PDLP Chapter 74 Medicinal Herbs
Chapter 74 Medicinal Herbs
Song Jiaojiao thanked Manager Liu with a big smile, "Thank you so much, Uncle Liu, this has been a great help to me."
Hearing Song Jiaojiao's happy tone change, Manager Liu felt embarrassed. "Madam Song, let me make this clear first, some of the medicinal herbs here are not suitable for our local climate and soil."
Song Jiaojiao said nonchalantly, "Oh, just call me Jiaojiao, it's fine, it's just for research anyway, it's good if we can figure it out."
Manager Liu looked at the grinning Song Jiaojiao. He had never seen her so happy when she got money from selling medicinal herbs. When asked to change her address, she would usually agree on the spot but then turn around and shout it to herself. He never expected that the medicinal herbs she brought back this time would change her so much.
"Alright then, as long as you keep that in mind, but once it's successfully grown, you must give priority to Uncle Liu, okay?" Manager Liu thought about the several precious medicinal herbs inside, and how much money he had spent to buy them.
"Of course. I happen to have something to ask Uncle Liu. The villagers saw that the Polygonum multiflorum I grew in the greenhouse is growing very well, so they wanted to ask Uncle Liu if he buys Polygonum multiflorum, and how he buys it?" Song Jiaojiao stated the purpose of her visit.
“We also buy ordinary medicinal herbs, but they must be processed. Processing Polygonum multiflorum is not difficult, but it takes a lot of time. So, I will buy processed Polygonum multiflorum at 50 wen per catty, but it must be good quality and without wormholes.”
Huichuntang already has its own channels for purchasing medicinal herbs, and they have been cooperating with people for many years, so there is no need to find other sources of goods. However, Manager Liu thought that Song Jiaojiao had bought a lot of medicinal herbs, and maybe she could really succeed in planting them. In the future, Qingshui Village might become a major medicinal herb planting village. Giving her a chance in advance is not a bad idea. Manager Liu still trusts Song Jiaojiao's character.
“I know how to process He Shou Wu. Since Huichuntang wants to buy it, I should go back to the village and give them an explanation,” Song Jiaojiao said softly.
Manager Liu was surprised that Song Jiaojiao knew how to process Polygonum multiflorum. He was planning to tell her the method later. "You know how to process Polygonum multiflorum, Uncle Liu underestimated Jiaojiao."
"Of course, there's nothing I can't do." Song Jiaojiao proudly raised her chin, speaking with arrogance.
Manager Liu chuckled and shook his head. "Alright, I'm busy here today. If Jiaojiao doesn't have anything else to do, I won't entertain you."
“Yes, yes, you haven’t said how much this herb costs yet,” Song Jiaojiao said, pointing to the bag in Xu Da’s hand.
"Give me 50 taels. I bought most of them from the herb farmers, so they're not expensive since I'm quite familiar with them." The expensive ones are the rare and precious herbs.
Upon hearing this, Song Jiaojiao took out 50 taels of silver and gave it to Manager Liu, then left Huichuntang with Xu Da.
A little while later, he returned with a lot of pastries, placed them on the medicine cabinet, and called out to Manager Liu, "Uncle Liu, I bought some pastries for you and put them here. Remember to eat them later. Thank you for bringing me the medicine seeds."
Before Manager Liu could say anything, Song Jiaojiao got into the carriage and told Xu Da to set off.
Manager Liu looked at Song Jiaojiao with amusement, picked up a piece of hibiscus cake, and wondered if she had forgotten that the pastry shop next to her was run by his boss and that the pastries had never been out of stock. However, the hibiscus cake today seemed even sweeter, as if it had been eaten with honey.
Song Jiaojiao bought a lot of things, thinking that the weather would get hot soon and she would have to prepare summer clothes. She bought a lot of cloth and spent a lot of money to buy silk to make undergarments. In ancient times, there were no fans, and the heat was unbearable. It seemed that she would have to find a way to make ice with saltpeter.
Song Jiaojiao has to thank her past life for being able to make ice; it was in an era when all she wanted to do after get off work was lie in bed and watch videos, and she learned many life skills from those videos.
It was almost dusk when Song Jiaojiao got home. Seeing that there was still some time before dinner, she took some pastries to the village chief's house.
When we arrived at the village chief's house, we saw him weaving a basket in the yard and wisps of smoke rising from the kitchen, clearly indicating that he was cooking dinner.
"Uncle Wang, are you weaving a bamboo basket?" Song Jiaojiao called out from outside the courtyard.
The village chief looked up, saw Song Jiaojiao, and quickly put down the half-finished basket he was carrying. As he opened the courtyard gate, he spoke...
"Jiaojiao is here, come in quickly. The basket at home is broken, so I thought I'd make a new one since I had nothing else to do."
Song Jiaojiao handed the pastries to the village chief with a smile and said, "Uncle Wang, I have brought you good news."
Upon hearing this, the village chief even forgot to decline the pastries in his hand and asked, "Is there any news about He Shou Wu?"
"Yes, as expected of Uncle Wang, he guessed it right away," Song Jiaojiao praised with a smile.
The village chief placed the pastries on the stone table in the courtyard, pulled Song Jiaojiao to sit down, called out to the house, and said, "Hey, stop teasing your Uncle Wang. Haven't I asked you to do this for the past two days? I really can't think of anything else."
"Hehe, that's not necessarily the only thing." Song Jiaojiao smiled slyly, leaving the village chief completely bewildered.
"Is there some other good thing going on?" the village chief asked, puzzled.
"Uncle Wang, do you remember the crayfish I made yesterday?" Song Jiaojiao didn't answer, but instead asked.
Yesterday's crayfish? The village chief didn't understand why they jumped to yesterday's crayfish, but just thinking about it made his mouth water. It was so delicious, even more memorable than the New Year's Eve dinner.
"What happened to the lobsters yesterday? Was there something wrong with them?" I thought to myself, "I ate quite a lot yesterday."
“The lobsters are fine. I went to town today and sold the recipe to Sifanglou Restaurant.” Song Jiaojiao paused for a moment, then continued, “I’ve already spoken with the owner of Sifanglou Restaurant. I told him that when he buys the lobsters, the price can’t be too low. Uncle Wang, guess how much?”
Song Jiaojiao said mysteriously.
"One coin?" The village chief thought that this thing was everywhere, so it couldn't be too expensive.
Song Jiaojiao shook her head, "I'm guessing too high."
"Could it be two coins?" the village chief continued. Two coins could buy more than half a pound of dark flour, so it couldn't be more expensive than that!
Seeing that Song Jiaojiao was still shaking her head, the village chief quickly said, "Alright, I really can't guess. Just tell me how much it costs."
Song Jiaojiao stretched out her palm and extended all five fingers.
"Five coins!!!" the village chief shouted excitedly, startling the birds that had perched on the branches into a flurry of flight.
“That’s right, five coins a pound, but there’s a requirement: you need at least two live lobsters.” Song Jiaojiao said, seeing the village chief in front of her, who was flushed with excitement.
"Jiaojiao, you're not mistaken, are you? Those big turtles that are everywhere can sell for five coins a pound!!!" The village chief still felt that he had misheard. How could those big turtles that were everywhere be worth five coins? That's equivalent to the price of a pound of mixed grains. And those things are easy to get. Even a child in the family can easily get two or three pounds a day.
“That’s right, Uncle Wang. While not many people know about it yet, Uncle Wang should hurry up and inform the villagers. There are too many later, and I don’t know if Sifanglou will still be able to collect them. Oh, and stone worms too, Sifanglou has collected those as well.” Song Jiaojiao thought that although the snails in the village had been mostly cleared out, there were always a few that had slipped through the net.