Before Li Long opened the sack, he figured the Fritillaria inside would probably be much the same as the previous day's.
But when he opened it, he found bulbs of all sizes mixed with bits of grass and leaves, and felt a faint flicker of dissatisfaction-not with the two men in front of him, but with whoever had dug them up.
He could not help grumbling inwardly: There's so much Fritillaria in Fritillaria Gully. Don't you know to pick out the big bulbs to dig up? The little ones could grow for another two years!
And you didn't even remove the grass and leaves when you dug them up. Don't you know the Purchasing Station will downgrade your Fritillaria for that?
Of course, he only grumbled to himself. After all, these two men had merely confiscated the Fritillaria, not dug it up.
He lifted the sack to gauge its weight, and his heart gave a jolt-something was wrong!
He looked up at the interpreter and asked:
"Was this what the Fritillaria looked like when you got it from other people?"
"No, no, no, we dug it ourselves." The interpreter waved a hand. "We didn't get it from anyone else."
Li Long laughed, then said seriously:
"This isn't the first time we've done business. Would you know how to dig Fritillaria? No way. You must have collected this from other people. Don't worry. I'm just a purchasing agent. I don't concern myself with all that."
"All right, all right, you Han Chinese are too clever-yes, we confiscated this Fritillaria from a few people. They went into the gully to dig without our permission. This was dug by three people..."
"Did you mix what all three dug together?" Li Long asked. "This Fritillaria... isn't good."
"What's wrong with it?" The interpreter immediately