Reborn at 80: From Village Scoundrel to Billionaire

Hospital!

Yes, it's a hospital!

Liu Bei's eyes lit up immediately.

No matter how knowledgeable a traditional Chinese medicine shop in a county town may be, it's still a business, and bargaining is instinctive for them.

But hospitals are different. In hospitals, patients lie in bed, while their anxious family members stand by the bedsides.

For them, price is the last thing to consider when it comes to things that can save their lives.

Fifty-year-old Ganoderma lucidum is a valuable commodity for people suffering from chronic insomnia and those who are weak due to prolonged illness. It has calming, energy-boosting, and immune-regulating properties.

As for how to find the people who need it?

There's absolutely no need to worry.

His cheat system will automatically display purple dots when the time comes.

Purple represents wealth.

He had figured out this pattern long ago, and he could make good use of it when he went to the county town.

Thinking of this, Liu Bei leaned against the car window and closed his eyes comfortably.

More than an hour later, the car finally arrived at the county bus station.

Liu Bei jumped out of the car, dusted himself off, and headed towards the county hospital.

The county people's hospital is a three-story Soviet-style building with the five large red characters "Serve the People" painted on its gray-white exterior walls.

Several bicycles and a military green jeep were parked at the entrance.

Liu Bei stood at the gate, took a deep breath, and focused his attention on what he was looking at.

one second.

two seconds.

three seconds.

Colors began to appear in my field of vision.

A few red dots appeared sporadically; those were rats or some other small creatures inside, which he ignored.

After a while,

A pale purple dot of light appeared.

On the second floor.

The location is roughly in the middle section of the corridor, slightly to the east.

The color isn't very dark, which means the other party has money, but may not be able to afford a high price.

Liu Beixian is not considering it.

He waited at the door for another five minutes, his gaze sweeping over the entire building repeatedly.

Another purple dot appeared on the third floor, its color a bit darker than the previous one, but still not quite enough.

He swept past again and continued scanning.

Soon, a third purple dot appeared, located at the far east end of the first floor.

The color was so rich and shiny, like a purple grape hanging in your line of sight, still shimmering.

This is it!

Liu Bei walked into the hospital gate.

The corridor on the first floor smelled of Lysol, the cement floor was very clean, and there were wards on both sides with department signs with white backgrounds and black lettering on the doors.

He walked eastward in the direction of the purple light, passing through the internal medicine department and the surgery department, until he reached the very end before pushing open the door and going inside.

There were four beds in the ward. On the bed by the window lay an old woman in her fifties with gray hair, sunken eyes, an IV needle in her hand, and she was so thin that she was just skin and bones.

Sitting by the bed was a middle-aged man in his early forties, wearing a faded Zhongshan suit, but the fabric was of good quality, and the collar buttons were neatly fastened.

He held an unlit cigarette between his right fingers and flipped through a handwritten medical record with his left, his brow furrowed in a frown.

The purple light fell on the man.

Liu Bei did not go up and start a conversation.

Instead, he walked to the empty bed diagonally opposite and sat down, pretending to rest, while keeping his eyes on the activity in the ward.

A few minutes later, a doctor in a white coat pushed open the door and walked in.

"Director Zhou, I've already told you about your mother's condition. It's neurasthenia caused by long-term insomnia, and her immunity is too low. Ordinary sleeping pills only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. I suggest you try some traditional Chinese medicine to replenish qi and calm the mind. Of course, if possible, it would be best to use some aged Ganoderma lucidum. The older the Ganoderma lucidum, the better its effect. We have some in our pharmacy, but they are all artificially cultivated, and the younger ones are much less effective. My suggestion is that you check the black market!"

"Old Chen, I know all that you're talking about. I asked around at several medicinal herb companies in the city, but they said that wild Ganoderma lucidum that is over twenty years old is in short supply and difficult to obtain."

"That's difficult then." The doctor shook his head. "The mountain people around the county town can occasionally find wild ones, but it's hard to say how old they are. Perhaps you should consider other avenues!"

"Okay! Thanks!"

After the doctor left, the middle-aged man sat back down on the edge of the bed and covered his face with his hands.

The old woman on the bed opened her eyes, her voice weak: "Guangming, don't worry about your mother. You're busy with work..."

"Mother, please don't say anymore." The man raised his head, his eyes reddening. "Your matter is of utmost importance."

At this moment, Liu Bei slowly walked over.

"Excuse me, sir."

The middle-aged man looked up at him, his gaze wary: "Who are you?"

"Take a look at this!"

Liu Bei took out the Ganoderma lucidum directly.

The umbrella has a dark brown canopy with concentric rings of veins.

"This is……"

"Wild Ganoderma lucidum," Liu Bei said. "I dug it up from a ravine in the primeval forest last night. It's at least fifty years old."

"Fifty years?" The middle-aged man suddenly stood up, bent down, and examined the Ganoderma lucidum closely, extremely excited.

"Wait...wait! Don't go! Please don't go!"

The middle-aged man turned and ran out, but two minutes later he dragged the doctor surnamed Chen back with him.

Dr. Chen took the Ganoderma lucidum and examined it three times. He then took out a small knife from the drawer, gently scraped a layer off the cut surface of the root, and smelled it.

"Director Zhou! This is genuine! And it's definitely more than fifty years old! Look at the thickness of the cap and the density of the spore layer. I've worked in the Chinese medicine industry for twenty years, and I've only ever seen this quality of Ganoderma lucidum in photos in the provincial Chinese medicinal materials catalog!"

"More than fifty years?" The middle-aged man turned to Liu Bei: "Young man, how much are you planning to sell this Ganoderma lucidum for?"

Liu Bei already had a bottom line in mind.

Before coming, he estimated it to be a three-digit number, preferably over five hundred.

But he didn't rush to speak; instead, he glanced at the old woman on the bed.

"Brother, I don't know anything about the market. I'm just a hunter from the mountains. If you really need this Ganoderma lucidum, just name your price."

He deliberately adopted a humble attitude.

Because he knew all too well that it was precisely in situations like these that he should not make a price offer.

Whoever reveals their hand first is at a disadvantage.

The middle-aged man hesitated for a few seconds, then extended one finger.

"one thousand."

Liu Bei's heart skipped a beat, but his face remained expressionless.

Dr. Chen coughed lightly beside him and whispered, "Director Zhou, the provincial capital's medicinal herb company is offering 800 to 1200 yuan per plant for this quality and age of wild Ganoderma lucidum, but that's the wholesale price. The retail price is at least double. And these people carried it all the way from the mountains..."

The middle-aged man immediately understood and said directly, "Seventeen thousand."

"What?" This time, Liu Bei couldn't hold back.

Seventeen hundred yuan.

In this era,

In the county town, a regular worker only earns thirty or forty yuan a month.

1,700 yuan is almost four years' salary for someone else.

"become."

The middle-aged man took an envelope from the inside pocket of his Zhongshan suit, counted out 1700 yuan, and said, "Young man, count it!"

"No need. I trust you!" Liu Bei took the money, wrapped it in a handkerchief, and tucked it into his underwear, close to his stomach.

"Young man," the middle-aged man handed over a business card, "my name is Zhou Guangming, from the county's Industry Bureau. If you ever find anything good like this again, feel free to come find me."

From the county's industrial bureau?

It's a state-owned enterprise!

A middle-aged man should be a state cadre.

He took the business card and put it in his pocket.

"Auntie, I wish you a speedy recovery. Director Zhou, if there's nothing else, I'll head back now."

"I send you!"

"No need. You should take care of the old lady. Please wait!"

As Liu Bei stepped out of the hospital, the sun warmed his face.

He looked up at the sky.

It's an unbelievable shade of blue.

After leaving the hospital, Liu Bei did not return to the village immediately, but went straight to the department store on South Street in the county town and arrived at a Forever bicycle specialty store.

Inside, there was a row of brand-new Forever brand 28-inch bicycles, each with a gleaming black frame and a rattling bell.

"Comrade, how much is this car?"

The saleswoman was a girl wearing glasses. She looked him up and down. He was dressed in old clothes with mud stains on his trousers and messy hair. It was obvious that he came from the countryside.

"One hundred and fifty-six dollars. I need a ticket."

"I don't have any tickets. Can you think of a way?" Liu Bei counted out two hundred yuan and placed it in front of the girl.

"Um?"

Upon seeing the large ten-yuan bills, the girl's gaze towards Liu Bei changed.

These days, when rural people go to a department store, nine out of ten are just there to look around; very few actually spend money, let alone rural people who can afford to spend two hundred yuan.

At this moment, the counter manager leaned over, glanced at the money on the counter, then at Liu Bei, and smirked: "Young man, there are only two of these cars left. But, it's not impossible to process it without a ticket, there will be an extra ten yuan handling fee."

"Okay." Liu Bei didn't even blink, and took out another ten yuan and slapped it in front of the two of them.

"..."

Ten minutes later, he carried a brand-new Forever brand 28-inch motorcycle out of the department store.

The sunlight shone brightly on the black paint of the car, making it dazzling.

He put the bike down, touched the frame, and rang the bell.

"Ring ring—"

sounds so good!

Liu Bei immediately jumped onto the bike, pushed off with both feet, and rode through the streets of the county town, past the poplar trees on both sides of the road, and through the golden rice stubble in the fields, heading towards Fanjia Village.

As the sun gradually sank in the west, his shadow and that of the 28-inch single-bar pole were stretched very long.

As we approached the village entrance, we could see several people squatting under the old locust tree in the distance.