The man's generous words captured Li Qingfeng's attention, and he turned to look at the person who had made the bid.
This was a man who looked like a local tough, with a rough face and a long, narrow scar across it, highlighting his fierceness and his experience in battles.
He wore a large crocodile-skin bag at his waist, on which some English letters were carved, but Li Qingfeng didn't recognize them.
He wasn't interested in luxury brands back then, so he couldn't identify the expensive item the man was wearing.
However, judging by the man's large gold watch and the foot-long gold chain around his neck, it was clear he was more than just casually wealthy.
If nothing else, he was definitely rich!
This was Li Qingfeng's first impression, no wonder he'd bid five thousand yuan so readily for a single radix Isatidis.
Upon hearing the man's price, the old man's son gritted his teeth and finally gave up the competition. He turned to look at the remaining three radix Isatidis.
Five thousand yuan was already beyond his limit.
Seeing that the old man's son had withdrawn, the man with the large gold chain directly opened his crocodile-skin bag and, with a rustle, pulled out a stack of red banknotes. He counted out fifty bills and handed them to Li Qingfeng.
"Here, five thousand yuan! Count it!"
"No need to count. We do business on trust, and besides, you've already counted it."
Li Qingfeng smiled as he took the money and put it directly into his clothes without counting.
Seeing Li Qingfeng's action, the man developed a favorable impression of him. He gave a thumbs-up and said to him, "Brother, you're a man of your word!"
Hearing his words, Li Qingfeng smiled but said nothing. Of course, he couldn't admit that he had been watching the man count the money the whole time, only shifting his gaze after all fifty bills were counted!
"How about this, brother? I see you have two more radix Isatidis here. I happen to like collecting these precious medicinal herbs. I'll take both of these for five thousand each. I, Zhu Ziming, will take them all!"
The man said this very generously, his豪爽 (háo shuǎng - generous and straightforward) demeanor leaving Li Qingfeng somewhat bewildered. Did radix Isatidis really warrant such an exclusive purchase?
However, seeing Zhu Ziming's willingness to spend, Li Qingfeng suddenly turned to the old man, remembering something very important.
"No, Brother Zhu, I can only sell you one more."
Seeing Li Qingfeng block him, Zhu Ziming looked confused, waiting for an explanation.
Seeing Zhu Ziming's slightly annoyed expression, Li Qingfeng became a bit nervous. After all, this was his benefactor, his entire day's earnings depended on him!
He organized his thoughts slightly and then spoke.
"Brother Zhu, you see, you're buying this radix Isatidis for collection, right?"
"Yes, I'm collecting it!"
Hearing Li Qingfeng's question, Zhu Ziming swayed his large gold watch and nodded.
Seeing his action, Li Qingfeng suddenly thought of something that Zhu Ziming would definitely like.
"Then, Brother Zhu, you already have one radix Isatidis, and buying another one would make it two."
"As the saying goes, rarity makes things precious. Two is a perfect pair, like two pearls combining! But three is too many, don't you think?"
Hearing Li Qingfeng's persuasive words, Zhu Ziming seemed to understand his point, and what he said made a lot of sense.
Indeed, if there were too many, they would lose their value as collectibles.
"Listening to you, Brother Li, that's quite true. Then I'll buy two. Here's the remaining five thousand yuan, take care of it!"
Seeing Zhu Ziming readily hand over the remaining five thousand yuan, Li Qingfeng diligently handed one radix Isatidis to Zhu Ziming and the other to the old man's son.
Upon seeing this, the old man's son was moved to tears of joy.
He repeatedly thanked Li Qingfeng, "Thank you, Divine Doctor Li! I, Wu Hen, am eternally grateful for your great kindness, I will never forget it!"
Hearing Wu Hen's words, Li Qingfeng casually waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to be so polite.
"It's my duty. Saving lives and healing the injured is the sacred duty of a doctor. As a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, I should not stand by and do nothing."
Speaking of which, Li Qingfeng suddenly remembered the person who had been challenging him.
He quickly looked around, but after searching for a long time, he couldn't find any trace of that person.
Someone noticed Li Qingfeng's actions and asked him, "Divine Doctor Li, what are you looking for?"
"Ah, it's about that small wager from earlier. I wanted to see if that person was still here?"
Hearing his words, the crowd suddenly remembered the wager from before, and a group of people started helping to look for that "literary" fellow.
However, after searching for a long time, they found nothing.
"It's no use, Divine Doctor Li. That kid couldn't handle it! He ran away!"
"Let him run, it's fine."
Hearing what he said, the people around felt that this Divine Doctor Li was too easygoing, and they all began to make promises: "Divine Doctor Li, don't worry, if that guy dares to come to the market again, we definitely won't sell him a single vegetable!"
"Me too, not even a garlic peel will be useful to him!"
"I'll only sell him snot-covered rags, for free, hahaha..."
Hearing these words, Li Qingfeng felt very touched.
The pace of life in the town was very slow, and the people appeared very simple and kind.
Here, Li Qingfeng couldn't feel the bustling prosperity of the city, but he could experience the warmth of home.
Most importantly, this was the north, which differed from the south.
In the north, vegetables were sold by the jin (a unit of weight), and after buying a certain amount, you might get a small extra. However, you couldn't be too demanding!
In the south, vegetables could be bought by the root or by the piece. As long as you paid, anything was possible, except for them cooking it for you.
If you asked to buy a single vegetable in the north, or if they refused to sell you even one, you would definitely be blacklisted by the stall owner.
You would have no place in the market.
Looking at them all with spirited expressions, Li Qingfeng no longer had any intention of pleading for the "literary" fellow.
He simply stopped thinking about it and turned his attention back to Zhu Ziming and Wu Hen.
Perhaps Li Qingfeng's gaze was a little intense. As soon as he looked at them, Wu Hen misunderstood.
Without waiting for him to speak, he directly opened his clothes pocket and pulled out a crumpled small stack of red banknotes.
After counting for a while, it seemed like he was still short a few thousand yuan.
"Old woman, did you bring money?"
"Brought it, brought it!"
"Give it all to me!"
Hearing the head of the household's command, Wu Hen's wife also took out a crumpled stack of money from her clothes.
Wu Hen combined the two stacks and finally managed to gather the five thousand yuan, which he handed over to Li Qingfeng.
Looking at their appearance, Li Qingfeng finally took out three bills and returned the rest of the money.