EFB Chapter 56 Too expensive and too poor!
Chapter 56 Too expensive and too poor!
Enter Bailing Pharmacy.
Qiu Tong led him to the counter.
"Oh, it's Captain Qiu. Did he bring a new recruit?"
As expected of a social butterfly, Qiu Tong is just as popular even in a place like this.
"Xiao Meng, this is my brother, Officer Li!"
"Make a sign for him."
He tossed over a silver ingot, worth at least ten taels, saying, "This is for the token."
"Brother Qiu, how can we let you pay for it!"
We bought the house before, and now we're paying for this so-called plaque? That won't do.
He took the silver back and put it in his hand, then paid for it himself.
"We're all family, why be so particular?"
Qiu Tong looked displeased.
Even family members need to divide things up.
Even between brothers, accounts should be settled clearly, though Li Yuan didn't say this aloud.
Xiao Meng accepted the money and quickly handed over the token.
When Li Yuan received it, he saw that the words "Bailing" were engraved on the front and the character "Li" was engraved on the back.
Thanks!
"Let's go to the second floor!"
Qiu Tong led him up to the second floor, and the two of them walked up the wooden stairs not far away, one after the other.
We've arrived on the second floor!
"These are all medicinal herbs that are less than a hundred years old."
"The price isn't cheap, bro, you'd better be prepared."
One hundred years from now.
"So the third floor is over a hundred years old?"
Li Yuan asked.
"Yes, but you need to spend 10,000 taels on the second floor, be at the eighth rank in strength, and have a jade-colored badge like mine to go up to the third floor."
"As for the fourth floor, it requires spending 50,000 taels on the third floor and having the strength of a seventh-rank cultivator."
Qiu Tong said with a smile.
This is also a rule set by Bailing Pharmacy.
This is to prevent ordinary people from buying and reselling.
An eighth-rank expert is considered a respectable figure in the inner city and would generally not do such a thing. Moreover, once discovered, such an individual would be barred from ever entering the Hundred Spirits Medicine Shop again.
Ten thousand taels...
Li Yuan's eyes twitched when he heard the number. He had exchanged all the gold he had for about 30,000 taels of silver.
I thought it would be pretty good, but I didn't expect that at Bailing Pharmacy, we only went to the third floor.
"Gentlemen, how many years old of medicinal herbs do you need?"
At this moment, a maid, dressed in a light blue silk dress, came over and asked with a smile.
Even within a century, prices vary by year; the older the year, the higher the price.
Li Yuan wasn't very familiar with the market since it was his first time here, and Qiu Tong naturally noticed this as well, so he said, "Let's look at the fifty-year-old ones first."
"Okay, this way!"
The maid led the two of them forward.
"On average, a 50-year-old plant costs 40 taels. The price increases by 1 tael each year as you go up, but it's different after 80 years. You'll see in a moment."
Qiu Tong patiently explained.
"Thank you, Brother Qiu."
Li Yuan now understands why he is so popular.
They are exceptionally good at reading people and can make others feel completely at ease.
We arrived at a row of medicine cabinets, each with a square compartment labeled with the name of a medicine. "These are all from fifty years ago, and the prices vary, generally between forty and fifty."
"Please bring out this Polygonatum so I can take a look."
Li Yuan said.
"Please wait a moment, sir."
The maid then carefully opened the compartment, took out a Solomon's Seal plant, and handed it to Li Yuan.
Li Yuan looked it over; it was about the size of a palm. He then smelled it. With his medical skills, he could tell at a glance that the medicine was quite effective, so he nodded. "How much?"
"This was cultivated using special methods, and some beast blood was added, so... one plant costs fifty taels!"
The maid said with a smile.
"This is the most expensive one in the last fifty years," Qiu Tong said from the side.
Li Yuan nodded. "Bring out the best one from the last hundred years so I can take a look."
"Hold on."
The maid showed no sign of annoyance, her face always bearing a smile; those who could reach the second floor were not people she could afford to offend.
She walked to the medicine cabinet across the street, took out a herb and placed it on a tray, then came over. "This is a 90-year-old He Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum)."
Li Yuan picked it up and smelled it again, this time for a longer time.
After comparing the two plants, he had a general idea of what to expect.
"Give me thirty plants that are fifty years old, and this one..."
The maid immediately said, "This costs one hundred taels per plant."
That's expensive!
"Thirty plants, please!"
Qiu Tong, who was standing to the side, looked at him in surprise. That adds up to four thousand five hundred taels. His brother-in-law was so rich.
Qiu Yun said his family runs a medical clinic.
"Doctor clinics are that profitable?"
Qiu Tong muttered to himself.
"It was left by my father, so it's a bit..." Li Yuan naturally noticed his surprise and could only attribute it all to his father.
"That's great. If it doesn't work out, you can open one in the inner city too."
Qiu Tong said.
If you can make so much money in the outer city, then making several times that amount in the inner city shouldn't be a problem, right?
"That's possible."
Li Yuan nodded.
Don't be fooled by his wealth; he'll squander it all. Cultivation is incredibly expensive, and without earning money, he can't sustain it for long.
Can Qiuyun still sell tofu to support him?
Even a grown man like him couldn't stand it, and couldn't afford to support him!
"Sir, here are the medicinal herbs you requested, totaling four thousand five hundred taels."
Looking at the exquisite dark red patterned medicine box he was carrying, it must have weighed at least several ounces.
"Use gold."
Fortunately, he brought a lot of gold with him today because he was going to buy a house; otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to buy it.
"That's a total of four hundred and fifty taels of gold."
"Um!"
......
As the two left Bailing Pharmacy, Qiu Tong couldn't help but speak up, "Brother, you're really something, carrying so much gold, aren't you afraid of being robbed?"
"With you here, who would dare to steal it?"
"Hahaha....."
.....
After the two returned to Red Tree Lane, Li Yuan gave a brief account of the house, and Qiu Tong kept talking.
However, he left not long after.
"Your brother spent a lot of money. Buy him something later as a way of thanking him."
Inside the house, Li Yuan handed Qiu Yun one hundred taels of gold.
"This...this is too much, we can't use it all."
One hundred taels of gold, so bright and shiny, even Qiu Yun felt it was dazzling.
"Use the rest to buy meat, the better quality kind. Your man is a martial artist, he can't eat cheap meat. Here, I need to brew some medicine, it's very expensive, don't burn it."
He then placed the item in her hand and left.
Qiu Yun looked at the gold in her hand, a smile spreading across her face... she was very happy.
Li Yuanzhen truly regarded her as his woman; just now, he unabashedly opened a box in front of her, which was full of gold.
"Looks like she married into a wealthy family."
......
"I'm leaving!"
Li Yuan left home as usual, dressed in his official robes and carrying his official sword.
...
Upon arriving at the south gate, having become familiar with the garrison, there was no need to check the tokens. With smiles and greetings, they left the city and returned to the place they had been before.
After explaining things to the fish on the shore, he began his cultivation.
The medicine, aged for fifty years, was enveloped in the body's qi and blood. This was intentional on Li Yuan's part; otherwise, the medicine's effects would have dissipated long ago.
The next moment, the Qi and blood dispersed, the medicinal effects exploded, and the Dao blood seemed to be stimulated, absorbing it frantically.
"So comfortable!"