Yu Xiaolian never expected Yu Ziyi to be so shameless, directly grabbing her bag. She was delicate and small, naturally no match for Yu Ziyi in strength. Watching as Yu Ziyi grabbed her bag and was about to leave,
Yu Xiaolian glanced around seeing no one else, then took out her anti-wolf electric shock baton from her space and jabbed it at Yu Ziyi's butt.
Yu Ziyi convulsed for a moment and soon lost strength, collapsing to the ground.
Serves you right, daring to snatch my stuff. Not only do I have an electric baton, but I also have pepper spray; you're in for it.
Yu Xiaolian was a forensic doctor at the police station in her previous life and had a gun permit. Unfortunately, during holidays, she couldn't carry a gun, or else her Type 92 pistol could have crossed over with her.
It's a pity she had a gun for several years and never fired it once.
Picking up the bag containing the medicine, Yu Xiaolian dashed off.
She was already rumored to be a monster by the Yu Family; she didn't mind being more mysterious, anyway, Yu Ziyi couldn't produce any evidence against her.
Yu Xiaolian reached the front yard and told Yu Changhe, who was weaving baskets, "Dad, my medicinal herbs are dried. I want to go to the pharmacy in town to see if I can sell them."
Yu Changhe frowned, "You're going alone? That's not okay. Wait, I'll go with you."
"Dad, your leg isn't convenient. If you come with me, I'll have to keep stopping and waiting for you. Just wait at home, I'll be back soon."
There was no way Yu Xiaolian would let Yu Changhe come with her, as the meticulous Yu Changhe would definitely notice her herbs had increased.
Yu Changhe was worried, "How about you go to the Zhao Family to get your mother to accompany you?"
Yu Xiaolian didn't want to dawdle with Yu Changhe any longer, so she tossed the two bags over her shoulder and ran out of the yard. "I'll be back soon."
Once out of the village, relying on her memory of the last time she went with Mrs. Sun, Yu Xiaolian quickly arrived in town.
As she approached the town, she had already put the herbs she had been accumulating in her space into the bags.
Yu Xiaolian chose a pharmacy with a more impressive storefront and went inside.
Placing the heavy bags on the pharmacy floor, she initially thought she hadn't accumulated much over the past few days, but once they were truly on her shoulders, she realized they had to weigh forty or fifty pounds.
Fortunately, she only carried them a short distance, otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to bear the weight.
The pharmacy assistant had just finished dispensing medicine for a previous customer and, turning, spotted Yu Xiaolian.
He approached Yu Xiaolian and asked amicably, "Little sister, are you here to get medicine or to see a doctor? Doctor Zheng went out on a call and hasn't returned yet."
Yu Xiaolian frowned, "Is the Steward not here?"
"What's wrong?"
At that moment, an eighteen or nineteen-year-old young man came in from outside, dressed in a gray-white long gown, his hair immaculately combed, with a severe look that's inconsistent with his actual age.
"Young Master, this child wants to see my master, but he went to the Pan Family to see Old Madam Pan this morning and hasn't come back yet."
The young man glanced at Yu Xiaolian, evaluating her from head to toe.
Even though Yu Xiaolian wore clothes covered in patches, the young man's eyes held no disdain.
"Do you need to see my father?"
Yu Xiaolian smiled, "Talking to you works too, just not sure if you can make the decision?"
Zheng Yuanfeng glanced at the bag beside Yu Xiaolian, "You're here to sell herbs, right?"
Yu Xiaolian nodded, surprised that this guy was quite observant.
"Lai Shun, check what herbs they are and weigh them for her!"
"Young Master, we can't just accept them. If Master finds out, he'll scold me."
"What are you afraid of? Aren't I here? Look at her, just an eight or nine-year-old kid, coming from far away to sell some herbs, can you really bear to drive her away?"
Zheng Yuanfeng said, sitting beside and fanning himself with a folding fan, "Clearly a child from a poor family. Make sure to give her a generous weight."
"Ah, you're in luck today, meeting our Young Master with his kind heart."
Lai Shun stepped forward and opened Yu Xiaolian's bag, "Let me see what herbs you've brought. If they're too low-grade, I really can't take them; otherwise, my master would hammer me."
"Oh... Your goji berries are of good quality — clean, sand-free, and evenly-sized. Not bad, not bad..."
Lai Shun then opened another bag, "This honeysuckle has a nice dried color too. Not dark or dull. Seems like your family has someone who knows medicine!"
Yu Xiaolian nodded, "Indeed there is!"
That person was herself.
"However, this honeysuckle isn't worth much. Judging by its appearance, the most I can offer is thirty wen per jin. Goji berries can fetch a bit more, fifty wen per jin, how about it? Will you sell?"
Having painstakingly carried them here, how could she not sell?
"Sell!"
Lai Shun fetched a large scale from behind the counter, hooking it to the edge of the bag. First, he weighed the goji berries, saying, "Just short of twenty jin; let's call it twenty jin."
He then weighed the honeysuckle, reporting, "Fifteen jin!"
Lai Shun set down the scale, went behind the counter, and adeptly flicked an abacus, "Goji berries, twenty jin at fifty wen per jin equals one liang.
Honeysuckle, fifteen jin at thirty wen per jin equals four hundred fifty wen. That's a total of one liang and four hundred fifty wen in silver. Does that sound right to you?"
Yu Xiaolian nodded, then pulled out a cloth bundle containing American ginseng slices. She had accumulated three jin over several days.
But she didn't take them all out this time; a little girl bringing several jin of ginseng at once would draw too much attention. She only brought fifty grams wrapped in a handkerchief to test if they could be sold and see what price the slices could fetch here.
Lai Shun peered inside, picked up a slice, and bit a piece off, "Hey, little girl, where did you get this ginseng? And it's already processed."
Zheng Yuanfeng also leaned over, "Is it really ginseng?"
"It is, Young Master. Though it doesn't look like wild ginseng and hasn't aged long, it excels in processing, preserving its medicinal properties."
Lai Shun, holding the ginseng, became a bit excited, pulling Zheng Yuanfeng aside and whispering, "I heard from Master that the Pan Family is currently sustaining a life with ginseng; they can't go without it even for a day. The ginseng in our town is almost used up."
Zheng Yuanfeng smacked his folded fan on his palm, "Ask her how much she has; buy it all!"
Their discussion wasn't quiet, and Yu Xiaolian pretty much heard everything. It seemed the ginseng wouldn't be hard to sell.
When Lai Shun returned to face Yu Xiaolian, his face split into a wide smile, "Child, where did you get this ginseng? Do you have more at home?"
"This ginseng was dried by my dad years ago, and there's quite a bit at home. But today, I only brought this much; what price can you offer for this ginseng?"
"The price is negotiable. Whatever you have at home, I'll buy it all. For these fifty grams, I'll pay ten liang of silver; are you satisfied with that?"
Seeing Lai Shun's joyous expression, Yu Xiaolian guessed that all the pharmacies in town were urgently short of ginseng. She didn't expect the fifty grams of modern, artificially cultivated ginseng could be sold for such a high price of ten liang of silver.
She remembered that one liang of silver in ancient times was roughly six hundred modern yuan. This small box of American ginseng slices sold for 99 yuan in the modern world and was already considered a high-margin health product.
If Lai Shun paid her ten liang of silver for fifty grams, that amounted to one hundred liang per jin. Looking at it that way, the price wasn't high, considering nobody sells ginseng by the jin.
Truly high-quality ginseng can be worth hundreds or even thousands of liang for just a small piece.
Thinking that if Zheng Yuanfeng hadn't taken pity on her and accepted her herbs, she might not have sold anything today. Since her space could produce them infinitely, Yu Xiaolian, grateful for Zheng Yuanfeng's kindness, didn't haggle in the end.
Zheng Yuanfeng added, "Give her an additional fifty wen, making it eleven liang and five qian."