Selecting genuine medicinal herbs is a skill, and nowadays, herbal medicine dealers go to great lengths to counterfeit them, and the techniques for counterfeiting are constantly emerging and becoming more and more sophisticated.
Conversely, if we didn't do this, where would all those wild ginseng come from?
Everyone knows that wild ginseng has become extinct in some places and is on the verge of extinction in others, but people always hold onto a sliver of hope that it might be wild-caught.
Zhang Guodong had seen many news reports, such as the "thousand-year-old human-shaped Hewu" scam. Some were tree roots that resembled Hewu and were sold as thousand-year-old medicinal materials. The human-shaped appearance was very eye-catching. The most typical scam was that the fraudsters put the tree roots or Hewu roots into molds to grow. When they harvested the tree roots or Hewu, they were human-shaped, with noses, eyes, arms, legs, and even male genitalia.
Is it really that easy to find a Hewu that's a thousand years old? Obviously not.
Although ordinary black fungus isn't as expensive as ginseng, there are wild varieties that are hundreds or even thousands of years old, so the price is expected to be very high. Just based on that thousand-year-old reputation and legend, it will be a very high price.
Zhang Guodong once shared this same obsession. Now, that obsession has only grown stronger, because he is the only one with it!
Science is a good thing, but there are also things it can't explain, such as spiritual energy. Once a medicinal herb contains spiritual energy, it can turn something rotten into something magical.
Of course, this is an incredible secret.
The fat man was pretending to 'select' wild animals, which amused Zhang Guodong, but he didn't expose him. If he pointed out which were wild and which were cultivated from the beginning, there would probably be a lot of trouble later, so he let the fat man do it, at least he didn't have to pay in the end.
Upon closer inspection, several fluctuations of spiritual energy could be detected within the medicine shop, covering an area of about ten meters in radius. This included one of the dozen or so plants in Qian Wu's shop. The spiritual energy fluctuation of this one-year-old plant was relatively stronger, while the spiritual energy fluctuations of the other dozen or so plants were negligible. They must have been cultivated. This is the difference between wild and cultivated plants; spiritual energy cannot be cultivated.
"Fifth Brother, the fresh goods are back, do you want to go take a look?" At this moment, someone outside called out to Qian Wu and then ran away.
Zhang Guodong was somewhat curious when he heard about fresh goods.
Qian Wu then said to the fat man, "Excuse me, sir, I have something to attend to and I have to close up shop. If you want to see it, come back in an hour!"
Upon hearing this, the fat man frowned. He had only been watching for a short while, and now he couldn't watch anymore?
Zhang Guodong asked, "Boss, does 'fresh goods' refer to freshly dug medicinal herbs?"
Qian Wu looked at Zhang Guodong with surprise, revealing a smoky-yellowed front tooth, and laughed, "Yes, young man, are you very interested in fresh food? Want to join us?"
"I couldn't be happier!" Zhang Guodong laughed. "Fatty, let's take a look first; maybe what you're looking for is inside!"
The fat man nodded helplessly, and the three of them walked in one direction.
A large crowd had gathered around several large trucks; these people were mostly merchants from the medicinal herb market. They couldn't rely solely on their own digging for medicinal herbs; sometimes they had to source them from others. These trucks were wholesalers who made their rounds three times a month. They had a wide variety of herbs, from common to rare.
Of course, whether it is wild or not depends on your eyesight. Most medicinal materials are not allowed to be damaged, and only a few with thick skin can be cut open to take a look.
Zhang Guodong had a specific purpose in looking for fresh produce. If he could find any good specimens, he would definitely buy them and transplant them to Taoyuan so they could multiply. He couldn't leave empty-handed.
"Young man, do you want the regular stuff or the good stuff?" Qian Wu asked Zhang Guodong.
"Good goods" refers to precious medicinal herbs?
Seeing Qian Wu nod, Zhang Guodong said, "Then let's look at the good stuff. I have no use for ordinary medicinal herbs!"
That's a bit of an overstatement. You have to understand that wild medicinal herbs are very expensive, and their value cannot be measured by a reasonable price. They would be much higher than their intrinsic worth.
"Then come with me. Everything is clearly priced. Choose whichever you like, pay, and leave!" Qian Wu didn't say much. He led Zhang Guodong and the fat man past the ordinary goods, such as Bupleurum and other medicinal herbs, and walked towards a person in charge.
Qian Wu could tell that Zhang Guodong and the fat man were both from wealthy families. They drove nice cars and wore expensive clothes. These were the kinds of people the pharmacy needed most, as they were often willing to pay high prices.
"Thank you, Boss Qian. If you have any precious wild medicinal herbs in the future, you can call this number. Of course, as long as they are fresh, the price is negotiable!" Zhang Guodong took a business card and gave it to Qian Wu. Qian Wu took it, chuckled, and took out his own. It was covered in mud, which really matched the environment of the medicine shop.
"Of course, of course!"
Qian Wu was familiar with the person in charge of this shipment. After exchanging greetings, he parted ways with Zhang Guodong and Fatty, and joined the task of identifying the medicinal herbs. Fresh goods were a must-have; they had to act quickly, or someone else would snatch them up.
Seeing this, Zhang Guodong also walked in one direction. The fat man was a little puzzled and quietly asked Zhang Guodong, "Guodong, what do you need the medicinal herbs for?"
Unable to explain this to the fat man, Zhang Guodong said, "Let's see if we can grow it, and buy it to try!"
The fat man was speechless.
If wild medicinal herbs could be transplanted, there would be no shortage of good medicinal herbs on the market. Therefore, Fatty thought Zhang Guodong was being impulsive and having wild ideas.
This time, the main character for selecting medicinal herbs has changed. With so many experts involved, Fatty wisely stands aside, watching in astonishment as Zhang Guodong continuously selects herbs. Before long, Zhang Guodong has three herbs in his hands, all fresh. However, they are a bit dry because they have been unearthed for a while, but that's alright. They can be revived by watering them with some space water when they get back.
Unfortunately, Zhang Guodong originally wanted to choose a wild ginseng for Fatty, but he didn't find one. He'll have to think of something else later. If all else fails, he'll buy the one from Qian Wu's shop.
Zhang Guodong knew when to stop. He didn't recognize some of the other medicinal herbs, nor was he interested in others, so he only selected the three with the strongest spiritual energy fluctuations from among the thousands of herbs.
"Three plants? What kind of medicinal herbs are these? I see the price isn't low either. Three plants would cost several thousand. Is selling medicinal herbs really that profitable?" The fat man said, looking at the three different medicinal herbs in Zhang Guodong's hand.
A few thousand yuan was nothing to him, but the sheer number of medicinal herbs shocked him. Just three plants cost several thousand yuan, and they all looked like trees? Or maybe herbs?
The profit margin is huge.
A typical novice when it comes to medicinal herbs.
"We'll talk in a bit!" Zhang Guodong pulled the fat man aside and whispered, then immediately went to pay the bill.
The person in charge smiled broadly when he saw that someone had chosen the medicinal herbs so quickly. He glanced at the herbs and said, "Panax notoginseng? Polygonatum? Dioscorea opposita? These are all old ones. You have a good eye. Three plants will cost 3050 yuan in total. We'll round it down to 3000 yuan!"
Zhang Guodong thought to himself, "Nonsense! I don't know where this guy got so many aged cultivated varieties mixed in with the wild ones. It's going to be hard to spot them." The only difference among these is between wild and cultivated varieties; as for age, they're basically all the same. This couldn't be hidden from Zhang Guodong; otherwise, all his recent studies on medicinal herbs and plants would have been for nothing.
However, these three plants are exceptionally expensive! And this is a wholesale market item. Although the three medicinal herbs are somewhat old, the most expensive is the Polygonatum plant, which is only about ten years old. The other two are only three or four years old.
Panax notoginseng, also known as Tianqi or Sanqi ginseng, is one of the world's three major ginseng types, along with ginseng and American ginseng, but its popularity among the general public is very low. Among them, ginseng is the most precious, while the other two are considerably less valuable.
Seeing that Zhang Guodong didn't haggle and paid in cash directly, the person in charge immediately smiled; this was the kind of customer he liked best. Normally here, it was impossible for pharmaceutical merchants not to haggle, and they would haggle drastically, cutting away a significant portion of their profits.
"Young man, you also like collecting medicinal herbs? Then you'll have to patronize my business in the future!" The person in charge was Huang Anguo, who was in the wholesale business of medicinal herbs and also brought some good goods for retail each time.
Zhang Guodong accepted the business card and exchanged it for his own, chuckling dryly, "No problem, no problem. If you really have anything good, you can contact me. Price is not a problem!"
That's just polite talk.
Having been tempered by the black market for flowers and trees, Zhang Guodong had learned a thing or two. Knowing more people wouldn't hurt; who knows, business might come knocking someday, saving him the trouble of running around everywhere.
In terms of actual value, these three medicinal herbs were worth it for Zhang Guodong. The strong fluctuations in spiritual energy indicated both the rarity of the herbs and their age. However, the problem was that Zhang Guodong was a newcomer here and didn't know how to bargain, so he overpaid.
The transaction was successful, and everyone was happy. Zhang Guodong thought to himself, "If Boss Huang knew that he was using these wild medicinal herbs to transplant and propagate more high-quality wild medicinal herbs, I wonder what his expression would be." Three thousand yuan wasn't a big deal for Zhang Guodong; he could make countless three thousand yuan's worth!
I carefully wrapped the three medicinal herbs in a cloth to keep them warm and prevent them from freezing.
Zhang Guodong then said to the fat man, "Let's go back first!"
The fat man immediately panicked: "What about the medicinal herbs I need to buy?"
“Most of the medicinal herbs here are artificially cultivated. Of the dozen or so ginseng plants you saw in Boss Qian’s shop, only one is genuine, and it’s only a year old. I’ll try to get you a two-year-old one, guaranteed to be wild. However, if you really want to buy some, you can buy a few catties of He Wu (a type of medicinal herb) to take home. We do have genuine He Wu here, although they’re a bit younger, only five or six years old, but they’re wild, so it’s worth the trip!” Zhang Guodong said after thinking for a moment.
If there's wild ginseng, the other medicinal herbs are just embellishments, dispensable. That should be enough to get Fatty through, right? Actually, after hearing Fatty mention Lin Daiyu, Zhang Guodong felt that Lin Daiyu must have feelings for Fatty, and was probably just deliberately making things difficult for him. After all, Fatty said that Lin Daiyu's family was actually very wealthy; her father was the deputy director of the provincial TV station, and her mother ran a company. How could her daughter possibly take advantage of such a small thing?
The fat man immediately beamed, put his arm around Zhang Guodong's shoulder, and walked out together: "My brother is so loyal, he saved me a lot of pocket money. I don't need to pay for this, right?"
"Dream on!" Zhang Guodong rolled his eyes, trying not to laugh. The fat guy panicked; he still had no pocket money. How was he going to get through the next few months?
"Including the ginseng, I'll lend you another 90,000, making it 100,000 in total. Hehe, be careful with your money, you have to pay it back!" Zhang Guodong added with a laugh, and the fat man just grinned foolishly, not caring at all that the price seemed quite high.
At the pharmacy, Zhang Guodong advised the fat man to buy several kilograms of wild He Wu (a type of medicinal herb), explaining that it was best for the elderly and could rejuvenate them. The fat man was a little puzzled: "Guodong, where did you learn to identify medicinal herbs? How do you know this is wild?"
It costs 350 yuan per jin (500g), and there are 5 jin in total, which is not cheap. Other stalls sell He Wu (a type of wild mushroom) for only a little over 100 yuan per jin, but Zhang Guodong only buys from this stall.
This surprised the fat man.
It's truly surprising that Zhang Guodong, who studied architecture for several years, is now so knowledgeable about medicinal herbs.
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