Chapter 197 Selling Medicine
After nightfall, Xu Hexiao got up from the bed. He changed into all black clothes, and a navy blue scarf covered his ears and most of his face. If you were not very familiar with him, you would not be able to recognize him easily.
"If you see any seeds of crops, vegetables and fruit seedlings, as long as we don't have them, we can buy them." Lin Qi yawned.
"Okay. Besides seeds, is there anything else you want?"
"Not yet. If possible, buy more meat. It's cold now, and it's not good to go out every day."
"Okay, I'll bring some more money."
"Are you bringing anything to sell?"
"I won't bring it this time. I'll talk about it next time. Just go to sleep and relax. Everything will be fine."
Lin Qi grunted, turned over and continued to sleep.
Xu Hexiao didn't know how many black markets there were in the city. According to Cao Zheng, he knew of three, the largest of which was outside the city.
The black market he was going to tonight was in the park, and Cao Zheng was also acting as a lookout in this black market.
The park was large, with many trees. The cold wind was blowing, and there was nothing but the rustling of leaves. Xu Hexiao blended himself into the darkness, moving silently in it.
Not long after, he found human figures and faint light in a bamboo forest.
"Who?" someone asked softly in the darkness.
"Rat." Xu Hexiao replied. Brother Cao said that people who come to the night market tonight should call themselves rats. Xu Hexiao didn't like this self-proclaimed name, but in order to enter the black market, he had to endure it.
"Go in, be quiet and don't make any noise."
There were quite a few people in the black market, about three or four hundred people, and the scale was larger than Xu Hexiao had expected. Some came to buy things, and some came to sell things. Those who came to sell things had to pay a management fee of 20 cents.
Everyone covered their faces, and it was dark, so no one could see each other's faces, and even the things being sold could not be seen clearly. Most of them asked what the goods were and how much they cost, and only turned on the flashlight and checked carefully after confirming that they wanted them.
What Xu Hexiao wanted to buy was meat. After walking around for a while, he found very few stalls selling meat, not a single chicken, duck or goose. There was pork, but there were only a few pieces left, and they were the tougher hind leg meat.
Xu Hexiao hesitated for a moment, and finally decided to buy it. "How much is one pound?"
"No meat coupons needed. Two yuan a pound. One yuan if you have meat coupons." The middle-aged man selling meat answered.
This price is nearly twice as expensive as that in Yao County.
"I want them all." said Xu Hexiao.
"Okay, four pounds for eight dollars." The man tied the meat with a straw rope and handed it to Xu Hexiao.
Xu Hexiao paid the money and took the meat. "Besides pork, do you have any other meat?"
"It depends." The man didn't say anything definite.
What's the situation?
The man didn't even mention the price, which shows that he must need something more than money.
Xu Hexiao asked tentatively, "What do you want to exchange for?"
The man raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect Xu Hexiao to react so quickly. A hint of appreciation flashed across his eyes. "Cigarettes or alcohol."
"Besides cigarettes and alcohol, is there anything else I can exchange?" He didn't have any cigarettes, and he hadn't had time to brew the alcohol yet.
"It's the end of the year now, and everything is in short supply, especially meat, cigarettes and alcohol, which can also be sold at high prices. If you don't have cigarettes and alcohol, you can get some fine grains. But fine grains are heavy, and if you encounter red armbands, it will be inconvenient to escape. In fact, in addition to cigarettes and alcohol, fresh fruits are also very popular."
"Orange, please?"
"You have oranges? What are their quality? Those small, sour oranges won't fetch much."
“It’s of excellent quality, and I guarantee it’s better than any orange you’ve ever tasted.”
"Oh?" The man showed interest. "Tomorrow there will be half a lamb. If you can guarantee the quality of your oranges, I will keep half the lamb for you. But you have to arrive here before 12:30. If you don't come before 12:30, I will sell the lamb after 12:30."
"OK."
The black market opens at twelve o'clock, and he goes out at half past eleven, so he should have plenty of time.
After buying the meat, Xu Hexiao began to slowly browse the black market. He bought some red beans, some sesame seeds, some spices such as cinnamon, star anise and cardamom. When he reached the end, he also saw someone selling herbs.
What surprised Xu Hexiao was that the prices of these herbs were quite high, among which ginseng, dendrobium officinale, gastrodia elata and cordyceps were the most expensive.
"You dare to ask for ten yuan per pound for this unprocessed dendrobium. This price is too unreasonable."
"I collected it from the rocks in the mountains yesterday. I didn't have time to process it. You can take it or not."
"If it weren't for my grandfather's love of drinking this stuff, do you think I would want to spend this money in vain?"
"What do you mean by wasting money? Dendrobium is known as the elder brother of ginseng. Other herbs treat diseases, but it prevents diseases. Other herbs are not as powerful as it. You look quite old. Your grandfather must be in his 80s or 90s. Seventy is a rare age. Your grandfather could live to be 80 or 90 because he liked to drink the water made from Dendrobium."
"Dendrobium has good medicinal effects, but it can't be sold at such a high price. The last time I bought it at a pharmacy, the dried version was only four yuan per ounce."
"My Dendrobium is of good quality." The stall owner looked as if you could buy it or not.
"How can it be better than the one in the drugstore? I'll go to the drugstore to buy it. Humph!" The man walked away angrily.
The man left, and Xu Hexiao squatted down, "Are these herbs all wild?"
"Yes, they are all wild." The stall owner said, "I have been collecting herbs for more than 20 years. My medicine is of good quality and doctors in pharmacies are scrambling to buy it. If I didn't think I could get a higher price by selling it on the black market, I wouldn't take the risk to come here."
"Do you have the seeds of these medicinal herbs?" Qiqi didn't say she wanted the seeds of the medicinal herbs, but if she could grow them, the quality of the medicinal herbs she grew should be very high.
"Why? You want to grow medicinal herbs?"
"Yes, I want to give it a try."
"It's not easy to grow medicinal herbs. The medicinal effects of herbs grown in different environments are also different. I have been collecting herbs for more than 20 years and have also tried to grow them myself, but the results are either that they don't grow or that they don't grow well."
"I still want to give it a try. If you have any medicinal herb seeds, can you sell some to me?"
"Sure. I'll bring it over tomorrow. Do you want these dendrobiums? I don't have any dendrobium seeds, and they can't be grown artificially. Dendrobiums have many benefits. They can strengthen the body and relieve fatigue. In the past, wealthy families loved to make tea with dendrobiums."
"Half a pound, please."
"Oh, okay."
"Where does this Dendrobium grow?"
"It grows on rocks or trees, in the damp and cool places in the mountains. It grows in the south and is rarely seen in the north. I was lucky to get it."
The next morning, Lin Qi saw the things Xu Hexiao brought back from the black market.
"What kind of grass is this?" Lin Qi asked Xu Hexiao while holding a Dendrobium.
"Dendrobium." Xu Hexiao said, "A stall owner was selling it yesterday, asking for ten yuan per pound. He said that many rich people in Beijing use it to soak in water and drink."
"So expensive? You want me to bring it into being?" Lin Qi immediately guessed Xu Hexiao's purpose.
"You can give it a try. But this thing mainly grows on trees and stones, so it's hard to say whether it can be induced to grow." Xu Hexiao said.
Lin Qi looked at the root system of the Dendrobium and said, "It's still active. I'll give it a try."
After saying that, Lin Qi inputted her special power into the dendrobium. The next second, the dehydrated dendrobium suddenly came to life. It began to grow longer and grow new branches and leaves. Originally, there were only three branches and leaves, but soon they grew to more than ten, twenty, and thirty...
Xu Hexiao looked stunned. This was simply cheating. If it was to induce ginseng to grow, wouldn't it be -
He couldn't think any further, as he was worried that he would be blinded by the huge benefits.
"Strange, it seems that it is more tiring to make this medicinal herb grow than to make fruits, vegetables and crops grow." Lin Qi said.
When Xu Hexiao heard her say she was tired, his heart immediately tightened, "Are you feeling unwell?"
"I don't feel uncomfortable, it's just that I consume a lot of energy. Promoting the growth of these medicinal herbs is almost the same as promoting the growth of plants in the entire planting area." Lin Qi said.
"It's probably because of the medicinal effect of the herbs." Xu Hexiao said, "I originally wanted to buy some seeds from that person, but now it seems that these herbs are not easy to grow."
Lin Qi shook her head. "Let's plant them. Medicinal herbs grow similarly to grass, and those inspectors will only think they are weeds. Medicinal herbs need more energy to mature, which shows that their efficacy should be extraordinary. Let's plant more and keep them for ourselves in case of emergency. As for the fact that they need more energy, that's not a problem. I'll give them some every day. Anyway, we're not in a hurry to use them, so let them grow slowly."
"Okay, I'll listen to you."
After breakfast, Xu Hexiao took the basket of Dendrobium that Lin Qi had helped to produce and went out to the Chinese herbal medicine shop where they had bought medicine for the wound that day.
"Do you sell medicinal herbs here?" Xu Hexiao asked.
"It depends on what kind of medicinal herbs it is. We have no shortage of common ones." The nurse at the counter answered, looking at Xu Hexiao's handsome face with a kind attitude.
"This is it." Xu Hexiao picked up the basket.
"Dendrobium?" The nurse's eyes lit up. This is great. Their pharmacy just happened to be short of this.
When Xu Hexiao saw the nurse's expression, he knew that this wave of business was stable.
"Your Dendrobium is of good quality. I can't decide the price. I have to ask our Doctor Zhang. If you trust me, you can give me the basket first."
"This is a state-owned pharmacy. Of course I can trust it." Xu Hexiao said as he handed over the basket in his hand.
The nurse smiled and said, this guy is really good at talking. Not only is he good-looking, but his voice is also so nice.
The nurse came back soon, and with her came an old man, probably the Doctor Zhang she mentioned.
"Did you bring these Dendrobiums?" asked Doctor Zhang.
Xu Hexiao responded with a “yes”.
"You are lucky. There are very few dendrobiums growing in the north, especially of such good quality. Is this all the quantity?"
“There are still some in the mountains.”
"We have collected all of these today. If you have any more next time, remember to bring them to us."
"What's the price?" Xu Hexiao did not agree directly.
"I'll give you ten yuan per pound. No one else will pay you such a high price except us."
"Okay." Xu Hexiao agreed. This price was the same as the black market price, which should be very high. However, when these people noticed the difference between these dendrobiums and the ones they usually bought, he believed that they would raise the price to buy them.
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