Reborn in 78, I made my fortune by working in the mountains, supporting three families on my own.

Qin Dashan took two steps closer, bent down, and stared at the grayish-brown tubers in the bag for a few moments.

He suddenly gasped, looking up sharply: "Lei Zi, is this Gastrodia elata?"

Zhao Lei tightened the bag's opening and let out a long sigh: "Yes, I originally wanted to find a wild boar's den, but on the way I found a wetland that had been destroyed by wild boars, and there was a large patch of wild gastrodia elata growing inside, so I brought it back."

Qin Bowen and Wang Zongbao looked at each other, clearly not recognizing the thing.

Qin Dashan squatted down, carefully picked up a piece of gastrodia elata, and examined it several times, his eyes growing brighter with each look:

"My goodness, this is really good quality."

"When your sister-in-law was in postpartum confinement, I asked someone to pull some strings and got her some wild gastrodia elata to stew with chicken to help her recover. It was just a small handful, but it cost quite a bit of money. This whole bag of yours must weigh at least forty or fifty pounds, right?"

Qin Dashan patted the mud off his hands and exclaimed, "Lei Zi, this is an unexpected surprise! Wild gastrodia elata is very valuable; the little bit I bought before cost more than twenty yuan per jin."

Upon hearing this, Qin Bowen exclaimed in surprise, "What? More than twenty yuan per jin?"

Wang Zongbao's jaw dropped: "My God, over twenty yuan a pound? Wild boar meat only sells for a little over one yuan a pound, such a huge difference?"

Qin Bowen, quick-witted, immediately looked down and estimated: "Brother-in-law, this bag must weigh at least forty or fifty pounds, and at over twenty yuan per pound, that adds up to..."

He counted on his fingers several times, his eyes widening with each repetition: "Nearly a thousand yuan! My God!"

"Brother Lei, is there any more over there? This is incredibly valuable! We hunted five large pigs and three wild boars today, which would only fetch a little over a thousand yuan. This bag of gastrodia elata alone is worth as much as all those pigs."

Zhao Lei shook his head: "The area I found has been completely dug up. I don't know if there's any more deep in the woods, but I searched the whole place and didn't find anything."

Qin Dashan patted the burlap on the oxcart, where six wild boars were neatly stacked.

"Well, we've had a good haul this time. We should be content. Five adult and three half-grown, that's a total of 1,600-1,700 jin of meat, enough to make our money's worth..."

Wang Zongbao nodded repeatedly, but couldn't help glancing at Tianma a few more times.

Qin Bowen rubbed his hands together, his face beaming with excitement: "Brother-in-law, how much do you plan to sell this Gastrodia elata for?"

Zhao Lei thought for a moment: "Let's put that aside for now. The most important thing right now is the wild boar meat. It'll be a lot of work to process it after we bring it back to the village, so let's just process it here in Qingshui Ditch."

Wang Zongbao's eyes darted around, and he leaned closer: "Brother Lei, if we sell so much wild boar meat directly to the supply and marketing cooperative, we'll probably get a lower price. I think we should just slaughter it here and sell it to individual farmers in Qingshuigou."

Qin Bowen immediately waved his hand: "No, no, Qingshuigou is such a small place. How could they possibly eat over a thousand catties of wild boar meat? Besides, we do business all over the place. If someone reports us and we're accused of speculation and profiteering, things will get complicated."

Qin Dashan slapped his forehead: "Bowen is right. Zhao Chenghu made an enemy of us last night, and Qingshuigou is his territory. He might cause trouble for us."

Zhao Lei listened to the three people each giving their own reasons and pondered for a moment.

"Brother Dashan is right, we can't stay in Qingshuigou for long. Zongbao's idea also makes sense... Retail investors can get a high price, but the risk is too great."

"I think we should take them directly to Qingfeng Town to sell. Let's take advantage of the early morning when there are fewer people on the road and head straight there!"

Qin Dashan nodded: "I think that's a good idea. I know the way. We can go around to the dirt road from here and get to town in less than an hour."

Qin Bowen jumped onto the carriage shaft: "Then let's hurry up and go, before the sun is fully up and there are too many people on the road."

Zhao Lei moved the bag containing the gastrodia elata to the innermost part of the cart, covered it with burlap, and then sat down on it himself.

"Let's go! To town!"

Wang Zongbao shouted excitedly and cracked his whip to urge the old ox on.

The ox understood, and immediately set off, its hooves propelling the wheels forward towards Qingfeng Town.

The oxcart swayed and turned onto the dirt road, and early-rising farmers carrying hoes walked past in the fields on both sides.

The oxcart swayed and rattled along the dirt road for an hour before finally arriving at Qingfeng Town.

There weren't many pedestrians on the street at that time.

Only a few elderly people who got up early to go to the market walked slowly with baskets on their shoulders, and some peddlers with loads on their shoulders set up their stalls at the street corner.

Wang Zongbao parked the oxcart in an open space diagonally opposite the textile factory, jumped off, and looked around: "This is it, there are plenty of workers here, it'll definitely sell well."

Zhao Lei couldn't help but glance at Wang Zongbao again.

Yo?

I didn't realize this kid had such a good business sense.

How could they even think of selling near the factory?

Indeed, the workers here have some spare money, and there are also many employee dormitories nearby.

For them, pork was often something they had money for but no meat coupons for; it wasn't easy to have a meal with meat.

"Zongbao, you've chosen a good spot."

Zhao Lei praised Wang Zongbao lavishly.

Wang Zongbao was flattered and said he came thinking the workers must be relatively well-off.

Zhao Lei patted him on the shoulder and said affirmatively, "Good job, young man. The hawking job is yours!"

"Don't worry about leaving it to me, Brother Lei."

Having said that, Wang Zongbao jumped out of the car, glanced around, and without another word, shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Wild boar meat! Fresh wild boar meat! Just hunted last night, it's so much more fragrant than domestic pork!"

Wang Zongbao's voice was loud and clear, and could be heard across half the street.

Several passersby stopped and looked over. Wang Zongbao immediately grabbed a machete from the cart, cut off a small piece of meat, held it in his hand, and brought it to the people.

"Auntie, feel this meat. It's so firm. Wild boars roam the mountains every day; how can their meat be the same as domestic pig meat? It's delicious in soups and stir-fries."

The old woman reached out and squeezed it. "It's very firm. How much is it, young man?"

"A pound of wild boar meat costs 1.2 yuan, which is 10 cents cheaper than the farmed pork sold at the supply and marketing cooperative."

"Great, young man, cut me two pounds!"

"Auntie, two catties isn't enough. Meat coupons are so scarce these days. It's not easy to buy meat outside of holidays. We might not even be able to hunt wild boar again. Why don't you take this opportunity to buy more?"

"That makes sense, then let's cut off ten pounds!"

"Okay!"

In just a short while, Wang Zongbao sold ten jin (5 kg).

This scene left Zhao Lei and the other two stunned.

They quickly got to work.

Qin Bowen stood by the cart, cutting and weighing meat for customers; Qin Dashan collected money and gave change; and Wang Zongbao solicited customers at the street corner. The three men had clear divisions of labor and were so busy that their feet barely touched the ground.

Seeing that they were on the right track, Zhao Lei took the sack of gastrodia elata from the corner of the cart, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and gave Qin Dashan a brief explanation.

"Brother-in-law, I'm going to the herbal medicine shop. You guys can sell them for now."

Qin Dashan was busy weighing meat for people and replied without looking up, "Go on, go on..."