"Right, I saw your wife."
Jia Jinlong looked at Wang Xin and said, "She's really beautiful. I saw the child too—takes after the family, sturdy and bright-eyed, the kind anyone would love. I saw Auntie too. Uncle Ma, I even made that phone call from your house. Next time I come, I'll bring you some ginseng, deer antler, lion's mane mushroom, something to build up your health. When people get older, they need supplements. They need looking after."
Ma Kui smiled and waved him off. "Why bring anything? I'm happy enough that you came. Here, have a drink."
"Then I definitely can't let you make a mistake. We're friends—who visits a friend empty-handed? Besides, I'm from Hacheng. We're hundreds of miles apart, so what rule could we possibly be breaking? Right, Wang Yan?"
Wang Yan chuckled and set down his glass. "That's true. Besides, the things you mentioned aren't easy to get, and even if you buy them yourself, you can't be sure they're genuine."
"Exactly. Let me tell you, there's a whole lot of know-how involved with medicinal ingredients... I didn't understand any of this before, but then I got into business..."
Jia Jinlong spoke humorously and knew how to tell a story. He talked about buying all kinds of goods in the south and hauling them north to Northeast China trip after trip to sell, recounting the grand, tumultuous goings-on in the south and all sorts of messy incidents along the way.
But compared to Niu Dali, Jia Jinlong included far more details in his stories, making them sound more believable.
Wang Yan believed him too. Taken as a whole, Jia Jinlong had only just gotten involved in drugs. He was still in the early stage of opening up his own routes, gathering a group of people around