An Dashan drove his carriage to the city gate, handed the three-cent entrance fee to the soldier guarding the gate, and asked, "Sir, I would like to ask if Zhao Meng is here?"
The soldier guarding the city gate looked An Dashan up and down and asked, "Who are you? What do you want with us?"
An Dashan explained: "My name is An Dashan, and I am your boss's brother. I came to the city to see him this time."
The soldier guarding the city gate handed over the tasks at hand to other people and said, "Wait a moment over there, I'll go and inform them for you." An Dashan thanked him repeatedly.
Soon, the soldier came over behind a burly man. When the man saw Xu Dashan, he laughed and walked over quickly, gave An Dashan a bear hug, and after letting An Dashan go, he said, "Brother An, why are you in the county town?"
An Dashan said, "I have some business to attend to in the city this time, so I'd like to bring your sister-in-law and your niece to see them."
The big man looked at Gao and An Ning behind An Dashan, greeted them, and then said, "Why didn't my nephew come with us?"
An Dashan sighed and said, "Hey! Your nephew has joined the army for me."
Zhao Meng was a little surprised and asked: "What's going on?"
An Dashan didn't want to say more, and just said: "This is a long story. I'll tell you when I have time. We have things to do, so we won't disturb you on duty." After that, he turned around and took out the rabbit from the backpack on the ox cart, saying: "I don't have anything good. This is a rabbit I shot in the mountains yesterday. I thought you like to eat it, so I brought one for you. Don't think it's too little."
Zhao Meng said angrily: "Brother An, who do you think I am? I am very happy that you think of me. How can I despise you?"
An Dashan quickly said, "Brother, I said the wrong thing."
The two exchanged a few more pleasantries. Before leaving, Zhao Meng said, "Brother An, come find me when you're done. I'll treat you to a meal today."
But An Dashan refused, and said: "I won't have dinner today. I have something else to do at home. Let's wait for the next opportunity to have dinner together."
After saying goodbye to Zhao Meng, An Dashan first placed the ox cart in a special place for ox carts. After giving three cents to the man who looked after the ox cart, An Dashan put on the backpack and several people came to Jishidi, the largest medical clinic in the county.
The waiter at Jishitang looked at the people coming in and asked, "Are you here to see a doctor or get medicine?"
An Dashan walked to the counter and said, "Young man, can you please call out the shopkeeper? I have a few medicinal herbs I want to sell."
The waiter did not make things difficult for An Dashan and said, "Okay, you guys wait here for a moment, I'll go call our boss." After saying that, he went to the back hall, and soon brought out a man with gray hair and a shrewd face.
The clerk pointed at An Dashan and said, "Boss, this is the man who wants to sell medicinal herbs."
The shopkeeper nodded and said to An Dashan, "I heard you want to sell medicinal herbs?"
An Dashan nodded and said, "Yes, Boss, can we go to the back hall to discuss in detail?"
The shopkeeper was a shrewd person. As soon as he heard what An Dashan said, he knew that the medicinal materials he brought were definitely good. The shopkeeper nodded and said, "Please follow me to the back hall."
An Dashan and the other two followed the old shopkeeper to the back hall. After the old shopkeeper asked the three of them to sit down, he told the waiter to serve tea, and then said, "I wonder what medicinal herbs the guests want to sell? Can I take a look?"
An Dashan took the box of Ganoderma lucidum out of the backpack, opened it and placed it in front of the old shopkeeper, saying, "I found this by accident when I went hunting in the mountains. I would like to ask the old shopkeeper to take a look and see how much I can sell it for."
The old shopkeeper took the box and carefully examined the Ganoderma lucidum inside. He found that the Ganoderma lucidum was well preserved, red like coral, very shiny, and of excellent quality. So he said, "This Ganoderma lucidum is of good quality. I will take it for 800 taels of silver. Do you think it's okay?"
An Dashan frowned. If his daughter hadn't told him yesterday that this Ganoderma lucidum was worth at least 1,000 taels of silver, he would have been tempted. An Dashan thought for a moment and said, "Boss, I came here because your Jishitang has a great reputation for saving the dying and healing the wounded. To tell you the truth, I have already asked someone who knows how to perform to see it. This Ganoderma lucidum is worth at least 1,100 taels of silver."
The shopkeeper was not annoyed. He smiled and said, "Brother, you are joking. Although this Ganoderma lucidum is of excellent quality, it is not very old. I can only give you one thousand taels of silver at most. What do you think of this price?"
After hearing this, An Dashan turned around and looked at An Ning. Seeing An Ning nodded, An Dashan said to the old shopkeeper, "Okay, since the old shopkeeper said so, I won't go anywhere else. I'll buy this Ganoderma lucidum at the price you said." After a pause, he said, "I have some other medicinal herbs here. Shopkeeper, please help me and collect them together!"
The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Let me see what kind of herbs they are first. Let me be frank, I won't accept bad herbs."
An Dashan took out the herbs from the basket one by one. They were all sorted and organized by Gao and An Ning yesterday. There were no weeds at all. The shopkeeper looked at the clean herbs and nodded, feeling very satisfied. When he saw the ginseng, he became a little upset and said, "Oh! What a pity! This ginseng was dug out when it was so young. If it had grown a few more years, it would have been a rare and good herb!" Looking at the distressed old shopkeeper, An Ning smiled secretly in his heart.
The shopkeeper gave twelve taels of silver for the last ginseng, two taels more than in the town. An Dashan and Gao Shi were distressed, because these were three ginsengs, a full six taels of silver, enough to buy an acre of grain field. The other herbs were not so valuable, so the shopkeeper rounded it up to one tael of silver. Together with the silver for the ginseng and ganoderma lucidum, the total was one thousand and thirteen taels of silver.
The shopkeeper handed An Dashan two five-hundred-liang silver notes and thirteen liang of silver change, and said, "My last name is Qian, and I don't know your last name yet.
An Dashan said, "Manager Qian, I am a hunter, please tell me your last name, An."
Shopkeeper Qian nodded and said, "Brother An, if you come across good medicinal herbs in the future, please don't forget my Jishitang."
An Dashan smiled and said, "Shopkeeper Qian is an upright person and his prices are very fair. Don't worry, I will definitely come back to you when I find good medicinal materials in the future."
As An Dashan was talking, he put the banknotes close to his body. After putting the banknotes away, he handed An Ning a tael of silver and said, "Take this money. If you like anything, you can buy it."
An Ning nodded, took the silver and put it in her lapel.
The shopkeeper saw it and said, "I didn't expect Brother An to love his daughter so much."
An Dashan smiled, put the remaining silver into his purse without any explanation, said goodbye to Manager Qian, and left Jishidiang with Gao and An Ning.
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