Su Yan caught my hesitation: "Should we also secretly sell those macho kidney-tonifying health care products?"
"Regular pharmacies don't do those." I drank a beer. After all, Lin Xiaoqing was here and I didn't want to talk about those things.
Lin Xiaoyu answered the words softly: "It's autumn now, so you can buy some medicinal herbs to moisten the lungs and relieve coughs."
Hmm, that's what I'm planning to do." Although he said that he didn't intend to buy it, there is only so much profit from that stuff.
After dinner, Su Yan slumped on the sofa, patting her belly with satisfaction: "I've really gained weight recently, and I have to lose weight starting tomorrow."
Lin Xiaoyu smiled and shook her head while clearing the dishes: "You've said this eight hundred times, and I've never seen you actually take action."
“It’s true this time!” Su Yan sat upright confidently, then leaned back lazily.
While they were joking, I said hello and went back to the room first.
Close the door and turn on the computer. The cursor flashes in the search bar. I hesitate for a moment and type the word "Tiger Bone".
The page jumps, mostly about the identification information of tiger bone carvings.
I sifted carefully and finally found clues in an unpopular collection forum.
I have been observing in several literary and entertainment trading groups for a long time. People in the groups use jargon such as "open the door", "baojiang" and "have a look", which makes people confused.
After pondering for a moment, I imitated their tone and sent a message: "I want to buy old tiger bones. If you have the goods, I will do it privately."
Not long after the message was sent, a reply popped up.
"That thing is not easy to handle."
Immediately afterwards, a friend request popped up. The other party's profile picture is completely black, and his nickname only has the word "medicine".
通过申请后，对方直接发来语音，声音压得很低：「玩收藏？」
我简单回复：「算是。」
「明人不说暗话。」对方发来一串加密相册的连结。
"If you really want to find big cat bones, you have to follow the rules. Read this first, then talk about it after closing your eyes."
I stared at the screen and replied with three words: "What do you think?"
Originally, I just sent that message with the intention of giving it a try. In fact, I didn’t really expect to be able to buy this kind of thing online.
After all, tiger bones are prohibited contraband, so how can you find a seller so easily in a public group?
But the encrypted link sent by the other party immediately made things suddenly different. This is obviously not an ordinary Wenwan transaction process.
I stared at the link that required a password. The more cautious the other party was, the more likely it was that this line was true.
After a while, a message from the other party popped up: "West Street Flea Market, Wednesday morning market, bring this."
Attached is a blurry picture of copper coins, "Looking for Lao Yu who sells used books."
After the message showed that it had been read, the other party quickly withdrew the message, and the encrypted link also became invalid.
Turn off the computer, it's already past ten o'clock in the evening.
I put aside the purchase of tiger bones for the time being and prepared to wash up and rest.
In the living room, Lin Xiaoqing was holding a pillow and discussing with Lin Xiaoyu how to sleep.
There is another room in the rental house, which was previously occupied by Han Mengyao. But recently I don’t know what I am studying with Huang Li, and I rarely come back to live there.
But in the end, the two sisters had to sleep together.
Walking into his room, he could still hear the voices of the two sisters next door.
Lin Xiaoqing's clear laughter came faintly through the wall, occasionally mixed with Lin Xiaoyu's soft reminders.
I was lying on the bed, and the tiger bones thing came to mind again, the West Street Flea Market, the Wednesday morning market, Lao Yu selling secondhand books.
These fragmentary clues swirled in my mind, gradually weaving into a vague web.
The voices next door gradually became quieter and eventually became quiet.
Su Yan sent me several more messages. I refused her request on the grounds that it was inconvenient for Lin Xiaoqing to be there
I closed my eyes and decided to have a good sleep first.
The next day, I woke up early in the morning, touched my phone and saw that it was only half past six.
Through the wall, someone could be heard in the kitchen, and there was the sound of spatulas being touched.
When I got up and opened the door, the aroma of fried eggs hit my face.
Lin Xiaoyu was busy in front of the stove wearing an apron, while Lin Xiaoqing was curled up on the sofa, yawning sleepily.
"Would you like to make one for you?" Lin Xiaoyu turned to me and asked.
"Okay." I walked to the window and looked out at the rain-soaked street, "It's raining today, so I won't go out to buy breakfast."
After washing and sitting down to eat breakfast, Lin Xiaoqing came over and asked, "Brother-in-law, can you take me to school later?"
"Okay." I responded briefly.
After breakfast, I drove Lin Xiaoqing to attend classes at the Medical University.
After sending off Xiaoqing, I turned the car around and rushed to the takeout station.
Pushing open the office door, Zhang Wei looked up from the report and pushed up her glasses: "You finally showed up."
I casually looked through the dispatch records on the table: "Nothing happened these days, right?"
Zhang Wei turned the monitor to me: "The area you are responsible for has three bad reviews. If this continues, all your performance points will be deducted."
I buried myself in processing the backlog of site affairs. When I looked up again, the sky outside the window had darkened.
Zhang Wei knocked on my open office door: "The pharmacy business you invested in is good, but the work on the site must also be taken care of well."
"I know, the situation is special these days." There are some things that I can't explain to her.
A few days later, I walked into the West Street Flea Market.
Wednesday’s morning market was deserted than usual. Stall owners held up rainproof cloths and gathered in twos and threes under their tents to drink tea and chat.
My eyes swept across the stalls, and finally stopped in front of the old books stall at the deepest part of the market.
The stall owner is a gray-haired old man wearing reading glasses, who is concentrating on repairing a yellowed thread-bound book.
There are many ancient Chinese medicine books on the stall, including "Compendium of Materia Medica" and "Huangdi Neijing", but they are in very old condition.
I squatted down in front of the stall and picked up a copy of "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" and asked, "How much does it cost?"
The old man said without raising his head, "That copy is not for sale."
"It's a pity, I was just looking for information on this." I turned to the page that recorded tiger bones.
The old man finally took a look at me and looked at me over his reading glasses.
At this time, I realized that his right eye seemed to be not very bright, and the pupil was grayish white.
"What kind of sores are being treated?" he asked slowly, continuing to mend the pages of the book in his hand.
"Old sore. Someone asked me to find Lao Yu." I took out my phone and showed the picture of the copper coin from last night.
He stared at the picture for a few seconds, then suddenly reached out and crossed out the picture: "You have found the wrong person." After saying that, he lowered his head and continued to edit the book, ignoring me.
"I heard that at the morning market on Wednesday, you can smell the roar of tigers." I lowered my voice.
The old man's repairing movements stopped. He took off his reading glasses and wiped them slowly with the corner of his clothes: "Young man, some things are stained on them, but you can't shake them off."