Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1241 It feels so good to mentor newcomers

After unloading the coal, Li Long felt it was about time. He settled the bills with the workers, laborers, and drivers who had come to unload the coal. After they left, Li Long looked at Xiao Liu.

Xiao Liu was also exhausted and covered in sweat, but he had something he wanted to achieve, so he didn't complain. He picked up a large broom and started sweeping up the fallen coal dust.

"Alright, alright, I'll take care of this." Li Long stopped him and asked:
"Here you go, you've had a long day. Let me calculate your pay and I'll treat you to a meal later."

"No, no, no, no need," Xiao Liu hurriedly waved his hand.

"So what do you want?" Li Long glared at him and said, "My relative will never date you, so give up on that idea!"

"No, no, no!" Xiao Liu waved his hand again. "Big brother, I... I want to do a business deal with you!"

"Do business? What kind of business?" Li Long was a little surprised. "You don't have to go through all this trouble to do business, do you? Just tell me directly. Besides, what kind of business can we possibly be doing?"

"Um... raisins, I'd like to buy some raisins from you and resell them."

"How much are you buying?" Li Long thought to himself that this wasn't a big deal, "Retail or wholesale?"

"Retail? I don't have the capital for wholesale..." Xiao Liu smiled wryly. "The holiday is coming soon, and I was thinking of getting some over here. Everyone will definitely want to buy some before the New Year."

“That’s a good idea.” Li Long nodded, then asked, “How many do you want? If it’s a lot, I can give you a wholesale price; if it’s a small amount, you’ll have to add the shipping cost.”

"I...I don't have much money myself." Xiao Liu shook his head. "Could you give me ten kilograms on credit? How much is one kilogram?"

"So you really don't have much money?" Li Long laughed angrily. "Ten kilograms on credit... well, that's not impossible."

Today, the wages for this job, plus the cost of the tricycle, should be less than ten yuan.

"Really? Thank you so much!" Xiao Liu immediately clasped his hands in gratitude as soon as he heard there was a chance.

"Alright, alright, come on, let's tidy up first, go wash up in the bathroom, and then we'll go out for dinner. It's on me," Li Long said.

At first, Xiao Liu didn't leave a good impression on Li Long; he seemed a bit of a scoundrel. But he worked hard, knew how to make money, and was quite quick-witted. Li Long wanted to observe him further; if he was a good person, he wouldn't mind giving him a hand.

"Okay." Xiao Liu didn't argue, but he still took the big broom and swept the coal cinders in the yard clean before washing his hands.

After washing up, he also cleaned out the coal ash from the tricycle, and then went out with Li Long.

"Mr. Li, you're really amazing, three courtyards..."

"From my workplace," Li Long replied.

“I don’t think so,” Xiao Liu said boldly. “It feels like this courtyard belongs to you, even though it’s registered under your workplace… It looks like it’s for someone to live in. Actually, there are quite a few courtyards like this in Yanjing.”

Li Long didn't reply. The two of them went back to the largest courtyard together. Just as they reached the alley entrance, they heard someone cursing inside:

"Who shameless person kicked my tricycle away? Isn't that cheating me? I'm about to survive, what am I supposed to do without a vehicle?"

Li Long glanced at Xiao Liu, who then gave an embarrassed look.

Li Long thought for a moment, then took out five yuan and handed it over:
"Hurry up and return it to them. I'll wait for you in my yard."

Xiao Liu took the money somewhat embarrassedly and quickly pushed the tricycle into the yard.

Li Long opened his courtyard gate and went inside. He took a large broom and swept away the coal ash, then shoveled some more coal to rekindle the fire in the stove.

He could hear Xiao Liu apologizing to someone in the courtyard. While it wasn't exactly groveling, it was certainly sincere. The other person only stopped cursing after Xiao Liu gave him five yuan. Instead, they started scolding Xiao Liu, telling him to stop causing trouble and find a job, even if it was just to come with them on a paragliding tricycle.

Xiao Liu didn't refute it. After listening for a while, he waited for the tricycle driver to leave, told his family, and then left the yard and came to Li Long's side.

Li Long didn't close the courtyard gate. When Xiao Liu came in, he saw Li Long smashing coal and went over to help.

"Don't hold your hands, I'll be done in a bit. Once I'm done, we'll go out for dinner. You can think about what to eat tonight."

"How about some Zhajiangmian (noodles with soybean paste)? I know a place there, it's an old shop, and the taste is really good," Xiao Liu said, not being greedy.

After smashing a few pieces of coal, Li Long shoveled some of the broken pieces over to weigh down the stove, then came out and went out of the yard with Xiao Liu, locked the door, and walked outside.

Sure enough, it wasn't far. Although it wasn't dinner time yet, the noodle shop already had customers.

Li Long had originally planned to treat Xiao Liu to a meal, but after seeing what Xiao Liu would order, he ordered noodles with soybean paste, which immediately improved the impression of the situation.

When the noodles were served and the sauce was added, Li Long asked Xiao Liu as they were being mixed together:
What's your full name?

"Meng Yuchao," Xiao Liu said while eating noodles, "I'm the sixth child in my family, so the neighbors call me Xiao Liu."

"Judging from your age, are you a former educated youth who returned from the countryside?" Li Long asked again.

"Well, I haven't been assigned a job since I came back. My dad can cover my shift, but I don't want to work in the factory. The factory isn't doing well either, so I was thinking of starting my own business, but I don't have the capital..."

Xiao Liu felt a little ashamed and said softly while eating, "I've done some small business with others, but it was just enough to make a living. There are some jobs we can't do, and some jobs that could make money, but they won't let us do them."

Li Long smiled. This was normal; the competition in Yanjing was probably fiercer.

"You just gave me five yuan, and those raisins..." Meng Yuchao asked somewhat nervously.

"How do you plan to sell them?" Li Long asked. "You don't have a tricycle, you can't just carry a bag around to sell them, can you?"

"I plan to buy them and then wholesale them to those who sell snacks from pushcarts. After I get paid, I'll buy more and resell them." Meng Yuchao became slightly more confident when talking about his sales method. "This way, although the profit per pound will be thinner, the return on investment will be faster."

"Have you thought about it? It takes at least ten days to ship from the northern border to here. You can only wait for those ten days. The payment is fast, but won't ten days be wasted?" Li Long asked while eating.

Although he now handles deals worth tens of thousands of dollars, Meng Yuchao's scheming reminded him of his own experience selling fish back in the day.

However, it's clear that Meng Yuchao, Xiao Liu, is currently a bit too ambitious and doesn't really want to work hard in a down-to-earth manner.

That's probably why he hasn't made any money in the years since he came back.

Li Long asked while eating his noodles:
"Have you ever thought about setting up your own stall to sell raisins? Is it because you think it's too slow to make money, or because you feel it's embarrassing?"

Meng Yuchao fell silent.

Li Long laughed, probably because of the latter reason more.

"I think you should be able to feel by now that being broke is more painful than losing face, right?"

Meng Yuchao thought for a moment and nodded.

"If you want to make money, before you find a legal shortcut, you should swallow your pride and earn small amounts honestly. I can send you ten or even twenty kilograms of raisins."

You can either sell it directly to a vendor, or you can try carrying five kilograms yourself and selling it at places like cinemas, cultural centers, vegetable markets, or squares.

If you don't have a scale, just use those little triangular pieces of newspaper folded up, sell them for a penny or two per paper cup, like you'd sell sunflower seeds. You think someone'd buy them.

“Someone will definitely buy it…” Meng Yuchao said without hesitation.

"Do the math. A paper cup costs one cent, and each cup weighs about fifty grams. Even if we say a kilogram contains twenty cups, that's two dollars a kilogram. So, you can only make less than a dollar a kilogram..."

"How could it be one cent a cup? It should be at least two cents!" Meng Yuchao said excitedly. "Sunflower seeds cost one cent, and there's a large cup for one and a half cents, and this is raisins! Two cents a cup, twenty cups a kilogram, that's four dollars. So you can make three dollars a kilogram, and ten kilograms would be thirty... thirty dollars!"

"You can sell ten kilograms a day?" Li Long thought it was a bit far-fetched.

“They sell more than a basket of sunflower seeds a day. I saw that when the movie theaters were open, they couldn’t even sell enough sunflower seeds…” Meng Yuchao’s eyes were full of stars. “As long as it’s a weekend, preferably with a good movie, a romance or an action movie, ten kilograms is not enough to sell!”

Even in Beijing in 1988, a worker's salary was only a little over a hundred yuan, right? Thirty yuan a day, I wouldn't trade it for a factory manager!
"So do you still think you should wholesale? I'll send you ten kilograms; you can sell them all in just one weekend. How much profit do you make wholesale, and how much profit do you make selling them yourself?" Li Long finished the last bite of his noodles, put down his bowl, and asked.

Meng Yuchao was stunned. Yes, retail is so much more profitable!

He just hadn't thought of selling them this way before. Nowadays, people buy raisins at department stores, and even if there are retail stores, they sell them by the kilogram from carts.

Where else can you sell snacks like Li Long does?

Raisins were a "luxury" for people in Yanjing. Housewives would use a few to garnish sweet rice or to make zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival. If they could eat them as a snack, their living conditions were relatively good.

Thinking that he could earn thirty yuan at a time, Meng Yuchao picked up a large ball of dough with his chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it heartily.

Forget about saving face! Apart from the time when I returned from being a sent-down youth, I never had more than ten yuan in my pocket.
Thirty yuan can do a lot of things!

Seeing the change in Meng Yuchao's expression, Li Long smiled. He felt like he was training a newbie. He had been self-taught (no, of course he had cheated), and when he saw others struggling, he couldn't help but want to help them understand. The feeling of satisfaction was truly extraordinary.

"Alright, take your time to think it over. If you figure it out, come over and tell me."

Li Long stood up and walked out. He had already paid the money, and he planned to go back and tidy up the coal shed.

"No need to think about it, I'll take it! I'll make it myself!" Meng Yuchao shoveled the noodles into his mouth in a few bites, chewed as he ran to catch up with Li Long, and shouted after swallowing the noodles in his mouth.

"Really? Okay. Give me your address, I'll make a call now and send you twenty kilograms of raisins. Consider it payment for your help with the coal. From now on, we'll do business strictly."

"Thank you so much!"

"Don't you feel ashamed?"

"Compared to thirty yuan a day, what's a little shame? Besides, none of those middlemen feel ashamed..."

"You feel ashamed because you think selling raisins is not as good as selling clothes and shoes, right?" Li Long exposed him mercilessly.

"Hehe, the main thing is that we can sell to cinemas in other districts." Meng Yuchao didn't feel ashamed at all, and said, "Making money, when you have more money, you have more face."

Li Long and Meng Yuchao went to the post office together. He called the purchasing station, and Liang Shuangcheng answered the phone. Li Long asked Liang Shuangcheng to buy 20 kilograms of raisins and send them over when he had time the next day.

He left his address with Liang Shuangcheng, then asked a few more questions. Hearing that his father, Li Qingxia, was talking to someone about the quality of the leather, he didn't say much and hung up the phone.

"Comrade Li Long, you're a leader, aren't you?" Meng Yuchao asked tentatively as they walked back. "I overheard you giving that person a call, and your tone was so natural, like you were giving orders..."

"Hmm," Li Long replied indifferently. "By the way, I have a little over a kilogram of raisins left. Would you like to go and try some in the next couple of days?"

"Will it work? That's great!" Meng Yuchao was already impatient to try it out, having been thinking that the mailing time was too long. He immediately added after saying that:

"I'll pay you back as soon as I make a profit from selling this!"

Li Long didn't answer, but led him back to the courtyard.

The gate to the courtyard was open. Li Long entered and saw Gu Xiaoyu tidying up the coal shed. He greeted her and then went to get more than a kilogram of raisins to give to Meng Yuchao.

Normally, when Meng Yuchao saw Gu Xiaoyu, he would try to stay a little longer, but today he didn't have that thought. After getting the raisins, he hurriedly went back. He had to quickly find some newspapers and fold some paper cups.

“You weren’t here just now, and an old lady from the neighborhood came over. She said her surname was Liu, you know her,” Gu Xiaoyu said while tidying up the coal shed. “She said she needed to talk to you, but since you weren’t here, she left and said she’d come back tomorrow.”

"What could they possibly be up to?" Li Long was somewhat surprised. He went over and helped Gu Xiaoyu tidy up the coal shed, explaining his situation with Meng Yuchao as they worked.

"You're quite kind," Gu Xiaoyu commented.

“It’s not entirely out of kindness.” Li Long waved his hand. “Someone’s eyeing this courtyard. It’s not good for a young lady to come and visit occasionally. I was thinking of giving Meng Yuchao a heads-up. His house is nearby, so he should keep an eye on this place when he has nothing else to do.”

Xiao Wang would come over too, but he had family matters to attend to and didn't come often. That small amount of friendship wasn't enough to encourage him to come regularly.

So you still need to find a reliable person.

Of course, whether Meng Yuchao is reliable or not remains to be seen. Right now, it's just an evaluation phase, a temporary move.

Gu Xiaoyu lowered her head and remained silent, not expecting Li Long to have thought so far ahead.

After the coal shed was quickly tidied up, Li Long remembered to ask Gu Xiaoyu if she had eaten.

"No, I just came over to ask what you wanted to eat. I was planning to invite you out to eat, but you weren't here. I noticed the coal shed was a bit messy, so I tidied it up..."

"Then I'll treat you to a meal," Li Long said apologetically.

"No need. After I finish cleaning up, I'll feel less hungry. I'll just make myself a pack of instant noodles when I get back."

"Instant noodles are available now?" Li Long asked, somewhat puzzled.

The instant noodles in his mind will take a long time to appear, right?

"Yes, it's been two or three years, hasn't it?" Gu Xiaoyu didn't realize the loophole in Li Long's words. "It's fine for a quick fix. Just soak it in boiling water, it's more convenient than noodles."

Li Long realized that instant noodles did exist at this time, but the seasoning packets were very simple, usually just a small packet, and they didn't taste as good as they would in later years; they were just for temporarily filling one's stomach.

Li Long escorted Gu Xiaoyu to the main road outside the alley, watched her slowly walk back, and then turned and went back into the courtyard himself.

Because of the heating, the rooms quickly warmed up. Although this used up a lot of coal, it was excellent at drying out dampness. Li Long opened a few rooms and found that there was no longer much musty smell.

He walked around, opened some of the room doors to let the smell dissipate, and half an hour later, when it got dark, he closed all the doors, then shoveled some coal into the stove and prepared to rest.

The next day, too lazy to make breakfast, I went out to eat. After eating, I strolled back and happened to run into Uncle Song coming out. I greeted him. We passed each other, but Uncle Song hesitated for a moment, then turned around and asked:
"Xiao Li, I want to ask you something."

"What is it?" Li Long stopped and turned around to say.

"Do you have any raisins left? If you do, I'll buy some for the kids at home as a snack." Uncle Song said a little embarrassedly.

"Oh, there's still a little left. I'll bring it over to you later." Li Long didn't give it all to Meng Yuchao yesterday. Gu Xiaoyu and Director Dai don't need any, and Li Long sends them some from time to time. Keeping a little is purely for backup. If he's leaving and hasn't finished eating, he'll leave it here, either for Gu Xiaoyu or Meng Yuchao.

"I'll buy it, I'll buy it. I'd feel bad taking yours, your raisins aren't cheap, they look really nice." Uncle Song smiled as soon as he heard there were any, and followed Li Long into the yard, praising them as they went.

On my way back, I ran into Meng Yuchao, who was carrying a military green satchel and walking hurriedly out. His face was completely covered by a scarf, so you wouldn't recognize him if you weren't a close friend.

"Xiao Liu, where are you rushing off to?" Uncle Song, being a kind-hearted man, asked habitually.

"Get it done, get it done," Meng Yuchao replied, smiled at Li Long, and then hurriedly left.

Li Long guessed that he probably went to sell raisins as a trial run.

Hmm, not bad. He's a man of action when it comes to getting things done. I hope he can stick to it.

After entering the courtyard, Li Long gave the last half-kilogram of raisins to Uncle Song. Uncle Song offered to pay him, but Li Long refused, saying:

"It's not much, it's not worth paying for, just give it to the kids."

"Thank you so much!" Uncle Song said a little embarrassedly, and left with the raisins.

No sooner had he left than Aunt Liu came looking for Li Long with the task entrusted to her by everyone.

Aunt Liu bumped into Uncle Song outside. Uncle Song, holding those raisins in his hands, felt even more embarrassed when he saw Aunt Liu and went into the yard with a blush on his face.

Li Long had plans for today, intending to visit the university. However, Gu Xiaoyu said yesterday that he should wait, since Aunt Liu was coming over anyway.

It doesn't take much time, one thing after another, just right.

(End of this chapter)