Chapter 173: Driving Prices Down and Pushing Prices Up

The woman was named Zhao Xiaoju. She had previously started out as a hunter in the black market, but later she found that making money that way was a bit too slow.

Heh, so she changed her profession.

However, this "cross-border career jump" of hers led her down a path that was neither entirely righteous nor completely evil—that of a chivalrous thief!

She walked down the street for a spell until a sudden rumbling sound came from her stomach.

She looked up at the sky and saw that dusk was already setting in.

Thus, she decided to grab a bite to eat before heading back to the capital, and incidentally pack some food for the journey.

After all, even with legs as long as hers, covering a thousand miles in a single step was out of the question.

Walking all the way back to the capital from the black market still took quite a bit of time.

She glanced around her surroundings and headed toward a familiar little restaurant.

If Qiao Mucao had been present at this moment, he would have undoubtedly showered praise upon Xiaoju's good taste.

The small eatery she chose happened to be precisely the one Qiao Mucao had praised for its exceptional value.

It was currently prime dining hour, and the restaurant was packed with customers and filled with a noisy commotion.

Xiaoju picked the only remaining table in the corner and ordered one meat dish, one vegetable dish, and a staple food.

Unintentionally, she noticed that the table right next to hers happened to be occupied by the two people she had just encountered at the entrance of the general store.

She observed the dishes they had ordered—simple to the extreme, consisting only of a bowl of wild vegetable soup and two portions of staple food, nothing more.

That wasn't even the part that surprised her the most.

What she truly found peculiar was that the person wearing a cloak at the neighboring table was actually eating with their back turned to the table and facing the wall.

When that person tilted their head back to drink soup, the hood accidentally slipped off, and instantly, a cascade of snow-white hair tumbled down like a waterfall.

Xiaoju was left completely dumbfounded... Too beautiful!!!

She didn't find this hair color particularly strange, because among the wilderness dwellers, people whose hair color wasn't black were ten a penny.

They could be seen frequently in the black market.

This seemed to be related to the natural elements they absorbed within their bodies.

However, this was the first time she had ever encountered someone whose whiteness was so natural and so pure, leaving her instantly awestruck.

As for the man sharing the table with her, he seemed long accustomed to the girl's dining habits.

While chewing on a coarse flour flatbread, he mumbled complaints with his mouth full:

"Tima, even if you really think the food is expensive, there's no need to be this frugal!"

...So her name was Tima. What a distinctive and lovely name.

Upon hearing this, Tima's chewing paused slightly. After making an effort to swallow, she said in a soft voice:

"A-Bang, we don't have much money left. We just asked at the pharmacy, and those medicines are so expensive that we won't even be able to buy many doses."

Her voice was soft, crisp, and gentle.

...That voice was simply too wonderful; it gave her goosebumps all over!

But why would she sit with her back to the table?

Did she not want others to see what she looked like?

Could she be very ugly?

What a pity for such a lovely voice!

Whether it was Tima's polite response or her current voice that sounded like celestial music, it stirred a trace of favorable impression in Xiaoju's heart.

A-Bang, sitting at the next table, sighed and said with a hint of distress:

"Tima, I don't mind, but I can't let you suffer!"

Tima remained silent, and Xiaoju continued to anticipate her reply.

What she said didn't matter; just listening to her voice was enough.

A-Bang continued with extreme dissatisfaction:

"The pelts we brought this time—I inquired about them before we came—could fetch at least fifty thousand.

"Yet today, that general store owner only gave us twenty-five thousand."

Xiaoju, who was eating leisurely, also froze for a moment, stopped eating, and frowned.

Eh? So it was that general store from earlier that had taken their pelts.

That boss truly was no good; he really took the two of them for fools.

A-Bang let out a heavy sigh as he placed his bowl and chopsticks on the table, and grumbled resentfully:

"A single dose of medicine costs a thousand, and all this money will only be enough to save twenty-five people in the village.

"Tima, what do you think we should do?

"My brain isn't as sharp as yours, so you come up with another idea."

Tima, sitting by the table, also raised her head and stared blankly at the wall, feeling an equal tightness of distress in her heart.

Granny Wanjun, their pillar of support, was currently hanging between life and death, and a crowd of young people in the village had fallen ill. Everyone had pinned their hopes on her.

Her petite frame bore a pressure that should not have rested solely on her shoulders.

"After we finish eating, let's visit a few more pharmacies and compare prices. We'll save wherever we can, and get as many extra doses as possible.

"The villagers who are seriously ill cannot wait much longer; we must transport some back first."

Tima's voice was gentle and weak, betraying a sense of powerlessness.

"If that's still not enough, we'll go back and bring more pelts.

"Pelts are external possessions, and we can sell them all.

"But not a single person in the village can be left behind!"

Tima gripped the coarse flatbread tightly in her hand and went back to eating, doing so carefully, earnestly, and with determination.

Xiaoju silently gazed at Tima's back, her expression complex.

She had roughly understood the content of their conversation just now.

It seemed that many people in their village had fallen ill, and the two of them had sneaked into the black market to buy medicine, only to be cheated by an unscrupulous merchant.

As for the specific type of medicine they were talking about, she didn't know yet, but it was most likely subject to price gouging.

The reason was simply that they were wilderness dwellers, and not particularly shrewd ones at that, making them lambs to the slaughter in the eyes of the merchants.

Shearing the sheep and then eating its mutton... Despicable!

At this thought, Xiaoju felt a surge of righteous indignation. Being naturally warm-hearted, she genuinely wanted to help them out, just not right this second.

The two finished every morsel of food on the table. A-Bang grudgingly paid the meal bill, and Tima put her hood back on before heading out to merge into the crowd.

Xiaoju hastily settled her bill, followed them out, and trailed behind at a moderate distance.

The two figures ahead walked and stopped intermittently before finally turning into another pharmacy. Xiaoju waited in a street corner.

Seeing Tima and a frowning A-Bang emerge, Xiaoju immediately slipped into the pharmacy.

She grabbed a clerk by the arm and asked:

"What kind of medicine were those two wilderness dwellers here to buy just now?"

With that, she slipped a tip into the clerk's hand with a familiar and covert movement.

The clerk, who hadn't yet had time to put up a defensive posture, felt what was in his hand and instantly beamed with delight.

An expert makes a move, and you know whether there's substance.

The clerk lowered his voice and replied:

"They came to buy anti-inflammatory drugs, fever reducers, and antiviral medications."

Xiaoju pressed further:

"How much did you quote them?"

"Eh? My customer, isn't this a bit against the rules?"

In a flash, the clerk felt another banknote pressed into his palm.

Just by flapping his gums and earning two tips in a row—now that was profitable!

"The boss gave instructions: when wilderness dwellers come to buy, the uniform quote is one thousand per dose. It's not just our shop quoting this price; every single pharmacy is the same.

"Therefore, once they ask around at a few more places, they'll give up hope.

"I don't know why, but lately quite a few wilderness dwellers have been rushing over to buy these medicines."

The clerk provided an extra piece of information.

Xiaoju walked out of the pharmacy in silence, cursing the ancestors of every single pharmacy owner in the black market along the way.

Sure enough, the prices had been marked up. In the inner city, such medicine only cost two hundred a dose.

In the outer city, at most it would be three hundred a dose.

In the black market, if she went to buy it herself, five hundred a dose would easily secure it.

Yet when it came to these wilderness dwellers, the price had been multiplied by a full five times—truly bullying them too egregiously.

This was utterly intolerable. If this could be tolerated, what couldn't? Well, this grandma could not tolerate it any longer!

Watching the two figures still walking down the street, Xiaoju quickened her pace and caught up.

This time, she had made up her mind; she was definitely going to help them out.