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

After Li Ziqian finished reading through them, he seemed to have figured out what Wang An was thinking, and then he said:

"Wild ginseng is at its most medicinally potent when it is still fresh. The existence of dried ginseng is simply because fresh ginseng cannot be stored for very long."

After a pause, Li Ziqian, like a scholar, continued:

"The key point is that after wild ginseng is dried, many of its medicinal properties, such as the most precious saponins in ginseng and volatile oils, will gradually decrease over time and eventually even disappear completely."

Wang An nodded without speaking, because he was already aware of these matters.

Furthermore, Wang An also knew that ginseng that was more than ten years old, even if it had been properly preserved, would have lost most of its medicinal properties, or even almost none at all.

The reason Wang An knew so much about it was because during his previous life in labor reform, he not only participated in planting garden ginseng and forest ginseng, but also learned the relevant knowledge. However, his knowledge of wild ginseng was pitifully little.

However, whether it is wild ginseng, forest ginseng, or garden ginseng, they are all essentially ginseng.

Although wild ginseng can be stored for several years longer than forest ginseng due to its growing environment, or even longer, Wang An believes that it's only a matter of time before it loses its medicinal properties.

Seeing Wang An nod, Li Ziqian said with a slight apology:

"Young man, for these dried ginseng, we can only trade them at the normal purchase price plus a 10% premium."

Wang An nodded, and said with a slight disappointment:
"Alright, let's do it the way Old Li says, hehehe."

It's clear that while Li Ziqian likes this dried ginseng that has been stored for many years, that's all he likes. There's absolutely no way he'd pay a premium to buy it.

Of course, it's also possible that Li Ji Pharmacy already had a large stock of wild dried ginseng, so they didn't really care whether they could get Wang An's dried ginseng or not.

After Wang An finished speaking, Li Ziqian picked up four boxes containing four-grade fresh ginseng leaves and said:
“These four are also very good, over 60 years old. How about this, I’ll give you 7,000 yuan for this one that’s over 70 years old, and I’ll give you 6,000 yuan for each of the three that are over 60 years old.”

After saying this, Li Ziqian picked up the last three fourth-grade leaves and the four third-grade leaves, thought for a long time, and then said:

"These are all around 50 years old, so they can only be traded at the normal acquisition price plus a 10% premium."

After Li Ziqian finished speaking, Wang An was still very happy, because although Wang An's purchase price for these four ginseng roots with four leaves was much higher than that of the supply and marketing cooperative, it was still far lower than Li Ji's purchase price.

That wild ginseng, which was over 70 years old, weighed a little over 91 grams. When Wang An bought it, he calculated it to be 92 grams. The purchase price was 25 yuan per gram, which was 5 yuan higher than the supply and marketing cooperative's purchase price. He spent 2,300 yuan to buy it.

If we calculate based on Li Ji's purchase price of 35 yuan per gram plus a 10% premium, the price would only be 3542 yuan.

But at this point, Li Ziqian gave 7 yuan, which was double the amount!

As for the four 60-year-old leaves, the same thing happened; they almost doubled in value. So what could Wang An possibly be dissatisfied with? He was extremely satisfied, absolutely satisfied!
Therefore, as soon as Li Ziqian finished speaking, Wang An gave Li Ziqian a thumbs up and said:
"Great! Old Master Li is very generous! From now on, no one else will be able to buy a single hair of our goods, hahaha!"

In response to Wang An's flattery, Li Ziqian simply smiled and pointed at Wang An, saying:

"Hahaha. You little rascal, if I say anything less, you'll definitely turn around and leave."

Wang An didn't seem to care about Li Ziqian's revelation and continued to smile as he said:

"No, I can't. Old Master Li is so particular. If I leave now, I'd be incredibly ungrateful."

After examining the ginseng, Li Ziqian took out the bag containing the musk sachet.

In nearly a year, Wang An and his two companions, along with Feng Chengmin, only received a total of 11 sachets. Feng Chengmin received 4, and Wang An and his two companions received a total of 7, which shows how difficult it was to collect these items.

Of course, the reason why so few sachets were collected was not because there were too few musk deer in the mountains and the hunters couldn't catch them. The main reason was that there were too many people collecting these things in secret.

The reason is simple: besides being a valuable medicinal herb, its main purpose is actually to make high-end perfumes.

As is well known, people of skin color other than those of East Asian descent have distinctive body odor, so wealthy people among them habitually use high-end perfumes.

Therefore, musk, as the main raw material, became a commodity in short supply.

This is also the main reason why the price of musk has remained high.

Li Ziqian examined the sachet in the cloth bag and said with great emotion:
"These things are getting harder and harder to find these days, so seeing so many sachets at once is truly a rare treat."

Wang An nodded in agreement:

"Yeah, it's been almost a year and I've only collected this much, and it was all bought at high prices. Collecting this stuff is too much of a money drain, it's not worth it at all." To be honest, although collecting sachets can be quite profitable, it's not as good as using the money to collect bear bile or something. The main reason is that the cost of this stuff is too high, but the profit margin is too low compared to bear bile or something.

Before the Lunar New Year, Wang An bought those two for 6,000 yuan each. After the New Year, when he offered 6,000 yuan again, the seller refused to sell, saying that they would cost 7,000 yuan now. Wang An offered 6,500 yuan, but the seller insisted that he would not sell for less than 7,000 yuan.

Fortunately, Wang An didn't indulge them. He said, "Sell it or not, if you don't want to, then sell it."

After some time, they wanted to sell it to Wang An for 6,500, but Wang An simply told them to go play with spoons and said 6,000 was their choice, take it or leave it. They didn't even have enough money left over from collecting bear bile.

So, all five sachets were bought for 6,000 each, while Feng Chengmin's four were bought for 7,500 each. Wang An and the other two only kept 500 yuan for each of them.

The main thing is that at this time, driving 2,400 to 2,500 kilometers to Anguo was much more exciting than passing through five checkpoints and defeating six generals. It was almost as tough as the eighty-one tribulations on the journey to the West, with both good and bad aspects.

If it weren't for Zhang Shuya's strong support—the documents, certificates, and letters of introduction—plus the formidable deterrent effect of the Type 56 assault rifle firing bursts of bullets into the sky, it's no exaggeration to say that Wang An and his two companions would be in a very different situation.

Of course, they might have already died on the way.

So, this kind of business, where you can be robbed of everything, even your underwear, or even lose your head and your life, especially with such a large investment, is bound to be risky. Who would do it if it didn't make money? Of course, no one would do it if they didn't make much!

After Wang An finished speaking, Li Ziqian said with a wry smile:

"The price of this stuff has always been high. Even if we process it into medicine and sell it, we don't make much profit. How about this, for these 11 musk sachets, I'll add two more... um, three thousand more. That's our limit."

Li Ziqian said there was no profit, but Wang An certainly didn't believe him, because Wang An had given the sachet of the musk deer that he had hunted to Fang Xiu'e to handle.

Fang Xiu'e once said that if it were made into medicine and sold, it could fetch more than 2 yuan.

Fang Xiu'e, a doctor at a county hospital, can sell her medicine for as much as 20,000 yuan, while Li Ji Pharmacy, a large pharmacy, says it doesn't make money? Damn, that's pure nonsense!
However, Wang An didn't argue with Li Ziqian. After all, how much money Li Ziqian could earn was his own business and had nothing to do with Wang An.

So Wang An gave another thumbs up and said:

"Alright, since you're so generous, Mr. Li, I can't refuse. Let's do it your way, hahaha."

After laughing, Wang An pointed to the sack and said:

"Old Li, there's a small packet of bezoar in this sack. Would you like to take a look? Cattle are everywhere where we live; every village has plenty. But bezoar is really rare."

Before Wang An could finish speaking, Li Ziqian interrupted him with a smile:
"You know perfectly well what we lack, and you're sending it to us. To be honest, bezoar is even scarcer than musk and bear bile, and the price has indeed risen quite a bit recently."

Wang An didn't know about the price increase, but getting the supply and marketing cooperative and medicinal herb purchasing station in DJ County to change prices was really difficult.

They absolutely will not raise prices unless they are truly unable to collect any more goods or complete the corresponding tasks!
Of course, this is how it is in government agencies; you'll get used to it.

As Li Ziqian randomly took out some bezoar particles to examine, he said to Wang An:
"Some people are already researching artificial bezoar, but the effect of making it into bezoar pills is really unsatisfactory. As soon as this news came out, the price of bezoar was raised again."

Upon hearing this, Wang An said:
"I was in such a rush when I came in that I didn't really look at your pharmacy's price list. How much is bezoar per gram now?"

Li Ziqian remained silent, but Li Yajing spoke up:

"Our current purchase price is 30 yuan per gram."

Upon hearing this, Wang An grinned, and a feeling of "heartache" immediately welled up within him.

Wang An and Wang Li should have waited until now to sell those bezoars they bought last time. In less than a year, they've lost five or six hundred yuan. Who can they complain to?
Li Ziqian chuckled and teased Wang Andao:

"What? Are you thinking about the bezoars you sold us before the New Year? Hahahaha!"

It has to be said that Li Ziqian is incredibly wise, no less so than Wang An, the reborn individual.

After laughing, Li Ziqian said again:
"How about this, after the normal transaction, I'll add another 1 yuan to these bezoars, as compensation for the last time, how about that?"

Wang An readily agreed.

After discussing the prices of ginseng and musk, people began to arrive at the house in the backyard.

Judging from the way they addressed Li Ziqian, it was easy to tell that these people were Li Ziqian's sons and grandsons, including Li Yongrui, who had been to DJ County with Wang An and the other two. (End of Chapter)