The bustling streets are full of people, and although it is early summer, there is already a hint of heat in the air, which makes the people who come and go on the streets sweat on their foreheads. But that didn't stop the bustle from happening, with stalls lining the streets with all sorts of goods. There are special snacks with color and flavor, fresh vegetables and fruits, and even some stalls with some chicken coops around them.

It's no wonder that this is the North Market where Yuancheng gathers every seven days, and every seven days, all kinds of vendors around the city will gather in the North City Market Area with their goods, and the people in need in the city will also prepare money and goods to come here to trade. Although Yuancheng is not ranked at all in the Great Qi Dynasty, there are more than 100,000 people in the city, and it is the only big city within a radius of several hundred miles. Today, the reopening of the North Market, which gathers for seven days, has been crowded since the morning.

The crowds are surging and well-organized. There is a central axis in the middle, alleys on both sides, and each stall is divided by type. And the stalls on both sides of the most prominent central axis, there is only one kind. The strange-shaped plant rhizomes, shriveled but fragrant fruits, are clearly a variety of medicinal herbs. This is one of the most important categories in the North Market, which runs through the entire long street, and some people call it the "Medicine Market".

Martial artists in the world are respected, and almost everyone is a fanatical martial arts practitioner. Although the path of cultivation is difficult and dangerous, there are many warriors, but there are very few people who can reach the realm of the strong, such as the legend of the strongest man turning over the river and the sea, and so on, are limited to legends. However, there is hope, and there will be people who will go forward and follow the path of cultivation. Medicinal herbs can not only heal wounds, but also temper the meridians, and some legends say that putting heavenly materials and earth treasures can even directly improve the skill of martial artists. This kind of medicinal material, which has an extremely important auxiliary effect on cultivation, has become the hottest and sought-after item in the world.

Most of the stalls are crowded with people, some ask for prices, some bargain, and some are shy but reluctant to give up, in short, it is very noisy. Only in front of the last stall at the end of the long street, there was no one. There are only a dozen medicinal herbs on the stall, and the surrounding stalls are tightly enclosed, which forms a very strong contrast with here, but the people around are not surprised, and they don't even have a glance.

There was an old man sitting at the back of the stall, sitting very leisurely in the back, with a straw hat covering his face, and he couldn't see his face clearly, but he looked at his exposed thin palms, which should be fifty years away. I don't know who his surname is, but the people around him gave him a nickname - "Crazy Old Man".

The old man had been setting up a stall here for several years, but since the day he set up his stall, no one had seen a single medicinal herb sold in his stall. There was nothing unusual about the herbs in his stall, except that the herbs were older than the others. For example, according to common sense, a purple dragon beard can mature into medicine in ten years, but the purple dragon beard on the old man's stall is more than twice as large as that of others. Someone also asked the old man, and got an understatement answer: "Thirty years!"

In the past 30 years, everyone else has collected three stubbles! Therefore, everyone said that he was stupid, but he still set the price ridiculously high. Even if the same medicinal herbs as other people's homes are in better condition and are more old, they will not be so outrageous as doubling the price, right? Some well-wishers have also reminded him, but he still goes his own way, and he has been here for five years, and I don't know why he is so persistent. But behind the scenes, people have seen him as a typical example of Alzheimer's.

I don't know what a good day today is, on this day, the first buyer finally appeared in the medicine stall of the "crazy old man".

A slender finger pointed at a dry grass stalk in the stall, and then a voice sounded, still immature.

"Uncle, how did you sell this nine-leaf calamus?"

The old man's beard shook slightly, but he did not look up, and replied, "Whatever others sell, mine will sell twice as much." ”

This answer is really superb. The voice was obviously stunned by his answer, and after a moment's pause, he asked again: "That's eighty taels of silver, I ...... it."

"Boy, you don't have any money, do you?" the old man suddenly interjected.

"This ......," the voice was a little embarrassed.

"Other people's prices are half lower than mine, why do you want to come to me to buy them?" the old man suddenly straightened up, removed the straw hat covering his face, and revealed a clear and thin face. A pair of eyes kept flickering, and looked at the somewhat embarrassed young man opposite with interest.

The young man opposite was not very old, dressed in ordinary linen clothes, and his family should not be wealthy. The young man has a slender figure, a fair complexion, and handsome facial features, and looks more like a handsome and weak scholar. It's just that it seems that I was choked by the old man's words just now, and there is an extra layer of ruddy on the cheeks of a fair-skinned woman, which makes people involuntarily think of an adjective - "face is like a crown of jade".

At first glance, when he saw the young man's face, the old man was stunned for a moment, and there was a moment of distraction in his eyes that were as deep as water. He immediately looked at the young man, his expression darkened, he shook his head slightly, and muttered a low sentence in his mouth, and he couldn't hear what he was saying.

After a slight loss of consciousness, the old man quickly returned to normal, glanced at the palm of the young man's hanging side, a trace of hidden surprise flashed in his eyes, and his voice remained calm, but the words he said still made people cry and laugh: "Boy, are you sick?"

This sentence was already very close to scolding, but the young man on the other side was just stunned when he heard it, not only did he not get angry, but his attitude was much more respectful: "What the old man said is right, I ......"

"Okay, okay, no need to say more, I can see it at a glance!" The old man was a little impatient, and directly waved his hand to interrupt the young man's words, paused slightly, looked at the other party with a smile, and asked, "Why did you come to me, I already know." It seems that there are also high-level people, and I am not interested in this, so you don't need to talk about it. ”

"It's just ......," the old man's tone changed, and he asked again, "It seems that you don't have enough money, and I, an old man, set up a stall here alone, and I can't do a loss-making business......, right?" It really makes me feel sad......"

"I know I don't have enough money, but I won't embarrass you, uncle, I brought something else, I think, this thing should be worth fifty taels of silver!" As he spoke, the young man took out an earthy yellow carrot-like thing from the basket at his side and handed it to the old man.

The old man didn't take it, just glanced at it, and said with a smile: "There are a hundred years of red mountain ginseng, this thing is not common, if you are lucky, it is not difficult to sell it for one hundred and eighty taels......

"Then uncle, did you agree?" Originally, seeing that the idiot old man didn't answer, the young man thought that he couldn't look down on the thing he took out, and his heart was full of thoughts. However, listening to his loose tone at this time, he couldn't help but be surprised and delighted, and couldn't help but interrupt the old man's words.

"What's wrong with the young people now? I haven't finished talking yet, why did I plug in in so much hurry?" The old man let out a long sigh as he spoke, and sighed in a dignified manner, "It's really the world that is not ancient, I think when I was young, how knowledgeable and courteous I was! I didn't expect that only a few decades have passed, and it has actually become like this! This world, alas, is really helpless......

The young man was obviously very thin-skinned, his white face was flushed, and he wanted to say something to explain, but he just looked at the old man with a strong voice and sighed, and opened his mouth, but he really didn't know what he could say.

"Alas!" the old man let out a long sigh, and his old face, which was originally full of sorrow, instantly returned to normalcy with this last sigh. The young man, who had been staring nervously at the old man's expression, was completely dumbfounded, and he really didn't expect that the facial expressions of human beings could change so quickly.

"Do you want to exchange this red mountain ginseng for this nine-leaf calamus of mine?" the old man ignored the surprise on the young man's face, and just smiled slyly and asked with a smile.

"That's the case, if you don't think it's enough, uncle, I still have thirty taels of silver here, I ......" Looking at the mysterious smile on the old man's face, the young man faintly felt that things seemed to have changed again, one hand was still holding the red mountain ginseng, and the other hand reached into the back basket, as if he wanted to take out his money.

"Slow down, slow down!" the old man stretched out his hand and pressed the young man's arm, and looked at the young man who seemed to be a little uneasy with a smile in his eyes, "Don't be busy digging out the money first, let's make things clear first!"

After speaking, he stretched out two fingers and pinched the dry nine-leaf calamus that was placed on his stall, twisted his fingers gently, and said slowly: "Look, I set up this stall here, it should be a medicine seller, right?"

The boy nodded.

After a pause, the old man glanced at the young man's arm that was still stretched into the basket but not taken out, and asked, "Judging by your appearance, you should have bought medicine, right?"

The boy nodded again.

The smile on the old man's face became thicker: "Look, I sell medicine, you buy medicine." It should be you who give me money and I give you medicine. Now that I give you medicine, and you give me medicine, isn't the relationship between the two of us a bit chaotic? Both of us give each other medicine, so which one of us is buying medicine and which one is selling medicine? This question is worth pondering!"

After saying this, the old man stretched out his other hand and gently twisted his beard under his chin, in a contemplative manner, as if he was very troubled by this question.

"Uncle, I know it's not very proper, but I can't help it. This red ginseng, it ......"

"You want to say that the value of this red ginseng is not low, right?" the old man interrupted the young man's words again, his smile suddenly retracted, and his face turned straight, "If you change to others, you may feel that you have chosen a big bargain, but how can I, Wei Changqing, be the kind of villain in the market who covets small profits? I am a medicine seller, and I have my principles! I sell medicine and collect money." If what is sold is medicine, and what is taken back is still medicine, then am I selling medicine or buying medicine?"