seeing Lu Xuan easily earn so much money still makes it hard not to feel envious.
Lin Qingfu carefully put away the medicinal herbs he had received and said warmly to Lu Xuan, "If you can find any good medicinal herbs next time, please send them over as soon as possible!"
A hint of interest flashed in Lu Xuan's eyes, and he said leisurely, "There's no need to wait until next time."
Lu Xuan took out another three-hundred-year-old ginseng from the basket and, to the astonishment of Manager Lin, asked, "Shopkeeper, are you still buying?"
Lin Qingfu was so excited that he almost shouted "Stop!" but the words were on the tip of his tongue, and he swallowed them back when he thought of the fact that almost half of X's working capital had been emptied.
This ginseng is at least three hundred years old. The value of ginseng that is over a hundred years old is not just doubled every hundred years, but often doubled or tripled or even more.
For items over three hundred years old, the minimum price is two thousand taels of silver, and if you encounter a generous buyer, it might sell for even more.
The remaining silver notes he had totaled less than a thousand taels, not even enough to buy half of that.
Lin Qingfu was afraid that he would lose control and rush forward to snatch it, so he endured the heartache and looked away with difficulty, sighing, "This ginseng is too valuable, I'm afraid my shop can't afford it."
Lu Xuan was not surprised by this. He tapped the table with his finger and asked, "Does the shopkeeper have a suitable place to recommend? I can't use these medicinal herbs even if I keep them. They need to be in the hands of professionals so that more people who need them can use them."
Lin Qingfu originally wanted to ask Lu Xuan if he could keep the medicine for a while so that he could raise money as soon as possible, but when he heard Lu Xuan ask this question, he guessed that the other party was probably in a hurry to sell it for money.
He sighed inwardly again before regaining his composure and offering his advice: "There are only three pharmacies in town. The other two are not as large or as successful as mine, so they probably can't afford that much money. If you want to get a good price, you might as well try Baiyaotang in the prefectural city."
"Baiyaotang is a century-old brand with a large business, so they can definitely afford to charge high prices. Although they must have regular cooperative medicine merchants and herb gatherers over there, they certainly won't refuse these old medicines."
Lu Xuan raised an eyebrow, "Prefectural city?" Not a county town?
He was about to ask why it wasn't the county seat when he suddenly realized, who says the nearest town has to be the county seat?
Can't there be small towns around the prefectural city?
Moreover, being closer to the prefectural city is also a good thing for him.
The larger the city, the more wealthy people there are, the higher the prices of goods, and the faster they can buy sufficient supplies.
Having figured it out, Lu Xuan asked the shopkeeper where to hire a carriage.
After receiving the answer and thanking him, he left the pharmacy and went directly to the carriage shop. He spent one hundred coins to hire a carriage that ran through the prefectural city and set off for the city without wasting any time.
It only takes half a day to hire a carriage from Baisong Town to the prefectural city. When they left Baisong Town, it was just past Chenshi (7-9 AM). Along the way, Lu Xuan asked the coachman to speed up several times, and the carriage arrived in the prefectural city before Weishi (1-3 PM).
When he got out of the car, Lu Xuan's face was somewhat dark.
Although the carriage traveled on the official road, the limitations of the era were still there. Even on the official road, Lu Xuan, who was used to modern asphalt roads and cars, was still quite unaccustomed to it. He was jolted along the way and almost had his internal organs shaken out.
After paying the coachman, Lu Xuan stood at the city gate for a while before he came to his senses.
The viewers in the live stream were quite moved, offering a few perfunctory words of comfort before launching into a tirade about how smooth and comfortable their interstellar civilization's hovercars were to drive.
Lu Xuan: "..."
Seeing Lu Xuan's expressionless face, the audience burst into laughter, feeling refreshed and relieved of the gloom they had been feeling for so long.
Lu Xuan ignored the resentful audience and asked someone for directions to the Hundred Medicine Hall before heading there.
Baiyaotang truly lives up to its reputation as a century-old brand. Not only is its storefront several times larger than that of Ruyi Pharmacy, but it also has a large number of customers coming in and out to see doctors and get medicine. The staff is constantly busy.
Lu Xuan walked in, looked around, and finally stopped in front of the man who looked like the shopkeeper. Without saying much, he casually took out a century-old ginseng and showed it to the man.
The middle-aged shopkeeper, who was rather thin, suddenly brightened up.
Lu Xuan said calmly, "I have other medicines of similar or even better quality. Would you like to buy them?"
Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper realized that this was definitely a big customer and hurriedly said, "Please come to the back to discuss this further, young man."
When they arrived at the small room at the back where business was to be discussed, Lu Xuan took out the items he was going to sell one by one without waiting for the shopkeeper to speak.
One hundred-year-old ginseng, half a basket of red and purple Ganoderma lucidum, ten plump Polygonum multiflorum plants, and finally, a three-hundred-year-old ginseng.
The shopkeeper stared intently at these rare herbs, which were seldom seen even in pharmacies, and couldn't help but ask, "Young man, where did you get these herbs from?"
Lu Xuan glanced at him, "Does your pharmacy need to inquire about the origin of medicinal herbs?"
After asking the question, the shopkeeper realized something was wrong and was about to apologize when Lu Xuan said leisurely, "Judging from the fresh soil on the roots, these things were picked not long ago. I found them deep in the mountains. If you're interested, just name your price. I'll pay whatever you ask for; otherwise, we can go to other shops."
The shopkeeper, of course, couldn't possibly turn away such a distinguished guest who had come to his door on his own initiative, so he quickly scanned the medicinal herbs and assessed their age.
"Seven hundred taels for a hundred-year-old ginseng, eight hundred taels for lingzhi, three hundred and fifty taels for he shou wu, and three hundred-year-old ginseng..." The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment before gritting his teeth and saying, "I can give you three thousand taels."
Lu Xuan calculated that the total was four thousand eight hundred and fifty taels.
"You should also accept animal medicine, right?"
The shopkeeper nodded subconsciously, "Of course."
Lu Xuan nodded, and under the shopkeeper's astonished gaze, he took out a whole set of tiger bones with the meat removed from his basket. He didn't remove the tiger head, and it was too big to fit in the basket, so he didn't take it.
After taking the tiger bone, he also took out the tiger penis, bear gall, and two pairs of deer antlers.
"These are all for sale."
The shopkeeper stared in astonishment, his mouth agape.
Although Baiyaotang has many partner pharmacists and hunters often send them animal medicine, large insects and bears are not something ordinary hunters can handle.
Judging from the appearance of the tiger bones and tiger penis, they were obviously still very fresh, and most likely they were hunted not long ago.
Could it be that this young man in front of me hunted it?
But he doesn't look very strong. Does he really have such great abilities?
The shopkeeper was suspicious, but having already made a mistake once, he was determined not to repeat it and quickly rallied to offer a price again.
"Sixty taels of tiger bone, twenty taels of tiger penis and bear gall, and twenty taels of deer antlers, which should weigh more than twenty catties, I can give you thirty taels."
It's difficult to rank these animal-derived medicines in terms of value, but the completeness and weight of a whole tiger bone set naturally command a higher price.
Lu Xuan was fairly satisfied with the price. "That's settled then, checkout."
As soon as he received the silver notes, Lu Xuan readily handed the medicinal herbs to the shopkeeper.
The viewers in the live stream were once again in a frenzy as they looked at the stack of silver notes in Lu Xuan's hand.
A note from the author:
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