I began to understand the myriad things by chopping wood

Chapter 21 Wood earns money for medicinal soup

The boss wearing a cap was startled by Xie Yuan's high-pitched voice and repeated it subconsciously:
"Four, four taels."

"..."

"..."

"How many, how many?"

So Xie Yuan repeated it.

"Four taels! Don't be too greedy, young man. If you hadn't chopped it blindly, it would have been almost five taels. But look, all the face has been chopped off..."

The boss muttered something and found faults, then raised four fingers:
"A whole camphor tree, 4 taels, no cheating!"

Xie Yuan asked himself to calm down first.

No, I can't calm down.

"make a deal!"

"Ok?"

The boss was stunned and looked Xie Yuan up and down before he reacted.

So you were screaming because the price was too low?
He immediately felt a little regretful and asked tentatively:
"You've never sold this kind of wood before?"

“First time.”

Xie Yuan tried to speak honestly with a calm expression.

The boss slapped his forehead and felt like beating his chest.

The price is too high! It's time to lower it...

It’s not his fault, it’s just that camphor wood is a hard-to-find and hard-to-cut tree species, so only old woodcutters can do it.

Xie Yuan looked young, so the boss thought that since it was not him who chopped the wood, he was most likely an old woodcutter who had been in the family for decades. Such people knew the price, so he did not quote a random price.

Who knew, he was actually a complete newcomer!

The boss groaned and couldn't help complaining:
"Why are you inexperienced?"

"Boss, this is the first time you've said that."

Xie Yuan was immersed in great joy.

Can you sell a tree for four taels of silver?
Can wood be so valuable?
Although he thought that furniture would be more expensive, he didn't know the prices here and thought he would be happy if he could sell it for one or two taels.

The result: four taels?
It was beyond his imagination.

"Why is this camphor wood so valuable?"

Xie Yuan couldn't help but ask.

The boss felt even more hurt when he heard him ask this foolishly.

He said sullenly:

"You are such an ignorant boy. Camphorwood is naturally insect-resistant and has a nice fragrance. It is one of the best woods for making boxes and chests, as well as ladies' dowries. It can naturally be sold at a high price. Besides, there are many people in Yunzhao County, and the camphorwood in the shallow mountains nearby has long been cut down. If you want to find it, you can only go to the deep mountains. Scarcity makes things valuable."

"Even so, four ounces is too much!"

"Then give me back my money!"

"No, I was just saying it casually."

"Really... young man, this is the price of good wood that can be used to make furniture. You think there are many poor people, but there are also many rich people! Some people use camphor wood to make heirloom boxes, some use camphor wood to make ordinary furniture, and some use camphor wood as firewood! Just for burning incense.

"But don't really think of it as the price of firewood. There are so many people willing to spend money. Camphorwood is nothing, Nanmu is even more expensive! Not to mention golden nanmu, red sandalwood, huanghuali, acacia and the like."

Seeing Xie Yuan's ignorant look, the boss sighed and didn't try to hide it.

He recalled that in the past he only knew how to do carpentry and earn some hard-earned money. When he first learned about doing business and how much money he could make as a boss, his performance was similar. Then he changed his career and made only a few hundred coins from his first business order, but he jumped much higher than this kid.

Xie Yuan's eyes lit up when he heard this, and his sharp ears caught two words.

Nanmu!

Not far from the camphor tree, there is a yellow nanmu tree!
So he suppressed his beating heart and asked quietly:
"How much is Nanmu?"

"A plant this big - if you don't cut it randomly, eight taels of silver will be no problem."

Xie Yuan leaned back tactically and took a breath.

He felt that he had already got eight taels.

The boss was good at reading people's expressions. Seeing his expression, his eyes lit up:
"Why, you still got Nanmu?"

"Ah."

"Okay! Okay! If you can get it, just bring it to me right away. There's a customer who's in urgent need of Nanmu to make furniture."

"Let's talk about it after we get it. Maybe it's worth more than eight taels." Xie Yuan said without comment.

The boss was stunned and laughed:
"You are really cunning, kid. Okay, as long as it's of good quality, I can pay you ten taels! If you are afraid that I will cheat you, go to Panlong Town or even Yunzhao County to see which one can give you a higher price!"

Seeing that his boss was quite confident, Xie Yuan believed him a little more.

But I'll have to ask other companies when the time comes.

"Okay, I'll come back to you when I have news."

"Little brother, what's your name?"

"Excuse me, my surname is Xie, Xie Yuan."

"Nice name. My last name is Wan, and I've been a carpenter for 30 years. Thank you, brother. If you have good goods, please bring them to me! I guarantee you the best price. Also, let me tell you, the wood for furniture should be cut like this, otherwise you can't make big pieces..."

"Been taught a lesson."

Xie Yuan bowed and left Boss Wan's shop.

It took him a while to calm down with the four taels of silver he had just earned.

To be honest, four taels of silver was not too much. He had killed a tiger before, and each tiger cost forty taels, and he took twelve taels. He had also pocketed a large silver ingot, so it was not the first time for a poor boy to see silver.

It's not that four taels of silver is too much, it's that four taels of silver for one tree is too much!
A tiger is valuable, worth ten good trees like this.

But the tiger didn’t know where to find the second one, but he still remembered that there were many of them near this tree and that open space!
There are always ten trees of camphor, nanmu and mahogany.

If I give them all away, won’t I have money to get back into good shape?

One tree is counted as ten days, how can there be two or three trees in a month? It would cost more than ten taels of silver.

Hurry up, half a year! In just half a year, you can fix the problems that have accumulated over ten years.

This is much better than expected.

Xie Yuan was in high spirits and walked towards the Iron Gate with brisk steps.

Haven't been here for ten days.

After entering the door, Cao Shan saw him, raised his eyebrows, and greeted him with a smile:
"Thank you, Junior Brother. You haven't been here for a while. I thought... you didn't want to practice anymore."

"Practice! Brother Cao, I'm not the type to give up easily."

"His ambition is commendable!"

Cao Shan gave a thumbs up:
"Are you here today to show Brother Huo your progress?"

"I haven't practiced for the past ten days. I haven't made any progress, so I won't watch it anymore."

"what?"

Cao Shan was stunned. Didn’t he just say that he would not give up easily?
Although they hadn't practiced for ten days, Tao Jie Lin and the others didn't give up. They wanted to catch up with Xie Yuan's progress ten days ago.

Of course, no one in the Iron Cloth Sect knew that Xie Yuan had already felt the aura of entering the sect ten days ago.

However, Xie Yuan's next words answered his doubts:
"I've been collecting money recently. Senior Brother Cao, I want to buy some tonic soup from the martial arts hall."

"Oh? That's... OK. The low-grade tonic soup costs one ounce of silver per serving. Would you like to have one first?"

One dose is equivalent to a day's supply. In order to prevent their secret recipes from being discovered, martial arts schools usually sell ready-made medicinal soups.

Xie Yuan directly took out four taels of silver and said:

"I want four."

"so much?"

Cao Shan was a little surprised, not because he thought four taels of silver was too much, he was naturally not short of money, so he could practice well;

But he knew what Xie Yuan did. He was a poor woodcutter in a mountain village. How did he collect four taels of silver in ten days?
"Xie Junior Brother, you didn't pawn yourself or gamble away, did you?"

Cao Shan frowned and asked, there were people like this in the past, but before they could achieve anything, they became obsessed.

Xie Yuan laughed:

"No, I just make money with an axe... er, I mean chopping trees."

Seeing Cao Shan's subtle expression, he obviously misunderstood his meaning and suspected that he might have become a strong man.

What kind of woodcutter makes so much money…cutting down golden and jade trees?
Cao Shanxin was puzzled, but he did not ask any more questions and quickly gave Xie Yuan a four-day supply of medicinal soup.

Xie Yuan packed the medicine and walked back quickly.

When he got home, he was too lazy to heat up the wine and drank the first one in one gulp!

After a while, Xie Yuan felt a little irritated.

It seems like it’s a bit more energetic?
(End of this chapter)