Chapter 262 – Earning Fifteen Hundred Taels
The pharmacy apprentice had a discerning eye. Seeing the extraordinarily large wild herb in Yan Xiaosi’s hand, which was clearly no ordinary specimen, he smiled warmly and said, “Manager Bai happens to be here today. Please come in, young master.”
“Thank you. Please lead the way.”
Yan Xiaosi nodded slightly and followed the apprentice inside.
“Brother Mingyue, I was wrong before. Please consider our many years of friendship and return to Jiren Hall.”
“Brother Jingye, you’re too kind. You were only protecting Jiren Hall’s reputation, there was nothing wrong with what you did. If I were in your position, I would likely have done the same.”
“Brother Mingyue, does this mean you’re willing to return to Jiren Hall?”
“I’m sorry, but I won’t be returning to Jiren Hall. I’ve been here for so many years; it’s time for me to explore other places.”
“Brother Mingyue, you clearly still blame me for not standing up for you that day.”
The conversation drifted from the tea room.
Yan Xiaosi listened briefly and realized one of the speakers was Bai Mingyue.
That day, to protect Jiren Hall’s reputation, Bai Jingye had sacrificed Bai Mingyue without hesitation. Now, seeing that business was affected, he wanted to invite Bai Mingyue back. These merchants truly had thick skin.
The apprentice, considering the exceptional quality of the wild herb in Yan Xiaosi’s hand, thought for a moment before reluctantly announcing: “Manager, there’s a young man here selling a wild medicinal herb.”
Bai Jingye, still aggravated, had no interest in buying wild herbs.
“Jiren Hall has dedicated channels for medicine procurement. Tell him to leave.”
Although the apprentice was reluctant to let go of the heshouwu in Yan Xiaosi’s hand, he dared not disobey the manager’s orders. He looked apologetically at Yan Xiaosi.
Just as he was about to escort Yan Xiaosi out, Yan Xiaosi’s action startled him, draining the color from his face.
“Manager Bai, I have human-shaped heshouwu here. Are you sure you don’t want to take a look?”
Ginseng and deer antlers were valuable, and human-shaped heshouwu equally so. Legend had it that human-shaped heshouwu possessed magical properties.
The apprentice became angry.
“Young master, how could you behave this way? I kindly let you in, and now that the manager says he’s not interested, you’re shouting like this. Aren’t you deliberately making things difficult for me?”
“I apologize, brother. If Manager Bai gets angry, I’ll take full responsibility.”
“Can you really handle that?”
With a creak, the tea room door opened, and Bai Jingye and Bai Mingyue walked out one after another.
Upon seeing Yan Xiaosi, Bai Mingyue didn’t speak but offered a smile as a greeting.
“Since Manager Bai has guests, I’ll take my leave now.”
Bai Jingye escorted him to the door.
“I hope Brother Mingyue will carefully consider my proposal today.”
“I will.”
After seeing Bai Mingyue off, Bai Jingye returned to the tea room to meet with Yan Xiaosi.
He glanced at Yan Xiaosi’s hands, where she held three heshouwu roots still covered with some soil. The roots were as large as sweet potatoes and indeed human-shaped.
Until now, he had believed human-shaped heshouwu was merely a legend. Seeing it with his own eyes today, a gleam of delight flashed across his face.
“Young brother, may I examine the human-shaped heshouwu in your hand?”
Yan Xiaosi had come specifically to sell the heshouwu, so naturally she was willing to show it.
“Of course.”
She stepped forward and handed one of the human-shaped heshouwu roots to Bai Jingye.
“This is a genuine article. Please inspect it, Manager Bai.”
Bai Jingye took it, smelled it to confirm it was indeed heshouwu, and felt even more delighted.
The heshouwu looked remarkably like a chubby child, complete with four limbs, head, and body—nothing was missing.
Legend had it that human-shaped heshouwu possessed magical properties. Sending such ginseng to the capital Xijing to sell to wealthy officials would certainly bring in considerable profit.
“Young man, I’ll take all three of your human-shaped heshouwu roots. How about three hundred taels?”
Bai Jingye observed her attire—the blue satin robe, though attractive, was not made of high-quality material and worth at most five taels of silver. He offered the high price of three hundred taels, expecting her to accept with great joy.
Three hundred taels of silver was an astronomical sum for ordinary households.
Yan Xiaosi smiled faintly, then responded resolutely: “Three human-shaped heshouwu roots, fifteen hundred taels of silver. Not a tael less, or I won’t sell.”
Bai Jingye was so angry that his beard quivered.
Damn it, this youngster had suddenly added twelve hundred taels.
The smile on his face was becoming difficult to maintain.
“Young man, aren’t you being excessively greedy?”
“I’m not being greedy at all. Manager Bai, buying these three heshouwu roots for fifteen hundred taels is a bargain. Legend says human-shaped heshouwu has magical properties, making it rarer and more precious than hundred-year or even thousand-year-old ginseng. If Manager Bai buys them and sells them in the capital Xijing, you could easily get three thousand taels at minimum.”
Bai Jingye coldly smiled: “If they’re so valuable, why doesn’t the young man take them to Xijing to sell himself?”
Yan Xiaosi replied frankly: “First, Xize County is too far from Xijing. I’m too young—if I traveled with such treasures, I fear they’d be stolen before I reached Xijing. Second, even if I made it to Xijing, I lack connections for selling them. Manager Bai is different—you’ve been in the medicinal herb business for many years and surely have contacts in Xijing.”
Such young age yet able to think so far ahead—Bai Jingye looked at her with surprise in his eyes.
Admiration aside, he still didn’t forget to haggle.
“One thousand taels. That’s the highest price I can offer. I’ll need to hire an escort service to take these three human-shaped heshouwu roots to Xijing and contact buyers, which will cost money.”
Yan Xiaosi said: “Fifteen hundred taels means fifteen hundred taels. If Manager Bai disagrees, I’ll just take them back and make soup for myself. Something this good likely has life-extending properties. Consuming it wouldn’t be a waste.”
As she spoke, Yan Xiaosi reached out to reclaim the heshouwu in Bai Jingye’s hand.
Bai Jingye felt a headache coming on.
Today he had failed to bring back Bai Mingyue and now encountered such a shrewd young man.
“Fine, fifteen hundred taels it is. Let me see the other two roots as well.”
Yan Xiaosi’s lips curved slightly as she handed the other two heshouwu roots to Bai Jingye.
“Please examine them, Manager Bai.”
The other two were even plumper, also with complete human forms. After inspecting them, Bai Jingye was very satisfied.
“I’ll take you to the counter to settle the payment.”
“Thank you, Manager Bai.”
Yan Xiaosi followed Bai Jingye to the outer counter, where he gave her a bank note worth fifteen hundred taels of silver.
Receiving the bank note made Yan Xiaosi very happy.
After all, the three heshouwu roots were casually dug up from Big Sister Peak and had grown into human form after being planted in her Portable Space for just a short while.
Through the experience of growing heshouwu, she discovered an interesting secret: everything in the Portable Space seemed connected to her consciousness. That day, when planting the heshouwu in her space, she had subconsciously thought how nice it would be if they grew into human form—unexpectedly, they actually did.
