Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 86: Rare in This World

After a bit of haggling.

In the end, Li Xu bought the toad skin for 2,800 yuan, and the old farmer even threw in a few lower-quality ones as a bonus.

Ding Aiguo followed along the whole time, but he tactfully kept quiet.

Only when the three of them were far from the stall did he ask in a low voice, "Doctor Li, was there something special about that toad skin?"

As a man of business,

he was very perceptive.

What Li Xu had said to him earlier—"If you buy it, and the herb turns out to be especially expensive, who does it belong to?"—definitely had a hidden meaning.

Li Xu smiled mysteriously. "President Ding, do you know how toad skin is formed?"

Ding Aiguo was well-informed and replied smoothly, "When a toad sheds, it eats its own old skin. Only under special circumstances will it leave behind a complete toad skin... This one is in such good condition, it was likely shed right before or after hibernation, which is when it has the highest medicinal value. Is that why you had to buy it, Doctor Li?"

"There’s more to it than that."

"Is there something else special about it?"

Li Xu didn’t answer. Instead, they wandered around for a while longer while he bought a few other medicinal herbs. "Lunch is on me. I’ll take the opportunity to show you the secret of that toad skin."

"Where to? I’ll lead the way."

Ding Aiguo had his driver bring the car over.

"Perfect. We’ll hitch a ride in President Ding’s car. Let’s go to Feng City Restaurant," Li Xu said.

"Haha..."

Ding Aiguo laughed. "If we’re going to Feng City Restaurant, then lunch has to be on me."

"Why is that?"

"Because I have shares in Feng City Restaurant... In other words, I’m one of its owners. You’re coming to my place, so how could I let you pay?"

Ding Aiguo was the chairman of the Ding Group.

The Ding Group was involved in multiple industries in Feng City: real estate, hotels, healthcare...

As one of the largest restaurants in Feng City,

it was perfectly normal for Ding Aiguo to have a stake in it.

"Well..." Li Xu stopped being polite. "In that case, I’ll graciously accept."

They arrived at Feng City Restaurant.

And entered a private room.

Li Xu continued, "Toad skin is a naturally shed keratinous layer. It’s rich in the active components of toad venom but is milder than using the venom directly, making it especially suitable for treating persistent edema and certain tumors... But there’s an even better type of toad skin, a true treasure among them."

Seeing their confused looks,

Li Xu asked the server in the private room, "Do you have any water?"

"Water?" The server paused for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, one moment, sir."

She turned and brought over a basin of clean water, placing it on the table.

Following a prompt from his ’intel’ today, Li Xu gently dipped his hand in the water and carefully wiped it onto the toad skin. His movements were light, as if he were afraid of damaging it in the slightest.

Then he held the toad skin up high, showing it off in the sunlight. "This is no ordinary toad skin. Take another look!"

"This is..."

Ding Aiguo and Hu Qiming quickly leaned in to observe it closely. Suddenly, Ding Aiguo gasped, "Golden threads... There are actually golden threads!"

"Golden threads?" Hu Qiming’s reaction was a bit slow. Hearing Ding Aiguo’s exclamation, he had a sudden realization. "Could it be... golden toad skin!"

He remembered his professor mentioning a supreme grade of toad skin in his medicinal materials class back in school, called golden toad skin.

It was extremely precious and incredibly rare.

He never thought he’d actually get to see one today.

Li Xu let out a sly chuckle. He also washed the other, slightly lower-quality toad skin with water and held it up to the sun as well. He grinned. "This one has even more golden threads. It’s the shed skin of a rarely seen Golden Toad King—a golden toad skin!"

Overall,

of the two golden toad skins, one was in better condition but had fewer golden threads.

The other was in slightly worse condition but had more golden threads.

Each had its own merits.

But Li Xu was already extremely satisfied.

Ding Aiguo craned his neck to look, his eyes shining. "Is it really the legendary golden toad skin? Haha, no wonder you didn’t want me to pay for it!"

If Ding Aiguo had paid for such a treasure, it would have been as good as him buying it.

Would he have been willing to just hand it over then?

That was why Li Xu had to pay for the herb himself.

It saved them both a lot of trouble.

Hu Qiming took out his phone and snapped a few pictures. "Li Xu, can I post this in the group chat and let everyone see something amazing?"

"Go ahead," Li Xu said indifferently.

"Haha, I’m going to show this off big time."

Hu Qiming posted the photos in his old class group chat. "@everyone, come take a look at this!"

"Isn’t that just a toad skin? What’s the big deal?"

"Yeah, our hospital just got a batch of toad skins, all of them complete. One of yours is even torn."

"No, knowing Hu Qiming’s personality, he wouldn’t post a regular toad skin in the group. Is there something special about this one... It looks wild-harvested."

"Oh? If it’s a wild toad skin, then its value would be on another level."

"@Hu Qiming, stop being mysterious. Just tell us."

Hu Qiming: "(Arrogant emoji) You bunch of slackers, I’m ashamed to be associated with you. It took you this long just to figure out it’s wild. Keep guessing."

"Guess what else?"

"Don’t tell me we’re supposed to guess the year? Everyone knows toad skins are from the current year."

"I suddenly have the urge to punch him. He’s dragging this out too much."

Hu Qiming: "Tch, you have no patience at all. I’ll give you a hint. Take a close look and see if there are any special colors on the toad skin."

"Special colors? I don’t see any... Huh, there are some lines..."

"I see them too, golden lines. I thought it was just the lighting."

"It’s not the lighting. The lines are evenly distributed and embedded inside the toad skin... HOLY SHIT... It can’t be golden toad skin, can it?!!"

"What? Golden toad skin?? Hu Qiming, where did you get it?"

Hu Qiming: "(Laughing out loud emoji) You guys are really terrible at this. Without my hint, you probably would’ve never figured it out in your entire lives."

Miaoli: "Stop gloating and hurry up. Where did you get it?"

Hu Qiming: "Hehe, I went to the medicinal herb market this morning and bought it from a street stall. The seller didn’t know what he had, but I spotted it right away. I bought it on the sly. The whole process was so thrilling, I was sweating buckets."

Miaoli: "(Thinking emoji) For real?"

Jiang Peng: "Somehow, I don’t think you have that kind of skill."

Li Baojie: "That doesn’t fit your character... Are you telling the truth?"

Hu Qiming typed angrily: "You guys really look down on me too much."

Miaoli: "Wait, today’s the weekend. Aren’t you supposed to be helping out at Li Xu’s clinic? Why did you go to the medicinal herb market? And you rarely went there before."

Jiang Peng: "@Li Xu, is Hu Qiming with you? Is what he’s saying true?"

Li Xu: "Uh... you’d better let him tell you."

Hu Qiming: "(Dejected emoji) Fine, I’ll tell the truth. Li Xu bought the golden toad skin. But I watched the whole thing, so that counts as participating."

Miaoli: "(Disdainful emoji) I knew you didn’t have it in you."

Jiang Peng: "That makes sense. Having one Li Xu in our class is already enough to make us feel inadequate. If a slacker like you also had this kind of skill, the rest of us might as well give up."

Hu Qiming: "@Jiang Peng, holy shit, you look down on me that much? Just you wait, I’m gonna challenge you to a fight."

Jiang Peng: "Childish."