Chapter 936

After collecting the money and weighing the goods, Yusufu sent off two customers who had come to buy raisins with a smile. He put the money into the box and said to Li Long with emotion:

"It's been years, and you're still so young, with no changes. Looking at you, I'm very envious!"

Indeed, Yusufu's face clearly had more signs of weathering than the last time they met. Li Long wondered, was this the price of struggling for a living?

"How much money can you make selling two kilograms of raisins?" Li Long changed the subject and asked.

"I can make about two or three mao per kilogram." Yusufu pointed to the other stalls nearby and said: "The competition is very fierce. Everyone is selling similar things. Although many people come, once it's divided up like this, I can only sell a dozen kilograms a day, or a few dozen kilograms when it's busy, earning a stable income."

Li Long felt that Yusufu still had quite a good business mind. He asked: "Not going out anymore?"

"Not going, not going." Yusufu shook his head and said, "I've traveled both north and south. The furthest south I've been is Yangcheng; people there like raisins. The furthest north I've been is Yanjing; people there like them too. It's just that the goods I can haul are too few, and I can't earn much money. Being in a strange place, some people bully you... If you don't protect the money you earn with a knife, it gets stolen or robbed... Better to come back. Earning money here, although not much, is safe."

Li Long couldn't help but want to laugh when he heard this. In a few years, when outsiders saw people like them, the first thing they would think of was that it was unsafe, especially those little rascals—of course, these things were also caused by those big thieves tricking the little rascals into doing such things in other places.

The real locals, especially the Uyghurs in South Xinjiang, also hated such things very much. In their uncorrupted doctrines, such behavior called for chopping off hands.

Li Long had once read a description of this in "Angry Bullets," written by the originator of military web novels, Saber. Unlike Fatty Liu, who wrote romance novels under the guise of military fiction, the bald Saber himself was a former special forces soldier from South Xinjiang who had participated in battles to suppress enemy agents who had infiltrated the country—the reason Li Long had read this was mainly because it described South Xinjiang.

So, regarding Yusufu's worry about safety, Li Long really wanted to laugh.

However, he was quite clear about the fact that people in the interior liked raisins now. After all, before taking over the state federation's melon seed business, the person who could sell the supplies from the supply and marketing cooperative to the interior was reselling raisins.

"Then why don't you do it on a larger scale? Get a train car full of raisins and haul them over; you could earn quite a bit at once, right?" Li Long asked.

"Sigh, I can't get a train car." Yusufu shook his head, "Not only can I not get a train car, but I also don't have that much money. The precious piece of jade I had was sold to you, but later... I didn't earn the money back either."

"Not reselling jade anymore in the future?" Li Long asked.

Although the price of jade was rising, it wasn't rising fast. It wouldn't really speed up for another ten years or so; at that time, the price of jade would skyrocket, but it would be a bit late to collect jade then.

Although he already had quite a lot of seed jade in his cellar, he thought that the more he could collect, the better.

"Not collecting anymore." Yusufu shook his head, "There are too many people going to collect jade, and going back and forth is too exhausting. Selling raisins here, there are places that deliver specifically, and reselling is easier, and the money earned is even more than that."

Li Long nodded, that was true. Bringing jade seed material from the Yurungkash River to Wucheng required traveling at least over a thousand kilometers. At this time, there were only highways, no railways, and if slow, it would take a week.

Half a month back and forth, the money earned really wasn't as good as selling raisins here. Before the New Year, many people working in North and South Xinjiang wanted to bring back specialties when going home. Things like raisins and dates were cheap and popular when taken back, so many people came here to buy some before leaving.

"Actually, it's not just raisins that are popular in the interior; our mutton here is also good." It was rare for Yusufu to have someone to talk to, and since no one was coming over, he continued: "I've eaten mutton in the interior a few times, and to be honest, the mutton there really doesn't taste good..."

Li Long's heart stirred; this was actually a good job. He could completely sell his own mutton to the interior—well, transportation was a big problem, and he couldn't get a train car either.

Or he could try to find Director Qian, but that would make it too big, and it would require people running back and forth. Forget it, forget it, let's not do this.

With this effort, it would be better to regularly mail some raisins, walnuts, etc., to Gu Xiao Yu; after the price difference between the two places covered the postage, he could still earn quite a bit.

However, it was impossible for Gu Xiao Yu to do this; she should just honestly be a university teaching assistant.

After chatting with Yusufu for a while, Li Long saw that the time was about right, so he asked:

"How do you eat at noon?"

"We look after each other's stalls." Yusufu pointed to a Uyghur man about fifty years old nearby and said: "I help him watch his stall when he goes to eat, and he helps me watch mine when he comes back. Sometimes business is good at noon, so I don't go to eat, just gnaw on a naan in front of the stall."

"Then let's go, I'll treat you to some mixed noodles." Li Long said, "Ask him to help you watch the stall. It's been so long since we've met, I still want to have a good chat with you."

"Good, good." Yusufu smiled, "Then I won't be polite with you. I know you earn more money; my business isn't good, so I won't act generous today."

"Haha, we don't need to. Just for the fact that you sold me that piece of seed jade last time, I should treat you to a meal." Li Long said, "Let's go."

Yusufu said something in Uyghur to the person at the stall next to him, put the money box into a cloth bag, like a wallet, and followed Li Long while carrying it on his back.

However, they didn't walk far before he pointed to a small shop run by Uyghurs and said to Li Long: "Let's eat at their place. Mixed noodles are cheap and have a lot of meat."

"Good." Li Long naturally had no objections.

The two entered the room. Yusufu greeted the shop owner, and the owner wearing a white hat greeted the two with a smile and asked them to sit down. After pouring tea, Li Long said:

"Two orders of mixed noodles with oily meat, and make two extra portions of noodles first."

The owner smiled, nodded, and then left.

"Are you still collecting jade on this trip?" Yusufu only then remembered to ask about Li Long's situation.

"No, I came to buy tickets, planning to go to the interior." Li Long said, "I have relatives there, and I want to go over and see them."

"Traveling by car now is not good." Yusufu shook his head, "The hard seats are packed full, the aisles are full of people, and it's very difficult if you want to go to the bathroom. When I came back last time, there were a few girls in the carriage who couldn't go to the bathroom because they couldn't squeeze through, and they were crying loudly..."

"We bought sleeper tickets, it should be a bit better." Li Long nodded and said, "It's more spacious there."

"Hmm, that's good, but you have to be careful of thieves. Along the way, there are several places where there are many thieves, and also, don't open the window when the train isn't stopped at a station, some people will climb up..."

Yusufu had traveled by train many times, and he told Li Long all his experiences and lessons.

Some Li Long knew, some Li Long didn't—for example, Li Long didn't quite believe what Yusufu had heard about using crows to pass off as roast chicken; could that thing pass for it? Crows are black, right?

As for being careful about people selling things outside not giving the goods after taking the money during temporary stops, he had heard of that.

After the mixed noodles were served, the two ate and talked. Yusufu said he had basically decided to stay in Wucheng. After this New Year ended and he had earned some money, he would buy a small courtyard in the suburbs, bring his wife and children over from Hotan, and that would count as living a city life.

"You don't know, it's too bitter and backward over there. If I hadn't experienced the situation here, living there would just be living there, but now that I've experienced it, I feel I still have to bring my family over and live a better life."

Since Yusufu said this, Li Long also advised him:

"In that case, let me tell you, when you go back to pick them up, buy some seed material and keep it. According to my thinking, these seed materials will definitely rise in price in the future. Keep them and don't sell them; the price is too low now. Wait a few years, and when the price rises, you can sell them for a big price."

"Is that true or false?" Yusufu didn't quite believe it.

"It's definitely true. Think about it, mountain material is in the mountains, the Kunlun Mountains are so big, you can still find it, but seed material? How long has the Yurungkash River been dredged? How many years does it take for mountain material to roll down the mountain into the river to become seed material? Will there be less and less in the future? Less and less definitely means more and more expensive..."

At this time, no one wanted the jade material on the Gobi Desert. Who could have imagined that twenty or thirty years later, a small piece of material from the South Xinjiang Gobi Desert could sell for tens of thousands?

Li Long had gotten many good materials from Yusufu, so this well-intentioned reminder was also a repayment.

Yusufu thought that what Li Long said was right.

He himself had a few good pieces of material at home. Since Li Long said so, he naturally planned to save more.

Anyway, back in his hometown, this material was still very cheap.

It didn't have to be the best; ordinary ones would do too.

After eating, Li Long parted ways with Yusufu and drove back.

Watching Li Long leave in his jeep, Yusufu felt emotional. At the beginning, this young man and he were both going to Wucheng to sell jade. At that time, the jade this young man sold wasn't as good as his, and his family wealth wasn't as much as his either.

But in the blink of an eye, a few years had passed, and now the other person was driving a small car, while he himself was doing worse and worse than before.

He was both moved that Li Long hadn't forgotten him, an old friend, and a bit envious of Li Long's development. He thought it would be better to listen to Li Long's words; when business was slow during this period, he would go back and collect some jade.

It was still afternoon when Li Long drove back to the county, and he went straight to the Fourth Team.

The Li family was quite noisy at this time. Lu Lu Dasao was in the Li family's west room, digging for gossip.

Li Juan was a bit better, steady, and didn't talk much about things outside. Li Qiang couldn't hide things; after confirming he could go to Tiananmen, he immediately ran to share it with his little friends—which was actually just showing off.

People in the team soon found out, and Lu Lu Dasao ran over to ask about the situation.

"I'm not going." Liang Yuemei shook her head, "Juan's father is taking the children over, saying that anyway, there isn't much to do in winter, and Without Xiao Long is taking them to see Tiananmen."

"Really..." Lu Lu Dasao said with emotion, "Tiananmen... that's far."

Her family had also earned some money, but with money, the thing they thought about most was improving their family's life, and they hadn't thought about going anywhere to play.

"Hey, this is Without Xiao Long's idea. He said it takes three or four days by train to get there." Liang Yuemei said, "He said that since we've earned money, we should go out and look around. People like us are just like this, but children are different; seeing more of the world, they can get into a good school later and work in a big city, which is better than us."

The reason Liang Yuemei agreed to let them go was that Li Long's words had moved her. Her generation was just like this, but now that life was good, she wanted to let the children go to higher places, and eating commodity grain in the city later would definitely be better than being in the village.

Not going to the county, but to the state or even Wucheng—this really moved her.

After Li Long arrived, Lu Lu Dasao asked him directly: "Without Xiao Long, you said you're going to Yanjing, when are you leaving?"

Li Long took out the tickets and looked at them, saying: "Leaving the day after tomorrow."

The tickets were already bought, so this was definitely confirmed.

Lu Lu Dasao left with emotion, and then the news that the Li family had already bought tickets spread throughout the village.

"Going to Yanjing..." This time, almost no one sang a different tune.

They were going to Yanjing, taking the children to see Tiananmen and see what Yanjing's universities looked like; there was really no way to criticize this. In the Fourth Team, regardless of family conditions, everyone attached great importance to children's education. Of course, this importance meant letting them go to school; as long as they could go, they would definitely provide for it.

This included the Hui people as well—the situation in Tie Lanhua's family didn't exist in the Fourth Team. There were also Hui people in the team, and their families were poor, but to scrape together enough for their children's tuition and book fees, they cut down the big trees in their own gardens and sold them.

Yang wood wasn't very straight, and because it was just one log, it wasn't made into boards, so no one in the team wanted it—with money, everyone thought about going into the mountains to get some good wood to make furniture.

In the end, the wood was bought back by Li Jianguo and placed outside the courtyard, as a good deed.

And since then, this family would occasionally send some milk to the Li family—milk from local cows, not dairy cows; when they were lactating, they would squeeze out two or three kilograms a day, and they would send more than a kilogram to the Li family.

So regarding education, every family in the Fourth Team attached importance to it.

Because of this, knowing that the Li family was letting their children go out to see the world and see Tiananmen, most people gave a thumbs up, even people like Ma Jinbao would praise them behind their backs.

Some people ran to the Li family to ask about the price of train tickets to Yanjing, not knowing if they were tempted.

Thus, Li Juan and Li Qiang became the objects of envy for all the children in the team.

Before, they envied them because of their living conditions, but now they envied them because the Li family was willing to make such a trip specifically for the children—actually, Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei both explained that it wasn't specifically for this trip, as Li Long had relatives there, and they were just going over to visit, which was a convenient thing to do.

But in the eyes of the people in the team, it was actually a special thing.

People in the team didn't know about Gu Xiao Yu's matter; both the Gu family and the Li family wanted to keep this matter secret and not talk about it in the team.

After all, Gu Bo Yuan thought he would still be in the village in the future, and he didn't want to hear that gossip.

Li Long only told his eldest brother about the tickets and the itinerary before being called away by Old Uncle Luo.

About the sheep.

The sheep bought in the autumn were already quite fat and could be sold.

When Song Ming brought sugar dregs over two days ago, he had mentioned this matter, saying their Section Chief Hu was still asking about the sheep. At that time, Old Luo thought there was still some time before the New Year, so he didn't specifically look for Li Long.

Now hearing that Li Long was going to Yanjing, and knowing this matter couldn't wait, he quickly ran over to find Li Long.

Li Long thought to himself, how did these things all get piled together?

But it couldn't be left unprocessed. He thought for a moment and said to Old Uncle Luo:

"Old Uncle Luo, don't be anxious, I'll handle this matter. But you might need to be busy for the next few days."

"That's fine, staying in the room playing cards and drinking every day, we were just waiting for this busyness." Old Uncle Luo smiled, "Our old arms and legs can still move around, just tell us what work there is, otherwise, we'd be embarrassed to take wages."

"I'll go tell Daqiang, Brother Xie Yun Dong, and the others in a while, and we'll start slaughtering sheep and cattle from tomorrow. You slaughter and process them, and I'll go to the sugar factory tomorrow to ask how many they need, and we'll talk about the specifics after I come back.

You probably also know that I'm going to Yanjing in a few days, so if people from the team or other places want sheep later, you handle it. If the quantity is small, you all can be busy for a while yourselves. If the quantity is large, go call Daqiang and Brother Xie Yun Dong and the others; I'll tell them, as long as you call, they'll come over to help."

"Hey, that's fine." With Li Long's words, Old Uncle Luo was relieved.

After he went back, Li Long drove the car to find Xie Yun Dong.

Xie Yun Dong was roasting small salted fish in his own room. Hearing the car, he pushed open the door, and seeing Li Long get out of the car, he invited Li Long into the room.

"You're going to Yanjing? Hey, that's a rare thing." Xie Yun Dong said with a smile, "You'll have to tell us all about it when you come back."

"No problem, I'll pave the way, and after I come back, you all can actually go see it too." Li Long took the dried salted fish handed over by Xie Yun Dong, and while breaking it and stuffing it into his mouth, he said: "It's good to go out and see the world."

"Exactly, I never thought about this before, but now that you're doing this, I suddenly think that actually, going once is just going once, it's not like I can't afford the money; I just never thought about it before."

It was indeed like this. With the wealth of Xie Yun Dong's group, going to Yanjing really wasn't much. Train tickets really weren't a big expense for them. As for accommodation and food, that was even less. It was just that they were used to living in such a big place, and for ordinary people, going out, especially to such a far place, was really a very big challenge.

"Brother Xie Yun Dong, I came here to ask for your help." Li Long finished eating the salted fish, clapped his hands, and refused another fish handed over by Xie Yun Dong, saying, "Things have all piled up together."

"Is it about the cattle and sheep in the old horse corral?" Xie Yun Dong asked, "You bought so many cattle and sheep this year, it's time to slaughter them."

Li Long felt a bit ashamed and said with a smile: "Yes, the sugar factory wants cattle and sheep, and it just happened that I bought the tickets, so you all have to help with this."

"That's no problem." Xie Yun Dong said, "It's just lending a hand, anyway, we're idle in winter."

"I'll tell Daqiang and the others in a while, and you all can be busy together then. I'll go to the sugar factory tomorrow to confirm the quantity and tell you when I come back. The sugar factory's order might need you to be busy for a few days, and if there's more later, we'll see about Old Uncle Luo. If it's a small amount, Old Uncle Luo and the others can handle it themselves; if it's a large amount, they'll call you."

"Fine, no problem." Xie Yun Dong readily agreed to this matter.

Because he still had to notify others, Li Long didn't stay long at Xie Yun Dong's place and drove away.

He told Tao Daqiang, the three Liang brothers, Jia Weidong, and others.

Seeing that it wasn't early, Li Long drove back to the large courtyard and told everyone in the family about the tickets.

"Everything at home is packed and ready." Gu Xiaoxia said, "We can leave at any time."

Li Long himself also needed to pack a bit. He thought about bringing more money on this trip, as well as the US dollars he brought back from the mountains last time; those were hard to spend here, but if he brought them there, he should be able to spend them, right?

He also planned to bring a few pieces of jade seed material to see if anyone would buy them at a high price after arriving there.

Of course, these were all small matters; buying a house, seeing Tiananmen, and seeing universities—these were the real important things.

Of course, for now, he still had to handle tomorrow's matters well; going to the sugar factory was also very important. (End of chapter)