Sea Merchant

"Does it really not suck blood or bite people?" Chen Qingjiang asked.

"It really doesn't." The herb merchant turned the leech over in his palm. "Look, it's been on my hand half the day—do I have so much as a tiny wound? Golden Thread Leeches aren't bloodsucking leeches. They love eating snails, clams, and decaying matter. Merchant caravans heading south all call them 'Pond Snail Suckers.'

"When it gets especially cold, like the Minor Snow two days ago, they stop eating and drinking. Two more days, when Major Snow arrives, they barely move at all and enter hibernation."

With that said,

Chen Qingjiang and Liang Qu each reached out and grabbed a handful.

Slimy and icy cold.

Because the weather was too cold, the leeches had little vitality and allowed themselves to be handled as though dead.

The sensation was exceedingly strange.

They put them back into the bucket.

Then washed their hands by the riverbank.

"How much profit can one mu of land bring this year?"

"Leeches must be dried before they can be used as medicine, so they are generally traded by dry weight. At present, one jin of top-grade dried goods fetches roughly six hundred and sixty cash, while medium-grade goods... After deducting the farmers' planting costs, land tax, merchant tax, and all sorts of other expenses, this old man calculated from previous years' accounts that one mu of Rice Leech fields can yield an average net profit of around five to six taels.

"Dark Spotted Frogs are worth slightly less than leeches and sell for a little cheaper, so Rice Frogs bring in around five taels per mu."

How strange.

A net profit of five to six taels! Chen Qingjiang clicked his tongue.

Growing medicinal herbs earned more than growing rice.

One mu was worth what