Chapter 17: The Price of Silver Ear Fungus

Chapter 17 The Price of Snow Fungus

It took a full two days to travel from Zhao Village to the prefectural city by oxcart. However, with Liu Hu accompanying Uncle Hai and Qintong—one old, one young—Zhao An wasn't overly concerned.

That noon, they had stewed bone broth. Since there were leftovers, they used it to cook noodles for dinner without preparing any other dishes. With only Zhao An at home, even a small portion would have been too much to finish alone.

Fortunately, there was the wolf he had captured from the mountain. After being starved for two days, it had even started eating Zhao An's leftover noodles. Every day, it drank a large bowl of bone broth, then lounged contentedly on the ground, belly up, basking in the sun.

Zhao An stood about a meter away, observing the wolf. The smooth fur, rising and falling with its breath, clearly conveyed its wild nature and the raw power in its muscles, claws, and teeth. Yet, the wolf didn't even glance at Zhao An, maintaining an aloof demeanor, showing no sign of lowering its pride despite accepting food.

Zhao An hadn't expected to tame a wild beast with just a little food, so he didn't linger long before returning to the kitchen to wash the pots and dishes.

The next day, he went to town again to deliver strawberries. This time, Zhao An used only half of his Wood Element Supernatural Power, producing just over fifty strawberries. Besides the strawberries, his basket also held nearly three catties of simply dried gastrodia, recently nurtured by him. They were in excellent condition and quite large.

He brought the gastrodia to the county town to inquire about prices at a medicinal herb shop. At the same time, he instructed Uncle Hai and Qintong to check the price in the prefectural city. If the price there was significantly higher after accounting for transportation costs, he could hire someone to sell it there. If there wasn't much difference, selling locally would be more convenient.

Since all the silver at home had been given to Uncle Hai to buy grapevines, Zhao An had high hopes for these three catties of gastrodia, counting on them to recoup the money spent on the vines.

Before leaving, he checked the vines binding the wolf and placed a few pieces of stewed bone into its bowl. The wolf didn't seem very interested in the bones, but Zhao An wasn't worried. He knew that if the wolf got hungry enough, it would eventually eat them.

Taming a wolf into a dog might not be easy, but in ancient times, even wild animals could be trained for performances. Having a wolf guard the house shouldn't be too difficult.

As for the idea of protecting animals, such concerns didn't apply in this era. Large predators were among the natural enemies humans had to face for survival. Every village had people injured or even killed by wild animals. If conditions allowed, the county would organize hunters to cull dangerous animals each year, including wild boars and monkeys that destroyed crops.

The wolf, which had howled in agony for the first two days after capture, had now grown quiet. Zhao An felt his training was showing initial results, so he secured the door tightly, left the wolf alone at home, and headed to town.

However, reality is often unpredictable. Zhao An never expected that after he left, someone would foolishly break into his home.

That person was Zhao Tongming’s second son, Zhao Fuxiang, who had just turned seventeen the previous month—an age where he feared nothing. It was Zhao Fuxiang who had led two laborers to ambush and kidnap Qintong.

Zhao Fuxiang hadn't been present when Zhao An confronted Zhao Tongming’s family. Although he was later struck with a stick, his fear of Zhao An wasn't as deep as his younger brother Zhao Fukang’s or his father Zhao Tongming’s.

More importantly, that morning, he had seen the blue-eyed stranger take fifty taels of silver from their home and return to Zhao An’s house empty-handed. So, he assumed the silver was still hidden there.

Wealth tempts the heart. Although Zhao Tongming’s family had some assets, he had one wife and two concubines, with ten children in total. He was frugal with his sons, and Zhao Fuxiang, having grown up mostly wearing hand-me-downs from his older brother, valued money highly. The only new silk clothes he had ever worn were for his wedding, unlike his father, who wore silk daily.

Driven by greed, even though Zhao Fuxiang had heard wolf howls from Zhao An’s house and knew from village gossip that Zhao An had captured a wolf, he still took the risk. After Zhao An left, he climbed over the wall, intending to find the hidden silver.

But in reality, there was no silver in Zhao An’s house. What was even more dangerous was that the wolf tied up in the yard had been planning its escape for a long time. It had almost clawed through the vines around its neck with its hind paws, leaving only a thin layer of skin, when suddenly it saw a figure climbing over the wall.

Seeing the wolf bound with vines, Zhao Fuxiang breathed a sigh of relief. He thought, as expected, Zhao An wouldn’t dare keep a wolf without a way to control it and prevent it from running wild or attacking people.

Reassured, he confidently walked past the post where the wolf was tied and headed toward the main hall, planning to search the inner rooms for any hidden silver.

But as he turned, the wolf, which had been lying lazily on the ground, suddenly leaped into action. Though Zhao Fuxiang, youthfully agile, bent down instinctively to avoid the pounce, he was still sent tumbling.

Zhao Fuxiang let out a loud cry, “Aiya~!”, while the wolf, frustrated by its missed attack, growled heavily, its eyes growing fiercer. It wanted to kill the human in front of it—even if it wasn't the one it hated most, humans were already detestable enough.

Zhao An, unaware of what was happening at home, was at the medicinal herb shop with the owner, carefully examining piece after piece of gastrodia as if each fold of skin held endless secrets.

Though Zhao An didn't understand how to appraise gastrodia, the shopkeeper’s repeated nods and increasingly relaxed expression told him the price for his goods wouldn't be too low.

Then, the shopkeeper stroked his goatee and said, “You mentioned you have more gastrodia of this quality. How much do you have in total?”

“Those are still fresh and need to be dried further. First, tell me the price for this batch. If the price is fair, I can sell more to you in the future. If not, I’ll take it to the prefectural city. Good products are always easy to sell,” Zhao An replied honestly, not hiding his intentions.

Seeing that Zhao An wasn’t going to let him take advantage, the shopkeeper offered a fair price: “I’ll give you three mace of silver per tael. I’ve weighed them—it’s forty-five taels in total. I’ll pay you 8.8 taels. How does that sound?”

Zhao An was still unfamiliar with the traditional Chinese weight system and took a moment to calculate before confirming the shopkeeper’s math was correct. However, the price was lower than he had expected. Unlike legendary hundred-year-old ginseng, which could sell for hundreds or thousands of taels, gastrodia wasn't as valuable.

So, instead of taking the silver immediately, Zhao An glanced at the shop’s cabinets and asked, “Do you have ginseng seeds here?”

Ginseng seeds were also used in medicine, but the shopkeeper shook his head. “We don’t have ginseng seeds, but we have five-year-old ginseng for five taels of silver. Would you like to buy some to stew with chicken? It’s good for boosting qi and health.”

Five years was too short a time for ginseng to be valuable, and Zhao An found it too expensive to justify buying for consumption. He was about to take the money and leave when he caught sight of a cabinet labeled “Snow Fungus.”

It suddenly occurred to him that before large-scale cultivation, snow fungus was a luxury item in ancient times. Although he couldn’t use his Wood Element Supernatural Power to directly accelerate the growth of fungi, snow fungus grew on wood, so Zhao An could still nurture it easily.

Both snow fungus and wood ear fungus were fungi. Why his Wood Element Supernatural Power could accelerate their growth wasn't something science could explain, especially since supernatural power itself defied scientific understanding.

The thought flashed through his mind, and Zhao An asked excitedly, “Shopkeeper, do you sell snow fungus here? Can you show me some?”

“Of course. It’s one tael of silver per tael, but you can buy a small amount,” the shopkeeper said, opening the cabinet and handing half a piece to Zhao An for inspection.

After examining it, Zhao An was disappointed. The dried snow fungus had lost all vitality and couldn’t be regrown.

It seemed his idea of buying medicinal herbs to cultivate directly from the shop wouldn’t work, as most herbs here were dried, steamed, or roasted.

His only hope now was to search the mountains during his next trip, scouring fallen trees and decaying leaves for wild snow fungus or wood ear fungus. This was similar to the strawberry season giving way to grapes—he couldn’t sell gastrodia all year round without raising suspicions.

Disappointed, Zhao An took the money and left the shop, planning to buy two marrow bones from the butcher before the morning market ended.

Not long after stepping out, he once again met Hu Sheng, who was walking with Feng Shaoping. It was their first meeting in many days.

That unspoken flutter in Zhao An’s heart seemed to have faded with time, but upon seeing Hu Sheng again, he couldn’t help but feel his heart skip a beat. He walked over to greet them. “Young Master Hu, did you enjoy the strawberries I gave you last time? The grapes I planted are almost ripe. I’ll bring some for you to try next time.”

**[Author's Note]**

Tomorrow, I'll be thoroughly proofreading for errors, but the plot will remain unchanged. Please disregard any revision notifications. Finally, I'd appreciate it if you could add this to your collection. Thank you for your support.