Chapter 17: Eight hundred words are not expensive (asking for monthly tickets and follow-up reading) The morning light is breaking and the fog is thick. The market outside Qingmu Town gradually became lively, and people kept coming out of the mist. Some carry bamboo baskets, some carry a shoulder pole and a basket, or some lead a mule, with big and small bags. The vendors each found a place to set up their stalls, put all kinds of herbs and mountain products on display, and waited for customers to come. Before anyone knew it, wealthy people from the city, local merchants, and traveling businessmen from other places who were wandering around the market empty-handed had also appeared. Suddenly, the market became very lively, with shouting and bargaining sounds coming one after another, making it extremely noisy. Although Qingmu Town is just a small town, as one of the main medicinal materials distribution centers in Changle Prefecture, it has a strong business atmosphere and is crowded with medicine dealers and mountain product merchants. As long as you have good products, you won’t have to worry about not being able to sell them. Therefore, villagers from all over the country, hunters and herbalists would travel across mountains and rivers to come to the market as long as they had goods.
Every morning from early morning to morning, the market outside Aoki Town is very lively. "Hey~Brother Qiu, I haven't seen you come to the market for a long time." Qiu Zhen came to the corner of the market carrying a bamboo basket. He had just found a small open space when several herbalists greeted him. "I've been a bit busy lately, and rarely go up the mountain to collect herbs." As he spoke, Qiu Zhen took out a piece of linen from his backpack and spread the various medicinal herbs he had prepared on it. After a while, the floor was fully filled. "Brother Qiu, you have a good harvest. You said that you rarely go up the mountain. If you go up the mountain every day, you will make a fortune." "What do you know? People go to the deep mountains and old forests to collect herbs, and the harvest is naturally rich. If you are brave enough, you can also make a fortune." "Forget it, forget it. I have parents and children to take care of. I can't take risks. I can't compare to these young people who are so energetic." "Hahahaha~" Seeing everyone joking, Qiu Zhen just smiled and did not participate in the discussion of "the pros and cons of bringing herbs into the mountains". We are all adults, our feet are on our own legs, and other people's opinions are not important. "Brother, are these medicinal herbs of yours genuine goods from the mountains?" While everyone was talking, a middle-aged man came to Qiu Zhen's stall. This man's attire was quite exquisite. He wore a black cloak which was open in the front and had wide sleeves. The body and edges of the cloak were decorated with exquisite patterns of auspicious clouds and flying white cranes. He wore cloud-shaped shoes and a tight belt around his waist, looking quite imposing. There were two servants following him, and it was obvious that he was from a wealthy family. A big customer has arrived. Qiu Zhen was delighted and nodded calmly: "Yes, these herbs are all collected from deep mountains and old forests. They are not cultivated in medicinal fields or mountains. Customers can rest assured." In the vicinity of Qingmu Town, in addition to grain fields, the most numerous are medicinal fields. The medicinal herb planting industry is extremely developed and produces large quantities of medicinal herbs continuously.
The government-run forests in Qingmu Town are regularly sown with herbal seeds by the government. In a sense, it can be considered a giant medicinal field and mountain. Generally speaking, the medicinal materials grown in medicinal fields will deplete the soil fertility over a long period of time, and their efficacy will not be as good as those of natural wild products in the mountains. The "authentic goods" mentioned by herbal medicine merchants and mountain product dealers refer specifically to wild medicinal herbs grown in deep mountains and old forests. "Hmm~" The middle-aged man nodded without comment, glanced around casually, and said with some surprise: "Young man, what they sell are raw herbs. Why do you insist on making your own genuine products? Are you trying to pass off inferior products as genuine ones?" Qiu Zhen really wanted to explain, but the herbalist next to him spoke first. "Sir, you don't know this. Brother Qiu is the master of medicine preparation in our Medicine King Valley. The medicines he prepares are highly praised by merchants from all over the country. You are lucky to have come too early. If you were a little later, these medicines would have been bought up." The middle-aged man was a little surprised and couldn't help but look at Qiu Zhen again. "Cough cough~" Qiu Zhen coughed and explained: "Please don't misunderstand me, my friend. I am just an apprentice in the medicine shop. I dare not call myself a master of roasting and curing." "You can tell if there is a trick or not by just watching it." The middle-aged man also became interested after hearing the conversation. At that moment, he squatted down, picked up a few slices of licorice and tasted them carefully. After observing for a while, he nodded. “The craftsmanship is indeed good.” Then, he picked up a few pieces of Atractylodes macrocephala. "Hey, this Atractylodes macrocephala..." At first, the middle-aged man was a little nonchalant and commented on it with a high attitude, but after taking the "Atractylodes macrocephala tablet" and observing it carefully and sniffing it, his expression changed slightly: "Brother, is this your cooking method stir-fried white atractylodes?" Qiu Zhen nodded: "Not bad!" "wrong!" The middle-aged man shook his head: "The warm and dry energy of your Atractylodes macrocephala is too mild, it doesn't even look like stir-fried Atractylodes macrocephala." Qiu Zhen smiled and said nothing. The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment, then he realized what was happening and burst out laughing: "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, little brother. Your roasting skills are really extraordinary. Not bad, not bad. I'll take these herbs. How many copper coins?" "This batch of medicinal materials is worth about 650 coins in the market." Qiu Zhen was very frank when talking about the market price of medicinal materials, but after he finished speaking, he changed the subject and continued: "I'll sell it for eight hundred coins." “It’s not expensive, it’s worth the price.” The middle-aged man was very straightforward and agreed immediately.
"By the way, I don't know what to call you, little brother." "My surname is Qiu and my given name is Zhen. Qiu Zhen." "Seeking truth and truth, what a good name." As he was talking, the servant behind the middle-aged man paid and took the goods. The whole transaction process was surprisingly fast. After the other party left, Qiu Zhen came to his senses and realized that he had sold all his goods. "What a generous foreigner!" Qiu Zhen made a comment, then happily carried the bamboo basket into the city and went straight to an armory in the city to buy a bow and arrow. When you first start learning archery, you don't need to buy any fancy or strong bows, and you don't need to spend too much time on it. A bow costs 1500 wen, an arrow costs 70 wen, and I asked for ten. The total cost was more than two strings of coins. The eight hundred coins Qiu Zhen had just earned from selling medicinal herbs were gone before they could even warm up, and he even lost more than one string of coins. Fortunately, he still had a dozen taels of savings, so he had no shortage of small change. After buying the bow and arrow, Qiu Zhen did not stop and hurried to the pharmacy to work. After returning to the backyard of the drugstore, Qiu Zhen found a place to put his things and went straight to the open space in the courtyard. As soon as he arrived at the open space in the compound, he was surprised to find something. It's a bit lively today. Not only did the apprentices from the backyard gather together, but even the apprentices from the front yard clinic came to the backyard. It was crowded and very lively. "Brother Zhen, why are you here so late today? Did something happen on the way?" Zhao Dou and Shen Liang saw Qiu Zhen from afar and hurried over. "I went to the market to sell herbs." Qiu Zhen responded, then looked around the crowded and bustling compound, feeling a little curious: "Big Head, Skinny Monkey, what day is today? Why is it so lively?" "Brother Zhen, don't you know?" Seeing Qiu Zhen was confused, Zhao Dou immediately explained: "Today, Pharmacist An is selecting apprentices to help out in our pharmacy. He is a big shot from Medicine King Valley. Being an apprentice to him, you can learn something that will benefit you for the rest of your life." "Brother Zhen, we just found out about this today, but how could you not know?" Skinny Shen Liang looked surprised and puzzled: "Manager Liu said that he would select the apprentice with the best roasting skills and send him to Pharmacist An. Your skills are recognized as the best. Could it be that Manager Kang didn't inform you in advance?" After saying that, Zhao Dou also frowned slightly: “Others were informed in advance.”
When Qiu Zhen heard this, his heart sank and he immediately understood what had happened. "Fuck it!" (End of this chapter)