Fifteen days ago, Author: Pig Heart Shrimp
Chapter 10: Linchuan Medicinal Fruits
At noon, several fat and big-eared monks performed a half-hour ritual, costing Gu Wen dozens of taels of silver.
With this, the household finally settled down.
However, just to be safe, Gu Wen still didn't plan to stay at home tonight.
He could sense that these fat and big-eared monks had no extraordinary powers.
"Master Wen, why do you need so many account books?" Jiang Fugui struggled to bring over half a box of account books, placing them on the table.
These were the account books of the Wang Family over the years, to be precise, the Longqiao Water House's account books.
If it were someone else, they might worry about being held accountable for embezzlement.
But Gu Wen had made it clear when caught embezzling silver for the first time that the amount of silver was not the issue; the issue was not messing things up.
Gu Wen picked up the account books and quickly flipped through them without looking up, saying, "Can you get the account books of the Wang Family?"
"How could I get the account books of the Wang Family?" Jiang Fugui chuckled helplessly. "Master, although we provide the most silver to the Wang Family, we are still just servants. At most, we only have the expenditure account books."
"Bring them here."
Jiang Fugui took out two account books, saying, "This one is from the past year, and the other is from the year before."
In the eleventh year of Qiandao, a total of thirty-eight thousand taels were handed over to the Wang Family...
Qiandao, the current national title, was similar in style to the self-proclaimed Daoist Emperor.
And the Longqiao Water House supplied the Wang Family with thirty-eight thousand taels of silver each year.
Every time Gu Wen saw this, he couldn't help but sigh, "Great Qi is finished."
To know the cost of one soldier in the Forbidden Army, including clothing, food, special expenses, and rewards, it cost about thirty taels a year, or thirty-five guan.
His water house's thirty-eight thousand taels a year were enough to pay the annual military salary of at least thirty thousand Forbidden Army soldiers.
And all of this was in real silver, not calculated in terms of grain, oil, or cloth, with an actual value one-third higher.
Compared to the three hundred thousand Forbidden Army soldiers, it wasn't considered too much.
But this was only the revenue from supplying water to the Longqiao shops.
It only accounted for less than a tenth of the entire Longqiao, not including places like the brothels and gambling dens.
Longqiao was a place where the nobles enjoyed themselves.
The fact that an entertainment venue's revenue could provide military pay was outrageous.
However, he was not checking the account books out of concern for the country or the people, but to find out the source of Tianzhui.
Currently, the only thing known was the elixirs in Fairy Yuhua's hands, which he obviously couldn't obtain.
So, he had to focus on Zhao Feng.
Since the Zhao Family had been in contact with the Immortal Sect early on, there was no reason for Zhao Feng not to cultivate.
Cultivation inevitably required medicine, and buying medicine inevitably required getting silver through the water house.
Page by page, Gu Wen quickly flipped through the account books and realized another benefit of cultivation: his perception was much faster than before.
The so-called perpetuation of life might not only apply to the physical body but also to the spirit.
Truly extraordinary, just entering the door made him overall stronger.
Suddenly, Gu Wen paused, a smile appearing on his lips. "Found it."
On the third day of the third month, the Grand Supervisor of the Wang Family, Feng Xiang, took twenty thousand taels of silver to purchase supplementary medicine.
Although the water house and the Wang Family's bills were separate, the Wang Family's treasury did not always have silver on hand.
Sometimes they had to directly withdraw from the water house, and to prevent embezzlement, they had to record it clearly each time.
It was always better to leave some fat on the meat; not taking all the fat directly was the reason why even if Zhao Feng came personally, he should still keep a record.
After all, any unrecorded transactions would be a loophole, and who knows how much could leak out from there.
Destination: Purchase Linchuan Medicinal Fruits.
Linchuan, one of the thirteen counties of Great Qi, located in the southwest with many mountains and little arable land and foul waters.
Due to the abundant forests, it produced precious mountain treasures, animal skins, and medicinal herbs.
Among them, the most famous was the Linchuan Medicinal Fruit, said to have the effect of nourishing yin, supplementing yang, prolonging life, and was highly sought after by many nobles, even listed as a tribute by the court.
Every year, Linchuan County had to send a large amount of medicinal fruits to Bianjing.
Bianjing, or Great Qi's top nobles and prestigious families, seemed to be fond of various elixirs.
Even someone like Zhao Feng, who claimed to be a wise king, often spent a huge amount of money on medicine.
It was understandable for the powerful to seek longevity; throughout history, people always wanted to live longer.
But if cultivation truly existed in the world, then the powerful were most likely to have encountered it.
The various medicinal herbs they consumed might have extraordinary effects, and their seemingly bizarre diet might not necessarily be in vain.
Gu Wen recalled relevant information in his mind.
This was all he knew about medicinal fruits.
After all, he monopolized the water well business, so knowing things outside his industry was already quite famous.
"Fugui, go buy some Linchuan Medicinal Fruits."
"Master, these are tribute items, it might be difficult to obtain."
Jiang Fugui had heard of Linchuan Medicinal Fruits.
It was said that their medicinal properties were comparable to ginseng's treasures.
"It was easier to buy them in previous years. One fruit used to cost one guan, but the price increased every year. After being listed as a tribute by the court, the vast majority of medicinal fruits flowing into Bianjing are managed by the Imperial Treasury, and they are rarely sold to the public."
The Imperial Treasury, the place where tributes were managed.
Due to the vastness and diversity of Great Qi, the quantity and variety of tributes were extremely large.
There was generally only one way to obtain tributes, and that was to receive them as rewards from the Emperor.
All the good stuff had been taken by the Zhao Family.
Gu Wen cursed in his heart that Great Qi would eventually fall.
Then he said, "If we can't find them legally, we'll find them illegally."
Even the things from the palace could be stolen and sold, so tribute items could definitely be sold.
Jiang Fugui took five hours for this trip.
By the time the sun had set, Gu Wen, under the pretext of continuing to entertain the bodyguards, rode a carriage back to the Flower Tower.
This time, he didn't need to entertain anyone; the bodyguards chose a beautiful lady to accompany themselves upstairs.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Who is it?"
"Master Wen, it's me. I've brought what you asked for."
Jiang Fugui pushed the door open, holding a box and placing it on the table with a pained expression, saying, "Oh my goodness, this thing is so expensive, it's worth more than gold. Just these few medicinal fruits cost me a hundred taels of silver."
Gu Wen opened the box, a faint bitter taste piercing his nostrils.
Inside were ten thumb-sized red fruits with crystal-clear skins.
He picked up one and asked, "How did you get these?"
Jiang Fugui sat down, poured himself a glass of water, and drank it to soothe his smoking throat, saying, "Although they are tribute items, the major pharmacies secretly sell them, but the quantity is limited. If you want more, you might have to go to the Old One-Armed Man in the Tooth Market."
The Old One-Armed Man was the largest slave trader in Bianjing's Tooth Market.
However, Gu Wen walked the right path, while the Old One-Armed Man operated in the shadows.
Gu Wen had seen him a few times, a man nearing fifty, with his right eye gouged out, a veteran who seemed to have crawled out of a pile of dead bodies, with a mouth full of yellow teeth when he smiled.
No one knew his name, and even his employer behind the scenes was unclear.
It was normal for those in the shadows to not reveal themselves openly.
Gu Wen picked up a medicinal fruit and slowly placed it in his mouth.
He had eaten this kind of fruit at some banquets before, and it was non-toxic.
But just like the bean juice, boiled eggs in boys' urine, and other exotic delicacies from his past life, the taste of the medicinal fruit was not praiseworthy.
Slightly bitter, followed by a numbing sensation on the tongue, then a spicy throat.
The only commendable thing was its fragrance, with a unique and peculiar aroma.
He chewed slowly, as usual.
The faint golden light representing fate in his body trembled slightly.
Tianzhui had increased, but not by much.
It worked!
Gu Wen's spirit shook.
Indeed, as he had suspected, cultivation was not an unattainable matter.
The nobles of Great Qi had long been in contact with it.
And there was no wall in the world that was completely airtight.
He swallowed the remaining nine medicinal fruits without hesitation, the intense bitterness and unique fragrance spreading.
Jiang Fugui's face was full of confusion.
He remembered that Master Wen had never eaten such things before.
Had his interests and hobbies changed to be like those of the nobles now that he had a title?
The fate only trembled slightly, and Tianzhui still did not increase.
Not enough, not nearly enough.
Gu Wen asked, "Can we still buy Linchuan Medicinal Fruits?"
Jiang Fugui replied, "Old One-Armed Man didn't say, but these things are very expensive. One hundred taels for ten fruits. I heard that when you go to the mountain people in Linchuan to buy them, they are sold by weight."
"It's normal for the black market price to be high, after all, it's illegal activities. Moreover, Linchuan is full of poor mountains and foul waters. Going into the mountains to purchase them means facing mountain bandits, and bringing them back to Bianjing involves both water and land routes. Plus, you have to ensure the fruits don't break, so one hundred taels for ten fruits is not expensive."
Gu Wen shook his head.
As long as it was what he needed to increase his fate, any amount of money was worth it.
Copper, silver, and gold were ultimately external possessions that one couldn't bring into the world or take out of it.
One fruit cost ten taels, half a year's living expenses for an ordinary Bianjing resident, and a year's living expenses for a Great Qi resident.
But for Gu Wen, it wasn't expensive.
He had ten thousand taels of silver in hand, which meant a thousand fruits.
And Gu Wen also had a water house.
It was simple for him to embezzle another one or two thousand taels of silver from it.
It wasn't necessary before, but now it was different.
"Go find the Old One-Armed Man again. How many fruits does he have? I want five thousand... no, start with five thousand taels."
"What? Master, what do you need these things for?"
"To deal with some nobles, but since it's reselling tribute items, let's keep it a bit cleaner."
Many books are now hard to find, so cherish what you have.