Chapter 065: Jinjiang First Launch

The next morning, Bai Mian got up early and Yin Yin had already started busying herself with her business. Large pieces of soft stewed meat were stewing in the pot, and the house was filled with the aroma of meat. People who passed by couldn't help but stop to smell it.

Weng Xuhua and Gao Jin went for a walk on the hillside. After what happened last night, the two old men seemed to have regained the energy of their youth. There was a small white porcelain pot on the table, which was obviously reserved for Bai Mian. Bai Mian lifted the lid of the pot, and an aroma came out. Inside was the wild vegetable and egg porridge cooked by the master in the morning. Bai Mian served himself a bowl and sat at the table to drink it in small sips.

After breakfast, Bai Mian opened the store door. Today's weather was unusually cool, with a gentle breeze. A group of people lined up early. When they saw Bai Mian coming out, they all rushed to take pictures with her. After taking just a few pictures, the familiar voice of Lame Brother rang behind Bai Mian:

"Hey, everyone, make way. I charge for taking photos. Five yuan a piece. Come over here and pay!"

Bai Mian patted Que Ge's shoulder and said, "You kid, you're trying to make money by targeting me. When did you become my agent?"

Lame Brother tilted his head and smiled: "Hey, just kidding, just kidding, but I did come up with a good idea to make money, look!"

As he was talking, Brother Lame pushed out a tricycle from the corner. On the tricycle were many big round watermelons. Brother Lame cut one open on the spot, pointed at the red flesh inside and said loudly:

"Everyone, take a look. Watermelons. Chilled watermelons. Just picked last night. Sweet and crisp. I've put them on a plate and cut them for you. Five dollars a serving. Please scan the code to buy!"

As Lame Brother spoke, he put his hand in his pocket, took out a QR code like magic, and posted it on his chest. Immediately, a large group of people surrounded him and rushed to buy it. Everyone had been waiting here for a long time and was already very thirsty.

Bai Mian pinched Que Ge's ear and said, "No wonder you ran so fast after get off work yesterday. It turned out that you went to pick watermelons. After all, aren't you just using my fans to make money?"

The lame brother immediately begged for mercy: "Auntie, I didn't steal or rob these watermelons. They are all from my own fields. They are really sweet. What's wrong with selling them? It just so happens that customers need to eat watermelons. If I come here to sell watermelons, isn't it killing two birds with one stone?"

Bai Mian reminded him: "This is Master's territory. Do you have Master's permission to sell watermelons here?"

Lame brother made a "huh" gesture: "Anyway, Master and the others are out. If you don't say anything and I don't say anything, then no one will know, right? Auntie, I beg you, please let me go. Look, I'm over 30 years old, and I'm going to be 40 soon. I'm still a bachelor and I haven't even found a wife. I have to prepare some money to get married, just in case I get lucky someday."

Bai Mian smiled and stretched out his hand: "That's not that simple. Let me take your pulse and I'll know when your romantic luck will come."

Lame Brother retracted his hand cautiously: "Hey, this won't do. You've already spoiled the story in advance. What's the point? Love is all about being unexpected and coming out of nowhere!"

Bai Mian crossed his arms and said, "Okay, I'll keep it a secret for you. Just watch out for yourself and be careful of the city management officers dropping down from the sky."

After that, Bai Mian went back to the house. Que Ge was cutting watermelons by himself at the door. He was very skillful. With a flick of the knife, he cut the watermelons into small pieces, put them on plates and handed them to the customers. There were many people coming to buy, and the whole cart of watermelons was sold out quickly.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Mr. and Mrs. Weng Xuhua returned to Ci Xin Hall after morning exercise. Lame Brother had already packed up the things on the stall in advance. He pretended nothing had happened and walked to the lottery machine on time to start drawing numbers.

When Weng Xuhua walked past the door, he smelled the scent of watermelon. He looked at Lame Brother's evasive eyes and knew that this kid had done something while he was away. However, it was for the sake of life after all, so he did not expose it and walked straight to the back of the diagnosis table.

Today the lottery machine drew three numbers again. These three fate masters stayed, while the others either dispersed or watched the show from the sidelines.

Bai Mian sat behind the diagnosis desk and made herself a cup of icy sour plum soup. She turned on the live broadcast and waited for the first fate master to arrive.

The first visitor today was an old man. He carried a cloth bag, carefully sat down at the table, and said mysteriously to everyone: "I am going to get rich!"

Having sat next to Bai Mian for so many days, Lame Brother was no longer surprised. He said unhappily, "Tell me, what good thing happened to you? Did you win the lottery, or were you found by some wealthy family?"

The old man smiled and waved his hands: "Look at you, young man, you are always making fun of others. Which rich family would want me, a 60-year-old old man? As for me, I got a treasure!"

He looked around, moved closer to Bai Mian, covered his mouth and whispered, "I dug this treasure from the mountain. It's worth a fortune!"

Lame Brother immediately became interested. He stared at the old man's cloth bag with curiosity in his eyes: "I see, you must have dug up precious medicinal herbs! Is it thousand-year-old ginseng or Ganoderma lucidum? Take it out and let me see it!"

Weng Xuhua was also attracted. He walked up to the old man solemnly and said sincerely, "My dear, I am engaged in the Chinese medicine industry and have seen countless medicinal herbs in my life. If you really have rare medicinal herbs, can you take them out and let me see them?"

The old man was surrounded by the crowd and smiled triumphantly. He patted his cloth bag and said proudly:

"Young man, you almost guessed it right. There is Ganoderma lucidum in my bag, but it is Ganoderma lucidum, also known as Tai Sui in folklore. It is said to have the miraculous effect of prolonging life. Rich people are scrambling to buy it!"

Lame Brother became even more curious when he heard this: "I've only seen this thing on TV. It's said that there are not many in the country. Even rich people can't buy it. I didn't expect that Tai Sui could be dug up in our small town of Qingshui? Old man, where did you dig it out? Is it too late for me to go now?"

The old man smiled without saying anything, slowly opened the bag, and took out a glass wine decanter. What was disappointing was that the wine decanter was wrapped in a layer of black cloth.

Weng Xuhua and Lame Brother were waiting excitedly for the old man to remove the black cloth, but unexpectedly the old man stopped and slowly told the story:

"My name is Wu Ainong. I have a wife and a daughter. We are both retired and don't have much to do. My wife likes to go out for sightseeing and I like to raise dogs. We have a local dog named Dahuang. We live in the suburbs of the city, not far from a large field. Every day after dinner, I take Dahuang for a walk in the field. This piece of Tai Sui was discovered by Dahuang."

"About three days ago, I took Da Huang out after dinner. Da Huang was running happily, but when we got to the field, it suddenly stopped, sniffed the ground left and right, and even dug it with its claws."

"I ignored it at first, thinking it was just a dog playing around, but it dug deeper and deeper, leaving a big hole in the soil. There was also a hint of white in the hole. I became curious, so I started digging with Da Huang, and we dug out a large white object. It felt slippery to the touch, and I couldn't tell what it was. I went home and checked, and it turned out to be the Tai Sui mentioned on the Internet!"

Wu Ainong pointed at the wine jar on the table and said happily, "I weighed it at home and it weighs two kilograms. I saw on the Internet that a few grams can be sold for hundreds of thousands of yuan, so I must be selling these two kilograms like crazy!"

Lame Brother was so angry that he slapped his thigh and said, "Oh my God, what hatred do you have against me? Why do you give all the opportunities to make money to others? When will it be my turn?"

Weng Xuhua frowned and said, "Excuse me, but very few people have seen Tai Sui. I suspect it does not exist and is just a legend."

Wu Ainong nodded: "I have the same concerns. Such a great thing has suddenly fallen on my head. I can't believe it. I am afraid that I am wrong, so I want to find a master to confirm it. Master Bai, do you think my baby is too old?"

As he spoke, Wu Ainong lifted the black cloth wrapped around the wine jar, revealing the "Taisui" soaked in the wine. Lame Brother and the others gathered around to take a closer look. The thing was about the size of half a football, quietly soaking in the wine, and nothing could be seen.

Wu Ainong introduced it happily, "I know this stuff has the effect of prolonging life, so I specially use it to make wine. I drink a small cup of Taisui wine every day with meals. Guess what, I really feel that my blood circulation has become much smoother in the past two days, and there is also a special fragrance in this wine!"

Hearing what he said, the crowd around were all eager to try. Everyone wanted to taste this Taisui wine. Wu Ainong immediately protected the wine jar and did not allow anyone to touch it.

Weng Xuhua squinted his eyes and observed for a long time, then said cautiously: "Master, based on my experience, I don't think this thing is alive."

Lame brother also said doubtfully: "I seem to have seen this thing somewhere, but I can't remember where, it looks so familiar..."

"Ah? Are you saying that I'm not too old?" Wu Ainong was disappointed. He didn't listen to Weng Xuhua and turned to look at Bai Mian. "You don't have the final say. I want to listen to the master. Master, you tell me!"

Bai Mian carefully felt Wu Ainong's pulse for a moment, then said, "My master is right. What you picked up is not a living thing. It is a——"

At this point, Bai Mian suddenly stopped talking. She looked towards the live broadcast room carefully, fearing that her account would be blocked.

"This is something that cannot be said in a live broadcast room." Bai Mian said tactfully.

After she hinted at this, Lame Brother understood instantly. He held his belly and laughed: "Hahaha, I finally remembered it. I was wondering why this material looked so familiar. Isn't this a rubber doll? I saw it on Taobao. Who is so wicked that he threw it away in the wilderness after using it, causing the old man to misunderstand!"

After Lame Brother finished speaking, there was no warning in the live broadcast room, so Bai Mian said with confidence: "Yes, this is a rubber doll. What is soaking in your wine jar is half of the doll's head. The reason why you feel comfortable after drinking the wine you made is because of your psychological effect. The special fragrance you mentioned is actually the perfume on the doll."

The lame brother suddenly realized what was going on. He pointed at the wine jar and said, "Now that you mentioned it, I realized that this is indeed the lower part of the head. Look, this is the nose, and this is the chin. However, because of the damage, the outline is a bit blurred. You can still see it if you look carefully!"

The crowd burst into laughter. Weng Xuhua understood immediately and touched his nose awkwardly. Only Wu Ainong, who was sitting in the middle, didn't understand. He didn't know what a rubber doll was and asked Bai Mian stubbornly, "Master, what are you talking about? Isn't this too old?"

Lame Brother walked up to Wu Ainong and whispered something. Wu Ainong finally understood. He was instantly furious and punched his leg: "Oh, this was actually used by someone else... Really, this kind of thing can be thrown directly into the trash can. Why bother to bury it? I thought it was Taisui, hiding it like a treasure. And during this time I even used it to soak wine. Didn't I drink someone else's... It's so disgusting! Bah bah bah!"

Everyone was laughing. Wu Ainong stood up in shame, covered his face and said, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you all. It's all my fault that I'm old and blurry-eyed. I made such a joke. Master, thank you for helping me solve this problem. I'll go home right away and throw this dirty thing away!"

As he spoke, Wu Ainong picked up the wine jar on the table and was about to leave, but Bai Mian stopped him:

"Wait, don't leave in such a hurry. I haven't finished talking yet. You'd better leave this thing behind, because - it is related to a murder case."