Early the next morning, Jiang Xia woke up early, practiced for a bit, and then went to the hotel's dining floor for breakfast.
True to its Five-Star rating, the breakfast variety was simply lavish.
After finishing breakfast, Jiang Xia took her herbs and headed to the Renhe Pharmacy in Beijing.
Xingxing entered the System Space.
This pharmacy was a comprehensive establishment in Beijing, offering both traditional Chinese and Western medicine with a history spanning several centuries.
It boasted the most comprehensive selection of medicines in the entire country.
Naturally, Jiang Xia was right to come here.
As soon as Jiang Xia stepped into the pharmacy, a professional staff member came over to ask how he could help.
Jiang Xia said to the approaching staff member, "Hello, I'd like to go to the traditional Chinese medicine section."
The staff member replied very politely, "Alright, please follow me."
Jiang Xia followed the person to the traditional Chinese medicine section.
Looking around at the pharmacy, she thought to herself inwardly: Truly worthy of its nationwide fame, the scale is enormous. I'm certainly broadening my horizons today.
Just as Jiang Xia was lost in thought, she heard someone speaking ahead.
"Madam, we have arrived at the traditional Chinese medicine section." With that, the person left to resume work.
So they had arrived.
As soon as Jiang Xia reached the area, a professional traditional Chinese medicine practitioner approached to inquire.
"Hello, are you here to have a prescription filled or to see a doctor?"
Jiang Xia was here for neither.
"Well, I'm here to sell some medicinal herbs. Do you accept them here?"
Hearing this, the practitioner glanced at Jiang Xia and said, "Madam, we do buy herbs here, but we judge them by their quality. Please come with me."
After explaining their requirements, the practitioner led Jiang Xia into a back room, which was specially designated for appraising and purchasing herbs.
As expected of a major pharmacy, everything had its own dedicated space.
"Old Jiang, this lady is here to sell some herbs."
"Got it, you can go back to work."
"Young lady, you're here to sell herbs? Let's see what you've brought." Old Jiang raised his head and said to Jiang Xia.
Jiang Xia put down her backpack, took out several black plastic grocery bags from it, and placed them one by one in front of Old Jiang.
Well now.
That was a truly casual packaging job.
Black plastic bags.
Judging by their shapes, Old Jiang had no idea what was inside, as Jiang Xia had simply tossed them all together into the bags.
Old Jiang opened one of the plastic bags and his mouth twitched at the sight inside.
The bag was completely filled with ginseng, and judging by their appearance, they were of a very considerable age—at least several centuries old.
Then he opened another plastic bag and found it contained Ganoderma lucidum, all of which were aged specimens.
After that, he opened the remaining plastic bags, and the contents were equally precious herbs with significant age.
Old Jiang was thrilled. Aged medicinal herbs had become exceedingly scarce nowadays, and they happened to be in urgent need of an aged ginseng root for a prescription.
Using up their existing stock had been rather painful, but now a fresh supply had arrived right on time.
"Old Wang, Old Li, come quick!" Old Jiang shouted excitedly twice.
Hearing the call, two other elderly men rushed over, wondering what had happened.
"What is it? What's going on?"
"Treasures!" Old Jiang showed the herbs on the table to the other two men.
"Good grief, they really are! And all of them have aged!"
Upon seeing the herbs on the table, the two men rushed right over in their excitement.
All three of them picked up the herbs and began examining them intently, gasping in amazement at every turn.
"This is sheer sacrilege! How could anyone pack these in plastic bags?"
"How on earth could someone package them like this?"
"These are such fine herbs, what a terrible waste!"
"And yet, they've been remarkably well preserved."
"This one looks like it's six hundred years old!"
"This one's three hundred years old!"
"And this one must be five hundred!"
"Where on earth did all these come from?"
Only after saying this did Old Jiang finally remember that he had left a young lady standing aside.
"Young lady, please come over," Old Jiang called out, gesturing to Jiang Xia.
"Young lady, are you selling all of these herbs?"
The herbs this young lady had brought were absolute treasures, every single one of them well-aged.
Jiang Xia nodded and replied, "Yes."
"Young lady, these are top-quality herbs."
"That's right, they're top-quality. You do buy them here, right?" Surely they wouldn't turn her away.
"We buy them, of course we buy them." How could Old Jiang let such magnificent herbs slip away to another shop?
No matter the cost, he had to keep these here.
Hearing this, Jiang Xia thought to herself: Then I can rest easy.
"Young lady, won't your heart ache after selling these herbs?" Old Wang voiced the question on his mind, which was precisely what the other two wanted to ask as well.
"Not at all."
Why would her heart ache? She just wanted to sell them quickly, grab the money, and leave.
Though she certainly couldn't show that on her face.
Seeing that the young lady before them showed not the slightest hint of reluctance, they were truly astounded.
Either this young girl came from a prominent traditional medicine family with generations of heritage, or she had sneaked out from home carrying herbs while flat broke.
"Where are the adults in your family? Do they all agree to you selling these?"
They suspected the child's elders probably had no idea about this.
"The elders at home agreed." Jiang Xia offered no further explanation; there was no need to reveal too much.
The three men pressed no further, figuring the young girl must have been acting under her parents' instructions, perhaps because the family was facing financial difficulties and needed to tide things over. After all, such exceptional herbs were rare indeed, yet this girl had produced so many at once.
With that, the three men went back to examining the herbs in detail, muttering complaints under their breath while they worked about how anyone could treat such precious ingredients so carelessly—at least putting each herb in its own separate plastic bag!
After a full two hours, the group finally settled on a price.
This batch of herbs sold for a total of eighty million, an absolute windfall.
The price far exceeded Jiang Xia's expectations; she had never imagined she could sell them for so much. It seemed she still knew very little about these things, and this was the first time in her life she had ever seen so much money.
Although she had looked up rough estimates online, she still hadn't fully grasped their value.
Once all the paperwork for the sale was completed, Jiang Xia watched as a string of extra zeros instantly appeared on her bank balance, confirming the money was securely in her hands.
Before she left, Old Jiang insisted on exchanging contact information with Jiang Xia, telling her that if she had any more herbs to sell in the future, she should come straight to them—guaranteeing fair prices and absolute honesty.
Jiang Xia walked out of the pharmacy looking thoroughly composed.
Yet, having suddenly acquired such a vast sum of money, she felt a surreal sense of unreality.
Jiang Xia decided she needed a moment to calm down.
Once outside, Jiang Xia found a quiet spot and released Xingxing from the space.
As soon as Xingxing came out, it leaped into Jiang Xia's arms and asked excitedly, already thinking about food.
[Host, Host, can we buy lots of delicious food now?]
"Of course."
[Then let's go buy some!]
"No rush. We'll buy things after we get back; prices are high here."
[Fine.]
[Then let's go explore! I haven't had a proper stroll around yet.]
"Not just you, I've never been on a trip either."
"I'll get familiar with Beijing first this time, and bring Mom and Dad over after a while."
[Mm-mm. Sounds like a plan. Let's go!] Xingxing was barely able to contain its excitement.
"You need to watch your mouth, though. No talking out loud."
[Don't worry, people won't be able to tell.]