"These are the so-called river-picked stones?"
Holding two irregularly shaped pebbles in his hand, Jiang Tao's face was full of question marks.
According to the intelligence tip, these two "river-picked stones" he found looked like garbage casually discarded by nature.
They had no eye-catching appearance, no peculiar patterns, and no dazzling sheen.
These two "river-picked stones" existed in the most ordinary, unremarkable form.
So plain that even if they were placed on a bustling street, they'd likely get kicked aside without a second glance.
No one would give them a second look.
One stone, greenish in color, was about the size of a beer bottle cap, flat and irregularly shaped.
The other, dotted with some blood-red speckles, was slightly more appealing in shape.
It resembled a somewhat less-than-perfect quail egg.
"Don't judge a stone by its appearance. Since the system says they can bring luck, there must be some truth to it."
"If these river-picked stones really work…"
"In the future, whenever I obtain high-value items through intelligence, I can attribute it to these stones! They'd make a great cover story!"
Thinking of the potential uses for the "river-picked stones," Jiang Tao's eyes lit up.
Lately, he had been profiting repeatedly through the intelligence provided by the Daily Intelligence System, but much of it couldn't be explained to Xu Li.
Once or twice could be chalked up to luck, but being *that* lucky all the time was starting to defy reason.
So, aside from the rare banknote, the lottery ticket, the tangerines, and the Melo pearl, Jiang Tao hadn't told Xu Li about many of his other gains—because he couldn't!
According to Article 23 of the *Daily Intelligence System Usage Guidelines*, revealing the existence of the system in any way would immediately trigger the unbinding process.
So, some things Jiang Tao could only keep from Xu Li—and from everyone else.
Fortunately, Xu Li wasn't the type to pry too deeply.
Tucking the two "river-picked stones" into his jacket's inner pocket, Jiang Tao pulled out his phone to check the time.
It was already 9 a.m., and he figured Zhang Bo was probably awake by now.
Finding Zhang Bo on WeChat, Jiang Tao was about to call him when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something on the ice ahead to his left.
It was dark, square-shaped, and looked like…
"A wallet?"
Jiang Tao's gaze locked onto the icy surface ahead. Testing the ice's stability with his foot, he cautiously stepped onto it and walked toward the object that looked like a wallet.
"It really *is* a wallet!"
Bending down to pick it up from the ice, Jiang Tao opened it and found some loose cash inside.
There was one green 50-yuan note, a few 10-yuan and 5-yuan bills, and some 1-yuan coins.
Counting the cash, it came to exactly 66 yuan—no more, no less.
And that was all the wallet contained.
No ID, no bank cards, no business cards, and no contact information.
"Is this a coincidence, or did the river-picked stones really boost my luck?"
Looking at the colorful cash in his hand, Jiang Tao pulled out the two "river-picked stones" from his pocket and examined them again.
"For something this minor, no need to bother the police and waste their resources."
"I'll just treat it as a random wealth drop in the real world!"
Jiang Tao glanced around. There wasn't a single person within a 200-meter radius.
He casually slipped the wallet and the two river-picked stones into his pocket.
The amount of money in the wallet was small—less than 100 yuan.
With no clear indicators of the owner's identity, finding the owner would be quite difficult.
Besides, the owner probably wouldn't bother reporting such a small loss to the police.
And to be honest, the amount was barely enough to cover a taxi ride to the nearest police station.
After "looting" the wallet, Jiang Tao carefully made his way back to the riverbank, slipping and sliding along the way.
Once safely back on shore, he found Zhang Bo's WeChat and called him.
The phone rang a few times before connecting, and Jiang Tao got straight to the point:
"Hey, Zhang Bo, I saw in your Moments that you're selling an old Audi. How's the condition?"
"Brother Jiang, you're interested in that car? It belonged to my buddy's grandpa. It's a second-hand car they bought, and it runs perfectly—no issues at all."
"My buddy's family got some properties from a demolition deal, a few apartments and millions in cash. They just got a new car a few days ago, so no one's driving the old one, and they want to sell it."
…
On the other end of the line, Zhang Bo laid out all the details about the old Audi, holding nothing back.
After patiently listening to Zhang Bo's explanation, Jiang Tao asked, "How much is it?"
He wasn't particularly excited about the old Audi itself; he was only buying it for the four gold bars hidden in the four doors.
"Haha, funny thing, Brother Jiang, I won't beat around the bush. My friend said it's between 120,000 and 140,000 yuan, but for you, you can take it for 120,000."
Jiang Tao laughed, "That *is* funny. Just yesterday, I got 120,000 from you, and now I'm giving it back."
Zhang Bo asked, "So, about the car…"
Jiang Tao replied briskly, "I'll take it."
"Brother Jiang, don't you want to check out the car first?"
"No need. I trust you. If you say it's fine, it's fine."
"Whoa, don't put me on the spot like that, Brother Jiang! That's a lot of pressure!"
"Quit acting like you're not getting a sweet deal here. Where's the car? I'll go pick it up and handle the paperwork."
"It's at Yutong Second-Hand Car Wholesale near the South Third Ring, by Dahongmen. Just bring your ID and the money, and they'll take care of the contract and all the procedures."
"Alright, give them a call and make sure they hold the car for me. Don't let me make a trip for nothing."
"You can count on me, Brother Jiang! It's all set. I'll call them now."
"Cool, thanks, Zhang Bo."
"No trouble at all, Brother Jiang. You're supporting my business—I should be thanking you!"
The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before hanging up. As Jiang Tao ended the call, he had just reached the road from the riverbank.
He was about to order a ride on his phone when he looked up and saw a yellow taxi with a silver Jianxin New Energy sign approaching from the right.
The LED sign on the taxi's windshield showed it was empty.
Jiang Tao quickly waved at the taxi.
The taxi slowly pulled up beside him. Jiang Tao opened the door, got in, and said to the driver:
"Driver, to Yutong Second-Hand Car Wholesale near Dahongmen on the South Third Ring."
"Alright, sir, hold on tight and buckle up."
The driver greeted Jiang Tao with a smile, started the car, and made a U-turn, heading back in the direction he came from.
After Jiang Tao fastened his seatbelt, he noticed the driver had started driving but hadn't turned on the meter, which made him suspicious.
*Did I just get into a shady cab that's going to rip me off?*
As doubts crept into Jiang Tao's mind, the driver suddenly chuckled:
"Hello, sir. Just so you know, you're my 50,000th passenger since I started driving, so this ride is on me, no matter where you're going."
"Your 50,000th passenger? Driver, you actually keep count of how many passengers you've had?"
Jiang Tao was floored by the driver's words.
"Yeah, I keep track of how many passengers I pick up each day. It's kind of my way of passing the time."
"I count in sets of 100. Ten sets of 100 make 1,000."
"Ten sets of 1,000 make 10,000, and ten sets of 10,000 make 100,000."
"When I first started driving, I set a goal for myself: retire once I've driven 100,000 passengers."
"At the beginning…"
Jiang Tao's single comment opened the floodgates, and the driver launched into a long story, from his early days in the industry to becoming the company's top veteran driver.
According to the driver, every time he hit a milestone like 5,000 or 10,000 passengers, he'd give a free ride.
Those numbers held special meaning for him.
As the driver recounted his career, Jiang Tao reached into his pocket and touched the two "river-picked stones."
So, was it the "river-picked stones" that made him lucky enough to be this driver's 50,000th passenger?
These "river-picked stones" are something else!