The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 85 - 74: Probing (Extra update for the birthday of the book friend "Jing")

Chapter 85: Chapter 74: Probing (Extra update for the birthday of the book friend "Jing")

Entering the city required an entry fee, now even if you entered with just the shirt on your back, you still had to pay one wen. Of course, small children like Datou were exempt from the fee.

But Zhou Dalang still felt the pinch.

He paid the fee, and because he had already spent several wen upon entering the city, he was very worried. So he didn’t go anywhere else, just pulled his handcart directly to the medicinal herb shop.

In the county, there was only one medicinal herb shop, and that was Jishi Hall.

When the shop assistant saw Zhou Dalang, he said, "You’ve come to sell herbs, haven’t you? Please wait a moment; our shopkeeper will be here shortly."

Zhou Dalang had been there twice before, once to check the price with fresh Ligustrum seeds, and another time to ask if sun-dried Ligustrum seeds were processed correctly, so the assistant remembered him.

The shopkeeper came out quickly. Zhou Erlang, not wanting too many people to bother the shop and create annoyance, had Wulang wait outside with the kids. Only Manbao, who was curious, followed behind Zhou Erlang to see what was happening.

Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang glanced at their younger sister but said nothing, just brought her closer so she wouldn’t be lost.

The Ligustrum seeds had all been blanched in hot water before being sun-dried and were now packed in fine cloth bags.

Zhou Dalang opened the bag for the shopkeeper to inspect.

The shopkeeper looked at the seeds in his palm, tasted one, and nodded slightly, "The drying is not bad, but next time let them soak a bit longer."

After checking the bottom of the bag and seeing the quality was similar, he nodded and said, "Alright, let’s weigh them. We’ll take all of them."

The assistant promptly got the scales and after weighing, said, "That’s a total of twelve and a half jin."

The shopkeeper said, "This quality is average, so I’ll give you fifty wen per jin, making a total of six hundred and twenty-five wen. If you have more Ligustrum seeds in the future, bring them here. If the quality is good, we’ll always buy them."

Manbao then asked curiously, "Shopkeeper big brother, can your shop really sell all these Ligustrum seeds?"

Bending down, the shopkeeper saw a little girl at the feet of the two brothers. Upon hearing her address him, he twitched the corners of his mouth and said, "Our Jishi Hall chain is spread across the land; a little batch of Ligustrum seeds is surely manageable, even if it’s a hundred or a thousand times more. Little girl, you should be calling me ’uncle’."

Zhou Dalang, mopping the sweat from his forehead, kept apologizing, "My little sister is young and doesn’t know better; please excuse her, shopkeeper."

Only then did the shopkeeper give Manbao another look and smiled, "So she’s your sister; well, that explains it."

He appeared to be around Zhou Dalang’s age, which is probably why the little girl called him big brother rather than uncle.

The shopkeeper laughed, shaking his head, not minding the slip at all.

But Manbao, still enthusiastic and unbothered by the correction, said, "Shopkeeper uncle, if we grow lots and lots of Ligustrum seeds, would your shop still buy them at the same price?"

The shopkeeper, who had already instructed the assistant to pay them and was about to leave, turned back and inquired, "What, is your family planning to grow medicinal herbs?"

Manbao replied, "We’re thinking about it."

The shopkeeper then said, "That’s not easy. Such herbs are prone to insect damage, and they might suffer from drought or flooding. What kind of medicinal herbs does your family plan to grow?"

Manbao first asked him, "What do you think our area is suited for growing?"

Looking down at the little tot, the shopkeeper paused before laughing, "I think there are many herbs that would grow well here, but the key question is, do you know how to grow them?"

"We can learn if we don’t know how."

Seeing her acting like a little grown-up, the shopkeeper couldn’t help but laugh, "As long as you can grow the herbs, they won’t be unsaleable, because everyone gets sick, and when they do, they need medicine."

Understanding, Manbao immediately turned around and dragged Second Brother in to help her carry in their Indian pennywort.

Curious, the shopkeeper stopped in his tracks when he saw them dragging in two large hemp bags.

"Shopkeeper uncle, this is the Indian pennywort we’ve sun-dried; does your shop want it?"

Bending to feel it, he noticed that it was quite dry, then nodded, "Yes, this stuff is great for cooling off in summer, twenty wen per jin, let’s weigh it."

Despite being in two large hemp bags, the herb was actually very light; together, they weighed only thirty-five jin.

Wulang and the others, who were watching excitedly from the doorway, were stunned. They had harvested so much; how could it be so light?

They all felt a bit disappointed, but then saw the assistant hand over seven strings of cash to them, they were amazed once more.

It seemed they had made money a bit too easily.

Zhou Dalang, seeing the children earn more than they did, was also surprised.

But the shopkeeper said, "Don’t bring any more Indian pennywort next time; we can find this herb anywhere, no need to source it from outside. This amount should be enough for our shop’s summer needs."

Manbao, however, twisted her eyes thoughtfully and said, "It’s definitely not enough; summer lasts so long, and your shop needs to boil medicinal decoctions every day. At the very least, you need a handful every day, and even if one handful is one jin, thirty-five jin would only last thirty-five days."

Seeing her calculate so clearly at such a young age, the shopkeeper couldn’t help but burst out laughing, rubbing her little head, "In our Small County Town, we don’t need a jin of Indian pennywort a day. Are you trying to make everyone suffer? This amount is enough; if you bring more, I won’t buy it."

Manbao regretted deeply, not expecting Indian pennywort to be a one-shot deal, and let out a grown-up-like sigh.

The shopkeeper found the child quite amusing, mainly because he knew all the local herb gatherers, and it was clear that Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang were farmers, not herb gatherers.

He was very curious about how they had come to recognize Ligustrum seeds.

In the countryside, many flowers and plants have medicinal properties, and many elderly people know how to use them. For example, Indian pennywort is often used by rural folks to stop bleeding from falls and cuts.

But they might not know about its other effects, nor would they think to sell it as a medicinal herb in a shop, let alone dry it and sell it in a shop.

If Indian pennywort only needed to be dried to be used as a medicine, then many other herbs required special processing for preservation and medicinal use, which was knowledge only understood by doctors and herb gatherers.

Most people prefer doing what they are good at and avoid what they aren’t.

It’s a way to mitigate risk, an instinctual human behavior.

If someone suddenly enters a field they are unfamiliar with, they must have some form of support. And if the person is known to be honest and simple, then their support is likely even more substantial.

The shopkeeper suspected that they might have a medical book.

He had probed Zhou Dalang about it before, but Zhou Dalang had just laughed naively in response—whether genuinely or not, it was hard to tell. As the assistant settled their payment, the shopkeeper took Manbao by the hand to sit aside and asked, "Who taught your family how to process Ligustrum seeds?"

Manbao: "Eh, wasn’t it taught by shopkeeper uncle?"

Reflecting, the shopkeeper realized he might have given a hint. He paused and then asked, "Who recognized that Ligustrum seeds were a medicinal herb?"

Manbao immediately declared proudly, "Me!"

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