The two struck up a casual conversation by the roadside. Wu Mengting took the initiative to reveal quite a bit about herself: she had just graduated with her master's degree last year and was now working as an editor for a magazine.
She was from Lu City and, by chance, from the same hometown as Chen Feng, except she was from the urban area of Lu City, while Chen Feng was from a county under Lu City.
Conversing in their hometown dialect, they noticed some differences in accent, but essentially, they could understand each other.
That instantly narrowed the distance between them. It was obvious that Wu Mengting's expression had relaxed.
Chen Feng was also quite happy. He hadn't had the chance to return to his hometown for over a year, and he seldom met people from there while living in Xiu Zhou, the provincial capital city.
As it turned out, a random drive had led him to a fellow townsman. Meeting someone from home in a foreign place, especially a pretty girl, naturally put one in a pleasant mood.
This time, Chen Feng didn't keep others at a great distance and volunteered his name along with some details of his life. Of course, he didn't mention his divorce.
He simply said that he had bought his new car with winnings from a scratch card. Wu Mengting didn't believe him at first, until Chen Feng, somewhat insistently, took out the prize redemption certificate from his car to show her, persuading her of his truth.
"Your luck is just too good!" Wu Mengting said enviously.
Chen Feng smiled and replied, "Maybe I was just too unlucky before. Even the heavens couldn't bear to watch anymore."
"What bad luck did you have before?" Wu Mengting asked curiously.
After some thought, Chen Feng figured they would probably never see each other again after today, so he said, "I got divorced yesterday, and I was also diagnosed with a terminal illness."
Wu Mengting's mouth fell open in shock. After a long while, she shook her head and said, "That's impossible. You look fine. How can you look like someone with a terminal illness?"
Chen Feng chuckled and didn't bother to produce any medical reports, simply saying, "If you don't believe it, that's fine."
He had only mentioned it casually because keeping such a secret to himself was really suffocating.
Now that he had spoken out, whether she believed it or not, it was a relief. They had met by chance and were not likely to cross paths again, so it wasn't necessary for her to believe or to feel sympathy for him.
"It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that this kind of thing is too... difficult to comprehend. Besides, if you really had a terminal illness, big brother, your mindset is too good. Also, shouldn't you be in the hospital if you really have a terminal illness?" Wu Mengting questioned.
"Why stay in the hospital if there's no cure for the illness?" retorted Chen Feng.
Observing Chen Feng's relaxed tone, which didn't seem like a joke, Wu Mengting started to believe him. Not knowing what to say, she fell into silence.
Chen Feng didn't try to start any new conversation but took out his phone and began taking pictures, as the scenery nearby was indeed quite nice.
Soon after, a Polo car drove up, and Wu Mengting's best friend arrived, who was also a great beauty, quite tall, at least five feet seven inches, in her mid-twenties, dressed in trendy city fashion.
They exchanged polite introductions, her name was Lin Wan. After exchanging pleasantries, the tow truck also arrived. The mini was towed away, and Wu Mengting left in Lin Wan's car.
Chen Feng, however, was in no hurry to leave. He wanted to wait for the owner of the flock of white sheep in front of him to come over and buy a sheep to take home and eat.
Doctors had told him to do what he wanted: eat, drink, and be merry. Since he felt like eating sheep, why not just get one?
He had only waited a few minutes when he saw an old farmer with a sheep-driving whip come out from the distant woods and start herding the sheep.
Chen Feng quickly walked down the road toward the old farmer and shouted, "Boss, are the sheep for sale?"
Of course, the sheep were for sale, and the straightforward old farmer didn't ask Chen Feng for too much. With 1500 yuan, Chen Feng bought one and the farmer even recommended a place for slaughter.
After tying up its four legs and putting it in the car's trunk, Chen Feng drove to the slaughter spot the farmer had mentioned, located in a village just a few kilometers away.
With the roads in the village all paved and flat and every house marked with a number, he easily found the place by driving there.
For a hundred yuan, the sheep was slaughtered while Chen Feng watched. He used to see pigs slaughtered during the New Year when he was a child, so it didn't bother him.
Then he noticed the slaughter worker drop a lump from the sheep's innards, which rolled towards Chen Feng.
Out of curiosity, Chen Feng bent down and picked it up, eyeing the nondescript lump.
"Is this a bezoar?!" exclaimed the slaughter worker in astonishment.
Chen Feng hadn't thought of that initially, but once the worker mentioned it, he immediately realized it. It was a gallstone from a sheep.
Cattle have bezoars, and naturally, so do sheep, except that sheep bezoars are even rarer.
He wasn't sure about the current price of sheep bezoars, but he knew that natural ox bezoars fetched astronomical prices, costing tens of thousands for just one gram.
Chen Feng quickly looked up the price on his phone and found it to be exorbitant. There was news from a few years back that an old farmer sold a 62-gram natural ox bezoar for 3.12 million yuan.
The price was from a few years ago, of course it's more expensive now.
And now Chen Feng held in his hand a piece of bezoar that was at least two to three hundred grams. His luck really was unbeatable.
At this moment, several people from the slaughterhouse had gathered around, looking at Chen Feng with envy, shock, and greed.
Especially the butcher responsible for slaughtering the sheep, his eyes were practically red with envy.
If it weren't for the several people watching, Chen Feng even suspected he might have the notion to kill for the treasure, considering he still held a butcher knife in his hand.
"I'll give you a red envelope later, Master," Chen Feng said nonchalantly, nodding at him and with utmost composure, he stuffed the bezoar into his trouser pocket.
"This bezoar has got to be worth over a million. You can't skimp on my red envelope," the butcher said, his tone filled with jealousy and resentment.
He had slaughtered livestock for many years, having killed hundreds of cattle and sheep, yet it was only today that he had seen a bezoar.
And Chen Feng, damn it, just happened to buy a sheep for his own consumption and, damn it, ended up discovering a bezoar.
Especially since this bezoar had fallen from his, the butcher's, side and rolled to Chen Feng's feet.
If it hadn't fallen off just now, if he hadn't shouted out loud, he might very well have pocketed the bezoar.
Thinking this, the butcher wished he could stab himself.
Chen Feng merely smiled without speaking further. In matters like these, giving a red envelope was proper, but how much was up to debate, and certainly not for the butcher to decide.
Several onlookers suggested that Chen Feng take out the bezoar to show everyone, but Chen Feng just smiled and shook his head.
The onlookers were dissatisfied but couldn't say much, considering they didn't know each other and the bezoar was Chen Feng's property, so he was under no obligation to show it to them.
With emotion, the butcher quickly finished processing the sheep, put it in a woven bag, tossed it at Chen Feng's feet, and then demanded his red envelope: "Boss, I don't want much, just eighty-eight thousand. An red envelope of eighty-eight thousand will do."
Chen Feng chuckled and directly dialed a number on his phone.
"Is that 110? I'd like to report a crime. Someone here is attempting to extort a red envelope from me and they have a knife in hand. The address is 134 XX Road, XX Village, Lihong Slaughter Factory. Okay, I'll wait for you."
The butcher stood there dumbfounded for a while, damn, he didn't realize this could be done. It was after Chen Feng had finished the call that he finally reacted, his face turning ashen, and he loudly protested, "When did I forcibly demand a red envelope? Don't frame me."
The others also hurriedly came forward to try to speak on his behalf.
"Boss, he helped you discover a bezoar worth at least a million, and he's asking for eighty-eight thousand for a red envelope, that's not too much."
"Cui, you should just take fifty-eight thousand."
"Boss, calling the police over such a festive event seems like a killjoy."
...
Chen Feng was now completely indifferent, with an air of 'if you disagree, we'll fight it out.' He said coldly, "This sheep is mine, I paid him to slaughter it, and the bezoar that was found is also mine—what's it to him? Giving him a red envelope is a goodwill gesture, not an obligation, and I certainly don't owe him. What gives him the right to demand eighty-eight thousand from me? Why don't I just give him the bezoar instead. Let's wait for the police to arrive, I'll accuse you all of being a gang involved in extortion and robbery."
The people who had been 'speaking up for the butcher' immediately stepped back at his words. They were all commoners and none of them wanted to get entangled in a legal dispute.
Then one person raised their hands and shouted, "This has nothing to do with me. Don't frame people for no reason, I'm leaving, you handle your own issues."
After saying this, that individual quickly walked away. The rest followed suit and dispersed as well.
Only the butcher demanding the red envelope remained, staring eye to eye with Chen Feng.
In the end, the butcher lost his nerve and sighed, "You're really stingy. You're making hundreds of thousands, and I'm asking you for a mere few tens of thousands. Is it too much?"
"Let's wait for the police to come and discuss it. I particularly dislike being threatened by others."
"I didn't threaten you."
"Yes, you did."
"I did not."
"Fine. I'll wait in the car, I'm tired of arguing with you."
Saying this, Chen Feng picked up the woven bag with the slaughtered white sheep, turned around, and walked towards the exit.
The butcher subconsciously followed to the door and then watched Chen Feng load the woven bag into the trunk, close it, walk to the driver's side, open the car door, sit down inside, start the vehicle, and drive away... The car just drove away!
The butcher standing at the entrance of the slaughterhouse was stunned for quite some time before he finally bellowed in utter fury, "Crap, so heartless!"