Learn one small skill every day

"You still haven't answered my question: why did you spend so much money on a card?"

“To make money.”

"Are you short of money?"

“I don’t lack money, but I feel that there will be places where I will need money in the future.”

With two gamblers in the family, Bai Miao really couldn't say when his family would be ruined.

If I have some savings by then, at least I won't starve.

Although they seem to be winning these past few years, it's all because they play cards in small teahouses. The stakes aren't very high, and even if the two of them win a hundred or two a day, it's enough to cover their household expenses.

But what if, after a few years, you can no longer be satisfied with your current income and start playing for higher and higher stakes, sometimes spending thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in a single game?

Staying away from gambling is not just a saying; it's a serious matter.

"That's strange... You actually think about things that far ahead?"

Zhang Ze didn't understand Bai Miao's thoughts, but he already regarded Bai Miao as an important partner.

Bai Miao's power is indispensable in order to uncover the true nature of Shengshou Hall.

"Take this and try to sell it, but don't sell it for less than a hundred dollars."

Bai Miao took out a "collector's edition" witch card that he had recently made.

"One hundred? Are you sure the shopkeeper would be willing to buy that?!"

"It depends on your skill level. You can quote a higher price at the beginning, but 100 yuan is the bottom line. If he doesn't want to buy, just go to another store. There are more than just one card shop near the school gate."

Zhang Ze took the card, gritted his teeth, and said, "Fine! I'll give it a try."

"I believe in your abilities. Chen Tianzhu sold the card right away, so how could you not succeed?"

"Him? He's already sold them all?"

Zhang Ze looked down on these thugs from the bottom of his heart, feeling that he was not one of them. When he heard that Chen Tianzhuo could sell cards, his competitive spirit was immediately aroused.

This has to be sold.

After explaining things to Zhang Ze, Bai Miao began looking for a suitable spot on campus.

At this point, most students have already gone home after school. What Bai Miao needs to do is deliberately leave behind some collectible cards to make it look like they were accidentally lost.

We also need to ensure that the first person to discover it is most likely the group of card players.

Standing beside the pool, Bai Miao tossed four collector's edition cards into it.

Because of the manufacturing process, the interior is not affected by water; on the contrary, it reflects light when exposed to sunlight.

Many people like to play cards by this pool, mainly because playing cards can easily get you covered in dust. Having a pool nearby makes it very convenient to wash your hands anytime, anywhere.

After gradually deploying the collectible cards, Bai Miao also needed to pay attention to another issue.

Upstream suppliers.

Once this collectible card becomes popular, the owners of these small shops will inevitably contact their upstream suppliers to inquire about related matters.

If we could get the collector's cards directly from the supplier, it would definitely be much cheaper than buying them from the supplier.

So I still need to work on securing upstream suppliers.

The good news is that the upstream suppliers are very diverse and have not formed a regional general agent scale. In many cases, these small shop owners do not even know who they got their cards from.

The bad news is that the upstream suppliers are too diverse, and Bai Miao doesn't know where to start.

Bai Miao wasn't in a hurry to investigate further; he needed to analyze the ingredients of Shengshoutang's aphrodisiac first.

Bai Miao had done something similar in the shadows of Yar before. In fact, the conditions in Yar City were even worse. The only advantage was that Bai Miao had plenty of money to purchase equipment back then. Now, he can only use the minimum expenditure to assist in the analysis.

Therefore, Bai Miao chose a simpler and more convenient method.

Let's try it first.

The aphrodisiac is made into a round shape, similar to the appearance of a pill, with a brown sheen, somewhat like Maltesers.

Bai Miao broke the aphrodisiac into two pieces and licked the cut surface.

It has a slightly sweet and sour taste, and also a grassy flavor.

The traditional Chinese medicine skills I learned at Qingshan Hospital came in handy at this time.

It must have contained some Cistanche deserticola... and Epimedium.

It's fairly normal.

Bai Miao took another small bite, consuming about one-tenth of the amount, and savored it slowly in his mouth.

"It doesn't seem to be anything special... Damn, what does it taste like!"

A series of intense burning sensations came from his tongue, and Bai Miao immediately spat out the aphrodisiac in his mouth that was almost dissolved into water.

However, what came out was not all water; it contained some pale yellow, hard substances.

This substance is insoluble in water. Bai Miao gently held it between his fingers and rubbed it, gradually discovering its components.

bone.

As for what species the bones belonged to, that remains unknown.

Did you not use up the raw materials from last time? Or did you find new materials somewhere?

Unlike longevity drugs, which take a long time to show their effects, aphrodisiacs should take effect very quickly.

These Tian Sheng Shou Tang businesses have always been booming, which means that the medicine is effective, and quite good at it.

"So where did they get so many bones?"

Bai Miao was puzzled, and he had never encountered any life-threatening risks himself.

At lunchtime, Bai Miao only ensures basic nutritional intake. Without knowing what might be the problem, he pays close attention to everything he eats.

The only good news was that the few collectible cards Bai Miao had dropped in the pool were retrieved and sold to a convenience store owner, who reportedly sold them for twenty yuan each.

Nobody cared which unlucky guy lost the card in the pool.

They didn't even consider the possibility that it had been deliberately dumped there.

After all, he had genuinely earned eighty yuan.

Zhang Ze's card was eventually sold for 105 yuan. Zhang Ze didn't ask for more, took 5 yuan, and gave the remaining 100 yuan to Bai Miao.

Bai Miao took the hundred yuan and bought two cards from the shopkeeper for fifty yuan each. He only glanced at Zhang Ze's card and didn't ask any further questions.

The boss was grinning from ear to ear.

He truly tasted the benefits of the collector's edition cards.

Although the most expensive one went unsold, displaying it in the store was a symbol of status.

Taking advantage of the shop owner's good mood, Bai Miao asked him where he got his card holders from.

"Just get them from the people who buy them. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen anyone open a collector's card. The collector's cards I've received so far are all sealed."

"Of course, nobody plays with single cards, they're all for collecting. What if they get damaged if you don't do some processing? It's this extra processing that makes the card more valuable."

Seeing that the shop owner was starting to look puzzled, Bai Miao explained, "Like I said, this stuff isn't popular yet. The cards you can get right now are basically from the city, and they've definitely been processed. Besides, if you could really get collector's cards through ordinary channels like this, why would they be called collector's cards?"

Bai Miao said with some disdain, "I now seriously doubt that you have any collectible cards here at all. Only large-scale card shops in the city can get cards directly from the manufacturer and sell them. Your upstream suppliers probably don't even have the qualifications to get in touch with them."

The shop owner thought about it and realized that it made perfect sense.

"Indeed, in our small county, who would want to let us play with these cards? You can sell one for at least twenty yuan. It's a real money-maker."

"So you know how to make money now, huh? Here's what we've got: I have some collector's cards. I'll sell them to you for thirty-five each. How about we work together to make these collector's cards a success?"

At this moment, the shop owner was completely immersed in the high profits brought by the collectible cards, and without thinking, he agreed: "Okay, how many do you have? I'll take them all!"

Bai Miao shook his head: "You still want all of them? Dream on. There are only five. This is the lowest price I'm offering you. I'm keeping the rest for myself."

"Five bills... How about I just give you the total of 170?"

"I'm already selling at cost price. The price of this stuff has been going up recently, so it has to be 175, not a penny less."

"Okay, okay, deal at 175."

Bai Miao counted the money, thinking that once the chives grew a little longer, he should find a good opportunity to harvest them.

Chapter 240 Losing Teeth

After that, Bai Miao spent another two weeks.

Nothing major happened during this period; Shengshoutang continued to sell medicine as usual, and students continued to attend school as usual.

The collector's edition cards that Bai Miao occasionally circulated had become widely available throughout the school, and more than one convenience store near the school gate carried them, creating a subtle competitive relationship.

Once they tasted the profit of at least thirty yuan per card, no one was willing to stop.

The shopkeeper is like this, and so are the students at school.

It even led to the development of using collectible cards as stakes in matches.

Bai Miao sighed, noting that there are quite a few rich guys these days.

Another piece of good news is that Bai Miao has obtained the skill "Playing Marbles" to level 8.

I'll reach the maximum level soon.

For the past two weeks, since there had been no activity from Shengshou Hall, Bai Miao had focused his attention on developing the high-level abilities he had learned.

The max-level abilities learned on the Endless Energy ship through looping are primarily in the knowledge aspect.

But all of these are actions that can be expressed through behavior.

Bai Miao also wanted to know how these two types of skills would differ at higher levels.

So Bai Miao gave it a try, and the result shocked him.

Take playing marbles as an example. Originally, after learning this skill, Bai Miao was able to master the precision of playing marbles.

But as his level increased, Bai Miao discovered that this thing seemed to be leaning more and more towards a set of rules.

That is, no matter what the circumstances, you can hit the marble you want to hit.

Bai Miao had hit him with his eyes closed, spat into his mouth, and even hit him with his back turned.