Traveling through the mountains and farming

After Lin Wan left a small bucket of ice jelly and packed up the pastries downstairs and in the private room, the waiter who witnessed the whole process of the two discussing cooperation immediately scooped a bowl of ice jelly and started eating it. While praising the ice jelly for being delicious, he couldn't help but complain about his uncle, Shopkeeper Shen:

"Uncle, you are very easygoing with this young lady. Can you please treat me the same way?"

He swallowed the ice powder in his mouth and continued:

"I have come a long way to find you. It is not easy to find you. Why did you suddenly come to this remote town to be a shopkeeper? Is this a new life experience?"

Shopkeeper Shen, who was sitting next to him, glanced at the waiter who was eating ice jelly and said, "Shen Zeyu, finish your seven-day waiter job and go home quickly."

He regretted agreeing to his eccentric nephew's request to stay here for seven days.

In order to prevent him from wandering around, he was suggested to work as a waiter in a teahouse, just to keep him in sight and keep an eye on him.

At this time, the waiter Shen Zeyu was still eating madly and continued to praise: "You know what, the crystal ice jelly made by this young lady is really delicious. I haven't even eaten it in Kyoto."

After finishing one bowl and preparing to have the second one, he didn't pay any attention to what his uncle said.

Shopkeeper Shen shook his head helplessly, "Don't pretend you didn't hear it, and don't let me send someone to kidnap you back."

"Okay, okay, I got it. Don't use force at every turn. I won't talk to you anymore. I'm going to work." Shen Zeyu put down the ice jelly he had just finished eating and ran out while talking.

~

Lin Wan didn't know about the lawsuit between Manager Shen and his nephew after she left.

She just found Baicaotang, the largest pharmacy on the main street. She walked in and saw that on the left side of the entrance was a medicine cabinet with a servant in charge of dispensing medicines, and on the right side was the consultation area with three doctors sitting there.

"Young lady, do you want to get some medicine or see a doctor?" A servant came over to greet her.

"Excuse me, does your store accept medicinal herbs?" She stated her purpose directly.

"We do accept them in our pharmacy, but we have to look at the specific type and appearance of the herbs before deciding whether to accept them."

The servant did not neglect Lin Wan just because she came to sell medicinal herbs. He led her to the counter and asked her to take out the herbs so that he could help take a look.

Lin Wan took out three Gastrodia elata wrapped tightly in sackcloth from the backpack and put them on the wooden tray indicated by the servant. The servant picked up a Gastrodia elata and looked at it carefully for a while, then got up and went to the backyard.

After a while he came out, followed by a man who looked like an old doctor.

"Doctor Zhong, could you please take a look at the Gastrodia elata I just told you about? Is it the variety you have been looking for?" The servant said as he picked up the Gastrodia elata on the tray again and turned to hand it to the doctor behind him.

Doctor Zhong took the Gastrodia elata, observed it carefully, turned it over and over, and gave his evaluation, "Black Gastrodia elata, large in size, properly dried, good in appearance, and rare." It was obvious that he was not only satisfied but also very happy.

Lin Wan watched and waited quietly at the side. She knew that Gastrodia elata was very valuable in ancient times, and the Gastrodia elata she dug were very large and should be very rare. At least their value could be comparable to that of the ancient century-old ginseng.

At this time, Doctor Zhong put down the Tianma in his hand and said to Lin Wan:

"Wild black Gastrodia elata of this size is very rare. We usually buy it for 15 taels each, but you have three, which is very rare. If I sell them together, I will give you 50 taels."

"My lady, don't worry. The price we give you is absolutely the fairest. Our Baicaotang is a time-honored shop with pharmacies all over the country. Moreover, the doctor Zhong who will quote you the price is a famous doctor who retired from the Imperial Medical Bureau." The servant next to her saw that Lin Wan was still thinking with her head down, and explained with a smile.

Lin Wan smiled and replied, "Okay, fifty taels."

She was not hesitating about the price being too low, but she just happened to be sighing in her heart that the ancient Gastrodia elata was really as valuable as she thought, and was thinking about whether she should study the cultivation of Gastrodia elata in the future.

After hearing her answer, Doctor Zhong took the three Gastrodia elata and went to the backyard, leaving the servant with her to do the final settlement.

The servant smiled awkwardly and asked her to wait a moment while he went to find the shopkeeper to withdraw the silver. She didn't have to wait long before she received five ten-liang silver ingots from the servant.

Afterwards, Lin Wan and the servant bought half a pound of quicklime and half a pound of alum, spending ten cents.

After putting the things she bought into the backpack, Lin Wan turned around and left the pharmacy.

She did not rush to the East and West Markets to purchase the vegetable seeds, kitchen knives, hoes and other iron farm tools she had planned to buy, but continued to stroll along the main street.

She made a point of visiting rouge and powder shops, cloth shops, and clothing stores, and would also take a look at any other shop that interested her.

While walking around, Lin Wan was thinking about ways to make money. At the same time, she was also thinking about whether she should use the money she had now to store food or repair the house.

She felt that both were very important. Although storing food was urgent, if they bought the food first they would have no place to put it. Given the current condition of their house, if they didn't repair it, a heavy rain would flood the house and the food they bought would be soaked.

Alas~ It seems that I have to consider repairing the house before buying food.

Hey~ There is a flower shop on the corner of this high-end commercial street. Can you really make money by selling flowers in this remote county town in ancient times?

Lin Wan walked into the store with curiosity. If the decoration style of this store is described in modern terms, it would be elegant and retro. It exudes the feeling of "our boss is very rich" everywhere. Even the cabinets for displaying flowers have been carefully crafted.

She took a quick look around and didn't see any other distinguished guests. She couldn't help but wonder if it was like one of those antique shops that doesn't open for three years, but once it opens, it can serve food for three years.

Just as she was thinking about whether to evacuate, she suddenly saw a pot of flowers in the corner that looked like chili peppers.

Lin Wan hurried over to take a closer look. At this moment, the shop assistant saw her coming and asked with a smile:

"Sir, is there anything I can do for you?"

In fact, he had noticed Lin Wan when she came in. He thought she would just take a look and leave, but he didn't expect her to walk towards the pot of flowers that had not been sold. He immediately thought she might be a potential customer, so he came over to entertain her.

When Lin Wan came closer and saw it clearly, she confirmed that the pot in front of her was indeed a chili pepper. She asked naturally, "What kind of flower is this?" At this moment, her heart was so happy that she wanted to scream, but on the surface she showed no expression.

"This is a new type of flower our young master cultivated from seeds he bought from overseas businessmen. It's called chili pepper. Look, it's bright red and very festive." The waiter introduced to Lin Wan with a smile.

"How much?" Lin Wan continued to ask calmly.

The waiter smiled and replied, "One and a half ounces of silver per basin."

After he finished quoting the price, he glanced at Lin Wan and saw that she looked embarrassed, so he continued to sell:

"This pepper is only sold in our flower shop. We have grown about ten pots in total, and this is the only one that was allocated to our store."

This is indeed only available in their store. Their young master was deceived by an overseas businessman into buying a bunch of exotic flower seeds.

In the end, only this one was barely presentable. The others either sprouted but didn't bloom, or didn't sprout at all.

And the only good-looking chili pepper didn't sell well, otherwise it wouldn't have been allocated to their small shop in the southern county town.

"I prefer some novel flowers. Does your store have other flowers bought from overseas merchants?"

As she asked, she looked around the shop. She thought that since peppers appeared in this dynasty, perhaps other crops were introduced as flowers.

"We don't have any other new types of flower bonsai, but there is a small bag of various flower seeds. Do you want to see them?" When the waiter heard Lin Wan's question, he turned to a cabinet in the corner, took out a cloth bag and handed it to Lin Wan.

Seeing Lin Wan took the bag, he continued:

"These flower seeds and pepper seeds were bought by our young master from overseas merchants. They said they were all flower seeds. I'll tell you the truth. Some of these seeds can be grown and some can't. I can sell them to you at a lower price. You can go back and try to grow them yourself."

At this moment, Lin Wan took the cloth bag and opened it. Wow~ This time she was not only so happy that she wanted to scream, but also wanted to jump up and scream.

There were potatoes and sweet potatoes that she recognized, a small packet of strawberry seeds, tomato seeds, and a few other kinds that she didn't recognize.

Closing the bag, she pretended not to recognize the seeds and said with some embarrassment:

"Can I take half a tael of silver for these seeds and the pot of peppers?"

The guy was a little embarrassed. He thought about it for a while, and finally nodded in agreement.

Their young master had spent a lot of money to buy these seeds, but in the end, only one nice-looking flower grew out of them: peppers. The young master felt that he had been cheated, and in a fit of anger, he didn't want to see these things anymore, so he threw the seeds that couldn't grow into nice-looking flowers to their store which was quite far away for disposal.

He sold them together like this, so it can be considered a deal.

Lin Wan paid the half tael of silver she brought from home, put half a bag of seeds and a pot of chili peppers into her backpack, and walked out of the shop happily.