In the late Ming Dynasty, there was a huge demand for Liao ginseng in all parts of the Central Plains. At that time, the main origin of Liao ginseng was in the territory of Northeast Jurchen, so the Ming Dynasty spent a lot of silver buying Liao ginseng every year. Jurchen relied on these ginseng silver to expand the army and train troops, and repeatedly invaded the border of the Ming Dynasty, causing great trouble to the soldiers and civilians on the border.

When the news came, the Emperor of Apocalypse was very uneasy and sighed: "Nu Yi, you are good at the benefits of mink ginseng, but what!" A minister suggested that since ginseng silver is the main economic source of Jurchen, and the Ming Dynasty cannot do without it, why not change the existing acquisition method and restrict the ginseng trade. For example, in a bumper harvest year, the price is lowered, ginseng is collected in large quantities and stored; and when the output is small, it is harvested less or not at all, which not only controls the outflow of silver, but also meets the demand for Liao ginseng.

Apocalypse felt that this method was very good, so he made a decree. This time, how to store Liao ginseng became the primary goal of each reference number. The merchants crossed the sea and showed their magical powers. They dried the purchased fresh ginseng first, and then tried every means to extend the storage period. Among the reference numbers, the storage ginseng made by Shubao Dashan was of the best quality and lasted the longest. The news spread out, and there were reference numbers. Colleagues came to ask for advice, and Shopkeeper Shen always ignored him, which offended many people.

That day, Shopkeeper Shen finished his business, and suddenly thought that Yuanyuan, the concubine who went to offer incense with her son who was just full moon in the morning, hadn't come back yet, so he couldn't help but feel anxious. At this time, the maid Jin'er hurried in and handed a letter to him. This Jin'er originally sold himself and came to the Shen family a month ago. Shopkeeper Shen saw that she was capable and decisive, and had a kind of courage to face major events without being shocked, so he asked her to serve Yuanyuan and her son. From Jin'er's story, shopkeeper Shen knew she was accompanying Yuan and her son to serve incense, but she was kidnapped on the way home. The other party put Jin'er back just to send this letter. There are only three words in the letter: Drunken Mingyue. In addition to this, there is half a piece of dried ginseng. The dried ginseng was transferred to Shopkeeper Shen a few times, and he knew that it was a product of this number, and the storage period was more than one year. He immediately understood what the other party meant: The hijacker was going to exchange Yuanyuan mother and son for his secret ginseng storage recipe.

Shopkeeper Shen used to be widowed and childless, and there was no one to take care of him. Steward Qiu saw this and specially found such a woman from his hometown for him, and recently gave birth to a son for him. Steward Qiu saw that Shopkeeper Shen's expression was wrong, and came over to persuade him: "Shopkeeper Shen, Yuanyuan mother and son are important, agree to each other's conditions." Shopkeeper Shen did not speak.

At noon the next day, a little beggar came to Butler Qiu and said that someone had given him a tael of silver and asked him to send a paper bag to Shopkeeper Shen. Butler Qiu took the paper bag to Shopkeeper Shen and opened it. Inside was an earring that was broken in two. It was Yuanyuan's earring. Shopkeeper Shen said to himself, This is an ultimatum.

That afternoon, Shopkeeper Shen took Butler Qiu into the Drunk Mingyue Restaurant. He picked out a secluded corner and sat down to order a few drinks and dishes. Just as he picked up the wine glass, a sturdy man was sitting opposite him and bowed his hands to Shopkeeper Shen: "Have you brought the secret recipe?"

"How can I trust you without seeing Yuanyuan and her son?"

The man clapped his hands, and Yuanyuan walked out of the next room with the child in her arms, tears on her face. Shopkeeper Shen stood up, but was stopped by the man: "A businessperson talks about a silver product."

Shopkeeper Shen pointed to his head. "I said, write it down."

Shopkeeper Shen cleared his throat and said, "Wash the fresh ginseng with clean water. After 50% dry, put it in boiling water, blanch it for half an hour, and then dry it and store it." The mysterious secret recipe for storing ginseng was so simple, it was unbelievable. Everyone present was stunned, and it was indeed the case when they thought about it. Drying fresh ginseng in the sun, anyone would do it, but no one thought of using boiling water to blanch the bacteria on the surface of fresh ginseng and completely eradicate the root cause of rotten ginseng.

The man hid the secret recipe and just stood up, Shopkeeper Shen stopped him: "This strong man, the matter has come to this point, can you tell me who you are and why you want the secret recipe of ginseng storage with this number?"

The man had achieved his goal, so he naturally didn't care about it. He coldly explained the reason.

It turned out that since the Ming Dynasty changed the acquisition method, the most affected were the foreign ginseng farmers who relied on digging ginseng as their business. In order to reduce losses, they began to pay attention to the companies that received ginseng, and learned that the best way to store ginseng was to protect the big ginseng number. The powerful "head" sent people to enter the customs and used the method of kidnapping to pry open the mouth of Shopkeeper Shen.

"Listen to your accent, you are also a native of the Central Plains. Why bother to do things for Jurchen and do such things that are ashamed of your ancestors?"

"Shopkeeper Shen, people die for wealth, and birds die for food. To put it bluntly, you and I are not for money, each other."

The man was so proud that a few guys came in and tied him up with a rope.

Shopkeeper Shen sneered: "I did it myself, I can't live."

"Shopkeeper Shen, it's still not decided who will win or lose today, your precious son has already taken my poison. I have the antidote, but it's not on me, you can decide." The man seemed to have expected such a result, so he made preparations in advance, and he seemed unhurried at the moment.

"Master, save the child and let him go." Hearing the man's words, Yuanyuan grabbed Shopkeeper Shen and burst into tears. Shopkeeper Shen's face turned pale when he heard this, and he was stunned for a while. Finally, he waved his hand and asked the man to let him go. The man left calmly, and soon after, a beggar brought the antidote.

On the way home, Steward Qiu saw Shopkeeper Shen only comforting Yuanyuan, and occasionally kissing the child in his arms, as if he didn't care about the leakage of the secret recipe, and he was very puzzled. Shopkeeper Shen seemed to have seen through his mind and told him something from earlier years.

Once upon a time, there was a restaurant where the shopkeeper's business was very prosperous with an ancestral recipe for brewing wine. Someone had bad intentions and mixed into the restaurant as an apprentice. A few years later, this person thought he had mastered the recipe for brewing wine, and went back to brewing according to the recipe. Who knew that the ingredients, formula, and brewing process were all the same, and the resulting wine tasted different? So this person set up a table and invited a group of brothers to find out the reason. Someone at the table explained the mystery: everything is right, but it is wrong on the water. This person finally realized that wine cannot be made without water, and there is no such good water where he is.

"Does the shopkeeper mean that the key to storing ginseng is also water?"

"That's right. In the bitter and cold land outside the Great Wall, there is no clear and sweet water like our Central Plains. That man took the secret recipe and didn't have good water to blanch ginseng, which was in vain in the end."

In August and September of each year, it was time for the girls to dig the ginseng, and it was also time for all the ginseng numbers to collect the ginseng. In previous years, Butler Qiu always accompanied Shopkeeper Shen to collect the ginseng. This year, such a big thing happened, and it was estimated that Butler Qiu would take people there, so Shopkeeper Shen was unlikely to go. Unexpectedly, on the day of departure, Shopkeeper Shen unexpectedly left Butler Qiu behind and personally took people outside customs.

After half a month, Shopkeeper Shen finished collecting the ginseng, he got into the carriage and wanted to return to the gate. Shopkeeper Shen was still a stone's throw away from the border, and his heart was relieved. Just as he was about to close his eyes and rest for a while, the galloping carriage suddenly stopped, and a scream came. Shopkeeper Shen called out secretly, and saw that the carriage had knocked down a middle-aged man. Shopkeeper Shen hurriedly got out of the car to help him, and his heart sank suddenly, and the other party's eyes told him that this was a trap. Just as he was about to let go, it was already too late, and the middle-aged man raised his hand, and a strange fragrance rushed over. Shopkeeper Shen felt like he was being carried over his shoulder by the other party before he was completely unconscious. Obviously, this person came for him today.

When Shopkeeper Shen woke up, he found that he was still sitting in the carriage, and by that time the convoy of the reference number had arrived in Daming. He saw a young man who seemed to have known each other in the carriage, but unfortunately he could not remember where he had seen him for a while. It was not until he returned to the Bao Da reference number that he fainted and saw Jin'er, a maid, walking down the car that he suddenly realized. It must have been Jin'er who was dressed up and quietly accompanying him, who saved him. It turned out that when the middle-aged man was about to carry Shopkeeper Shen away after he fell under his spell, it was Jin'er knocked the middle-aged man to the ground with a stone, snatched Shopkeeper Shen and flew into the carriage. Shopkeeper Shen wanted to thank Jin'er, but Jin'er refused to accept it, which surprised Shopkeeper Shen.

After about a month, Butler Qiu suddenly found that many familiar and unfamiliar shopkeepers of the ginseng number suddenly went to the Drunken Mingyue Restaurant in the town, and then Shopkeeper Shen took him to the restaurant. At the table, shopkeeper Shen told many colleagues about the recent happenings of the Baoda ginseng number, and then calmly disclosed the original ginseng storage secret recipe to them, and led everyone to the Baoda ginseng number to watch the entire ginseng storage process on the spot. The people present were all experts, and after a little bit of advice, they understood the reason and expressed their gratitude to Shopkeeper Shen.

After sending off the last batch of guests, it was almost evening, and Shopkeeper Shen asked Butler Qiu to have dinner together. It was not uncommon for the master and servant to sit together for a light meal. What was rare was that the concubine Yuanyuan was also present, which made Butler Qiu a little uncomfortable. According to local customs, when the master and servant ate, the family members could not eat together. After a few glasses of water and wine fell into the stomach, the atmosphere began to relax, and Shopkeeper Shen told a story from the past:

Shopkeeper Shen was a doctor who accompanied the army in his early years. Once he was attacked by a group of female soldiers on his way back to the camp. In a critical situation, the Ming army who passed through the patrol post here saved him. Unfortunately, the leader of the patrol unfortunately died in the melee, and Shopkeeper Shen also lost the ability to be a man. After returning to the Central Plains, the court remembered his meritorious service at the border and rewarded him with a large sum of silver taels. With this reward, Shopkeeper Shen founded the Bao Da Reference Office. Shopkeeper Shen was a person who knew his kindness. He could not forget the soldiers who shared weal and woe with the border guards back then, and always remembered the patrol sergeants who saved his life. With money, he adopted many of the border guards' orphans so that they could have no worries about food and clothing. Butler Qiu was one of them. When he learned that Butler Qiu's father was leader of the patrol who had saved his life, he even entrusted him with an important task and made him the butler of Bao Da Cam.

When Shopkeeper Shen held her hand, he accidentally took her pulse with his three fingers. He knew the woman was pregnant, but he still left her quietly behind. First, he did not believe that Butler Qiu would take revenge, and second, he wanted to know what was the plan of Butler Qiu. When Yuanyuan's mother and son were robbed, someone had reminded him whether it was collusion between inside and outside the family, and there was a mole in the family, the purpose was naturally to obtain his secret recipe. Afterwards, it was confirmed that the matter had nothing to do with Butler Qiu, but Shopkeeper Shen was still a little afraid. After the border robbery, Shopkeeper Shen realized that the Jurchens outside the customs and the colleagues in the Central Plains were all coveting his secret recipe. It can be said that it is easy to hide with a clear gun, and it is difficult to prevent hidden arrows. If he wanted to save himself from danger, the best way was to make the secret recipe public. In terms of friendship, this would benefit the entire court.

At that moment, Steward Qiu and Yuanyuan knelt on the ground.

Shopkeeper Shen drank a glass of wine, glanced at the man and woman in front of him, and sighed: "Nephew, the heavens are watching what mortals do. This old man has treated you well these years, can you tell me, who made you move this evil intention?"

It turned out that Butler Qiu received many visitors every day, and naturally made many friends with other reference numbers. After it was spread that Shopkeeper Shen stored the reference, someone soon found it. There was a lobbyist with a bad heart who designed such a shameful "beauty scheme" for him. When Butler Qiu sent his pregnant concubine Yuanyuan to the Bao Da reference number, he was quite concerned. Life energy is limited, and once Shopkeeper Shen is entangled with women and children, he is not afraid to let go, and the person next to him is the closest to him. What Butler Qiu did not expect was that in his early career as border, Shopkeeper Shen had already lost his male style, and the arrival of Yuanyuan could only be counterproductive.

"Uncle Shen, junior is wrong, I'm sorry for your old man."

Steward Qiu kowtowed his head and said, "I can't avoid this tonight, as long as I don't send the official, I can do whatever I want. As he straightened up, he wondered if there was something wrong with his eyes. Shopkeeper Shen took out a deed and gently placed it in front of him. This is the reference number of a neighboring town that is about to close down, and Shopkeeper Shen paid for it a few days ago. Shopkeeper Shen said indifferently: "Let it go in the past, and live a good life in the future. Remember, be a gentleman, not a villain. In the future, when I see Ling Zun under Jiuquan, I will at least have an explanation."

Shopkeeper Shen was famous for his kindness, but he was so magnanimous that he couldn't imagine it. Butler Qiu had no other way to go, so he could only kowtow his head to the ground, and then with guilt and gratitude, he left with Yuanyuan and her son.

That night, Shopkeeper Shen didn't sleep well. When the morning light first appeared, he came to the backyard alone and saw a petite figure standing under the big locust tree, which was Jin'er. What's the matter with her coming here so early? Shopkeeper Shen has long viewed Jin'er differently since she was in danger at the border. Just as he was about to ask, Jin'er had come close, and she came to bid farewell to Shopkeeper Shen.

Shopkeeper Shen never dreamed Jin'er was an undercover agent sent by her peers. The Jurchen designed the hijacking, and Jin'er actually had another purpose to rescue her. But Shopkeeper Shen's sincerity and kindness completely moved Jin'er. Now that the secret recipe has been made public, she no longer needs to stay here, so she came to bid farewell to Shopkeeper Shen and confided the truth at the same time.

Thinking of Jin'er's life-saving grace, Shopkeeper Shen hurriedly took a bag of gold and silver and shoved it into her hand. Jin'er's petite figure flashed away, and the surroundings were quiet. Shopkeeper Shen suddenly felt more relaxed than ever.