Picking Up a Bargain: Polygonatum Jade Essence

The Black Market was as lively as ever.

Whenever the Black Market opened, all sorts of people came to sell stolen goods or shop.

Chen Xun, dressed in a black robe and wearing a monkey mask, blended into the crowd.

He paused at every stall he passed. If he saw nothing he liked, he quietly moved on.

After passing dozens of stalls like this, he finally stopped before one.

"This old ginseng looks good. How much?"

Chen Xun picked up a ginseng root still covered in dirt from the stall and asked.

The ginseng was as thick as two fingers, with intact roots. It was around twenty years old.

"You've got a good eye, sir. I dug this old ginseng up from deep in the mountains after great difficulty."

"I'm not asking for much. Thirty taels will do."

Seeing a customer asking about the price, the stall owner's eyes lit up as he hurriedly named a price.

"Twenty taels."

Chen Xun haggled.

"You can't buy old ginseng of this quality for twenty taels. How about this? I'll knock off one tael. Twenty-nine taels?"

"Twenty-one taels. That's about what the apothecaries in town charge."

"But you might not be able to buy it there. The moment old ginseng like this appears, people rush to buy it. Twenty-eight taels. I can't go any lower."

Thus, the two haggled back and forth until they finally settled on twenty-five taels.

"Twenty-five taels it is, but you have to throw in something extra."

"I don't want anything valuable. How about giving me that large piece of polygonatum?"

Chen Xun pointed at the palm-sized piece of polygonatum in the corner of the stall.

"Ah, sir, you really don't let yourself lose out. Fine, I'll give you a piece of polygonatum."

The stall owner spoke helplessly.

He