Chapter 26: The Strife of the Wild Mountain Spirits

  This time, Zhang Qi's son gambled with someone and lost over a thousand taels of silver. The gambling den detained Zhang Qi's son. The gambling den threatened that if Zhang Qi did not clear his son's debt within three days, they would beat his son to death.

  Zhang Qi was in a desperate situation, and to redeem his son, he had no choice but to decide to take out the family's centuries-old treasured wild mountain essence that had been passed down for generations and sell it.

  Zhang Qi has already sent letters to the influential people in the county town, whoever offers a high price and can satisfy him, he will sell the wild mountain spirit to that person.

  Sun Baicao and Zhang Qi were fellow villagers, and fellow villagers are like enemies. Usually, the relationship between Sun Baicao and Zhang Qi was not good. When he received this news, it was already the second day. Sun Baicao knew that Li Wenjun had been searching for this kind of medicinal herb from previous years, so he immediately asked Sun Jianing to go and inform Li Wenjun.

  Li Wenjun listened to Sun Jianing's account, unable to hold back his excitement, and ran towards Zhang Qi's home at the fastest speed. Sun Jianing followed behind him, panting heavily.

  By the time she ran to Zhang Qi's house, Sun Jianing leaned against the wall, like a fish that had just landed on shore, opening her mouth and gasping for air.

  Li Wenjun was a bit better than Sun Jianing, but he also panted for a while before recovering. He looked up and saw that the black lacquered gate of Zhang Qi's house was wide open, with many richly dressed people entering and exiting. These people had all rushed over to see the wild mountain spirit, as this kind of hundred-year-old medicinal herb could save lives at critical moments. Rich families wouldn't mind having too much of it; they would rather have more stocks.

  "Come on, Wen Jun, let's go in." Sun Jianing said after catching her breath.

  Li Wenjun and Sun Jianing entered Zhang Qi's home, only to see that the door of the main hall was also open. Zhang Qi stood in the middle of the main hall, with an octagonal table beside him. On top of the octagonal table sat a large red box. Many people surrounded the octagonal table, staring at the large red box.

  Behind Zhang Qi stood several martial-arts dressed men, all of whom were bodyguards invited by Zhang Qi from the martial arts hall. Their duty was to prevent anyone from doing anything that would provoke the wild mountain spirit.

  Li Wenjun leaned in, and Zhang Qi didn't stop him. He now only recognized silver, no matter if it was a madman, as long as he could take out enough silver, he would let the madman look his fill.

  Li Wenjun squeezed into the crowd, poking his head to look at what was inside the big red box. It was a palm-sized, dry and wrinkled lump of something that looked like dried ginger.

  It's hard to tell from its appearance whether it is a hundred-year-old medicinal herb or not. This requires the judgment of an experienced person.

  However, Li Wenjun has his own judgment. Zhang Qi's family has been collecting medicine for generations, and the reputation accumulated over the years is not something that can be easily abandoned. Unless they no longer want to do this business or plan to leave Sanshan County, it's unlikely that he would take out fake or insufficiently aged medicinal herbs to deceive everyone.

  Seeing this wild mountain essence, Li Wenjun decided that no matter what, he had to get his hands on it. He walked up to Zhang Qi's side, bowed slightly and asked: "Uncle Zhang, how much do you plan to sell this wild mountain essence for?"

  "This young man, it's not how much I plan to sell for, but how much you plan to spend? Here, the highest bidder wins. You see that Ning boss over there hasn't arrived yet, he plans to offer 900 taels of silver to buy this Wild Mountain Essence from me. Can you offer a higher price than him?" Zhang Qi asked.

  "Nine hundred taels?" Li Wenjun took a deep breath, nine hundred taels of silver, he could afford it, but if he took out this sum of money, he would be left with only a few taels. In the future, there were still many places where he needed to use silver, and he couldn't just ignore everything for the sake of getting this wild mountain essence. "Uncle Zhang, can't you make it cheaper?"

  Zhang Qi waved his hand impatiently and said: "If you don't have the money, then don't waste my time. I'm still waiting for the silver to save my life, how can I possibly sell it cheaply to you?"

  As soon as he heard this, Li Wenjun knew it was hopeless. He didn't want to leave like this, so he pulled Sun Jianning and walked into the courtyard, found a corner, sat down, and wanted to think carefully about whether to take out more than 900 taels of silver to get his hands on this wild mountain spirit.

  Li Wenjun had just sat down and hadn't even had time to weigh the pros and cons when he heard a commotion coming from outside Zhang Qi's house.

  "Get out of the way, all of you."

  The sound of horseshoes striking the bluestone road came to an abrupt halt outside Zhang Qi's house. A moment later, Wu Xue Mei burst in with a group of bailiffs, her momentum fierce and unstoppable.

  Everyone including Zhang Qi felt a sudden jolt in their hearts. Zhang Qi, wailing, came out of the main room and rushed towards Wu Xue Mei.

  "Humble commoner Zhang Qi, greetings to elder sister." Zhang Qi bowed deeply towards Wu Xue Mei.

  Wu Xue Mei stood upright and walked to Zhang Qi, saying: "I heard that you have a hundred-year-old wild mountain ginseng for sale here. Is this true?"

  Zhang Qi wanted to deny it, but was also worried about offending Wu Xue Mei. He had no choice but to tell the truth and replied: "Yes, that's true."

  "Where is Ye Shan Jing? Bring him out quickly and let me take a look." Wu Xue Mei ordered.

  Zhang Qi was very reluctant, but he had no choice. He got up, went back to the house, took out the wild mountain essence along with the large red box, and handed it over to Wu Xue Mei.

  Next to Wu Xue Mei stood a middle-aged man wearing a fur hat and sporting a goatee. Wu Xue Mei handed the box to him, saying: "Please help me take a look."

  Sun Jianing grabbed Li Wenjun's arm, pointing at the middle-aged man and whispering to Li Wenjun: "Wenjun brother, I know this person. He is a pharmacist from Hui Chun Tang, the largest pharmacy in Fu Cheng. I remember his surname is Kong, he's quite formidable. My dad has bought medicine from there several times and met him twice. Ah, Wenjun brother, do you know about Hui Chun Tang? It's the largest pharmacy in Fu Cheng, with a renowned doctor who even treats the county magistrate when he falls ill."

  The middle-aged man took the box and pulled out a clean white cloth, put it on his hand, then picked up the wild mountain essence. He picked it up, smelled it, looked at it, and after a while, he reluctantly put the wild mountain essence back.

  "What a great thing! This wild mountain ginseng was picked between 180 to 190 years old. Zhang's family harvested it a bit too early, if they could have waited another decade or so, it would have grown into an even more precious 200-year-old medicinal herb." The middle-aged man said with some regret.

  No one would have thought that this was a medicinal herb nearly two hundred years old. Two hundred years and one hundred years, which is lighter and which is heavier, goes without saying.

  Li Wenjun's heart suddenly became hot, he was a little regretful, and earlier should have directly quoted one thousand two, to buy this wild mountain spirit.

  Of course, Li Wenjun also knew that his idea was a bit too optimistic. Zhang Qi's mind was set on selling at a high price, so he would definitely try to drag out the time as long as possible to attract more wealthy customers. Today was only the second day, and there was still one more day left before the agreed-upon three days were up at the casino. Even if Li Wenjun offered 1,000 taels of silver, Zhang Qi wouldn't let him take the Wild Mountain Essence away immediately; he would just make him continue to wait.

  This wait will definitely have to wait until Wu Xue Mei comes over. Even if Wu Xue Mei doesn't come, there may be other wealthy guests coming over. Who knows, he might not even get a chance to take the Wild Mountain Spirit, and it will change hands instead.

  Wu Xue Mei's eyes sparkled with excitement, she reached out and took the wild mountain spirit from the middle-aged man's hand, then covered it with a box and handed the box to the official standing beside her. Then she said: "Zhang Qi, this wild mountain spirit, I'll take it. Name your price."

  Zhang Qi's temples throbbed with rage, but he was powerless. His heart bled, yet he could only grit his teeth and say, "Young lady, this wild mountain spirit is now publicly for sale, to the highest bidder."

  "The highest bidder wins, I understand." Wu Xue Mei stretched out her hand and took out a ten-tael gold ingot from her purse. One tael of gold was equivalent to ten taels of silver, which was equal to one hundred taels of silver.

  Wu Xue Mei raised the gold and said loudly: "I offer ten taels of gold, is there anyone who can offer a higher price than me?"

  Everyone was silent, and all the people present were locals from Sanshan County. Who didn't know Wu Xue Mei? They all knew she was the county magistrate's precious daughter, his treasured pearl, deeply loved by him. Her overbearing and arrogant behavior was notorious throughout Sanshan County. Who dared to risk offending the county magistrate and provoke Wu Xue Mei?

  Everyone lowered their heads, Wu Xue Mei revealed a cold smile, she moved her lotus steps, walked to Zhang Qi's side, put the gold ingot into Zhang Qi's hand and said: "Zhang Qi, you also saw it, no one bid higher than Miss. So, this wild mountain spirit is mine."

  Zhang Qi held this ten-tael heavy gold ingot, wanting to cry but having no tears. He stuttered with his mouth, not knowing what to say.

  "What's wrong, are you still not satisfied?" Wu Xue Mei asked with a sinking face.

  The yamen runner standing behind Wu Xue Mei shook the iron chain in his hand, specially used to lock people up, and sneered at Zhang Qi. As long as Zhang Qi said half a "no", he would go up and lock him up, first randomly giving Zhang Qi a crime name, and then throwing him into the county yamen's prison.

  Zhang Qi wanted to save his son, but he also knew that once he was locked up in a big prison, he would have no chance to save his son. He hastily said: "Big sister, I'm not dissatisfied with anything. It's just that I promised everyone to display the wild mountain spirit for three days, and it's only been a day and a half..."

  "Oh, I see. You're worried that someone else will offer a higher price. Don't worry, if anyone offers a higher price than me, let them go to the county yamen and find me, I'll give the Wild Mountain Spirit to him. What else do you have to worry about?" Wu Xue Mei asked.

  Zhang Qi shook his head and said, "No more, I'm done. Big sister, you're really thoughtful."