Chapter Thirty-Six: Crazy Decision

  A woman in professional attire, with eyebrows that seemed to be furrowed yet not, and eyes that seemed to be joyful yet not. Zhang Yi gazed at her quietly, suddenly recalling a line from "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow": A glance back, a smile, and a hundred charms are born, the six palaces' beauties lose their color.

  "If she could smile, how many men's souls would be hooked?"

  The thought had barely surfaced when he silently shook his head. This woman, no matter how beautiful, had nothing to do with him; perhaps this brief encounter today would be the only intersection of their lives in this life and the next.

  The original commotion had disappeared, and in the quiet atmosphere, everyone stared at that cold and elegant woman.

  "If no one else bids, does this dragon ginseng belong to me?" The icy woman said calmly.

  The shop owner suddenly had an idea, and with a hint of excitement, loudly said: "Is there anyone else who wants to bid? This fire dragon ginseng is a rare and precious medicinal material that can be encountered but not sought after. Is there anyone who wants to offer a higher price? If not, this fire dragon ginseng belongs to this young lady."

  No one responded to the store owner's words because buying a fire dragon ginseng for 20 million had far exceeded their psychological price.

  The shop owner saw that no one else was bidding, and without showing any disappointment, smiled at the cold and elegant woman, saying: "Since no one is offering a higher price, this fire dragon ginseng is yours. Let's go inside to finalize the transaction!"

  The icy beauty nodded and walked out of the crowd, following him into the store.

  The crowd dispersed, some with disappointed expressions and others with envious looks, leaving one after another.

  In the crowd, two young men with evil glints in their eyes exchanged a quick glance. One of them walked towards the entrance of the medicine market, while the other squatted down at a stone pier not far away to smoke a cigarette. However, his malicious gaze kept sweeping across the door of that shop from time to time.

  As the simple auction ended, Zhang Yi followed Mao Xinxin out.

  "Bai Wei Tang"

  Located at a ten-crossroads in the most convenient transportation area of the store, the three big characters on the signboard are particularly dazzling under the sunlight.

  "This Ba Wei Tang, the occupied area is not the largest in the entire medicinal material market, and the customer flow is not the most. However, the quality of their medicinal materials is absolutely the best. They once made a statement that they only sell high-quality products. If customers buy their medicinal materials and find that the year is insufficient or the quality is poor, or if there are counterfeit goods, as long as the customer provides invoices and other evidence, they are willing to compensate tenfold."

  Mao Xinxin had just lit a cigarette that hadn't been burning for long, and when he arrived at the entrance of the store, he promptly extinguished it on the trash can, his expression solemn, and said seriously.

  Zhang Yi nodded slowly and said, "Let's go in and take a look!"

  As soon as Zhang Yi entered the Ba Wei Tang, he saw that the exquisite counter had rows of medicinal herbs neatly arranged, all packaged in beautiful gift boxes, looking quite high-end.

  There were not many guests in the store hall, and a few guests were selecting medicinal materials under the accompaniment of salesmen. In the counter, an old man with white hair was quietly watching medical books, ignoring the situation in the store.

  As soon as Zhang Yi and Mao Xinxin entered, a young and beautiful female salesperson came up with a passionate smile and asked: "Welcome, are you two just browsing or specifically coming to buy some medicine?"

  Zhang Yi calmly said: "Do you have any Golden Tailed Wisteria in your store?"

  "Golden Tail Pea?"

  The female salesperson thought for a moment, then showed a few points of embarrassment and said: "Sir, I've never heard of the medicinal material Jin Wei Teng. Would you mind waiting for a moment? I'll go ask the shopkeeper?"

  Zhang Yi's eyes flashed a hint of disappointment, but he still nodded and said, "Thanks for your trouble."

  The female salesperson smiled and shook her head, turning around and walking towards the counter.

  "Shopkeeper, there's a customer who wants to buy golden tail vine. I've never heard of this herb before. Do you know if we have it in stock?"

  The old man who was quietly reading a book raised his head, narrowed his eyes slightly, and asked with a glint in his eye: "Who wants to buy the Golden Tail Orchid?"

  "That guest over there."

  The female salesperson pointed at Zhang Yi and said respectfully.

  The old man put down the medical book, walked out from behind the counter, and silently sized up Zhang Yi as he approached him: "Young man, is it you who wants to buy Golden Tail Teng?"

  Zhang Yi nodded and said: "That's right, I don't know if your store has it?"

  The old man said, "Jintai Teng is a rare medicinal material, extremely precious. Many veteran Chinese medicine practitioners have never heard of the name of this medicinal material. I don't know how you knew about Jintai Teng? What disease do you want to use it to treat?"

  "It was a senior who told me, used to treat paralyzed patients."

  "May I know the name of that senior?" The old man's expression changed slightly.

  Zhang Yi shook his head and said, "I'm really sorry, I promised that senior that I wouldn't tell anyone else his name. Excuse me, does your store have any Golden Tail Teng? If you do, I'll buy it with money; if not, I'll ask elsewhere."

  The old man remained silent for a moment before slowly saying: "You're in luck, we do have a Golden Tail Orchid in our store. However, its price is very high."

  "How much money?"

  "The old man smiled faintly and said: 'Five hundred eighty-eight million.'"

  "What?"

  Zhang Yi's eyes widened in shock, and he exclaimed: "Five hundred and eighty-eight million? Is the Golden Tail Teng worth that much money?"

  The old man's smile faded a lot, and he narrowed his eyes to ask: "Didn't the senior of Jintai Teng tell you its value when he told you about it?"

  Zhang Yi suddenly remembered that Hao Cheng had indeed said that the Golden Tail Orchid was worth a thousand gold, but he never dreamed that the price of the Golden Tail Orchid would be so high?

  What's wrong?

  I came all the way to this state's Zhucheng city medicinal material market, just for the golden tail vine. If I find out where the golden tail vine is, but return empty-handed, wouldn't that be too frustrating?

  However, I only have 10,000 yuan on me. The bank card in my pocket with an unknown amount of money was given to me by Yinyin's mother before she passed away, and I absolutely cannot touch it; when Yinyin grows up, I will give the bank card to her.

  No money, how can I buy golden osmanthus?

  He didn't want to return empty-handed because he couldn't bear to see Wang Xiaofei and his mother's disappointed eyes.

  "Little brother, if you don't have money, you can't take the golden lotus away. Our Ba Wei Tang has never done business on credit." The old man said calmly.

  58 million 800 thousand!

  This is no small sum of money, just look at how simply this young man is dressed, I'm afraid he can't afford to take out that much.

  Zhang Yi shook his head helplessly and smiled bitterly: "Boss, I don't have that much money. Originally, I heard from a senior that the Golden Tail Teng was worth thousands of dollars, so I thought the 10,000 yuan I brought would be enough. But I didn't expect the price to be so outrageous...

  His words came to an abrupt halt.

  Just now when he was speaking, the hand holding the shopping bag waved slightly, and suddenly remembered that he spent 666 yuan to buy a withered bone grass worth about 200,000 yuan.

  If...

  Can I rummage through the entire medicinal material market and buy precious medicinal materials that others don't recognize at a low price, like the goddess in Mao Xinxin's mouth, and then sell them at a high price?

  At this thought, his heart skipped a beat.

  However, after some thought, he felt that this idea was too crazy.

  580 million!

  How much medicinal material does one need to dig up in order to earn this amount of money?

  "No matter how daunting the task may be, I will try my best, even if in the end I still can't gather 58 million, even if I never find another precious medicinal herb again, I won't have any regrets."

  Collecting his thoughts, Zhang Yi looked up at the old man and asked, "Shopkeeper, do you accept rare medicinal materials here?"

  The old man was taken aback for a moment, then his eyes fell on the shopping bag in Zhang Yi's hand and said:

  "What's wrong with you?"

  Zhang Yi handed over the shopping bag and said, "This is a withered bone grass. Shopkeeper, give me an estimate. If I think the price is suitable, I'll sell it to Baiweidang."

  "Dry Bone Grass?"

  The old man was slightly startled, then took it out and carefully examined it for a while. A satisfied expression appeared on his aged face, and he nodded and said: "A hundred-year-old fire-baked dry bone grass, the quality is not bad, one price, 4.5 million. If you agree, we can make the deal immediately."

  Four hundred and fifty thousand?

  Zhang Yi's heart skipped a beat. He had originally estimated the price to be around 200,000 yuan, but he hadn't expected the old man to offer more than double that amount.

  "Sold! But I have one condition."

  The old man's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise, and he said, "Speak, what conditions?"

  Zhang Yi said: "Within two days, the Golden Tail Orchid in your store cannot be sold. If I can gather 5.8 million, give priority to selling it to me. If I fail to gather enough, you can sell it to anyone else after two days."

  The old man asked in doubt: "You want two days' time, is it to make up the money? Can you make up 5.8 million in two days?"

  Zhang Yi sighed and said: "I have no idea in my heart, but I must try my best, whether it's success or failure, it won't leave any regrets in my heart."

  "Alright, I promise you."

  The old man nodded and said seriously.

  A few minutes later, Zhang Yi sold the dried bone grass to Bai WeiTang. On the financial side of Bai WeiTang, 450,000 yuan was directly transferred to Zhang Yi's account through online banking on the computer.

  "Shopkeeper, does your Ba Wei Tang collect all precious medicinal materials?"

  At the counter on the first floor lobby, Zhang Yi looked at the old man and asked.

  The old man smiled and said, "Of course, we'd be happy to take in precious medicinal materials. Take that withered bone grass for example. We bought it for 4.5 million and sold it for 5 million, making a profit of 500,000 yuan. You're new here at Ba Wei Tang, but I won't hide it from you - if we were to sell that withered bone grass to someone who really needs it, even if it's for several tens of millions more, I'm sure there would be people willing to pay for it."

  Zhang Yi nodded slowly, the old man was right, this Bai WeiTang could offer a price of 4.5 million, and if he met the right person, he might be able to sell it for an even higher price.

  However, he didn't have time to look for the person who needed it and wasn't willing to wait. He urgently needed money to buy Golden Tails, and selling them to Bai Weitang was his best option.

  Zhang Yi greeted the old man and then left with Mao Xinxin.

  Ten minutes later.

  The woman who had previously attended a simple auction and bought the fire dragon ginseng at a high price of 20 million, walked into the Ba Wei Tang, her eyes fixed on the old man behind the counter, and asked:

  "Shopkeeper, do you have Golden Tailed Wisteria here?"