Chapter 178: Dried Bitter Gourd
Seeing the shop assistant’s attitude, Xiao Huan was a bit worried. “Sis, what if they don’t buy our medicinal herbs?”
“If they don’t buy, they don’t buy. There are plenty of medical halls in the city; there will always be those who know quality goods.” Shang Wan was calm and composed. “Even retreating ten thousand steps, even if no medical hall is willing to buy, we can still sell to apothecaries. We’ll just earn a bit less silver; it won’t go unsold.”
It wasn’t long before the shop assistant led out an old man with a white beard.
When crossing the threshold, the shop assistant reached out to help him, but the old man impatiently waved his hand. “My legs and feet are still nimble; no need for your help.”
With that said, he lifted his leg and easily stepped over the threshold.
Seeing this, the shop assistant awkwardly withdrew his hand.
The newcomer was none other than Old Doctor Sun. He didn’t notice anyone at the doorway and stroked his beard in puzzlement. “Who has good medicinal herbs?”
“Old Mister.” Shang Wan, standing to the side, called out at the right moment and walked over holding Yuan Yuan.
Old Doctor Sun had a good memory and recognized Shang Wan and the baby in her arms at first glance.
Yuan Yuan also recognized this white-bearded grandfather and grinned, waving her small hand in greeting.
“This little face is even rounder.” Old Doctor Sun skillfully took Yuan Yuan’s small hand to check her pulse, stroking his white beard and nodding repeatedly. “Not bad, not bad. This doll is raised really well.”
Shang Wan smiled, thinking to herself that an ability user’s body could hardly be anything but good.
“Are you the one selling medicinal herbs?” Old Doctor Sun released Yuan Yuan and looked at Shang Wan.
Shang Wan nodded and had Xiao Huan bring over a bag of cliff ginger slices for Old Doctor Sun to inspect.
“What can you tell from it in a bag?” Old Doctor Sun turned his head and instructed the shop assistant. “Bring a bamboo basket over, a large one.”
The shop assistant agreed and hurriedly ran off to fetch it.
Old Doctor Sun turned and walked toward Gu An Hall, beckoning Shang Wan and the others to follow, and also had another shop assistant come help carry the medicinal herbs.
There were still quite a few things on the ox cart, so someone needed to watch it.
Xiao Huan stayed behind to watch the cart. Shang Wan carried Yuan Yuan inside, while Chu Xu followed along with his short little legs to join in the fun.
“Whoosh—” The cliff ginger slices from the bag were all poured into the large bamboo basket, spreading out in a beautiful brownish-red layer.
“Nice color.” Old Doctor Sun casually grabbed a few handfuls and sniffed them close to his nose. Smelling no off odors, he couldn’t help but nod.
He then took a single slice and put it in his mouth. Moments later, he spat it out, leaned in for a close look, and affirmed, “Indeed good medicine.”
He looked up at Shang Wan standing opposite and asked, “Picked from the mountain?”
Shang Wan nodded. At the start, they were indeed picked from the mountain, no mistake.
Old Doctor Sun asked again, “Are those few fabric bags on the ox cart all like this?”
“Yes,” Shang Wan said. “Picked together, one batch processed.”
Old Doctor Sun nodded, not worried that Shang Wan would pass off inferior goods as good quality. After all, opening the bags would reveal the truth clearly; no need to lie.
He turned to the shop assistant and said, “Take them all.”
The shop assistant was dumbfounded. Shouldn’t you at least ask the price first? Being so straightforward, how could he haggle down later?
“What are you staring for?” Old Doctor Sun frowned. “Good medicinal herbs are hard to come by, and it’s not your silver being spent.”
Shop assistant: “…”
He gave Shang Wan an apologetic smile and pulled Old Doctor Sun aside to talk.
Old Doctor Sun was impatient but followed him anyway.
Shang Wan already had a mental price in mind. When the shop assistant returned, the two bargained back and forth, and the five bags of cliff ginger slices ultimately sold for nine taels of silver.
If sold to an apothecary, even considering the good quality, it would top out at five taels at most—nearly half the price. This showed how profitable being a middleman was.
Compared to Old Doctor Sun, the shop assistant was much more cautious.
He and the other two shop assistants poured out the remaining four bags of cliff ginger slices to check, confirming they were all of similar quality before settling the silver with Shang Wan.
Old Doctor Sun said, “If you have more medicinal herbs of this quality in the future, bring them straight to Gu An Hall. We’ll take as much as you have.”
Shang Wan smilingly agreed. Having taken this first step, this sales channel was preliminarily opened.
Gu An Hall had quite a reputation in the city. With Gu An Hall’s endorsement, as long as her medicinal herbs were good, other medical halls probably wouldn’t refuse either.
In the future, once large batches of herbs were grown, they could open their own apothecary to deal directly with the major medical halls, cutting out the middlemen and their markups.
Before leaving, Yuan Yuan waved her small hand at the grandfather, her eyes and brows curved in a sweet smile.
Elderly folks couldn’t help but like teasing cute little babies.
Old Doctor Sun was no exception. He had Shang Wan wait a moment, then turned and instructed the shop assistant to go to the backyard and pack a bag of his dried bitter gourd to give to the little baby girl as snacks.
Shang Wan’s eye twitched. Dried bitter gourd as snacks? Serious?
The shop assistant was straightforward and packed a bulging bag, no less than two jin.
Considering Old Doctor Sun’s good intentions, Shang Wan thanked him and took it, thinking she’d bring a gift next time she visited.
As if knowing it was for her, Yuan Yuan quickly stretched out her short arms to hold it herself. Her already smiling big eyes turned into two arcs.
Old Doctor Sun smiled kindly. “Come play with Grandpa.”
Yuan Yuan nodded her little head and extended her chubby little finger to pinky promise with Old Doctor Sun.
The big and the small pinky promised solemnly, amusing everyone in the medical hall.
After bidding farewell and coming out, Shang Wan took a piece of dried bitter gourd from the bag and tasted it.
Unexpectedly, the dried bitter gourd wasn’t bitter at all. It had a refreshing texture with a slight sweetness and was quite tasty.
Xiao Huan also took a piece, sniffed it first, then put it in her mouth.
The dried bitter gourd had a faint medicinal fragrance when smelled closely, and a clear sweet taste when eaten. It had probably had the bitterness removed beforehand and been pickled in sugar.
Bitter gourd clears heat and can prevent getting overheated—indeed not bad as a summer snack.
Xiao Huan said to Shang Wan, “Sis, let’s buy two jin of bitter gourd later too. I’ll ponder it and make some as snacks.”
She liked researching food. Whenever she encountered something she hadn’t made before, she always wanted to try replicating it.
Shang Wan also thought the dried bitter gourd tasted pretty good and naturally agreed to Xiao Huan’s suggestion.
She grabbed a small handful of dried bitter gourd from the bag and handed it to Chu Xu and Yuan Yuan. “It’s pretty tasty; all have a try.”
Yuan Yuan grabbed a piece of dried bitter gourd and chomped down with her millet teeth.
Chu Xu, however, didn’t eat right away. He kept glancing at Shang Wan; those big eyes of his couldn’t hide a thing.
Shang Wan looked down at him. “If you have something to say, say it.”
Chu Xu shook his head. “I’ll say it when we get back.”
Shang Wan: “…”
The little brat had learned to play coy.
She jumped onto the ox cart and called out to the three people, “Sit tight.”
The yellow ox pulled the cart toward the Western Market. They stopped at the fabric shop, had the shop assistant watch the ox cart, and the four of them went in to buy fabric.
With Shang Wan’s indulgence, Xiao Huan picked quite a bit of fabric and also bought plenty of silk thread.
Shang Wan bought a set of new clothes for everyone at home. Though the fabric wasn’t as good as that from Lu Residence, it was already much better than ordinary households.
Coming out of the fabric shop, more than half of the freshly earned silver was gone.
Shang Wan spent it quite happily.
Silver was earned to improve life; spend it where needed, earn more after it’s gone.
After buying all the things the family needed in the Western Market, Shang Wan drove the ox cart to the County Yamen.
