Chapter 24: Sacks of Cash
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Chen Jie had just been preparing to activate the Blood Dragon Jade in his mind when, unexpectedly, his phone rang.
He frowned. It was already so late—who could be calling him?
Could something have gone wrong at the hospital?
He glanced at the caller ID, his face filling with confusion.
Yuan Lu!?
Why was that female employee from Rongji Chinese Medicine Hall calling him?
The call connected, and Yuan Lu’s pleasant voice came through. “Hello, Mr. Chen. This is Yuan Lu.”
Chen Jie frowned. “What is it?”
“I’m sorry to bother you so late,” Yuan Lu said with a smile. “Do you have any more wild mountain ginseng like the one you sold us last time?”
Chen Jie immediately grew wary. “Why are you asking?”
Yuan Lu hurriedly explained, “It’s like this. The fifty-year-old wild mountain ginseng we purchased last week was bought by a customer at a very high price.”
“The customer would like to know whether you have any other wild mountain ginseng available.”
“If you still have some in stock, Rongji is willing to purchase it at a premium. Don’t worry—the price will certainly satisfy you.”
“There’s one more thing you can rest assured about. Rongji’s paperwork is completely in order. It won’t cause you any trouble, and we’ll handle the tax declaration on our end.”
Chen Jie pondered for a moment.
Rongji was such a large medicinal-herb company. Surely they would not turn on him after getting what they wanted.
If they truly intended to cause him trouble, Yuan Lu probably would not be the one calling. He might already have been summoned for questioning.
The reason Chen Jie had not brought out all his wild mountain ginseng at once was that he feared something might go wrong.
There was no harm in being cautious about matters one had never experienced before.
Otherwise, he might be sold off by someone without even knowing how it had happened.
In a deep voice, Chen Jie asked, “The purchasing procedures are completely legitimate? What exactly do you mean?”
Yuan Lu smiled. “There won’t be any trouble with the source of the goods, so you can relax. For precious medicinal herbs of this kind, we usually declare them as overseas imports. As long as the taxes are paid, there won’t be any problems.”
“Our company enjoys certain tax benefits. We’ve purchased many rare medicinal herbs in the past, and our reputation in the industry has always been excellent.”
“There is only one requirement: the quality of the goods must be guaranteed!”
Chen Jie was silent for a moment before replying, “I do have some left. I still have several stalks of eighty-year-old and hundred-year-old wild mountain ginseng.”
Yuan Lu’s voice immediately brightened. “Really? Is their medicinal potency stronger than that of the fifty-year-old one you sold us before?”
Chen Jie said calmly, “Of course it is. Hundred-year-old wild mountain ginseng naturally has a much richer medicinal potency than fifty-year-old ginseng.”
“Don’t you have professionals to inspect the goods? Quality isn’t something that can be faked.”
Chen Jie was quite confident about the medicinal potency of wild mountain ginseng.
Although he did not currently have any hundred-year-old wild mountain ginseng on him,
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he did have two eighty-year-old stalks, whose medicinal potency was considerably stronger than that of the fifty-year-old one.
“That’s wonderful! Can you sell them to our company? We can come to you to make the purchase.”
“If you can guarantee the quality, our customer can offer more than five million for wild mountain ginseng over a hundred years old. If the appearance is exceptionally well preserved, the price can be negotiated further!”
Yuan Lu sounded delighted.
Chen Jie was stunned. More than five million? Could a single hundred-year-old stalk of wild mountain ginseng really be worth that much?
He had previously looked at the quoted prices from several wild mountain ginseng exhibitions online, but those could only serve as rough references.
It seemed he had still underestimated the value of wild mountain ginseng.
“I’m busy these days. Wait a few days, and I’ll contact you then,” Chen Jie said calmly as he glanced at the backpack beneath his bed, where he had hidden the wild mountain ginseng.
It seemed that the next time he came back, he would have to move to another house.
Keeping so many valuable things in this shabby rural house was unsafe.
If someone stole them, it would be too late for regret.
“All right. I’ll wait for your call,” Yuan Lu replied.
After hanging up, Chen Jie checked the door of the house once more. He even placed a bucket outside.
The purpose was simple: to make it appear that someone lived there.
That way, the vagrants who liked to wander through the countryside stealing things would not casually enter the house.
Nowadays, most people living in the countryside were elderly. Many houses had even been left vacant.
As a result, quite a few vagrants liked to roam around the villages, entering old houses to search for anything valuable.
If a house was occupied, they would avoid it automatically.
Once Chen Jie activated the Blood Dragon Jade in his mind, no one would be left at home.
But the wild mountain ginseng he had brought over earlier obviously could not be taken back with him. He could only hide it beneath the bed.
If those vagrants happened to break in and rummage through everything, he would be devastated.
After making sure there were no problems, Chen Jie activated the Blood Dragon Jade in his mind.
The next moment,
that same desolate voice echoed in his mind:
[Three hundred and twenty Martial Arts Merit Points consumed!]
[The Blood Dragon Jade has been fully activated. The Martial Saint Gate is now open!]
When he saw that three hundred and twenty Martial Arts Merit Points had been consumed in an instant, Chen Jie gave a helpless smile.
As expected,
nothing could be gained without making a sacrifice.
Taking ten silver coins to the other world required one Martial Arts Merit Point.
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Taking two thousand silver coins required an additional two hundred Martial Arts Merit Points.
Even the small gifts he had brought over had cost twenty Martial Arts Merit Points.
The next time he brought back more goods from that world, the number of Martial Arts Merit Points consumed would only increase.
It seemed that relying solely on martial arts training to obtain Martial Arts Merit Points was far too inefficient.
Buzz!
As a red glow appeared,
Chen Jie stepped into the gate of light. That familiar sensation of mental disorientation and dizziness returned.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself back in the shabby house he had left earlier.
Since he had departed the last time in the late afternoon,
he had spent a total of eight days there. Due to the time difference between the two worlds, only about twenty hours had passed here—meaning it was approximately one o’clock in the afternoon of the following day.
Chen Jie looked at the sack of silver coins at his feet, a smile appearing on his face.
Two thousand silver coins weighed more than a hundred pounds!
Fortunately, his strength had increased considerably since he began practicing martial arts. Otherwise, carrying the sack all the way back to the new house would have exhausted him.
After pushing open the main gate of the new house, he saw neither Liu Qi nor Aunt Thirteen.
He had no idea where they had gone.
Just then, he heard the sounds of martial arts practice coming from the courtyard.
Liu Bamei was wearing a short-sleeved coarse-cloth shirt and practicing her martial arts with great dedication.
It was already past one in the afternoon, yet she was still training?
Chen Jie was a little surprised. Did a young woman really have to work this hard at martial arts?
At that moment,
he watched Liu Bamei practicing from a distance and suddenly became entranced.
Before this, he had never carefully observed Liu Bamei.
Only now did he realize that her entire body radiated an indescribable youthful charm.
The way she practiced martial arts in her short-sleeved shirt, with a red belt wrapped tightly around her waist, gave her a particularly captivating air.
“Big Brother Chen, you’re back?”
When Liu Bamei looked up and saw him, she cried out delightedly, “Have you eaten lunch?”
Immediately afterward,
she noticed that Chen Jie had been staring at her the whole time.
Whoosh!
Liu Bamei lowered her head and glanced at herself. Her face instantly flushed red.
She glared fiercely at Chen Jie and shouted angrily, “What are you looking at?”