Chapter 1314
Identifying Bezoar
After calculating the price of all the bear bile powder, Li Yongrui readily counted out 16 stacks of ten-yuan bills and handed over 4 loose ten-yuan bills to Wang An.
Immediately afterwards, Li Yongrui took out another stack of ten-yuan notes, counted out 61 notes from the half-stack, and handed them to Wang An, saying:
"This is the one-tenth that we agreed on back then. Brother Xiao An, you can count it too."
Wang An, disregarding Li Yongrui's presence, turned around and pushed the 16040 yuan and the separate 1610 yuan to Wang Li and Mu Xueli, saying:
"You two check it out, and see if it's true or false while you're at it."
Ignoring Wang Li and Mu Xueli who were checking and verifying the money, Wang An directly took out a small cloth bag of bezoar and said to Li Yongrui:
"Brother Li, how much do you think these bezoars of mine are worth?"
The bezoars that Wang An took out were not all the bezoars from that cow, but only a large portion of them.
Because Wang An picked out the larger pieces of bezoar, he selected about one-third of them, which is about one ounce, and gave some to Wang Li and Mu Xueli. He kept the rest for himself.
The reason Wang An kept bezoar instead of bear bile was because he believed that, given the number of black and brown bears in the mountains at that time, he could easily extract a large number of bear bile before wildlife protection began.
And among the bear gallbladders he has captured, he is certain that he will find the golden gallbladder.
But bezoar is a different story. It's no exaggeration to say that even someone who has raised cattle their whole life might never have seen what bezoar looks like until the day they die. That's perfectly normal!
Therefore, in Wang An's view, the price of bezoar is about the same as that of black bear gallstone, which is actually a bit unreasonable. According to the theory that scarcity increases value, bezoar should be more expensive.
Of course, besides this reason, another reason is that there was a shortage of medical care and medicine in those days, and bezoar could be taken directly as a substitute for medicine.
For example, if you experience headaches, fever, persistent high fever, sore throat, mouth ulcers, delirium, or infantile convulsions, or any other acute or severe illness, simply grind a small amount of bezoar powder and take it with water. It's guaranteed to work wonders.
All those cold medicines, fever reducers, heat-clearing medicines, and so on are not as effective as taking ox gallstones directly.
There's no way around it, bezoar is just that invincible! Bezoar is just that awesome!
After Wang An took out the bezoar and placed it on the table, for some reason, Wang An felt that Li Yongrui's eyes had changed, becoming very excited and thrilled, as if he had obtained some priceless treasure.
This time, Li Yongrui even put on gloves before inspecting the goods, which shows how much he valued the bezoar.
Li Yongrui picked up a bezoar, examined it for a while, and said:
"Genuine bezoar is either brownish-yellow or golden-yellow; there will never be a third color. Moreover, the surface of genuine bezoar is always glossy and oily, and will not be rough or dull."
Immediately afterwards, Li Yongrui held the bezoar near his nose and gently smelled it, then said:
"Bezoar has a special, refreshing fragrance. You can smell it and remember the smell; it's quite unique."
After Li Yongrui finished speaking, Wang An and the others each picked up a bezoar, examined it, and smelled it.
Li Yongrui frowned slightly when he saw that Wang An and the other three were not wearing gloves and just picked them up directly.
Turning his head, Li Yongrui said again:
"Real bezoar is actually very soft. You can just scratch it with your fingernail and it will leave a mark, but it will not collapse."
Upon hearing this, Wang An and the others instinctively scratched it with their fingernails. Sure enough, just as Li Yongrui had said, this thing looked very hard, but it wasn't actually hard at all.
Noticing their actions, Li Yongrui frowned even more deeply, clearly disapproving of Wang An and the others' lack of manners, but he didn't say a word.
Finally, Li Yongrui took out a small file about the length of a finger from his toolbox, poured half a glass of water into a clear glass, picked up the bezoar again, and gently rubbed it on the small file.
Only then did Li Yongrui speak again:
“Although both bezoar and bear bile powder are products of bile production, they behave completely differently when they are in water. Keep an eye on them.” As he spoke, Li Yongrui put the small file into the water.
The bezoar powder stuck to the file instantly dissolved in the water, turning the water yellow.
Li Yongrui then said:
"See? When bezoar is added to water, the water turns yellow, but not a single speck of sediment sinks to the bottom, and the water remains clear and transparent without becoming murky."
To be fair, Li Yongrui's explanation was incredibly detailed; even someone who isn't very bright could probably learn how to identify bezoar immediately after listening.
Seeing that Wang An and the other three had all nodded, Li Yongrui stopped explaining and began to examine the remaining bezoar particles.
However, Li Yongrui only tested the remaining ingredients by sight and smell, without grinding them into powder and adding them to water.
Wang Li, still somewhat puzzled, asked Li Yongrui:
"Brother Li, do you need to cut off some more of these bezoars and then put them in water to test their quality?"
In Wang Li's view, the previous "smelling" and "looking" methods were not very reliable, and only the underwater testing procedure was the most convincing.
Li Yongrui didn't even turn his head, and said with a smile:
"We deal with these things all the time; basically, just looking and smelling them is enough. No need for all that trouble, hahaha."
Wang Li scratched his head without saying anything, but Mu Xueli scoffed at him and said:
"Do you think Brother Li is as stupid as you? He can spot a problem at a glance, you know?"
Wang Li, who was initially a little embarrassed, immediately retorted upon hearing this:
"That's Li Ge's ability, what does it have to do with you? And you're showing off like this."
Seeing that the two were about to start their carefree and inappropriate bickering again, Wang An immediately glanced at them and said:
"Shut up, you two, are you looking for a beating?"
At Wang An's command, the two immediately became incredibly obedient.
This scene made Feng Chengmin and Li Yongrui burst out laughing.
Even the two bodyguards who had maintained a serious and indifferent demeanor couldn't help but smile.
Soon, Li Yongrui finished checking all the bezoar particles, weighed them on a scale, and found they weighed exactly 90 grams.
Bezoar costs 25 yuan per gram, so this amount of bezoar costs 2250 yuan.
If Wang An hadn't kept some bezoar, the price would have been at least another thousand yuan higher. (End of Chapter)