Aoyama

Chapter 267: Buying Ginseng

There was a hint of earthy smell in the morning mist in Guyuan.

In the dark alleys of Qiuci Street, the local tyrants of Guyuan put their hands in their sleeves, leaned against the wall and closed their eyes to rest.

The curtain of the Longmen Inn was lifted, and Chen Ji walked out with his head down, holding the dark cloud in his arms. The local tyrants in the alley exchanged glances with each other, lowered the brims of their hats, and followed quietly.

Every time they passed an alley entrance, a group of people would gather behind Chen Ji. The groups came from different backgrounds, but they kept to themselves.

The next moment, Chen Ji turned out of Qiuci Street and disappeared from everyone's sight.

The local tyrants quickened their pace, but they didn't expect Chen Ji to be waiting for them at the corner. The first one was caught off guard and bumped into Chen Ji's arms. Before he could react, Chen Ji broke his right arm joint as soon as they met.

Chen Ji held the man's neck and slowly backed away.

He slowly scanned everyone with his eyes: "All you heroes, why are you following me?"

A man in gray saw his brother being strangled by Chen Ji and hurriedly explained: "You misunderstood, we have no ill intentions!"

Another person also explained: "Sir, you are someone that Third Master has taken care of, and we would never dare to have any bad intentions. It's just that we are really forced into a corner. We have no food and no way out. Now we just want to buy some information and find out what the current situation of Guyuan is!"

Chen Ji said calmly: "I don't know either."

The gray-clothed man was anxious: "Someone saw General Hu inviting you to the city gate tower yesterday. You must know more than us. Please be kind and just give us some information. We will pay for it!"

The traces suddenly became clear.

No wonder the Longmen Inn was full of people buying news last night. It turned out to be because of Hu Junxian.

Chen Ji slowly let go of the man in his hand and said in a deep voice: "I don't have the information you want. Don't follow me anymore. I won't be so polite next time."

After saying that, he pushed the man he was holding away and turned to walk into the mist. The local tyrants ignored Chen Ji's previous warning and still wanted to catch up, but they lost him completely after just two blocks.

Two incense sticks later, Chen Ji stood outside the wall of the grain and oil shop and looked around the alley.

On the eaves above his head, the dark cloud meowed, "No one is nearby."

Chen Ji climbed up the eaves with both hands and climbed into the courtyard: the house was empty, and the tables, chairs, and cabinets were all taken away and used as firewood. This grain and oil shop was searched by countless people many times until there was nothing left to loot.

He followed the rope into the well and made sure the food was still there, and then he felt relieved. He carried the bags of food to the surface, which took him an hour.

Chen Ji looked at the food piled up like a small mountain and said, "Wuyun, you stay here and watch over it. If anyone comes..."

Wuyun rushed to respond: "I understand, whoever grabs it will be killed."

Chen Ji looked up at it and said, "What if a great official from the realm of seeking the Dao comes?"

Wu Yun didn't care: "It's just a matter of convenience."

Chen Ji: "..."

He shook his head: "If there is a powerful official coming to rob us, you don't have to fight him to death, just give him the food. Keeping your life is more important than anything else."

Wuyun said, "I understand!"

Chen Ji touched its head, raised his hand and threw it, sending the dark cloud to the roof, then turned around and climbed out of the yard.

……

……

Yuan Caotang.

Mr. Hu Sanye sat on the armchair in the main hall with his legs crossed.

He picked up the cup and blew on it gently, then took a sip of tea and smiled, "The shopkeeper knows how to enjoy tea. This is the best Pu'er tea from Yunzhou. It has a floral aroma and a mellow aftertaste. I guess it's the new tea that the caravan brought from Bingdao Village?"

The shopkeeper was in no mood to drink tea. He walked out of the counter, stacked the three gold bars on the table and whispered, "Third Master, you have had your tea. Here are the gold bars for your honor. Can you return my food first?"

Mr. Hu San blew on the teacup as if nothing had happened, and then asked softly: "Why don't I understand what the shopkeeper is talking about? What food? Is your food lost?"

When the shopkeeper saw that he didn't acknowledge it, he immediately said angrily: "Third Master, it's meaningless if you dare to do it but not take responsibility for it!"

Uncle Hu smiled and said, "Shopkeeper, don't be so angry. I don't know where you hid the grain. How can you say that I took it? I'm just an innocent ginseng buyer!"

The shopkeeper was speechless for a moment, and after a long while he said in a deep voice: "Who in Guyuan doesn't know your ability, Mr. Hu San? You can find what you want naturally."

Mr. Hu San put down his teacup and said slowly, "The shopkeeper seemed to ignore me last time, but why do you think I am so capable today? I wonder, am I really capable or not?"

The shopkeeper's face twitched, and he bowed his hands and said, "I was careless at the beginning, please be magnanimous and don't bother with me. But that batch of ginseng is the foundation of my half-life accumulation, please be merciful."

Uncle Hu was happy: "I am not taking your ginseng for free. Ordinary wild ginseng is 5 liang per catty, and old ginseng is 8 liang per branch. This is a good price in a year of disaster. I am helping you."

The shopkeeper said angrily, "Third Master, there is no need to pretend to be ignorant. If I sell it to you at this price, then the ten years I have spent in Guyuan will be in vain. How is this different from robbery? My family has stored food. Others may not be able to survive this disaster, but I can!"

Uncle Hu ignored him and counted on his fingers: "The border troops have taken away camels, mules, and horses. Even if all the people in the city starve to death, they can at least hold on for ten days or half a month. By then, your whole family will probably starve to death..."

The shopkeeper scolded in a low voice: "I have always heard that Third Master is a man of unparalleled benevolence and righteousness, and is the pillar of Guyuan. But I didn't expect you to be such a scoundrel, actually robbing innocent people by trickery?"

Mr. Hu Sanye sneered, "You know whether you are an innocent citizen or not. Do you really think we don't know where you come from?"

The shopkeeper laughed and said, "What do you mean, Third Master? If I am not an innocent citizen, what am I?"

Mr. Hu San looked indifferent: "Jing Chao Long Huazhou...do I need to continue?"

The shopkeeper's face changed, and he said harshly: "That's all old stuff, what does it have to do with my business? Third Master, you really think I can only swallow your anger if you rob my food? I said, I would rather burn it than give it to you. If people think that Yuancaotang is weak and can be bullied, how can I hold my head up in Guyuan?"

Uncle Hu said, "Then you can burn it."

The shopkeeper's tone froze for a moment, and then he angrily scolded: "If you do this, who will come to Guyuan to do business in the future? Mr. Hu, please go back. If you don't want to save face, I will not sell this ginseng to anyone else but you."

Uncle Hu San said again: "Then you should sell it to others. They don't have any food. They are starving to death, so how can they care about buying ginseng?"

The shopkeeper felt a tightness in his chest. Just as Mr. Hu San said, he really couldn't buy food and had no money to spend.

Just at this moment, someone stepped over the threshold and asked calmly, "Shopkeeper, what's the price of ginseng today?"

The shopkeeper turned around in surprise and found that it was the young man who had come to ask about the price some time ago.

Before he could speak, Mr. Hu San had already frowned and said to Chen Ji, "A new face, new here?"

Chen Ji raised his eyebrows: "Who are you?"

Mr. Hu San said calmly: "Guyuan, Hu Junyuan." Chen Ji was silent for a moment: "Sorry, I haven't heard of it."

Mr. Hu Sanye immediately sat up straight and narrowed his eyes slightly.

The shopkeeper beside him looked at him and asked attentively, "Sir, do you want to buy ginseng? Do you want to buy ordinary wild ginseng or aged ginseng?"

Chen Ji said politely: "I only want old mountain ginseng."

The shopkeeper asked again, "How much would you like, sir?"

Chen Ji asked back: "How much do you have?"

Big deal!
The shopkeeper replied: "We have a total of 800 old mountain ginsengs in Yuancaotang!"

"Eight hundred?" Mr. Hu glanced at the shopkeeper and said, "As far as I know, there are 1,300 old mountain ginsengs in your Yuancaotang."

The shopkeeper's face changed, his family's details were known to him clearly.

He glanced at Master Hu Sanye out of the corner of his eye, then looked at Chen Ji, his mind going back and forth between the two of them, thinking about how to use this unfamiliar face to deal with Master Hu Sanye.

At this time, Mr. Hu picked up the teacup and said slowly, "Young man, this shopkeeper is worried about the food issue, I'm afraid he has no intention of doing your business."

"Food?" Chen Ji turned to look at the shopkeeper: "What happened to your food?"

The shopkeeper said in a fierce voice: "The food stored in my house was stolen by a villain. My family of dozens of people have no means of livelihood."

Chen Ji said in surprise: "Food... I have it."

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up: "Are you serious?"

Chen Ji smiled and said, "How much food do you want to buy, boss? Rice, millet, corn, pickled vegetables, bacon, I have them all."

The shopkeeper was overjoyed and said quickly, "You are really a savior from heaven! I don't need much, one hundred kilograms... eighty kilograms will be enough. I will ask my clerk to get you some old mountain ginseng."

"Wait!" Chen Ji raised his hand to stop the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper turned back in confusion: "Huh? What's wrong, sir?"

Chen Ji asked slowly, "May I ask how much the shopkeeper's ginseng is for?"

The shopkeeper said as a matter of course: "Wild ginseng is thirty taels per catty, and old ginseng is thirty taels per stem."

Chen Ji turned and left: "Then you keep the ginseng, I will come back in ten days."

"Let's talk it over, let's talk it over," the shopkeeper hurriedly grabbed Chen Ji.

Chen Ji immediately turned around and said, "Shopkeeper, I really want to buy it. I want as much old mountain ginseng as you have."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Hu narrowed his eyes and looked at Chen Ji: "Young man, don't make the mistake. Not everyone can do the ginseng business."

Chen Ji smiled slightly: "Why, you can do this business, but others can't? Doing business requires both parties to be willing. A forced melon is not sweet."

Mr. Hu San was so angry that he laughed: "Where did this young man come from? You try it first."

Chen Ji said calmly: "Then give it a try."

The shopkeeper was still hesitant at first, but upon hearing this, he immediately bowed to Chen Ji and said, "Sir, I'm sorry that your price is hard to accept, but I really want to do this business, so why don't you increase it a little more?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "Shopkeeper, six taels per stick. If you don't want to sell it, I'll turn around and leave."

The shopkeeper felt as if he had eaten a fly. Someone even more evil than Mr. Hu San had come. For a mere 80 kilograms of food, he was going to suffer a huge loss of tens of thousands of taels of silver!

But unfortunately, even if you have money, you can’t buy food in this city!
Mr. Hu laughed and said, "Why don't you sell it to me? I can offer you a higher price."

Chen Ji glanced at him: "How much are you offering?"

Mr. Hu Sanye restrained his smile and said, "Eight taels per stick."

Chen Ji said calmly: "I'll pay nine taels."

The shopkeeper looked at Mr. Hu with sparkling eyes: "Mr. Hu, it seems that our destiny has not yet arrived. How about you add some more?"

Mr. Hu sneered and stood up, then walked out the door. "You want us to raise the price? What are you dreaming of!"

The shopkeeper watched Mr. Hu Sanye leave and spat at his back.

Chen Ji asked: "Shopkeeper, nine taels per piece, will you sell it?"

The shopkeeper said in embarrassment: "Sir, this price is really too low, how about you raise it a little bit?"

Chen Ji turned to leave, but the shopkeeper hurriedly grabbed his arm and said, "Sir, please take a seat. We can discuss everything!"

Chen Ji turned around and said, "Boss, if you are sincere about selling, then we can negotiate."

The shopkeeper rolled his eyes and said, "Sir, can you eat these 1,300 old mountain ginsengs? This is more than 10,000 taels of silver. Do you have enough?"

Chen Ji said slowly: "I only brought 7,000 taels of silver."

The shopkeeper laughed and said, "That's not enough, it's four thousand taels short!"

Chen Ji also laughed: "Don't you still have 80 kilograms of food? Without food, how can your family survive? Isn't your family worth 4,000 taels of silver?"

The shopkeeper's face darkened: "Sir, are you kidding me?"

Seven thousand taels of silver were used to buy 1,300 old mountain ginsengs, which cost five taels of silver each. That meant a loss of more than thirty thousand taels of silver?

Chen Ji spread his hands: "How about forgetting it?"

The shopkeeper thought for a moment, then suddenly narrowed his eyes and smiled: "How can I let it go? My whole family is waiting to eat. Deal!"

After that, he turned around and shouted to the backyard: "Serve the guests good tea, and bring out our old mountain ginseng for the guests to check out!"

The shopkeeper entered the backyard, and the clerk came up to him and asked, "Shopkeeper, should we really sell it to that guy at this price? This old mountain ginseng was collected from Tokyo Road for twelve taels of silver. The cost of escorting and transporting it along the way is huge. Aren't we losing a lot? It's better to sell it to Hu Laosan."

The shopkeeper sneered, "Why are you in such a hurry? If you sell it to Hu Lao San, you won't be able to get it back. This guy is a fool and has no brains. Send the ginseng to him later, and rob it back for me when you find the food. Remember, act quickly, don't let Hu San take it away!"

The guy's eyes lit up: "Okay!"

(End of this chapter)