Chapter 843: Ox gallstone episode, Jia Tianlong doesn't have enough money!

Originally thinking that the Fritillaria bulb season was more than half over, and the amount of Fritillaria bulbs collected every day had stabilized, Li Long and Gu Bo Yuan both breathed a sigh of relief.

Unexpectedly, the number of people coming here to sell Fritillaria bulbs suddenly increased again. At the peak of passenger flow, it was even more than those two days, and at the peak, 500 kilograms of dried Fritillaria bulbs could be collected in one day!

Li Long and Gu Bo Yuan were both a bit silly. What's the situation?

Money went out like flowing water, and clean Fritillaria bulbs were collected, bagged, and pulled back to the large courtyard.

Li Long only learned the ins and outs of the matter after encountering the tractor driver he had intercepted at the Happiness Acquisition Station.

"What did you say? The Happiness Acquisition Station was sealed?" Li Long looked surprised, "Why?"

"It is said that it was tax evasion, and the procedures were incomplete. Anyway, I heard that it had been checked for the past few days, and the boss didn't show up. Later, the boss showed up, and it was too late to pull relationships."

The tractor driver's tone clearly carried schadenfreude. This Fritillaria bulb season, half of his Fritillaria bulbs were sold to the Happiness Acquisition Station. To be honest, he didn't feel anything before, but after comparing with Li Long's side, he discovered that he had earned so much less money!

In that half of the Fritillaria bulb season, he earned nearly 20,000 yuan less!

This was not his own business, everyone gathered together, but he took the big head and earned more. Calculating, he should have shared nearly 10,000 more.

10,000, a season of Fritillaria bulbs earned 10,000 less—although it was 1985, the gold content of 10,000 households in Northern Xinjiang was not that high, but that was 10,000 households—ordinary people, all year round, could fall into more than 1,000 yuan, which was already very powerful, right?

Although workers' wages rose year after year, skilled workers were only more than 80 yuan now, not yet 100.

"I heard that he offended someone he shouldn't have offended. Letting the acquisition station be sealed is a small matter. It seems that the big business, doing things outside, selling things to the interior, was cut off. This time the wall fell and everyone pushed, he offended so many people before, this time he should suffer!"

Listening to the tractor driver's introduction, Li Long understood.

Hey, self-inflicted evil cannot live. At this time, he hadn't linked the matter of the Happiness Acquisition Station to his own situation.

For four consecutive days, after collecting more than a ton of Fritillaria bulbs, the people coming to sell Fritillaria bulbs slowly decreased again, but even if they were few, they were much more than at the beginning. 200 kilograms could be collected every day.

Among those who came to the acquisition station to sell goods every day, 80% were outsiders, and 20% were locals.

Not only coming to sell Fritillaria bulbs, but also selling pelts, licorice, Cynomorium and other medicinal materials, as well as copperware, silverware, and even ox gallstones—do you dare to believe it?

If Gu Bo Yuan didn't know a little about this, Li Long would have sent the person away politely.

The person who came to sell ox gallstones was not a local, but from the Nanshan Pasture in Huxian. The situation there was not quite the same as the pastoral team in Maxian. The original pasture cattle and sheep were directly discounted and sold to the herdsmen, a bit like the four teams dividing the team production after contracting to households.

This person who came to sell ox gallstones was a Han Chinese, called Wu Shuijun, who was considered to have moved to support the border (fled famine) and settled there. He had raised cattle at home before, so he was considered a professional counterpart.

In their team in Nanshan Pasture, Wu Shuijun was the only Han Chinese, and the others were Kazakh and Uyghur. Others didn't know about ox gallstones. The cow that produced the ox gallstone was not Wu Shuijun's, but his neighbor's, a Kazakh family, which had been sick and was about to die, thin and weak, and then bought by Wu Shuijun.

The neighbor didn't want to sell, saying that the cow was about to die, and Wu Shuijun would lose money if he sold it. Wu Shuijun knew that the neighbor was honest, so he told his thoughts. The neighbor didn't quite believe it. Wu Shuijun first led the cow over, and after slaughtering it, he really dug out an ox gallstone as big as a small egg.

In this era, natural ox gallstones were not that expensive yet. He wanted to take it to the county medicinal materials company to sell, but they didn't recognize it, and then he was pointed out and sent here.

Li Long also couldn't be sure, Gu Bo Yuan just felt like it, so Li Long simply drove the jeep and took this Wu Shuijun to find Liang Donglou.

Liang Donglou was picking vegetables in the vegetable garden, the tractor was not there, Li Long guessed it should be Liang Wenyu who drove it out to handle things.

"Little Long is here?" Chen Xiuzhu, who was picking celery in the courtyard, stood up and greeted with a smile, "Is this here for something?"

Because there was a stranger in the jeep, Chen Xiuzhu went to pour water after asking.

Liang Donglou, who came out of the vegetable garden with a hoe, washed his hands by the pressure well—this pressure well was still drilled by Li Long and the others. This production team was actually more advanced than the four teams, in that a machine well had already been drilled at the entrance of the village, and people in the village could drink machine well water.

But drinking machine well water had to be pulled, how could it be as convenient as the pressure well in the courtyard?

"Uncle, there is a matter to trouble you." Wu Shuijun was in a hurry and had to rush back to Huxian today, so Li Long didn't be polite and went straight to the theme. He signaled Wu Shuijun to take out the things, and then continued to say:

"This comrade came to our acquisition station to sell ox gallstones, I don't recognize this, and I don't know what the color is."

In front of Wu Shuijun, he couldn't say he didn't know if it was true or false, anyway, it was that meaning.

"Ox gallstone? Come, let me see." Although he didn't see a doctor for people anymore, the family foundation was still there. Liang Donglou had seen ox gallstones when he was in his hometown before, knowing that this thing was precious, and this fresh one could be considered the first time he saw it.

Wu Shuijun was also not sure at this time. The popularization of barefoot doctors made ordinary people know what gallstones were. This thing of his was made from the gallbladder, and the medicinal materials company didn't collect it, so it couldn't be a large gallstone, right?

To be honest, Wu Shuijun was also supporting it at this time. When he came, he boasted to his neighbor, joking that if this gallbladder was sold, he would buy a bicycle for his neighbor.

The neighbor was a settled herdsman, had his own pasture, usually rode horses, now couldn't afford a tractor, and the child wanted a bicycle when going to school.

So Wu Shuijun dared to say so.

Liang Donglou held that ox gallstone in his hand and looked at it over and over, and Wu Shuijun's heart followed up and down.

"Hmm, it's an ox gallstone, and it's a gallbladder stone, not bad, it's rare to have such a big one."

"Really? That's too great." Before Li Long could speak, Wu Shuijun shouted out first, "Then this old uncle, how much is this ox gallstone worth?"

"How much money do you want?" Liang Donglou looked at him and asked.

"Can it be 500 yuan?" Wu Shuijun, like most ordinary people, knew that ox gallstones were precious, but he didn't know the specific price of this thing.

"Ox gallstones, dog treasures, and pig treasures are all good things, but this thing, the price is different in various places." Liang Donglou returned the thing to Wu Shuijun, and then turned to ask Li Long:

"Do you really want to collect it?"

"If it's true, then definitely collect it." Li Long was not stupid, this thing, whether it was collected and handed over to Jia Tianlong to sell, or kept for self-use, was very good.

"You give him 2,000 yuan..." Liang Donglou thought for a while and said, "This ox gallstone is more than 100 grams, quite heavy, and it's more than 100 grams after cleaning."

At this time, Liang Donglou was also not very clear about the price of ox gallstones, but he remembered that when he was in the interior, the pharmacy sold this, which was calculated by grams.

"2,000?" Wu Shuijun opened his mouth wide and couldn't close it.

He thought it would be very good to sell a cow's money, and it actually came out to 2,000?

"Hmm, don't lose you. 2,000, do you sell it?"

"Sell, why not sell? A grandson wouldn't sell!" Wu Shuijun suddenly roared, directly stuffed that ox gallstone into Li Long's hand, his eyes red.

Li Long didn't know how he provoked this man's sad thing, but since the other party sold it, he went to the jeep, took out money from his bag, and counted it clearly for Wu Shuijun stack by stack.

Wu Shuijun took the money and held it in his arms, suddenly turned to the entrance of the vegetable garden and cried.

"Thought of a sad thing." Liang Donglou sighed, and then said to Li Long:

"This is a good thing, keep it well. Don't go to the medicinal materials company, some people in state-run units may not understand this. Ask your partner who collects Fritillaria bulbs."

With Wu Shuijun there, Liang Donglou didn't say much, but Li Long understood the meaning very well.

It can be considered finding a treasure.

Li Long sent Wu Shuijun to the bus station. This man thanked Li Long repeatedly and said goodbye, then held his cloth bag and entered the bus station.

Collecting ox gallstones was just an episode. In general, the reputation of the acquisition station was getting bigger and bigger, and people who came to sell all kinds of things had everything. Anyway, Li Long had seen a lot of strange things recently.

Later, he learned that in the 1980s, ox gallstones were priced by the gram. High-quality ox gallstones were priced at about 100 yuan per gram. Of course, later there were artificial ox gallstones, and the price of natural ox gallstones was not hyped to the sky, but decades later, it was still about 100 to 200 yuan per gram.

Not cheap.

It can be considered earning a lot.

There was also someone who came with a large-bellied porcelain jar, saying it was an antique to sell, and the asking price was not low, 200 for one jar, which was scolded back by Gu Bo Yuan—saying this thing was originally used to hold bones, which was the ancient version of the ash jar, how could he dare to collect it?

Li Long could be considered to have opened his eyes.

Five days later, Jia Tianlong came to Li Long again. Because more Fritillaria bulbs were stored, this time Jia Tianlong didn't have enough money—he didn't expect that Li Long's business here could rebound from the bottom, and he collected nearly two tons of Fritillaria bulbs in a few days.

And he only brought money that could collect more than a ton of Fritillaria bulbs.

Because of this, Li Long forgot about the ox gallstone.

The money had been collected until numb, Li Long went to deposit half, and the rest was used as working capital.

After removing the inventory, plus the passenger flow had fallen back, Li Long had the opportunity to rush to the forestry team to collect Fritillaria bulbs.

Aili was really a bit anxious. Li Long borrowed a large truck from the transportation company. Seeing the large truck arrive, he stopped talking to a forest ranger and ran to the truck. After Li Long got off, he directly slapped Li Long on the shoulder:

"Adashi, if you don't come again, I will sell these Fritillaria bulbs to others..."

Li Long had a deep relationship with the forestry team, and he himself carried the status of an honorary forest ranger. Plus the price given for collecting Fritillaria bulbs the first few times was not low, so Aili and the others, although they had encountered other middlemen, mainly wanted to sell Fritillaria bulbs to Li Long.

But waiting for a full ten days, the warehouse was almost full!

"Sorry, sorry," Li Long hurriedly apologized, "I've been too busy these days, too many people came to sell Fritillaria bulbs, and one person on our side couldn't handle it."

"Then will you collect our Fritillaria bulbs in the future?" Hearing this, Aili was a bit nervous. He was worried that Li Long collected too much on the acquisition station side, so he wouldn't come here.

"Collect, I will collect as many as you have!" Li Long gave a guarantee, "Rest assured, others' won't be collected, yours must be collected, we are friends!"

"Good, good, good." Hearing Li Long's words that sounded very loyal, Aili felt very comfortable, "Come, come, come, drink mare's milk first? Look at the Fritillaria bulbs first? Someone just sent me a cage of mare's milk..."

Sour mare's milk is a good thing, but it's a pity that not everyone can get used to drinking it. Li Long could drink it.

However, he still pointed to the warehouse and said:

"Let's do business first, finish the Fritillaria bulbs, and give me that cage of mare's milk, I'll take it back to drink, how about that?"

"No problem, no problem!" Aili smiled and opened the door of the warehouse, and then roared at a young man far away:

"Aizikaer, call a few people over to help!"

Soon, seven or eight young men ran over with a smile. Some of them knew Li Long and greeted Li Long, and those who didn't know also looked at him curiously.

Last year and the year before, Li Long drove a tractor here, and many people here knew about this honorary forest ranger matter. He saved a young man here, and the forest rangers all owed him a favor.

Selling Fritillaria bulbs in the forestry team was considered public. Every time Li Long collected Fritillaria bulbs, these forest rangers could share some money, and they were naturally very happy.

Although ten days had passed, there were at least more than 100 kilograms of Fritillaria bulbs in the warehouse that were moldy and couldn't be used.

Li Long had a dark face, but Aili didn't feel anything. There were too many such things in previous years. Which year did the fresh Fritillaria bulbs collected by the forestry team not have hundreds of kilograms spoiled?

These Fritillaria bulbs were poured into the ditch by the warehouse.

Li Long felt very distressed, but there was no way. He was really too busy these past few days, and he hadn't even been to the supply and marketing cooperative until now. Li Long was busy, and Gu Bo Yuan was also busy. Lunch every day was eaten at the acquisition station, delivered by Sister Yang or Gu Xiaoxia.

Those who came to the acquisition station to sell things also took a fancy to this aspect of Li Long and the others—first, the service was enthusiastic, and second, they were dedicated, unlike other acquisition stations, which were like state-run ones, getting off work on time, and didn't care at all where those who came to sell things came from and how long it took to sit back.

Of course, the most important thing was that the price given here was high.

Aili was still the same, letting Li Long evaluate, price, and weigh. This time Li Long brought a scale, ending the history of his previous estimates.

Although Li Long's estimates were quite accurate, how could it be as intuitive as a scale.

Finally settled, there were more than 700 kilograms of fresh Fritillaria bulbs here, discounted for 3,000 yuan, more than 500 kilograms of half-dry and half-wet Fritillaria bulbs, discounted for 8,000 yuan, and more than 300 kilograms of dried Fritillaria bulbs, discounted for 8,000 yuan.

The price Li Long gave was not high, less than 20,000 for all three.

But Aili was very happy—it was already very high.

The reason for not giving a high price was that these Fritillaria bulbs were dug directly from those herbalists, with too many impurities and no cleaning. Li Long had to deal with them twice after getting them back.

"Go, drink mare's milk, you take the rest!" After clearing the money, Aili said excitedly.

If ordinary people want to drink sour mare's milk, it is best to add sugar, otherwise they can't drink it.

Aili poured him a porcelain bowl, added sugar, and was about to pour for the driver, but the driver hurriedly waved his hand, indicating that he wanted a bowl of clear tea, he couldn't get used to this mutton-smelling thing.

Li Long held a spoon and stirred while drinking sour mare's milk, and asked Aili:

"Aili, there is one more week, the Fritillaria bulbs in the mountains will bloom, right?"

"There are already blooming ones now, there are fewer people, you can come at most one more time. I won't worry this time, it's fine to come in ten days or half a month." Anyway, even if collecting Fritillaria bulbs again, it wouldn't be that much.

"I have to come early, what if there are more Fritillaria bulbs spoiled?" Li Long shook his head, tasting the sour and sweet taste of sour mare's milk.

This thing is good for the stomach, fermented, and has a little bit of alcohol taste—if it is placed in normal humidity for half a month, it becomes mare's milk wine.

The taste is very fragrant, and it tastes different.

In Northern Xinjiang, if you are a newcomer here, you can always drink some things you haven't tasted before—such as the big Wusu with high alcohol content, which is also very famous in later generations, such as Piwo—even some locals don't know this, such as Kawas, such as sour mare's milk, and freshly squeezed pomegranate juice, this thing will also ferment, and it will have an alcohol taste after being placed at room temperature for three days.

Of course, every place has such specialties, some specialties just can't walk out of the local area, but are deeply loved by guests who come here to play.

Drinking and taking, Li Long took the truck back, unloaded the Fritillaria bulbs to the large courtyard, and then continued to go to the acquisition station to be busy. When Sister Yang was watching the two children, she washed the Fritillaria bulbs by the way.

People who can't be idle—at the moment, the salary Li Long gave Sister Yang had reached 80 yuan. Sister Yang felt that the things she did really couldn't support this salary, so she tried her best to do more.

Although she had lived with Li Long, Gu Xiaoxia and the others like a family, but people gave a lot, and Sister Yang, an honest person, didn't do more, and felt guilty in her heart.

After continuing for four or five days, the Fritillaria bulb season slowly faded, there were not so many people coming, and the dried Fritillaria bulbs collected every day were about 200 kilograms, but the pelts were more.

Fortunately, the order was much better now. Even if Guo Tiebing and the others didn't come, Li Long's side could be maintained by Gu Bo Yuan alone, especially those local middlemen, who would even take the initiative to maintain order when there were many people.

Usually at this time, Li Long would get a large bucket, hang an iron horse spoon on the side of the bucket, and put a stack of enamel bowls on the square stool on the side.

The bucket was filled with reddish-brown tea—brick tea boiled, and those who came could scoop it themselves if they were thirsty.

This is considered a very ordinary action in later generations, but it attracted a lot of praise—to be honest, at this time, even if a bucket of cold water could be placed, those people would be happy. By the end of May, the heat had begun to gather, the weather was hot, and although there were trees on the side of the acquisition station yard, it was not enough to cover it completely. When queuing, it was hot!

These small details made those who came to sell goods feel that this acquisition station was doing well.

Subconsciously, in the future, when selling things, they would rather be further away, and also hope to come here.

After being idle, Li Long went to the supply and marketing cooperative and learned the ins and outs of the matter from Li Xiangqian's mouth.

"You mean, it's equivalent to me indirectly causing the collapse of that Happiness Acquisition Station?"

"Almost." Li Xiangqian looked at Li Long with a smile, the expression was almost saying: "Tell me how to thank us?" (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 844 =====