Chapter Seventy-Four: He Tian's Bazaar

  From Wuxi to Xinjiang, it takes about three days to drive an off-road vehicle by yourself.

  Four cars lined up in a row, Xiao Han's red Mustang led the way, and every four hours, the convoy stopped at a service station on the highway to rest for half an hour.

  There were only two people in Song Jian's car, Song Jian and Zhou Tong. Although Zhou Tong had just obtained her driver's license, her driving skills were not bad. Since she was a child, Zhou Tong had been begging her father's driver to teach her how to drive.

  Although the journey was monotonous, Zhou Tong was very excited, looking at the scenery outside the window and chatting with Song Jian in a relaxed manner. When he felt tired, he could lie down and sleep directly on the back row of seats.

  After two days and two nights, on the third day, the convoy had entered Xinjiang.

  The surrounding buildings became sparse and low-rise, but before long, the convoy seemed to have entered a big city, and slowly, the surrounding buildings also became dense.

  "We've arrived at the Hetian area, and after passing through the Hetian area, we'll enter the Tarim Basin. Today, we'll rest here for a day, and tomorrow morning, we'll set off and arrive at the Taklamakan Desert by noon." Xiao Han's voice came from the intercom in the car, each vehicle was equipped with one to facilitate mutual communication.

  "Haha, so this is where Hetian jade comes from? I've long heard that Hetian jade is famous. Today, we must buy a lot of it." Ding Jie said with pride.

  "There are many fake jade here, and the price is expensive too. Everyone should be careful. We've arrived, and right in front of us is our hotel for today." Xiao Han said, as the car turned a corner and entered a luxurious courtyard, with a grand hotel at its center - He Tian Hotel.

  The itinerary and accommodation were all arranged by Xiao Han, so Song Jian and others could relax.

  After the car stopped in the garage, fifteen people with backpacks moved into a hotel.

  All rooms are standard rooms, Song Jian and Zhai Hao live together, Zhou Tong and Qin Hua Yu live together, the two rooms are adjacent.

  Song Jian put down his bag and washed up a bit, just about to go to bed for a nap, when the door suddenly rang out with urgent knocking sounds.

  Opening the door, Zhou Tong and Qin Hua Yu were both wearing a change of neat clothes, standing at the entrance.

  "Song Jian, let's go shopping, today is Bazaar Day." Zhou Tong, carrying a small bag and wearing a fitted pink down jacket with a little hat, smiled at Song Jian.

  Qin Hua Yu also nodded and said: "It's not easy to come once, so let's go for a stroll."

  "Alright, alright," Zhai Hao emerged from behind, scratching his beard and exclaimed excitedly.

  Song Jian thought for a moment and said: "Okay, let's go then. What does 'Bazaar' mean?"

  Zhou Tong smiled complacently and said, "I'm not telling you."

  Four people gathered their things and were about to leave, but then they saw Ding Jie and two other young men also coming out, one of whom was carrying a backpack and had an excited look on his face.

  "Hey, beautiful, want to go shopping with me?" Ding Jie said with a familiar tone, and the other two young men also came over.

  Before long, Xiao Han and two women also walked out of the room. Judging from their attire, they were going out for a stroll as well.

  So they had five men and five women, and everyone went out of the hotel together.

  Ding Jie's eloquence was quite good, and he was surrounded by several women chatting and laughing all the way. Qin Hua Yu and others couldn't help but laugh, even Zhou Tong covered her mouth and smiled secretly, only Xiao Han had no expression on his face, which was quite in line with her name.

  Out of the hotel, not far away, I saw a very large wholesale market, which has high-end jade shops and ordinary stalls selling glasses and hats.

  Since he's here, Song Jian also plans to find some things that might be useful to bring back.

  Upon arriving at the market, Xiao Han reminded everyone to be careful and gather in front of the jade store at the market entrance two hours later. Then they dispersed.

  Song Jian, Zhou Tong, Qin Hua Yu and Zhai Hao walked together towards the west of the market.

  When the Silk Road was thriving, Xinjiang was once Asia's largest commodity distribution center. Although it is no longer the largest now, various goods can still be seen in these markets, including farm tools of the Han people, handicrafts of ethnic minorities, European artworks and specialty food products from Russia and Outer Mongolia.

  This is more like an international trade market.

  Song Jian looked around but didn't see anything worth buying.

  Wandering around, the four of them arrived at a place where Chinese medicinal materials were gathered and distributed. Many beautifully decorated Chinese medicine shops had their doors wide open, with signs that read "Authentic Cordyceps Sinensis", "Authentic Snow Lotus" and so on.

  In the past two years, Cordyceps sinensis has been hyped up to a sky-high price, and these pharmacies have also made a fortune from it. Xue Lian has always been a relatively expensive Chinese medicine, and precious medicines in martial arts novels often include Xue Lian Hua.

  Song Jian and three others turned around the Chinese medicine store, Zhou Tong and others didn't understand either, they just saw the prices marked on those Cordyceps sinensis, were shocked, couldn't figure out why a single Chinese herb would be so expensive.

  Song Jian did not believe the TV and writers' hype, he turned several shops, then came to a small stall, on which were placed red flowers, licorice, astragalus and other Xinjiang-produced Chinese medicines.

  These medicines are all genuine medicinal materials.

  Song Jian stopped.

  "Hey, little brother, want some Chinese medicine? These medicines are all wild and were picked from the mountains by my family members." Behind the stall was a robust man in his 40s, who hastily greeted Song Jian as he came to look at the medicinal materials. Behind him was a three-wheeled motorcycle.

  Song Jian nodded and said, "Is there also medicine on your mountain cart?"

  The man stretched out his hand, lifted the plastic cloth on the tricycle, and said in non-standard Mandarin: "Don't worry, little brother, the samples I'm selling are all the same as those on the tricycle."

  Song Jian nodded and asked, "How much is Huang Qi selling for?"

  "One hundred yuan per kilogram," said Hanzi.

  "What about the red flowers?"

  "Seven hundred yuan per kilogram."

  Song Jian nodded, although the price of this medicine is a bit higher than that in pharmacies and Hu Zhou Chinese herbal medicine market, due to its high-quality wild medicinal materials, it is much better than ordinary medicinal materials.

  "Alright, I'll take all the medicinal herbs in this vehicle. How much is it?" Song Jian asked.

  "Ah?" The man was taken aback at first, then revealed a surprised expression. "A total of 11,000 yuan, I'll give you 10,000 yuan."

  Song Jian nodded and said, "Alright, you pack up the stall now. Later, come with me to the hotel and load the medicinal materials into my car."

  The boy quickly picked up his stall.

  "This is a deposit of 500 yuan, you drive the car to the entrance of the market, about an hour later, we will leave the wholesale market, at that time we will walk together." Song Jian gave the man 500 yuan.

  The man didn't take it, smiled and said: "One look at the young brother is that he understands medicinal materials, I believe in you, okay, I'll wait for a few people at the market entrance."

  Song Jian saw Hanzi's straightforwardness and smiled, nodding: "Good!"

  Having bought this batch of medicinal materials, Song Jian was still very excited in his heart. Among those Astragalus membranaceus, there were several Astragalus membranaceus that were over thirty years old, which would certainly be useful for refining the elixir later on.

  "Let's go take a look at the jade store. Since we've come to He Tian, we should bring back some souvenirs," suggested Zhou Tong.

  Di Haoli immediately responded in kind.

  Song Jian didn't quite understand jade, but surprisingly, Di Hao actually knew a thing or two about it.

  They casually picked a jade store and the four of them walked in.

  The store is quite large, inside there is an old man and four young guys.

  Seeing Song Jian and the others were foreign tourists, the old man with a goatee hurriedly came forward, "Are you four here to buy jade? Take a look around, if you find something you like, our store can provide free engraving of patterns or words."

  "Can it still be engraved with a name?" Zhou Tong heard this, was slightly surprised, then she turned around in the cabinet, her eyes fixed on a jade ring in the cabinet.

  The price tag on the jade ring is 900.

  "Boss, take out this ring and let me see it," said Zhou Tong, pointing at the ring.

  The old man walked over, took out the ring and said: "This young lady really has a good eye for things. This ring is genuine He Tian white jade. Look at the pattern, look at the color, it's unmistakable."

  Song Jianzhai Hao also surrounded them.

  "Huh? There's still some anger fluctuating?" Song Jian was somewhat surprised. Since crossing over, Song Jian had discovered that his perception abilities were particularly strong. Apart from being able to sense danger beforehand, he could also feel a person's strength and weakness, including the size of a patient's vital energy.

  It was just that Song Jian didn't expect that on this jade ring, he could also sense anger.

  "No wonder the emperors and imperial concubines of the Song Dynasty liked to wear jade, saying that jade is auspicious. It seems that truly good jade can indeed bring vitality to people." Song Jian thought to himself, then nodded at Zhou Tong and said, "Let's buy this one then."

  Zhou Tongyan smiled and said: "But I don't have enough money, what can I do?"

  "It's okay, I brought a lot," said Zhai Hao hastily.

  "Not many words!" Qin Huayu's foot kicked Zhao Hao fiercely, then grabbed his ear and dragged him to the side.

  Di Hao looked at Qin Hua Yu with a wronged expression.

  Qin Hua Yu gave a hint to Di Hao, and only then did he suddenly realize that Zhou Tong's intention was to let Song Jian buy it for her.

  Song Jian glanced at Zhou Tong and then said to the boss, "This one will do."

  "Alright then, miss, what pattern, auspicious symbol or character would you like to engrave?" The boss said, holding the jade ring and walking towards the back of the counter.

  Zhou Tong thought for a moment and said, "Let's carve a simple rose."

  The old man with a goat beard picked up the engraving knife and engraved it neatly. Soon, a lifelike rose appeared on the surface of the ring.

  "Alright, I'll wrap it up for you," said the boss.

  "No need, just bring it up, Song Jian will pay," Zhou Tong stretched out his hand, about to take the ring.

  Song Jian's eyes swept over it, and he was taken aback in his heart. Now this ring looked exactly the same as the one just now, but the vital energy within had disappeared, and he couldn't feel it at all.

  "Boss, this ring..." Song Jian said.

  "What's wrong with the ring? Young man, you just asked for it and even had me engrave a rose on it. I'm telling you, once it's engraved, it can't be returned!" said the old boss with a goat-like beard.

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  Thank you for the reward from the yellow weasel book friend, thank you very much.