"Uncle, I really don't know anything about traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, but as for the ginseng in this brocade box, I actually have one at home as well. Not only does it look almost the same as the one you brought out, but it's even bigger in size." Emily Thompson said there was only one, of course, because he was worried that if he said he had a dozen at home, it would scare them. Besides, if it really was a thousand-year-old ginseng, it would be hard to explain where he got it from—he couldn't very well say it popped out of a ring!

"What!" David Brooks was the first to shout, "I don't believe you! You've really got some nerve now, even daring to fool my dad!"

Emily Thompson didn't bother arguing with David Brooks. After checking his watch, he said, "How about this, I'll go home right now, bring the thing over, and ask Uncle to appraise it for me." With that, Emily Thompson hurriedly threw on his coat and left the Xiao family.

"This guy is actually serious!" It wasn't until Emily Thompson rushed off that David Brooks realized his friend wasn't joking, but was being earnest.

After going downstairs, Emily Thompson flagged down a Santana and headed straight home. When he arrived, he told the driver to wait for him downstairs, then entered his house. Emily Thompson rummaged through the piles of medicinal herbs at home for quite a while, found twelve ginseng roots that were much larger than the so-called thousand-year-old wild ginseng he'd seen at the Xiao family, randomly picked one, wrapped it in a few sheets of newspaper, and hurried back to the Xiao family.

The whole trip took Emily Thompson just over half an hour. When he returned to the Xiao family, David Brooks's family was still eating.

"Uncle, I brought it. Please help me take a look." Without caring about the sweat pouring down his face, Emily Thompson handed the newspaper-wrapped ginseng to Edward Brooks.

"Yueling, I have to hand it to you. You actually wrapped the ginseng in this thing." David Brooks helped Edward Brooks open the newspaper while shaking his head in amazement. Even now, David Brooks still didn't believe Emily Thompson really had a thousand-year-old ginseng. He figured Emily Thompson had probably been tricked at a street stall and bought a big tree root.

But when the ginseng Emily Thompson brought was fully revealed in front of the Xiao family, the three of them were all dumbfounded and gasped in astonishment, which made Emily Thompson overjoyed. After all, the Xiao family were all trained in traditional Chinese medicine—if they were this amazed, it meant the ginseng he brought really was a thousand-year-old ginseng.

Edward Brooks carefully picked up the ginseng and examined it for a long time before finally looking up at Emily Thompson and saying, "Yueling, although it hasn't been appraised by a professional institution and we can't determine its exact age, I can tell you with absolute certainty: if the thousand-year-old wild ginseng in our family could score 80 points, then yours would definitely score 100. In today's world, it absolutely deserves the title 'King of Ginseng.'"

With this authoritative confirmation from Edward Brooks, Emily Thompson couldn't help but get excited. By this estimate, just one ginseng root would be worth at least two million, and he had twelve of them—that's twenty-four million! My god, what does that even mean! Not to mention he still had a pile of other medicinal herbs at home, which probably weren't much less valuable than the ginseng. It seemed necessary to find some books on medicinal herbs and study them carefully.

At this moment, David Brooks's voice interrupted Emily Thompson's daydreaming. "You brat, be honest—where did you get this thing? And you kept it secret for so long. Come on, spill it!"

Of course, Emily Thompson couldn't "be honest," so he made something up on the spot: "It happened a few years ago. I saw an old man selling herbs by the roadside and felt sorry for him, so I gave him two hundred yuan. He insisted on giving me this ginseng in return. I didn't know anything about herbs, so I just put it away when I got home and forgot all about it. If I hadn't seen Uncle's thousand-year-old wild ginseng today, I might never have remembered it."

David Brooks didn't question Emily Thompson's explanation, and grinned mischievously, "Yueling! You're amazing—two hundred yuan for such a treasure. Shouldn't you treat your brother to a few days of fun?"

Just as Emily Thompson was about to reply, Edward Brooks spoke up: "Yueling, what do you plan to do with this ginseng?"

Emily Thompson naturally understood what Edward Brooks meant, and immediately said, "Of course I'll sell it for cash. I really don't know anything about this stuff. Uncle, do you have any good connections you could introduce?"

"In that case, tomorrow you should take the ginseng and have David go with you to the Drug Administration Bureau for an appraisal. Once you have the certificate, I'll help you find a buyer. With the quality of your ginseng, selling it for four million shouldn't be a problem."

"Uncle, did you say four million?" Emily Thompson's jaw dropped in disbelief.

David Brooks chimed in, "Yueling, don't worry. If my dad says that price, it can only go higher, not lower. You don't know—just a few days ago, several CEOs from well-known Shanghai companies wanted to buy our wild ginseng. The highest offer was 3.8 million, but Dad turned them down. Now the ginseng you brought is even better than ours—are you still worried you won't get a good price?"