Chapter 266: The Ginseng Buyer

In the thin fog of Guyuan's early morning, mixed with a hint of earth, Chen Ji strode like a shooting star, leaving Dragon Gate Inn.

Heiyun lightly stepped on the eaves and walked alongside him, one person and one cat walking side by side, crashing into the thin fog together. In the dim small alleys of Kucha Street, the lurking local snakes hurriedly followed.

The next moment, Chen Ji turned out of Kucha Street, disappearing from everyone's sight.

The local snakes all sped up their steps, but they didn't expect Chen Ji was waiting for them at the corner. The first one unexpectedly crashed into Chen Ji's arms, and before he could react, in a single move, he was dislocated by Chen Ji.

Chen Ji grabbed this person's neck, slowly retreating backward.

He stared at everyone with ice-cold eyes: "All of you, Jianghu heroes, why are you following me?"

A gray-clothed man saw his brother being choked by Chen Ji's neck and hurriedly explained: "You misunderstand, we have no ill intentions!"

Another also explained: "This sir, you are the one that Third Master has instructed about, we absolutely dare not have evil thoughts. It's just that we are really forced with no way out, no grain for grain, no way out for way out, now we only want to buy a message, to find out exactly what the current situation in Guyuan is!"

Chen Ji said without changing expression: "I don't know either."

The gray-clothed man became anxious: "Yesterday someone saw Commander Hu invite you to the city gate tower, you definitely know more than us, please be kind, even if you casually leak a bit of information, it's fine, we'll pay silver to buy it!"

Chen Ji suddenly realized.

No wonder Dragon Gate Inn was full of people buying information last night, no wonder these people guarded outside for the whole night. But the matter that Hu Junxian spoke of was deeply involved, he couldn't sell this information.

Chen Ji slowly released the man in his hand, his voice sinking as he said: "I don't have the information you want here, don't follow me anymore, next time I won't be so polite."

Saying that, he pushed away the restrained man, turned around, and ran madly into the thin fog. Regardless of Chen Ji's previous warning, the local snakes still wanted to chase, but after following two streets, they completely lost track.

Two incense sticks later, Chen Ji stood outside the grain and oil shop's courtyard wall, looking around the small alley left and right.

On the top of the wall eaves, Heiyun meowed once: "No one nearby."

Chen Ji lightly jumped, his hands clinging to the eaves as he flipped into the courtyard: the room was already empty, tables, chairs, cabinets, all taken apart to burn as firewood. Such a grain and oil shop, who knows how many times it had been searched by how many people, until there was nothing left to scavenge, then they stopped.

He dived into the well along the well rope, confirming that the grain was still there, then he relaxed.

He carried bag after bag of grain to the ground, carrying for a full hour, even though he had an official body, he still felt his arms were swollen and his waist and back were sore.

Chen Ji looked at the grain piled into a small mountain: "Heiyun, you stay here and guard, if someone comes..."

Heiyun rushed to respond: "I understand, whoever robs gets killed."

Chen Ji looked up at it: "If a Seeking Path realm great official comes?"

Heiyun was completely unconcerned: "Easy."

Chen Ji: "..."

He shook his head: "If a fierce official really comes to rob, no need to fight him, give the grain to him. Keeping your life is more important than anything."

Heiyun said, "Understood!"

Chen Ji touched its head, lifted his hand and threw it, sending Heiyun to the roof, then turned around and flipped out of the courtyard.

Yuan Grass Hall.

Hu Third Master crossed his legs and sat on the grand master's chair in the main hall.

He lifted the cup and lightly blew on it, taking a shallow sip and smiling slightly: "Shopkeeper knows how to enjoy, this superior Pu'er from Yunzhou entering the mouth has a floral fragrance, the aftertaste is sweet and thick, I think it's the new tea brought by the horse team from Ice Island Village?"

The shopkeeper was not in the mood to enjoy tea yet, he walked out of the counter, placed three gold bars on the table, and said in a low voice: "Third Master, you've had your tea, here are your gold bars, can you return my grain to me first?"

Hu Third Master, as if nothing had happened, blew on the teacup again, then lightly asked: "How do I not understand what the shopkeeper is saying, what grain? Your grain is lost?"

The shopkeeper saw that he wouldn't admit it, and immediately said angrily: "Third Master, it's meaningless to dare to do but not admit it!"

Hu Third Master smiled: "Shopkeeper, don't be so temperamental, I don't know where you hid the grain, how can you say I took it? I'm just an innocent ginseng buyer!"

The shopkeeper was speechless for a while, and after a long time, he said in a low voice: "In this Guyuan, who doesn't know your Hu Third Master's ability? If you want to find things, you can naturally find them."

Hu Third Master put down the teacup and slowly said: "Shopkeeper, last time you seemed not to put me in your eyes, today why do you again feel my ability is great? Strange, is my ability great or not great?"

The shopkeeper's face twitched, he bowed his hands: "Consider me having spoken without thinking at first, please Third Master be magnanimous, don't bother with a small person. It's just that batch of ginseng is the foundation I've accumulated for half my life, please Third Master show mercy."

Hu Third Master laughed: "I'm not taking your ginseng for free, ordinary wild mountain ginseng is five taels per jin, old mountain ginseng is eight taels per piece, this is already a good price in a year of great disaster, I'm helping you."

The shopkeeper said angrily: "Third Master, there's no need to pretend ignorance, if I were to sell it to you at this price, then the ten years I've spent in Guyuan would be in vain, what's the difference from robbery?"

Hu Third Master ignored him, and said to himself: "The border army has conscripted camels, mules, horses, even if the whole city starves to death, they can at least last for ten days to half a month. By then, your whole family, I'm afraid, will all starve to death..."

The shopkeeper cursed in a low voice: "I heard Third Master is benevolent and unparalleled, the stabilizing force of Guyuan. Yet I didn't expect you to be such a scoundrel, actually wanting to cleverly take and forcefully seize from innocent people?"

Hu Third Master scoffed: "Whether you are innocent people, you know clearly, do you really think we don't know your background?"

The shopkeeper laughed it off: "Third Master, what do you mean? If I'm not innocent people, what am I?"

Hu Third Master's expression was indifferent: "Jing Dynasty, East Capital Road, Longhua Prefecture... do I need to continue?"

The shopkeeper's face changed, then he said fiercely: "Those are old rotten matters, what do they have to do with my business? Third Master, do you really think if you rob my grain, I can only swallow my anger? I said, I won't give it to you even if I burn it with fire, if everyone thinks my Yuan Grass Hall is weak and can be bullied, how can I still hold my head high in this Guyuan?"

Hu Third Master said, "Then you burn it."

The shopkeeper's tone faltered, then he cursed angrily: "If you do this, who will still come to Guyuan to do business afterwards? Third Master, please go back, not steaming mantou to strive for a breath, I won't sell this ginseng to you even if I sell it to anyone else."

Hu Third Master said, "Then you sell it to others, others may not have grain. They themselves are about to starve to death, where would they still care about buying ginseng?"

The shopkeeper's chest felt tight, as Hu Third Master said, he really couldn't buy grain.

Just at this moment, someone stepped over the threshold and calmly asked: "Shopkeeper, what's the price of ginseng today?"

The shopkeeper was surprised and turned his head, discovering it was the young man who had come to inquire about the price before.

Before he could speak, Hu Third Master's face had already sunk as he said to Chen Ji: "New face, newly arrived?"

Chen Ji raised his eyebrows: "You are?"

Hu Third Master said indifferently: "Guyuan, Hu Junyuan."

Chen Ji was silent for a moment: "Sorry, haven't heard of you."

Hu Third Master immediately sat up straight, his eyes slightly narrowed.

The nearby shopkeeper's eyes moved, and he eagerly asked: "Guest, do you want to buy ginseng? Are you buying ordinary wild mountain ginseng, or aged old mountain ginseng?"

Chen Ji said politely: "Only old mountain ginseng."

The shopkeeper asked again: "Guest, how much do you want?"

Chen Ji suddenly asked: "How much do you have?"

Big business!

The shopkeeper replied: "My Yuan Grass Hall has a total of eight hundred pieces of old mountain ginseng!"

He glanced at Hu Third Master with the corner of his eye, then looked at Chen Ji, his thoughts going back and forth between the two, considering how to use this new face to deal with Hu Third Master.

At this time, Hu Third Master lifted his teacup and said unhurriedly: "Young man, this shopkeeper is worrying about grain, I'm afraid he's not in the mood to do your business."

The shopkeeper's face sank, Hu Third Master had taken away his hidden grain, already grasping his lifeline.

"Grain?" Chen Ji turned his head to the shopkeeper: "What about your family's grain?"

The shopkeeper said fiercely: "My family's stored grain was stolen by villains, my whole family of dozens of people, their livelihoods are all lost."

Chen Ji was surprised: "Grain... I have it."

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up: "Is this true?"

Chen Ji said with a smile: "Shopkeeper, how much grain do you want to buy? Rice, millet, corn, pickled vegetables, cured meat, I have it all."

The shopkeeper was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "You may truly be a heaven-sent savior! I don't want much, enough for my whole family to eat their fill for a few days is fine, I'll have the assistant go and get the old mountain ginseng for you right away."

"Wait!" Chen Ji raised his hand to stop the shopkeeper's body.

The shopkeeper turned back, puzzled: "Um? Guest, what is it?"

Chen Ji slowly asked: "Dare to ask shopkeeper, how do you sell your ginseng?"

The shopkeeper said as a matter of course: "Wild mountain ginseng is thirty taels per jin, old mountain ginseng is thirty taels per piece."

Chen Ji turned around and walked away: "Then you keep the ginseng, I'll come back in ten days."

"We can talk, we can talk," the shopkeeper hurriedly pulled Chen Ji.

Chen Ji immediately turned around: "Shopkeeper, I am sincere in wanting to buy, I want however much of that old mountain ginseng you have."

Hu Third Master heard these words and narrowed his eyes at Chen Ji: "Young man, don't mislead yourself, not everyone can do the ginseng business."

Chen Ji smiled slightly: "How, you can do this business, but others cannot? Doing business is a matter of mutual willingness, a forcibly twisted melon may not be sweet."

Hu Third Master was so angry he laughed: "Where did this fool come from? You just try and see."

Chen Ji said calmly: "Then just try."

The shopkeeper was originally still hesitating, hearing these words, he immediately cupped his hands to Chen Ji: "Guest, this price is really difficult for me to accept, but I am sincere about doing this business, how about you add a bit more?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment: "Shopkeeper, six taels per piece, if you are unwilling to sell, I'll turn and walk away. Now in Guyuan city, there may not be many people with grain, I would make more profit by exchanging grain for silver instead."

The shopkeeper's heart felt like he had swallowed a fly, had someone even blacker than Hu Third Master actually come?

Hu Third Master laughed heartily: "How about it, it's still not as good as selling it to me, I offer an even higher price."

Chen Ji slanted his eyes at him: "How much do you offer?"

Hu Third Master's smile converged: "Eight taels per piece."

Chen Ji said indifferently: "I offer nine taels."

The shopkeeper's eyes brightened as he looked at Hu Third Master: "Third Master, it seems our fate has not yet arrived."

Hu Third Master coldly scoffed, stood up, and flung his hand towards the door: "Want to make the two of us raise the price? Dreaming!"

The shopkeeper watched Hu Third Master leave, and spat at his back.

Chen Ji asked: "Shopkeeper, nine taels per piece, will you sell or not?"

The shopkeeper said with difficulty: "Guest, this price is really too low, how about you raise your hand?"

Chen Ji turned and walked away, the shopkeeper hurriedly grabbed his arm: "Guest, please sit, everything can be discussed!"

Chen Ji returned: "Shopkeeper, if you are sincere about selling, then we have room to discuss."

The shopkeeper's eyes turned: "Guest, how much grain can you give?"

Chen Ji slowly said: "How many people are in your family?"

"Thirty-four mouths."

"Two taels of grain per person per day... like this, I'll give you one hundred and twenty jin of grain, enough for your whole family, young and old, to endure for thirty days."

The shopkeeper's face sank: "Only this little?"

Chen Ji shrugged: "If you think it's little, then forget it."

The shopkeeper gritted his teeth: "Not little, not little!"

Saying that, he turned back to the backyard and shouted: "Give the guest good tea, bring out all our old mountain ginseng, let the guest have a look!"

The shopkeeper entered the backyard, and the assistant approached him and asked: "Shopkeeper, are we really selling it to that boy at this price? This old mountain ginseng collected from East Capital Road cost twelve taels of silver, with the escort and transportation costs all the way, aren't we losing terribly?"

The shopkeeper coldly laughed: "What are you in a hurry for, that boy is a fool, he's brainless. After a while, you lead people to pack the ginseng into a cart and send it to him, then guard outside his door, wait until dark... with so much ginseng, he won't be able to finish it in half a day, sooner or later it will still return to my hands. Remember, act fast, don't let that Hu San'er intercept it!"

The assistant's eyes brightened: "Got it!"