Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

"That's great! It has been a while since the last time I encounter a great buyer like you. Please follow me, madam." The
shopkeeper clapped his hands and burst into laughter.
Glancing at Matthew, Harper then followed the shopkeeper into the backyard. The mansion consisted of a storefront with
warehouses and living space in the back. After the shopkeeper brought them directly into the innermost part of the warehouse,
he opened the door and said, "Feel free to look around and see if there's anything you want inside."
As Harper roamed around, she noticed that there were a lot of shelves with various kinds of boxes on them.
"Some of the medicinal materials can't be mixed together. Some are poisonous, and some are not, so we have to store them in
separate specially made boxes. Otherwise, the medicinal materials will lose their effects. Each box has a label that states the
function of the medicinal material inside it. You can choose the ones you like."
As Harper walked inside, Matthew simply stood at the door and waited. Harper carefully examined the medicinal herbs with the
shopkeeper following her closely behind. Whenever Harper focused her attention on a specific box, the shopkeeper would tell
her the name, price, and effect of the medicinal herb inside it right away.
Harper simply nodded her head without telling him whether she would buy them or not. Despite that, the shopkeeper seemed
patient enough to tell her all he knew.
After a while, Harper finally finished scanning all the boxes and got a rough idea of all the materials they could offer. With that,
the shopkeeper asked, "Madam, which medicinal herbs have you taken a fancy to?"
"I like all of them. Make a price," Harper said in a flat tone.
Left a bit dumbfounded, the shopkeeper asked, "Madam, do you mean you want to buy all of them?"

"Yes, I want all of them."
"All the herbs that we have here are precious. Meaning to say, they are all very expensive. If you want to buy everything, you're
going to need to spend a large amount of money. Take this herb as an example. A single plant already costs five hundred taels

of silver, let alone the other rare herbs." "A hundred thousand taels of silver. Is that enough?" Harper showed him a bank note
worth such amount of money and put it on the table. "Don't tell me you think it's not enough."
The shopkeeper wanted to raise the price, but then, he thought of the fact that it wouldn't be easy to fool Harper. After all, she
could tell all of the medicinal materials in the tea just by taking a sip. From that, he concluded that she was not a simple person.
So, he had better not offend her. "Madam, that's too little. You're going to need to pay me at least this much." The shopkeeper
raised three fingers. When she heard this, Harper squinted her eyes and thought, 'He wants three hundred thousand taels of
silver? He's asking for such an unreasonable amount. The medicinal herbs in this place should, at most, only be worth a hundred
and fifty thousand taels of silver, but he's asking for twice that amount.' "I can offer one hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver
at most," Harper replied. "Madam, believe me. They are really worth three hundred thousand taels of silver." A peculiar grin
appeared on the shopkeeper's face as Harper looked at him without saying anything.
Although Matthew didn't know much about medicinal herbs, he could tell that Harper really wanted them. Three hundred
thousand taels of silver shouldn't be that big of a number for them. They could easily afford them. That being said, since Harper
thought that they shouldn't be worth that much, he also thought they were definitely not. So, he decided not to chime in and just
watched them negotiate.
"Do you have other goods aside from the ones in this warehouse?"
"Madam, I have the most precious treasure of the South Kingdom. Would it be worth the price?" the shopkeeper whispered
under his breath.
A light flashed across Harper's eyes. "I would like to examine the goods first." The shopkeeper walked toward a wall and

knocked rhythmically on it, and then a box popped out. The moment the shopkeeper opened the box, Harper saw clearly that
there were three red fruits stored inside the box, which happened to be the sacred treasure of the South Kingdom—the
Rosefinch Fruit. They went to the South Kingdom this time with one goal, which was to find the location of the Sacred Seal. But
there was one other thing—finding the Rosefinch Fruit, which was an essential herb Harper had to use to refine the pill she
needed.

"Deal." Taking over the box, Harper took out a pile of bank notes and put them on the table. "Have these medicinal herbs sent to
the general's residence."
The look on the shopkeeper's face shifted dramatically. "The general's... The general's residence?" he confirmed.
"I'm in the general's residence at the moment, so you have to send the medicinal herbs directly to the general's residence. Got
it?" Harper wanted to take the Rosefinch Fruits away, but the shopkeeper quickly stopped her.
"Madam, I won't sell my medicinal herbs to you!"
"Why is that?" Harper asked, taking a step back. "Honesty is the most important thing in business."
"Anyway, my medicinal herbs will not be sold to anyone from the general's residence!"
"I'm not really from the general's residence. I'm only staying there for the time being." How could Harper give back the Rosefinch
Fruits she just found? "Don't worry, sir. People in the general's residence won't make any trouble for you. They wouldn't dare to."
"No more of this nonsense. I won't sell my herbs to you!"
"It's not up to you!" Harper took out an official token and put it down on the table. When the shopkeeper saw this, his hand froze
in the air as he tried to take back the Rosefinch Fruits. Looking at Harper in astonishment, it seemed as though he couldn't
believe his eyes. Then, he looked at Matthew, and after a long while, he finally withdrew his hand in frustration.
"Fine, fine. I apologize for not recognizing you, Your Highness. Please take the Rosefinch Fruits with you."
"What about the medicinal herbs?"
"I'll ask my men to send the medicinal herbs to the general's residence. I hope your people can take them over themselves." As
he took another glance at the token on the table, he helplessly sighed. Then, he exhorted Harper, "These herbs cannot be
touched by the people from the general's residence."
"Don't worry, sir. My stuff won't be handed over to others. I'm leaving now.".