Lu Yong took one bundle of herbs from each basket and placed them on the same cloth.
"If you think it's too low, you can keep them and wait. I leave tomorrow. The next person buying in bulk here won't come for several days."
Auntie Sang did not rush to answer. First, she separated the two bundles again and asked him exactly how much went toward storage and how much toward guarding the route.
Lu Yong quoted several figures and pointed toward a guard having his wounds dressed in the distance.
"He was hurt on the last trip. People need to eat, wounds need tending, and broken carts need repairs. Ask around and see who'll cover that for you for free."
Chen Xiuyuan looked at the guard. The man's forearm was in a sling, yet he was still sorting ropes for his companions with his other hand. The injury was no act. Lu Yong was willing to pay that expense, and he could indeed organize herb shipments over distances far beyond Blood Stone.
"Route protection deserves payment," Chen Xiuyuan said. "But these two baskets use the same cart and travel the same stretch of road. Why erase the price difference between good herbs and poor ones too?"
Lu Yong lifted his eyelids.
"If I buy the whole lot, I bear the risk of not selling the whole lot. If you pick out the good ones to sell elsewhere, then come to me with the poor ones left over, I'm not here to mind your stall for you."
"No one said you had to take the rest. I'm only asking whether you'll offer a different price for the good herbs alone."
"No."
The answer fell sharp and clean. A fellow herb gatherer beside them could not help tugging at Auntie Sang's sleeve, reminding her that it was getting late. Everyone still had grain and salt to buy, and putting it off until tomorrow meant another night's food and lodging.
Auntie Sang looked at the herbs on the cart. She had dried the good roots one plant at a time while the weather was still clear. If she sold at this price today, many of the things she had promised to bring back for others would have to be cut in half.
"I'll look around some more."
Lu Yong tucked his cart tag back at his waist. He did not lose his temper on the spot, merely telling the assistant with him not to tie his cargo ropes onto Auntie Sang's baskets.
"Come find me when you've thought it through. But I buy first come, first served. Don't wait until the space for good stock is full, then blame me for not showing you consideration."
After he left, the herb gatherer grew even more anxious, saying that many of the buyers nearby had dealings with the Lu family. They might not find a better price elsewhere.
Chen Xiuyuan first told Shi Lei that he wanted to accompany Auntie Sang to ask at a few stalls that bought herbs in small quantities. Shi Lei had another guard take over the last cart and told them not to carry entire baskets, only samples that showed the quality, so they would not have to unload everything afresh wherever they asked.
Auntie Sang selected the samples herself. There were good roots and thinner ones, and she even took a little from each of the less-than-best bundles at the bottom.
The first herb stall would only take a very small amount. Its price was slightly higher than Lu Yong's, but it wanted to barter old stock. Auntie Sang inspected the salt they brought out, found it caked together with damp, and shook her head and left.
The second would take more. Seeing her neatly prepared roots, the proprietor first praised them with a smile, but when calculating payment, he counted overly long rootlets as unwanted material to be deducted too. Auntie Sang snapped a root open on the spot and asked him to explain which part could not be used. He merely said every buyer had different practices, and she could go elsewhere if she did not want to sell.
When they left the shelter, the light at the horizon had already faded.
Chen Xiuyuan's legs ached a little, but Auntie Sang was even less willing to stop than he was. She settled the rewrapped samples securely and said they would ask at one last place. If no one would take them, she would sell only enough to buy grain and salt and bring the rest back. She refused to let all her good stock go cheap just because she had made the trip.
The last stall had no sign advertising herb purchases.
A woman stood before a low table, placing two pottery cups side by side in the shade and stopping a man who wanted to take his medicine away immediately. Her sleeves were rolled to her elbows, traces of medicinal stains that would not wash away remained beneath her nails, and bamboo slips beside the table bore different people's names.
"Don't drink it while it's hot. Wait until I've checked this cup."
The man said he still had to hurry back to East Slope. She told him to sit down first, then turned and tilted the cup she had set down earlier, carefully inspecting the fine sediment at the bottom.
Chen Xiuyuan watched for a while before signaling to Auntie Sang. Auntie Sang stepped forward and asked whether she bought Scarlet Whisker Root. Instead of asking the price first, the woman told her to put her samples on the dry table, then asked whether they all came from the same batch.
"They were gathered on the same day, from two hillsides. I've already separated them by quality."
"Don't mix the two places together. I'll inspect them separately."
She untied the herb bundles, selected one of the finest-looking roots, then drew two inconspicuous ones from the center of a bundle. She cleared away the dirt, examined the root crowns, and only then snapped them open to inspect the cross sections.
Chen Xiuyuan recognized several of her checks, but there was another spot she lightly scraped with her fingernail that he did not understand. Auntie Sang asked whether they had been dried too much. The woman shook her head and said two roots were still damp inside. They looked dry outside, but if left against the other herbs too long, they could easily spoil the whole bundle.
"This bundle needs a separate price."
Auntie Sang took it and checked. Sure enough, she felt a little moisture on the broken surface. She immediately brought out two more bundles wrapped the same way and asked whether those needed to be rejected too.
"I haven't inspected them yet. How could I answer for them?"
After speaking, the woman handed Chen Xiuyuan a dry tray. "If you have a hand free, separate the opened bundles over here. Don't stuff those two roots back in."
He took the tray and separated them as instructed. Only after seeing him set the ones that could not yet be judged in a separate place did she ask, "Who taught you to identify herbs?"
"Elder Shi from Blood Stone, and Auntie Sang."
She looked up at the two of them.
"My name is Zhu Qinghe. Elder Shi delivered herbs some years back. He did put some care into what passed through his hands."
Hearing that she knew Elder Shi, Auntie Sang's expression eased, but she did not use that to ask for a higher price. She merely explained clearly which batch the old man had inspected and which she had newly dried herself.
Zhu Qinghe inspected every sample, then set aside the two damp roots and one bundle that was indeed too young.
"I won't buy these as good stock. For the rest, this price."
She used a bamboo slip to note the quantities for exchange beside the table and let Auntie Sang calculate them herself.
Chen Xiuyuan followed the figures. Converted into the grain and salt they had originally hoped to bring back, it was considerably better than Lu Yong's depressed price for the whole lot. But these were only samples. Zhu Qinghe had not yet inspected the rest of the herbs on the cart, nor had she promised a uniformly high price for everything.
Auntie Sang asked how much she could take. Zhu Qinghe gave the quantity she actually needed on this trip. Whether she could take the rest depended on the stock at East Slope.
"I won't stockpile things I can't use just to secure your whole cartload. If you're willing to sell, deliver herbs of the quality inspected today. If anything's mixed in underneath, I'll reject it all the same."
"I'll sell you this portion first," Auntie Sang said.
Chen Xiuyuan returned to the cart rest area to fetch the herbs. After hearing what had happened, Shi Lei told another guard to keep watching the carts and accompanied him himself. The herbs they brought were opened and inspected in front of them. Sure enough, a few more damp roots hidden in the centers of bundles were picked out. Auntie Sang accepted this and did not charge for them alongside the good stock.
Zhu Qinghe weighed what she kept and placed the copper coins owed, along with several small packets of the agreed common medicines, on the table. The coins settled one by one. When Auntie Sang finished counting, she finally put down her herb basket and let out a long breath.
"This portion is enough to buy the salt I promised to bring back."
She spoke quietly, but Chen Xiuyuan felt lighter too. The weariness from all their inquiries still lingered in his feet. At least this trip had not brought them nothing but an empty verbal promise of a low price.
A herb gatherer who had originally shared their cart came looking for them. Seeing the herbs and money on the table, he hurriedly asked whether he could bring his basket over too.
Zhu Qinghe told him to fetch samples first.
The man wanted to give her a bundle from the very top, but Auntie Sang stopped him. "Take some from the middle and bottom too. If you really pick out all the good roots, she'll still open everything up later."
Chen Xiuyuan helped wrap the rejected damp roots separately. Just as he was about to return with Shi Lei, Zhu Qinghe suddenly asked, "Which road are you taking back?"
Shi Lei said they would leave from the south of the market and skirt the mountains on their way back to Blood Stone.
"Then how much longer are you staying here?"
"We still have a few things to trade for tomorrow morning."
Zhu Qinghe turned toward the man waiting for his medicine. He had already packed the cups away and was standing at the junction, waiting for her instructions. She had him list the supplies missing from the East Slope medicine shelter again. On hearing two of them, she asked Shi Lei whether he could take on a short escort job first.
"The herbs I bought today need to be delivered there. My own cart is still at Bluestone Ferry and won't make it before dark. If we wait until the day after tomorrow, the shelter will run out of these supplies."
Hearing Bluestone Ferry mentioned, Chen Xiuyuan asked whether the journey was far.
"From Red Sand to East Slope, it's normally half a day. But the last stretch of slope has been soaked by rain. With so many carts passing through, the road is difficult."
Meng Cheng was then invited over as well. As soon as he heard East Slope, he pointed at the short wooden carrying pole beneath the table and said he had traveled that road. The worst part was the old drainage ditch on the final stretch. If a cart was too heavy, the soil beside the ditch would sink. The heavy crates needed to be unloaded beforehand and carried over separately.
Zhu Qinghe asked whether they could deliver by tomorrow. Meng Cheng thought for a moment and did not agree outright.
"That depends on how much goes on the cart. If those thick pottery jars are loaded on too, I wouldn't dare."
"Then split the load."
Zhu Qinghe listed the different goods to be transported and asked Shi Lei whether there were enough guards. Shi Lei said someone had to stay and watch the herbs they had originally brought. He could go, and so could Chen Xiuyuan, but this was not merely lending a hand along the way. The guards' and carters' pay needed to be calculated afresh.
"As it should be," Zhu Qinghe said.
Only then did Chen Xiuyuan realize that she was not asking for two people to stand beside her cart for half a day. Who would free a stuck cart, who would bear responsibility if the herbs got wet, and whether there was time for an unexpected detour-all of it required people to go there and deal with what lay before them.
He asked exactly where they were delivering and how they should handle anyone blocking the road. Zhu Qinghe said the route was usually traveled by nearby herb farmers, and the market guards knew her too. But beasts on mountain roads and collapses after rain did not care about anyone's name. They should not take her reputation as a medicine maker as a guarantee of safety on the road.
Shi Lei laughed at that. "With you making that clear up front, it's easier to discuss."
They agreed to inspect the road conditions tomorrow morning before deciding the load. Zhu Qinghe moved the herbs she had bought into her own shelter and returned the unsold portion to Auntie Sang. The herb purchase and the escort hire remained two separate transactions. She did not use the new job to reduce the payment already owed for the herbs.
As darkness fell, Chen Xiuyuan and Auntie Sang returned to the cart rest area. Lu Yong was beside his own cart overseeing the loading. Seeing that she had already obtained grain and salt, he asked whether she still intended to sell the remaining herbs.
Auntie Sang lifted the half-empty basket for him to see.
"I won't sell at your price."
Lu Yong inspected the herb packets, recognized the markings at their openings, then looked at Chen Xiuyuan. "You've struck a deal with Zhu Qinghe?"
Chen Xiuyuan did not hide it and answered in acknowledgment.
"She's meticulous in her inspections and just as meticulous in her payments. If you can manage this with every batch from now on, you can indeed sell for more." Lu Yong handed a length of cart rope to his assistant. "Only I'm afraid there's still a road to travel from here to wherever she needs the goods."
Auntie Sang shouldered her herb basket and argued no further.
Chen Xiuyuan followed her back to the cart. Meng Cheng was handing Shi Lei a long pole, its end stained with dark, damp mud.
"I asked someone heading back toward East Slope to make inquiries," Meng Cheng said. "The ditch at the foot of the slope took on water again last night."
Shi Lei took the pole and told Chen Xiuyuan to inspect it with him tomorrow morning.
"Prices can be negotiated. First, we need to know the road under our feet."