Chapter 786

In the morning, Li Long continued to go to the acquisition station. The temperature outside was slowly rising, the ice and snow on the ground began to melt, and the dirty snow in the roadside ditches was slowly sinking.

There was still a faint, unpleasant smell near the main gate of the acquisition station. Li Long opened the iron gate, went inside to set up the stove, then came out to take the iron shovel left behind by those two rascals and shoveled away the little bit of filth remaining on the ground.

He threw the shoveled-up slush into the roadside drainage ditch. Seeing that this was all he could do, Li Long stood the iron shovel against the courtyard wall and went inside.

There were more pedestrians on the road, and some students passed by—it was hard to tell if they were late or not going to school at all, but they were all in a hurry.

Li Long soon waited for the first person to come and sell something. Rarely, this time it was an older sister. She came to the doorway carrying a small half-bag of things, looked inside with a bit of restraint, and after seeing Li Long, she smiled first and then said:

"Hello, comrade. Do you... buy fritillaria here?"

"We do." Li Long looked at the older sister, who was about forty years old, with short hair that didn't reach her shoulders, pinned back with black clips, and a few stray hairs. Her face was a bit rosy from walking in a hurry, but she was quite thin, and one could tell that her living conditions were not very good.

"Good, good, good. Then take a look and see how much money this fritillaria of mine can sell for?" The older sister placed the small half-bag of cloth on the counter, then rubbed her hands together and habitually warmed them over the stove.

Li Long noticed a few chilblains on her hands; it seemed she had suffered during the winter.

The cloth bag was originally for flour—at that time, many flour bags were made of cloth, and after the white flour was eaten, the bags had many uses.

Li Long opened the bag, reached in, grabbed a handful of fritillaria, and took a look.

The fritillaria was cleaned very well, with both large and small pieces; one could tell it was mainly last year's stock. Li Long put this handful of fritillaria back, reached into the bottom of the bag to grab another handful, and checked if there was any debris at the bottom.

There was a little bit, but not much.

"The fritillaria is not bad, it's cleaned quite cleanly. I'll buy it at forty-five per kilogram," Li Long said. "How about that?"

"That'll do, that'll do!" The older sister smiled.

This small half-bag of fritillaria weighed four and a half kilograms; she had weighed it at home. Now she could exchange it for nearly two hundred yuan, and she would have the money for the spring!

Li Long took the scale and weighed it. It was four kilograms and six hundred fifty grams; after deducting the weight of the bag, it was four and a half kilograms, which calculated to two hundred two yuan and five jiao.

Li Long paid the money and poured the fritillaria into the large basket inside the counter. After the older sister thanked Li Long, she happily folded the bag and left, her steps much lighter than when she arrived.

Based on the development situation of the past two years, Li Long estimated that for this year's fresh fritillaria, the acquisition price at Jia Tianlong's place should be over sixty yuan per kilogram for first-grade goods. Earning sixty yuan from these four kilograms was acceptable.

This is the advantage of being a local resident—the acquisition price per kilogram increases, but because of the advantage of a monopoly, the profit is not small.

He was even thinking that during the fritillaria season, he could completely avoid buying in the mountains and just buy here; he could still earn a lot, perhaps even more than last year.

But thinking about it, he decided against it. One must learn not to be greedy and learn to grasp things with both hands.

Anyway, he was young, so he would manage both ends first and slowly look for a suitable person to watch the shop.

After twelve o'clock, Li Long finished buying the fritillaria, rabbit skins, more than ten kilograms of copper coins, and two small silver ingots, and prepared to pack up his things and return to the large courtyard.

He really hadn't expected that the copper coin resources in Maxian were more abundant than he had imagined. He had heard his older brother Li Jianguo talk about money cellars before, but he had never seen one with his own eyes.

At this time, it was normal for every household to have a few copper coins, but he had never seen a particularly large quantity—except for the half-box he saw when he bought Old Ma's courtyard. Yes, the ones in the mountains were also an exception.

Who would have thought that just after starting the acquisition station, he had successively collected nearly a hundred kilograms of copper coins, and that was after he had picked and chosen; there were also quite a few he had returned because they were already too rotten to be used.

Buying them as scrap copper, he wouldn't lose money no matter what.

Thinking about it, it was normal. It was considered an ancient city after all. Even when Wang Dulu wrote about Yu Jiaolong, he knew about the ancient cities along this line. There might not be Shi City or Kuitun, but Suilai (Maxian) had to be counted as one.

Just as he was packing up his things and loading them onto the vehicle, someone came over.

Li Long stopped what he was doing and greeted him with a smile:

"Hello, Comrade Guo!"

The person who came was Guo Tiebing, a police officer from the local station—the one who had a good relationship with Li Long.

"Hello, Comrade Xiao Li." Guo Tiebing held a clipboard in his hand. After greeting Li Long, he looked around and nodded, saying:

"No wonder. This courtyard is not bad. What did you buy today?"

"Medicinal herbs, copper coins, and rabbit skins." Li Long pointed to the things he was loading onto the vehicle.

"Can you make money?" Guo Tiebing asked again.

"It should be alright. I'll collect them first and then find a place to sell them." Facing Guo Tiebing, Li Long did not hide the fact that he was a middleman. Anyway, as long as he didn't engage in illegal or criminal activities or collect things the state forbade, the charge of speculation and profiteering would basically not fall on his head in the next two years.

Actually, Li Long estimated that excluding the copper coins, just from the fritillaria and rabbit skins, he had earned over one hundred yuan this morning.

And this was during the off-season. If it were the peak season for collecting fritillaria in May, the daily profit would be at least over five hundred.

Of course, he couldn't say this to Guo Tiebing, or rather, basically no one could be told except for his family.

"You know why I came, right?" Guo Tiebing stopped beating around the bush and asked.

"Did those two people confess who was behind them?" Li Long finished packing, closed the car door, leaned against the jeep, took out a box of cigarettes, pulled one out, and handed it over: "Do you smoke?"

Guo Tiebing took the cigarette but didn't smoke it, tucked it behind his ear, patted his right hand with the clipboard in his left hand, and said: "They did confess. Do you know something?"

"A couple of days ago, someone came to find me, wanting to buy this acquisition station of mine, but I didn't sell." Li Long nodded and said, "Two young men."

"Do you know their identities?"

"I suppose they are either rich or noble." Li Long smiled. "Are they children of some leader?"

"You are so clever." Guo Tiebing sighed and said, "Indeed, it is the child of a leader. We started the interrogation this morning, and those two rascals confessed very quickly. However, you should also understand that as soon as we finished the interrogation, the leader on the other side found out and specifically called, saying he hoped to reconcile with you and suppress this matter."

"How to reconcile?" Li Long waited for the other party's attitude.

Actually, in this kind of matter, if it really blows up, it would be a lose-lose situation at most. If the other party admits defeat and shows some gesture, Li Long really didn't intend to pursue it further.

"The other side said they would compensate you one hundred yuan to make up for the loss. They guarantee they won't do such things again in the future and won't make things difficult for your acquisition station."

"That's fine." Li Long answered very readily, which surprised Guo Tiebing.

"That's enough?"

"Forgive others when you can." Li Long smiled. "Even if I don't forgive, what can I do? Catch them and at most get an apology. Can I lock them up?"

"That's impossible, after all, it didn't cause any bad influence. You actually understand that this matter itself can be big or small, depending on the influence."

Li Long naturally knew that he had a halo over his head. Although this halo was from two years ago, it still had some effect.

Being at the autonomous region level, it wasn't that easy to fade.

When it involved official matters, Li Long didn't know how big the other party's background was, but he didn't want to cause trouble. In the past, he might have inquired clearly and taught that young man a lesson, but now that he had a wife and children, there were more things to consider.

Why is it that thirty or forty years later, those companies find it easy to manipulate middle-aged employees? Isn't it because they have old parents and young children, and the pressure is too great to take risks?

"Alright, that's settled then. I'll go back now to get things done, and you can go to the station in the afternoon to collect the money."

"What about those two rascals?"

"This matter can be big or small, but these two guys had stolen other people's things before, and they confessed to it during the interrogation this morning, so they will be detained for fifteen days."

Alright, that can be considered as getting rid of a scourge for the people.

In the afternoon, Li Long went to the police station, signed the papers, and took the money. The other party didn't show up, and Li Long didn't care. This matter was considered over, but it was also considered as having left a record at the police station. If the other party wanted to cause trouble again, then the police wouldn't be able to let it slide.

After leaving the police station, Li Long continued to the acquisition station. He would be staying at the acquisition station for the next few days.

Unlike the original acquisition station, Li Long also collected ordinary skins like sheepskin and dog skin here.

A week later, Li Long drove a tractor loaded with a full load of skins to the leather factory.

They were all ordinary skins like sheepskin, rabbit skin, and dog skin. Although the number of yellow sheep skins had long exceeded one hundred, Li Long didn't sell them for the time being; he planned to wait for Zhao Hui to come and compare the prices.

"Xiao Li, you are amazing. To be able to get so many skins in early spring, you've put in a lot of effort." The technician at the leather factory, Old Zhang, tucked the cigarette Li Long handed him behind his ear and said with a smile, "Although the quality of the skins is average, the quantity is quite large. Our leather factory rarely collects so many skins from individual sellers."

"Old Zhang, do we collect yellow sheep skins here? What's the price? By the way, what about red deer skins and the like?"

"Of course we collect them. We are a leather factory, so we certainly collect such skins. And such skins are much more expensive than sheepskins. A complete yellow sheep skin can easily sell for seventy yuan, and red deer skin is even more expensive. If it's broken or has bullet holes, it might be discounted by half or sixty to seventy percent, depending on the situation."

Li Long nodded, indicating he understood.

"What, Xiao Li, do you have yellow sheep skins?"

"I have a few, not many. I'll save up some more and see." Li Long said vaguely, "These skins are really not cheap."

"That's for sure, they are wild, so they are naturally different from cattle and sheep. Now our skins are made into leather jackets and the like, aimed at exports. Those foreigners like the skins of these wild animals very much, so the price is naturally higher."

Li Long understood and felt more confident. Even if Zhao Hui didn't come, those yellow sheep skins and red deer skins of his could still be sold.

Selling these skins today, after deducting costs, he earned over one thousand yuan. Of course, this was just for the skins—the yellow sheep skins and such were not included; those were separate.

The next day, he opened the door a bit later and first went to the medicinal herb company to ask about the prices of those medicinal herbs.

The price given by the county medicinal herb company was not high; fritillaria was only three to five yuan higher than his own acquisition price, and licorice was only a little over one yuan higher.

Li Long simply drove the jeep to the medicinal herb company in Shi City. The price there was a bit higher, but only a little bit higher than the medicinal herb company in Maxian.

If he resold at this price, although he could earn some, it wouldn't meet Li Long's expectations.

Then he would wait. He would wait for Jia Tianlong to come and see.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, which was March 6th, the second day after the Awakening of Insects, Li Long waited for Zhao Hui.

Zhao Hui was wearing a leather jacket, sunglasses, carrying a briefcase, and wearing leather shoes, looking quite flashy.

Seeing him dressed like this at the acquisition station, Li Long was immediately amused:

"Boss Zhao, aren't you cold?"

"It's a leather jacket, there's fur inside. I'm wearing a sweater, and fur pants too." Zhao Hui patted himself and said.

"I'm talking about your feet! You're wearing leather shoes in early spring, aren't your feet freezing?"

"Hehe," Zhao Hui laughed, squeezed past a few people selling things, entered the acquisition station room, pulled over a chair and sat by the stove like an old friend, and warmed his leather shoes near the stove: "It is a bit cold. The car I took didn't have good heating, and my feet were frozen on the way here."

"Then warm yourself for a while, I'll finish collecting these things." Indeed, no one had come to cause trouble in the past few days, and Li Long had been running back and forth between the acquisition station and the large courtyard every day like clocking in at work.

The snow on the road had melted by seventy or eighty percent, mud was splashing everywhere, and the melted ice and snow water in the roadside ditches was flowing to lower places.

The main street was better; it was usually kept clean, so the melting snow didn't have much impact. Those small alleys and rural roads were becoming muddy at this time.

The road from the township to the Fourth Team was better. After paving it with sand and gravel last year, at least when the snow melted this early spring, students wouldn't have too much mud stuck to their feet when walking to and from school.

Li Juan and Li Qiang each had a bicycle at this time, which made them the wealthy ones in the school.

At this time, more people were coming to the acquisition station to sell things. After the snow melted, everyone had to prepare for plowing and farming. Everyone was starting to prepare agricultural materials for farming, and Gu Bo Yuan had also started work.

Li Long also became busy. When Li Jianguo went to the street to buy things the day before yesterday, he came to Li Long's place and told him that the sugar beet seeds he was planning to plant in the saline-alkali land by the horse corral had already been bought for him.

Li Long wanted to give Li Jianguo the money for the seeds, which made Li Jianguo smile and scold him.

There were seven or eight people queuing in front of him. Li Long skillfully checked, graded, weighed, paid, and then sorted and bagged the items. By the time he could attend to Zhao Hui, Zhao Hui's feet had already warmed up.

"I see you've got this acquisition station running quite well, it's quite lively."

"It's alright." Li Long nodded and asked: "How was the New Year? You're out working so early?"

"Sigh, it's a life of toil." Zhao Hui shook his head, but his expression carried a hint of pride. Unlike Jia Tianlong, he had a family and children, and he was very happy. He came out to earn a beautiful future for his family.

"Don't be pretentious, big boss. I've stored quite a lot of skins this time. Are you buying? If you are, you can't transport them back by yourself—there's much more than last time."

"Really? That's great! I love these winter skins!"

Winter skins had good fur, and the quality for making furs was much better than summer skins, which was why Zhao Hui said that.

"Then how will you transport them away?" Li Long asked.

He didn't ask about the price—the price Zhao Hui gave last time was quite good.

"Don't worry, I'll rent a truck—I have some connections in Northern Xinjiang too." Zhao Hui signaled Li Long not to worry.

Li Long didn't worry either.

By twelve o'clock, Li Long loaded the collected items onto the vehicle and took Zhao Hui back to the large courtyard. He didn't rush to unload the things; he first carried Mingming and Haohao out and placed them on the bed-cart outside to let the two children sunbathe and play, while he took Zhao Hui to see the skins in the side room.

The bed-cart was actually custom-made by a carpenter, referencing the structure of later generations, with four small wheels, and the four sides of the fence were polished smooth so they wouldn't prick the hands. The bottom board was nailed down, and quilts and bed sheets were spread on it, making it very comfortable.

The two children were crawling and playing inside. The little bit of spring breeze wasn't cold, and the children were quite happy—mainly because the two little red deer were roaming in the courtyard, and Xiao Hei was there too. As soon as the children came out, these three guys went to the bed-cart, and the two children were very happy looking at the furry guys.

"Xiao Li, you are amazing!" Zhao Hui looked at the two rooms full of yellow sheep skins and red deer skins, as well as a few wolf skins, and exclaimed:

"I thought you were bragging, I didn't expect it to be true... These yellow sheep skins, there must be at least two hundred, right?"

"About that." Li Long nodded. These skins had tied up nearly ten thousand yuan of his money. If Zhao Hui could take them all at once, most of the capital would be recovered.

"They are sorted quite well." Zhao Hui looked at the stacks of dried skins and found that full skins were in one stack, those with one bullet hole or a tear were in another, those with two were in another, and so on.

He was very satisfied.

"How about it?" Li Long said with a smile, "Shall we talk about the price?"

"Don't worry, my price will definitely satisfy you." Zhao Hui said with a smile: "Adult yellow sheep full skins, eighty yuan each; smaller ones, seventy-five. Damaged skins, like this one with a bullet hole, sixty; damaged skins with more than three tears, forty..."

The price was indeed very good, and Li Long smiled.

He made a rough estimate, and just from these skins in the room, he could earn at least three or four thousand yuan.

After Zhao Hui finished looking at the skins and reached an agreement with Li Long, he left in a hurry.

Li Long originally wanted to keep him for a meal at home, but Zhao Hui said he was in a hurry to contact a truck. With so many skins from Li Long's place, his plans had to change.

It seemed that the resources in Northern Xinjiang were very abundant.

Li Long knew that Zhao Hui would earn even more after buying these skins, reselling them, and processing them.

However, he wasn't jealous. He was a seller of resources and currently wasn't involved in secondary processing, nor was he interested in doing so.

Accumulating the first pot of gold through resources in a short time was already enough. He was a farmer himself, and he was worried that he wouldn't be able to handle it if he made it too big.

Li Long still had self-awareness.

In the afternoon, Zhao Hui came with a truck.

This time, Li Long once again witnessed Zhao Hui's caution—he personally checked every single skin before he felt at ease.

Well, there's a reason why people can make their business big. This point is worth learning! (End of chapter)