Chapter 76: Buying Jade in the Yunnan Black Market

Xia Ning’an diligently provided Xia Ningzhou with nourishing soups and stews every day. One day, she was in the ward with her brother alone.

“Big brother, I need to ask your opinion about something.”

“Little sister, go ahead.”

“I accidentally obtained a potion that can improve a person’s physique. I want to take it while you’re resting from your injury. Within three months, you’ll see a significant improvement in your body.”

Xia Ningzhou sat up straight at this, looking towards the door. He didn’t see anyone and quickly lowered his voice, “Little sister, you should keep something so precious for yourself. Big brother doesn’t need it.”

“Big brother, I got several vials. Second brother, Zecheng Ge, and I have already taken them. I saved one for you. Now, Second brother is already 185 cm tall.” She said, looking at her brother mischievously. Back home, Big brother had often bullied Second brother because of his height and bloodline suppression.

“You all took it, so I should too.” He had to surpass his annoying younger brother.

“Okay, but I haven’t told Second brother about this. Mom and Dad don’t know either. They think it’s because the food at home has been better recently that Second brother and I have grown taller. Mom even feels guilty about it, thinking she’s been too hard on us.”

“Don’t tell them about this. No one can know, especially since this thing can’t be replicated. It would be troublesome if it attracted attention.”

“I know. If Big brother wasn’t a soldier with such sharp senses, I would have secretly given it to you. In three months, your physical fitness and five senses will improve significantly. I told you that Zecheng Ge said to increase training during this time, pushing yourself to the limit each time, which can better improve your abilities. You two are soldiers in our family. Telling you in advance can better stimulate your potential.”

“I will not disappoint my sister’s good intentions.”

Xia Ning’an watched her brother drink the potion without hesitation. She felt relieved. Her brother was so far away. If he hadn’t been injured, she wouldn’t know when she could give him this.

“Big brother, there’s half a vial of healing potion left. I’ve given you half of it over the past few days. Your injury should be half healed. You can decide how to deal with the rest and manage the dosage yourself.”

“No wonder my wound is starting to itch. I was wondering why I was recovering so quickly. It turns out my little sister was taking care of me.” He said, lovingly rubbing Xia Ning’an’s head.

“Big brother, why don’t you apply for discharge? It’s chaotic here, and I’m not comfortable with you coming back and forth every day. I’ll apply to go home and recuperate. We can catch up and go home for the New Year. It’s been two years since I last saw Mom and Dad.”

“Alright, I’ll buy tickets tomorrow.”

The siblings reached an agreement. Xia Ning’an told her brother to rest well. She planned to go to the village near the hospital to look around and buy some local specialties. Yunnan Province was famous for its various mushrooms and Pu’er tea. She planned to go to the village to buy some.

Xia Ning’an rented an ox cart near the hospital and asked the cart driver to be her guide to buy specialties.

“Little comrade, we have the mushrooms and tea you want in our village. You don’t need to go far,”

“Then, grandpa, can you help me ask what the prices are?”

“Hey! What money, what money? A pound of dried mushrooms for five pounds of coarse grain will do. Tea is one for one. It’s hard to eat these days, who needs this stuff?”

“Grandpa, if you have time, can you help me collect these in the village? I’ll give you five pounds of coarse grain per cartload. I’ll take as much as you have, but the quality must be good. It can’t be moldy or spoiled.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll bring it to you tomorrow morning.”

“Grandpa, I’m a military family member. I’m helping the soldiers buy supplies. I’m staying at the guesthouse across the street. You can come to the guesthouse tomorrow morning and find me. My name is Xia Ning’an.” She said, taking out two pounds of coarse grain and giving it to the grandpa. “Grandpa, this is a deposit.”

After sending the grandpa away, Xia Ning’an went into the guesthouse and asked if they had a warehouse she could rent for two days. Chef Chen told her that the small courtyard behind the canteen could be used temporarily to store her things. Xia Ning’an was happy and took the key. She had been giving Chef Chen some food from time to time, and she had gotten on his good side.

The next morning, Xia Ning’an first went to deliver breakfast to her brother and then returned to the guesthouse to wait for the grandpa.

She entrusted Yang Fan with the task of buying train tickets.

Xia Ning’an spent two days collecting over a thousand pounds of mushrooms and 2,000 bricks of tea.

She also secretly went deep into the mountains and collected five tea trees that were over 300 years old and planted them in her space.

On the last day, she secretly went to a market in Tengchong that specialized in selling raw jade. At this time, jade was being sold secretly, and it was as cheap as cabbage here.

Xia Ning’an regretted not having a golden finger to identify jade. But in this era, grain was the most valuable thing. She used ten thousand pounds of grain to exchange for several large boxes of jade. These were jade materials that had been unearthed in the black market. Even a piece of top-quality imperial green jade, the size of an adult man’s palm, only cost her 200 pounds of grain.

In the end, she directly exchanged for all the raw jade from several big players in the black market. She couldn’t wait to open them. After all, jade wasn’t valuable in this era, and the probability of raw jade turning out to be green was still high. She had a lot of grain, and she exchanged it for jade. After the millennium, the price would skyrocket.

Finally, she and her brother went to the local supply and marketing cooperative to buy local specialties that didn’t require coupons, such as flower cakes and yak beef jerky.

They also bought some flatbreads to eat on the road.

Yang Fan drove them back to the train station, and the siblings boarded the train.