Chapter 1797
The Greatest Fortune in Life
Wang An chuckled, ignoring Wu Dong's teasing. Then, he looked Wu Dong straight in the eye and spoke earnestly and truthfully:
“Brother Wu, if you take the initiative to help them find wild ginseng that is over 80 years old to prolong their lives, I’m not bragging at all. You just need to tell me the number, and I’ll find it for you.”
After a pause, Wang An continued:
“You know Brother Wu, we’ve been dealing in bear bile, bezoar, musk, and wild ginseng, which are relatively valuable items. Although we haven’t collected much wild ginseng, we still have some in stock, plus the ones we dug up this time.”
At this point, Wang An paused and quickly considered the matter in his mind.
What Wang An needed to calculate was how long the fifth-grade wild ginseng he had on hand would last, based on Wu Dong's statement that the old man would consume a fifth-grade wild ginseng seedling every three or four days.
Of the five-grade wild ginseng seedlings that Wang An and his three companions brought out during their trip into the mountains, a total of 57 seedlings were intact. Of these, 52 seedlings were dug up, and the other 5 seedlings were stolen from a gold mine.
There were also 6 seedlings with damaged leaves, which Wang An planned to divide among the four of them, and then each family would use them to make wine.
Besides these 63, there are a few ginseng seedlings with five or six leaves that have undergone a process of regeneration; it's unclear whether they are usable.
However, the main root of the ginseng that has undergone a transformation and the jujube seed that is over 80 years old are definitely usable.
In addition, there are the dried 'Five-leaf Yeyak' seedlings received this year, as well as the few 'Five-leaf Yeyak' seedlings transplanted from Wang An's backyard, which together amount to more than 20 seedlings.
In this way, there will be a total of more than 80 wild ginseng seedlings to prolong their lives.
After quickly calculating and setting aside what he needed to keep as a backup, Wang An continued:
“In this way, as long as our grandfather’s comrade-in-arms is still alive, and we can keep him alive with the fifth-grade wild ginseng, then I can keep him alive for at least another six months.”
It is worth noting that Wang An never included the sixth-grade and seventh-grade wild ginseng in his calculations.
The reason Wang An didn't include the sixth and seventh grade leaves was that even if the old man was very useful to Wu Dong, Wang An couldn't possibly give his all to help him.
Of course, if the old man were replaced by Wu Dong's own grandfather, Wang An would not hesitate to give some of it, and might even give away more than half of it.
After Wang An finished speaking, Wu Dong frowned and thought for a moment. But soon, Wu Dong's eyes widened, and he just stared blankly at Wang An, unable to say a word or even blink.
Wang An and Wu Dong stared at each other for a while, but they couldn't keep their eyes open for long, because the things Wu Dong's eyes contained were too damn complicated, and Wang An couldn't stand it.
After a long while, Wu Dong finally came to his senses. He didn't express his shock or question Wang An's extravagant gesture, but instead asked in a calm voice:
"What if they ask me for help?"
Wu Dong's question immediately stunned Wang An, because Wang An never expected that Wu Dong would ask such a question after he told the truth.
Wang An blinked, then clicked his tongue before finally speaking the truth:
“Prolonging his life by a month or two is definitely not a problem, but the price, even if we don't use the prices in Hebei Province, should at least be based on the market price.” Upon hearing this, Wu Dong hesitated for a few seconds, then looked at Wang An with a half-smile and asked:
"So, you're saying that if I offer to help them find ginseng, you won't charge them?"
Upon hearing this, Wang An replied with an air of self-righteousness:
"Of course! If you offer to help, and you accept their money, you'll definitely just give it back to me. If you don't accept their money, then I can't possibly ask you for it back."
After saying that, Wang An subconsciously reached into his pocket and took out his cigarette and lighter before remembering that he was at Wu Dong's house, mainly because Wu Dong's child was only a few months old.
When Wang An smokes at home, he always makes sure to avoid his two little ones and tries his best not to let them smell the smoke. But now that he's at Wu Dong's house, he can't possibly smoke in front of their children!
The main problem is that infants' and young children's hearts and lungs are not fully developed, so the smell of tobacco is very harmful to them.
So Wang An put the cigarette he had taken out back into his pocket.
This scene was witnessed by Qiao Yutong, who was strolling around with her child in her arms, and she smiled knowingly.
After listening to Wang An's absurd logic, Wu Dong lowered his head and remained silent for a long while before nodding heavily, leaning over to pat Wang An on the shoulder, and saying:
"Alright, Brother Xiao An, you truly are my half-brother, so thoughtful, so very thoughtful."
Wang An smiled nonchalantly, then said with a grin:
"What are you saying? If you weren't my brother, do you think I'd even give you a second glance? I wouldn't even acknowledge you, believe it or not, hahaha."
Wu Dong nodded again, forcibly suppressing his inner emotion, mainly because he didn't want to appear too sentimental, and then honestly said:
"It wasn't my initiative to help; my grandfather gave me a strict order to find some wild ginseng and take it back. Otherwise, I wouldn't care whether it lives or dies."
"Let me tell you, Xiao An, I not only have no connection with them, I'm their rival. If it weren't for that old man's grandson fighting me for a spot, I wouldn't have bothered coming all the way from Harbin to DJ County, damn it!"
Wang An simply listened without responding, mainly because he wasn't qualified to offer his opinion on such a battle of titans.
However, Wang An could tell that although Wu Dong had now become the head of the Wuzhuangbu Department in DJ County and held real power, he was still somewhat unwilling.
After all, Bingcheng and DJ County are not on the same level at all. One is the capital of a province, and the other is a county under its jurisdiction. It's like the difference between a city and a rural area. For people like Wu Dong, who are physically capable, Bingcheng is definitely better.
After a pause, Wu Dong continued:
"To be honest, we don't really have any grudges. It's just normal competition. With my grandfather's connections, we definitely won't fight. Hehe, that's all there is to it."
Wang An nodded but didn't reply. Then Wu Dong suddenly said excitedly:
"But you know what, thank goodness I came to DJ County, otherwise where would I have met such a lucky charm like you? Ever since we met, look at how well we've been living, hahaha!"
And so, Wu Dong, as if drunk and delirious, rambled on and on with Wang An, spouting a whole bunch of useless nonsense, as if meeting Wang An was the greatest stroke of luck in his life, making Wang An feel embarrassed. (End of Chapter)