Quick Travel to the Clouds

Chapter 478 Koi Little Lucky Star 7

Old Master Yun's hands trembled as he carefully examined the wild ginseng under the oil lamp. Tears nearly fell from his eyes. "It's the same! It's so similar! It's even better than the one my father dug up back then! This... this is a treasure that will last our family for years!"

Yun Zhong said decisively, "We should send them to Kaiping City to sell. The Renjitang in Kaiping City is quite good. Let's go before dark and be the first to enter the city gates as soon as they open. We can sell them and leave immediately without anyone noticing."

"Yes!" Old Master Yun made the final decision, his eyes fixed on the most reliable Yun Zhong and the young and strong Yun Ji. "Second brother, third brother, you two go this time! Bring the right weapons with you, be on guard, and be smart on the road!"

Yun Zhong and Yun Ji nodded heavily.

It was late at night and everyone was asleep, even the dogs had stopped barking.

Yun Zhong and Yun Ji changed into the most inconspicuous old clothes, carried a backpack filled with wild ginseng and a few dry food buns, hid a sharpened hatchet in their sleeves, and quietly left the yard.

Yun Chu silently watched his two uncles blend into the night through the crack in the window.

She flicked her fingertips, and a faint breeze, imperceptible to mortals, quietly brushed past the two people's feet, sweeping away the footprints they had just left, and silently formed a thin breath barrier around them (a lightening spell that had the function of both weak protection and eliminating breath traces), allowing them to walk faster and lighter, making it less likely to be noticed by snakes, insects, or people with bad intentions.

The mountain road is rugged and difficult to travel in the dark night, but fortunately there is the faint light of stars and moon.

The two men hurried along in silence, keeping a vigilant eye on their surroundings. As the sky began to turn pale, the weary pair finally spotted the outline of Kaiping City's grayish-blue walls in the distance.

As soon as the city gate opened, the two men headed straight for Renjitang.

Renjitang had just opened and the waiter was still sleepy. However, when he saw the items carefully taken out of the sack, he immediately became alert and hurried in to invite Manager Hu.

Shopkeeper Hu was in his fifties, lean and vigorous, with long, clean fingers. When he saw the wild ginseng Yun Ji had carefully placed on the oil-paper, his eyes suddenly fixed, and he immediately dismissed the waiter.

"What a wonderful thing! The reed head is plump, the ring patterns are clear, the body is graceful, and the roots are flexible..." Shopkeeper Hu put on his reading glasses and examined it carefully with a magnifying glass. He then leaned in to smell the unique earthy ginseng fragrance. After examining it for nearly half an hour, he spoke solemnly, "Gentlemen, this ginseng is good. It's between ten and twelve years old and has been well preserved. The roots are intact. But..."

Yun Zhong's heart was in his throat, fearing that he would lower the price.

"Although this ginseng is rare, it is freshly dug and unprocessed, and it's not a top-grade ginseng that's been aged for decades. If we estimate it based on the market price," Shopkeeper Hu pondered for a moment, holding up three fingers, "this is the maximum I'll offer."

"Thirty taels?" Yun Ji blurted out, feeling that it was less than he had imagined.

Shopkeeper Hu shook his head and said seriously, "It's three hundred taels of silver."

"Three hundred taels?!" Yun Zhong and Yun Ji lost their voices at the same time, then suppressed their pounding hearts and exchanged a look of shock! This far exceeded their most optimistic estimates (they had thought they would be lucky to get a hundred taels).

The one my grandfather sold back then only sold for fifty or sixty taels.

Shopkeeper Hu noticed their excitement and explained, "Don't think my contribution is too little."

"Although this ginseng is good, its value will at least double after processing, but the processing process is complicated and time-consuming, resulting in considerable loss, and storage also requires careful care."

"Besides, it's hard to raise big fish in a small pond in Kaiping City. Ultimately, we have to sell it to the capital or a large pharmacy in Jiangnan to make a big profit."

"Three hundred taels is the honest price I can offer you. I also consider you two sincere and trustworthy, and I don't want to let the mountain treasure go unnoticed. If you don't believe me, you can ask for a price elsewhere. However... this item is valuable, and going to more dealers increases the risk."

How could Yun Zhong and Yun Ji not know this truth?

I now understand more clearly that what Manager Hu said is true.

Three hundred taels!

That was a huge sum of money that they couldn't even imagine!

It is more than enough to build a new house for the family, buy more good farmland, purchase livestock, and pay the tuition for several children for ten years!

"Shopkeeper Hu is kind and righteous!" Yun Zhong immediately bowed, "We trust Renjitang! Just three hundred taels!"

Shopkeeper Hu nodded in satisfaction. "Great! As usual, we need a written receipt, and the silver needs to be exchanged for easy-to-carry official notes and loose silver. Please wait a moment."

He personally took out pen and ink, drew up a sales contract, and both parties signed it.

Then he took out two silver notes with a face value of 100 taels from Huitong Money House in Beijing, four notes of 50 taels issued by Renjitang (exchangeable locally), and another 20 taels of small silver ingots and some copper coins (a total of 320 taels, of which 20 taels were extra gifts from Manager Hu as a token of kindness).

Yun Zhong and Yun Ji hid the banknotes and money with trembling hands, and bought some urgently needed salt, sugar, needles and thread, and cloth to hide them from others, and mixed them in their bags.

After thanking Shopkeeper Hu, he didn't even have time to eat breakfast and set off on his return journey eager to go home.

Only after they were far away from the city gate and walked onto the familiar mountain path did their hearts finally settle back down. The two brothers clutched the hard hiding place on their chests, their steps somewhat unsteady with excitement.

It was already dusk the next day when Yun Zhong and Yun Ji returned safely to Shili Village with the heavy 320 taels of silver.

Dusk was falling, and no one could hear the sounds of chickens or dogs. The two men were tired but walked lightly, holding the banknotes and small change hidden in their chests tightly all the way.

When I entered the yard, my family was already waiting in the dim light. The dim light from the kitchen reflected several nervous and expectant faces.

Once the door was closed and the oil lamps were lit, the whole family squeezed into the three-room house, with straw curtains covering the windows, and their breathing became stagnant.

Old Man Yun took the bag of silver and money, his fingers stroking the hundred-liang silver note from Huitong Bank and the Renjitang bill (the bill given by Manager Hu was redeemable locally). Tears streamed down his face, but he suppressed his trembling: "Oh my God... more than three hundred liang!"

This wealth exceeded their wildest imaginations - the last time they received 25 taels, they were able to renovate a new house, raise cattle, and send their children to a village school.

What about this money? That's half a lifetime of security!

Yun Zhong, the most patient, lowered his voice and planned, "Put aside a portion of this money, and set aside it for the children's tuition. The rest should be used to buy good farmland. Land is the foundation, and it will keep us from starving in times of disaster!"

Yun Ji added, "Adding another calf will help us farm and accumulate fertilizer."

The discussion was heated, but no one mentioned squandering.

Yun Chu spoke up at this time: "Suddenly buying good farmland and a calf, the villagers will definitely ask what kind of windfall they made. What will we say then?"

"Did you just say you found wild ginseng?"

"What should we do? Do we have to hide all this silver?" Yun Ji said.

Yun Chu said, "We can't buy land in our village, so we can go to other villages to buy some, and then rent it out to others to farm. Or we can go to a town or the prefecture and buy a small yard."

Under the dim light of the oil lamp, Yun Chu's question was like a stone thrown into a calm pond, stirring up silent waves.

The sudden silence in the air was so heavy that it could almost condense into water droplets.

Old Master Yun stopped stroking the banknotes, Yun Zhong frowned, and Yun Ji subconsciously clenched his fists.

Yes, we were so excited about the future of this windfall that we forgot that this immense wealth could also be the cause of disaster.

They had experienced the sharp looks and back-stabbing gossip in the village.