Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 30 - 29 Earned a lot of Silver

Chapter 30: Chapter 29 Earned a lot of Silver

Chapter 30 -29 Earned a lot of Silver

After selling all their goods, the three of them were packing up and preparing to sell herbs at the pharmacy when Shen Chengyao returned.

He hadn’t found any short-term workers; during the slack season, there were many workers looking for jobs, and many had yet to find work, so they lingered at the pier.

Shen Chengyao moved two baskets of herbs onto the bullock cart.

The three children jumped onto it and rode towards Tongde Hall.

Tongde Hall was the largest clinic in the county that also had a pharmacy.

When they reached the clinic’s entrance, Shen Chengyao waited outside to watch the cart, and the three children went to sell the herbs by themselves.

Initially, Shen Chengyao wanted to go with them, but Xiao’er insisted they could manage on their own, so he let them go, taking this as an opportunity for the children to learn.

As soon as the three of them entered the pharmacy, someone approached and asked, “Do you need medical treatment or to purchase medicine?”

Xiao’er let Jing Rui handle the sale.

As the eldest son of the third branch, he was expected to be the family’s future head, so he needed to be trained early.

Jing Rui was slightly nervous, but he still bravely stepped forward, placing the basket on the ground.

He pointed at the fresh herbs inside and asked, “We have herbal materials to sell.

Do you buy fresh herbs here?”

The clerk at the pharmacy took a glance at the herbs in the basket and nodded, “Yes, we do.

Please wait a moment.” He then disappeared behind a curtain.

Shortly after, a shopkeeper in his forties came out and asked, “Young brothers, you have fresh herbs to sell?”

Jing Rui nodded, “Doctor, could you please check if your pharmacy needs these herbs?”

“Let me first see what kind of herbs you have.” The doctor crouched down to carefully look through the two baskets of herbs.

Seeing they were all indeed herbs, and some were even in excellent condition, he nodded his approval.

Then he stood up and said, “We collect all these herbs.

Follow me to the backyard; we have scales there.”

Upon reaching the backyard, a dedicated clerk took over the baskets and began examining, categorizing, and weighing the herbs.

“Did you collect these herbs yourselves?

How did you recognize them?” the shopkeeper asked while taking inventory with a pen and paper.

“We saw the village doctor collecting them, so we followed suit.”

“We buy all these herbs.

However, because they’re fresh and have not undergone any processing, the price is relatively low.

Additionally, since the quality varies, the price also varies.

Chicken bones herb is bought for six coins a pound for regular quality and eight coins for good quality; purple gromwell is eight coins for regular and ten coins for good; Poria cocos is eight coins for regular and ten coins for good; notoginseng is thirteen coins for regular and fifteen coins for good; plantago is two coins for regular and three coins for good.

What do you think?

If there’s no problem, we can move on to weighing,” the shopkeeper explained.

Xiao’er, considering that the herbs she got from her space were evidently of higher quality, pointed at the pile of distinctly superior herbs and asked, “These herbs are of exceptional quality.

Can the price be a bit higher?”

Looking at the pile, the shopkeeper felt that the quality of these herbs was significantly better than the usual herbs he saw.

After thinking about it, he nodded, “Then how about if we add one more coin per pound?”

Xiao’er nodded, and Jing Rui said, “That’s acceptable.

Doctor, how much do you pay for herbs that have been processed?”

“The price for processed herbs also depends on quality.

If processed well, it’s at least double the price of fresh ones.”

Jing Rui’s eyes lit up when he heard this, “Then next time we gather herbs, we’ll bring more to you.

Will you still want them?”

The shopkeeper smiled, “Of course, we have Tongde Hall branches nationwide.

We always have a high demand for herbs.”

The clerk had finished weighing the herbs: Fifteen pounds of chicken bones herb at six coins, ten pounds at nine coins; eleven pounds of purple gromwell at eight coins, ten pounds at eleven coins; twenty pounds of Poria cocos at eight coins, thirty pounds at eleven coins; six pounds of notoginseng at thirteen coins, twelve pounds at sixteen coins; ten pounds of plantago at two coins.

The shopkeeper fiddled with the abacus for a while then said, “The total comes to one thousand one hundred and fifty-eight coins.”

Xiao’er could hardly bear the wait and almost blurted out the total herself.

The shopkeeper called the clerk to get the money and then provided the children with a book to help them recognize a few more herbs.

He told them they could sell whatever they gathered next time.

After receiving the money, the three of them happily left the pharmacy, regrouped with Shen Chengyao outside, and boarded the bullock cart to head for the grocery store.

On the cart, Jing Hao excitedly told Shen Chengyao, “Dad, we made a lot of silver.”

“Really?

You all are better than your father.” Shen Chengyao praised them proudly.

Seeing his children capable, he felt a strong sense of pride as a father.

However, he thought they could at most earn a few tens of coins and even that would be pretty amazing.

Currently, a day’s work as a short-term worker barely got you twenty to thirty coins.

“Dad, why didn’t you ask how much money we made?

That’s so insensitive of you!” Jinghao unhappily said, as his father wasn’t playing along.

“Haha, so what if I didn’t ask?

Can’t you just tell me?

So, how much money did you make?” prodded Shen Chengyao, as he was amused by his younger son.

Xiao’er whispered a number into Shen Chengyao’s ear.

“What, eleven…?” Shen Chengyao couldn’t help but exclaim.

Xiao’er quickly covered his mouth, softly saying, “Dad, we can’t flaunt our wealth.”

Shen Chengyao quickly composed himself; he nodded, indicating he understood.

He didn’t dare to ask more and wanted to hurry home.

Xiao’er initially wanted to sell jars for brewing at the grocery store, but Shen Chengyao suggested they buy them in town the next day and head home now.

He was worried that too many people might set their sights on the silver they had earned.

He believed it was safer to head home now when the official road was crowded.

Xiao’er didn’t insist, thinking it was better to do less.

Once they reached the county entrance, they coincidentally ran into Shen Zixuan and Lai Zhewei planning to rent a carriage home.

Seeing their bullock cart, they accepted the ride without any hesitation.

Lai Zhewei was completely comfortable on the bullock cart as if it were a BMW.

“What did you guys do in County Town?”

“We gathered some mountain goods and came to sell them at the market today.” Jingrui handed him a straw hat.

The sun was still quite strong, and the bullock cart was open-top.

“Oh?

What mountain goods?” Lai Zhewei took the hat and naturally put it on.

It had been a long time since he had been hunting.

He was looking forward to going up the mountain.

“Chestnuts, herbs, and some fruits.”

“These things can’t be worth much.

Why don’t you catch a sika deer or fox or something?”

Xiao’er was helpless; she wished for sika deer and foxes, but she hadn’t seen any in her three trips up the mountain.

“What are you saying?

We sold them and made more than ten taels of silver!” Jinghao said, sounding displeased.

Xiao’er rolled her eyes internally.

The two were just like father and son in their attitude.

Jinghao sometimes seemed so clever, so why did he slip up now?

Why did he need to announce how much they made so loudly?

People in the vicinity were all looking their way now.

Realizing everyone was looking at them, Jinghao instantly recognized he had spoken too loudly.

Regret was written all over his face.

Lai Zhewei didn’t think that over ten taels of silver was a significant amount, just assumed they had found some valuable herbs.

“Zixuan, have you ever gone up the mountain?

Let’s go tomorrow and have some fun.

We can catch some game and take it over to your Uncle San’s house.”

“Young Master Lai, you’re too kind.

You could just come over without bringing anything.”

“I miss Auntie San’s and Xiao’er’s cooking too.

Catching some game would also help sate my cravings.

Xiao’er, you have to prepare some bait for me; only one bag out of the ones from last time was useful.”

…

The group of them chatted and laughed on their way home.

Once they reached the village, Shen Chengyao dropped Shen Zixuan off at his house before heading to his own.

As soon as they stepped into the courtyard, they smelled the unmistakable aroma of chicken soup wafting from the east wing’s kitchen.

Xiao’er’s heart skipped a beat, as an ominous premonition washed over her.

Apparently, the two brothers felt it too and immediately scampered off towards their own room.