I Bought It for a Friend-Yes, He's a Widower

"An herbal medicine shop?"

Lin Yue looked up at the words on the signboard and chuckled.

In the lower-right corner of the wooden sign, a tiny line of text was clearly written: "Affiliated with the Seven Treasure Merchant Association. Also provides certain bedding supplies..."

Good lord. Written in tiny print as "bedding supplies"—even a ghost would know what that meant.

Shaking his head lightly, Lin Yue stepped into the shop and spoke to the goateed owner.

"Boss, do you have any Whale Rubber?"

"Hm? Who said that?"

The old man behind the counter looked up. Finding the doorway empty, he glanced around in confusion before finally looking down and spotting the little fellow standing before the counter. He immediately laughed.

"Hey, kid, do you even know what Whale Rubber is? And you're asking for it?"

Seeing the little boy putting on the airs of an adult, the goateed old man pushed up his glasses, smiling as though he were merely humoring a child.

"Y-you don't need to worry about what I'm using it for. I'm buying it for a friend!"

Noticing the teasing in the goateed owner's eyes, Lin Yue actually blushed, a rare sight, and waved his hand.

"Anyway, do you have any Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber?"

"Whoa, Ten-Thousand-Year? Little brother, your friend must have quite a temper."

"Yes, yes, he's an old widower. He's raising a child all by himself, and it's been years since he... Ahem, ahem. Why are you asking so much? Hurry up and let me see whether you have any Whale Rubber."

Lin Yue had nearly blurted out all the details about the Sound Douluo while following the old man's lie. He patted the counter, feeling as though some terrifying gaze behind him was growing increasingly intense. He did not know whether it was merely an illusion.

How was buying it for his daughter not the same as buying it for him? Whale Rubber was expensive. Next time, he absolutely had to make that widower Douluo pay him back.

"If you're not doing business, I'll go somewhere else."

"Hey, don't!"

Hearing the boy speak so convincingly, the goateed shopkeeper actually believed him somewhat.

"If you go to another shop, their stock won't be as complete as mine. My goods come from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Merchant Association. Several nearby cities get their stock from me."

As he spoke, he rose from the rocking chair behind the counter and went over to the medicine cabinets, rummaging through drawers and boxes.

"Here, this is what I have. But listen, little fellow, Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber really isn't meant for humans. Even a stud wouldn't be able to handle it. Only an idiot would stock Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber. Take a look at these."

The old man brought out a bamboo basket filled with wrinkled, semi-transparent chunks mottled gray and yellow.

Suppressing the faint fishy smell, Lin Yue reached out and lightly examined the Whale Rubber pieces. He immediately understood.

The Alchemist's abilities revealed the corresponding ages of the Whale Rubber. Everything in the basket was only a few hundred or a thousand years old. Forget Ten-Thousand-Year; even the thousand-year pieces were low-grade. In short, there was not a single decent one. Lin Yue did not care for any of them.

"Tsk, no good. Don't you have anything older?"

"Older? Little brother, can your friend really handle it?"

"Don't worry. He probably won't die."

Waving his hand, Lin Yue scratched his back, his expression strange. Why did he feel somewhat uncomfortable? It was as if something unclean were staring at him from behind.

Outside the shop, Tang Hao, who was hiding in the shadows and watching everything, had bloodshot eyes and was breathing heavily.

That damned brat! Buying Whale Rubber was one thing, but he was even using Tang Hao's name! Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber? Why not get some Hundred-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber and eat himself to death?

He had better be using the Whale Rubber to refine medicine! Just like at the clinic, refining potions with that mysterious method even Tang Hao had never seen!

Otherwise, if the brat so much as dared lay a hand on Xiao San, Tang Hao would make him learn what the Clear Sky Nine Techniques were!

"Wait, seriously? Your friend is a Soul Master? You aren't just teasing this old man for fun, are you?"

The goateed old man wore a strange expression, genuinely beginning to doubt him.

Whale Rubber was actually a rather awkward thing.

Those who needed it could not withstand high-age Whale Rubber, while those who could withstand Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber did not need the stuff at all. They could still make their bed partners go limp and beg for mercy.

The people who usually needed this stuff were wealthy young masters whose bodies had been ruined by wine and women and who possessed little strength. If they really consumed Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber, would their kidneys not burst apart?

As a result, hundred-year and thousand-year Whale Rubber had plenty of buyers and was instead more expensive. Once it reached higher ages, although it was rare, nobody wanted it, so the price was actually lower.

He had heard that along the coast, some people really sold Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber disguised as thousand-year stock. The goateed old man looked down on that practice.

Was that not selling counterfeit goods and endangering lives? If something went wrong after eating it, would the customer's little brother not explode?

"Who's joking with you?"

Lin Yue slapped his hand down, and a crystal card worth one thousand Gold Soul Coins appeared on the counter.

"!"

Seeing that the boy genuinely intended to make a purchase, several traces of greed immediately flashed in the old man's eyes. He forced a smile.

"Yes! Of course I have higher-age stock. Wait here, I'll find it for you!"

The old man hurried to his feet and slipped into the storeroom. Before long, he returned carrying an old cardboard box.

"Here, these are all goods this old man bought in the past. Take a look."

Inside the old cardboard box, the chunks of Whale Rubber were golden, like lumps of liquid gold without a trace of impurities. They radiated potent medicinal power.

Out of curiosity, when he had opened the shop, he had thought he would prepare a few pieces of high-age Whale Rubber. It was not expensive anyway, and perhaps someone might be into that sort of thing.

The result was that they had simply gathered dust. No customer could endure them. The goods he had purchased when opening the shop had remained piled in the warehouse, ignored until now.

Seeing that the old man had finally brought out the good stock he had been keeping at the bottom of the box, Lin Yue was immediately delighted and began searching through the cardboard box.

After checking them one by one, his expression imperceptibly tightened when his hand touched a certain piece at the very bottom. He looked up and smiled. "These are pretty good. They're all high-age Thousand-Year Whale Rubber. How much are they?"

"Ahem, ahem. Good that you recognize quality. Mine are all premium goods. Don't even think of getting one for less than several thousand Gold Soul Coins."

Seeing the fish take the bait, the old man immediately rubbed his hands together, his eyes filled with greed.

Lin Yue curled his lip at that.

"Come on, old man. How long has this box been sitting around? There are spiderwebs underneath it. You'd be lucky if you could sell any of it."

Patting his hands, Lin Yue shoved both hands into his pockets.

"I won't take too much advantage of you. One thousand Gold Soul Coins, and I'll pick one piece. Agree, and you sell it. Refuse, and I'll turn around and leave."

"Hey... don't be like that. Prices are meant to be negotiated. Who bargains like you do...?"

The old man still wanted to fight for a better deal, but Lin Yue shamelessly turned out both pockets, revealing that they were completely empty.

"See? I'm being sincere, right? This is all the Gold Soul Coins I have, and I'm giving them all to you. I really don't have a single coin left on me."

"Hiss..."

Caught off guard by that move, the old man gave a helpless, bitter laugh. Every bargaining tactic he had was stuck in his throat, and he could only wave his hand.

"Fine, fine. Pick one."

It really was stock that had been sitting unsold in the warehouse. Selling one piece was better than selling none.

One thousand Gold Soul Coins per piece was at least a little more than the purchase price. But it had been piled in the warehouse for so long—his labor and storage costs... all for nothing...

"Good, straightforward. I'll come back to do business with you next time. Still, these are all thousand-year goods. It would be nice if you had Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber."

As he handed over the crystal card, Lin Yue casually reached into the box, scooped up a dark yellow, nearly black piece of Whale Rubber from the bottom, and swiftly tucked it into his clothes.

Hmph, this kid was quite honest. He ignored those top-grade, transparent golden pieces of Whale Rubber and picked a defective-looking piece that was somewhat blackened instead.

Having watched every movement the little boy made, the goateed old man smiled and shook his head.

"Hey, who wants Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber? If you pay more, I could stock some, but the stuff is rare. The price isn't high, yet it's still hard to find. Basically, you can't—huh?"

After checking the crystal card in his hand and confirming that it truly contained one thousand Gold Soul Coins, the goateed man looked up only to find that the child had bolted down the street and already vanished around the corner.

"This child... Was his friend really in such a hurry?"

After confirming that everything in the shop was normal and nothing was missing, the goateed old man could not help shaking his head with a sigh.

"Tsk, tsk. Old widowers without wives really are terrifying..."