Chapter 891: A swindler comes to the door, Li Long: Am I that easy to swindle?

When Li Long drove the jeep back to the county, it wasn't lunch time yet.

This was the first time in these days he had returned so early. Returning to the purchasing station, Li Long drove the jeep to the backyard, unloaded those wild mushrooms, and dried them directly under the big sun.

The backyard of the purchasing station was large enough, and Sun Jia Qiang had swept the red brick ground very clean, so the wild mushrooms could be dried directly on the ground.

The mushrooms collected by Talihar and the others were quite clean, but those collected by Shaokelaiti were a bit hard to look at.

There was no other way. Since he had already bought them, he had to deal with them properly. After Li Long spread out the other wild mushrooms to dry, he started to clean up the dirty things in those two sacks.

He used a small knife to scrape off the parts of the roots with dirt, and then placed the processed wild mushrooms aside to dry. As for the dregs and dirt at the bottom, he would just sweep them away at the end.

Li Long said that the purchasing station here was strict about what it collected, but that wasn't entirely true. After all, if someone really brought mushrooms of the quality like Shaokelaiti's, it wasn't impossible not to buy them, but he would have to lower the price, and Sun Jia Qiang would have to take time to process them.

It was the same model as what Li Long was doing now.

He didn't finish in the morning, so Gu Bo Yuan called Li Long back to eat. After eating, he continued to work in the afternoon.

Telling people outside that this was his business, he couldn't really ignore it. So when necessary, he still had to tidy up here properly.

However, he hadn't finished tidying up the wild mushrooms in the afternoon when an uninvited guest arrived.

"Someone surnamed Sheng, looking for me?" Li Long was a bit surprised. He listened to Sun Jia Qiang, stood up, went to the faucet to wash his hands, and asked: "Did he say what he wanted with me?"

Li Long subconsciously thought that whoever could come to find him was likely talking about business. After all, he had opened a purchasing station and was quite famous in these few counties and cities in Beiting. The things in the purchasing station were quite miscellaneous and numerous, so maybe there were things others could take a fancy to.

"He didn't say, just said he had an important matter." Sun Jia Qiang didn't invite the person over, after all, Li Long hadn't spoken, so it was hard to say whether he was welcome or not.

"Then please invite him in, to the reception room," Li Long said.

At the moment, most of the supplies in the purchasing station, or the supplies that occupied the bulk of the funds, had places to go, but there were also a small portion that had been piled up all along. Most of the antiques collected hadn't been sold, and they were stored in a special warehouse. Who knew how long they could be kept.

So Li Long guessed that this person surnamed Sheng might be here to buy things or seek cooperation.

Just as Li Long arrived at the reception room, Sun Jia Qiang led a person over.

After leading the person in, Sun Jia Qiang went to pour tea—he didn't feel reluctant at all to do this kind of serving tea and pouring water. To be honest, although he was older than Li Long, Sun Jia Qiang knew Li Long's ability was great, and he couldn't compare.

Being able to arrange his household registration, giving him money, giving him a stable job, and having a salary that wasn't small, with a monthly bonus higher than the salary—these treatments were enough to make Sun Jia Qiang have no opinion on doing any work.

His monthly salary added up to several times more than what his family back home could earn in a year, so what else could he ask for?

Li Long sized up the person who came.

In his thirties, his hair was combed meticulously, and he didn't know how much hair oil he had used, but it felt quite disgusting to look at.

There were even creases on his white shirt, obviously newly put on. He had a blue suit draped over his arm, and he was wearing suit pants; it was a set.

He was wearing a gold ring on his hand, not knowing if it was real or fake, and he didn't know if the leather shoes on his feet had been wiped before entering the purchasing station; anyway, they looked like they didn't have a speck of dust on them now.

Looking at his dress and temperament, he looked a bit like a professor doing research, and also a bit like an expert doing research.

It was just that his eyes were quite complicated, and Li Long felt that this person had a deep city.

"Comrade Sheng, hello, please sit," Li Long pointed to the seat opposite and said, "Please drink tea."

There was no sweat on his face. With this dress, to not have sweat, he either wiped it off beforehand, or his body was too weak to sweat under such intense sunlight.

The former was more likely.

The person surnamed Sheng sat opposite Li Long, put the black bag he was carrying on the table, and said with a smile:

"Alas, having not returned to my homeland for a long time, I am very unaccustomed to this climate."

The accent of this person wasn't from Northern Xinjiang, and it didn't even sound like it was from within the country; instead, it sounded a bit like an overseas Chinese who had returned.

"Homeland, is Mr. Sheng from abroad?" Li Long asked curiously.

"Yes," this person surnamed Sheng sighed and said, "How should I put it, after my father took me out back then, I never returned. This is the first time I've returned, and I have to say, the motherland has changed a lot now. I have deep feelings after returning."

"Yes, our country has developed very quickly in these few years," Li Long nodded and said, "I don't know which country Mr. Sheng was in before? What is the purpose of this return..."

"The United States," the person surnamed Sheng smiled and said, "This return is to complete what my grandfather didn't complete back then."

"Hmm." Li Long nodded and didn't continue asking.

Li Long didn't ask, so this Mr. Sheng couldn't continue his words. Shouldn't he continue to ask about himself?

Mr. Sheng thought it might be because he hadn't pointed it out, so he continued:

"I think Mr. Li should know that the surname Sheng is not common..."

"Hmm, that's true," Li Long smiled and said, "Among the people I know, there is only one..."

He stopped here. It was indeed only one, and that was in his previous life. In this life, that person hadn't appeared yet.

"Our Sheng family was also a big surname back then," this person surnamed Sheng sighed, "If it weren't for... hmm, let's not mention old matters."

Saying this, he looked at Li Long again, intending for Li Long to think of something.

"Surname Sheng?" Li Long thought for a while and suddenly asked: "Sheng Sheng Shi Cai?"

"Hmm, it is exactly my grandfather."

"Pfft!" Li Long sprayed.

Is it real or fake?

This thought was only for a moment, and then he denied it.

It's ninety-nine percent fake. This is planning to come here to swindle him, right?

If Li Long hadn't lived two lives, he would probably be shocked at this time. But having lived two lives, he had even experienced the meme of "Qin Shi Huang asking for money," so what was this?

However, he didn't flare up immediately, but wanted to see what this person who called himself "Sheng" wanted to swindle, and also how this guy found him.

Seeing Li Long guess his family background so "on the way," the swindler smiled and said: "Thanks to our country, the policy is now relaxed, and we overseas wanderers are very welcome to return.

To tell you the truth, I originally wanted to come here to invest, but after looking all the way, I found that the infrastructure here is really backward, and the funds I brought myself, even if invested, would be a drop in the bucket. So..."

So what? Saying this, this Mr. Sheng stopped again, as if specifically to hang people's appetites. He picked up the tea bowl in front of him, a bit disgusted, but had to take a sip.

He had said a bit too much, and plus the heat, he was indeed a bit thirsty.

Li Long just watched this guy perform quietly. Of course, at the appropriate time, he still needed to be a straight man:

"So what? Could it be that Mr. Sheng has other sources of funds?"

"Hmm, there definitely are," the swindler put down the tea bowl and said calmly: "Of course, there are certain difficulties in taking them out."

Li Long smiled.

This was the normal routine. If Li Long answered, the other party would likely throw out bait and state the difficulties.

Should he accompany him to act it out?

Then let's act it out and see what bait this swindler throws.

"Difficult to take out? What difficulties are there? Could it be that this fund is not in the bank?" Li Long asked with feigned confusion, "Or is it that this fund is not money?"

"Hmm, it is money, and it is not money," the swindler sighed again, "To tell you the truth, the money I brought back this time is not small, but our country has regulations on entry, and you can't bring too much cash, and the procedures for bringing large amounts of funds into the country are particularly troublesome. I was thinking of taking... forget it, I know Mr. Li is a person who can be made friends with, so I would say this to you..."

Saying this, he opened the black bag and took things out, but when he took them out, he also took out an unsealed envelope. The envelope fell on the table, its opening facing Li Long, and what slid out of it was a stack of green paper, or rather, US dollars.

Neatly stacked, at least looking like US dollars from both sides. "Sorry, sorry," the swindler hurriedly put the envelope away, deliberately exposing the opening to Li Long again, and then put the stack of US dollars into it and put it into the black bag: "Sorry, didn't pack it well."

"Is it US dollars?"

"Hmm, I brought some US dollars..."

"I heard there are restrictions on bringing US dollars," Li Long nodded and said US dollars, he wasn't used to it.

"I don't know how much RMB these US dollars can be exchanged for. Holding these US dollars is very inconvenient," the swindler said helplessly, "In Dadu, spending US dollars is very convenient, and you can also exchange for foreign exchange certificates, but in Northern Xinjiang, it's not easy to handle.

Mr. Li, can you help me exchange some RMB here? Not much, just one thousand US dollars. The official exchange rate is a bit of a loss, of course, I won't let Mr. Li suffer a loss either. I heard that privately it's one to eight, I don't want that high, one to five is fine!"

"Sure, can you let me see your US dollars?" Li Long smiled. Li Long wasn't sure if the US dollars this person took out were real. He had a stack himself, and that stack had ten thousand US dollars, at least that one had been confirmed to be real (the others in the same box had already been sent to the Autonomous Region).

So comparing that, he believed he could see if the US dollars in this person's hand were real or fake.

"If Mr. Li needs to exchange, why don't you go get the money? Five thousand yuan is not a small amount, right? After all, the largest denomination of RMB now is ten yuan, unlike US dollars, which have twenty and one hundred dollar bills," the swindler didn't take the US dollars out of the envelope and asked back.

"Get the money?" Li Long said with a smile, "I have it here." He shouted "Little Sun!"

Sun Jia Qiang hurried over.

"You go get five thousand yuan from Uncle Gu."

Sun Jia Qiang hurried away and soon came back with five thick stacks of banknotes.

The swindler's expression wasn't good at that time.

He specifically inquired and ran to Maxian because he felt this was a small place, and even if there were rich people, they were bumpkins with little knowledge, so they were easy to swindle.

As for money, people in small places would definitely hold their money very tightly, but when they encountered an opportunity, they would definitely grab it greedily, making them easy to be deceived.

He didn't expect Li Long to take out five thousand yuan in one go. He did have US dollars in his bag, but he didn't have enough to make up one thousand.

"I didn't expect Mr. Li to be so generous," the swindler had run to many places after all, so he reacted quickly and said with a smile: "However, I don't have that many US dollars on hand for the time being. They are in the hotel. But, since Mr. Li is so heroic, I have another proposal, which is much more profitable than exchanging US dollars!"

"What proposal?" Li Long pretended to be very interested and asked.

"Actually, I didn't just find anyone to talk about this matter," the swindler lowered his voice, looked at Li Long and said, "I have also understood Mr. Li's past. It is because I have understood it that I dare to come over—Mr. Li, you often go into the mountains, right? Do you know anything about my grandfather?"

Of course he knew. The overlord of Northern Xinjiang during the Republic of China period, right? Li Long said in his heart. During his rule in Northern Xinjiang, he pulled in the Soviet Union on one hand, and nominally belonged to the Republic of China on the other, killing progressive youths, including the person who used the pseudonym Zhou Bin from our party.

Of course, it was certain that he had plundered huge wealth.

"When my grandfather left in a hurry back then, many things couldn't be transported away, and some were buried in the Tianshan Mountains," the swindler talked eloquently, "Originally, we thought there was no possibility of returning after going abroad.

Now the country's policy towards us has relaxed, so we can return. After returning, we definitely want to get those treasures in the mountains out, invest in construction with part of it, and part of it... haha."

The swindler didn't continue, but the meaning was very clear: the remaining part was for personal enjoyment.

"Where are those things hidden?" Li Long asked the key point.

"There is a map." The swindler took out a map from the black bag and shook it in front of Li Long. Li Long was amused. This person's preparation work was quite sufficient. This map was obviously a copied military map, but it was an old one, and the scale didn't seem very large.

Because he only shook it, Li Long couldn't see it clearly, which was also the other party's intention.

"Then what do I need to do?" Li Long asked, holding back his laughter.

"Mr. Li, let me tell you, the treasure of the committee buried by my grandfather has at least one thousand gold bars, small yellow fish, according to the current saying, at least thirty kilograms! As for silver dollars, one hundred thousand!"

The swindler wanted to trap Li Long, so he stated the quantity of the treasure: "There is also at least one million US dollars in cash inside."

This was increasing the attraction.

"So much money? Then what do I need to do?" Li Long couldn't help it anymore; this swindler was getting excited himself.

"To dig these things out, the number of people must be small, so professional excavation equipment is needed. These equipment need to be customized, and I have already contacted an expert and paid a deposit.

However, the expert is from Northern Xinjiang and doesn't recognize US dollars, so he needs RMB. Of course, Mr. Li, I also know that talking empty-handed like this is hard to make people believe, but don't worry, I brought things over."

He took out an iron box from the black bag. The iron box had some rust and looked very old. He said while opening the box:

"Actually, my grandfather put things in many places in Northern Xinjiang. Some can't be found because of construction here, some were dug up by others, and some are still there. These are ten small yellow fish, which are the deposit."

Saying this, he pushed the box towards Li Long.

There were indeed ten golden-colored things in the opened box.

Li Long picked up one and looked at it, and immediately determined that it was fake.

He had bought gold jewelry for Gu Xiaoxia, picked up dog-head gold in the mountains, and exchanged for gold plates.

The so-called small yellow fish in his hand was too light and wasn't made of gold.

"Look, there are serial numbers on it, traditional characters, it was from that time," the swindler said with certainty, "This one small gold bar can be exchanged for one or two thousand yuan on the black market..."

Li Long thought to himself, do you think I don't understand the price of gold? Even if it were exchanged as an antique, it couldn't be that valuable, right?

"Then how much money does Mr. Sheng plan to take from me by using these things as collateral?"

"At least twenty thousand." The swindler stretched out two fingers, "Of course, I can also put those US dollars here. Don't worry, at most three days later, I will come back with the equipment, and then we will go into the mountains together to dig for treasure. Mr. Li, I believe in your character, so I also hope you can keep it a secret for me...

Of course, now I hope to be able to get the money and then go get the equipment."

Five thousand yuan was placed on the side. Although the swindler tried his best not to look at it, he glanced at it from time to time from the corner of his eye. Obviously, he cared very much about this money.

Li Long smiled and said:

"Is that all?" He originally thought this swindler could open his mouth like a lion, but he didn't expect the appetite to be just twenty thousand.

But thinking about it, it was normal. The money that could be exchanged for the things this person took out wasn't much to begin with.

"Hmm, just these for now." The swindler knew he couldn't change his words, so he said: "I found someone introduced by an acquaintance, so the price of the equipment isn't very high. But don't worry, it must be professional equipment. By the way, before those things are dug out, we will discuss how to distribute them then, okay?"

"Sure." Li Long nodded and asked the last question:

"Mr. Sheng, why did you find me?"

"Because Mr. Li is very famous," the swindler thought Li Long really believed his words at this time, so he said the reason for finding Li Long, "Often active in the mountains, familiar with the terrain, and in this county, you can be considered the number one, right? Others either don't have this strength or don't have this courage. Actually, to tell you the truth, after talking with Mr. Li, I feel that Mr. Li staying in a small county is really a waste of talent. If you have time, go to a big city to see, maybe there will be greater development. Only when you go out will you know how big and wonderful this world is..."

Li Long shook his head and said:

"No need to go, that side doesn't suit me." After saying this, he shouted outside the door:

"Little Sun!"

Sun Jia Qiang hurried over.

"Call Old Guo, the Old Guo who came over a few days ago," Li Long saw Sun Jia Qiang was a bit confused, so he pointed him out, "Say I have something here that needs his cooperation."

Sun Jia Qiang immediately understood who it was. Guo Tiebing often came over to maintain order. Li Long first called Guo Public Security Officer Guo, and after a long time, Guo Tiebing let him call him Old Guo.

Sun Jia Qiang went to make the call.

"What is Mr. Li doing?" The swindler was a bit alert.

"Ah, it's like this. The cash I have on hand isn't enough. Old Guo is my business partner, he has more cash. Don't worry, it won't delay things." Li Long explained.

The swindler was a bit suspicious, but he was reluctant to give up.

So smooth, how could he not take some money away?

In less than ten minutes, Guo Tiebing hurried over with people. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 892 =====