Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1275 Running to the Autonomous Region TV station to make a televised advertisement, or even a video advertisement!
After having lunch with Director Qian at the state-run cooperative's canteen at noon, Li Long took the order to the warehouse and picked up twenty tons of canned goods. The cooperative sent people and vehicles to load the canned goods, and they followed Li Long back to Ma County.

Before leaving the state cooperative, Li Long called his purchasing station and asked them to find some temporary workers to prepare for unloading the truck.

At this moment, Liu Gaolou was waiting at the purchasing station. He was overjoyed to learn that Li Long had already brought the canned goods!
No wonder my second uncle said Li Long was reliable.

Twenty tons of canned goods may not cost much, but once transported to the Kazakh republics, they become strategic materials. Liu Shanmin also needs to obtain some resources there, and how can he obtain resources without some strategic materials?

Of course, at this time, Kazakhstan was still part of the Soviet Union, so the canned meat contained fish and luncheon meat (pork), which they didn't mind, since all ethnic groups there were raising pigs.

Border guards eat nothing but pickled meat slices; they're used to it.

So Liu Gaolou waited until Li Long arrived at the purchasing station with his truck. He was overjoyed to see the three truckloads of canned goods.

"I knew you could do it!" Liu Gaolou laughed, pulling Li Long's arm. "Can you promise that in the future?"

"Yes, we've already started shipping goods from the cannery in the port area to here," Li Long said. "Next time, we can increase the quantity. The state cooperative doesn't have much stock right now. Although it's the off-season, to be honest, they still need to keep some on hand."

"I understand, I understand!" Liu Gaolou could get by with these twenty tons of canned goods. As for the next trip, he'd see then. Anyway, Li Long promised there would be more on the next trip, so there would be.

Some people were counting the goods, unloading them from the state-owned company's truck, and then transferring them to the truck that Liu Gaolou had brought. Li Long and Liu Gaolou then went to settle the accounts.

Li Long's cost for 20 tons of canned goods was around 55,000 yuan, and the profit based on the quantity was about 40,000 yuan—more than he had imagined.

The money for the canned goods, after deducting the cost of the antelope horns, still left a considerable amount. The remaining amount was deducted from the 400,000 yuan that Li Long paid to Liu Gaolou for the hides, meaning Li Long needed to pay Liu Gaolou 350,000 yuan.

In addition, Li Long contacted Lao Gu separately to pay for and share the profits from the three tons of fritillaria bulbs, so they are not included in this deal.

Tomorrow we'll be picking up sugar again, and because of the Mercedes, Li Long will charge less in US dollar terms for the sugar.

Two Mercedes-Benz cars, one luxury version with the "Tiger Head" logo, cost $30,000, and one regular Mercedes-Benz cost $10,000. Three Santanas cost $6,000, two Toyota SUVs cost $6,000, and the remaining three Volga cars cost $3,000, totaling $55,000.

Fifty tons of white sugar cost $60,000 (the price has gone up to $1,200 per ton). This is Liu Shanmin's latest quote to Li Long. After deducting the cost of the truck, there is still $5,000 left.

As for the Geiger counter that Liu Gaolou brought, he said he would give it to Li Long for free—consider it a bonus.

The money between the two parties was settled in this way.

Liu Gaolou sighed:

"Hey, to be honest, this money seems to have come really easily—of course, I also know that it wasn't so easy for my second uncle to do this over there. He told me that he found some reliable retired veterans to be bodyguards."

He also owned several other houses in Almaty and frequently traveled back and forth; well, let's just say it was much more dangerous for him than for me.

"Don't forget to tell your second uncle about the loan," Li Long said half-jokingly. "Maybe if your second uncle gets it sorted out, you won't need to do business anymore and can just retire."

"Then I'll lend you some good advice."

Yesterday, Liu Gaolou was thinking about Li Long's words at the guesthouse, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that they made sense.

So he really remembered it and planned to tell his second uncle when he got back.

Li Long didn't think too much about it. He couldn't make this money himself, so handing it over to someone else was just icing on the cake and would leave a good impression.

The next day, when I went to the sugar factory to load the sugar, I paid Section Chief Hu a portion of US dollars.

However, Li Long felt that he still made a big profit.

When they returned, they found many people who had come to the recycling station to buy and sell goods gathered around the newly arrived trucks.

The original Volga luxury model was already quite attractive, but these two Mercedes-Benz models are even more so.

And those two Toyota SUVs—at that time, China and Japan were still in a honeymoon period. Many Japanese people were investing here, and many others came to travel. Nowadays, people have many ways to access information, and some people recognize the Toyota logo.

"Mr. Li, these cars aren't cheap, are they?" Fan Mingcheng asked. "They must be considerably more expensive than the old Volgaladas, right?"

"Yes, German Mercedes-Benz and Santana, Japanese Toyota SUVs, they won't be cheap, but used cars are much cheaper than new cars."

"How much is a new car? How much is a used car?" Looking at the luxury cars that were practically the same as new cars, it would be a lie to say that Fan Mingcheng wasn't tempted.

"Mercedes-Benz is more expensive. Look at this one, an S-Class W126 500E, also known as the 'Tiger Head Mercedes-Benz.' A new one sells for around 1.8 million..."

"So expensive?" Fan Mingcheng's mouth dropped open, and the people around him exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, this new car is so expensive. It's a luxury sedan by world standards. Of course, the one next to it is cheaper. It's a Mercedes-Benz E-Class W123, model 230E. A new one would cost several hundred thousand, but you can get it for less than a million."

"What about with you?" Fan Mingcheng asked, recovering his composure. "A used car shouldn't be that expensive, right?"

“Yeah, it’s not that expensive anymore. This Mercedes-Benz W14 is in excellent condition and costs 1.2 million, while this E-Class is 500,000,” Li Long said. “Actually, I think buying a Santana would be more worthwhile.”

"Look at these three Santanas. None of them have driven more than 50,000 kilometers. A new one would cost 200,000 yuan here, but these three will only cost 120,000."

Li Long is now running a monopoly business, so it's normal for him to make ten times the profit.

The price of the Tiger Head Mercedes is high, but he is not worried about buyers—this thing is too rare, and some people want that rarity.

So he plans to run an advertisement on Beiting TV in a couple of days to promote it. After all, there are probably only a handful of TV stations in the entire Xinjiang region that broadcast this Bentley Tiger.

"What about these Japanese off-road vehicles?" Someone had their eye on the Land Cruiser, which looked more modern than the Gaz.

"This one is also more expensive. Look at this car. Although the Japanese are not good at it, their car manufacturing technology is still very advanced. These two cars cost 150,000 each."

The exorbitant price deterred most of the onlookers, who stopped asking about the price and stared longingly at the tiger-headed horse.

However, to Li Long's surprise, none of the people who came to buy and sell supplies spoke up, but a stranger did:

"Mr. Li, could you make this Land Cruiser a little cheaper? I've got my eye on it."

"Hello, hello, did you come here specifically to buy a car?" Li Long finally noticed the unfamiliar face and asked, "Do you have a driver's license?"

"Yes, yes, yes." The man took out his driver's license and showed it to Li Long. Li Long saw that the license was three years old and worn, so it must have been used frequently.

"Let's take a look at the paperwork and manual first." Li Long went over and opened the car door. "If you can drive, don't talk about the price yet. Take a look at the car inside and out, and then we'll discuss it, okay?"

Li Long's words were reasonable, and the middle-aged man nodded, leaned closer, carefully examined the documents to confirm their authenticity, and then began to walk around the car to check its specific condition.

The sight of someone buying a car has always been a hot spot for people buying and selling goods here, and they immediately gathered around to watch the spectacle.

Someone leaned close to Fan Mingcheng and whispered:

"Old Fan, your car is nice, but this Land Cruiser looks much more imposing. It feels like they're not even in the same league."

"Of course, how much did my car cost? How much does this car cost?" Fan Mingcheng smiled. "But my car was worth it. In the two years I've driven it, I've not only made back the cost of the car, but I've also made a small profit."

"A small profit? More than that, right? You've made back the cost of at least two or three trucks." The speaker guessed enviously. "You have a truck, so you can go anywhere in the mountains and beyond, even to more distant places. In the summer you can collect dried fritillaria and mushrooms, and in the winter you can collect leather. Unlike us, who can only ride bicycles and drive tractors and wander around nearby."

"Haha, no, no." Fan Mingcheng laughed immediately upon hearing the compliment, feeling a little smug. However, when he looked at the row of cars in front of him, he couldn't hide his envy.

Fan Mingcheng was one of the first middlemen to buy a car. At first, some people didn't quite understand and thought he was being too extravagant. But soon, during the fritillary bulb season in summer and the leather season in winter, the difference became apparent.

With a car, you can travel far, even to the mountains to collect fritillaria bulbs, or to the sandy areas to the north to collect sheepskin.

The advantage is obvious.

Then some people followed suit, while others who didn't have enough money could only watch from the sidelines.

After Li Long and the middle-aged man named Qin Lijie finished inspecting the car and confirmed that he could drive and was familiar with the gears, Li Long sat in the passenger seat and let him try out the car.

After the test drive, Mr. Qin stopped mentioning the price and immediately wanted to pay for the car.

Li Long had a ready-made car purchase contract. He took the contract, and after the other party read it, they paid for the car and drove it away... At this point, the procedures were relatively simple.

Watching the spectacle as others bought a car worth 150,000 yuan without batting an eye, the people who came to buy and sell goods felt a mix of emotions, some envious, some jealous.

Fan Mingcheng stopped talking, quickly lined up to sell the last bit of fritillaria and dried morel mushrooms he had, and then drove away.

Li Long instructed Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng to keep an eye on the remaining cars, while he drove the Bentley Tiger back to his own courtyard.

This thing is quite expensive, so I'm not entirely comfortable leaving it at the recycling station. Mainly, Liang Shuangcheng needs to rest on weekends. Although the recycling station has dogs and Sun Jiaqiang's house is next door, there's always the chance someone might sabotage it by throwing a rock and damaging the paint, which would significantly lower the selling price.

After lunch, he drove to Beiting and took care of the advertising.

This time, he not only contacted Beiting TV and Beiting Daily, but also plans to go to Wucheng tomorrow to place an advertisement in the Autonomous Region Daily.

Advertising is currently a popular activity, but private enterprises are still in their infancy and have already passed the nascent stage; they are at best elementary schools. Therefore, Li Long simply decided to seize the limelight first.

Beiting TV and Beiting Daily welcomed Li Long's arrival. Last year, Li Long's advertising campaign set a precedent for their large-scale advertising, and their advertising business has been growing ever since. They are also very impressed with Li Long as their "boss".

Li Long also saw the other party's quote. The price of the advertisement had increased, but he felt it was worth it. This time, he asked for half a month of TV advertising and a month of newspaper advertising.

The newspaper ads not only sold cars, but also stated that they were buying large quantities of canned goods, sugar, etc.; the price was better for bulk orders.

The next day, Li Long went to the Autonomous Region Daily again, inquired around and found the advertising department, then explained his purpose.

The advertisements in the Autonomous Region Daily and the Beiting Daily were similar, both in small strip format. Although the prices were a bit higher, there was a reason for the higher prices. Li Long also ran two advertisements for a month: one for selling cars and the other for buying canned goods, cotton-padded clothes, and cotton-padded shoes.

The advertising department here is more rigorous. They asked more detailed questions about Li Long's background. After learning that he was a national model of ethnic unity, someone in the office went out to make a phone call and then stopped asking questions.

Clearly, someone has endorsed Li Long—whether it's the Ethnic Affairs Commission or not is unknown.

After leaving the Autonomous Region Daily, Li Long thought that since the newspaper had placed an advertisement, why not go and take a look at the Autonomous Region TV station?
Liu Gaolou hinted that these two Mercedes-Benzes were not isolated incidents, and there was a high probability that more would follow.

Therefore, used cars will become the main business of Li Long's company.

Therefore, expanding brand awareness and attracting a steady stream of customers is the right approach.

At that time, the autonomous region's television station could not be received in Ma County; its coverage area was mainly Urumqi and the surrounding areas.

However, the area with the most wealthy households in Xinjiang is basically Urumqi, so Li Long thought it would be worthwhile to promote the area in that direction.

If he didn't want to move and only wanted to stay in Ma County, he would have opened a used car dealership in Wucheng.

So he simply drove to the TV station—he knew where it was.

When he arrived at the TV station, the people at the entrance, upon hearing that he wanted to place an advertisement, pointed him to the location.

After Li Long went inside, he saw several young people busy at work. The oldest seemed to be around thirty years old, and there were two others in their twenties. There were both men and women, and they were quite energetic.

"Comrade, who are you looking for?" the man in his thirties asked as Li Long entered.

"Hello, I'm here to advertise," Li Long said. "I'm from Ma County."

"Advertising? What kind?" a girl with braids next to me asked. "Have you taken any photos? Or is it just a text ad?"

"No photos were taken." Li Long's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "Is it okay to take videos and photos when you advertise here?"

“Of course,” the girl said proactively. “Text-only ads are cheaper, but the results are generally less effective. Image and video ads, on the other hand, are definitely more effective, but they are also more expensive.”

"We can also switch channels to advertise in multiple ethnic languages ​​here, and the price for advertisements in other languages ​​is relatively lower," another young man added.

Li Long understands this, since other language TV stations have relatively fewer viewers.

"So, will you provide the filming, or will I provide it myself?"

"We have our prices, and you have yours," said the man who started the conversation. "What kind of advertising are you running?"

“I sell used cars,” Li Long said. “Used cars.”

"Used cars? What kinds of cars?" the young man asked curiously.

“Mercedes-Benz, Santana, Toyota Land Cruiser, Volga, GAZ-69 trucks, and so on,” Li Long said. “And high-horsepower tractors, GAZ trucks, and so on.”

"Wow, quite a variety! They even have Mercedes!" the young man exclaimed.

The girl asked curiously, "What is a Land Cruiser?"

Before Li Long could speak, the man interrupted, "It's a Land Cruiser, an off-road vehicle, looks very experienced!"

Li Long laughed. It seems this guy is quite a car enthusiast; otherwise, he wouldn't know so much.

“If you want us to make video ads, we can give you a discount.” The middle-aged man got to the point: “Right now, making video ads is quite cost-effective. Once the peak advertising season comes, the price won’t be this low.”

"If I want to hire you to shoot a video advertisement, and I want it to be during prime time, how much do you charge?"

"During prime time, 15 seconds would cost 30,000 yuan a month, and 30 seconds would cost 50,000 yuan a month," the middle-aged man said.

"It's too expensive." Li Long hurriedly waved his hand. "Let's forget about this price."

“You must be very rich to be able to afford a Mercedes,” the girl said from the side. “Our ads are really cheap, just pure text ads, less than ten seconds long, but they still cost five thousand yuan! And that doesn’t even show the advantages of the car you’re selling.”

"Comrade, you should know that our TV station covers the entire city of Wucheng and some surrounding counties and cities, and the number of people who can watch TV is close to 1.5 million to 2 million. This advertising price is really not expensive. If it weren't for the fact that not many people use this kind of video advertising now, and we are still in the trial operation stage, we would not be able to get this price at all."

Li Long did the math and realized that, in reality, it wasn't expensive at all, not even worth the profit of a single Volga.

He subconsciously felt that the price of this advertisement was expensive, mainly because the prices in Beiting and the Autonomous Region Daily were in the thousands, and here it suddenly became tens of thousands, which he was a little unaccustomed to.

Actually, it's not expensive.

"Okay, I'll sign a one-month contract, but how will you film it?"

“I’ll go with you. Didn’t you say it’s in Ma County? We have a car. We’ll drive there, film the footage, edit it, and then it can be broadcast on TV,” the middle-aged man said.

"This 50,000 yuan includes our costs for editing the script, designing the plot, and editing. It's really not expensive," the girl emphasized again.

“Okay,” Li Long said. “Pay now? Sign the contract?”

“Okay.” The middle-aged man didn’t expect Li Long to be so agreeable, but he didn’t want to let go of such a customer, so he hurriedly found the contract to show Li Long.

Li looked through the contract and felt there were no problems, so he signed it.

However, Li Long didn't bring that much money with him. He paid a deposit of 10,000 yuan first, and the rest would be paid after the TV station sent someone to film the recording. The TV station's advertising department readily agreed to this payment method.

Then the TV station sent two people in a van to follow Li Long's car to Ma County.

Because he was going to Wucheng on business, Li Long drove a luxury Volga to save face. The two young staff members even filmed a short video of Li Long's car as he left.

"Your car actually looks great in photos, it looks very new," the girl said as she looked at it.

Li Long pointed at the man who was recording and asked, "Is it okay to talk like that?"

"It's okay, the dubbing will be done later," the girl explained.

"Then you'll see when the time comes. That Mercedes-Benz W140 is even more beautiful," Li Long said with a smile. "Much more beautiful than this one."

"That must be very expensive, right?" the girl asked before getting into the car.

“That new car costs 1.8 million,” Li Long said. “This new car… well, if it’s imported, it won’t cost more than 300,000.”

After getting in the car, the girl was already imagining what a car worth 1.8 million yuan would look like—and believe it or not, at that time, most people had never actually seen a Mercedes-Benz W14.

In most people's eyes, the Santana is the most common sedan they see.

When the two cars arrived in Ma County, nearly two hours later, to Li Long's surprise, the van was driving quite fast and even overtook him at times, clearly thinking he was driving too slowly.

The minibus slowed down when they arrived in Ma County, waiting for Li Long.

Seeing that it was already noon, Li Long took them to Zhong Guoqiang's place for lunch.

When Zhong Guoqiang saw Li Long bringing guests over, he habitually came over and asked a question. After learning that they were staff members of the Autonomous Region TV station, he became quite enthusiastic. After Li Long ordered the big plate chicken, he promptly brought over a few side dishes, which made the two staff members and the driver very happy.

At this point, Li Long also learned that the young man carrying the camera was named Xu Yang, and the girl was named Qi Tianhong. Both were university graduates and hadn't been with the TV station for very long. The main issue was that advertising wasn't yet a core business for the TV station, and video advertising was still in the exploratory stage.

After Xu Yang and Li Long became familiar with each other, they talked a lot. Xu Yang mainly asked Li Long about cars. It was clear that Li Long liked cars very much, but he couldn't afford to buy one himself. However, he could afford some car magazines and knew a little about famous cars around the world.

"If you ask me, your Mercedes-Benz won't sell well in northern Xinjiang. It's not as good as a Santana," Xu Yang said while eating chicken. "There aren't many rich people in northern Xinjiang, so we can't compare to Mercedes-Benz."

A new Mercedes-Benz W14 costs over a million, nearly two million. A used one would easily sell for at least a million, right? Who would be willing to spend a million on a used car these days?

Li Long smiled but didn't reply. Although Xu Yang had graduated from university two or three years ago, he clearly hadn't shaken off the arrogance and boastful habits of a college student; he still had that air of pontificating and pontificating.

In his later years, he saw many high school students in the team who were going to take the college entrance exam. They were all like that, as if they knew a lot about the majors of various universities in the country and the future employment situation. They thought they knew the whole world just because they heard a little bit of knowledge.

In other words, they hadn't yet been hardened by society and were still quite naive.

Qi Tianhong was more low-key and eager to learn. After learning about Li Long's background, he mainly asked him about how he made his fortune, especially after hearing that he had taken over a purchasing station to resell medicinal herbs and hides for profit. He blurted out:
"Isn't that considered speculation and profiteering?"

“It doesn’t count anymore,” Li Long said with a smile. “It has a proper business license.”

"I see." Qi Tianhong seemed to understand but not quite, indicating that she was not very familiar with domestic commercial and economic policies.

After the meal, Li Long took them to the recycling station to look at the other vehicles first.

"I don't see the Benz W14? Isn't this just a regular Mercedes? You're not trying to fool us, are you? If this is auctioned off, it's considered deceiving consumers." Xu Yang was clearly an expert; upon seeing the Mercedes in the purchasing station, he said.

The people at the purchasing station were watching the spectacle. Xu Yang was carrying a video camera, and Qi Tianhong was young and beautiful. Such a combination was rare in Ma County.

However, upon hearing Xu Yang's words, some people immediately became unhappy and, before Li Long could explain, they said:

"Don't talk nonsense if you didn't see it. Mr. Li does own a Mercedes-Benz W14, but he wasn't comfortable leaving it here, so he drove it away. We saw that car the day before yesterday."

"We saw it yesterday morning too."

Li Long then explained:

“I drove the car into my yard. You know how much that car costs. If I leave it here and someone throws a rock at it, do you think I'd be heartbroken?”

“That’s true.” Xu Yang also felt that he had been a bit rash. Li Long explained, and he quickly took the opportunity to back down, “If we smash it, we can sell it for tens of thousands less. But if we’re going to bid, it would be best to drive over here. That way, there will be a row of cars, which will look impressive.”

While Li Long went to get the car, Qi Tianhong and Xu Yang discussed the recording plan. Qi Tianhong exclaimed, "Wow, there are quite a few cars!"

These people knew that Xu Yang and Qi Tianhong were from a TV station, so their attitude towards them changed. They didn't see anyone filming a TV commercial, and even after they finished selling their goods, they didn't leave; they just stayed there watching the spectacle.

When Li Long drove his Mercedes over, the front yard of the purchasing station was already crowded with people, and many people from the surrounding area had also come to watch the excitement.

He honked his horn several times before people moved aside so he could drive his car in.

Xu Yang, who was filming, saw Li Long's car approaching and his eyes lit up immediately:

"Yes, yes, that's right! That's what a tiger-headed steed should look like!"

Some people have seen this car, some haven't. Some think it's not as good-looking as a luxury Volga, but others think that just because of that upright round emblem, this car is extraordinary.

After Li Long parked the car, Xu Yang came over with a camera and started recording. He filmed the car from all angles before moving on to film the other cars.

Qi Tianhong then walked up to Li Long and inquired in detail about the sales prices of each vehicle. Later, she asked Li Long how long his purchasing station had been open, and so on.

Li Long thought to himself, "Could this girl think that I'm not married yet and is trying to pick a good stock?"

Sure enough, Qi Tianhong soon inquired about Li Long's family situation. After learning that Li Long was married and had two children, she still seemed very interested in asking how old the children were and what grade they were in, but Li Long could sense that her enthusiasm had faded.

It's not that the girl is materialistic, but Li Long looks young, capable, and good at managing things. To build such a large business at such a young age is quite impressive.

Compared to his colleague who only talks about the problems with this car and that car every day, Li Long already has his own car, so it's immediately clear who is better.

Unfortunately, he's already taken.

More and more people arrived, and soon Guo Tiebing and his group came over.

Upon arriving and learning that a television crew was filming Li Long's car, he relaxed and even joked with Li Long:

"When I heard someone report that people were gathering here, I guessed that there was an event happening here."

"There's no other way, everyone's never seen what it's like to work at a TV station, so we're just here for the fun."

"Did this... to include you in the footage? For a TV show or something?"

"No, I just brought in a few luxury cars. These cars are expensive, and I doubt they'd sell here. So I'm going to advertise them on TV to make them easier to sell," Li Long explained.

"That's a good idea. Actually, you could also advertise on Shicheng TV. We all watch Channel 9, right?" Guo Tiebing suggested.

“Most people who watch Channel 9 know that I sell cars,” Li Long said. “I advertise in Beiting and Wucheng because people there don’t know about me, so I need to advertise.”

“Yes, yes, that makes sense. You’re quick-witted,” Guo Tiebing said with a smile. “Alright, alright, let’s start filming. I’ll stay here and keep an eye on things.”

Too many people can easily cause trouble, but it's not good to film on TV and prevent others from watching, nor is it good to kick people out.

So let's just wait and see.

Fortunately, Xu Yang and his team only needed to shoot a 30-second commercial, so they only needed about several tens of minutes of footage. Then they called Li Long over, had him say a few words in the Mercedes, and then drove the Mercedes around the backyard a couple of times to demonstrate it.

Li Long could tell that Xu Yang wanted to try driving, but Li Long wasn't sure if he had a driver's license, so it was best not to try.

Once they were finished filming and started packing up, Li Long invited them to the back meeting room.

The group dispersed only after the filming was finished, leaving some people to look at other cars – clearly, the crowd had been quite large.

Li Long took out 40,000 yuan from his bag and handed it to Xu Yang, then asked him to write a receipt.

This means the money is considered settled.

Xu Yang must have received prior instructions from his superiors, as the receipt clearly stated that the advertisement would begin airing on July 1st and end on August 1st, lasting for one month. The specific dates would be announced after the weather forecast.

This is indeed prime time.

With this in hand, Li Long was basically relieved.

Xu Yang and his team didn't stay long; after getting the materials, they needed to hurry back to produce them. Although making commercials these days is relatively simpler, it still requires production and voice-over.

To Li Long's surprise, after Xu Yang and the others left, someone actually came over and asked about the price of a used Santana.

After listening to Li Long's introduction about how he had driven the Santana for less than three years and driven less than 50,000 kilometers, and then taking a test drive, he decided to buy it.

Li Long naturally had no objections—120,000, that's a lot of money!
He guessed that the main reason was that people from the regional TV station came. Although some people knew it was for filming an advertisement, others felt that the presence of people from the regional TV station meant the car's quality should be guaranteed, which was tantamount to endorsing it indirectly.

Over the next two days, more people from the county and Shicheng came to buy cars. In those two days, they sold a luxury Volga, a Santana, and a GAZ vehicle.

This meant that when Yushanjiang came to practice driving, there was only one GAZ truck left to choose from.

However, Yu Shanjiang wasn't picky; he was already happy to have a car to practice in. Besides, judging from Li Long's opinion, his driving skills were already quite good, and he was ready to graduate.

However, Yushanjiang wasn't in a hurry; he said he'd practice some more. Now, in the afternoons, Yushanjiang practices driving directly out of the yard and onto the roads in the county. Li Long supervised him for a couple of days, then, finding no major problems with his driving, let him practice on his own.

There aren't many traffic signs on the road now, so you just need to drive steadily and slowly.

Experienced drivers all go through this process, and Li Long is certainly an exception—in fact, others who watch him drive all think he's very disciplined, but they just don't say it.

At this time, many people are self-taught drivers, and those who have received formal driving school training are not the majority.

On July 1st, the regional television station called to say that it would be broadcast that evening and asked Li Long to take a look when he had time.

Li Long then said that he couldn't receive programs from the autonomous region, but he would take some time in the next few days to go there and watch the finished product.

At that time, cable television was only being implemented by units such as science, education, culture and health, and had not yet become widespread. Therefore, it would take several more years for the entire Xinjiang region to be able to watch the autonomous region's television station.

However, Li Long wasn't worried. He trusted the TV station's reputation. As long as the advertisement aired and others saw his nice cars, that would be fine.

The aroma of wine is also afraid of the deep alley.

Li Long didn't expect the TV station to have such a big influence. On the morning of July 3rd, he had just arrived at the purchasing station to help out when he received a call asking about the Tiger Head Ben.

“I am Zhao Jinfeng, the manager of Wucheng Xinjiang Flavor Food Company,” the other party said. “I saw on TV that you have a luxury Mercedes-Benz, the W14? Is that true?”

“Of course it’s true,” Li Long said with a smile. “The TV station even filmed it, so it must be true.”

"Secondhand? How long has it been driven? How many kilometers has it run? Is there any wear and tear on the paint? Where did it come from?"

The buyer asked quite a few detailed questions, and Li Long answered them one by one. This car originally belonged to a high-ranking official of a state-owned company in the Kazakh republic, but it was affected by a change in leadership there and was reclassified as a civilian vehicle.

Although he lost his job and wasn't thrown into prison, he definitely couldn't drive the car anymore, and he'd have to make up for it with the money from selling it.

This car would be considered a high-end vehicle even in Kazakhstan. The owner takes good care of it; it's been owned for a little over a year, less than two years, and driven less than 5,000 kilometers, so its condition is naturally excellent.

Actually, it could have been sold for a high price over there, but everyone is having a hard time right now, and some people, even if they have the money, don't dare to buy this car for fear of being caught.

So Liu Shanmin managed to get it here—he naturally didn't dare to open it, as it would be too conspicuous.

After hearing the introduction, the other party was very satisfied with the car. As for the price, they said they would come and see the car in person before making a decision.

Li Long then invited him to come and see. After hanging up the phone, Li Long went to the courtyard, drove his Mercedes over, and parked it in the backyard.

After waiting for about an hour, someone came over and said they wanted to see the Mercedes. Li Long thought to himself, "This is too fast!"
The man who came in was a bit bald and looked to be in his forties. He saw the Mercedes as soon as he entered the courtyard, but it turned out to be an ordinary Mercedes. So he cut in line and came to the counter to ask about the situation.

Li Long was tidying up the hides in the back when he heard the commotion and came to the front. He greeted them first.

"Is this Mr. Zhao? The Mercedes is in the backyard, let's go take a look."

“My surname isn’t Zhao, my name is Cao Guohua,” the other person shook hands with Li Long. “I saw on TV that you have Tiger Head Mercedes here, so I came to take a look.”

Li Long didn't realize he had made a mistake. He quickly apologized and explained that a Mr. Zhao had called and also wanted to see the Mercedes.

"Mr. Zhao? You're also from Wucheng?" Cao Guohua was a little surprised. "It seems there are quite a few people who want to buy this car. Let's go, I'll take a look first."

Since everyone who comes is a guest, Li Long didn't refuse and led his men to the backyard, where they saw the Mercedes-Benz W14.

This car isn't cheap. Many people who come to sell things have seen it, but they can't afford it. However, when they hear that someone is buying it, they all get very excited.

However, you can't just go into the backyard whenever you want—the rule here is that if you're doing business in the front yard, then anyone can come in, but the backyard is considered private property, and unless the owner invites you, it's best not to go in.

Besides, these people know there's a dog chained up in the backyard—Li Long drove the car to the backyard so that the people who wanted to buy the car could have some peace and quiet.

The crowd that the TV station people caused that day was an accident; we can't let that happen again.

Upon seeing the Mercedes-Benz W14, Cao Guohua's expression changed instantly. He strode over with his bag in hand and carefully examined the paint, parts, and tires of the Mercedes-Benz from head to toe, leaving no detail unchecked.

Clearly, he cares a lot about these details.

Li Long was a little anxious. He could tell that Cao Guohua was interested in buying the car, but he had already answered the call from Boss Zhao. If Cao Guohua bought the car, wouldn't he be breaking his promise?
Fortunately, while Cao Guohua was still checking the interior of the car, he heard the sound of a car outside. Liang Shuangcheng then ran over and said that another person had come to look at the Mercedes-Benz, and that the other person had driven a Santana.

Li Long told him to quickly call the person over.

Zhao Jinfa came with his driver. He was thinking that if he placed the order for the car today, he would drive the W14 back and have the driver drive the Santana back.

Liang Shuangcheng led the people to the backyard, where Zhao Jinfeng saw the Tiger Head Mercedes and the people sitting inside.

He immediately became a little unhappy.

When Li Long described the car's condition, Zhao Jinfeng already had the idea of ​​buying it. He told the driver to drive fast the whole way, hoping to get the car as soon as possible.

When I got there and saw someone in the car, I felt really uncomfortable. How could you get in my car? I haven't even sat down yet!
He leaned closer to take a look, but his expression changed after seeing the people in the car.

"Boss Cao? You're here to look at this car too? Why didn't you say so? If you had, I would have brought you here!"

Li Long looked at it and exclaimed, "Hey, what a coincidence! The two of them know each other!"

(End of this chapter)