A lucky cat fell from the sky.

Chapter 57 Medicine Collection

Upon hearing Wu Cheng's question, the second brother looked quite annoyed: "Are you questioning my professionalism?"

"Boss, let me tell you, I grew up in the mountains. I can smell any medicinal herb with my eyes closed. I started selling herbs when I was five years old, and I used the money I earned from selling herbs to buy equipment to make animal traps."

"Go ask around in our area and find out who's known as the Little Shennong."

"Don't brag to me, tell me in detail about this business of reselling medicinal herbs."

This time, the second brother didn't talk while eating. Instead, he put down his chopsticks and said very seriously, "Among the four major families of Longqiu, the Hao family is in the pharmaceutical business, you know that, right?"

“I know that they are mainly doctors, and they only deal in medicinal herbs as a side business.”

"That's right. Under the Hao family, there are many agent families who purchase medicinal herbs for the Hao family in various places. The most profitable one is the Lu family."

"The Lu family? The Lu family that Lu Dongyang is from?"

“That’s right. I also heard from the third brother that you, eldest brother, have made enemies with the Lu family and even beat that grandson Lu Dongyang into submission. So, my suggestion to sell medicinal herbs was also to help you get revenge.”

“My methods for acquiring medicinal herbs are more legitimate than the Lu family’s, and the prices are lower. We can take this opportunity to block all of the Lu family’s channels and prevent them from acquiring medicinal herbs.”

“I like that,” Wu Cheng said, “but there’s a problem: who are we going to sell the medicinal herbs we’ve collected to?”

"The Hao family. When Long Qiu does medicine business, no one can bypass the Hao family. The Hao family offers high prices and uses large quantities. All the herb farmers and herb gatherers in our area know about the Hao family."

Wu Cheng said with a wry smile, "If we're relying on the Hao family for the money, we can't do this business."

"Why?" the second son asked, a little confused.

"I've offended the Hao family before, so I doubt they'll do business with me."

The second brother gave Wu Cheng a thumbs up and said, "Boss, you're awesome. You even dared to offend the Hao family."

"If we can't sell the medicine to the Hao family, then we can only sell it to other counties and cities in Xiyang through Longqiu, or simply go to Xiyang to sell it."

"No matter how powerful the Hao family is, they only have influence in Longqiu; their reach hasn't extended to other parts of Xiyang. Boss, are you sure the Hao family would never accept our medicine?"

“I’m not so sure,” Wu Cheng said. “The Hao family still owes me quite a bit of money. I’ve been waiting for them to ask me for it back, but they haven’t done so yet. It seems I’ll have to find some time to go and collect it from them. Do you think it would be appropriate to discuss the medicinal herb business with them at that time?”

The second brother was stumped by Wu Cheng's question. He opened a bottle of beer and took a big gulp: "If we can get special medicinal herbs, even if we don't sell them to the Hao family, there will be people scrambling to buy them."

"What medicinal herbs are precious?" Wu Cheng was completely clueless about medicinal herbs.

"If we're talking about precious things, there are thousand-year-old wild ginseng, thousand-year-old he shou wu, ling zhi that produces ling zhi people and ling zhi horses, and tai sui as big as a wine jar. These are all precious."

"Nonsense, I also said that the elixir of immortality is precious. Aren't the Queen Mother of the West's peaches precious? Where are you going to get them?"

"Boss, do you look down on me? Don't you trust me?"

"What are you talking about?" Wu Cheng was taken aback by the second brother's sudden question. "I don't look down on you, but I definitely don't trust you."

"Tch, that's because you're ignorant. I'm not bragging, but in our mountains, there's a medicinal herb market every ten years. Do you know what a medicinal herb market is?"

"The medicine market is a gathering where mountain people bring out their treasured medicinal herbs to sell. It's held once every ten years, and the herbs there are top-notch."

"A thousand-year-old wild ginseng? A thousand-year-old he shou wu?"

"I don't know if they have any, but the medicine market has some good things. Besides common medicinal herbs, there are also some that nobody recognizes."

"You're talking nonsense. If you don't recognize anyone, how would you know it's a medicinal herb?"

“Brother, don’t argue with me,” the second brother said, straightening his neck. “I don’t know why these herbs that nobody recognizes are sold at the herb market, but I often hear that people find bargains there.”

"You can find bargains in medicinal herbs?" Wu Cheng found it intriguing.

Wu Cheng was no stranger to finding bargains; he was addicted to it. He went to the antique street several more times, but to no avail. Now, as soon as he heard that medicinal herbs could be found at bargain prices, he was immediately tempted.

“I don’t know the specifics, but I heard my master say that he once found a piece of golden poria at a medicine market.”

"It is said that one tael of Poria cocos is worth ten taels of gold, which is more valuable than real gold."

The second brother's eyes lit up when he talked about Jin Fuling, as if he really had the money in his hands.

Wu Cheng did the math and realized that even if it really was a piece of golden stamen, it wouldn't actually be worth much money, at most a little over a pound of gold, less than 200,000 yuan.

“Young man, don’t underestimate Jin Fuling,” Jin Wanliang said. “Anyone with the character ‘Jin’ in their name is extremely auspicious.”

"Yes, yes, Master Meow, are you praising yourself?"

"What? Do I need to praise you, meow?" Jin Wanliang said with dissatisfaction. "What I'm talking about is Jin Fuling. Jin Fuling is used to refine pills. One piece of Jin Fuling, combined with one piece of Seven Star Huangjing, can be used to refine a Qi-regulating pill."

What is a Qi-regulating pill?

"You can think of it as Qi-boosting pill PLUS. The effect of one Qi-boosting pill is better than ten Qi-boosting pills. Moreover, you have to wait a long time after taking one Qi-boosting pill before you can take the second one."

"But one Qi-regulating pill is equivalent to ten pills. Not to mention the time saved, it is also quite safe."

"Is it really that valuable?" Wu Cheng's eyes lit up immediately.

If what Jin Wanliang said is true, the Qi Circulation Pill is worth more than a billion. He would probably sell everything he owns and go bankrupt to buy it.

It seems I really need to go to the herbal medicine market in my second brother's hometown. If I happen to find some Poria cocos and Polygonatum sibiricum, I'll be rich.

"Don't be too happy yet. With your current eyesight, if you try to find a bargain at the medicine market, you'll probably get your eyes knocked out."

"Don't worry, isn't it Master Meow who's here?"

"You think I'm some kind of all-powerful cat?"

"Aren't you an all-powerful cat?"

"Everyone has their own expertise. This cat is good at antiques and curios, and only has a smattering of knowledge about medicinal herbs. What if this cat is also fooled? Does this cat have no shame?"

"Don't worry, we still have the Black Iron Token to buy. We can ask the Ancestral Master for 77 gold coins to use it for a day and a night."

"You think every Black Iron Token's founder is the same price, meow? Last time Chen Qizi's price was cheap because it was a relatively niche one. For popular ones like being able to identify herbs, it should cost at least three to five hundred gold coins a day."

"So the only way you can find the precious medicine is to get rid of that medicine-hunting rat as soon as possible and have it help you find the medicine."