Chapter 833: Purchasing station in a long queue: Public security comes to maintain order

Different from the plan, Li Jianguo had originally prepared to attend two drinking parties, but this drinking table gathering at noon continued until evening. People were added one after another, and in the end, they simply combined the two, calling the evening people over as well. Anyway, most knew each other, and those who didn't were on the drinking table; once two cups were raised, they became brothers.

Li Long waited outside this canteen until the drinking party dispersed. He supported the dizzy Li Jianguo into the car and drove to the hotel.

The hotel provided by the organizers of the commendation assembly for the conference attendees was only until noon; if one wanted to stay longer, one had to pay out of one's own pocket.

The attendant recognized Li Long and Li Jianguo and skillfully issued tickets for them. After Li Long paid, he supported Li Jianguo to the room.

This time Li Jianguo was truly drunk; he vomited a large puddle before reaching the room. Li Long could only wait for him to finish vomiting, support him to the bed, cover him with a quilt, and then go to the hallway to clean up the mess.

Li Long took the initiative to clean up, and the attendant saw his attitude was good, so didn't say anything, helped clean up together, and left. The attendants at this time were different from later generations; to talk about service awareness, it really wasn't that strong.

The hallway had quite a strong smell, so Li Long went over to open the window at the end, letting fresh air in to disperse this unpleasant smell.

Conservatively estimated, Li Jianguo had drunk at least two to three bottles this time; he was truly "in place."

Returning to the room, Li Long saw Li Jianguo had already fallen asleep, so he took a basin and placed it by his bedside, preparing for him to vomit again later, and poured clear water into the cup on his bedside table, preparing for him to drink if he woke up thirsty in the middle of the night.

After doing all this, Li Long went to open the window in the room; the smell in the room was too strong, and Li Long couldn't sleep without ventilation.

This time Li Jianguo truly revealed his true nature; snoring, grinding teeth, passing gas, nothing was missing. Around three o'clock in the morning, he got up to vomit again.

This night Li Long was tossed about enough, but he had no complaints. To borrow Shi Jin's words, Li Jianguo had treated him quite well, and now that he was drunk and needed care, he was duty-bound.

The next day Li Jianguo woke up, his head was still dizzy and very uncomfortable, but he was clear-headed, just a bit unable to control his actions.

The alcohol smell in the room had dispersed quite a bit, and the place where he had vomited had now been cleaned up. There was no dirt on his clothes, indicating someone had looked after him when he vomited. Although his memory was blank at the time, there was no need to think; it must have been Li Long who handled it—there was still some residue in his mouth and nose, which was normal.

Wiping his face, it was clean; it must have been wiped.

Didn't expect a grown man to be quite meticulous—this young man, not bad.

Just as he was thinking, Li Long entered from outside. Seeing Li Jianguo awake, he placed the breakfast he was carrying on the bedside table and said with a smile:

"Director, you made quite a commotion last night; if the door hadn't been closed, the attendant would have had to come over to find trouble with us... This is breakfast. I was afraid you'd wake up late and it would be gone, so I bought it directly. Go wash up and eat; it's still hot."

There wasn't much breakfast: eggs, steamed buns, and porridge.

"That bowl for the porridge is from the canteen; I'll send it back after eating." Li Long said, "Director, are there any activities today?"

"None. Even if there were, I couldn't attend. Let's go back early—just this one time yesterday, half my life is gone." Li Jianguo had originally been a bit embarrassed, but after Li Long's words, it was all gone. He mocked himself, "When I was as young as you, I could still walk back to the dormitory after drinking two or three bottles. Now I'm fatter than then, but this drinking capacity has dropped significantly... It's still better to be young!"

"Hehe, envious?" Li Long sat on his own bed and said with a smile, "Envious, but there's no way to go back. It's better to take good care of yourself from now on. The body is your own, it's the capital of revolution, you can't treat it poorly."

Li Jianguo went to wash up, came back to eat, and after eating, Li Long checked out, and the two got into the car to head back.

"Director, is there anything you need to buy?"

"Nothing. Now I just want to go back early, so as not to have someone find me and want to drink with me again." It seemed Li Jianguo was truly hurt by drinking this time; he didn't want to stay for even a moment longer.

When Li Long was driving, he specifically circled around the entrance of that Happiness Purchasing Station. He found that there were fewer people here than yesterday afternoon, and they were all walking or riding bicycles; there wasn't a single tractor.

Li Long didn't know if it was like this on a normal morning.

Getting on the Wuyi Highway and heading west all the way, the two didn't talk much. Li Jianguo sat in the back with his eyes closed to rest; last night's sleep hadn't completely recovered him.

Li Jianguo didn't speak, so Li Long focused on driving. He occasionally thought that if he had time, driving to Beiting to intercept the Happiness Purchasing Station wouldn't be bad—it was a bit of a mistake before; he should have asked for the contact information of that master driving the tractor. Being able to pull so much fritillaria at once, that person definitely had a special way.

Li Long felt that the forestry department in Beiting or Huxian shouldn't be as strict as Maxian, or perhaps there were more exits from their Southern Mountains, so it wasn't easy to manage.

This was a very good opportunity.

He didn't know if that ethnic and religious cadre Bielxi could lead people to his side, and he didn't know if anyone had listened to what he said to those people yesterday afternoon, or if anyone dared to try?

After entering the county town, Li Long asked Li Jianguo:

"Director, are we going to the cooperative or to your house?"

It was past twelve o'clock now, less than two hours until noon work ended. Li Jianguo opened his eyes and said:

"Let's go to the cooperative."

Li Long drove the jeep to the supply and marketing cooperative. Li Jianguo, who had been a bit listless in the car a moment ago, became spirited after getting out of the car, greeting several cooperative leaders who came out after hearing the car engine sound.

"Director, then I'll go back first." Li Long said, and after greeting the others, he drove the car, preparing to return to the large courtyard.

These two days of attending meetings, taking care of people, and pulling goods had also tired him out. Li Long planned to go back and have a good rest.

Doing business by opening a shop had this benefit: time was easy to control; if one didn't want to go to work, one didn't have to.

When the jeep passed the purchasing station, Li Long was startled—the courtyard entrance of this purchasing station was crowded with people, and there were even more people inside. Gu Bo Yuan's voice was a bit hoarse:

"Queue up, queue up, don't worry, even if I don't eat lunch today, I will buy your things. Don't squeeze, don't squeeze, or I'm closing the door!"

Truly a life of toil! He had just thought about being able to have a good rest, but it seemed impossible now.

He hurriedly parked the jeep on the side of the road, got out, locked the door, and went over to maintain order, shouting loudly while walking into the courtyard:

"Everyone queue up, queue up in the order of arrival! Those who don't queue up, things won't be bought! Everyone move back, you, I'm talking about you! Don't squeeze forward, if you squeeze again, I'll drag you out..."

Li Long was tall and big, his voice was loud, and standing in the crowd, his deterrent power was sufficient, immediately suppressing the scene.

In fact, most of these people who came to sell things were laborers, and there weren't many middlemen—those local middlemen mostly knew Li Long. Seeing him come out, they immediately started queuing up and greeted Li Long, trying to highlight the advantage of knowing Li Long.

Most people were farmers and laborers, carrying things they had worked hard to get, or things they had gotten together with relatives and friends. These people were still relatively law-abiding—under the condition that someone was maintaining order.

Thus, a long queue quickly formed in the courtyard—those who had already been squeezed out, under Li Long's arrangement, lined up in the queue.

It was too conspicuous outside, easily attracting onlookers, so Li Long had the queue make two turns in the courtyard, barely fitting.

When queuing, he recognized two people he had met at the entrance of the Happiness Purchasing Station yesterday. He greeted them with a smile:

"I wasn't wrong, right? The price at this purchasing station will definitely satisfy you—at least stronger than that side."

Gu Bo Yuan heard Li Long's voice and immediately felt relieved. He also discovered that in just a moment, the crowd that had been messy at the entrance became orderly, and his heart wasn't panicked anymore.

In fact, under orderly conditions, Gu Bo Yuan bought things quite quickly. He already had sufficient experience; grading those medicinal materials and pelts was about right, and others would accept it. However, after buying for a while, Gu Bo Yuan shouted inside:

"Xiao Long, not enough cash!"

He had originally put quite a bit of cash here, but who could have thought so many people would come today?

Hearing that there was no cash, the people queuing behind became a bit restless.

They had finally come from another county, and just now they had heard that the purchasing price here was indeed high, and they were actually quite happy in their hearts. But now it wasn't their turn yet, and there wasn't enough cash here; did that mean their things couldn't be bought, and they had made the trip in vain?

Some people started to clamor.

Li Long felt the anxiety of these people and hurriedly shouted:

"Everyone don't worry, I have a way! Uncle, you wait, I have money in the car, I'll take it to you now."

Li Long hurriedly went to the jeep, opened the door, took the cash, held it like that, entered the purchasing station, and handed it to Gu Bo Yuan in the counter.

Seeing Li Long take so much money and walk into the purchasing station, the people queuing up felt relieved, and Gu Bo Yuan also wiped the sweat on his forehead and breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn't know why so many people had suddenly come, feeling it was highly likely related to Li Long, but now wasn't the time to ask; buying things was the priority.

Besides the local people selling miscellaneous goods, everything was there; those who came from other places were basically selling medicinal materials. Gu Bo Yuan was surprised to find that the medicinal materials these people sold were all processed quite cleanly, with few impurities and quite high quality. If one was special, it was fine, but everyone was like this, which was interesting.

Since it was good quality, Gu Bo Yuan gave a good price.

"This fritillaria is top grade, washed quite cleanly, the dryness is fine, and the size is also large; I'll give you forty-eight per kilogram for this."

"Forty-eight?" The person selling fritillaria was surprised.

"Why? Think it's cheap?" Gu Bo Yuan saw this person's expression, thinking he felt the price he gave was cheap, so he explained, "This price is fine. If the state-run purchasing station was still there, it would be about this price. We are private, we need to take risks..."

"Where is it cheap? This price is too good! Where we are, for this goods of mine, they only give me thirty-five per kilogram!" That person felt surprised, "This forty-eight! You really give a conscientious price!"

"Where are you from?" Gu Bo Yuan understood a bit after hearing this, "The purchasing station over there is a bit dark."

"Beiting Sangong, sigh, can't say." The person who brought the fritillaria sighed, "It's still you who have a conscience..."

"Then in the future, if you have fritillaria, come here to sell. Even if you add the travel expenses, you can still earn more."

"Definitely, next time I'll come again..."

"You can also call everyone who digs fritillaria over there, and you can collect it yourself and come here to sell. We don't just buy fritillaria, *dangshan*, snow lotus—like *yangdu* mushrooms, *heihuzhang* mushrooms in July and August, we buy all dried goods. We also buy pelts, winter pelts and spring pelts are all bought... wild ones, sheep pelts forget it, that's relatively cheap."

Gu Bo Yuan said while pouring the dozen kilograms of fritillaria brought by this person into the basket and weighing it.

Outside, Li Long was saying similar things while maintaining order:

"Let me tell you, you'll know when you take the goods in later; the price here is definitely fairer than yours. You can totally be an agent, collect the goods over there, and then come here to sell. Like this fritillaria, a price difference of over ten yuan per kilogram, what are those travel expenses?"

"Here we don't just buy medicinal materials like fritillaria, *dangshan*, and snow lotus, we also buy pelts, mainly wild animal pelts, what red deer, yellow sheep, we want all pelts. We also buy deer antlers..."

"Think about it, not doing anything, just collecting goods, and earning quite a bit after one turn, what a good job to do!"

In total, Li Long said a lot.

"You also buy snow lotus? How much for one?"

"Three yuan." Li Long casually reported a price; he bought from the herdsmen for five yuan, that was a friendship price, here naturally he had to earn some money.

"Three yuan? That's fine, I'll pull it over tomorrow... I have hundreds, last year's old goods, do you want them? The purchasing station over there gives me five cents a flower..."

"As long as it's preserved well, we also buy last year's." Li Long said, "When you pick snow lotus, you must leave the roots and don't dig them out, so you can dig for more years."

"We know, we're not stupid..."

"How do you sell red deer and yellow sheep pelts?" Someone asked in local Xinjiang Mandarin, "We have over a dozen pelts at home, hunted during the New Year, but the public purchasing station was shut down, and the private purchasing station gave too little."

"If it's a full pelt, fifty yuan for a red deer pelt, depending on the size, this is the average price." Li Long said, "Yellow sheep pelts are a bit cheaper, forty? If there are many bullet holes, then it will go down."

"That's also more expensive than ours, I'll pull it over tomorrow!"

Li Long thought to himself, looking at this situation, he would have to go get money today; the ten thousand yuan he just gave Gu Bo Yuan might not even last until the afternoon!

Didn't expect that after talking with Bielxi yesterday and showing his financial strength at the Happiness Purchasing Station, he would attract so many people at once!

Conservatively estimated, the fritillaria in the courtyard now added up to three hundred kilograms.

Maybe someone will come in the afternoon!

No, I have to go get money in a while!

Some of these people who came from neighboring counties or Beiting were acquaintances coming together, and some didn't know each other and came by themselves. When queuing, some were discussing going back to collect medicinal materials and pelts, and some were calculating how to do it to earn more.

Two people walked over from outside. Li Long had been paying attention to the surroundings, and he immediately discovered them. Seeing that Guo Tiebing was walking in front, he greeted him with a smile.

The people queuing up looked at the two wearing public security uniforms, their expressions different. Some had a mentality of watching the fun, wanting to see what these two public security officers came to handle; some worried if there was something wrong with this purchasing station, otherwise why would public security come?

"Officer Guo, hello." Li Long greeted him with a smile, "This is..."

"This is my colleague Liu Bin."

"Officer Liu, hello." Li Long shook hands with both and asked, "You are..."

"We found there were many people here, and it was a bit chaotic just now, so we thought if there was anything, the station chief sent us to take a look and help you maintain order. After coming over, we saw you were doing quite well here, not bad, not bad." Guo Tiebing said with a smile, "We count as having made a wasted trip."

"Not a wasted trip, not a wasted trip." Li Long said, "There are a bit too many people coming to sell things here today, and the purchase money isn't enough. I have to go to the bank to take some, and I might have to trouble you to look after it here. There are more guests from other places, don't cause any trouble..."

"Then you go, we'll watch here." Guo Tiebing said, "Don't worry, it won't be chaotic."

Li Long was naturally relieved. He went in and told Gu Bo Yuan, and Gu Bo Yuan was also of this intention—the ten thousand yuan Li Long had just brought in was now only a small half left; there were too many things, and the money went too fast!

"Take at least thirty thousand!" Gu Bo Yuan whispered, "At this speed, thirty thousand might not even be enough for these two days!"

Gu Bo Yuan spoke with a bit of excitement.

Although the cost of these fritillaria was relatively high, it was stable and saved trouble. Most of these fritillaria from other places were top-grade goods, already cleaned by people; after buying them back, they only needed simple processing before they could be bagged, waiting for Jia Tianlong to come and buy the goods.

According to Gu Bo Yuan's purchasing standard, earning fifteen to twenty yuan per kilogram, there was almost no cost, pure profit.

What a good thing!

Collecting like this today, one or two tons of dried fritillaria could be collected in two or three days, earning ten or twenty thousand yuan in pure profit!

Even robbing money wasn't this fast!

Gu Bo Yuan had a sense of excitement like walking on a tightrope—he didn't have Li Long's experience of living two lives, feeling that if he earned so much money, twenty years ago, would that count as digging the wall of socialism? He would be hung with a sign and paraded through the streets!

Of course, what the situation was now, Gu Bo Yuan couldn't say well. Since Li Long had already decided, then follow along—after all, public security was helping to maintain order now, so what did that explain? It explained that the higher-ups recognized this commercial state.

Twenty years ago, if public security came, it would definitely be to arrest you; how could they help maintain order in a private shop?

Thinking this way, Gu Bo Yuan felt at ease.

Not only was Gu Bo Yuan at ease, but those queuing up to sell things were also at ease—this was public security maintaining order; when had they ever seen such a scene?

Guo Tiebing and Liu Bin naturally knew what these people were thinking, but they didn't care. They had a good relationship with Li Long; they had contact even before Li Long became famous, and later Li Long had sent things to the police station several times, meat and other things. The police station also knew Li Long had a public status and was doing normal things, and the person was good.

Now this was really the station chief who sent them over, and doing this was also a good thing, avoiding any disputes.

Li Long drove the jeep to the large courtyard to take the deposit slip first, then went to the bank and took out thirty thousand yuan.

After returning to the purchasing station, he found that people were still coming one after another.

Taking the money and entering the purchasing station, Li Long wasn't worried; in broad daylight, with public security maintaining order, no one would come to make trouble here.

Then he collected materials with Gu Bo Yuan.

Guo Tiebing and the others stayed here for a while, saw there was nothing, and told Li Long and the others they were going back.

The police force was quite tight at this time—there was no such thing as auxiliary police in this era, and every police officer was a multi-faceted hand. Fortunately, the population wasn't large at this time, otherwise, the community police would be exhausted.

Although Guo Tiebing and the others left, these people selling things were obviously much more "civilized." This young man and this purchasing station had a background, otherwise, how could there be public security coming to maintain order? And that young man was chatting and laughing with public security, looking like they had a good relationship.

So these people were quite honest, including those who came later, who heard this scene during the queuing process and knew what to do.

Li Long went back for lunch, then sent it to Gu Bo Yuan. There weren't many fewer people in the afternoon; most people came for the reputation—Huxian and Maxian were separated by tens of kilometers; after someone sold goods in the morning and went back, the news spread, and people rushed over at noon—more than ten yuan more per kilogram of fritillaria, more than ten yuan more per pelt, who wouldn't be willing to run a bit more? How much were the travel expenses? (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 834 =====