143 The Journey North 3

"Ah! This one is pleased to hear that. The Barbarians appear to have made an attack on the lines a little earlier this year, and some of our usual supplies from the North and our branches in the East have yet to arrive. Hence we were a little concerned about meeting the Marquis' needs."

Luo Junyuan was cautious when he heard the two younger fellows mention the Barbarian assault. Who hadn't heard the wild tales that had been filtering into Changqing City over the last two, three days? About how the Marquis' armies had met with an out of season attack, and how they had repelled the same.

The Second Ducal Prince and his companion, the mysterious young Master Qin Feng, had also played a rather prominent role in some of the tales that were sweeping the city tea houses and restaurants. Which was enough to make Deputy Hall Manager Luo more than a little concerned when the former appeared at Fu Lai Medicine Hall that morning.

But it was clear, in his interaction with Prince Li Changhai, that the Second Ducal Prince was simply helping to smooth the way for the young man whose henchman had brought in those exceptional herbs earlier.

As if Luo Junyuan needed that sort of reminder!

Still, he could not help but feel somewhat grateful towards the Second Ducal Prince. It seemed the Prince was taking pains to ensure that Fu Lai Medicine Hall did not find itself in any trouble dealing the youth. As if any of the people working for the Medicine Hall would dare!

He had taken pains, and Assistant Hall Manager Ling Jing'er had reinforced his warnings, to ensure that everyone in the Medicine Hall knew the name Qin Feng. As for those who had seen the young man before, they were spread out across the different shifts through the Fu Lai Medicine Hall as well, so that they could catch sight of him early, and so give warning, ever since he was known to have arrived in Changqing City.

Of course, the arrival of the Second Ducal Prince, about an hour before, to warn the Deputy Hall Manager, had been a bit of a surprise. It did give Luo Junyuan a chance to properly prepare himself, and his people though.

"Well, I happen to have a rather substantial amount of herbs with me, and I shall be leaving Changqing City soon. Hence I thought I might sell some of them to your Medicine Hall. You see, I shall be traveling on, to the Ducal City of Yanyun, and I believe that I would need some funds for my journey."

He didn't give the Deputy Hall Manager a chance to speak, and quickly started to take out a series of herbs and fruits from the pouch at his side. In truth, he was using that simple, ordinary piece of cloth to hide the fact that he was extracting the same from the ring that he was wearing on his left ring finger. After all, he had no intention of revealing all of his assets!

Not that Luo Junyuan had any leisure to wonder about the method that he was using to transport his medicines. The Deputy Hall Manager was already dazed by the sight of all those rare and uncommon plants, so much so that his mouth was hanging open.

Fortunately, he managed to recover before Qin Feng could complete his little exercise, and immediately started to tabulate the value of what had just been laid out in front of him. Of course, that took him a little longer than what was expected, such that both the Second Ducal Prince and Qin Feng had no choice but to sit in their chairs and sip at their tea as they waited for him to finish.

"This ... This is much more than what I had expected, Master Qin."

Deputy Hall Manager Luo Junyuan mopped at the perspiration on his temples with a sleeve as he finally looked up nervously at the pair. "Your ... offering has a rough value of close to three million pieces of silver. Or thirty thousand pieces of gold. That is if you do not care to accept a trade, as you have before?"

Qin Feng mouth twitched slightly, as he fought to control his expression. That much money? The medicinal herbs and such that he had brought to Fu Lai Medicine Hall were worth that much money? He had always traded medicine for medicine, and never really bothered to deal in coin, since he didn't really need it.

But thirty thousand gold pieces?

He could not help but be astounded by that revelation. And he had only taken out about a third of all the herbs that he had collected in the Southern Forest! And those which were of no value to him! How much would he be offered if he took out the rest of the medicinal herbs that he had?

All at once, he was no longer that upset with the deal that he had made with the two Elders back at the Heaven Sword School. Had they known that they had dropped close to a hundred thousand gold pieces' worth of medicinal plants into his hands, would they not be tearing their own hair out by the roots?

An image of Elder Ming and Elder Xuan with bald heads surfaced in his mind then, rendering Qin Feng unable to hold back his amusement. And his burst of laughter was enough to surprise both the Second Ducal Prince and the Medicine Hall's Deputy Hall Manager.

"Ah! My apologies. The figure that you have just named happens to match the total of one of my Senior Disciple Sister's dowry. So you will have to forgive me. It is just too amusing.

"I wonder what she would do, if she learns of this?"

* * *