Whether one likes it or not, Li Ziqian's children and grandchildren were quite a bit more decent than the old man himself.
Counting only those who had entered the room, there were four sons and eleven grandsons. Judging by the way Li Yajing addressed everyone, she likely had three or four eldest uncles and several older brothers who were not currently here in Anguo.
However, from the conversations among Li Yajing's brothers, it wasn't hard to tell that old Li Ziqian didn't have just one wife; he must have had several. Mentions of a "Third Grandma" and "Fifth Grandma" popped out of the mouths of Zhang Jingya's brothers.
Of course, Wang An only listened from the sidelines and didn't ask any curious questions.
Wang An generally had no interest in prying into matters that didn't concern him.
The only thing that left him wondering was how Li Ziqian's family had survived the special periods of those years.
One had to realize that the purges during those years were brutal, especially for wealthy people like Li Ziqian, who were often dealt with quite miserably.
However, the answer soon came from the chatter of the group: this branch of the Li family had been staying in Hong Kong.
Once things quieted down here a few years ago, they had finally returned from Hong Kong.
He had to admit, these rich people were damn shrewd, and their foresight was remarkably visionary.
But as soon as he thought of this, Wang An felt a phantom ache in his teeth.
Actually, it wasn't just his teeth; his heart ached, his liver ached, his lungs ached—everything ached.
Mainly because Hong Kong had been leased to the little English by that old slut Empress Dowager Cixi. They called it a lease, but in reality, it was a giveaway, and it still hadn't been returned.
Of course, as a small fry, Wang An could only feel indignant about these things, because there was nothing he could do.
But what really made Wang An feel the ache everywhere was that the English used an enormous amount of perfume.
Therefore, without surprise, a portion of the musk sachets Wang An sold to the Li family would certainly be shipped to Hong Kong and then sold to the English for perfume production.
Consequently, Wang An felt he had undersold his musk; he had lost out big time.
Damn it, even though he had been reborn, Wang An found that he still couldn't outmaneuver "old foxes" like Li Ziqian.
Fortunately, when he considered that the Li family's costs were also high and the risks of transport were significant, Wang An felt much more balanced.
Of course, these were all just guesses Wang An made from their fragmented conversations; he didn't know the actual situation.
However, it was certain that the main reason the Li Pharmacy's purchase price for high-end medicinal materials was far higher than other pharmacies was that their market was not limited to the domestic one.
Wang An knew that by the 90s, the price of pure natural wild musk abroad had already reached a high of four to five thousand yuan per gram.
Even farm-raised musk went for five to six hundred yuan per gram, and even synthetic musk cost several or even ten-plus yuan per gram.
Even now, the price of pure wild musk abroad should be around six to seven hundred or even seven to eight hundred yuan per gram.
Yes, the price of musk was just that absurd—completely absurd.
It wouldn't be surprising if it were this high, because Li Ziqian had bought it from Wang An at nearly 300 yuan per gram; who would believe he wasn't making a profit?
But then again, how much money others made was their own capability; it had nothing to do with Wang An.
As Li Ziqian's children and grandchildren陆续 arrived in the room, a whole sack of iron gallbladders and grass gallbladders were inspected one by one. The speed of inspection was very fast.
Just like that, in less than two hours, all the iron and grass gallbladders had been inspected by the fifteen people.
Next came the time for settling the accounts.
6 pieces of Grade 5 dried leaf ginseng totaling 220.8 grams, at 215 yuan per gram, plus a 10% premium, valued at 52,220 yuan.
1 piece of Grade 5 fresh leaf ginseng over 80 years old, 15,000 yuan.
1 piece of Grade 4 fresh leaf ginseng over 70 years old, 7,000 yuan.
3 pieces of Grade 4 fresh leaf ginseng over 60 years old, 6,000 yuan each, totaling 18,000 yuan.
Another 3 pieces of Grade 4 fresh leaf ginseng over 50 years old totaling 162.4 grams, at 25 yuan per gram, plus a 10% premium, valued at 4,470 yuan.
And 3 pieces of Grade 3 leaf ginseng under 50 years totaling 95.5 grams, at 20 yuan per gram, plus a 10% premium, valued at 2,000 yuan.
Bezoar 102.3 grams, at 30 yuan per gram, plus a 10% premium and 1,000 yuan compensation, totaling 4,380 yuan.
11 musk sachets, not weighed, 8,000 yuan each, plus a 10% premium and 3,000 yuan compensation from Li Ziqian, totaling 99,800 yuan.
The price of the bear gall powder was basically the same as what Wang An and his two companions had calculated at home, with very little error.
The total price for the dark brown iron gall powder, dark green iron gall powder, and grass gall powder was 339,260 yuan, only about 600 yuan less than what the three of them had calculated at home.
But this was normal; after all, when they calculated at home, they hadn't weighed them after removing the gall bladder skins, and the weight of each skin varied.
Finally, because Li Ziqian gave separate pricing for those fresh ginsengs and added various compensations, the Li Pharmacy needed to pay Wang An's group a total of 542,130 yuan, which was over 40,000 yuan more than their home estimate.
When it came to the cash transaction, the Li Pharmacy's method once again refreshed Wang An's perception of the Li family.
Because the 540,000-plus yuan in cash was not all provided by the Li Pharmacy itself; the vast majority was held by Li Ziqian's children and grandchildren.
The four sons, including Li Yongrui, each brought 40,000 yuan in cash, and the eleven grandchildren each brought 30,000 yuan. Only the remaining 52,000-plus yuan was taken from the pharmacy's safe.
After helping the pharmacy verify the bear galls and counting the money they had each brought, once Wang An's group loaded the sack of "Big Unity" bills into the car, Li Ziqian's descendants each took some bear galls and ginseng and departed.
The Li family's approach was a perfect demonstration of the phrase "united as a fire, scattered as a sky full of stars."
This method could not be called anything other than shrewd, because whether it was money or goods, everything was stored in a decentralized manner.
If someone were spying on the Li Pharmacy, they would be left completely bewildered.
No wonder they had stood firm for so many years without falling; this way of managing wealth was not something an ordinary person could learn.
It was no exaggeration to say that if any irresistible event occurred, it would be impossible to root them out completely; solving a small portion of them would be lucky.
After loading the sack of cash into the GAZ, and agreeing with Li Ziqian to return tomorrow morning at 9:00, Wang An and his companions drove away. (End of Chapter)