Chapter 905

In the evening, several people arrived one after another at the Fourth Team's retail department.

Ma Jinbao came over early as usual. Other people herding sheep at this time would let them graze until dark, waiting until their bellies were round before driving them back, as this was the only way to gain weight.

He, however, felt that his own sheep couldn't compare to those in the Old Ma Corral, and since the team members weren't buying them anymore, he simply gave up. Every day before the sun went down, he would hurriedly drive the sheep back, lock them in the pen, and then head to the retail department. If there were acquaintances, he'd mooch a couple of drinks; if not, he could still sit there for half the night.

Of course, when there were few people, he would buy his own drinks. He still had a bit of money; if he didn't, he would lead a sheep to the free market on the outskirts of the county to sell it, and as for the money, he'd spend it on himself.

People returning from work would either make something to eat in their own courtyards or watch TV. Some families didn't have a TV and didn't want to listen to the radio, so they liked the liveliness of the retail department and would run over there to chat with others.

Of course, it also had to do with the fact that the retail department had a TV. The TV was placed in the courtyard, and anyone who came over could watch. They even prepared small stools; naturally, if you came early, you could sit on a stool, but if you came late, you could go outside, find two broken bricks, stack them together, and sit on those to watch.

Today, Ma Jinbao managed to get a cup of loose liquor. Reluctant to drink it all at once, he held the glass and sipped it bit by bit.

Someone hurried over and said to the boss:

"Old Zhang, pour me a bottle of vinegar; we're out at home."

"One and a half catties, right?" Boss Old Zhang looked at the beer bottle he was holding and asked skillfully as he took it: "Fill it up?"

"Fill it up." The man was a bit damp, and the smell told you he was pressing melon seeds; he must have just returned from the fields after pressing them.

"Hey, Bai Qiuka, you're done pressing melon seeds?" Ma Jinbao saw the newcomer, smelled the scent, and with a turn of his mind, said with a smile, "I heard the price of melon seeds is pretty good this year. How about it, did you sell them?"

"Sell my ass!" The man called Bai Qiuka spat. "Wang Cai Mi went to sell them a couple of days ago for 1.5 yuan! Yesterday, Old Zhao's family from the team went to the roasted goods factory to ask, and they offered 1 yuan, but he didn't sell. I heard the factory stopped buying this morning!"

Ma Jinbao chatted with this man named Bai Yanjun mainly to ask if he still wanted the melon pulp, as he could use it to feed his sheep.

Ma Jinbao's son's family also grew melon seeds, but this stuff was definitely the more the better; once dried, the sheep would eat it too.

It was just that he hadn't expected to hear such news, which was very frustrating.

"Exactly, if the roasted goods factory won't take these melon seeds and the middlemen won't take them either, where are we supposed to sell them?" Another villager sitting and watching TV was also worried. His family had also grown twenty mu of melon seeds, originally thinking of earning enough to buy a tractor this year, but now, they couldn't sell them.

"The Li family told everyone not to grow melon seeds this year, but you insisted on doing it, so who's to blame?" Another person laughed, looking very smug. "Look at me, I didn't grow melon seeds this year; I grew sugar beets. As long as the sugar factory is there, they'll buy the beets. Even though it's cheap, at least they can be sold!"

"Then why didn't you grow sunflowers? Didn't those Li family people all grow sunflowers? You're a coward too!" Bai Yanjun didn't leave with his vinegar bottle; he glared at the man. "If you've got the guts, follow them and grow sunflowers! Let's see if you can sell them..."

"Hehe, Bai Qiuka, you don't know, do you? Those who grew sunflowers, including the team leader's family, all took them to the county today. Li Long contacted someone for them, and they sold them for 2 yuan per kilogram."

"2 yuan? That's still not as good as last year's 3.5 yuan for melon seeds!" Bai Yanjun hadn't expected his information to be outdated, but he still stubbornly said, "If melon seeds had last year's price, what would these sunflowers be worth?"

"Still thinking about last year's price? It's good enough to be able to sell them this year! At least they sold them, and growing sunflowers is much easier than growing melon seeds. Anyway, at least they sold them!"

Don't look at Bai Yanjun as being big and tall; no one was afraid of him, otherwise, they wouldn't have given him the name Bai Qiuka.

Bai Qiuka means someone who is nothing, can accomplish nothing, and is a waste of space.

Although Bai Yanjun was a bit angry, he didn't start a conflict and was still trying hard to argue.

Several more people arrived one after another and joined the discussion.

Generally speaking, everyone was very clear that if they couldn't find a place to sell their melon seeds this year, the whole year would have been in vain.

As for where to sell them, some suggested going to Beiting, some suggested Kuitun, and others simply said they should go to Wucheng.

But Old Zhang from the retail department asked, "Where will you go once you get there?"

One by one, they all stopped talking.

These people were fine at farming, but if you asked them to go out and find a path, they were clueless.

After going around in circles, many people thought of Li Long, but no one spoke up.

After all, the Li family had repeatedly advised them not to grow melon seeds in the first place. These people didn't know that Li Long and his group had actually already found a buyer and were currently preparing to collect a large amount of goods.

The next morning, those who came to the acquisition station to sell things saw an extra line of text on the blackboard at the entrance.

"Acquiring melon seeds: Premium grade 1.5 yuan, First grade 1 yuan, below First grade, not accepted."

"Eh? They've started buying melon seeds?" A sharp-eyed middleman saw it immediately.

Those who were illiterate hurriedly asked:

"How are they buying?"

The one who was literate read it out.

"This... it's really cheap. Will people sell them?" someone asked skeptically.

"Who cares? Just go to the countryside and ask, and you'll know. But is there any distinction between this 'Premium' and this 'First grade'?" someone asked.

"Why not go in and ask Old Gu and Little Sun?" Someone immediately stepped forward and said to those queuing in front, "I'm not cutting in line, I'm just asking a question... Old Gu, is there any distinction between these Premium melon seeds and the First grade ones?"

"Anything above First grade has no impurities. We don't take them if there are too many impurities." Gu Bo Yuan said while checking the leather he had just spread out, "As for Premium, it means the melon seeds are all flat, with no 'crooked' ones, you know? These are easier to crack."

"How is that possible!" someone immediately complained. "When you scoop out melon seeds, there are both flat ones and crooked ones. How can it be just flat ones and no crooked ones? Wouldn't it be exhausting to pick them out one by one?"

Gu Bo Yuan smiled and didn't respond.

Sun Jia Qiang wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn't.

He had nothing to do at the moment, so he poked his head out to look, scanned the area, but didn't see the person he wanted to see.

He didn't know if she would come today.

He hadn't felt it at first, but as time went on, there really was some attachment. When she didn't come, he thought about her, and when she did come, even if they didn't speak, just seeing her made him quite happy.

When Tie Jinbing brought his younger sister over again, it was already almost noon. They were here this time intending to sell a few copper basins; he didn't know where he had scrounged them up. Two of the copper basins were intact, but one had been dented and deformed.

Hearing people discussing the melon seed matter, Tie Jinbing, who had stopped at the entrance, immediately became interested, but after hearing the price, he shook his head.

"It's too low; there's no way to collect them at all. I heard they sold for over 3 yuan last year; how can we collect them for just over 1 yuan this year?" He expressed his point of view.

Others had different opinions, each with their own thoughts, but at this moment, everyone was a competitor, so it was hard to say who was speaking the truth.

Tie Lanhua carried the stacked copper basins to the counter, looked at Sun Jia Qiang and smiled, and she also came out with a smile on her face.

Gu Bo Yuan felt that this girl was quite good; regardless of how her family was, at least she was truly good to Sun Jia Qiang.

She had truly taken a liking to Sun Jia Qiang.

It was just that in such a family environment, it was really hard to say whether they could achieve a happy ending.

"Red copper, not bad." Gu Bo Yuan looked through the basins one by one and nodded, saying, "1.5 yuan per kilogram. Shall I weigh them?"

This was asking if Tie Lanhua wanted to sell at this price. "Weigh them." Tie Lanhua didn't look at her brother this time. She was the one who had found the items, so naturally, she was the one to decide the price.

Moreover, she could feel the goodwill Gu Bo Yuan was showing. She knew her own family's situation; every time she came here, the price given for the items was fair, much better than that acquisition station at the market.

After weighing them and receiving the money, Tie Lanhua clutched the banknotes, nodded at Sun Jia Qiang, and turned to walk out.

Tie Jinbing was chatting with the people in line about the melon seeds. Seeing Tie Lanhua come out, he naturally reached out his hand, and Tie Lanhua, used to it, handed over the banknotes in her hand.

"Go ask that Sun guy, can't the price of these melon seeds be raised a bit?" Tie Jinbing took the money and said casually, "What's the deal? With the price so low, how can we collect any?"

"If you want to ask, go ask yourself!" Tie Lanhua retorted and walked straight out of the courtyard. Tie Jinbing lost face after being spoken to like that by his sister; he hatefully wanted to chase after her to teach her a lesson, but Tie Lanhua had already walked far away.

As Tie Lanhua grew older, her abilities also grew. In fact, most of the things brought here to be sold these days were things Tie Lanhua had managed to get. Their father was vain and had no real ability, their mother was timid and weak, and Tie Jinbing and Tie Yinbing were all talk and no action. If the family wanted to live well, they had to rely on Tie Lanhua.

Although every time the money earned from the things Tie Lanhua collected was taken away by Tie Jinbing and handed over to their father, he didn't dare to actually teach Tie Lanhua a lesson.

It was mainly because he was afraid that if Tie Lanhua just threw up her hands and quit, the whole family would have to go back to living the bitter life they had before.

How could that work?

He still needed to find money from here to get himself a wife.

At noon, Gu Bo Yuan went to the courtyard to eat, and Tie Lanhua came to the acquisition station carrying a small basket.

Sun Jia Qiang was inside stir-frying vegetables; hearing movement, he came out with a spatula and saw Tie Lanhua.

"We're having flower rolls at home at noon, so I brought you a few." Tie Lanhua said naturally, "Are you stir-frying chili and eggs?"

"Yeah, our boss says eggs are the best way for ordinary families to get nutrition." Sun Jia Qiang repeated Li Long's words, "I'm just frying a few; it's mainly for convenience, since noon is such a short time. When I have time in the afternoon, I'll boil some bones or something..."

The reason he said this was mainly to show that he had the money to eat meat, just not the time.

Tie Lanhua smiled; she naturally understood Sun Jia Qiang's intentions. She placed the fragrant bean flower rolls on the plate by the stove, looked at the vegetables in the pot, and said:

"Hurry up and stir-fry, it's going to burn."

"Right, right." Sun Jia Qiang hurriedly went over to stir-fry.

"Brother Sun, can those melon seeds be collected? Is this price too cheap?"

"They can be collected." Sun Jia Qiang smiled and said, "Don't worry, the price of melon seeds has dropped now. Our boss said that many people grew melon seeds this year, but the roasted goods factories are buying very few, so many people can't sell them; they can't even sell them for a few cents, and no one is buying them. So we're collecting them here, saying...

we're providing a floor price. Of course, if they can sell them for a high price, that's up to them; we're just collecting the ones that can't be sold."

"Then how can I improve them to Premium grade?" Tie Lanhua wanted to do this. Small-scale tinkering was really troublesome and hard to make big money.

She just wanted to make a big profit to shut the mouths of her family members, and then she could seek her own happiness without any obstacles.

The things on the acquisition station's blackboard were written by Li Long. The price was very low, but he didn't feel guilty about it. It was essentially providing a floor for these people. If they could contact Bai Xiu Ming or Dong Zhi Chao directly, that would be fine, but it was highly probable that neither Bai Xiu Ming nor Dong Zhi Chao would want the melon seeds they brought.

Except for a few people in the Fourth Team, most people wouldn't press the melon seeds flat or clean out the impurities inside.

They felt that after farming for ten or twenty years, it was fine to just do it roughly. They felt it was troublesome, not worth the effort, and so on.

After putting up the notice, Li Long didn't pay much more attention to it. At the moment, the melon seeds had just started to be harvested, and he had heard that Wang Cai Mi had taken a step ahead and sent melon seeds to the Shicheng Roasted Goods Factory, and there were a few others who thought like him.

The result was that the roasted goods factory now had enough stock and was no longer buying.

His side was a case of "willing fish taking the bait."

According to Li Long's thinking, after this notice was posted, it would take at least three to five days to get a reaction, but he hadn't expected that that very afternoon, someone would pull a cart of melon seeds over.

Although Gu Bo Yuan had heard Li Long talk about melon seeds and roughly knew the standards, he felt it was better for Li Long to be here. Li Long himself had said that this collection should be fast in and fast out, not stockpiling, and should be processed in a timely manner.

When Sun Jia Qiang called Li Long over, that tractor full of melon seeds had already been told by Gu Bo Yuan to park in the backyard.

On one hand, people were queuing in the front yard to sell goods, so parking here was inconvenient; on the other hand, many people wanted to see how these melon seeds were being collected, and crowding around affected the normal business of the acquisition station.

What surprised Li Long was that the person who came to deliver the goods was an old middleman he knew, Fan Mingcheng.

This guy often rode a bicycle, running everywhere to collect things—bronze ware, old coins, cynomorium, fritillaria, licorice, and so on; as long as the acquisition station was buying, he would take it.

He had once brought a bag of cashmere to Li Long's place, which Li Long had accepted, and it was still sitting in the warehouse.

"Old Fan, you're doing well; you used to use a bicycle, and now you've got a tractor to deal in these melon seeds? Not bad, not bad, you've traded your bird gun for a cannon!" Li Long said with a smile.

"Where, where, it's just that I need to haul melon seeds, and a bicycle isn't convenient, so I thought I'd haul more in one trip." Fan Mingcheng explained with a smile.

"Then I'll say the ugly words first: if the quality isn't good, I won't take them here." Friendship is friendship, business is business. Li Long pointed to the bags and said, "I have standards posted outside; I have to take a look at yours."

"Fine, it's best if you can take them; if you can't, give me some advice on how to adjust, and I'll hurry back to fix it, then bring them back."

Making money means you can't be afraid of trouble; Fan Mingcheng had this awareness.

He climbed onto the tractor bed, and Li Long pointed to a bag at random. Fan Mingcheng came over and untied the bag mouth to show Li Long.

Li Long grabbed a handful at random, took a look, shook his head, and said:

"Old Fan, you collected these from the farmers and didn't do anything with them, right? There are quite a few shriveled seeds here! Did you harvest them before they were ripe?"

"Haha, you saw through it? Let me tell you, this person heard that someone had gone to the Shicheng Roasted Goods Factory early to sell melon seeds, so they harvested early too, but after drying them and going there, the factory wouldn't take them..."

"Wait for me to look further down." Li Long reached out and stuck his hand directly into the bottom of the bag to grab a handful. He thought he should have brought a probe to look, but looking at the stuff in his hand right now, forget it.

"Too much dirt." Li Long stopped looking at the other bags and said, "One thing is to winnow out the shriveled seeds, and the second is to properly screen out the broken stones and dirt clods inside. Otherwise, don't talk about First grade or above; you can't even be rated as Second grade.

These melon seeds are for people to put in their mouths after being processed and roasted. It's one thing if you have shriveled seeds, but what if someone cracks a stone and breaks a tooth? Whose fault is that? It ruins the reputation!"

Fan Mingcheng actually had an expectation of this; he wasn't annoyed and said with a smile, "If I get them cleaned up, what grade will they be?"

"At most, First grade."

"Then how do I get Premium grade?" Fan Mingcheng naturally wanted to make more money.

"Premium grade means there are no crooked melon seeds; they are all flat, and only those that are easy to crack into the mouth can be Premium grade." Li Long said, "And there must be no impurities at all. Go back and screen them more; as for how to get them flat, that's not my business."

Fan Mingcheng listened carefully to Li Long's words and even asked about some details, including what kind of sieve to use when screening.

After asking, he drove the tractor away. People in the front yard watched him haul a tractor full of melon seeds away again, and some laughed at him. Fan Mingcheng wasn't annoyed; while driving the tractor, he said:

"What else can I do if the quality isn't up to standard? Since they won't take them, I can only go back and fix them up properly. Let's see tomorrow."

The next day, Fan Mingcheng came again. Clearly, he had properly sorted out the more than one ton of melon seeds in the tractor bed as soon as he got back that day, and he was full of confidence when he came this time.

However, before he arrived, someone else had already pulled melon seeds over.

This was also an old middleman; he didn't have Fan Mingcheng's strength and had simply ridden a bicycle carrying two sacks of melon seeds.

When Fan Mingcheng drove the tractor to the backyard, Li Long was looking at those two sacks of melon seeds. A large iron sieve was placed in the middle of the courtyard, and the melon seeds were poured onto it. With a quick sweep of the hand, the condition of the seeds was clear.

"Brother, your melon seeds are quite clean." Li Long said with a smile, "Hmm, rating them as First grade is no problem."

This brother was also a bit surprised. He had collected two sacks of melon seeds and had properly screened and cleaned them at home; why couldn't they be rated as Premium grade?

"Premium grade has to be like this." Li Long knew that more people would definitely ask how to get Premium grade, so he specifically brought a bag of melon seeds for this brother to see.

Fan Mingcheng also hurriedly got off the vehicle to look. That bag of melon seeds was clearly black and white, and most importantly, as Li Long said, there wasn't a single crooked one.

"Only with goods like this can people give a high price." Li Long said, "As long as they are like this, I will definitely rate them as Premium grade for you."

It's not easy.

Fan Mingcheng and that brother looked at each other and both understood: this is really not easy! (End of chapter)