CHAPTER 887: CHAPTER 863: BETTING ON MEDICINAL STONES

"Among the shops ahead, which one has the best reputation for gambling on medicine?"

Jiang Xiaoxiao asked Brother Jin.

Brother Jin, with his tattooed arm, chuckled.

"Sister, I’ve really never met someone like you before. You don’t even know which shop has a good reputation for gambling on medicine, and yet you dare to take on such a task so boldly.

Let me give you a word of advice, sister, this matter doesn’t concern you. I’m a reasonable person, and it certainly won’t involve you. There’s no need for you to get involved.

Besides, gambling on medicine isn’t easy at all. It’s just like gambling on stones in Kun City. One cut poor, one cut rich, one cut wearing burlap, but gambling on medicine here is much harder than gambling on stones in Kun City.

In Kun City, there’s some experience to speak of in betting on stones, but here it’s really just about luck. What can you do with fifty bucks? I’m honestly thinking for your sake; I’m not lying. Even though I do business in high-interest loans, I’m still a person of integrity."

Brother Jin sincerely advised Jiang Xiaoxiao.

Jiang Xiaoxiao laughed, "Brother Jin, thank you for your heartfelt words today. How about I borrow flowers to offer to Buddha, and Brother Jin also takes out fifty bucks, and the three of us partner up and see how it goes in the gambling medicine business?"

Brother Jin laughed out of incredulity.

"You really won’t give up until you get to the ends of the earth. If so, then I’ll join you. It’s just 50 bucks, right?"

He pulled 50 bucks out of his pocket and stuffed it into Jiang Xiaoxiao’s hand.

Jiang Xiaoxiao truly appreciated Brother Jin in front of her; someone so loyal and bold was quite similar to Jin Dachuan.

It seemed like she should cultivate some connections here if today wasn’t a misjudgment.

This Brother Jin could very well be her future right-hand man.

Jiang Xiaoxiao had a keen eye for people; Brother Jin’s skills weren’t inferior to those of Jin Dachuan and the others; being in this trade wasn’t for nothing.

Such a person doing high-interest loans was truly a waste.

Brother Jin pointed to a place, "Their place, True Treasure House, is an old brand with a history of hundreds of years in our area. Most importantly, they are backed by the Gu family. You might be from out of town, so you don’t know, but the Gu family is the head of the eight great medicine families in our area.

Only the Gu family has the capability to dispatch teams of herb diggers into the surrounding mountains. Ordinary people can’t afford such diggers. And the boss of Treasure House is straightforward and not someone who dabbles in petty dealings."

Brother Jin introduced in detail to Jiang Xiaoxiao.

A group of them grandly entered Treasure House.

Jiang Xiaoxiao looked around carefully; it was a three-story building.

The first floor had various large medicine cabinets, with labels indicating the names of the herbs.

Upon entering, one could smell the strong aroma of Chinese medicine.

This place didn’t seem like a gambling medicine spot, but more like a proper pharmacy.

The first-floor hall was bustling with people, indicating that the pharmacy was likely very renowned in the area.

A few people went up to the second floor, led directly by the shop’s staff.

Apparently, they knew Brother Jin, as when they appeared, someone warmly greeted them, politely leading the group straight to the second floor.

The scale of the second floor was obviously different from the first.

Here, instead of medicine cabinets, there were large wooden cabinets.

The surfaces of the wooden cabinets were densely covered with various types of stones, varying in size and kind, but indeed stones.

These were probably the gambling stones, which were also medicinal materials.

Jiang Xiaoxiao, seeing for the first time, thought if her Tang Yuan were here, things might be easier.

The fact she dared to come meant she’d naturally encountered gambling on medicine before.

When she was practicing alchemy in the lab, Old Mrs. Hao had given her a palm-sized medicinal stone.

It was said that what it contained was a Ten Thousand Year Snow Lotus.

Old Mrs. Hao only had this one piece left of the Hao family’s legacy. If it were sold, it would be worthless, and originally, she intended to leave it for her descendants as inheritance.

But unfortunately, her descendants weren’t so promising, and the family was on the verge of collapse.

Jiang Xiaoxiao brought significant profits to the Hao family, whether through shops or houses, even leading her descendants to start managing businesses.

Old Mrs. Hao felt deeply guilty, as Jiang Xiaoxiao seeking her to repay kindness resulted instead in helping them revitalize their family business.

In all reason, they couldn’t help but offer something, or they would be letting her down as human beings.

So, Old Mrs. Hao brought out her carefully preserved treasure and explained to Jiang Xiaoxiao.

This medicinal stone, after all, was wrapped in precious medicinal ingredients.

The more precious the ingredients, the more likely they were encased in the hardest stones.

Experienced herbal diggers would excavate these medicinal stones and use machines to grind them, revealing the true contents inside.

However, usually, the branches and leaves of mature medicinal herbs had long withered, and no one could tell if these stones really contained herbs or were just stones.

Even very experienced herbal diggers wouldn’t dare to guarantee one hundred percent.

That’s why there’s gambling on medicine.

You can choose any stone from here; the owner will offer a price.

If you want to get exactly what you want, it depends on your own luck.

Of course, some stones that the owner is very sure about are naturally sold at a higher price.

Jiang Xiaoxiao, holding the stone from Old Mrs. Hao, studied it repeatedly, finding it to be translucent.

Because this piece had been ground to open a window, allowing a view of the Ten Thousand Year Snow Lotus inside.

Otherwise, how could Old Mrs. Hao have been confident about having a Ten Thousand Year Snow Lotus?

At that time, when Jiang Xiaoxiao was practicing alchemy, her hands were stained with peach juice, and even before her fingers touched the stone, Jiang Xiaoxiao felt a certain restless longing.

This intense sensation seemed as though her fingers were desperately wanting to reach towards the stone.

Not touching the stone felt like a missed opportunity.

Jiang Xiaoxiao, of course, knew this wasn’t her fingers acting on their own; it was because the peach juice was strongly reacting to the stone.

It was in response to encountering something the peach juice was very fond of, resulting in such a resonance.

Later, she found some stones to experiment with at home.

She discovered that stones with completely unknown contents were more attractive to the peach juice.

If there happened to be herbs inside, the peach juice would project a strong desire.

That’s because the peach juice was applied to her hand, making the fingers’ sensation very pronounced.

But if there were no herbs inside the stone, this reaction nearly vanished.

The peach juice would almost ignore those stones, and that’s why she dared to gamble on medicine with just 50 bucks.

Don’t we have a cheat?

If her son, Tang Yuan, were here, she probably wouldn’t even need the peach juice cheat.

Simply put, the stronger her peach juice’s perceptive pull, the more valuable the herbs inside the stone would be.

The weaker the response, the more likely the stone had no herbs or only common ones.