Hearing Zhang Xiaoshan’s question, a hint of panic erged on Yu Xiuxiu’s face.
She quickly and resolutely denied, saying
"How could my family possibly have such a precious dicinal herb? I saw it once by chance when I attended a gathering."
"By the way, Little Shan, where did you get this from?"
Zhang Xiaoshan knew his sister-in-law was deliberately changing the subject to avoid talking about her own family’s affairs.
When he and his brother Zhang Dashan had first encountered Yu Xiuxiu, she was in a pitiful and wretched state, which made it evident that she had suffered so unpleasant experiences at her ho.
Zhang Xiaoshan didn’t want Yu Xiuxiu to be reminded of the unpleasant things, so he followed her lead and said,
"I found it in the mountains behind our ho, but it’s a pity that there was a group of snakes nearby. There were too many poisonous snakes, and I only managed to get a part of it, not the entire Red Blood Ganoderma. What a pity..."
"A snake group?"
Yu Xiuxiu frowned.
"You really must not go back into the mountains again. If sothing happened to you, I would feel terribly guilty. You can’t possibly expect to live with a sense of guilt for the rest of my life, can you?"
Zhang Xiaoshan smiled naively and nodded, saying
"Sister-in-law, don’t worry. This will definitely be the last ti. I won’t go again." He said this, but the allure of the mountains was too great for Zhang Xiaoshan to give up so easily. He was saying this just to put Yu Xiuxiu at ease, as life always needed so little white lies.
Seeing Zhang Xiaoshan’s firm attitude, Yu Xiuxiu looked much happier.
"That’s more like it."
Looking at the third of the Red Blood Ganoderma, Yu Xiuxiu’s face lit up with joy as she said,
"Even though you only took part of it, its value must be around three to four hundred thousand. You’ve stumbled upon a small fortune. Little Shan, why don’t you sell the Red Blood Ganoderma and then go apologize to Little Ru’s family? Have a proper talk, and maybe things could still take a turn for the better."
Hearing Yu Xiuxiu bring up his marriage with Wu Xiaoru again, Zhang Xiaoshan rejected the idea without hesitation.
"Sister-in-law, my relationship with Wu Xiaoru is over. Please don’t bring this up again. Even if I had money, there’s no longer any possibility between and Wu Xiaoru."
Yu Xiuxiu sighed helplessly.
"Sigh, alright, then I’ll try to find you a good girl."
Zhang Xiaoshan didn’t want to dwell on the matter and went straight to the point with Yu Xiuxiu.
"Okay, I’ll listen to you, sister-in-law. Go ahead and cook. After dinner, I’ll go to town to sell the dicine. Tomorrow I’ll be able to repay Wei Bao."
Yu Xiuxiu nodded and went into the kitchen to cook.
An hour later, after eating, Zhang Xiaoshan quickly tidied up and left the house.
He didn’t carry all of the Red Blood Ganoderma with him. He divided the portion he had found into three equal parts, leaving one part for future use as a catalyst for dicines. With such a high-grade material as a catalyst, Zhang Xiaoshan could enhance the effectiveness of any dicine he compounded by many tis.
He left another part for his sister-in-law to make Clearing Spirit Powder.
He only took one part with him, just enough to repay Wei Bao’s debt.
The terrain of White Dragon Village was quite peculiar.
Behind it lay the endless primordial forest, and in front was the hundred-yard-wide White Dragon River.
Having crossed the White Dragon River on the village’s only ferry and walked for another three or four hours, Zhang Xiaoshan finally arrived at the town.
Qingshan Town!
White Dragon Village was under the jurisdiction of Qingshan Town in Wanshan County.
Due to the inconvenience of transportation, all the villages were quite distant from the county seat of Wanshan, so everyone’s lives were centered around Qingshan Town. Over ti, Qingshan Town had developed to a considerable size, and villagers from within a hundred miles would co here for market days to trade, creating quite a lively atmosphere.
Zhang Xiaoshan went directly to a pharmacy called "Hundred Herbs Hall."
Nearly twenty villages fell under the governance of Qingshan Town, and these villages had one thing in common: They were surrounded by high mountains and dense forests which were remote and barren. Consequently, the mountains were rich with various herbs and wild goods.
Not every village was like the mountains behind White Dragon Village, teeming with poisonous snakes and wild beasts—many had gentle slopes and were ho to only common birds and beasts. Thus, the local people would go into the mountains to gather herbs and wild goods to sell in town, an important source of inco for the locals.
Gradually, Qingshan Town beca a small but famous market for these mountain goods and dicinal herbs, with several companies and Chinese herbal dicine shops in town dealing in their purchase.
Among these herb shops, Hundred Herbs Hall was the largest.
The facility of Hundred Herbs Hall was antique and quaint. Many people were queuing to buy dicine or dicinal materials, and Zhang Xiaoshan also took his place in the line.
After a good half hour, it was finally Zhang Xiaoshan’s turn.
"Goodness, my back’s aching from sitting too long. That’s it for today; we’re temporarily closing for business. Everyone, please head back," said the lanky pharmacy manager as he rose from behind the counter, stretching and telling the crowd to leave.
"What? It’s only four o’clock."
"We’ve carried all these herbs on our backs, trekking through the mountains for hours to get here. You can’t just shirk your responsibility like this!"
The people in line imdiately started to complain discontentedly.
Zhang Xiaoshan himself felt sowhat frustrated at this point.
After queuing up for most of the day until his legs were numb, just when it was finally his turn, they were closing for the day—was this so kind of joke?
"Hmph."
The lanky manager made a disdainful shout at the crowd.
"I’m the manager here, and my word is law. If I say we’re closed, we’re closed. Get out, all of you! Anyone who dares to say another word will never step foot in Hundred Herbs Hall again."
With that shout, the crowd was indeed scared into silence.
"Uncle, my mother is very ill, and I’ve co to get dicine. Without it today, my grandfather’s condition will worsen. Could you, could you sell so dicine?"
Just then, a young girl around eleven or twelve years old, very pretty and seemingly innocent, timidly stepped out from the crowd and laid the prescription on the table in front of the portly shopkeeper.
"You little girl, are you deaf? Your mother looks so sickly, she’s beyond cure. And every ti you co to buy dicine, you only purchase a tiny amount—it’s not worth my ti. I need to rest now, so get out!"
The lanky man tossed the prescription off the table and scolded the girl harshly.
"Wuwuwu, please save my mother, she’ll die without the dicine, I beg you,"
The girl’s face was filled with helplessness as she pleaded bitterly, but the lanky shopkeeper was utterly unmoved and stood up to leave.
"You stop right there."
At this point, Zhang Xiaoshan finally couldn’t hold back and positioned himself in front of the lanky shopkeeper.
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