MLMD -Chapter 195 Ginseng—Do You Want It or Not

In the parking lot of a commercial office building on Hengan Street, Dongpu District, Mingzhu, an Aston Martin slowly came to a stop in a parking space. A young man in casual business attire stepped out first, followed by two young, attractive women.

Naturally, the three were Yue Yang and his two newly hired employees, Liu Shengnan and Zhang Xiaoxiao.

They entered the elevator and rode up to the eighteenth floor. Yue Yang walked ahead, while Liu Shengnan and Zhang Xiaoxiao trailed behind, curiously observing their surroundings.

Yue Yang stopped in front of a door and pulled out a key to unlock it. A spacious hall of about 200 square meters unfolded before the two women. After stepping inside, Yue Yang halted and said to them, “Here—this is the office of our company. Since it’s just starting up, we haven’t purchased any office equipment yet. But this task is now in your hands—it’s also your first task on the job.”

“Um… uh…” Liu Shengnan stammered, “Boss, where are the rest of our colleagues?”

Yue Yang gave him a flat, expressionless look. “For now, the company consists only of the three of us. You are the first batch of employees. So… what’s the problem?”

“N—nothing!” Liu Shengnan inwardly groaned. Great, didn’t expect this seemingly stylish guy to be running a shell company—and a three-person shell company at that.

Before Liu Shengnan could finish his complaint, Yue Yang turned and said, “By the way, our company is called Guangyuan Trading Company. We specialize in buying and selling goods. I’ve already handled all the necessary permits. For now, forget the rest. I’m giving you two tasks: one, hire a decoration company to renovate this place and purchase the essential office supplies; two, procure a batch of goods within a week. You can divide the work as you see fit.”

After speaking, Yue Yang pulled a list from his pocket and placed it on the table. Then he pulled out a checkbook, wrote out a check, and placed it next to the list.

Liu Shengnan and Zhang Xiaoxiao exchanged glances and picked up the list and checkbook, examining them carefully.

“All right, take your time. Remember, I only care about results. Tomorrow at this time, I’ll come back to check your progress. Now, get to work!”

With that, Yue Yang walked out slowly, hands behind his back, leaving only the two wide-eyed women behind.

Watching Yue Yang disappear through the doorway, Liu Shengnan and Zhang Xiaoxiao stared at each other, and almost in unison muttered, “No way… are we seriously starting work right now?”

Looking at the list in her hand, Zhang Xiaoxiao slowly read aloud: “A thousand tons of pork, five hundred tons of lard, ten tons each of potato seeds, wheat seeds, sweet potato seeds, and sorghum seeds… what… what kind of stuff is this?”

Liu Shengnan rubbed his head and groaned, “And this check… there’s two hundred thousand in blank checks here, and he just trusts us—two people he’s known for less than three hours—with it? Is he crazy or just an idiot?”

The two college best friends, Liu Shengnan and Zhang Xiaoxiao, were completely flustered at this moment.

…

“Hahaha… Yue, my brother, you really are unconventional. Two hundred thousand just handed over without a second thought—you’re not afraid they’ll run off with it?”

In the office of Ju Bao Zhai, Zhao Santong shook his head, laughing as he looked at Yue Yang.

Yue Yang shook his head helplessly. “Zhao San, you laugh, but I had no choice. You know how busy I am. I set up this company in Mingzhu to have people help share my workload. You wouldn’t believe it—this morning, I spent the entire morning at the talent market, and not a single person dared to hand me their resume. So I decided: whoever gives me their resume first, as long as they’re not completely hopeless, I’d give them a chance. And as you can see, that’s what happened.”

“You…”

Zhao Santong didn’t know what to say about this guy in front of him. In the past, Zhao Santong might have lectured Yue Yang with the gravitas of an elder, but in recent years he had developed a growing sense of respect—actually, awe—for this younger man.

Yes, awe. There’s a saying: “environment shapes temperament, nurture shapes body.” As Yue Yang rose higher in official rank, and after fighting both major and minor battles over the past two years, his soldierly ruthlessness and official authority had grown stronger. Previously, Zhao Santong could joke around, but now he found himself no longer daring to casually pat Yue Yang on the shoulder. Even thinking about it made him uneasy.

Seeing Zhao Santong looking frustrated, Yue Yang, thinking he was worried about him, comforted him: “Zhao San, there’s no need to worry. Spending two hundred thousand to see the true hearts of two people is worth it. These two girls have clear, pure eyes, without a hint of impurity. That shows they’re sincere, not gold-digging. I don’t think I’m wrong about this.”

“Fine… I’ll wait and see then.” Zhao Santong waved his hand listlessly. “You haven’t visited me for months. Did you bring me anything interesting this time?”

“Interesting?” Yue Yang paused, then shook his head with a bitter smile. These past months, he had been busy in the Ming dynasty timeline, resettling refugees and suppressing bandits. There was no time for hunting antiques or calligraphy.

“Ah…” Zhao Santong sighed in disappointment and picked up a Yixing clay teapot to brew tea.

But the mention of antiques reminded Yue Yang of something. He said, “Zhao San, I have a few wild ginseng roots from Changbai Mountain. Would you be interested?”

“Wild ginseng? From Changbai Mountain?” Zhao Santong immediately perked up. “How many roots? What age?”

Yue Yang thought for a moment, unsure, and said, “About three roots. The younger ones are probably fifty or sixty years old, and the oldest could be over a hundred.”

“Clang!”

The Yixing teapot in Zhao Santong’s hand fell onto the hard tile floor, shattering into pieces.

His voice trembling, Zhao Santong said, “Yue Yang, are you serious? You really have century-old wild ginseng?”

“Of course. Why would I lie to you?” Yue Yang looked at him seriously. “Zhao San, do I have any reason to lie about this?”

“Good… good… good!” Zhao Santong jumped up excitedly. “Brother Yue, I’ll take all of them! Don’t worry about the price—I won’t let you get the short end!”

Zhao Santong’s excitement was genuine. In today’s world of mass breeding and large-scale harvesting, anything labeled “wild” skyrocketed in value.

Not to mention century-old wild ginseng—life-saving and priceless. Even if someone owned it, they would likely keep it for emergencies rather than sell it, and if they did sell it, it would fetch an astronomical price.

Even though Zhao Santong didn’t need it now, having such ginseng on hand was never a liability. At some point, he or a loved one might need it. In certain situations, this could literally save a life.

Yue Yang remained calm as Zhao Santong got excited.

Meanwhile, with the resettlement of refugees in Hunyuan Prefecture underway, the number of refugees surged. In just one month, seventy to eighty thousand more flowed in, bringing the total refugee population to around 110,000—almost enough to scare Prefect Jiang Xin senseless.

Unflinchingly, this many people would consume mountains of food every day. Although Yue Yang’s Wulizhai had a bumper harvest this year, and food was sufficient, other necessities were still somewhat lacking.