Chapter 100 - 101: Making Inquiries
As for the pure wild ginseng she had dug up, Jin Qianqian couldn’t bear to just sell it off like that.
Ancient Wen Heng carefully inspected the several brocade boxes laid out before him. Each one was of decent quality, and the labels indicated they were between thirty and fifty years old.
"This must have cost a lot of money, right?"
Jin Qianqian’s face flushed with a hint of embarrassment. "I might have overpaid a little. I was just focused on spending the money as quickly as possible at the time. But these should all be genuine. I was afraid of getting scammed, so I went to a procurement center recognized by the local government. Just these few items cost me several million."
Such are the consequences of a woman’s impulse buy. Afterward, she was kicking herself for the longest time.
Ancient Wen Heng was speechless. ’Should I comfort her, or praise her?’
* * *
Chu Dongnan glared at them, muttering, "What a reckless waste of nature’s treasures! How could you just wrap it in coarse cloth like this? If any of the rootlets get damaged, the loss will be immense."
Jin Qianqian glanced at Ancient Wen Heng. ’He was the one who handled it. It might have looked casual, but he was actually incredibly careful the whole way here.’
Ancient Wen Heng asked, "Doctor Chu, are you interested in buying this?"
"Yes. And what’s in that bundle you have? Take it out and let me see." Chu Dongnan could already smell the faint scent of earth in the air, and he doubted the young couple would be carrying around a package full of dirt.
Jin Qianqian opened the bundle in front of her as well, revealing two Lingzhi mushrooms, each the size of a bowl.
"Were these just harvested?"
Jin Qianqian nodded. ’Well, they were just taken out of my dimensional space, so I guess that counts as freshly harvested.’
"Of these three old ginsengs, one is twenty-five years old, and the other two are thirty. The root systems are all perfectly preserved, and they’ve been prepared quite well. I can give you this much for them."
Jin Qianqian was speechless.
Ancient Wen Heng was speechless.
Chu Dongnan then realized his mistake; the two before him were not in the same trade. "Look at me, getting old and muddled. This old man won’t swindle you. We of course need to make a small profit, so the most I can offer is two hundred taels. As for your two Purple Ganoderma, a wealthy patron happens to be looking for some, so I can give you 300 taels for them. You won’t find a price like this on any other day. What do you say?"
Jin Qianqian and Ancient Wen Heng exchanged a glance and nodded in unison. "We trust you, Doctor Chu. We just have one request. Could we have the 300 taels in silver notes and the two hundred taels in Silver?"
Chu Dongnan didn’t mind such a small request. He casually pulled the silver notes from a brocade bag at his waist. "No problem at all. You two count this first, and I’ll go to the counter to get the Silver for you."
"There’s one more thing I’d like to ask you, Doctor," Jin Qianqian added, remembering her earlier unanswered question and asking on an impulse. "Have you, Doctor Chu, ever heard of Gaoling Village in Fu County?"
"Why? Do you have acquaintances in Gaoling Village?"
Jin Qianqian shook her head. "I’m sure you’ve heard, Doctor Chu. The government is planning to assign the refugees to various locations in batches. Gaoling Village might be our new place of settlement."
Doctor Chu fell silent for a moment. "I do know of that place. I never expected to hear that name again after all these years."
Jin Qianqian was silent. ’There’s a story here.’
"But so many years have passed; some things should just fade away. The area is nestled by a mountain and a river, making it quite a habitable place."
Ancient Wen Heng said, "Please, Doctor, speak plainly. Was there something wrong with that place in the past?"
"Never mind. You’ll find out when you get there anyway.
"When I was a child, and this dates back to the previous dynasty, a plague broke out there. To stop it from spreading, the County Magistrate of that time sealed off the surrounding hundred-li area, including several nearby villages, and left them to their fate. In the end, not a single person survived.
"I know this so clearly because my family’s ancestral home wasn’t far from there. After that, everyone preferred to take long detours rather than set foot in the Gaoling Village region ever again."
Jin Qianqian’s face grew pale. She was struck once again by how natural and man-made disasters were truly cataclysmic in this era.
"I’m not telling you all this to frighten you. After all, so many years have passed. Everything from back then has long since returned to dust.
"Otherwise, such a fine village wouldn’t have remained empty all this time." With that, Chu Dongnan sighed and turned to go to the counter to get their Silver.
"Are you scared? Maybe we should ask for a different place?" Ancient Wen Heng noticed Jin Qianqian’s pale expression and quickly grabbed her hand.
Jin Qianqian shook her head. "That’s not necessary. From the beginning of time, is there any inch of land where people haven’t died? I just felt a bit unsettled hearing the story. I’ll be fine in a moment."
But Ancient Wen Heng was still worried. "Should we tell the Clan Leader and the others about this?"
Jin Qianqian was conflicted. "I shouldn’t have asked. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss."
Although she said that, they both knew in their hearts that something like this couldn’t be kept secret for long.
"Here, count it." Chu Dongnan placed a wooden box in front of them, inside of which silver ingots were neatly arranged.
"Doctor Chu, what is the environment in Gaoling Village like? Is there much arable farmland?"
Chu Dongnan looked at Ancient Wen Heng with approval. "I remember going there with my father to gather medicinal herbs when I was young. The area is quite open. It’s up against a mountain, but it’s not a high one. There’s also a river that winds around several villages as it flows south. Even a severe drought wouldn’t be a concern."
His words struck a chord with both of them. Only someone who had fled from famine could understand that particular fear.
The pair asked a few more questions, finally exhausting everything Chu Dongnan knew about Gaoling Village. Only then did they head back, carrying their newfound earnings.
Before they could decide whether or not to say anything, they arrived at the city gate only to find a large crowd gathered around their temporary lodging.
They exchanged a look, used their back-baskets for cover to quickly store their things in the dimensional space, and then broke into a run toward the crowd.
"No way, that’s too unlucky! What if the place is haunted?"
"So that’s why! I was wondering how a place big enough for our entire village could be available. So there was a catch."
"We might as well go back home! At least we wouldn’t have to live in constant fear."
"Village Chief, can you please talk to the government officials? Ask them to pick another place for us. It’s frightening just thinking about it."
Listening to the cacophony of voices, Ancient Wen Heng and Jin Qianqian understood immediately. It seemed everyone else had heard the news as well.
"You’re finally back!" Hong Daya exclaimed, grabbing Jin Qianqian’s arm. "What are we going to do? How can we possibly live in such an unlucky place?"
Jin Qianqian said, "It’s really not that terrifying. It all happened so many years ago. Besides, generation after generation, people die everywhere, don’t they?"
"So you heard about it too," Hong Daya said, her face pale. "People die, yes, but they died so tragically! It was from a plague, an unnatural death. How could anyone rest easy there?"
Jin Qianqian tried, "I heard the place itself is actually quite nice..."