9: Profitable without capital

The next day.

Upon returning to the company, Brother Quan quickly made arrangements, instructing his employees to immediately go to major time-honored traditional Chinese medicine factories to collect old medicinal ingredients.

He had many connections for ordinary medicinal ingredients over ten years old.

However, old medicinal ingredients over a hundred years old, or even two-hundred-year-old 'Medicine Kings,' were rare treasures that were hard to come by.

Most of these resources were treasured by deeply established noble families, serving as their family heirlooms.

Even with money, it wasn't guaranteed one could buy them.

But there was another way to find old medicinal ingredients.

That was to offer a high reward, allowing more people to participate in the search and unearth undiscovered treasures in the remote mountains and old forests.

When Brother Quan offered a high reward of 20 million for hundred-year-old medicinal ingredients and 200 million for two-hundred-year-old Medicine Kings... it wasn't just the collecting and traditional Chinese medicine circles that heard about it.

Even some gangs operating in grey areas, wilderness explorers, and even desperadoes caught wind of it.

A frenzied treasure hunt thus began.

Countless industry professionals' eyes turned red; they abandoned their current work, purchased equipment, and researched ancient texts... Like a gold rush, they swarmed into those remote, inaccessible mountains and old forests, hoping to get rich overnight by finding medicinal ingredients.

Changbai Mountain, Shennongjia, Kunlun Mountains, Hengduan Mountains, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau... areas previously only occasionally ventured into by herbalists and expedition teams were now filled with men and women dreaming of instant success.

Grave robbers put down their Luoyang shovels and picked up hiking backpacks.

Loan sharks threw down their ledgers and picked up medicinal ingredient identification guides.

In this torrent, one figure appeared particularly frail.

His name was Chen Shi, a young man almost suffocated by life's pressures.

His father had late-stage lung cancer, and the monthly cost of targeted drugs weighed heavily on him.

His mother was disabled from an industrial injury years ago, making movement difficult and requiring constant care.

His younger sister had just been admitted to university, and tuition and living expenses were still unsettled.

He worked three part-time jobs, yet still couldn't fill the holes in his family's finances.

Once, while delivering takeout in an antique market, he accidentally overheard several shop owners excitedly discussing the 200 million reward for a Medicine King.

The speakers were unintentional, but the listener was attentive.

In his despair, this vague, unsubstantiated rumor became the only lifeline he could grasp.

He quit his jobs, using his last bit of money to buy basic hiking gear and supplies.

He downloaded countless wilderness survival guides and traditional Chinese medicinal ingredient atlases onto his phone, especially focusing on the morphological characteristics of old ginseng and lingzhi, reviewing them over a hundred times, ingraining them into his mind.

His hometown was near a primeval forest, and he had gone into the mountains with elders as a child; this was his only advantage.

With a heart full of despair and hope, Chen Shi plunged into those cloud-shrouded mountains.

Days passed, his dry rations were almost gone, his shoes were worn out, and his clothes gradually became ragged.

He encountered venomous snakes, almost fell off a cliff, and shivered in the deep night amidst the howling of wild beasts.

Hope grew increasingly dim, and despair and fear almost consumed him.

Just as he was exhausted and ready to give up and descend the mountain, perhaps heaven finally cast an eye upon him.

On a shady, steep slope, he saw an unusual plant he had never seen before—an almost eerie emerald green.

Chen Shi's heart pounded; he scrambled over, and following the atlas in his memory, carefully dug away the soil with his hands.

At this moment, time seemed to stand still.

When the wild ginseng, with its tight skin, fine wrinkles, slender rootlets, and plump, massive main body, was fully revealed before him, Chen Shi's hands were trembling so much he couldn't hold the digging tool.

Large tears rolled down his face, and his shoulders shook uncontrollably, but he dared not make a sound, fearing he might attract wild beasts he couldn't handle.

After a long while, Chen Shi's emotions gradually stabilized.

He carefully recalled his childhood memories of going into the mountains with ginseng gatherers and combined them with textbook instructions on harvesting ginseng, cautiously tying the ginseng body with a prepared red string, then using wood chips and moss to slowly peel away the surrounding soil, trying to preserve every rootlet as completely as possible.

Finally, Chen Shi succeeded.

He successfully dug out the entire old ginseng.

Immediately, he took out his phone and searched for tutorials on identifying the age of old ginseng, studying them carefully.

"Is it a hundred years, or two hundred years?!"

A hundred years meant 20 million, while two hundred years would multiply that by ten!

After continuous comparison, Chen Shi found that the form of the ginseng he found far exceeded those so-called hundred-year-old ginseng in the atlas.

He carefully wrapped this wild ginseng, which was as precious as his life, with moss and tree bark, placed it in a specially made wooden box, and held it tightly in his arms.

He walked down the mountain more cautiously than he had ascended.

After many twists and turns, disheveled and ragged, Chen Shi finally stood before the imposing gate of Brother Quan's company.

The security guard instinctively wanted to go forward and drive him away until he tremblingly produced the wooden box.

After layers of reporting, he was led by the security guard into a heavily guarded appraisal room.

Upon hearing the news, Brother Quan quickly invited several well-known veteran pharmacists in the industry.

When they opened the wooden box and saw the perfectly preserved wild ginseng, with rootlets like dragon whiskers and emitting a rich ginseng aroma, the entire appraisal room fell silent.

The old pharmacists put on their glasses, their hands holding magnifying glasses trembling slightly.

They were all people nearing the end of their lives, and it was their first time seeing such a complete and extremely old wild ginseng.

After repeated examination and inspection, lasting over half an hour, a conclusion was finally reached.

"At least three hundred years old!"

The leading old pharmacist's voice trembled, overcome with excitement.

"This is truly a miracle; it's definitely a Medicine King!"

"I never thought I would see such a treasure in my lifetime; truly, I have no regrets."

Brother Quan slapped his thigh, his face instantly flushing red.

He suppressed his excitement and looked at Chen Shi, who was trembling with nervousness.

"Young man, well done! Quickly give me your account!"

Chen Shi stammered out his bank card number.

The financial staff processed it on the spot.

Less than five minutes later, Chen Shi's phone rang with a crisp text message notification.

His hand holding the phone trembled constantly; the string of numbers on the screen was so long it made him dizzy, and he counted it several times.

A full nine digits!

Two hundred million really arrived?

"Ah!"

Chen Shi let out a cry that was a mix of weeping and laughter, tears streaming down his face instantly.

He collapsed to the ground, pounding it with his fists, releasing all the pressure and fear that had accumulated over these days.

On the other side, Brother Quan was also uncontrollably excited, pacing back and forth in his office, vigorously waving his fists in silent celebration.

Two hundred million?

Just two hundred million!

Either of the two Tang dynasty paintings in He Ming's possession far exceeded that price!

And he was about to exchange this three-hundred-year-old ginseng for one of them.

This was a huge profit with little investment.

No, this was essentially a no-capital, huge-profit business.

Brother Quan could no longer suppress the smile on his lips; he eagerly urged his assistant.

"Quick, immediately pack all the old medicinal ingredients collected recently, and book the next flight to Magic City."