Chapter 139: The Radio Appeared, But What If I Can't Buy It?

Seeing the other party hesitate, Li Long turned and prepared to leave.

"Give me another big fish, and I'll sell!" The stall owner gritted his teeth. Piglets were hard to sell; the previous piglet seller had finally given up and left. He felt he could hold on a bit longer.

Eight yuan for eight, then. At least it wasn't a loss—after all, his sow had given birth to eight piglets. Eight yuan each meant the money from selling one large pig was covered.

Li Long agreed without hesitation:

"Fine."

He quickly returned to his stall. A middle-aged woman was already frowning, looking left and right for the stall owner. She thought if she waited any longer, the stall owner might not come back, and she wouldn't buy.

Li Long smiled and explained briefly, then skillfully weighed the fish for her. The woman knew how to choose fish well; she wanted only four crucian carp, each palm-sized. Together they weighed nearly one kilogram. Li Long charged her eighty cents.

The piglet seller brought his basket over directly, then stared at Li Long's basin filled with large fish. Soon, he pointed to the biggest fish in the basin:

"I want that one!"

Li Long sighed. Another person who didn't know how to eat fish.

He offered a word of advice:

"Fellow villager, this silver carp is actually hard to cook well..."

"I want that one!"

This silver carp weighed nearly three kilograms, the largest fish currently in the basin.

"Fine, then I'll take it out for you. See, although the fish is dead, its gill covers are still red, which means it's fresh." Li Long poked the gill covers to show the man.

Both spotted carp and silver carp die shortly after being taken out of the water; they don't survive as long as crucian carp or common carp.

Li Long placed the two tied-up piglets into a sack and continued selling fish.

The sun rose higher. Occasionally, people came to buy fish, but no one bought much.

Li Long guessed that more vendors had arrived at the morning market, giving buyers more choices. Since refrigerators weren't widespread yet, buying too much meant no way to store it. So fish buyers usually spent only a few cents or a yuan, or bought fish one by one.

It took over an hour to sell fifty kilograms of fish. Li Long felt that if he sold fish again tomorrow, Shicheng would be a better choice.

There were simply too few people here with spending power.

For the last few kilograms, Li Long basically sold them at half price or gave them away. Fifty kilograms of fish brought in just over forty-one yuan.

After packing everything and loading it onto his cart, he saw the other fish seller still sitting there.

Some fish remained unsold on his stall.

Li Long mounted his bike with a blank expression and headed toward the compound. He needed to drop off his things first, then go to the Meat Canteen for a meal—he had rushed to finish selling the remaining fish because he was hungry.

Seeing it was already late morning, Li Long decided to combine breakfast and lunch. He ordered a plate of stir-fried pork with noodles, added an extra portion of noodles, and asked for a bowl of free noodle soup. After paying with money and grain coupons, he began peeling garlic.

When the noodles arrived, Li Long poured the extra noodles directly onto his plate, then dumped the stir-fried pork over them and mixed everything together.

Once the noodles were mixed, he ate a mouthful of noodles followed by a clove of garlic, enjoying the meal immensely.

After finishing the noodles, Li Long felt much better. He let out a satisfied burp, walked out of the Meat Canteen, unlocked his bike, and rode toward the Department Store.

Checking the Department Store regularly for new items had become Li Long's habit. Upon arriving, he walked around and indeed spotted something new.

Radios! A Shanghai-brand two-band semiconductor portable radio, priced at forty-six yuan, required four No. 1 batteries.

There were also plug-in radios, also made in Shanghai, but under the Red Lantern brand, costing ninety-two yuan.

Li Long immediately wanted to buy one—but the sales clerk's single question, "Do you have coupons?" left him helpless.

Where would he get coupons?

Leaving the Department Store, Li Long thought for a moment and suddenly remembered Li Xiangqian. That Section Chief Li should have coupons, right?

Go find him!

Li Long rode his bicycle to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. The gatekeeper, Grandpa Li, was sunbathing outside.

"Oh, isn't that the young man who sells sheep?" Grandpa Li remembered Li Long and asked with a smile, "Are you here to find Li Xiangqian?"

"Yes, Grandpa. I need to see him about something."

"Alright, go ahead. He's in his office." Grandpa Li waved his hand.

Li Long pushed his bike inside, parked it in the shed, locked it, entered the building, and found Li Xiangqian's office.

Li Xiangqian was on the phone. Li Long waited until he finished the call before knocking and entering.

"Oh, Little Li is here." Li Xiangqian saw it was Li Long and said with a smile, "I was actually looking for you too. Come, come, sit down."

After inviting Li Long to sit, Li Xiangqian asked what he needed.

"I'd like to get some industrial coupons from you. I saw radios at the Department Store and want to buy one."

"That's simple!" Li Xiangqian opened his drawer, pulled out a stack of coupons, and handed them to Li Long. "Take them and use them. I don't have much use for them anyway."

"Thanks, Section Chief Li." Li Long didn't stand on ceremony. "I'll go buy one right now."

!.

"Wait, sit down first. I have something to discuss with you."

"Go ahead." Seeing Li Xiangqian's serious tone, Li Long listened attentively.

"Regarding the part-time forest ranger position you asked me about, I've made some inquiries. It can be done, but it will take some time," Li Xiangqian said.

"The other side has only just formed their team and can't attend to us right now. So I thought, let's first set you up as a part-time purchaser for our Supply and Marketing Cooperative. I'll issue a certificate and an introduction letter, and you should be able to enter the mountains without trouble."

"That works too." Li Long wasn't picky; as long as he could enter the mountains legally, he was satisfied.

"Also, I have a job here. See if your side can take it. Since you're in the production team, you can. This would benefit both of us."

"What job?" Li Long asked curiously.

"Our Supply and Marketing Cooperative purchases a batch of carrying poles every year. This job comes up annually and requires work inside Nanshan. In the past, these jobs were always given to connected parties."

"This year, I was thinking your team might take it. If you can, I'll give it to you, which also allows you to enter the mountains. If your team doesn't take it, I'll give it to someone else."

"Carrying poles? How many? How much per piece?" Li Long immediately became interested. He didn't want to do the work himself, but the villagers certainly needed such jobs.

"I won't dictate how much you charge your team. If we buy them, we'll pay six yuan per piece—uniform price. Previously, we used to grade them, but we need three hundred in total."

"To put it plainly, even if we grade them upon purchase, we sell them to the units at eight yuan each without grading. As long as the carrying poles you weave meet the standards, that's all that matters."

"Six yuan, so expensive? Then this job is doable!" Li Long laughed. "I'll call you back tonight; it's highly likely I can take it."

"No need to rush; tomorrow or the day after is fine," Li Xiangqian said with a smile. "Just get it done by May."

Li Long calculated: one person could weave one to three carrying frames a day. If the team's sideline group sent ten people, that would be over ten a day, meaning the task could be finished in just over twenty days. This job was easy!

"Little Li, we're on the same side, so let me tell you," Li Xiangqian added. "Don't play the nice guy. Tell your team to lower the price as much as possible, and take a cut for yourself in the middle—

Don't be too good. Even if you don't earn a single cent, once the word gets out, others will assume you took a cut anyway. Instead of wasting effort explaining, just take the cut. You should know that without you, this job certainly wouldn't have gone to your team."

Li Long nodded slowly.

Indeed.

Being a good person is not easy.

(End of this chapter)