Chapter 764: The Aftermath of the Cancellation of the Acquisition Station

In the fourth team's retail department, Niu Dajun was drinking sullen wine.

Several old men who often came here to drink loose wine also found it strange. One of them asked with a smile:

"Dajun, I remember you were trapping rabbits these days to take to the county to sell the skins? Why haven't you gone these two days?"

"That's right, I heard that rabbit skin is three yuan a piece; you earned over a hundred yuan in the first month after the snow, which is much better than working. Why are you still unhappy?"

"If I could earn over a hundred a month, I would drink bottled wine at home every day, not this loose wine." Another person said with envy, "This loose wine, it just doesn't have the taste of bottled wine."

"The acquisition station is gone." Niu Dajun said sullenly, raising his head and pouring a glass of wine into his mouth. After swallowing, he said, "I still have dozens of skins at home, and I don't know where to sell them. They are all hoarded at home, smelling terrible."

"The acquisition station is gone?" Another old man asked suspiciously, "Impossible, right? That public unit, gone just like that? Is it closed for rest? On holiday?"

"It's really gone. The day before yesterday, I saved up twenty skins and planned to sell them to buy some meat, but when I went, the place was closed, and a piece of paper was posted, saying the acquisition station was abolished, and there wouldn't be one in the future."

Niu Dajun's words made several old men, including the boss of the retail department, very surprised.

They had already gotten used to the existence of the acquisition station. The fourth team had a lot of land and rich resources nearby, and from time to time, getting something to the acquisition station could always exchange for some money—for example, licorice, for example, water rat skins, including the rabbit skins Niu Dajun was working on now.

Now that the acquisition station was gone, where would they go to get small change when they needed it urgently in the future?

As a result, Niu Dajun was drinking sullen wine, and everyone was a bit depressed.

Most farmers were actually a bit resistant to setting up stalls. They were already used to sending agricultural products directly to the commune, grain station, or, most simply, having second-hand dealers come to the door to acquire them.

It saved a lot of trouble; although it would be lower than the market price, it was convenient.

Having lived two lives, Li Long could take the first step to set up a stall, which could be considered as having more insight and courage than other people in the team.

So once they heard that the acquisition station was gone, these people subconsciously thought, where would they go to sell these things if they got them in the future?

They basically wouldn't think about setting up stalls; there were only so many people in the team who dared to set up stalls to sell things.

I don't know if there was any influence of the feudal tradition of "scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants," where merchants had the lowest status.

At this time, Lu Yingming came in carrying an empty bottle and said to the boss:

"Come, pour a yuan's worth of vinegar."

At this time, the things sold most in the retail department were soy sauce and vinegar. Two large vats, covered with lids (pot rows) woven from reeds, and special ladles placed on the side to calculate the price.

When someone came to pour, it was calculated by the bottle or by the ladle.

The boss took the empty bottle and money, took the ladle to pour vinegar. Lu Yingming saw a room full of people, especially Niu Dajun, who was familiar, drinking, so he asked with a smile:

"Dajun, what's wrong with you? Looking unhappy, I haven't seen you drink like this usually?"

"Dajun's rabbit skins can't be sold." An old man said, "The acquisition station in the county was removed, not open anymore. His rabbit skins hoarded at home can't be sold, and he can't find a way when he needs money urgently, so isn't he anxious here?"

The old man didn't know if he was explaining for Niu Dajun or watching a joke, but he explained the cause and effect anyway.

"Just because the rabbit skins can't be sold?" Lu Yingming took the poured vinegar handed by the boss and asked with a smile: "Is that right, Dajun?"

He and Niu Dajun had a good relationship, and the two were from the same place in their hometown. Niu Dajun came later than him, but he came for Lu Yingming's reputation, so Lu Yingming would occasionally take care of him, so he asked after hearing him say so.

"Those twenty rabbit skins could actually sell for sixty yuan. Once that money is in hand, the money for the New Year is covered. Now, the skins are just sitting in my hands, unable to be sold..." Niu Dajun thought to himself that this money had all been planned out; now that it was gone, how could he not be anxious?

"Then go ask Li Long." Lu Yingming gave Niu Dajun an idea. "He still has over a hundred sheepskins in his hand that haven't been sold. He definitely wouldn't hoard these sheepskins in his hand. If others have no way, how could he have no way?"

"Right, this is the truth. If others have no way, he definitely has a way." An old man slapped his thigh and shouted.

Niu Dajun put down the glass, thought for a while, raised his head and asked Lu Yingming:

"Brother Old Lu, then when will Li Long return to the team?"

"That I don't know." Lu Yingming already regretted his quick mouth at this time; in fact, it was also because he had a good relationship with Niu Dajun, and he wouldn't even give others the chance to be quick-mouthed.

"Hey, I know!" An old man said with a smile, "In a few days, Li Juan's dad will slaughter a pig. Li Long will definitely come back at this time; he loves to eat pig slaughtering dishes, and he came back last year just for this bite."

Once said like this, others had some impression.

"Then just ask him when the time comes." Lu Yingming didn't regret it anymore now; since he had already said it, he would just solve it to the end. Anyway, asking a question shouldn't be too much trouble for Li Long.

Lu Yingming left, and Niu Dajun didn't drink sullen wine anymore, settled the money with the boss, put on his coat and hat, and went out.

He had an average relationship with Li Jianguo's family, and if he went to Li's house to slaughter a pig, he probably wouldn't call him. He could go actively, but that would be quite losing face.

Niu Dajun thought it was just right to tidy up the rabbit traps today, see how many rabbits he could get, then send them to Li's house, and talk to Li Jianguo about this matter by the way.

Heard that Li Long listened to his big brother, as long as Li Jianguo felt this matter could be said, then he could come over when the time comes.

Niu Dajun thought the more he could do it, and his steps became lighter, striding towards the red willow beach in the east.

In the evening, Niu Dajun carried three rabbits to Li Jianguo's house.

Li Jianguo's family was watching TV in the house—he also bought a color TV last year. At the moment, Li Juan and Li Qiang were both on holiday, including the old couple.

Niu Dajun's coming made Li Jianguo a bit surprised. The relationship between the two families was average, and coming to the door with rabbits must be asking for something, so he couldn't figure out the way.

Li Jianguo let him sit down first, Liang Yuemei poured tea, Niu Dajun didn't beat around the bush and explained his intention directly.

"You want to ask where Little Long said skins can be sold?" Li Jianguo didn't expect it to be this small matter, he smiled and said, "Then you can only wait until Little Long comes back to ask."

"I heard that when your family slaughters a pig, Little Long will come back?" Niu Dajun asked tentatively.

"Right, he will definitely come back." Li Jianguo said with a smile.

"Then... can I come over when you slaughter the pig?"

"Good, I will call you when the time comes." Li Jianguo agreed readily.

After Niu Dajun left, Du Chunfang asked with some worry:

"Boss, you said that matter of selling skins... can Little Long know?"

"Not to say Little Long knows, I know too." Li Jianguo explained, "There is no acquisition station in our county, but there is one in Shicheng, it just depends on whether he can go."

"Then why didn't you say it just now?" Liang Yuemei asked suspiciously while collecting bowls.

"He didn't ask me, he felt Little Long is powerful, and he would only believe it if Little Long said it." Li Jianguo said with a giggle, "Then wait until slaughtering the pig to come over, Little Long might have other ways."

Li Jianguo was right, and the family naturally didn't say much.

After Niu Dajun returned home, he began to organize those skins. Today, he got seven rabbits by trapping rabbits again, sent three to Li's house, and the skins of the remaining four at home had been peeled, and one was already stewing in the pot—Niu Dajun actually knew that rabbit meat wasn't very delicious when stewed, but changing the pattern wouldn't cost seasoning?

Of course, the family had no objections, and the two children were waiting at the kitchen door. Although they ate quite a few rabbits in winter, how could that meat be enough? And more than half of the rabbit meat was sold by Niu Dajun.

After Li Long returned from Beiting, he rested solidly for five days. Five days later, he went to Beiting again, brought back that tanned skin, and also brought back a set of saddles.

Li Long originally planned to take the skin back to his sister-in-law and let her make a fur coat for his mother. After Gu Xiaoxia saw the skin, she said to him:

"Old Xu's wife in our unit retired from the State Garment Factory and opened a tailor shop in the county. Do you want to try it there?"

"Then we have to wait for mother to be idle and take her to the county to measure the size, right?" Li Long said, "It's impossible to make it just by talking."

In fact, this Mongolian gazelle skin was definitely not enough to make a fur coat. According to Li Long's idea, make a fur vest, which was about the same as what was called a vest in later generations.

"If you make a vest, then you don't need to measure, just make it a bit smaller than my size." Gu Xiaoxia said, "It can be done in a day or two. After it's done, we can take it over when we return to the team."

Li Jianguo had long since set the day for slaughtering the pig for Li Long, which was on the weekend. At that time, Gu Xiaoxia could take the children over. According to Li Jianguo's meaning, Sister Yang and Han Fang should also go together.

Although they were outsiders by surname, Sister Yang had always taken care of the two children, and she was truly closer than some relatives.

Gu Bo Yuan's agricultural materials shop had already closed. When he entered the twelfth lunar month, he closed the shop door, locked the small courtyard gate, and rode his bicycle back to the team.

According to Gu Bo Yuan, even if he stayed in the county for a whole year, he felt the most comfortable returning to the team and staying in his own courtyard.

Li Long thought Gu Xiaoxia's words were also quite right. The next day, he sent the Mongolian gazelle skin over according to the address Gu Xiaoxia gave.

The clothing store was on the roadside opposite the Zhang Xin Hua Bookstore, a small storefront named Dazhong Clothing Store, quite popular.

A woman in her fifties in the clothing store was stepping on a sewing machine—this was a proper sewing machine, and there were two apprentices picking the lock-stitch threads on the clothes.

Li Long could understand; this should be a broken edge that needed to be redone.

"Hello, customer, do you need to make clothes?" Looking at Li Long carrying a bag, the female apprentice at the door asked with a smile.

"I want to make a fur vest." Li Long took the Mongolian gazelle skin out of the bag and said, "Can you make it here?"

He was talking to the apprentice, but his eyes turned to the woman.

There were fur clothes hanging on the top of the shop, so Li Long felt it should be possible.

The Mongolian gazelle fur was trimmed very neatly, and the skin became very soft after being tanned, looking quite high-end. He thought that after making clothes, it would be very comfortable to wear.

"Can make... if I make it for you, this skin is not enough." The woman looked up and said.

"No, make it for my mother." Li Long said with a smile, "My mother's body is a bit smaller, smaller than you."

"Then it's enough." The woman stood up, took the skin, looked at it, nodded, and said, "This skin is tanned well. Besides making a fur vest, you can also make a pair of gloves. Do you want to make them?"

"Yes." Li Long nodded immediately, "Can you make men's or women's?"

"Both men's and women's are enough."

"Then make a pair of women's gloves." Li Long thought about making a pair of gloves for Gu Xiaoxia, "The five-finger kind?"

"Well, that kind is more expensive."

"If it's more expensive, then it's more expensive. Leather gloves are warm."

"Five yuan for sewing the fur vest, two yuan for sewing the gloves, come and get them in two days." The woman put the skin aside and said.

Li Long took out money to pay, and the woman wrote him a slip, on which was written "Mongolian gazelle skin fur vest, Mongolian gazelle skin gloves", as well as the time.

Li Long left the clothing store, went to the market first, bought the three sets of saddles currently available at that saddlery, and then drove to the mountains. He wanted to deliver the saddles brought back twice to Halimu and the others in the mountains.

It snowed again in the mountains, and Halimu and the others' range of activities had shrunk quite a bit. Now the cattle and sheep in the pen mainly ate grass and fodder.

The grass in the winter pasture was almost pressed by the snow, and grazing in the forest was more troublesome; the sheep would scatter and be hard to find, so at this time, besides driving the sheep out to drink water and move around, and having to clean up the grass stalks in the pen, they basically let the cattle and sheep stay in the pen, and three or five times a day, they would pick apart the grass bundles beaten in the autumn and scatter them in the pen for the cattle and sheep to eat.

At this time, the ewes were ready to produce lambs. Halimu reinforced the warm pen and separated the door with a thick cotton door curtain, so even if the ewes gave birth to lambs in the middle of the night, they wouldn't freeze to death immediately.

Ewes would scream loudly when giving birth to lambs, and Halimu and the others would get up in the middle of the night to watch, very alert. Those dogs would also bark. At this time, if there were lambs born, Halimu and the others would hold the lambs into the house to roast them dry, so as not to freeze to death.

If it was an old ewe, it would be fine; it could smell the scent of its own lamb. If it was a first-time lamb, the ewe might not recognize the lamb, so people would control the ewe and let the lamb eat the "jiao milk", which was the first milk. This jiao milk was extremely rich in nutrition. According to the old saying, the lamb that ate the jiao milk was basically saved.

When Li Long came, Halimu was cleaning the sheep pen, and Nasen and Sasken were helping in the sheep pen.

Li Long's jeep quickly drove to the winter nest, and when several people ran over, he had already started unloading the saddles.

Before winter, including the first time he slaughtered sheep for Li Long, Li Long brought a lot of things. Twice down the mountain to slaughter sheep, Halimu and the others also bought a lot of things in the market and department store themselves, so at the moment, Halimu and the others' materials were sufficient, and they didn't lack anything, so Li Long didn't bring other materials.

After unloading the saddles, Nasen and Sasken were playing with a whip each, and Li Long and Halimu went into the house to drink milk tea. He asked:

"What is still lacking here?"

"Not lacking, all enough." After Halimu waited for Li Long to sit down, he said, "I killed two wolves the night before yesterday, you take the wolf skins back in a while."

"Good." Li Long wasn't polite to him either. He planned to take these two skins to the leather factory together with those sheepskins to see how much they could sell for.

"Are there many wolves in the mountains recently?" Li Long asked again.

"Not many, occasionally there are." Halimu also knew some situations outside, "A large herd of Mongolian gazelles came outside the North Mountain, and those wolves all went to get the Mongolian gazelles. By the way, in another while, the red deer will give birth to fawns. When the time comes, you come over. Talihar and the others said, definitely catch more red deer fawns for you."

"That's good." Li Long naturally didn't think there were too many red deer. Anyway, raising one was raising, and raising a herd was raising. The cost wasn't high, and the profit wasn't low. This stuff was still worth raising.

Just the velvet that could be cut from male red deer every year was quite a lot of money.

Li Long didn't stay long at Halimu's place. After loading the wolf skins, he drove the jeep down the mountain.

When he returned to the county, the sun hadn't set yet. Passing by the acquisition station, Li Long saw some people still waiting at the gate of the courtyard that had already been locked, carrying bags, and some people were looking at the announcement posted outside the door.

Once the acquisition station was removed, many people really lost their way to get money.

This was the change of the era. Among these people, those with flexible minds might quickly find the next buyer, and if they were clumsy, they might have to wait a long time to get the next useful information.

Li Long felt a bit unbearable. He looked at a person carrying a bag, whose figure was very similar to his big brother a few years ago, that helpless and somewhat hunched body, making him feel his nose was quite sour.

Li Long parked the jeep on the side, got out of the car, walked over, and asked:

"Old brother, what are you selling?"

That person turned his head to look when he heard the car sound. Seeing the jeep, he was obviously a bit afraid, but then he was a bit expectant.

Li Long got out of the car. This person didn't relax because Li Long was young, but instead became more cautious, saying carefully:

"Selling skins, water rat skins... this acquisition station is gone, and they can't be sold."

After speaking, he smiled bitterly.

It was really not easy to catch water rats at this time. Li Long asked:

"Can I see? Old brother is powerful, still able to get water rat skins at this time, not simple!"

"No, no," that person hurriedly explained, he was even a bit sweaty from nervousness, "The skins peeled from water rats caught in autumn, I don't know if they can still be sold for money... I just heard."

So that was it.

That person took out the skins and showed them to Li Long. Li Long counted them, three skins. The autumn skin fur quality was very good, although a bit small, but it obviously felt thicker than the Mongolian gazelle skin.

"How much do you plan to sell for?" Li Long asked, "These skins are not bad."

"One... ten yuan... no, eight yuan?" That person looked at Li Long, expectant, yet nervous and inferior.

"Hey, eight yuan is definitely selling cheap, at least fifteen yuan a piece." Li Long hadn't sold these skins for some time, he didn't know the market price, but he also knew that water rat skins couldn't possibly sell for eight yuan.

"Are you acquiring?" That person was happy to hear it and asked, "Not to say fifteen, ten yuan is fine!"

"I'm not acquiring, but the county leather factory should acquire, right?" Li Long wasn't sure, although he planned to sell the sheepskins there, he hadn't taken action.

"Leather factory... never been there." That person hesitated, looked at Li Long, and said tentatively, "Then... eight yuan, do you acquire?"

Looking at this person's eyes, Li Long felt that if he helped someone, he should help to the end, and said:

"Fifteen a piece, sell them to me."

"Don't need that much, ten yuan is fine..." That person was overjoyed.

"Rest assured, I feel I can still make money at fifteen." Li Long said with a smile, "Alright, give me all three skins. By the way, in the future, there is a sac under the belly of this water rat, there is musk, this is also valuable."

"Yes, yes, I dug it out!" That person hurriedly said.

Hey! Li Long was also surprised, still an expert! (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 765 =====