Reborn at 80: From Village Scoundrel to Billionaire

"ah!!!"

The scream was like stepping on a cat's tail, making the whole yard tremble.

"It's Yuehe's voice!"

Liu Bei threw down his chopsticks and ran over immediately, only to find Su Yuehe sitting on the edge of his bed with her back to him, covering her mouth with both hands, frozen in place.

"Yuehe? What's wrong? What happened?"

After saying that, Liu Bei was about to step forward when Zhao Chunyan, who had caught up with him, stopped him.

"Liu Bei!"

"Why is Su Yuehe sitting on your bed?"

"How would I know?" Liu Bei shook his head.

"Still trying to deny it? Confess honestly, last night, didn't you call Yuehe into your room while Wanqiu and I were asleep and have her do something naughty?"

"Chunyan, what nonsense are you talking about? How could I do such a thing?"

"Heh! Haven't you, Liu Beiqian, done enough bad things? Just a few days ago, in broad daylight, didn't you go to Yuehe's room and grope her crotch? You say you didn't do anything bad to her? Who would believe that?"

Liu Bei: "..."

Upon hearing this, Su Yuehe's face flushed red, and she immediately turned around and waved to Zhao Chunyan.

"Sister Chunyan! No! I...I have nothing to do with him! I was just passing by and saw his door was open, so I came in to help him fold his blanket..."

"Fold the quilt? Yuehe, you usually run away from him like a mouse before a cat, how dare you go into his room to fold his quilt? Do you think I'd believe that?"

"Sister Chunyan, I...I..."

Su Yuehe's eyes reddened with anxiety, and she couldn't utter a complete sentence despite moving her mouth for a long time. She could only point behind her with her finger.

"Hmm?" Zhao Chunyan frowned and glared at Liu Bei. "You stay here and don't move."

After saying that, Zhao Chunyan went inside and looked in the direction Su Yuehe was pointing.

"Ah!!1"

The next second, Zhao Chunyan also screamed, her voice eight octaves higher than Su Yuehe's.

"What's wrong?"

"What happened?"

Lin Wanqiu and Zhao Da'e arrived at almost the same time.

"The bed...there's...there's..."

Zhao Chunyan opened her mouth, but couldn't utter a complete sentence.

Zhao Da'e frowned. "Wanqiu, come on, let's go inside and take a look!"

"Hmm!" Lin Wanqiu nodded, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law walked forward one after the other.

Zhao Da'e craned her neck to look ahead and saw that Liu Bei's coat was open, revealing a large, dark brown thing inside.

The umbrella canopy is round and looks about the size of two adult hands put together.

The surface is also covered with rings of patterns, which look a lot like the growth rings on an old tree stump.

"This...this is...Ganoderma lucidum???"

Zhao Da'e stared in disbelief, while Lin Wanqiu covered her gaping mouth with her hand. The two women froze on the spot.

quiet!

quiet!

quiet!

After a brief moment of surprise, Zhao Da'e was the first to come to her senses. She picked up the Ganoderma lucidum and examined it from all angles. It felt very heavy in her hand.

"Xiao Bei, is it... really a Ganoderma lucidum?"

"Um."

"Where did it come from?"

"I dug it in a gully near the forest farm last night."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Da'e brought the Ganoderma lucidum close to her eyes, rubbed the texture on the surface of the cap with her thumb, and then turned it over to look at the powder at the bottom.

When she was young, she went into the mountains with Liu Bei's father and recognized a few kinds of mountain products, so she was certain that it was Ganoderma lucidum.

She became more and more excited as she looked at it.

"This head... must be at least twenty or thirty years old, right?"

"More than that." Liu Bei walked over. "Mother, look at the thickness of this canopy and the cracks on the surface. Ordinary Ganoderma lucidum that takes twenty or thirty years to grow wouldn't reach this size. I estimate it must be over fifty years old."

"Fifty years?"

Zhao Chunyan took the Ganoderma lucidum from Zhao Da'e's hand and examined it carefully, turning it over and over.

Although she didn't understand medicinal herbs, she did understand one thing: money.

"If this thing really is fifty years old, it must be worth a lot, right?"

"The traditional Chinese medicine shops in town buy it by weight, at most ten or so yuan. But if you take it to the county town and sell it to someone knowledgeable, it should fetch at least three figures."

"Three digits?" Zhao Chunyan's eyes lit up.

Su Yuehe whispered, "What's a three-digit number?"

Zhao Chunyan glanced at her. "A hundred yuan or more! Yuehe, can't you use your brain?"

"..."

Su Yuehe was shocked.

"Let me see!"

Lin Wanqiu took the Ganoderma lucidum and carefully examined the cut of the root at the bottom. The cut was smooth and even, without any signs of tearing. It was clear that care had been taken in making it. So she looked up at Liu Bei.

This man used to be so clumsy he couldn't even hold a wood-chopping knife properly. When did he learn to handle medicinal herbs so meticulously?

Zhao Da'e rubbed her hands together. "Xiao Bei, what are you planning to do?"

"After breakfast, I'll go to the county town to sell."

"What? Go to the county town to sell? You don't know anyone here, who are you going to sell to? Don't get scammed! I don't agree!" Upon hearing this, Zhao Chunyan was the first to object.

Lin Wanqiu thought for a moment and nodded. "Chunyan is right. Things are complicated in the county town. It's not safe for you to go alone. Why don't you sell it at the traditional Chinese medicine shop in town? The price will be lower, but at least it's a supply and marketing cooperative shop, so they won't rip you off. Plus, it's closer, and you can come back the same day."

Liu Bei shook his head. "Selling in town would be too unprofitable. Don't worry about the customers, I have a solution."

"What can you do?" Zhao Chunyan scoffed. "If you, Liu Bei, had any ideas, would this family be in such dire straits? Even the pigsty is more respectable than our house!"

"Spring Swallow—"

"Am I wrong? You always managed to find your way into casinos when you were drinking and gambling! Now, can you even sell Ganoderma lucidum? If you get scammed, those few hundred dollars will be gone. What will you use to build a house then?"

Lin Wanqiu hesitated for a moment, then said, "It's not that we don't trust you. But this money is too important for this family. You don't know the situation in the county town. What if the Ganoderma lucidum is switched, or someone tries to lower the price and you don't know the market rate? You'll suffer a loss and there will be no way to undo it. It's better to be safe and go to the town to ask about the price first, so you have a general idea. If it's really not good, then it's not too late to go to the county town."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei looked at Lin Wanqiu.

She spoke clearly and logically, listing out the potential risks of going to the county town one by one, unlike Zhao Chunyan who was quick to anger and unleash her fury.

"Oh! What a clever woman!"

Liu Bei sighed inwardly.

Such a woman, a good wife that others couldn't find even with a lantern, yet he actually divorced her in his previous life.

In my past life, my brain must have been filled with mush.

Fortunately, Lin Wanqiu stayed in the same household despite the divorce.

Fortunately, I was reborn early, so there's still time.

Looking at Lin Wanqiu's profile, he silently made a mental note that he had to put the matter of remarrying her on the agenda.

But he couldn't back down on the matter of Ganoderma lucidum.

"Late Autumn, your analysis is all correct. But the price difference between the town and the county seat is too big. The same Ganoderma lucidum sells for a dozen yuan in the town, but it might cost ten times more in the county seat. It's not worth it. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Seeing his resolute attitude, Lin Wanqiu pursed her lips and said nothing more.

Zhao Chunyan wasn't about to indulge him. "You know what you're doing? If you did, you wouldn't be... Fine! I can't argue with you. How about this, you can go if you really want, but I'm going with you! So you won't get sold out and then be counting the money for them!"

Lin Wanqiu immediately looked up. "You're going? Then I'll go too."

Zhao Chunyan turned around and glared at her, "He and I went to take care of serious business. What are you doing getting involved?"

Lin Wanqiu said unhurriedly, "It's precisely because this is important that I'm worried."

"What are you worried about?"

"I'm worried that if you take him to a hotel in the county town and get caught, you'll be criticized and denounced."

"Lin Wanqiu! Who did you say booked a room? Say it again!"

Zhao Chunyan's hair was practically standing on end.

Su Yuehe stood in the corner, her eyes darting back and forth between the two people, completely unsure of which side to take.

Zhao Da'e leaned against the door frame, watching her two daughters-in-law argue back and forth, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up.

Check it out.

These two used to team up to insult her son.

Now, things have gotten complicated again; they're arguing over going out with her son.

Let's argue!

Make as much noise as you want!

She was secretly pleased.

Liu Bei rubbed his temples. "Alright, alright! Stop arguing. Nobody needs to go. I'll go alone."

"snort!"

Lin Wanqiu glanced at Liu Bei, knowing he was annoyed, rolled her eyes at Zhao Chunyan, and shut her mouth.

"Hmph! Fine, I won't go then. Who cares!"

Zhao Chunyan rolled her eyes and went back.

"Cough cough~"

Zhao Da'e coughed a few times. "Xiao Bei, why are you going to the county town?"

"First, go find Fan Laoqi to borrow a horse-drawn carriage to go to town, and then take a bus from town."

Zhao Da'e nodded, glanced at her two daughters-in-law, and said, "Stop arguing. Let him go by himself. Let's see if he's capable or not."

Liu Bei immediately retorted, "Mother, I'm a man! How can a man say he can't? He has to do it!!!"

After saying that, he gave Zhao Da'e a look, and Zhao Da'e was stunned.

Lin Wanqiu lowered her head. "Indecent."

Su Yuehe's neck instantly turned half red.

Zhao Chunyan rolled her eyes. "You pervert!"

Liu Bei shrank his neck, quickly went out, sat down, and picked up his bowl to eat rice.

Soon, Liu Bei finished his breakfast, wrapped the Ganoderma lucidum back in his coat and stuffed it into his pocket, then went out to find Fan Laoqi.

Fan Laoqi's carriage stopped under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village.

The old man was squatting on the cart shaft smoking a pipe when he saw Liu Bei approaching. He tapped the ash off his pipe and asked, "What's up?"

"Seventh Uncle, can I go to town for fifty cents?"

"OK!"

Forty minutes later, we arrived at the town's bus station.

Liu Bei jumped off the bus, said goodbye to Fan Laoqi, and spent two cents to buy a bus ticket.

The bus was an old-fashioned Jiefang brand bus, and the whole carriage smelled of diesel fuel. The leather covers on the seats had several holes, exposing the yellowed sponge.

Liu Bei sat by the window, holding the old cloth bag in his arms, watching the fields outside the window recede into the distance.

This is my first time entering the county town since being reborn.

The road is familiar, but the people are unfamiliar.

Where can I sell this Ganoderma lucidum for its true price?

Liu Bei closed his eyes, and the years he spent in the county town in his previous life flashed through his mind, street by street.

Suddenly, a place popped up.