The middle-aged woman squatted down, grabbed a handful of mushrooms, and examined them carefully, satisfaction flickering in her eyes, "How much for this pile? So expensive! Twenty cents, I'll take a pile for twenty cents!"
Lin Xia felt that twenty cents a pile was acceptable, since they were picked from the mountain anyway.
"Deal!"
Since that woman made her purchase, others followed one after another, and Lin Xia had already transferred quite a few from Jade's room to the large bag, but the Lingzhi mushrooms remained unsold.
There were inquiries, yet as soon as they heard the price of several tens of yuan, they all shook their heads.
Gradually, Lin Xia became anxious—she hadn't come all this way and toiled through the night just to sell a few mushrooms.
How much money could she possibly make from these twenty cent sales?
She couldn't help doubting herself—had she priced them too high?
But this wild Lingzhi was truly a treasure, large and covered in spore powder. It should sell for at least twenty or thirty yuan. In the future, even non-wild Lingzhi per pound would sell for hundreds or thousands.
At that moment, a middle-aged woman dressed neatly and exuding a refined and dignified air came to the stall of an old lady selling chickens nearby.
Lin Xia noticed her simply because her demeanor seemed out of place in the environment, and there seemed to be a slight worry in her expression.
The middle-aged woman bought an old hen. As she was paying, her gaze inadvertently met with that of the young girl who was observing her, and their eyes locked. Lin Xia quickly looked away, thinking how rude she had been to stare at someone like that.
The middle-aged woman gave Lin Xia a cursory glance, then looked at the mushrooms piled by her feet. She seemed about to walk away but suddenly her eyes widened and she stopped dead in her tracks.
She approached Lin Xia's stall, squatted down, picked up a Lingzhi, and examined it closely before bringing it near her nose to smell.
"Young lady! How much are you selling this for?"
Lin Xia felt a surge of excitement—she had encountered someone who knew her stuff!
Looking at the woman's attire, she didn't seem poor, so could it be that Lin Xia would manage to make a sale?
"Thirty yuan!" Lin Xia said softly.
The middle-aged woman sniffed it again. Glancing around, she leaned in closer to Lin Xia and asked in a low voice, "Young lady, do you have more of these?"
Lin Xia was taken aback and nodded gently, "Yes!"
She didn't think the woman looked like a bad person—could it be that she wanted to buy more?
A flash of excitement crossed the woman's eyes, and she whispered, "Let's do this, young lady. I'll have someone check out your goods, and if they're really good, how about I buy them all?"
Lin Xia hesitated. She didn't know this woman; what if she was a fraud?
People nowadays are indeed quite simple, but that doesn't exclude the possibility of bad actors around.
The middle-aged woman must have sensed the hesitation of the young girl before her, and she explained softly, "With so many people coming and going, that much money would surely attract attention, which would be bad for both you and me!"
Lin Xia gritted her teeth—fortune favors the bold! She would take a gamble!
If she let this woman go, she might never find another suitable buyer.
Then, her trip to the provincial city would have been for nothing!
Still, she discretely felt for the small knife in her pocket. She had brought it with her when she left home, ready to defend herself in an emergency. If something unexpected happened, she was prepared to fight!
Lin Xia efficiently packed up the mushrooms into the large bag with a plastic sheet on top, then picked up the bag and followed behind the middle-aged woman.
The middle-aged woman, still carrying her chicken, didn't attract much attention as they walked together on the street.
They hadn't gone far when they saw a hospital in the distance.
The middle-aged woman took Lin Xia straight inside. Lin Xia guessed in her heart that perhaps someone in the woman's family was sick and had been hospitalized.
Looking at it that way, she probably wasn't a bad person.
The middle-aged woman asked Lin Xia to wait for her on the wooden chair in the corridor while she went to the office to make a phone call.
Lin Xia sat down, tightly clutching the large bag next to her, curiously examining the hospital from the eighties.
The dimly lit corridor, both ends hung with red banners reading "Quiet," the green marble floor, the blue walls showing many mottled and old traces.
Everything seemed so backward through her eyes; the occasional medical staff in white coats strode by, giving her curious glances.
Lin Xia swallowed, wondering why that woman hadn't come out yet.
Her mind was racing with worry. Who was that woman calling? Surely she wasn't calling the people who catch those involved in illicit trading?
The mushrooms and Lingzhi she had were all foraged by herself, so she shouldn't count as a middleman, right?
As Lin Xia hesitated, the middle-aged woman appeared.
She came up to Lin Xia politely and whispered, "Young lady, please wait a little longer. The person I called will be here soon!"
Seeing her say this, Lin Xia weighed her options and bit her lip, finally deciding to stay and observe the situation. If there really was some unexpected problem, it wouldn't be too late to run away.
She really couldn't find a buyer, so she had to take the risk.
After all the trouble of coming here, she couldn't just go back empty-handed, could she?
After about ten minutes, a spirited old man with white hair and beard quickly walked down the corridor.
He was dressed in a gray Zhongshan suit with black leather shoes, long eyebrows, and wise and bright eyes, appearing to be a man of integrity.
Lin Xia's heart, which had been in her throat, settled down by half.
At the same time, she guessed that maybe this old man was a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine because as he walked up, she smelled a hint of Chinese herbs.
The middle-aged woman hurriedly greeted him warmly and respectfully, "Uncle Liao! I'm really sorry to have trouble you to make this special trip!"
Uncle Liao waved off the formality with indifference, "Meifang! We don't need to stand on ceremony with each other!"
Then he looked towards the silent young lady holding the large bag, "So, is it this child who has the stuff?"
Meifang smiled faintly, "Yes! Uncle Liao, let's talk in the office, shall we?"
"Sure! Yes!" the old man surnamed Liao readily agreed.
Lin Xia pressed her lips together, her mind calculating.
It seemed that their desire to purchase was quite strong!
When Lin Xia followed them into the office, she casually glanced around the room. The office wasn't large, everything was in plain view.
Two white desks facing each other, two file cabinets, and an iron washbasin stand with a white basin on top.
"Young lady! Take out your stuff!" Meifang called out.
Lin Xia opened the big bag and first took out a Lingzhi mushroom.
Old man Liao took it in hand, carefully examined it, smelled it, and finally nodded in confirmation, "Yes! This indeed is Lingzhi! Meifang, look at this spore powder. When Lingzhi is immature, there's a ring of tender yellow-white growth on the rim of the mushroom cap, which disappears and releases spore powder as it matures. This one's really not bad..."
Lin Xia listened to the old man's long explanation, not quite understanding all he said, but she realized her Lingzhi must be good and could certainly sell for a good price!
Meifang couldn't hide her excited smile, but seeing Lin Xia silent beside her, she quickly suppressed her smile and softly said, "Young lady, didn't you say you had more? How many do you have? Bring them all out!"