Chapter 864

Huang Lei arrived in Wucheng by car, feeling very excited.

Upon arriving in Wucheng, after getting out of the car, he handed the driver a pack of cigarettes. Instead of unloading the goods first, he went to a small restaurant outside the bus station and found three people. After agreeing on a price of one yuan per person, they helped him carry the dried mushrooms to a nearby inn—this was where he usually stayed. Although there were no private rooms, it was cheap because he was a regular customer.

Since the market opened up, private small restaurants and inns had been springing up, if not like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, then at least they were gradually increasing around the South Railway Station.

It wasn't just Huang Lei staying at the inn. When he brought people to carry those bags of dried mushrooms into the inn, it not only surprised the attendant, but other guests in the inn also heard the commotion and came out.

"Yo, Little Huang, you've had quite a harvest this time, haven't you?" One person's voice was quite loud, and if one listened carefully, there was a hint of sarcasm in it.

"No, no, just lucky, just lucky. Not as good as your harvest, Comrade Liu." Huang Lei still had that same smile on his face, even brighter than when he looked at Li Long, only it lacked a bit of sincerity.

"How could I compare to you? This time I only collected three hundred kilograms of straw mushrooms, barely enough to earn my accommodation fees. I see what you've collected doesn't look like straw mushrooms. Come, come, let me see what it is, and I'll help you identify it, so you don't get cheated..." The person known as Comrade Liu was not polite at all. He came up and tried to grab the bag in Huang Lei's hand, his words still sounding like he was doing it for Huang Lei's own good.

"No need, no need, I've already checked them." Huang Lei hurriedly took a step back and quickly went to his room with the people. After the attendant unlocked the door, he had them put the things inside.

That Comrade Liu wouldn't give up and tried to grab the bags carried by the few people behind. However, others weren't as afraid of him as Huang Lei was. Someone glared at him, and one person with a relatively tall build directly pushed him.

"What are you doing? Don't block the way!"

Although that Comrade Liu was slightly taller than Huang Lei, his physique was far inferior to these day laborers. He stumbled after being pushed, and then those people filed in one after another, putting the mushroom bags into Huang Lei's room.

Huang Lei looked at these people gratefully, paid them one by one, and then smilingly saw them off.

"I still need to send these goods to the train station tonight. Do you have time to come and help me move them then? Same price?"

"What time tonight?" The man who had pushed the person earlier turned his head and asked.

"Nine o'clock!" Huang Lei said hurriedly.

"Fine, we'll come then." The man replied, "You lock the door tight, don't let others steal your things, otherwise we'll have made a wasted trip." Saying this, he glanced at that Comrade Liu and turned away.

Huang Lei hurriedly turned around and locked the door. Originally, he had planned to get a good rest in the room, but seeing that Comrade Liu would inevitably pester him endlessly, it was better to go out and find some peace and quiet.

That person surnamed Liu was still chattering away at Huang Lei. Huang Lei hung a smile on his face to brush him off, went to finish the procedures with the attendant, and then left the inn on the pretext of not having eaten yet.

He was indeed hungry.

That Comrade Liu was named Liu Xinjun, and like Huang Lei, he was from the same province, out to collect food ingredients. The reason Huang Lei went to Southern Tianshan to collect dried mushrooms was also due to his instigation. Currently, the Northern and Southern Tianshan regions were rich in resources, but in the eyes of those "inside the pass," this was a bitter and cold place outside the frontier, full of Gobi and deserts, with nothing good.

Therefore, few people came here.

On the contrary, a small number of people who couldn't make it "inside the pass," or who had inside information and knew that there were actually abundant resources here, would come here to find ways to make money.

Huang Lei had come here only after being squeezed out in his hometown and unable to survive. Liu Xinjun, however, had long since received news that there were plenty of resources here, and they were cheap; as long as one could find them, one could make a lot of money by reselling them.

He and Huang Lei met on the train, and after realizing that both were in the same business, they traveled together to Wucheng.

Liu Xinjun tricked Huang Lei into going to Southern Tianshan, while he himself stayed in Wucheng to oversee the collection of supplies.

Fortunately, Huang Lei had also made some preparations before coming, and Qi Zhigang was one of his connections. Although he had collected some things in Southern Tianshan, there were few Han people there, and most of the ethnic minority masses didn't really bother with those wild ingredients, which resulted in Huang Lei's trip to Southern Tianshan being almost a wasted effort.

In desperation, he called Qi Zhigang—he had obtained Qi Zhigang's number back home "inside the pass" and had contacted him once while in Wucheng. At that time, Qi Zhigang had already returned to Beiting and was feeling depressed at his unit, so he couldn't provide any help; after all, the purchasing station had already been closed.

Otherwise, he could have helped.

It was also Chen Hongjun's moving that stimulated Qi Zhigang, making him think of Huang Lei's connection.

Huang Lei called Qi Zhigang for the second time, just hoping he could introduce a path for him, even if it was just introducing a place. After all, he had never run around Northern Tianshan and didn't know where the resources were.

At this time, there was no internet to check, and without acquaintances, some key information simply couldn't be asked. Even thirty or forty years later, some locals didn't know about some of the special resources in their own area.

Without someone to point the way, Huang Lei's trip to Northern and Southern Tianshan was destined to be a wasted effort.

Actually, it shouldn't have been like this originally, but he trusted that Liu Xinjun too much, feeling that in a strange place in the Northwest, people from the same province could at least help each other out.

Unexpectedly, he was tricked, and the trip to Southern Tianshan spent seven or eight-tenths of the money he had brought. If it weren't for the fact that he had hardened his heart and bought a piece of jade to bring back at the end, he probably wouldn't even have had the money to buy mushrooms.

But buying jade wasn't something one could just do. On the car ride back, there were several groups of people who had come from "inside the pass" to buy jade. Huang Lei was extra cautious and never revealed that his bag contained jade. Those people didn't care.

When they arrived in Wucheng, those people went to the jade carving factory together, and only then did they realize they were all in the same line of work.

It's just that Huang Lei had obtained real jade and sold it for a lot of money, while those people had been cheated, having been tricked out of a lot of money by people using Kawa stone as jade.

Huang Lei himself was also covered in sweat, feeling lingering fear. He himself couldn't tell the difference between Kawa stone and jade. Originally, on the road, he thought that if jade made money, he would make a few more trips; it would be hard work, but he would at least be able to earn some.

As a result, although he was lucky this time, he didn't dare to run around anymore. After all, those people had lost everything—over a thousand kilometers of road, and it would be hard to find the people again if he went back.

Huang Lei directly called Qi Zhigang, thinking that if he couldn't find a source of goods again, he would just go back.

It's just that he didn't expect to run into Liu Xinjun here again. Huang Lei's temperament was just like that—he could endure; otherwise, he couldn't have carried over ten kilograms of jade back from Southern Tianshan, over a thousand kilometers away—smiling all the way, and considering it a blessing to suffer a loss when bullied.

But this Liu Xinjun made Huang Lei somewhat wary. He didn't want to deal with Liu Xinjun anymore, fearing that Liu Xinjun would intercept his goods—if Liu Xinjun knew that he had gotten the dried mushrooms from Li Long, he would inevitably go find Li Long and cut off his source of goods.

Huang Lei's capital wasn't just his own; it also included money borrowed from back home.

After tossing about in Southern Tianshan, he had almost lost everything. He went against his nature and took a gamble, getting a piece of jade back, which could be considered as having recouped his capital. Now that he had gotten these dried mushrooms, if he sent them back, and the partners there were reliable, he could at least earn a thirty percent profit.

If he went back to Li Long and bought the remaining dried mushrooms, he could earn at least another thirty percent profit.

Huang Lei felt that as long as he could keep the source of goods at Li Long's place, then this trip to Northern Tianshan this year would be considered a success.

The prerequisite was not to have it intercepted by others.

Liu Xinjun, however, was not reconciled. He had lured Huang Lei to Southern Tianshan precisely to keep him from competing with him for the market.

Although Liu Xinjun didn't have much capital either, he and Huang Lei were the same; their sales targets "inside the pass" were the province where their hometown was located, so there was actually a competitive relationship.

It was only Huang Lei, who had just arrived, who was silly enough to believe that fellow townsmen could help fellow townsmen.

Liu Xinjun didn't believe in that!

He was the type to shoot someone in the back!

So, the large amount of dried mushrooms Huang Lei had gotten made Liu Xinjun very uncomfortable. But right now, the dried mushrooms were in the inn, and he couldn't just steal them, so he started trying to find out where Huang Lei had come from.

It must be said that this Liu Xinjun was quite smart. After Huang Lei became wary of him, he ran to the bus station. No matter where Huang Lei came from, he couldn't escape the bus station—he didn't go to the Nianzhuogou Bus Station because the time wasn't right, as he had heard at the inn that Huang Lei had only left this morning, so it could only be nearby. He went to the Bayi Guest House Bus Station, and then spent two packs of cigarettes to find out that Huang Lei had unloaded the dried mushrooms from a bus coming from Maxian.

Huang Lei didn't know that Liu Xinjun was inquiring about his situation. After going out to eat, he went to the train station to contact a train car to transport them "inside the pass."

These few bags of dried mushrooms couldn't be transported separately, and he couldn't take a passenger train by himself either, as there were too many, so he could only share a freight car with others. Freight transport was still relatively cheap at this time.

After Huang Lei contacted the freight car, he went to the Bayi Guest House again, called those few people from before, and carried the dried mushrooms to the train station—the distance wasn't far, so hiring a vehicle wasn't worth it.

It would take three to four days for the goods to be transported to the province where he was located "inside the pass," and the money would only be remitted back to him after the people there inspected the goods.

Huang Lei planned to change to another inn tomorrow to stay and keep his distance from Liu Xinjun—he also hated his own weak temperament; why couldn't he just fall out with people?

It's just that after sending the things off and returning to the inn, Huang Lei didn't see Liu Xinjun, which actually felt like a pleasant surprise.

And when he got up the next day, Huang Lei had originally planned to check out and change places, but unexpectedly, he ran into Liu Xinjun, who had already checked out with his bag and gone out.

Huang Lei was happy, but somewhat puzzled: where was this fellow townsman going now?

Liu Xinjun hurried to the Bayi Guest House, bought a ticket to Maxian, and waited for the bus to depart.

He already knew that Huang Lei had no money to go to Maxian to collect goods again, so he planned to go over and scout the situation first. If there were still mushrooms there, he would snatch up a batch; if not, he would at least find out where Huang Lei had collected them and reserve the goods in advance.

When Sun Jia Qiang went to the courtyard to find Li Long and said that someone wanted to collect dried mushrooms, Li Long was a bit surprised. Had this Huang Lei sold the dried mushrooms so quickly and come back to collect more with the money?

But when he saw Liu Xinjun, Li Long was even more surprised. Were these dried mushrooms so popular?

Listening to this person who had an accent similar to Huang Lei's, Li Long guessed that these two might have come from the same place.

However, he didn't mention Huang Lei, but instead told Liu Xinjun:

"Sorry, I don't have any dried mushrooms here."

"All sold out?" Liu Xinjun was a bit incredulous. "Sold yesterday?"

After Liu Xinjun found out that there was a private purchasing station here, he rushed over immediately. Seeing the people queuing up to sell things in the courtyard, especially one bag containing fresh morels, he understood that he had found the right place.

For such a purchasing station to collect mushrooms, wouldn't it be equivalent to a small transit station? As long as he built a good relationship with the boss here, he could come over every once in a while, pay the money, and take the goods.

"Yes, they've already been sold." Li Long said in front of Sun Jia Qiang.

He believed that even though Sun Jia Qiang knew there were still quite a few dried mushrooms in the warehouse, he wouldn't expose his words.

After all, with Sun Jia Qiang's level of intelligence, even if he didn't know why he was hiding it, he would inevitably keep the same story as him.

Sure enough, Sun Jia Qiang acted as if he knew nothing and continued to help Gu Bo Yuan collect things.

"What is this boss's surname?" Although Liu Xinjun was a bit skeptical, he knew that the person here was the boss at this time, and if there were goods, there was no worry about selling them. He took out a pack of cigarettes, pulled one out, and handed it to Li Long: "Come, have one!"

"I don't smoke." Li Long waved his hand. "What's the matter, tell me."

"I collect food ingredients," Liu Xinjun pulled Li Long to the side and said in a low voice, "How many dried mushrooms can you collect here in a month?"

"Why are you asking this?" Li Long didn't mind having more sales channels, but he felt that Liu Xinjun's smile looked a bit fake no matter how he looked at it. Although that Huang Lei looked more like a lackey, at least his smile was more sincere.

"Isn't it because I want to collect your dried mushrooms." Liu Xinjun lit one for himself and said with a smile, "How about it?"

"That depends on what price you offer." Li Long naturally wouldn't push money away. "I collect more morels and black tiger palm mushrooms here, and I also collect some straw mushrooms. You can quote a price."

"Not bad!" Upon hearing that Li Long collected precious mushrooms, Liu Xinjun immediately became restless. "How many can you collect in a month? If the quantity is large, my price here will be good."

"What's the price for one hundred kilograms? What's the price for one ton?"

"If you can collect that much in a month, I'll give you... twenty-five yuan for morels, how about that?" Liu Xinjun's eyes rolled, and he quoted a price. "Let me tell you, this price for dried morels is not low."

He knew that Huang Lei had made a trip to Southern Tianshan and hadn't had much money left. Being able to collect so many morels and black tiger palm mushrooms, it was highly probable that he hadn't spent much money per kilogram.

So he thought that the price he quoted was definitely higher than what Huang Lei had given.

Unexpectedly, as soon as this price was quoted, Li Long's expression changed. He shook his head and said:

"I collected them at about this price. If you buy them away at this price, what do I earn?"

"How is that possible?" Liu Xinjun knew it was going to be bad as soon as he heard it, and immediately tried to make up for it: "I was talking about the average price. If your goods are of better quality, I can still raise the price. For top-quality goods, I'll give you twenty-eight yuan, how about that? If they are really particularly good, thirty yuan is not impossible!"

"Then go collect elsewhere. I'm not selling here." Li Long ruthlessly rejected this person.

Wanting to snatch someone else's business while not wanting to offer a high price? Was he dreaming? (End of chapter)