Early the next morning, just as the first light of dawn broke across the sky and the roosters began to crow, Li Xiaohan sprang out of bed. 

But when she got up, she found that Li Xiandong and Madam Wang were already fully dressed, sitting stiffly in silence with anxious expressions and dark circles under their eyes. It wasn’t clear how long they had been up. Their carrying baskets were already on their backs, with straw sandals neatly arranged on top, concealing the Sanqi roots underneath. 

Seeing this, Li Xiaohan guessed they might not have slept much at all. She accepted the coarse grain flatbread that Madam Wang handed her—it had already gone cold. Since things had come to this, there was no need for extra words. Time to go. 

As they walked toward the city, the closer they got, the more people they encountered. Some carried baskets, while others balanced shoulder poles or pushed carts filled with vegetables, firewood, or coarse cloth. The Li family of three, with straw sandals strapped to their backs, blended into the crowd without drawing attention. Occasionally, an ox cart would pass by, a valuable possession that drew envious looks from the farmers on the road. 

Finally, they arrived at the city gate. Li Xiandong paid three copper coins for the entry fee, and the three of them entered the city. 

Li Xiaohan observed the surroundings. The farmers and street vendors with vegetables and firewood all headed east, while those carrying cotton cloth walked west. It seemed the city was divided into eastern and western districts. 

Among the Li family, Li Xiandong was the most familiar with the city, having worked odd jobs there during the slow farming season. 

“Father, let’s find the biggest pharmacy. They’ll know what they’re doing,” Li Xiaohan reminded him. 

“Mm,” Li Xiandong replied in a muffled voice. He looked around, then started walking west. 

From this, Li Xiaohan roughly deduced that small vendors were concentrated in the east, while the west was more upscale. 

Sure enough, as they walked, they passed general stores, breakfast shops, and fabric stores. Before long, they arrived at the entrance of the largest pharmacy—just the one Li Xiaohan was looking for. 

Renhetang. 

Li Xiaohan silently read the name to herself. 

Seeing her parents hesitating at the door, she took the initiative and stepped inside first. 

“Young lady, are you here for a consultation?” asked an assistant. Though it was strange for a little girl to take the lead while two adults trailed behind nervously, the assistant was experienced and didn’t question it. It was early and there weren’t many customers, so he greeted them courteously. 

“Do you buy medicinal herbs here?” Li Xiaohan got straight to the point. 

“We do,” the assistant replied. “But we have standards for the types and quality of herbs we buy. Let me take a look at what you’ve brought.” 

Ah, so they were here to sell herbs. The pharmacy did work with regular herb gatherers and occasionally dealt with farmers bringing in wild herbs. But most of the time, the goods didn’t meet standards or were of poor quality, so the assistant’s enthusiasm lessened. 

“Father, Mother, take out the Sanqi,” Li Xiaohan said. 

Li Xiandong and Madam Wang quickly set down their baskets, removed the straw sandals covering the herbs, and revealed the Sanqi underneath. 

The assistant now felt even more curious—this family actually let the daughter take the lead. 

A glance told him the couple didn’t even dare make eye contact with others, while the thin little girl stood tall, with clear, determined eyes and a calm, articulate manner. No wonder she was the one speaking—perhaps a bad stalk had yielded a fine shoot. These two peasants had raised quite a remarkable daughter. 

The assistant made his judgment, then bent down to examine the herbs, flipping through them a bit. “Follow me to the back courtyard. Don’t block the front.” 

The three quickly picked up their baskets and followed him into the back. 

The rear courtyard was a neat square, surrounded by covered walkways. A few apprentices in matching uniforms were drying herbs in the corridors. In the northwest corner stood a well; beside it was a kitchen, though instead of pots and pans, it held rows of medicinal furnaces. Some blazed brightly, others simmered low, all releasing fragrant herbal smoke. 

“Take them out. Let me see,” the assistant said, grabbing a bamboo tray nearby. 

Li Xiandong and Madam Wang quickly set down the basket. Just as they pulled out one Sanqi root that resembled wild ginseng, a voice suddenly called out: 

“Oh? Let me take a look.” 

The family turned to see a thin middle-aged doctor in a blue cotton robe, with a goatee and deep frown lines between his brows. 

The assistant respectfully lowered his head. “Doctor Zhang.” 

“Mm.” Doctor Zhang responded casually, not sparing the assistant a glance. He picked up the top Sanqi root, held it up to the morning sunlight, and squinted. 

“Ram’s intestine head, bronze skin and iron bones, papillae, chrysanthemum core. Let me count… one, two, three, four, five, six nodules—this one’s six years old. Excellent quality, very fine…” 

Doctor Zhang was clearly pleased, examining the root over and over while muttering to himself. Li Xiaohan and her family let out a breath of relief. 

After finishing his inspection, Doctor Zhang gently set the root aside. Unfortunately, none of the other Sanqi roots in the basket matched that one in age or appearance. He looked quite disappointed, though he still took the time to sort the remaining roots accordingly. 

Meanwhile, Li Xiaohan quietly observed his sorting criteria—mostly based on age and size. It seemed different grades of Sanqi fetched different prices. 

Sure enough, once Doctor Zhang finished, he said: “This one is six years old—both its age and weight qualify it for top-grade pricing. I’ll give you thirty taels of silver. These two are four years old, so they’re second-grade, fifteen taels each. And the last two are three years old—just enough for medicinal use, eight taels apiece. That’s a total of seventy-six taels. Do you want to sell?” 

Li Xiandong and Madam Wang were stunned, speechless for a moment. Instinctively, they both looked at Li Xiaohan. 

She froze. In modern times, Sanqi was a commonly cultivated herb, with prices affordable to the public. She had assumed that wild Sanqi in ancient times might fetch a few taels, but she never expected it to go for dozens. 

In that instant, Li Xiaohan’s heart began to burn with excitement. If Sanqi could sell for that much, wouldn’t cultivating it make them rich? 

Suppressing her excitement, she didn’t answer Doctor Zhang’s question. Instead, she cautiously asked: 

“Doctor Zhang, is Sanqi really worth this much? People in the village say it’s not worth much. But we saw a lot more growing out there.” 

Doctor Zhang’s lips curled slightly. “Sanqi is definitely valuable. It was first recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica by the great physician Li Shizhen. He wrote that Sanqi ‘stops bleeding, disperses blood, relieves pain, treats blade wounds, bruises, and bleeding that won’t stop’—its effectiveness is immediate. Later, in the Supplements to the Compendium, it says, ‘Ginseng is best for replenishing qi, while Sanqi is best for replenishing blood. Their taste and effect are equal, making them the most precious of all medicinal herbs.’ That’s why Sanqi became hugely popular back then—so much so that it was nearly harvested to extinction.” 

Doctor Zhang didn’t seem to mind revealing all this—even if it might make Li Xiaohan think she had sold too cheaply. He had offered a fair price. As for the “more” that she mentioned— 

“You say you saw a lot more? Then it’s likely fake. Sanqi is often mistaken for Panax pseudoginseng—the so-called ‘false ginseng’ you villagers talk about. Looks similar in leaves and flowers, but it’s not the same thing. Fake ginseng is useless and worthless. Too many people have come to ask us about it. You can dig some up if you don’t believe me—nine times out of ten, it’s just the fake ginseng.” 

Then Doctor Zhang looked at her with curiosity. “You’re quite lucky, young lady, to have actually dug up real Sanqi.” 

Li Xiaohan replied with a modest smile, “An elder once told me about it. It was pure luck, really. Just happened to come across it. We’ll sell the Sanqi.” 

Since it had been confirmed as genuine, there was no reason to hesitate. She had already observed earlier that Doctor Zhang sorted the Sanqi very carefully, not mixing the good quality ones with the inferior batch. Moreover, the medicine hall’s stove room, well platform, and sieves all showed signs of long-term use. 

A medicine hall that had been open for such a long time was a guarantee of its credibility. They wouldn’t bother trying to cheat her out of this small batch of Sanqi. 

Sure enough, just as she finished speaking, Doctor Zhang directly put the Sanqi away and led them to the front counter to see the shopkeeper. Clearly, he had only asked out of formality—he was confident the price he’d offer would be good enough that they wouldn’t refuse. 

After a brief exchange between Doctor Zhang and the shopkeeper, the shopkeeper brought out some silver from the small counter. “Seven ten-tael silver ingots, one five-tael silver ingot, and one tael in loose silver. Take it. Once you leave the counter, we don’t take responsibility.” 

Li Xiaohan stood on tiptoe to examine one of the large ingots. It was boat-shaped and stamped with “17th Year of the Taihe Era, Ten Taels.” 

It looked just like the ones in TV dramas. But since she had never seen a real silver ingot before, she turned to look at Li Xiandong and Madam Wang. The two of them still seemed a bit dazed—clearly, they hadn’t seen one either. 

Still, just as she’d thought, a large and well-established medicine hall like this wouldn’t bother scamming them. 

“Father, put it away,” Li Xiaohan said, stuffing the silver ingot into Li Xiandong’s hands. 

Li Xiandong felt like he didn’t even dare to move. 

A moment later, he finally managed to stuff the silver into his clothes with trembling hands. Beside him, Madam Wang stared longingly at the money, her eyes practically glowing. 

They had only spent half a day and not a single coin in capital, yet they’d earned seventy-six taels. It felt like money had just fallen from the sky—utterly unbelievable. 

Even Li Xiaohan couldn’t help but feel thrilled. It really was true: heaven never shuts all doors. And it’s also true that knowledge is never wasted. 

So satisfying. 

After taking the money, Li Xiaohan suggested, “Mother, why don’t we have a doctor at Renhetang take a look at you and prescribe something to help you recover?” 

Li Xiaohan thought it was only natural. But to her surprise, Madam Wang thought for a moment and then replied with firm resolve, “No. This body of mine has been in this condition for over ten years—a little longer won’t matter. Now that we’ve separated from the family, it’s not convenient to brew medicine at home. And spending money like this—if people find out about the Sanqi, that would be bad. We should head back quickly. I remember there are still a few more spots—we might find more Sanqi there.” 

The more desperate she was, the less Madam Wang could afford to take a risk. 

This was her only hope after all these years—she absolutely couldn’t let others find out about this path to fortune. 

Li Xiaohan thought for a moment and nodded. “Alright, Mother. We’ll do as you say. Once we’ve built our new home and moved out, we’ll come back and get you a proper consultation and medicine.” 

Since they weren’t going to see a doctor, Li Xiandong and Madam Wang were eager to return home—who knew, they might still be able to find more Sanqi. 

But Li Xiaohan thought differently. She wasn’t counting on the remaining wild ginseng to actually contain more real Sanqi—even if there were a few, it wouldn’t be much. 

Getting rich couldn’t rely on luck alone. Windfall wealth never lasts. What they really needed was a sustainable way to earn a living. Since they were already in town, Li Xiaohan wanted to take a good look around and see what kind of opportunities the city might offer. 

With that thought, Li Xiaohan said, “Father, Mother, let’s go check out that area over there.” 

She pointed to a bustling street, crowded with people and lined with shops on both sides—the kind of thriving commercial area people in the modern world would call a “golden business district.” It was the perfect place to observe the local customs, habits, and consumer behavior.