4: Start reselling

Chen Yao sat quietly in Woodcutter's home, waiting, not looking around or moving unnecessarily.

About half an hour later, Woodcutter hurried back.

"It's done!" Woodcutter's face was beaming with an uncontrollable smile; in his eyes, it seemed a tremendous fortune had fallen upon him.

"You sold that jade pendant?" Chen Yao raised an eyebrow and asked.

Seeing Woodcutter's demeanor, this matter was already a sure thing, so there was no need to rush for that one tael of silver.

Woodcutter shook his head: "No, that was left to me by my mother for my marriage, why would I sell it? I pawned it. I could only get one tael of silver plus five hundred copper coins. If I sold it, it would definitely be worth more than that."

Chen Yao nodded and gave Woodcutter a very grateful look: "Thank you, Big Brother. When I return to Qingfeng City, I will definitely have someone send the silver!"

"Hehe, good, good!" Woodcutter showed a simple smile, but he had no intention of handing the money to Chen Yao.

A moment later, Chen Yao noticed something was off and asked in confusion: "Big Brother, do you have any other concerns?"

Woodcutter nodded, sat down, and looked at Chen Yao, asking seriously: "What if you take the money and run? Am I supposed to go to Qingfeng City to find you?"

Chen Yao was startled. Why did this native suddenly become so clever? He quickly said: "Big Brother, don't worry, you can inquire about my Chen family in Qingfeng City. I, Chen Yao, am a man of my word and would never do such a thing!"

Woodcutter ignored Chen Yao and said to himself: "Even if I really found my way to Qingfeng City, I'd have no proof..."

Hearing this, Chen Yao somewhat understood Woodcutter's meaning and looked at him, asking: "So, what is it?"

"Like this." Woodcutter waved his hand, rummaged around his house for a while, found paper and a pen, wrote and drew on it, and then pushed the paper to Chen Yao.

Chen Yao took it and saw that it was an IOU. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, this native actually had some brains, but not much.

Without another word, Chen Yao signed his name at the bottom of the IOU: Chen Xiao.

And drew a red seal.

Woodcutter put away the IOU, carefully read it three times, and only then did he smile, satisfied, and put the IOU away before taking out the one tael of silver plus five hundred copper coins he got from pawning the jade pendant.

"Three times! That's more than four taels of silver!" Woodcutter muttered.

Chen Yao put away the money and looked at him, saying: "Big Brother, don't worry, as soon as I return to Qingfeng City, I will immediately arrange for someone to send the money over. It won't take long. By then, Big Brother can redeem the jade pendant."

"The ancestral jade pendant cannot be sold."

"Yes, yes." Woodcutter nodded repeatedly. After watching Chen Yao walk out the door, his smile remained, and he seemed overjoyed.

...

Walking on the path in Lu Town, Chen Yao was also beaming with joy. Although there was a small interlude, this first pot of gold was very smooth.

"Next, I'll start reselling Medicinal Pills."

Chen Yao observed Lu Town for a while. Lu Town happened to have two pharmacies: one responsible for the western area, which was the one Chen Yao had visited, and the other responsible for the eastern area.

With two pharmacies, he could perfectly buy from the West Side Pharmacy and then sell in the eastern one.

Although the pharmacy's acquisition price would be lower, Chen Yao currently had no other sales channels. Moreover, he could only buy the cheapest Lower Grade Blood Replenishment Powder among the first-tier Medicinal Pills. After upgrading, it would become Medium-Grade Blood Replenishment Powder. This type of Medicinal Pill was not particularly rare, making it difficult to sell for a higher price.

"Lower is lower, just do it more times."

Arriving at the West Side Pharmacy, the boss heard footsteps and, while lowering his head to work on his abacus, said: "What medicine do you need?"

"Lower Grade Blood Replenishment Powder, one please."

This was the Medicinal Pill Chen Yao had already decided on. While he could buy more ordinary Medicinal Pills of lower grades, even after upgrading, their price wouldn't be high, and it would be troublesome. It was better to directly resell the higher-priced first-tier Medicinal Pills. Moreover, first-tier Medicinal Pills could provide experience points, meaning the demand for first-tier Medicinal Pills like Blood Replenishment Powder was much greater than for ordinary Medicinal Pills, and pharmacies were willing to acquire them.

They basically wanted as many as they could get!

Paying and picking up the medicine didn't take long. Chen Yao now held a small medicine bottle containing Lower Grade Blood Replenishment Powder.

Holding it, Chen Yao didn't feel any change, but looking at the item bar on his panel, the Medicinal Pill's grade had already increased, showing as:

[Medium-Grade Blood Replenishment Powder (First-tier) (Upgraded)]

This "Upgraded"... Chen Yao secretly thought, the System gave a supplementary explanation. Was it saying that for the same Medicinal Pill, his talent could only be triggered once?

After thinking about it, Chen Yao believed this was likely the meaning. In other words, even if he gave this Medicinal Pill to someone else and then got it back, it couldn't be upgraded again. Medium-Grade Blood Replenishment Powder was the limit, unless he obtained another Medicinal Pill grade +1 talent.

"If you only take one Lower Grade Blood Replenishment Powder, the effect isn't very noticeable. You need to take multiple doses to boost Qi and blood," the boss said to Chen Yao with a smile.

"Hmm, I'll go back and try it first. If it's good, I'll come back to buy more," Chen Yao replied.

"Alright, come again next time!" the boss replied.

Leaving the West Side Pharmacy, Chen Yao didn't stop, heading straight for the eastern pharmacy, calculating in his mind.

The purchase price of Lower Grade Blood Replenishment Powder was one tael of silver, while the price of Medium-Grade Blood Replenishment Powder was two taels of silver. He also noticed that the price of Upper Grade Blood Replenishment Powder was three taels of silver, and the highest grade available at the West Side Pharmacy was Upper Grade Blood Replenishment Powder.

Blood Replenishment Powder was a first-tier Medicinal Pill, divided into three grades: High Grade, Medium Grade, and Low Grade. From these prices, Chen Yao judged that the increase in efficacy brought by improving the grade of Blood Replenishment Powder was limited, otherwise, the prices wouldn't increase so evenly.

Perhaps higher-tier Medicinal Pills would be different, but unfortunately, there were none of higher tiers here.

Of course, this was not something to research now. Chen Yao calculated that this Medium-Grade Blood Replenishment Powder could probably sell for 1.5 taels of silver. Plus his remaining five hundred copper coins, that would be exactly two taels of silver, and he could go back and buy two more low-grade Blood Replenishment Powders.

"Should I buy at one and sell at the other? Or sell and then immediately buy again to sell at the West Side Pharmacy?"

Chen Yao pondered for a moment and finally decided to only buy from the West Side Pharmacy and only sell at the eastern one. This separation seemed better.

As he thought, he arrived at the eastern pharmacy. The boss, upon his entry, asked the same question: "What do you need?"

Chen Yao didn't speak. Instead, he walked to the counter, took out the small medicine bottle, and asked: "Medium-Grade Blood Replenishment Powder, do you buy it?"

The boss looked up, glanced at Chen Yao, then picked up the medicine bottle, opened the lid to look and smell it, and nodded: "It is indeed Medium-Grade Blood Replenishment Powder. Yes, we buy it, of course."

"How much?"

The boss paused for a moment before replying: "1.2 taels of silver."

"?!" Chen Yao immediately frowned, "You sell it for 2 taels of silver, but only buy it for 1.2? Are you butchering pigs here?"

The boss smiled: "The acquisition price and the selling price are naturally different. How about this, 1.3 taels of silver. That's all I can offer. There are only two pharmacies in Lu Town. You can go ask the West Side Pharmacy, I guarantee their price won't be higher than mine."

Chen Yao stared at him, tentatively asking: "1.8 taels of silver, no lower. If I get more Medium-Grade Blood Replenishment Powder, or even Upper Grade Blood Replenishment Powder, I'll still bring it here to sell."

The boss narrowed his eyes upon hearing this, looked at Chen Yao for a while, and then said: "Are you an Alchemist?"

Chen Yao didn't answer, only asked: "1.8 taels of silver, will you buy it?"