Mrs. Chen had been waiting at the end of the village since early morning. When she saw mule carts and horses galloping in their direction from afar, she hurried to the workshop to notify everyone, "They’re here, they’re here, the God of Wealth has arrived!" Gu Dagui was standing at the entrance of the workshop. Hearing her words, he said with dissatisfaction, "Lower your voice. You act like you’ve never seen money before. Isn’t it embarrassing?" Mrs. Chen ignored him. What’s wrong with loving money? Who doesn’t love money? Elder Lei Wu was bringing them money—a whole 1,020 taels of silver. No sooner had Gu Dagui finished speaking than Elder Lei Wu and his group arrived, Jiang Jiao among them. "Brother Gu, we’ve come to collect the goods." Even before dismounting, Elder Lei Wu called out loudly. Third Grandpa, along with the adults from the Gu, Luo, and Luotian families, had been waiting in the workshop. Hearing the voices, they quickly went to greet the arrivals. "Elder Lei Wu, Ah Ji, we have been eagerly awaiting your arrival," Third Grandpa said, knowing that Elder Lei Wu was a straightforward man. He directly stated, "The three types of spices are ready. Go ahead, inspect the goods." "Alright." Elder Lei Wu dismounted and shouted to a mule cart behind him, "Old Mai, Lian Dong, hurry down and get to work." Old Mai and Lian Dong were specialists from Lei Family’s Trading Team responsible for inspecting incoming goods. They had knowledge of medicine, recognized poisons, and had discerning tastes—they could identify conflicting or incompatible ingredients. Although Ah Ji was also present, he was one of the leaders and rarely engaged in the inspection work himself. "We’re here." Old Mai and Lian Dong, accompanied by six men, carried a box down from the mule cart and entered Gu’s Workshop. Third Grandpa led them to a storeroom filled with spices. Upon seeing the seal on the storeroom door, Elder Lei Wu chuckled; Gu’s Workshop really did handle their affairs with caution. Gu Jinli tore the seal, unlocked the door, and pointed to the bags of spices inside: "There are 2,400 jin of spices, twenty-four bags in total, one hundred jin each, all right here. The ones bundled with black cloth are Five Blessings Spices, those with blue cloth are Liu Fu Spices, and those in red cloth bags are Ba Fu Spices." Elder Lei Wu nodded, "Begin the inspection." Old Mai and Lian Dong got busy. When Lei Family’s Trading Team inspected large quantities of goods, they were meticulous. Old Mai and Wen Dong opened the box, took out a set of silver utensils, and then opened up each bag of spices. They sifted through the top layer, scooping spices from the middle into a silver bowl, taking less than half a bowl per bag. Soon, twenty-four bowls of spices were laid out on the storeroom floor. Grabbing a handful from each bowl, the two tasted the spices. After confirming that the contents were harmless, Old Mai said, "Kunzi, Ah Chuan, fetch the rest." "Got it." Kunzi and Ah Chuan hurried to get two copper pots of sheep and cow milk, plus four cooked types of meat chunks, from the mule cart. They then poured the sheep and cow milk together into silver bowls, stirred in the spices, and immersed the cooked meat from horses, cows, sheep, and pigs, waiting for the results. Gu Jinli, initially puzzled, understood what was happening when he saw milk being poured from the copper pots; they were testing for any adverse reaction between the spices and sheep or cow milk. It’s said that Da Rong people drink sheep and cow milk like water. After a quarter of an hour, once the meats were well soaked, Old Mai said, "Let’s eat." He was the first to lift a bowl and finished everything in it. Wen Dong and the other six also swiftly emptied their bowls. Then came the long wait. During this time, every half an hour, Old Mai and Wen Dong would take pulses of themselves and the other six men. Two hours later, after confirming that everyone was fine and the silver bowls did not turn black, Old Mai said again, "Eat more." The six individuals, including Old Mai and Lian Dong, picked up the remaining silver bowls and finished off their contents. Gu Jinli frowned as he watched, "Grandpa, these are spices, drinking them can cause one to overheat." Drinking one bowl shouldn’t be a problem, since these silver bowls aren’t too big, but consuming three bowls in a row could be quite uncomfortable, enough to choke someone. But Old Mai retorted, "Don’t worry, eating too much of this will at most lead to dry heat, it won’t cause any issues. If other problems arise, it would either mean your spices are poisonous, or they are incompatible with sheep, cow’s milk, or the meat from horses, cows, sheep, and pigs. In that case, we can’t proceed with the transaction." Gu Jinli: "...Alright then, you drink." It was as if she hadn’t said anything. It took Old Mai and the others a total of six hours, and it wasn’t until the afternoon that they finished verifying the seasoning spices. They said to Elder Lei Wu and Ah Ji, "Master Wu, Elder Ning, there’s nothing wrong with the spices." The people from Gu’s Workshop all breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. Mrs. Chen had been scared for most of the day, worried that the deal might fall through. Hearing this news, her anxious heart finally settled back into her stomach, and she asked hastily, "Does that mean we can proceed with the goods? What about the silver?" "Would you shut up, woman," Gu Dagui was fed up with her. Who asks for money so bluntly? Mrs. Chen remained unfazed: "Delivering goods and receiving payment is the natural order of business, why can’t it be mentioned?" Elder Lei Wu laughed heartily: "Nephew of the Gu Family, your wife is right, the exchange of goods for payment is only natural." He turned and shouted outside the workshop, "Changqing, bring the silver in." "Yes, Master Wu." Changqing and his companions had been guarding the silver in the mule cart. Upon hearing the order, they immediately summoned two other brothers and carried three boxes of silver into the workshop. They opened them in front of the families from the Qin, Gu, Luo, and Tian clans saying, "One ingot is ten taels, the total is one thousand and twenty taels of silver, please count." "This, so much silver!" Mrs. Chen saw the three full boxes of silver, couldn’t resist, and fainted. "What a coward, fainted again," Gu Dagui cursed at her and carried her into the main room of the workshop to faint in peace. Third Grandpa instructed Gu Dashan, Gu Jin’an, and Father Luo to count the money. In no time, the three of them had counted all three boxes of silver and nodded towards Third Grandpa. Third Grandpa said to Elder Lei Wu, "Brother Lei, the silver is correct." Elder Lei Wu smiled, "Then consider this transaction complete." He called over Old Mai and said to Third Grandpa and the others, "Brother Gu, nephew Dashan, Little Xiao Yu, this old fellow is from Lei Family’s Trading Team. He’s based in Central State and from now on, he will be the one to verify the goods from Gu’s Workshop." Gu Jinli’s eyes lit up upon hearing this, "Grandpa Lei, do you mean to say that you will have a long-term deal with us for purchasing spices?" "Yep, we’ll pick up goods every three months, three thousand catties each time, let’s sign a one-year contract first." Elder Lei Wu produced two new contracts and handed them to Gu Jinli, "After one year, if you wish to renew the contract, Old Mai will bring a new one to you. By then, we’ll at least sign a three-year deal." And after three years, if Gu’s Workshop is reliable, they will turn the contract into a ten-year long-term deal. Gu Jinli, upon hearing this and looking at the contract contents, knew that Lei Family’s Trading Team planned not just to distribute the seasoning spices in Da Rong, but also across the entire northern region. He was very excited—the decision to produce seasoning spices was indeed correct, this was a long-term and profitable mega-deal. The people from the Qin, Gu, Luo, and Tian families were also ecstatic, obtaining three thousand catties of goods every three months meant they could hardly avoid becoming wealthy. However, outside the workshop’s walls, Master Qi was not quite pleased. If Lei Family’s Trading Team was taking three thousand catties of seasoning spices every three months, then what would be left for the Qi Family?