Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1247 Car Resale, Proposal Preparation

Liu Gaolou brought ten cars with him, mainly Ladas and Volgas. To Li Long's surprise, there were also two Nissan cars, both Toyota SUVs, which are popular models internationally.

Looking at the two Toyotas that had been unloaded, Li Long asked with some surprise:

"Do you have this car over there too?"

"Haha, you underestimate the situation over there, don't you? There are many different car models there, including Mercedes-Benz, but people who can afford a Mercedes-Benz generally don't have any difficulties and wouldn't have to sell it."

Yes, there are some. My second uncle got one, but I haven't even gotten a chance to drive one.

Li Long nodded in agreement.

"I've been there for so long, and thanks to you, I've made quite a bit of money. I won't stay there until the Chinese New Year; I'll go back and talk about it later. My second uncle also said that he'll stop shipping goods here for a while because he's stockpiling them there, so you can finally rest easy."

"What do you mean by 'thanks to me'? We're just mutually benefiting, aren't we?" Li Long smiled.

"Yes, yes, it's a win-win situation. But to be honest, without you, I really wouldn't have been able to get so much sugar, cement, and leather coats. You think Wu Yongbo didn't have any ideas? In the end, he spent a month in Yili and didn't even manage to get a hundred leather coats. If you ask me, compared to you, he's nothing."

Li Long smiled but didn't reply.

"I'll transport the sugar over there when I get back. So I won't charge you for the truck. Also, I left you a big bag of stuff. It's all local specialties, a bunch of odds and ends, all brought over by my second uncle. I took most of it, and the rest is for you."

Li Long didn't stand on ceremony with him. After Liu Gaolou finished explaining things to Li Long and took the money for the hides and antelope horns, he left in a hurry.

He needed to take his belongings to Wucheng for shipping and also hurry back to his hometown.

After wandering around for more than half a year, it's time to go home.

Li Long and Liang Shuangcheng settled the hides and antelope horns—five thousand hides and two thousand pairs of antelope horns, which was quite a big deal.

All that was left were the two large bags of things that Liu Gaolou had left behind.

Upon opening it, it indeed contained a jumble of miscellaneous items—candy, chocolate, toys, and handicrafts.

Li Long felt that this place could be used to open an exhibition hall.

Just as they had almost finished distributing the local specialties brought from Yanjing, two more large bags of specialties from Kazakh republics arrived. There must be other Central Asian countries among them as well. Li Long even saw two sets of matryoshka dolls.

There are also two craft curved knives!

Hey, Li Long looks pretty good, it feels nice.

Li Long picked one for Liang Shuangcheng and one for Sun Jiaqiang, and took the rest home—his father didn't want them, thinking they weren't very interesting. He did, however, remind Li Long to take some of the snacks back to his mother.

Li Long naturally remembered this.

My mother didn't eat well when she was young, so she has a bit of a sweet tooth. At first, when she lived with my eldest brother, she would save any good food for him. Later, he didn't come home often, so she stopped saving it. Because some of the things she saved would get moldy over time, and my mother felt bad about it.

And she knew Li Long didn't lack those things. So later on, wherever Li Long went, he would collect snacks and local specialties to bring back for his mother to try.

Even if I don't like traveling around, it's fine as long as I can taste local specialties from different places.

After Liu Gaolou left, Li Long originally planned to go to the fourth team the next day to bring some things back with him.

To be honest, Li Long doesn't lack these local specialties, or rather, they're not particularly rare here. He brought most of them back from his two trips to Kazakhstan.

Therefore, a significant portion of these items will be taken to Team Four.

But a phone call from Chen Hongjun kept Li Long there.

According to Chen Hongjun, the year has passed, and he plans to deliver the final quarter's dividends to Li Long tomorrow to see if Li Long is home. Li Long, of course, will be waiting at home.

The last time Chen Hongjun came, he bought a Moskva from Li Long. Although the car wasn't very impressive or convenient for Li Long, it was excellent for Chen Hongjun.

None of his colleagues could afford a car.
They're mostly riding bicycles.

The same applies to previous leaders.

What surprised Chen Hongjun was that his business at the recycling station improved considerably because of the car – perhaps many people saw him driving a car and gained a new understanding of the strength of his recycling station.

In the late 1980s and early 2000s, the news that opening a purchasing station could make money had spread. Several purchasing stations in Beiting opened and closed, some of which closed down immediately, while others persisted.

Although it's not much, there's still some.

Currently, including Chen Hongjun's purchasing station, there are three purchasing stations in Beiting City.

Chen Hongjun was one of the earlier ones and was quite strong. Later, a newer company came along with substantial capital and high prices, attracting a group of dealers.

Later, towards the end of the year, business here inexplicably picked up again.

As the year draws to a close, Chen Hongjun is thinking about taking stock of the year's performance, distributing dividends, and also discussing next year's plans with Li Long.

Li Long waited for Chen Hongjun to arrive at the purchasing station.

When Chen Hongjun's Muscovite arrived at the purchasing station, there were seven or eight people queuing in the yard. Only two of them were selling things; the rest were buying agricultural supplies.

This includes Fan Mingcheng, who drove over.

It wasn't that he was reselling agricultural supplies; it was that when he came to sell things, his neighbor asked him to take some fertilizer back with him. The two families had a good relationship, so he could easily do that.

The Muscovites drove into the yard, and people lined up to give way. Chen Hongjun skillfully parked his car in a spot—next to a Volga that was about to be sold—and then got out.

He didn't come over immediately. Instead, he took a bag from the back seat, walked to the door, and asked inside:
"Uncle Li, is Xiaolong here?"

"Yes, yes, yes, he's inside, please come in." Li Qingxia recognized Chen Hongjun and knew that he was her son's benefactor. Although they were now business partners, she was still grateful.

Chen Hongjun took a bag of oranges out of his bag and placed it on the counter in front of Li Qingxia, saying with a smile:

"Uncle Li, come and try these oranges. I just bought them today. They taste great."

"Hey, why are you being so polite?" Li Qingxia said, "You're going to have to spend money!"

"I should spend the money, I should spend the money. It would be a shame to come all this way without bringing anything back. Well then, Uncle Li, I'll go to the back now."

"Okay, okay..."

As they were talking, Li Long came out, greeted Chen Hongjun, and then led him to the reception room.

Chen Hongjun then took out a bag of fruit and placed it on the table in the reception room, saying with a smile:

"Come on, have a taste."

"Old Chen, thank you for your thoughtfulness." Li Long said with a smile, "Try the food here too. My friend brought it from Kazakhstan, and I also brought some from Beijing."

"Not bad, not bad." Chen Hongjun knew that Li Long was doing business with Kazakhstan, so he wasn't surprised by Kazakh products. As for Yanjing, he asked, "Have you been to Yanjing recently?"

"Yeah, I just got back a few days ago."

After chatting for a while, Chen Hongjun took out an account book and a wad of cash from his bag and said:

"Business is a bit worse in winter. We've harvested fewer hides this year. The main reason is that with the introduction of the Animal Protection Law and the establishment of a police station in our forestry area, many people are no longer able to hunt hides."

However, things have improved a bit since New Year's Day. Take a look at the ledger; this is your share of the dividends.

Li Long wasn't so pretentious as to refuse to look at the ledger. He trusted Chen Hongjun, but when doing business together, one should still show the proper attitude, so he took the ledger and looked through it first.

In winter, we mainly import furs. Although there are fewer than before, that's relative; we still have some. Currently, hunting is prohibited, but selling isn't, so there are still some available.

The medicinal herbs weren't plentiful, just a few of various kinds scattered around, similar to what you'd find at a purchasing station here.

The main reason is the large profit margin, so the dividend for this quarter is 10,000.

It's already very good.

“But these things will be harder to collect next year,” Chen Hongjun said. “I came here to discuss with you what we should focus on next year.”
After all, with the reform of forestry, hunting and medicinal herb gathering will likely become more difficult. Li Long understood this as well. Previously, forest rangers were in charge of harvesting fritillaria bulbs; now, it's the forest police. The nature of the arrests is different, and the level of "threat" to those gathering medicinal herbs is also different.

Therefore, the quantity of both hides and medicinal herbs purchased next year will definitely be reduced.

Li Long is in a better position because he can get imported leather from Liu Gaolou, but Chen Hongjun doesn't have a good solution.

His purchasing station has only been open for less than two years, and he's unwilling to let it decline like this.

That's quite a lot of money. If you stayed at your original company, you wouldn't earn this much in your entire life.

But Chen Hongjun has already fallen in love with this career, and as far as he is concerned, he probably can only do this for the rest of his life. Moreover, this is the industry he is most familiar with. If he were to do something else, he would have to start from scratch.

At Chen Hongjun's current age, he can no longer keep up with the learning pace.

In the past, Chen Hongjun could still think of solutions on his own, but after cooperating with Li Long, he felt that instead of racking his brains on his own, it would be better to discuss it with Li Long.

Li Long actually knew what Chen Hongjun was thinking. He had his own way out, but that way might not be suitable for Chen Hongjun.

His situation was different from Chen Hongjun's, so when Chen Hongjun asked, Li Long had already thought about how to answer.

“Old Chen, there are two paths, I think you can choose one.” Li Long took an orange, peeled it, and said as he peeled it, “It depends on what you think.”

"Two paths? I'd be grateful if there was even one! They can't even choose?" Chen Hongjun thought to himself, coming to find Li Long was definitely the right decision. Did you hear that? He has two paths!
"Well, I think these two paths are relatively safe. It depends on how you choose to do them." Li Long peeled the orange and gave half to Chen Hongjun. The orange looked pretty good, and it wasn't just "all show and no substance" after peeling it. It was quite juicy, and Li Long was quite satisfied.

As soon as Li Long separated a piece and put it in his mouth, he sensed something was wrong—it was too sour!
However, he didn't mind at all, and slowly savored the sour taste. Li Long said:

"The first point is to expand the scope of business, just like my purchasing station, and include agricultural supplies. Although there is some industry in northern Xinjiang, most of the development is still in agriculture."

Whether in Beiting or Ma County, the agricultural supplies business will only get better and better. Plus, you already have connections, middlemen, and local farmers selling their produce, so you naturally have sales channels and a target audience.

Selling agricultural supplies will be a stable and long-term business in the future.

Chen Hongjun immediately thought of the people who had been queuing outside to buy agricultural supplies.

Although he wasn't a farmer, he knew that agriculture in Beiting Prefecture had developed rapidly in recent years, and farmers' pockets had become fuller—Li Long himself was an example. While others couldn't wait to get government-subsidized grain rations, he stubbornly refused to change his rural household registration.

Isn't it because people feel there is hope in the countryside?
"Xiaolong, how much land do you own now?" Chen Hongjun suddenly asked.

"Several hundred acres, I guess." Li Long hadn't counted, but in fact, he did own several hundred acres of land.

The elder brother also owns several hundred acres of land, and quite a bit of it has been reclaimed. When Li Jianguo submitted the report, the land between the two brothers was to be divided equally.

"Hey, he really is a landlord," Chen Hongjun said with a smile.

“There’s another path that’s less appealing, but it’s really profitable,” Li Long continued. He could tell that Chen Hongjun was also a bit confused and unsure whether to choose the agricultural supplies path, so he brought up both paths for Chen Hongjun to consider.

"What approach?" Chen Hongjun asked.

"We collect scrap materials," Li Long said after eating another segment of orange.

Chen Hongjun stuffed a segment of orange into his mouth, then cried out "Ouch!" almost spitting it out, his face contorting like a bitter gourd. He said, "So sour? I thought it was sweet since you didn't even flinch!"

Li Long smiled and said, "It's sour, isn't it? But its sourness has a unique flavor."

"Isn't that just collecting scrap?" Chen Hongjun asked, puzzled. "Can you really make money from that?"

“Yes, as long as you can get the license, it’s more profitable than selling agricultural supplies,” Li Long said. “Our country is too big, and resources are scarce. The recycling industry will be very profitable for the next twenty years.”

Let alone twenty years, even forty years is possible, but whether one can actually stay that long is another matter.

Of course, it also depends on whether Chen Hongjun is willing or not.

At this time, in the eyes of ordinary people, collecting scrap is something that is not considered a profession—it is looked down upon.

They're the kind of people who quietly make a fortune.

Therefore, Li Long guessed that Chen Hongjun would most likely choose the former, since the latter would require more effort and time to find sales channels.

Agricultural supplies are different; they're the kind of supplies that you have to wait for customers to come to you.

Sure enough, after finishing those few segments of sour orange, Chen Hongjun finally decided to open an agricultural supplies store.

"You need to get the paperwork done as soon as possible, otherwise you won't be able to get it done later," Li Long reminded him. "I have channels for wholesaling agricultural supplies, and you have customers too. Just gradually expand your reach, there's no rush."

"I know, I know," Chen Hongjun nodded.

"There's one more thing. If it's convenient for you to handle the paperwork, see if you need me to process the car sales paperwork as well," Li Long said, pointing outside.

“I still have some cars here, but they don’t sell as fast as before. So if you can get a used car sales permit, you can drive a few cars from me to sell every now and then.”

Beiting is larger than Ma County, with a larger population and more potential customers.

The initial advertising effect has gradually faded, and now it takes three to five days to sell a single car.

Li Long wasn't in a hurry; he simply saw it as finding a way for Chen Hongjun to make money.

Chen Hongjun was indeed interested and asked for details.

Li Long gave him the bottom line: GAZ trucks, depending on their condition, would cost 20,000 to 30,000 yuan; Lada trucks, 30,000 to 60,000 yuan; and Volga trucks, 80,000 to 100,000 yuan. Anything above the bottom line was for Chen Hongjun's own use.

Chen Hongjun quite liked this kind of business. He said he would inquire about the procedures when he got back to see how easy or difficult they were to complete.

I had lunch at Zhong Guoqiang's place. Zhong Guoqiang complained again that Old Chen only comes once in a long while, and that he is a real benefactor.

Chen Hongjun solved the problem and joked with him with a smile.

Because Chen Hongjun had to go back today, he didn't drink. Li Long did the same, saying he had something to do in the afternoon. This made Zhong Guoqiang say he was bored. Chen Hongjun then invited him to Beiting, saying that he would definitely treat him well in Beiting.

In the afternoon, Li Long delivered some things to the fourth team. After returning in the evening, he started writing at his desk.

Two county meetings are about to be held, and he needs to attend them. He also needs to refine his proposals and gather more supporting evidence.

The next day he went to Yushanjiang's courtyard and found the textbooks they used at Harbin School from Yerjiang.

Through Gu Xiaoxia, he also found the textbooks and class schedules used at Wei School.

These things usually go unnoticed unless you look into them closely, but once you do, the problems become significant.

If Li Long simply submits a proposal, frankly, it won't be very convincing, since he wrote a draft last year that contained much more information.

But with this evidence, things are different. Some things can't be laid bare. When they're not out in the open, most people don't know, and even if a few do, they'll pretend not to.

But once these things are brought into the open, they will be criticized, because once they are spoken out, people will know that they are wrong.

To put it bluntly, this is illegal!

But now there's a layer separating them. In bilingual education, they use ethnic minority languages, and the textbooks are produced by the Education Department of the Autonomous Region. Who will review them?
Li Long wanted to be the one to lift the lid.

Gu Xiaoxia knew his determination, so she used her position as an education bureau official to easily obtain these things.

Even the teachers who teach these things don't think it's wrong—they're already used to it.

As for the scriptures, well, if they've been taught, they've been taught; anyway, these families are teaching them too.

This is a fixed mindset.

After returning home, Chen Hongjun immediately went to complete the necessary procedures, and within a week, he actually managed to get the permits for opening an agricultural supply store.

He immediately called Li Long, who gave him the phone number of an agricultural supplies wholesaler. Chen Hongjun then purchased a batch of agricultural supplies and spread the word about it at his purchasing station.

Following Li Long's advice, he even went to the TV station to place an advertisement. Although it only lasted for a week, the effect was very obvious!
(End of this chapter)