Chapter 33: A Successful Day

Following that, Li Long sold five more fish at the entrance of the Meat Canteen. One of the carp was a bit small, and since the other party didn't want small fish, he charged them eighty cents.

Six yuan and eighty cents in hand.

Li Long felt this was quite good, but a man wearing a Zhongshan suit walked out of the Meat Canteen, speaking quite amiably:

"Little brother, I say, little brother, we don't have any objections to you selling things here, but right now, this sort of thing isn't in line with policy. Do you think you could go somewhere else?"

Since the man was advising him kindly, Li Long couldn't just rudely push back. He smiled and said:

"That's fine, big brother, we'll leave right away."

The two of them pulled the sled and headed east.

"Brother Long, where are we going next?" Tao Da asked, looking at the remaining third of the fish in the bag.

"To the staff residential compound," Li Long said with a smile. "First, let's go to the Grain Bureau compound." He remembered that at this time, the Grain Bureau and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative were both considered wealthy units. He didn't dare go to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative for fear of being reported, but the Grain Bureau was still manageable.

The Grain Bureau was on the east side of the county town, with three buildings in the courtyard and an entrance opening onto the roadside. When Li Long and the others arrived, the large iron gate was open. Li Long pulled the sled inside, and someone poked their head out of the window of the gatehouse to ask:

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking for my uncle, delivering something," Li Long replied, and the person retreated back inside.

It was too cold outside.

Once inside the courtyard, Li Long pulled the sled and began looking for people. When someone came down from the building, he immediately went over to ask.

In no time at all, he had sold five or six fish.

However, he didn't take all the money; two of the fish were traded for several kilograms of corn flour and two kilograms of white flour.

Li Long felt this was good, so he started asking everyone he met:

"I have fresh fish for sale, trading for rice or flour is fine too!"

Once they heard they could trade for rice or flour, some people began to ask:

"How do you trade?"

"These big fish of mine are all two kilograms. I'll trade for two kilograms of rice, or three kilograms of flour, or if that's not possible, six kilograms of corn flour will do."

At this time, it wasn't easy to get meat, so some people brought rice and flour to trade. Mostly it was corn flour, though there were a few who brought rice and white flour, but those were rare.

However, not long after, a man in his fifties came out of the gatehouse and pointed at Li Long and the others, shouting:

"You lot get out! If you don't leave, I'll call people to come and arrest you!"

Li Long hurriedly said:

"Hey, uncle, uncle, I'm leaving right now—come, come, let me give you a fish, thank you!" Li Long signaled for Tao Da to hurry up and finish the trade, while he pulled a silver carp weighing about a kilogram out of the urea bag and handed it over.

The man hesitated for a moment before taking it, but still said:

"You better leave quickly. It's almost time to get off work. If the leaders come, you'll be in trouble, and I'll be in trouble too!"

Li Long said with a smile:

"Leaving right away, we're leaving right away."

After finishing this batch of trades, Li Long and Tao Da pulled the heavier sled out of the gate.

There were a few silver carp and some smaller crucian carp left that no one wanted. The silver carp had bones that were too fine, making them too troublesome to eat, and the crucian carp were too small with little meat, so they were shunned.

"Brother Long, what should we do with the remaining fish?" Tao Da asked, looking at the rice and flour on the sled.

He felt he had never seen so much rice and white flour before.

Although the production team also grew rice, the amount distributed wasn't much.

Tao Da was somewhat excited.

"Sell them, keep selling," Li Long looked around. "Find a place, try to sell the rest of the fish, and then we'll head back."

"These fish, I don't think anyone wants them anymore, right?" Tao Da had seen with his own eyes how these fish had been pushed around and rejected.

"Don't worry, someone will want them." Li Long smiled and pointed to the figures in the distance behind them. "Believe it or not, if I shout right now that these fish are ten cents each, they'll definitely come over to snatch them up."

Tao Da looked at the people who were faintly following them and asked curiously:

"Why are they following us?"

"Looking for a bargain. They're thinking that if we can't sell them and end up throwing the small fish away, they'll definitely run over to pick them up." Li Long had encountered similar things in his previous life; he knew exactly what these people were thinking.

"Then where are we going to sell the fish?" Tao Da finally turned his gaze back to the fish.

"Follow me." Li Long said as he walked. "Our county used to have wealthy families; let's go there and ask."

The county town was an ancient city, first established as a county during the Qianlong era, so it had been several hundred years since then; it wasn't strange for a few wealthy families to have emerged.

Although after some special eras, the family fortunes had changed, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse, so Li Long pulled the sled to the northeast of the city.

It was an old-fashioned courtyard with a solid wood gate tightly shut.

Seeing the gate closed, Tao Da looked at Li Long.

"If you want to make money, don't be afraid of trouble." Li Long smiled and stepped forward to knock on the door.

!.

After knocking a few times, someone shouted from inside:

"What's the matter? Stop knocking, I'm coming!"

"I'm selling fish, wild fish. Are you buying, old man? If not, don't bother opening it." Li Long spoke very politely.

"Let me see." The person speaking was over sixty; he opened the wooden door and looked at the sled.

"Silver carp, small crucian carp, what do you think?" Li Long took all the fish out of the urea bag.

"Not bad, not bad, these fish are good. They look very fresh, perfect for making soup!" The old man nodded. "How are you selling them?"

"Silver carp are eighty cents each. The crucian carp are in a pile; this pile must be two or three kilograms, how about one yuan for the lot?"

There were only five or six silver carp left, and not many crucian carp either. Li Long didn't want to run around anymore. His face was frozen numb, and he was worried that if he stayed any longer, he would get frostbite.

"Fine, the price is good, and these silver carp are also good, the meat is fine and delicious."

"You really are a connoisseur!" Li Long gave a thumbs up. "Shall I bring them inside for you?"

"Sure." The old man went inside to get the money, and Li Long carried the fish in.

He collected a total of six yuan, as the old man rounded it up.

"We'll have something good to eat today," the old man said happily.

Li Long took the opportunity to look at the courtyard; although it was old, the beam structure was clearly not simple.

A broken ship still has three layers of nails; although they might have been scraped layer by layer during certain special eras, there were always ways to cope.

This family was not simple.

The fish were sold out. Li Long and Tao Da pulled the sled back, and as they walked, Li Long said to Tao Da:

"Da Qiang, after we get back, you take a piece of meat, some rice and white flour, and some corn flour. I'll give you another ten yuan. Let's settle the accounts for today."

Tao Da had put in the effort, and Li Long certainly wouldn't let him work for nothing. But as for splitting everything equally, Li Long wasn't a fool.

Giving him goods and money was already quite generous.

"No, no, no, Brother Long, I'll say it again: keep the money with you. Having rice, flour, and meat is enough for me." Tao Da hurriedly waved his hands to refuse when he heard Li Long wanted to give him money. "If I take too much, my dad won't let me come again."

Fine, Li Long knew this was also normal.

Passing by the grain and oil store, Li Long spent another fifty cents to buy a bucket and five kilograms of vegetable oil, and then they headed home.

(End of chapter)