Chapter 157: A Huge Mistake

Yusufu squatted down and began to take out the jade stones he had brought, one by one, from his sack.

The very first piece of jade stunned Li Long.

It was an incredibly beautiful piece of jade with a skin like the beeswax Li Long often saw in later generations—very oily and lustrous. One could tell the jade flesh inside should be white, but the skin was golden yellow; it was truly stunning.

It was about the size of two fists and must have weighed around two or three kilograms. Yusufu proudly handed the jade to Master Wang.

"Not bad, a top-grade white jade seed material of excellent quality, also known as mutton-fat jade. This jade is quite rare." Master Wang took it, examined it carefully, felt it, and then took a flashlight out of his pocket to shine it on the stone. "Excellent! It has reached the top grade. For this piece, at the current purchase price, I can offer two hundred and sixty yuan per kilogram."

It really was different; the best Li Long had ever gotten was eighty yuan per kilogram. This was more than triple that!

Yusufu was clearly satisfied with this price as well. He smiled and said:

"The jade factories in the interior come to our place to buy, and they only offer two hundred yuan per kilogram. Your price is fair!"

Next, he took out the jade stones one by one.

"First-grade white jade, one hundred and twenty yuan per kilogram."

"First-grade blue-and-white jade, eighty yuan per kilogram."

"Second-grade ink jade, fifty-five yuan per kilogram..."

While Master Wang was appraising the stones on one side, Section Chief Chen called people over to weigh them and issue receipts.

This time, Yusufu had brought dozens of pieces of good jade weighing over half a kilogram each, totaling over thirty kilograms. When they settled the account, it came to nearly five thousand yuan!

"These small pieces are hard to calculate." Finally, Master Wang pointed to the seed materials at the bottom of the sack that were the size of pigeon eggs. "Our factory doesn't buy ones this small right now; it's not cost-effective to use them as material. Some jade carvers make bracelets or similar items; you could go ask them."

Yusufu wasn't disappointed. He was already very happy to have received nearly five thousand yuan. He smiled and said:

"That's fine, that's fine. Actually, these small pieces were just thrown in by others when I was collecting jade. If you don't want them, that's fine."

Li Long watched with envy. Although these small pieces weren't large, their quality looked quite good.

However, this clearly wasn't the time for him to speak, as Master Wang had already started looking at his jade.

"My piece of jade isn't as good as his." Li Long first humbled himself, then opened his sack and took out his jade material.

Li Long had already prepared himself for disappointment when he took out the jade. Even he felt that Yusufu's jade pieces were all exquisite, and by comparison, his own piece was truly niche.

"Eh?" Master Wang looked at the jade and suddenly said:

"This jade is not bad. It's a rare piece of Mahe jasper without sesame spots... It's truly rare to see a piece this large and this pure. Come, young man, bring it over here for me to see."

Hearing that there was a chance, Li Long immediately carried the jade stone over and placed it at Master Wang's feet.

"During the New Year, Old Liu also bought a very nice piece of jasper from this young man, and it didn't have sesame spots either." Section Chief Chen said with a smile, "This young man has friends in the mountains and can always get his hands on good things."

"Hmm, there are many seed materials of Mahe jasper, and many large pieces too, but most have sesame spots. It's rare to find one as pure as this. Looking at the shape, there's definitely no problem carving an ornament out of it." Master Wang said with a smile, "First-grade jasper, I'll estimate it at... one hundred and ten per kilogram."

Li Long was pleasantly surprised!

One hundred and ten!

He could sell this one piece for sixteen or seventeen hundred yuan. This was truly a large sum of money!

All his problems were solved!

"Can it really sell for that much?" Li Long asked, still finding it hard to believe.

"Of course. Do you think your jade isn't as good as his? Actually, it's different. Our jade carving factory looks at the quality of the jade, but also at what the jade can be used for.

Look at his jade pieces; they are all quite good, but apart from the first piece of mutton-fat jade, the quality and size of the others aren't considered treasures, yet their price is much higher than yours.

Although your piece isn't as high in grade, it wins because the material is large and it's a rare variety." Master Wang explained patiently to Li Long, which benefited Li Long greatly.

Weighing, issuing receipts, settling the account.

When Li Long walked out of the jade carving factory with a thick stack of money, he saw Yusufu waiting for a bus at the bus stop and immediately went over.

When Yusufu saw Li Long, a smile appeared on his face:

"Friend, did you sell your jade?"

"Sold it." Li Long nodded. He suddenly remembered Yusufu's small pieces of jade and asked:

"Adashi, how much are you selling those small pieces of jade for?"

"Do you want them?" Yusufu was a bit surprised. "Do you have a friend who carves jade?"

"No, no, I have some younger relatives. These jade stones look quite pretty, just to give to the children to play with."

"How many do you want?" Yusufu took the sack off his shoulder and said:

"For one," Yusufu thought for a moment and said, "the bigger ones, five yuan; the smaller ones, two yuan. How about that?"

In terms of later prices, it was truly cheap; in terms of current prices, it really wasn't cheap.

Li Long and Yusufu squatted down to look. A passerby waiting for the bus came over to look, and seeing that the sack contained jade stones, a middle-aged woman in a Zhongshan suit asked:

"Comrade, how are you selling these jade stones?"

"The bigger ones, five yuan; the smaller ones, two yuan," Yusufu said.

"Too expensive!" The woman shook her head. Just then, the bus arrived, and she got on and left.

Li Long saw there were over twenty pieces in the sack, so he said:

"Adashi, make it cheaper, and I'll take them all."

"How much are you offering?"

Li Long saw the largest was only the size of a pigeon egg, and the smaller ones were a bit larger than a silkworm bean, so he said:

"Two yuan for all of them. Look, you brought them here and couldn't sell them; it's such a hassle to take them back... Two yuan each, regardless of size, I'll take them all!"

"Fine, fine, let's make friends!" Yusufu agreed with a cheerful face.

Li Long knew this wasn't Yusufu's bottom price, but he didn't care. In his eyes, at least five of them could reach the mutton-fat grade.

This Yusufu was most likely not a jade miner, but a middleman.

Money and goods were exchanged, and Li Long transferred the jade stones into his own sack, feeling relieved. Although he had paid fifty-six yuan, these jade stones, if kept for thirty years, who knows how many times their value would increase.

"Are your friends in the mountains also Uyghur?" Yusufu asked after taking Li Long's money, his tone clearly much warmer. "Do they herd in the mountains?"

"No, no, my herder friends in the mountains are Kazakh." Li Long shook his head. "They are about to migrate soon. These jade stones were obtained from them. After selling them for money, I need to bring them some daily necessities."

"Not bad, not bad! You are their true Dosan!" Yusufu showed an expression of admiration on his face as soon as he heard Li Long say this. He gave a thumbs up and said:

"They must trust you very much!"

"They do trust me." Li Long said, "What does Dosan mean?"

"Friend. It's the Kazakh word for friend." Yusufu explained. "Our Uyghur word for friend is Adashi, and their Kazakh word for friend is Dosan."

Li Long stood there stunned, as if he had been punched.

He had always thought Adashi was the Kazakh word for friend and had been greeting Halimu and the others like that all along. He never expected he had made such a huge blunder, and Halimu and the others hadn't explained it to him. How could he be so embarrassed!

The bus arrived, and Yusufu called for Li Long to get on. After getting on the bus, Li Long became much more silent, and even the excitement of buying the small jade seed materials vanished.

!.

He had to explain it properly when he went back. It was those short videos from his previous life that had harmed him. He really needed to study hard and be humble in the future. He hadn't understood it himself, and he had made Halimu and the others play along with him.

"The jade farmers on our side are very hardworking. They dig in the river every day. If they are lucky, they dig up a piece; if they are unlucky, they dig up nothing all day." Yusufu probably felt Li Long had the same experience and profession, so he started talking more. "Small jade stones like these are often dug up, but they don't sell for much money... Those people from the jade factories in the interior buy them for a few cents; it's not worth it!"

"In the future, if you collect a lot and the jade factory doesn't want them, come to Maxian to find me. I want pieces this big." Li Long said nonchalantly. "In Maxian, find me."

"How do I find you? A county town is so big." Yusufu was a bit skeptical.

Li Long took out his supply and marketing cooperative certificate from his pocket, showed it to him, and said:

"I am a purchasing agent for the supply and marketing cooperative. I also know the people at the purchasing station there. If you go to the supply and marketing cooperative and look for Section Chief Li, you can find me..."

Yusufu carefully looked at Li Long's certificate, then handed it back and said:

"It's not worth it for me to make a special trip for small stones like these. However, when I collect large jade stones, I can bring some over and come find you then."

Dozens of pieces at a time, two yuan each, and the bus ticket from Wucheng to Maxian was only a few yuan; it was very worth it!

Yusufu had to take the night bus back to southern Xinjiang, while Li Long had to stay behind to buy things. After the two parted ways, Li Long went to stay at the Bayi Guesthouse.

The next day, he went to the department store, preparing to buy everything the "Dosans" in the mountains needed.

The department store indeed had portable radios that used batteries. Not only did they have them, but they also had several brands, and the prices were different.

After looking, Li Long bought eight two-band radios of the Worker-Peasant-Soldier brand, costing forty-six yuan each.

Fortunately, the coupons he had previously gotten from Li Xiangqian and the ones he had exchanged from the coupon scalpers were enough.

Buying eight radios at once was rare even in Wucheng. Several sales clerks came over to help, checked the radios one by one for Li Long, tested them, put them in boxes, and then bundled them up.

Li Long also bought a dozen pairs of Liberation shoes and fifteen flashlights here. After buying these things, he couldn't buy many batteries.

But there was no help for it; he was just one person, not a horse-drawn carriage, and he couldn't carry that much.

After paying, Li Long carried the bundled items in both hands and walked out—at this moment, he had to admire these sales clerks; the items were tied very tightly and securely, and he didn't have to worry about them falling even if he shook them.

Returning to the Bayi Guesthouse, Li Long bought a ticket back to Maxian. The driver saw him carrying so many things and wanted to help him put them on the luggage rack on the roof of the bus, but Li Long hurriedly waved his hand:

"No, no, these are radios inside; if they are put up there, they will be shaken to pieces. I'd better keep them inside."

Upon hearing that this big bag of things was radios, the driver immediately showed a look of surprise on his face. He didn't dare to put this stuff on top either; the value of one was higher than his monthly salary!

Li Long carried the sack onto the bus. At this time, there weren't many people in the bus, so Li Long didn't stand on ceremony, sat in the middle, and placed the sack on the seat next to him.

People got on one after another. At this time, seats weren't assigned by ticket number, so the people who came later didn't have anything to say when they saw Li Long occupying two seats by himself.

The bus was half full, and it was time for departure. After the ticket inspector checked the tickets, the bus drove out of the station.

When he arrived in Maxian and got off with the sack on his back, Li Long let out a long sigh of relief; he had finally arrived.

He carried the sack on his back and walked toward the compound. When he was almost there, he didn't notice that someone behind him had seen him.

After Gu Ermao had been beaten by Tao Daqiang last time, he had no face to stay in the village. In a fit of anger, he went to his relative's house and still went to follow the driver every day—calling it following the driver, but actually, he was just doing odd jobs.

Today, the driver was in a good mood and gave him some pointers on driving techniques, which made Gu Ermao very proud. He specifically went to the meat canteen to buy a few meat buns for the driver. At noon, the driver went home, and he was also going to his relative's house to eat, but he didn't expect to run into Li Long.

Watching Li Long enter a large compound with a big sack on his back, Gu Ermao had a mind to keep an eye on him.

What was Li Long doing in this compound?

After Gu Ermao got the idea, he remembered he had nothing to do in the afternoon, so he planned to keep an eye on Li Long to see if he could find any dirt on him.

In Gu Ermao's view, the ultimate culprit behind Tao Daqiang beating him was Li Long.

If Li Long hadn't backed Tao Daqiang and let Tao Daqiang make money, how would Tao Daqiang have dared to treat him like that?

So as long as Li Long was taken down, Tao Daqiang would only be left waiting to be bullied!

Gu Ermao hated Li Long not just for this one thing, but of course, some things were better kept to himself and couldn't be said out loud.

Li Long returned to the compound, put down the radios, went to the kitchen to boil some water to drink, rested for a while, and then went out on his bicycle to the meat canteen, preparing to have lunch.

After lunch, he pedaled his bike to the grain store and bought three bags of flour. These were the kind of flour bags, 85-grade flour, twenty-five kilograms per bag.

He could only buy this much; any more and the bicycle would be hard to carry.

Li Long returned to the compound with the flour, unloaded it, and then went to the department store to buy some odds and ends.

Gu Ermao was very envious watching Li Long ride the bicycle, but he also knew he couldn't compare, so he didn't follow him out. He felt that Li Long's base was here, so he kept watching here.

Then he saw Li Long ride the bicycle in and out several times, and he was overjoyed!

Sure enough, this was definitely a base!

This Li Long was engaging in speculation and profiteering!

Although the morning market was already allowed to sell things without coupons, the crime of speculation and profiteering still existed. This Gu Ermao had discussed it with his master. Gu Ermao remembered very clearly that when he told his master he could use the car to engage in buying and selling, his master said with disdain:

"Don't look at how they are jumping around now; when they are investigated in a while, they will have a hard time!"

Gu Ermao began to struggle; should he report this bastard Li Long?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 158 =====