The old man's words sounded very sincere, not at all like he was lying.
Of course, people who did business in this era placed a much higher value on reputation compared to merchants of later generations.
This was especially true for the older generation, who relied on their reputation to grow and strengthen their businesses; therefore, they viewed matters of credibility with extreme importance.
Consequently, Wang An actually trusted the old man's words.
Just as Wang An was about to speak, the old man, perhaps fearing that the three of them didn't believe him, spoke again with great confidence
"My name is Li Ziqian. In the field of Traditional Chinese Medicine in our BD City and even throughout the entire Yi Province, I am reasonably well-known. This Li Family Pharmacy was founded by my ancestor during the Yongzheng era. It has been in my hands for over twenty, nearly thirty years now. Even during those few years of the special period, my family's pharmacy never once closed its doors."
At this point, the old man gave a knowing smile
"After all, everyone gets sick. No matter how much they make a fuss or fight amongst themselves, people will still fall ill. As long as people are sick, they will need a doctor, hehehehe."
Wang An replied with a smile
"Yes, yes, yes, you're absolutely right, Elder. Everyone gets sick, and no one would be foolish enough to offend a doctor, hahahaha."
Once Wang An finished, Li Ziqian asked impatiently
"So, little brother, about the bear gall?"
Wang An spoke truthfully
"It's like this, Elder. I've partnered with some people back home to start a pharmaceutical factory. The main reason we came to Anguo this time was to solve the problem of raw material supply, so we didn't bring the bear galls with us. We came to your pharmacy specifically to inquire about the prices of things like bear gall and bezoar."
Upon hearing this, Li Ziqian was somewhat disappointed. After a moment's thought, he asked tentatively
"Could it be that you have bezoar on you, little brother?"
Wang An nodded
"Yes, I have about two liang of bezoar. Also, I have some pig stones—nearly one and a half liang of pig stones. That's about it."
The scale at Wang An's home was the pole scale that Commander Wang had brought into the mountains during the gold rush; its smallest unit was the qian. Therefore, Wang An had only weighed the bezoar and pig stones roughly.
Li Ziqian looked at Wang An with a look of disbelief
"Little brother, you are truly impressive. You even have things as hard to find as bezoar and pig stones."
At this moment, Wang Li suddenly interrupted
"Our pig stones were taken from the mountains. It was from a 'big cannon-lazy,' not the domestic pig stones written on your papers here."
The moment Wang Li said the words "big cannon-lazy," the female clerk suddenly covered her mouth and giggled.
Although he didn't know why the clerk was laughing, Li Ziqian suddenly spoke sternly
"Xiao Jing, do not be rude."
The female clerk said with a hint of grievance
"I was just curious, what is a 'big cannon-lazy'?"
Wang An knew that people outside the Northeast region didn't refer to boars as "big cannon-lazies," so it was normal that this girl named Xiao Jing didn't know what it meant.
However, an old TCM practitioner of Li Ziqian's age would certainly know. Li Ziqian gave the three of them an embarrassed smile and turned to explain to Xiao Jing
"That is a term used in their region for a large boar. It's like how a female donkey is called a grass-donkey and a male donkey is called a braying-donkey."
The clerk named Xiao Jing nodded and let out an "oh," then turned to ask Wang An
"Why do you call boars 'big cannon-lazies' where you're from?"
Wang An was about to explain when he suddenly felt that this was something that "could be understood but not put into words."
Mainly, Wang An couldn't exactly tell a girl, "The reason they're called big cannon-lazies is that the larger the boar, the larger those two testicles—which look like cannonballs—are."
Thus, Wang An blinked a few times and said
"Uh, it's just a way of speaking for us mountain folk. There's no particular reason."
The clerk, Xiao Jing, frowned and asked Li Ziqian
"Grandfather, is that so?"
Wang An had never expected that this female clerk, Xiao Jing, was actually Li Ziqian's granddaughter.
Li Ziqian gave a vague affirmation and turned back to the three of them
"May I ask, how many jin did that boar with the pig stones weigh when it was killed?"
Wang An thought for a moment and said
"It must have been seven or eight hundred jin. It's just that the pig was too lean; if it had been a bit fattier, it would have easily been over a thousand jin."
As soon as Wang An finished, Li Ziqian said with some excitement
"Then you've killed a Wild Boar King!"
Wang An said nonchalantly
"I suppose you could call it that. If it's under 800 jin, we wouldn't even call it a 'King' among ourselves. It's just that pig stones are indeed hard to come by; we've killed so many wild boars, and this is the first time we've encountered one with pig stones."
Li Ziqian nodded and smiled, as if the bezoar and pig stones were already in his pocket.
But as he smiled, Li Ziqian suddenly asked
"Little brother, that Wild Boar King's stomach—have you sold it yet?"
Wang An shook his head
"Not yet. If the price isn't right, we might as well eat it. By the way, the stomach is covered in dense nodules."
In fact, Wang An not only had the stomach of this wild boar but several others, all of which had a relatively high number of "nodules."
Because stomachs with few nodules were worthless, they had all been eaten by Wang An's three families. However, while stomachs with more nodules weren't particularly valuable either, everyone knew they could treat stomach ailments, and since dried pig stomachs could be kept for years without spoiling, some had naturally been preserved.
After Wang An spoke, Li Ziqian excitedly clasped his hands together and said
"To be honest, I have an old companion whose health was ruined during those special years, and his stomach has serious problems. I have a prescription that requires several of these long-aged wild boar stomachs. Little brother, could you sell this stomach to me? I can give you a high price."
It was clear that Li Ziqian was not short on money, and his so-called "old companion" was even less so.
Of course, since ancient times, doctors have never starved, and those in the pharmaceutical business have never lacked money!
Hearing this, Wang An said without hesitation
"I can. These things aren't of much use to us anyway. If the price is right, I'll sell."
Wang An didn't care about the health of Li Ziqian's "old companion"; even if the man were on the brink of death, Wang An wouldn't care.
The only thing Wang An cared about was how much money Li Ziqian could give him.
(End of Chapter)