Chapter 42: Is Selling Herbs This Profitable?

Li Xun's expression turned sour as he stepped forward to block Liu the shopkeeper's view and said in a low voice, "Liu the shopkeeper, leave some room for humanity, so we can meet again later; after all, we're old acquaintances. How can you be so ruthless? This medicine shop was clearly opened by me first. When you saw me make a bit of silver, you came to snatch the business. I even kindly introduced you to merchants who supply herbs, and you, in turn, drove all the herb merchants away. Now you come here to dig at my foundation. One should not behave like this."

Liu the shopkeeper sneered, "You and I are both merchants; for a trader, silver is the most important. If I can afford silver, they will naturally supply me with herbs. Your skills are inferior, what is there to say?" He waved the silver ingot in his hand: "I tell you, there is nothing in this world that cannot be bought with silver."

He handed the silver to Chi Nan Yi and said, "Young lady, as long as you give me all the cinnabar roots you have gathered, the silver is yours. He pays one hundred wen per jin; I'll pay you one hundred fifty wen."

"You!" Li Xun trembled, pointing at Liu the shopkeeper, unable to finish a full sentence.

He had assumed Chi Nan Yi would agree, after all merchants chase profit; they gather herbs and sell medicine to earn silver for a living.

Liu the shopkeeper looked at Chi Nan Yi with confidence, as if the matter was already settled.

Just then, Chi Nan Yi let out a cold laugh, "Can silver buy anything?" She looked at him: "This time, Liu the shopkeeper will probably be disappointed." She did not take Liu's silver, merely weighed the three taels of silver in her hand and said with a smile, "This premium cinnabar root, I simply won't sell to you."

"You!" Liu the shopkeeper's eyes flashed, and he shouted angrily, "What did you say? I gave you an extra fifty wen per jin!"

"Fifty wen, it's not five hundred wen, no need for you to shout so loudly." Chi Nan Yi dismissed him, turned her gaze to Shopkeeper Li and said, "If there are more cinnabar roots in the future, I will certainly send them to the shopkeeper."

"Alright, alright!" Li Xun nodded repeatedly, "Young lady, rest assured. Since someone has offered you a price, I'm not stingy either; the money will certainly satisfy you."

Chi Nan Yi, still somewhat incredulous, left the medicine shop with Chi Huai Qian and went onto the street.

Chi Huai Qian held Chi Nan Yi's hand and said, "Little sister, give me a tap, see if it hurts, is it a dream?"

Chi Nan Yi couldn't help but laugh, "It's only three taels of silver."

"Three taels of silver, that's all?" Chi Huai Qian exclaimed, "Do you know, Third Brother has grown this big and has never earned three taels of silver! Lucky star! Absolutely a lucky star!"

"Third Brother." Chi Nan Yi, seeing his excitement, rolled her eyes and said with a smile, "There's also a way to earn silver, do you want to try?"

"What method?"

"I'll tell you later." Chi Nan Yi hurried toward the market.

These days food at the market is pricey; a jin of pork that used to be twenty wen is now thirty wen.

Even so, Chi Nan Yi bought two jin of meat heartily.

"Our family's meat is the most fragrant in the town; eat well and then come back to buy more!"

Chi Nan Yi laughed, "Indeed! My mother once said your family's meat is the tastiest." Pointing at the slab of fat oil tossed aside, she added, "Shopkeeper, do you sell this fatty lard?"

"Sell, sell, sell—one wen per jin; there are over forty jin here! If you take it all, I'll only charge thirty wen, but this fatty lard is a bit fishy."

"Fishy?" That's because they don't know how to cook it.

"The oil rendered from this thing is what truly smells fragrant!"

"The leftover oil residue can be used to wrap dumplings; that's even more fragrant than meat."

"I'll take it all!" Chi Nan Yi handed over the silver, and Chi Huai Qian felt as if his heart were bleeding.

In the blink of an eye, ninety wen vanished.

But since little sister wants to buy, spending the three taels of silver is fine.

Besides that, she bought some seasonings; when she looked into the kitchen, there was only a pinch of coarse salt in a jar, and the house had no other seasonings.

"Little sister, the seasonings are too expensive; we should buy fewer."

Chi Nan Yi, seeing his comment, laughed, "Third Brother, this silver was earned, not saved; if our whole family eats and drinks well and stays healthy, we can earn more silver. Am I right?"

"That's right, but this time we were lucky to dig up cinnabar root; next time on the mountain we might not have such good luck."

"Third Brother, do you believe me?"

"Believe!"

"Then when I say next time we go up the mountain, I can still find herbs, Third Brother, is that believable?"

"Believe!"

"Then it's settled," Chi Nan Yi laughed, "Third Brother, rest assured, I will make sure our whole family lives a good life."

"Good! Third Brother will follow you; tomorrow we'll go to the back mountain again to dig herbs to sell!"

Returning to the Chi household, everyone was astonished to see them unload so many items from the cart.

"My heavens! Did you two go robbing? How did you bring back so many things?" As soon as Chi Huai Jin finished speaking, Chi Nan Yi tossed a bundle into his arms; inside were letters and writing brushes.

"These…"

"I inquired around the town; the current school uses these, Second Brother previously used old items from others, surely they aren't as good as these."

"No, no, this is too expensive!"

"Second Brother, this was specially chosen by little sister for you; please don't reject her intention."

Chi Huai Jin said moved, "Thank you, little sister; Second Brother doesn't need this, we'll keep it for the day of the examination."

"Ah! This is meat! So much meat!" Ruan Shi looked at the soft, saggy fatty lard beside them and frowned, "Why bring this back? Rendered pork fat is very fishy, not tasty."

"Sister-in-law, when I was in Jingcheng earlier, I heard a method for rendering pork fat; the rendered oil is white and clean, not fishy at all."

"Then it's good!" Ruan Shi, looking at the pile of things they bought, exclaimed, "These aren't… were they exchanged for that basket of herbs?"

"Exactly." Chi Huai Qian laughed, "No wonder our little sister is a lucky star!" He took out the money bag, which still contained two taels of silver: "That basket of herbs, after subtracting these items, still left two taels!"

The members of the Chi family were again astonished.

Is selling herbs really this profitable?

Wen Zhilan stepped forward with concern, "Did Third Brother ask you to carry anything?"

"No, Third Brother didn't ask me to do anything."

"I never imagined the back mountain still had such valuable herbs." Chi Zhiqiu volunteered, "Little sister, starting tomorrow, the eldest brother will go with you to gather herbs on the mountain!"

Chi Nan Yi, hearing this, hurried to refuse, "No need, no need; there aren't many herbs on the mountain, I can handle it alone." Third Brother is good at coaxing, but the eldest brother is smarter than him.

Coaxing just Chi Huai Qian alone is already exhausting; adding another is simply unbearable.