Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

What Li Ziqian was holding was a fresh wild ginseng with four leaves.

Although its actual growth period is unknown due to various factors, the number of reeds is only about 50, which means that this is just a wild ginseng that has just entered the fourth grade leaf standard.

While such wild ginseng was indeed a good thing in the eyes of Wang An and his two companions, it was not really considered anything special.

There's no way around it; when you have too many of something, even if it's very valuable, you'll get used to it.

Wang An remained silent, but Li Ziqian continued speaking as he carefully placed the ginseng root away:

"Young man, are all the wild ginsengs this quality this time?"

Wang An shook his head and smiled:
"No, there are better ones and worse ones."

Over the past six months, Wang An and his two companions have collected a total of 18 wild ginseng roots, six of which are dried ginseng roots with five leaves, and it is obvious at a glance that they have been stored for many years.

The reason why dried goods are being sold only now is because, due to the unified sales and purchase system, the purchase price of valuable items such as wild ginseng, bear bile, and deer antler is ridiculously low.

Therefore, whether they are hunting in the mountains or digging for ginseng, many people choose to keep valuable wild ginseng, such as golden ginseng and five or six-leaf ginseng, at home and wait for the price to rise before selling it.

Anyway, things like bear bile and wild ginseng can be stored for a very long time without spoiling, as long as they are stored properly.

As Wang An acquired bear bile and bezoar, many people learned that the purchase price offered by Wang An and others was much higher than that of the supply and marketing cooperative. As a result, many people became restless and sold their ginseng, which they had kept for many years, to Wang An and others.

Apart from these 6 dried ginseng roots with five-grade leaves, the remaining 12 ginseng roots are all fresh ginseng. One is a five-grade leaf, seven are four-grade leaves, and four are nearly 50-year-old ginseng roots with three-grade leaves.

As for ginseng that is young and weighs less than 20 grams, as well as small ginseng such as Erjiazi, Wang An simply does not accept them.

The key issue is that this type of ginseng doesn't have much medicinal value, and it's impossible to set a price for it. To put it bluntly, "Why buy this stuff if you're not going to make money?"

Li Ziqian was startled upon hearing this, and looked at Wang An with a face full of surprise, saying:

"Are there wild ginsengs of even better quality and older age than this?"

The old man only listened to half of what he was told; he simply didn't mention that there were ginsengs of even lower quality than the ones he had.

So Wang An repeated himself:

"Well, there are better ones and worse ones."

Upon hearing this, Li Ziqian's face lit up with excitement. He carefully put down the box in his hand and then took out the next box from the sack to examine it.

This special box for ginseng was made by Comrade Wang Dazhu, precisely to prevent the ginseng roots from being broken, thus affecting its price.

The main problem is that ginseng buns are huge and bulky, and they take up too much space to transport.

Finally, Li Ziqian found the fresh ginseng with five leaves.

This fresh ginseng is of decent quality and is over 80 years old. No matter when or what era it was from, it can definitely be considered a genuine high-quality product.

That's right, wild ginseng with five leaves is already a real, large quantity.

Because if you know that some ginseng diggers have never seen what a six-leaf wild ginseng, which is over 100 years old, looks like in their entire lives, you'll know just how rare and precious a six-leaf wild ginseng is.

Furthermore, this ginseng was quite heavy. When it was first harvested, it weighed a full 155 grams, which was over 3 liang (approximately 150 grams). However, after being in Wang An's hands for almost two months, it must have lost some weight.

Looking at this ginseng, Li Ziqian was visibly excited, a completely different reaction from when he saw the four-leaf ginseng before. As he examined the ginseng's texture, his eyes shone brightly as he said:

"Perfect, so perfect, good, good, so good." Inside and out, Li Ziqian kept repeating these two sentences, which shows how much the old Chinese medicine doctor liked this fifth-grade fresh ginseng.

Throughout the entire process, Wang An remained silent and smiled, quietly observing the somewhat out-of-control old man.

After a while, Li Ziqian calmed down and said to Wang An:
"I didn't expect you to bring me such a surprise today, young man. Hehehe, it just so happens that my old friend's stomach problem has improved quite a bit, and he can start further treatment. You brought this wild ginseng, thank you, thank you, hahaha."

Wang An smiled faintly:
"As long as the price offered by your pharmacy satisfies us, these 18 wild ginseng roots will definitely not end up in another store, and if we receive wild ginseng again in the future, we will not sell it to another store."

Li Ziqian waved his hand and said:
"Don't worry about that, young man. It's just that the bank needed to expedite things."

At this point, Li Ziqian suddenly stopped and said:

"Oh, let's not talk about them anymore, talking about them is a downer."

After a pause, Li Ziqian thought for a moment, then said with a solemn expression:

"In that case, we don't need to weigh this wild ginseng that's over 80 years old. Our Li family will pay 15,000 yuan. How about that?"

Normally, a ginseng with five-leaf ginseng would sell for 30 yuan per gram at a supply and marketing cooperative. This ginseng, which is over 80 years old and weighs 155 grams, would be worth 4650 yuan.

Li Ji Pharmacy buys wild ginseng that is over 80 years old for 50 yuan per gram. If we include a 8% premium, it should be less than 5 yuan.

As for why it's less than 8,500, the reason is that it lost weight after being stored for two months.

However, Wang An bought it at 35 yuan per gram, and then rounded it up to a whole number, so he only spent 5500 yuan in total.

To everyone's surprise, after looking at it, the old man Li Ziqian actually came up with a price of 15,000.

In this day and age, this price is quite high, exceeding the original price by more than 6 yuan!

Although Wang An was inwardly pleased, he nodded and reluctantly said:

"Alright, 15,000 it is. Large cargoes weighing over 3 taels are quite rare these days, hehehehe."

Upon seeing Wang An agree, a very happy smile immediately appeared on Li Ziqian's old face, and he said with great agreement:
"Yes, the number of wild ginseng is decreasing year by year, and the older the ginseng, the harder it is to find."

Wang An, however, continued to push his luck, saying:

"Mr. Li, there are 18 in total. Won't you take a look at the others?"

If Li Ziqian can see it first, then Li Ziqian should definitely see it first. The main reason is that this old man usually doesn't play by the rules and always manages to give Wang An a surprise.

Upon hearing Wang An's words, Li Ziqian paused, perhaps not expecting Wang An to say that. His expression changed slightly, and he said with a hint of excitement:

"What, young man, do you have wild ginseng that's even better than this?"

Wang An shook his head and said:

"No, those were fresh ginseng. There are also a few dried ones in that sack, which are quite good. You should take a look and give me your opinion."

Li Ziqian carefully put the ginseng back in its original packaging and set it aside before continuing to search through the small boxes in the sack.

While Li Ziqian was also surprised by the dried ginseng and praised it repeatedly, he didn't seem particularly interested in it, as if he wasn't as interested in the fresh ginseng with its four-leaf pods. (End of Chapter)