Old Jin was indeed familiar with the local situation. Upon hearing this, he said, "There are indeed medicinal herb warehouses nearby, but if it's a short-term rental, the rent is quite expensive, fifteen taels of silver a month."
Gu Qingcheng and Gu Chaobei discussed it. They decided to rent for one month at fifteen taels of silver.
Old Jin proved to be an excellent connector and soon secured a warehouse near the medicinal herb market.
Gu Chaobei's family inspected the warehouse and was quite satisfied.
The warehouse was located deep within a lane, offering a quiet environment. Deliveries of herbs would not disturb anyone, nor would they attract public attention.
"Alright, we'll take it," Gu Chaobei decided.
With a warehouse, they would have ample space to store any amount of herbs they purchased.
The next day, Old Jin posted a bounty to help them find rare medicinal herbs, while the Gu family went to the market to purchase frantically.
They paid a deposit upfront, instructing the herb merchants to deliver the goods to the warehouse.
Gu Chaobei was in charge of the purchases at the medicinal herb market, while Gu Qingcheng, her mother, and Migou waited at the warehouse to receive the deliveries.
Gu Qingcheng made sure they were comfortable. In the courtyard of the warehouse, she set up a fine tea table. The three of them enjoyed tea and exquisite pastries, basking in the sun while waiting for the deliveries, feeling content.
Once the herbs arrived, Gu Qingcheng waited for the merchants to leave before putting them into the storage cabinet.
Within a single day, the storage cabinet received over 20 tons of medicinal herbs. These were mainly for treating common ailments like headaches and fevers, as well as some for chronic conditions affecting the liver and kidneys.
Gu Chaobei, with his knowledge of both Eastern and Western medicine, couldn't resist stocking up upon seeing such high-quality herbs.
Returning to the warehouse, Gu Chaobei exclaimed with delight,
"Look, these few herbs, after careful preparation, can be made into Angong Niuhuang Pills, a precious and esteemed medicine.
In our time, people said such medicines were not as effective as before, which was actually due to insufficient medicinal properties.
Here, the herbs are aged and wild-grown. Once made into finished products, their effects will surely be excellent. If I can produce a batch back home, they will hold their value even better than gold in the future!"
Gu Chaobei's face was full of anticipation.
Gu Qingcheng then realized that her father's intention in collecting these herbs was for medicinal purposes.
Gu Qingcheng suddenly felt that her father had finally found a lifelong passion to pursue.
Before Gu Qingcheng could speak, Gu Chaobei revealed his thoughts:
"Seeing so many medicinal herbs in this market, I believe we should try to stock up as much as possible. Isn't it said that these towns will be submerged by a great flood in the future?
This medicinal herb market likely won't exist for much longer. If we can buy, let's buy as much as we can. I want to use these herbs to create remedies that save lives in the future."
"That's a great idea. We can set up a pharmaceutical workshop in Phoenix Village," Gu Qingcheng readily agreed.
Hu Lanfang said, "As long as you don't try to make elixirs of immortality and get led astray by Ge Hong, I have no objections."
Gu Qingcheng noticed that her father, who had been worried about contagion due to Prince Xia's illness, had suddenly become vibrant and energetic after finding something he was passionate about. He was filled with a youthful vigor, shedding his previous despondency.
Indeed, passion is the best stimulant.
"How could I possibly engage in such dubious endeavors?" Gu Chaobei declared.
Hu Lanfang was also pleased with Gu Chaobei's demeanor, feeling it was good that Old Gu had found his calling here. She said,
"Then let's try to collect as many medicinal herbs as possible."
"Half the Great Zhou Dynasty comes here to buy medicinal herbs. If we acquire more than half the supply daily for a month, it'll likely be enough for me to produce medicine for 100 years," Gu Chaobei said contentedly.
Thus, with the support of his wife and daughter, Gu Chaobei arranged for herb merchants to deliver a batch of herbs to the warehouse every day.
Although Gu Qingcheng spent a large sum of money, she didn't begrudge it at all.
Gold, while it wouldn't depreciate, was merely a hard metal that generated no profit when stored away.
However, by converting gold into medicinal herbs, they could create various remedies to save lives and cure illnesses, which brought the greatest joy.
The intermediary, Old Jin, helped them search for the two most elusive herbs. Ten days later, Old Jin returned, having indeed found the two urgently needed herbs, with twenty catties of each, a significant quantity.
Gu Chaobei rewarded him with twenty taels of silver.
From then on, the Gu family's life in Jiaozhou City consisted of daily tea breaks at the warehouse, waiting for herb merchants to deliver goods.
Gu Chaobei also occasionally went to the market to hunt for treasures.
For instance, century-old ginseng and other rare natural treasures were rare finds, often obtained inadvertently by herb collectors in the mountains and forests.
They wouldn't sell these directly to apothecaries, as apothecaries always offered low prices. They would first seek out a receptive buyer in the medicinal herb market, where the price could potentially double or even triple.
Only when they couldn't find a buyer would they reluctantly sell to the apothecaries.
Gu Chaobei was on the lookout for such opportunities.
Century-old ginseng, thousand-year-old lingzhi...
The influx of the Gu family's purchasing power caused a shortage in the supply of many medicinal herbs, leading to a slight increase in their prices.
However, no one realized that someone was systematically acquiring large quantities of herbs.
The herbs acquired by the Gu family were stored in the storage cabinet, and their collection had already reached a considerable volume.
Gu Chaobei estimated that even with a pharmaceutical factory, it would take him a century to process all these herbs.
The substantial acquisition of medicinal herbs gradually drew the attention of influential factions within the city.
One day, as the family was enjoying tea at the warehouse awaiting a delivery, what arrived were not herb merchants, but a group of masked bandits.
These bandits had clearly scouted the location and knew this was a lull period for herb merchants. They charged in with swords raised, intending to rob.
However, upon reaching the warehouse, they discovered that it was eerily empty.
They were dumbfounded. They had learned that the Gu family had purchased a large quantity of medicinal herbs and believed a successful raid on the warehouse would bring them immense wealth.
To their surprise, the herb warehouse was empty?
As the bandit leader was about to interrogate the Gu family members, an arrow shot from an unknown location pierced his throat, and he fell to the ground, dead.
While the bandits were looking around, wondering who had fired the ambush, a volley of arrows rained down from the sky, with each arrow hitting its intended target.
There were only eleven bandits, and within moments, they all lay dead.
"We must leave. We have already attracted the attention of various forces in the area," Gu Chaobei told his wife and daughter.
"Yes, we've also collected almost everything we need. If we stay any longer, our lives will be in danger," Gu Qingcheng replied.
They were decisive and left immediately. After all, most of their valuables were already in Gu Qingcheng's storage cabinet. They didn't bother returning to the inn to pack, but simply rode away on the bandits' horses.
In the afternoon, when the herb merchants arrived with their deliveries, they found a scene of dead bandits strewn across the ground, and the Gu family, their buyers, had vanished.
The herb merchants quickly reported the incident to the authorities.