Chapter 7 Selling Ginseng
Old Man Song has two sons and two daughters. Mr. Song is the eldest, and he has a younger son. The two in the middle are two daughters, all of whom have married and moved to other villages.
Later, after Song's father passed away, Song Jiang and Song Ming had to take on the responsibility of a family, so they stopped going to school. At that time, the fourth son, Song Yun, was just of school age, and although the family was in financial difficulty, they still allowed him to continue studying.
Song Yun was also very hardworking and always ranked among the top three in every exam. However, someone unknown had an accident with him in the academy last year. When the Song family rushed to the clinic and saw Song Yun's head covered in blood, the academy simply said that Song Yun fell and hit his head, and paid a few taels of silver as compensation, and the matter was left unresolved.
The family spent a lot of money on medical treatment, but the patient did not wake up, like a living dead.
I've been using money to keep myself alive.
This made the already miserable Song family even worse off, and they even sold the three acres of land that the old Song family had given them.
The two walked in the remaining moonlight and arrived at the village entrance after a quarter of an hour. At this time, the village carriage was already waiting there.
Only then did Shen Xia remember that he had no money.
But Song Ming had already taken out four coins and handed them to the old man holding the whip: "Uncle Yang, this is the fare for both of us." Then he handed the remaining eight coins to Shen Xia: "This is the ten coins that my mother gave me after you fell asleep last night, and asked me to give it to you today."
Shen Xia looked at the money handed in front of him and said, "It's okay, second brother, just take it."
Uncle Yang took the money and said, "Okay, Song Ming, take your wife to the town to buy things!"
"No, Xia Xia picked some herbs in the mountains yesterday to see if she could sell them at the pharmacy for some money," Song Ming explained.
"Oh, your wife knows about herbs! Not bad," said Old Man Yang with a smile.
At this time, three other women in the car, also from the village, looked over and pricked up their ears.
A fat, round-faced lady said, "Song Ming's wife, what herbs did you pick? Please share with us."
"I just picked them randomly, I don't know if I can sell them!" Shen Xia dismissed.
Shen Xia understood why Song Ming said this, because everyone knew what each family in the village was like. If her family suddenly became rich and there was no good explanation, everyone would definitely talk nonsense about everything.
People are making all kinds of assumptions about you, so Song Ming is giving everyone a heads-up.
It's like, if you say you can't drink at the entrance of the village, then if it spreads to the other end of the village, you won't live long.
When the two aunties nearby heard that there was no hope, they kept silent.
After a while, no one came, so Uncle Yang waved the whip to drive the cows away.
Because the road was not very smooth at that time, and the wooden boards on the ox cart were hard.
I was shaking so much that my lungs were about to burst. Song Ming might have sensed Shen Xia's discomfort, so he moved his shoulder a little closer and let Shen Xia lean on him, so that she would feel more comfortable.
The fat lady next to them joked: "It's different now that they're married. Look how considerate the second son of the Song family is."
Song Ming was hit so hard that his face started to burn unconsciously.
Faced with the jokes of these rural women, a young man like Song Ming would definitely not be able to withstand it.
Shen Xia felt uncomfortable and was too lazy to say anything, so she just pretended that he didn't hear it.
I don’t know how long it took before the ox cart stopped. Song Ming gently shook Shen Xia: "Xia Xia, we're here."
Shen Xia slowly opened his eyes, and what came into view was an ancient town with many shops on both sides. Unlike the county town, there was no gate here.
Uncle Yang parked the ox cart at the end of the town, and then said to Song Ming: "I usually wait here for an hour and then start to go back. You can go buy things according to the time."
"Okay, thank you Uncle Yang." Song Ming said, and then took Shen Xia away.
After entering the town: "Second brother, let's go sell ginseng first. Do you know if there is a medicine store there?"
"I know. We used to go there to get medicine when we were injured. Mrs. Xu is also in good condition."
"Let's go!" After walking for a quarter of an hour, they arrived at the pharmacy Song Ming mentioned.
I saw a plaque at the door saying, Yishengtang,
Shen Xia walked in and saw an old man with a long beard sitting inside.
He glanced at Song Ming and said, "Come here and get the medicine."
"No——" Song Ming just said, no.
Then Shen Xia interrupted him and said, "Yes, I want to ask, how much does a fifty-year-old ginseng cost?"
"Fifty years?" Doctor Xu confirmed again.
"Yes," Shen Xia confirmed.
"Fifty taels," said Doctor Xu.
After listening.
"How much do you want for this ginseng?" Shen Xia said as she took out the ginseng wrapped in leaves from Song Ming's backpack.
Doctor Xu looked at the little girl in front of him. She was quite smart and wanted to sell ginseng, but she was not direct. She asked about the price first.
I felt even more admiration for this little girl in my heart.
Then he looked at the ginseng on the table, whose roots were intact, and asked, "Little girl, do you know what medicinal herbs are there?"
"I know a little bit," Shen Xia said modestly.
Because most people only know the root system of ginseng, but few people know the plant beads. So this girl was able to dig out completely intact ginseng, which shows that she must know about medicinal materials.
Doctor Xu said to Song Ming: "The little girl is yours."
"Yeah," Song Ming nodded.
Doctor Xu said: "Your son Song is still lying in bed. This ginseng can be useful to him. Are you sure you want to sell it?"
Shen Xia thought about it and realized that she had visited Song Yun in the room yesterday afternoon. Song Yun's condition could wait, but if the family had no income, it would be difficult to survive. She decided to sell it.
But at this time Song Ming hesitated. He pulled Shen Xia's sleeve and said, "Xia Xia, if you want, we don't want to sell it."
"If you want to sell it, Song Yun can wait, but the current situation at home cannot wait. Second brother, don't worry, I have considered fourth brother's condition."
Although he was more worried about his fourth brother, the ginseng was dug by Xia Xia, so he had to listen to Xia Xia.
Doctor Xu took a look at Shen Xia to make sure she still wanted to sell it, so he said: "You also know that there is a price difference between buying and selling. Of course, I will not treat you unfairly. This ginseng is a little over fifty years old, almost sixty years old. I will give you forty taels. What do you think?"
When Song Ming, who was standing next to him, heard this, he was shocked. Forty taels, Xia Xia is really good at making money!
But when Shen Xia heard it, he indeed gave a similar price. This was in the town, so the price was like this. If he took it to the county, it might be sold at a higher price, but Song Ming was not familiar with the people in the county, and if he met someone without conscience, the price might not be as high as what Doctor Xu offered.
Shen Xia replied with a smile: "Thank you, Doctor Xu."
"In the future, if you have such good herbs, you can also bring them to me, and I will definitely give you a fair price." Then he asked the waiter next to him to get the silver.
"OK".
After a while, the waiter brought the silver. Doctor Xu took the silver and the banknote, looked at them, and handed them to Shen Xia.
Shen Xia looked at the money in his hand, a twenty-liang silver note, a ten-liang silver note, and two five-liang silver coins.
After taking the money, Shen Xia put it in his own hand, then thanked Dr. Xu and said goodbye.
The two left the pharmacy.