Sen’s caravan reached White Orchard before the dried roots could spoil. The wagons rolled into the market yard in late morning, their cargo tied beneath a clean canvas sheet. Bai was waiting with the route ledger, and Ning had cleared space in the shared supply shed.
Qinghe checked each seal before anyone unloaded the crates. She matched the grower’s mark to the receipt, verified the ferry handoff, and compared the count with the public market list. The shipment held the roots they had ordered, clean cloth, and two bottles for the safer field mixture. No restricted stabilizer was among the goods.
Jessa opened the root sack and tested a small sample. The leaves were dry and free of mold. She checked the date and source before setting the bundles on the ordinary shelf.
“Tessa, keep these by date,” she said. “The oldest bundle should be used first.”
Tessa copied the lot number onto each jar. “The glass bottles have no maker’s mark.”
“They came from Varo’s market supplier,” Bai said. He showed her the receipt. “The bottles are empty. The supplier’s mark is on the crate.”
Qinghe inspected them one by one. Two were usable for the safer mixture. The third had a hairline crack and went into the discard box. She wrote the count in the ordinary supply ledger, separate from the restricted sample record.
