Chapter 83: Li Long, Who Refuses to be Manipulated

It was exactly noon when the horse cart reached the county seat, so Li Long said to Tao Daqiang:

"Let's go eat something first, then come back. The supply and marketing cooperative should be on lunch break now."

The two of them went to the meat canteen. Because the horse cart was outside, it wasn't convenient to go directly inside to eat, so they bought a few large meat buns and ate them outside.

The middle-aged man inside the restaurant recognized Li Long and asked with a smile:

"How are you selling this mutton?"

"One yuan per kilogram for retail." Li Long said while eating a bun, "But this is wholesale; ten sheep are for the supply and marketing cooperative."

"One yuan, and no meat coupons needed?"

"Of course, no coupons needed."

"Not bad. The meat looks good. It wasn't slaughtered long ago, right?" The middle-aged man was an expert and could tell at a glance.

"That's right, just hauled down from the mountains."

"You can get fresh grass-fed sheep from the mountains?" The middle-aged man's eyes lit up, "Can you get more? If you can, how about bringing two for our canteen?"

"Sure." Li Long was naturally willing to do business he encountered. He asked again: "Do you want the offal?"

"Yes, as long as it's washed clean." The middle-aged man saw Li Long finish his bun and handed him a cigarette, "Although many people eat meat here, the offal is also a good dish. If someone orders it, we naturally make it, but there isn't much offal in the meat shop."

"It's easy to store in this cold winter. I can definitely get a lot; it just depends on how much you want." Li Long thought of the sheep offal at Halimu's place, lit the cigarette, and took a puff.

The middle-aged man also handed a cigarette to Tao Daqiang. Tao Daqiang took it with a blushing face but didn't smoke it.

"My name is Zhong Guo Qiang, and I'm the manager of the meat canteen." The middle-aged man said with a smile, "If you have the goods, bring them to me. I'll see how things go and collect them, how about that?"

"Do you collect game?" Li Long remembered that what he actually liked was the feeling of hunting, "I can get wild boar, wolves, roe deer, and the like."

"Forget about wolves. As for the others, yes, we collect them, but not many. After all, we don't do wholesale here; we usually use them for cooking." Zhong Guo Qiang thought for a moment and said, "Fortunately, it's winter now, so we can take a bit more."

"That's fine. Whenever I get anything, I'll bring it to you." Li Long was very happy; this was equivalent to adding another channel for his goods.

After all, it was impossible to always get the good things collected by the acquisition station when going into the mountains. On the contrary, hunting could yield a lot of meat. If his own family couldn't finish it, especially after the snow melted, it wouldn't keep at home. Finding a place to sell it for money was naturally the best.

Zhong Guo Qiang was still busy. After Li Long and the others finished their buns, they led the horse cart to the supply and marketing cooperative courtyard.

Old Man Li, who was guarding the gate, was quite happy to see Li Long and the others come over and invited Li Long into the room to warm up by the fire.

"No need, Old Man. We'll wait for Section Chief Li to come over."

"He'll be at work in ten minutes or so; he should be here soon." The old man said, "You guys are capable; you've already brought sheep over—"

Li Long now wanted to know how much Section Chief Li Xiangqian would pay to collect his sheep, so he asked:

"Old Man, how much does your supply and marketing cooperative pay for sheep?"

"For these sheep of yours, I'd say it has to be 0.80 or 1.00 yuan, right?" The old man wasn't sure either, "It depends on what Xiao Li says; he has the final say on procurement matters."

Hearing that the price was okay, Li Long's heart steadied.

Twenty-some minutes later, Li Long felt his feet were about to freeze. He kept moving his feet in the snow, and finally, he saw Li Xiangqian walking over, swaying from side to side.

Before he even got close, he could smell the scent of alcohol.

"Yo, young man, you really did haul the sheep over." Li Xiangqian saw the horse cart loaded with sheep from far away, but he wasn't in a hurry. Only when he got close did he say:

"Hmm, these sheep look like they were just slaughtered. Ten, right?" "Yes, ten for now." Li Long said with hidden meaning, not committing to a final number.

"What's this? You want to see the price, right?" Although Li Xiangqian had drunk a bit, his mind was very clear, and he immediately heard the meaning in Li Long's words, "Let me see. These sheep of yours are fresh mutton, but they aren't fat enough, and there are old sheep, right?"

As soon as he started picking faults, Tao Daqiang couldn't help himself before Li Long could even speak.

These were clearly good mutton; how could this person be like this?

When they went to sell sheep at the sugar factory, the people there didn't say a word and simply weighed them and paid.

Li Long could see Tao Daqiang's displeasure and hurriedly reached out to pull Daqiang, signaling him not to speak. Tao Daqiang also reacted; Li Long was in charge, and he just needed to listen.

How could Brother Long not see that this person was picking faults? It was he who had been reckless.

Li Xiangqian said several things, but didn't hear Li Long's rebuttal, which surprised him a bit. Logically speaking, Li Long was a hot-blooded young man; under such circumstances, usually, as long as he picked a few faults, the other party would definitely retort. Today, Li Long's performance made him look at him with new eyes.

Seeing Li Long just smiling there without taking the bait, he lost interest in continuing and reached out to knock on the mutton, saying:

"However, since you've hauled them over, I'll collect them. 0.60 yuan per kilogram. If you agree, bring them into the courtyard to weigh. If you don't agree, then haul them away."

!.

"Alright then, Section Chief Li, see you again."

Upon hearing 0.60 yuan, Li Long didn't even bargain. He took the horse reins and said to Tao Daqiang:

"Daqiang, let's go."

Li Xiangqian was dumbfounded. Shouldn't they be bargaining, and then he would take the initiative to control the situation? Why didn't this young man play by the rules?

Old Man Li, who was watching the fun at the gate, was also a bit surprised. His eyes rolled, and he reacted, laughing and scolding:

"Xiangqian, you messed up, didn't you? They aren't taking your bait! You don't think they can't sell these sheep, do you?"

"Besides my place, where else can they collect ten sheep at once?" Li Xiangqian still didn't believe it and continued to be stubborn:

"Second Uncle, I'll put it to you straight: in less than three minutes, he'll have to turn around and beg me to collect these sheep!"

"That's not certain!" Old Man Li saw that Li Long was genuinely leaving and waved his hand, "You, you've been in procurement for so long that you think everything is under your control. Today, it's really not certain!"

After saying this, he shouted at Li Long:

"Young man, where do you plan to sell those sheep?"

The old man had been decent to Li Long before, so Li Long couldn't not respond. He didn't stop, just turned his head and replied:

"Shicheng Sugar Factory. They need sheep too, for the Spring Festival welfare..."

"Damn it," Li Xiangqian reacted immediately. It wasn't necessary for them to sell sheep in Maxian! Shicheng had a large population, and its purchasing power was much stronger than Maxian's!

"How about it, Section Chief Li? The sheep have flown away! I heard you told others you could get sheep..."

"I can get sheep without him!" Li Xiangqian continued to be stubborn, "There are plenty of people raising sheep in the county..."

"Then can you get ten at once? And delivered to your door?"

Li Xiangqian didn't say anything.

But he was still a bit unwilling. Was he really going to be manipulated by a young man like this?

Thanks to book friend "Zoushentou" for the tip. Thanks to everyone for the monthly tickets and recommendation tickets. It's Friday again today. I don't know if the recommendation notification will come? I get nervous every Friday. I hope there will be good news.

(End of chapter)