Abandoned Woman Busy Farming

Chapter 1266: Chapter 1268: A Chance Encounter with a Medicine Gatherer from West Mountain_1

”Indeed, I’ll take them all. Does anyone else in your village sell medicinal materials?” Bai Ruozhu asked.

”We live over by West Mountain. The soil in the village is poor, not much grows there. Most folks rely on the mountain for their livelihood, gathering medicinal herbs to earn a living. Originally, the secretary before County Magistrate Ma often came to buy our goods, and we sold our herbs to him too. But recently, he suddenly stopped showing up, and many families in the village are running out of food to put in their pots,” the tall man said in haste, cutting in.

Bai Ruozhu smiled at Jiang Yichun. It seemed they had really stumbled upon a situation.

”You don’t need to wait for him anymore. Ma Jun has been dismissed for embezzling your taxes, and the person who collected taxes from you won’t be coming anymore,” Bai Ruozhu said with a smile.

The two men were startled, wondering how this lady could dare to call County Magistrate Ma by his name and even know about his dismissal. Could it be that...

”Don’t worry, from now on no one will increase your taxes. You can sell all the herbal medicine you gather to me. I’m willing to pay a price that is ten percent higher than the market rate,” Bai Ruozhu said.

Both men showed delighted expressions. Shanzi said excitedly, ”That’s fantastic! Our village won’t have to worry anymore.”

Bai Ruozhu looked at the herbal medicine, quoted a price, and then called Muyu over to take it. She calculated the amount of silver and gave it to the two men.

”Is this price not too high? Madam, are you sure you didn’t make a mistake? These are just common Beitianqi,” Xiaoliu said anxiously. Although they were in urgent need of money and wanted to earn more, the people of West Mountain Village were honest and wouldn’t do anything deceitful.

Bai Ruozhu understood at once. Ma Jun’s men monopolized the trade, suppressing these mountain folks, and the price they offered for the goods was definitely outrageously low, which explained their desperate living conditions.

”This is indeed ten percent above the market rate. Since we agreed on a long-term partnership, I won’t take advantage of you,” Bai Ruozhu reassured them with a sincere smile.

”Xiaoliu, we’ve encountered a living Bodhisattva. This lady is a good person, really sincere about doing business with us,” Shanzi said before turning to Bai Ruozhu, ”Madam, I thank you on behalf of the entire village!”

As he spoke, he was about to kneel and kowtow to Bai Ruozhu, but she quickly went to help him up. Jiang Yichun, however, rushed over and helped Shanzi up first, clearly not wanting his wife to do the lifting.

Bai Ruozhu was both irritated and amused. This man was watching over her too closely.

While they were speaking animatedly, the Medicine Shop Owner peeked his head out. After getting the gist of the conversation and seeing that the two men’s herbal materials were wild and of decent quality,

the shopkeeper immediately came out and said, ”Gentlemen, I apologize for the young clerk’s rudeness earlier. Our shop will take all of your herbs.”

Shanzi replied with a stern face, ”No need. We’ve already sold to this lady, and we’ve received the silver.”

”Ah, what a shame. In the future, bring your herbs directly to us, and we won’t let you down with the price,” the shopkeeper said with a smile, then glanced at Bai Ruozhu and added, ”Our shop has been established for a long time. You can get paid anytime when you come, which is surely better than dealing with some people with dubious backgrounds. Who knows, you might not be able to find anyone to sell to one day.”

Bai Ruozhu gave the shopkeeper a cold look. This person was despicable, not showing any interest before, and now that she wanted to buy, he came to compete. What was wrong with him?

Actually, she hadn’t anticipated the true intentions of the shopkeeper, who thought about snatching the deal and then deciding whether or not to lower the prices later. Bai Ruozhu clearly looked like an out-of-towner who would leave after a while. When no one’s left to buy these mountain people’s herbs, wouldn’t he have the final say?

”How much the lady offers, I’ll offer the same,” the owner said generously.

Jiang Yichun’s face was already displeased. Had it not been for Bai Ruozhu tugging at him to signal not to stoop to the shopkeeper’s level, he would have told the man to beat it long ago.

Xiaoliu bowed respectfully to the shopkeeper and said, ”Thank you for the high regard, shopkeeper, but we’ve already promised this lady first. We of West Mountain Village keep our word and cannot go back on it, please forgive us.”

The shopkeeper, taken aback by Xiaoliu’s manner, snapped back to reality and saw a look of triumph on Bai Ruozhu’s face as if she were laughing at him, which immediately made him feel like he couldn’t save face. He said angrily, ”Fine, if you don’t listen to me, don’t regret it later, and don’t come begging to me when you can’t sell your goods!”

”Enough of that. You looked down on us mountain folks for our rags from the get-go, it wouldn’t have mattered if we begged you. The lady here has never looked down on us from the start, and we’re happy to sell the herbal medicine to her!” Shanzi shouted at the top of his lungs.

By now, they were drawing the attention of other people on the street. Many were pointing at the Medicine Shop Owner and whispering about how he was a snob who changed his tune when he saw a chance to benefit and then started to threaten people.

Seeing the bad impression he was making, the shopkeeper quickly ducked back into his shop, but he glared fiercely at Shanzi and muttered, ”Let’s see if you come begging to me!”

With the shopkeeper gone, Xiaoliu bowed to Bai Ruozhu, somewhat embarrassedly, and said, ”My apologies for the spectacle, madam.”

Bai Ruozhu smiled at them. ”I appreciate your integrity, be assured, I won’t let you need to seek him out.”

Xiaoliu and Shanzi were both pleased. ”Thank you, madam.”

Bai Ruozhu turned to Jiang Yichun, ”I’d like to establish a long-term cooperation with West Mountain, so I’m taking this opportunity to visit. It should take no more than a day.”

Jiang Yichun saw her eyes shining and couldn’t help but smile, ”All right, I’ll go with you.”

Bai Ruozhu and her party had come on horseback, while Shanzi and his companions had walked. Jiang Yichun instructed Chenfeng and Muyu to ride with Shanzi and the others, and they all set off towards West Mountain Village, arriving as dusk fell.

Shanzi had a loud voice and began shouting as soon as they entered the village, ”Come and see everyone, this is Doctor Bai, from now on she’ll be buying all our village’s herbal medicine. She’ll send someone every month to purchase it, offering a price ten percent higher than the market rate, which is two to three times more than what that good-for-nothing previously gave us!”

Bai Ruozhu had told Shanzi and the other person on the road that it would be fine to call her Doctor Bai from then on. Shanzi and his companion were thrilled; they felt Bai Ruozhu wasn’t pretentious and didn’t look down on them like the city ladies did.

The village land was infertile, with little arable land to cultivate. Aside from gathering herbs in the mountains, the villagers had little to do. Upon hearing Shanzi’s shout that there were guests in the village, they all came out to see what was happening.

So, the crowd saw a woman as beautiful as an immortal on horseback, with a man who was unfairly handsome at her side—his face far too cold, intimidating them from staring too long.

They were familiar with Shanzi and Xiaoliu, also riding high on great horses, which excited many villagers, who otherwise rarely ever saw a horse, let alone rode one.

”Shanzi, are you telling the truth?” an aged voice rang out. It was the Village Chief. He had reacted quicker than the other onlookers, his interest focused on Shanzi’s words.