Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1296 Li Long rediscovers the feeling of running a small business.
On December 6th, fifty tons of mutton was enough. Li Long and Yu Shanjiang hired trucks from the county transportation company to transport all those sheep to Wucheng for handover at the train station.

This was the first time Li Long had led such a long convoy; more than a dozen trucks made for quite a grand procession.

Li Long drove his Land Cruiser in front, and Yu Shanjiang drove his GAZ truck at the back. When they arrived at the train station and found the freight depot, the workers said that the person in charge had not returned yet and told them to wait.

While waiting, Yushanjiang was a little worried:
"Li Long, what if they take the mutton and don't pay us?"

From beginning to end, he and Li Long jointly funded the entire operation. Yushanjiang really went all out this time, and of course, he reaped great rewards. He has already established connections with herders and cattle and sheep middlemen in a large area of ​​northern Xinjiang.

It will be much easier to prepare beef and mutton in the future.

Many people admire him for being able to build such a large business.

Fifty tons of beef and mutton may not seem like much in twenty or thirty years, but at this time, it can cause quite a stir in the market.

"Don't worry, there won't be any problems." Although Li Long was also a little uneasy, he didn't show it on his face and even comforted him.

After waiting for about ten minutes, the person in charge came over. With the workers' directions, he saw Li Long and Yu Shanjiang together, and came over with a smile to shake hands with them.

"Comrade Li Long, right? My name is Zhou Liwei. Thank you so much. The mutton arrived earlier than expected. It just so happens that there's a freight train going there tonight."

"Shall we inspect the goods first?" Li Long had a good first impression of the tall, middle-aged man with a slight Shandong accent, and said with a smile, "We brought a little over fifty tons this time, which is about two thousand five hundred sheep worth of kronor."

"No problem, there's a weighbridge here. Let's do a random check first. Comrade Li Long, and this is..."

“Yushanjiang, my business partner.” Li Long introduced Yushanjiang to him.

The fact that he could immediately identify Li Long put Li Long at ease, indicating that the other party knew him and that Director Qian must have mentioned it beforehand.

Zhou Liwei shook hands with Yushan Jiang and explained, "I've heard about your work from Lao Qian. You've always done an excellent job in quality control. However, this mutton is related to the food safety of the people in the capital, so necessary inspections are necessary."

"Yes, yes, yes, business is business, and relationships are relationships." Li Long smiled. "Shall we start the inspection now?"

"Okay, okay." Zhou Liwei followed Li Long to the vehicle for random inspections.

He was an expert; just by looking at the color of the mutton, pressing it, and examining its texture, he could tell it was freshly slaughtered and that there were no old, culled sheep, and the meat was in good condition.

After inspecting the meat for half an hour, Zhou Liwei waved his hand and said, "The meat quality is excellent, Comrade Li Long. Now I believe that Lao Qian wasn't just praising you. The comrades over there will definitely be very satisfied with this batch of mutton. Shall we weigh it?"

With a weighbridge, weighing is quite simple. The truck goes over full and returns empty; the difference between the two trips gives you the net weight of the mutton. In the end, it comes to fifty tons and five hundred kilograms—a few dozen kilograms are rounded down.

Zhou Liwei issued an invoice and receipt to Li Long, and said that he would transfer the money after the beef and mutton were transported to Yanjing. He left Li Long's account number and information, as well as Zhou Liwei's own contact information in Yanjing.

"Comrade Li Long, to be honest, I am very satisfied with your attitude towards doing business. So I think we can cooperate frequently in the future."

After instructing his men to quickly load the unloaded sheep roe onto the truck, Zhou Liwei said to Li Long, "We're pressed for time today, so I won't keep you for dinner. Be sure to contact me when you get to Yanjing. By the way, we might cooperate again in the future."

The conditions at the train station were relatively basic—the freight station was on the west side, not at the South Station, so it was a bit out of the way. After Li Long and his group parted ways with Zhou Liwei, they led their convoy out of the station and into the city. It was time for them to eat.

After nearly half a month of hard work, they finally finished the job. Although there were still many troubles to come, at least the main task was done. Li Long and Yu Shanjiang both breathed a sigh of relief and ate their meal in a slurping manner.

Upon returning to Ma County, Li Long slept soundly for most of the day before getting up and going to the purchasing station feeling refreshed.

However, after opening the warehouse and seeing the contents of the warehouse—including sewage, sheep heads, and sheep hooves—Li Long's mood instantly soured.

Although when the sheep were being slaughtered, the eldest brother, Li Jianguo, had already taken a batch of sheep heads, hooves, and offal to sell in the fourth team, and even the surrounding villages knew about it and bought a lot of them.

However, this number is far from being significant compared to the total amount.

There aren't even 500 sets.

Originally, Li Long planned to hire a truck to sell the products in Wucheng and Beiting, but he suddenly decided to rest for two days first.

Anyway, it's just a whole winter, so there's no rush.

That being said, things still needed to be cleared out. Zhao Hui didn't want the 2,500 hides. So Li Long made a call to the leather factory.

As a "major customer" of the post office, he had access to the phone numbers of some government departments: a small notebook—at that time, the Yellow Pages had not yet been published, and this notebook contained a lot of government phone numbers.

When the leather factory heard from Li Long that there were more than 2,500 sheepskins here, they immediately said they would send people and vehicles to take a look.

This is a big order!
Soon, the people from the leather factory arrived. When Li Long saw the person in charge of the inspection with the vehicle, he was delighted. He recognized him; this technician, Zhang, had once received leather from him.

Technician Zhang also remembered Li Long. After getting out of the car, he shook hands with Li Long and said with a smile, "Boss Li, you finally remembered us! That's really something!"

Li Long also spoke the truth: "There's nothing I can do. You can't get high prices for other leathers. I'm in business, and I need to make a profit."

"I understand," Technician Zhang asked. "Are all two thousand five hundred sheets sheepskin?"

"Yes, it was just peeled off a few days ago, it's very fresh, and there's not much damage."

"Is the small intestine still intact?"

“Yes, yes,” Li Long said.

All the other intestines are frozen together with the offal, but the small intestines must remain on the sheepskin; this is a common rule for selling sheepskins.

"Let's go take a look," Old Zhang said. "The quantity is quite large, shall we just go straight there?"

"it is good."

They were all people who got things done; no one dawdled. They opened the warehouse and inspected the goods.

Technician Zhang looked at the pile of leather and began to conduct random checks.

They inspected very thoroughly, specifically picking out the leather from the corners and the bottom to examine it.

The leather was originally bundled in groups of twenty, but it was pulled out in a mess. Li Long didn't say anything; the buyer was in control, so he could inspect it however he wanted.

"Not bad, not bad." Technician Zhang inspected more than a dozen hides and said, "The hides have been peeled very cleanly, they are indeed fresh. Shall we discuss the price?"

“The prices are all publicly available now,” Li Long smiled. “What’s the price where you are?”

"How about I give you nine dollars for two thousand five hundred tickets, given the current price?"

Although it's said to be publicly available, the price actually fluctuates. Larger pieces of leather cost ten yuan, while smaller pieces cost eight or nine yuan.

“Okay.” Li Long didn’t haggle. There were too many items, so it would be easier to clear them all out at once, and the price was fair.

Seeing that Li Long wasn't haggling, Technician Zhang smiled and said, "Alright, deal. Let's load the goods now."

More than 2,500 hides, worth more than 22,000 yuan. After loading them onto the truck, Li Long went with Technician Zhang to the leather factory's finance department to collect the money.

After receiving the money, he returned to the purchasing station and began keeping accounts.

He paid for most of the cost of the fifty tons of mutton this time. He had to cover the costs first before he could share the money with Yushanjiang.

Roughly calculated, I could earn tens of thousands of yuan.

When Li Long returned home at noon, he was surprised to find that he hadn't made any lamb offal.

“I noticed you haven’t been eating much these past few days, Uncle,” said Sister Yang, “so I didn’t cook anything today.”

Li Long suddenly said, "Sister Yang, have you ever thought about whether you could cook the mutton offal and sell it?"

"Lamb offal? Cooked and sold? This dried one won't taste good, will it?" Sister Yang thought for a moment and said, "The liver, the heart, dried... that won't do, will it?"

Dried lamb heart and liver are too brittle and definitely won't taste good.

“No need to dry it, make it spicy, or the kind with a lot of broth,” Li Long said with a smile. “Just leave a little bit of broth, then package it up—oh, I forgot, our beef jerky is still packaged in paper, right? Let’s buy a plastic packaging machine and make it into plastic bags.”

Li Long thought that vacuum packaging machines should be available by now, and the sealing and shrink-wrapping machines for plastic bags should also be available. Although there are no factories in northern Xinjiang, the machines should be available for purchase.

"Um...would it be too much trouble?" Sister Yang was still a little resistant, or rather, apprehensive, about accepting the new product.

“It’s definitely not troublesome, it’s very simple.” Gu Xiaoxia encouraged her, “Think about it, you can make so many flavors out of beef jerky, what are you afraid of? I reckon it’s definitely easier to operate than a dryer.”

“Yes, that’s exactly right.” Li Long felt that his mind had been opened up and the world had become much wider. “Let’s give it a try first. If we can make it and others like it, that would be great.”

Every month we have to ship out goods, so when we do, we include some in the order as gifts, so people can try them and see if they like them.

Originally, we planned to sell all this lamb offal in retail, but now we won't. If we can really develop new products, it will be good for the jerky processing plant as well.

Yushanjiang and Keyum produce a lot of lamb offal every day, which is perfect for making this.

Although Keyum had some reservations about Li Long giving the 50-ton mutton business to Yushanjiang, he still wanted the meat jerky workshop's daily business of several hundred kilograms.

Right now, his mutton offal soup stall in Shicheng doesn't consume a lot of mutton offal every day, so he would definitely be happy if Li Long could buy it all for him.

After hearing what Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia both said, Sister Yang was genuinely interested, but then she became worried: "Is that machine easy to buy?"

Li Long smiled and said, "I'll ask the machinery factory first. They make machinery and have a lot of connections, so they should be able to get things done."

After lunch, when it was time for work, Li Long called Director Du to inquire about the situation.

"Let me ask around for you. There are no factories in northern Xinjiang that produce such machines, but there are some that sell in Urumqi. Food factories have these machines."

Fragments of memories surfaced in Li Long's mind. He used to work in a food factory, where there were indeed old-fashioned sealing machines (compared to the small household sealing machines he had seen in his previous life), plastic packaging machines, and so on.

"How many do you need?" Factory Director Du asked, unaware of Li Long's thoughts. "What do you need them for?"

Li Long snapped out of his daze and explained, "I'll need one of each. Do you have my address? If I can contact them, I'll go buy them, or you can order them for me and have them sent here. If they don't deliver, I can pick them up myself."

"It's highly likely that delivery and installation will be included," said Factory Director Du. "This kind of machine is the same as the drip irrigation tape production equipment we're currently producing in our factory. Their technicians will handle the installation; otherwise, if you break it, they'll have to come and fix it."

After hanging up the phone, Li Long stood there for a moment before going to the warehouse to continue working.

Sister Yang rode over on her bicycle, carrying three plates of sheep offal, intending to try it out first and see how to best prepare it.

That leaves sheep's heads and trotters. These are a bit harder to get. While spicy rabbit heads are sold in later generations and can be mailed, and quite a few people eat them, spicy sheep's heads might not sell as well.

So the sheep's head and hooves still need to be processed.

The warehouse was piled high with sheep heads and hooves, which was quite troublesome to deal with. After all, these things needed to be singed, and that procedure alone could deter many people.

So Li Long could only sigh; it was inevitable that they would have to be taken to Wucheng and Beiting to sell them.

He thought for a moment, then stepped out of the warehouse and went to the front to make a phone call to Chen Hongjun.

Chen Hongjun answered the phone, and after exchanging a few pleasantries, Li Long said to him, "Old Chen, I have more than two thousand sheep heads and hooves here. Could you sell them on my behalf?"

"Resale? You want to sell them here? Sure," Chen Hongjun said with a smile. "Business is slow in winter, and I'm quite idle here. Give me a few hundred to put here, and it'll attract some customers."

"I sell sheep heads for four yuan and sheep hooves for fifty cents. How about this, I'll give you the sheep head for three yuan, plus two sheep hooves. If you just want the sheep hooves, I'll give you two cents each. You can pay whatever you want, how about that?"

"Sure," Chen Hongjun said. "Should I go pick it up myself, or will you bring it to me?"

“I’ll deliver it to you,” Li Long said. “I was just planning to haul a truckload to sell around Beiting and Wucheng, so I’ll take it with me on the way.”

"Sure. By the way, you can set up a stall near the markets in Beiting and Wucheng. In the dead of winter, these are the places with the most people, and those who go to the vegetable market will also be looking to buy something cheap like this."

Now a kilogram of mutton with bones costs almost three yuan, and a sheep's head sells for four yuan. That's at least one or two kilograms. Although it's a bit of a hassle to prepare, it should still be edible.

After doing this calculation, Li Long decided to adjust the selling price.

After all, when you factor it in, a sheep's head, even after the wool has been singed off, might not actually weigh two or three kilograms.

Selling it for four yuan might be a bit expensive.

How about three and a half yuan? Or four yuan for a sheep's head with two hooves?

Well, that's it.

After making up his mind, Li Long called his older brother—because he only needed to sell one truck, and there was one in the yard of his own purchasing station. This was the first time Liu Gaolou had driven over a GAZ truck that hadn't sold, and he could drive it himself.

But one person definitely couldn't do it, so he had to call on his older brother.

"Sure, when are we going? Should we bring Junfeng along?"

"You should bring those. Wear warm clothes tomorrow, and I'll drive a truck to pick you up."

"Why would we need a ride? We're driving to the recycling station. And then you'll have to drive us back?" Li Jianguo said. "Is there anything else we're bringing?"

"I won't bring it," Li Long said.

After hanging up the phone, he first tidied up the GAZ truck, filling the water tank with hot water. After starting the engine, he drove to the warehouse entrance and called Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng to load sheep heads and hooves into the truck bed.

These two have eaten quite a bit of this these past two days, including lamb offal.

They don't lack meat, but they prefer to eat offal, as preparing sheep's head is more troublesome.

Although there is no shortage of coal now, fewer people are willing to do troublesome things.

A whole truckload of sheep heads and hooves was loaded, but less than half of them were still in the warehouse.

However, this trip was just a trial run to see how things went, and it would be best if we could sell it.

Cover it with a tarpaulin, drive the car into the parking space, and drain the water. Li Long now misses the big car with power steering terribly.

The next day, when Li Long arrived at the purchasing station, his elder brothers Li Jianguo and Li Junfeng were already there.

"Brother Long, do you want me to come along?" Liang Shuangcheng asked as he saw Li Long and the others getting into the car.

“There’s no room left. The passenger seat can only seat two people,” Li Long said. “It’s okay, you can handle those hides at the recycling station.”

"Okay." Liang Shuangcheng knew that sitting in the back would be freezing. The outside temperature was below minus twenty degrees Celsius even during the day, and with the wind, it felt like minus thirty degrees Celsius. Even wearing a sheepskin coat would make you feel freezing.

So forget it.

Li Jianguo and Li Junfeng got into the car. Neither of them were particularly burly, so they were comfortable sitting in the passenger seat.

Li Long got into the car and said, "Today I plan to go to Beiting first, unload some things at Lao Chen's place, and then go to the entrance of the Beiting vegetable market to hawk them for a while. If I can sell them, great; if not, I'll try my luck in Wucheng."

“Okay, you’re in charge today,” Li Jianguo said with a smile.

After driving out of the recycling station, I headed east, facing the sunlight. The winter sun wasn't glaring at all; it felt warm through the car window.

The GAZ truck wasn't very well sealed, so it was quite cold inside. However, everyone was dressed warmly, and since we were all men, no one complained. We just chatted about our recent experiences.

"Aren't you going to sell that sewage for now?" Li Jianguo asked.

"Let's store the waste first. It's all cleaned up, and it'll last through the winter. I'm thinking of seeing if we can process it into a mature product, then package it up and sell it," Li Long explained. "We're currently ordering a plastic bag packaging machine; we'll see how it goes once it arrives."

“That’s a new approach.” Li Jianguo nodded. “Your dried meat is pretty good. If we can make this, we can also go there to buy mutton and offal. Old Ma’s shop has so many cattle and sheep; we could actually process a batch of them.”

Li Long thought about it and realized it made sense. He had originally planned to enter this market, so he bought a large quantity to maintain. But now that Yushanjiang was involved and he had invested, it was as if he had already entered the market, so there was no need for him to maintain so many himself.

Although Yang Laoliu is still vigorous despite his age, and so is Uncle Luo, they are both elderly, and there's no need to burden them with such a heavy load.

So when his older brother mentioned it, Li Long thought that once he had processed most of the sheep heads and hooves, he would tell Yu Shanjiang that he would clean out a batch of the cattle and sheep in Lao Ma Hao, keep a hundred or two for the elderly to enjoy, and sell the rest.

As for fattening, let Yushanjiang handle that. Driving to Beiting, Li Long headed straight for Chen Hongjun's purchasing station.

When Chen Hongjun heard the sound of a car and stood up to look, Li Long's truck had already driven in.

Chen Hongjun quickly came out and pointed him to the warehouse door, where Li Long turned the car upside down so the rear was facing the door.

As Li Long was getting off the truck to unload, he saw the words "Sheep heads and hooves for sale today" written on the blackboard on the wall.

The price is left blank, probably because the item hasn't arrived yet, so it wasn't marked.

Chen Hongjun invited the people into the house and gave them some water, and then began unloading the goods.

Five hundred sheep heads paired with one thousand sheep hooves cost one thousand five hundred yuan. Chen Hongjun didn't take the extra sheep hooves, mainly because he wanted to test the waters first.

He estimates that he'll be able to sell these sheep heads until February next year.

After all, the quantity is large.

Li Long didn't stay there long. He drove to the vegetable market, following the directions Chen Hongjun had given him.

Although it's called a vegetable market, it actually sells not only vegetables at this time, but also grains, oils, seasonings, and other non-staple foods.

The market was quite large. Li Long and his group drove to the entrance and parked in an open space.

Li Long turned off the truck, got out, opened the cargo bed, and seeing that there were quite a few people around, climbed into the cargo bed and shouted:
"Selling sheep heads! One sheep head with two hooves for three yuan and fifty cents! Cheap sheep heads for sale! One sheep head with two hooves for three yuan and fifty cents!"

After shouting a few times, Li Long felt a tickle in his throat. He had shouted a bit too loudly, which had attracted attention. His throat was a little sore from the sudden shouting.

How long has it been since I've shouted like this?

In that instant, Li Long was lost in memories; it seemed like it had been a long time since he had sold goods like this.

It feels like a long-lost feeling.

Li Jianguo and Li Junhai were holding onto the side of the carriage when they saw several people hesitatingly approaching. Overjoyed, they immediately called out:

"Fresh sheep's head and hooves, just slaughtered these past two days, come and buy! Cheap sale, fresh sheep's head and hooves!"

Two people listened, and seeing the mountain of sheep heads and hooves piled on the cart, actually came over.

"Is it really fresh?" a man in his fifties asked in Lanzhou-Yinchuan Mandarin. "Where is it from?"

“From Manas,” Li Long replied in the same Mandarin. “They were slaughtered just two days ago. The mutton was ordered by the supply and marketing cooperative, but they didn’t want the sheep’s head and hooves, so they brought them over.”

As soon as he said that, the conversation made sense, and the man immediately took out his money, asking as he did so:
Can I choose?

Li Jianguo and Li Junfeng turned to ask Li Long.

"Yes, let's buy the biggest ones first!" Li Long decided decisively, then raised his voice:
"Selling sheep heads and hooves! First come, first served, pick the biggest ones! Three yuan and fifty cents each, size doesn't matter! You can even get two hooves with it, it's such a good deal!"

The man picked out one that looked very large, and Li Long handed it to him, also grabbing two lamb trotters and handing them over at the same time.

The man walked away happily.

"Young man, you're quite the businessman. You talk a good game," another woman in her fifties or sixties said with a smile in Mandarin. "Here, give me a sheep's head too. My husband loves it. By the way, can you sell your sheep's trotters separately?"

"They can be sold individually for 50 cents each."

"Five cents, huh? Here's the deal: give me a sheep's head and six sheep's hooves—four for two dollars, right? Can you make it cheaper, how about five dollars?"

"Sorry, ma'am, this is already the wholesale price," Li Long said in Mandarin. "I can't lower it any further. This price is close to the cost price. If I lower it any further, I won't make any money."

"Alright, then you'll have to pick me a big one!"

“Okay, okay, no problem,” Li Long said.

Give the woman the sheep's head and hooves; she can't get out now. Li Long looked around and saw that more than a dozen people had gathered around.

"First come, first served, right? I want the sheep's head!" a man said.

"This is mine, I saw it first, here's the money..."

Li Long immediately understood that these people were attracted by his offer to let them choose first.

Think about it, three yuan and fifty cents is just over a kilogram of mutton, but you can buy a sheep's head and two trotters. If you choose a large one, a whole sheep's head will weigh more than two kilograms after being singed, and the two trotters will weigh half a kilogram. Either way, you're making a profit.

So these people are really determined to steal it.

Fortunately, Li Jianguo and Li Junfeng were both quite strong and managed to block the side of the carriage. One of them took care of one side while Li Long picked out sheep heads and trotters for the customers inside the carriage.

Chinese people love to watch a spectacle, and as soon as the crowd gathered, many people who were browsing the market followed suit, making the sales faster and faster. Li Long, however, remained calm, collecting money and handing over goods while chatting and explaining to customers.

In less than half an hour, they sold two or three hundred sheep heads, and Li Long's bag was full of change.

The initial crowd dispersed, some remained to watch the spectacle, while others lingered around the sideboard, trying to pick out a large one, clutching their money but unsure of what to do with it.

Li Long breathed a sigh of relief. In just a short while, in the dead of winter, he actually started sweating!
It's been a long time since we've had this kind of atmosphere.

Although the amount of money wasn't much, the sense of accomplishment was immense.

"They must have sold at least two hundred sheep heads by now, right?" Li Junfeng said, wiping away sweat. "These people really know how to buy!"

“Great! It seems we can sell this whole truckload of goods right here,” Li Jianguo said. “People have more money these days. Think back to when we went to Shicheng, we could only sell twenty or thirty bunches of coriander for five cents a bunch, and we couldn’t sell them all in half a day.”

“Yes, people have money now and can afford to eat well,” Li Junfeng said. “This place in northern Xinjiang is still the best. Back home, people would have to haggle for a long time and pick and choose for ages. Here, it’s so easy to buy things; if you like something, you just buy it.”

"The main reason is that the goods are cheap," Li Long said with a smile. "If it were priced at the original four yuan, I guess there would be bargaining involved."

After chatting for a while and taking a break, Li Long noticed that there were more and more people at the market entrance, so he started shouting again.

These shouts attracted another group of people, and they continued selling until lunchtime. By then, the market was almost empty, and most of the sheep heads in the truck had been sold, with only two or three hundred left.

We ordered a little too many lamb trotters, and were worried we wouldn't have enough to go with the meal. But it seems we still have quite a few left.

"Brother, you take Junfeng to eat first, I'll stay here and keep watch for a while," Li Long said, jumping out of the car. "I'll start the car now, and I'll go over after you guys finish eating."

“Okay.” Li Jianguo didn’t stand on ceremony and took Li Junfeng to a nearby restaurant for a meal.

After being frozen all morning, we went into the restaurant and sat down. The waiter came over and poured us a bowl of hot tea. We blew on it, took a sip, and immediately felt warm.

Seeing that no one was around, Li Long put the side panel up and started the car, but he didn't get on. He stayed under the car, put the side panel down again, and just wandered around in place.

Standing on the ground, sheltered from the wind and basking in the sun, it wasn't too cold. He had eaten a lot of good food over the years, and although he was almost thirty, he had plenty of yang energy and wasn't really afraid of the cold. At least at the current temperature, he wouldn't get cold.

Although the blood on the sheep heads and hooves in the carriage had frozen, it still had a strong muttony smell. The sheep brought over from Yushan Jiangnong mostly came from within a radius of two to three hundred kilometers centered on Ma County, and almost all of them ate alkali grass, so the meat wasn't very muttony.

That's why the man who initially listened to his Mandarin pronunciation readily bought it. Some people wouldn't be able to eat a sheep's head with a very strong muttony smell.

So he recalled that some people, when they received sheep heads and hooves, would smell them to confirm their identity.

Inside the restaurant, Li Junfeng ordered mixed noodles, while Li Jianguo ordered fried noodles. The restaurant wasn't big, but it had two woks inside. One of the two men was stir-frying vegetables, and the other was pulling noodles; they both looked quite skilled.

Li Junfeng's noodles were served first, but by the time he had finished mixing and enjoying them, Li Jianguo's fried noodles had also arrived.

Li Jianguo ate extremely fast, taking large bites and wolfing down his food. He finished in no time, wiped his mouth, and said to the waiter, "Another order of stir-fried pork noodles, plus one more bowl of noodles."

He paid the bill, then said to Li Junfeng, "You eat slowly, I'll go get your Uncle Xiaolong."

"Okay," Li Junfeng said while eating.

As Li Jianguo left, Li Junfeng was still thinking, "Isn't Uncle Jianguo hot? The fried noodles aren't exactly cheap."

Li Long was squinting in the sun when he heard footsteps approaching. He opened his eyes and was somewhat surprised to see his older brother coming over. He said, "Brother, why are you eating so fast?"

"They're quick to make it," Li Jianguo said. "I've already ordered the noodles for you, so hurry up and go in."

Li Long nodded and walked towards the restaurant.

When they went in, Li Junfeng hadn't finished eating yet. Seeing Li Long come in, he pointed to the table opposite and said, "Uncle Xiaolong, Uncle Jianguo has already ordered for you."

As he spoke, he poured Li Long a bowl of tea.

Li Long sat down, drank a bowl of hot tea, and said with a smile, "It's warmer in here than outside."

"Hehe, that's right." Li Junfeng said while eating, "The food here tastes pretty good too."

He has become accustomed to the food in northern Xinjiang and can now judge its quality.

Most restaurants that can open near the market are probably doing a decent job. This isn't a train station; the people coming and going are mostly locals who aren't rushing in and out, so if the food isn't good, nobody will eat there.

Li Long's noodles were served quickly. He was peeling garlic, but didn't eat it right away. He peeled two cloves of garlic, crushed them, threw them into the noodle plate, and then poured the vegetables in.

This wasn't the first time Li Junfeng had seen Li Long eat noodles with garlic like this, but he still found it somewhat amusing.

He eats noodles and garlic by himself, but he usually holds the garlic in his left hand and chopsticks in his right hand while eating noodles. He eats a bite of noodles and a bite of garlic at the same time, which he finds very satisfying.

Seeing the waiter serving another person, Li Long looked up and said, "Give me a bowl of noodle soup."

The waiter nodded and turned to walk inside. Li Junfeng quickly added, "Give me a bowl too."

When the waiter came in, he said to Li Long, "I forgot about it earlier, this soup is really good."

Li Long smiled and continued eating his noodles.

After quickly finishing his noodles, Li Long blew on the cooled soup a few times and drank it down, washing away the greasiness in his throat. He felt completely satisfied.

Wiping his mouth, he saw Li Junfeng still slowly drinking his soup and said, "You drink first, I'll go out first."

"I'm done now." Li Junfeng hurriedly put down his bowl and followed Li Long out.

In front of the truck, Li Jianguo was talking to a middle-aged man. When Li Long approached, Li Jianguo said to the man:
"He's the boss, so state your terms."

Then he said to Li Long, "This Mr. Qin sells meat at the market. He knows we sell sheep heads here and wants to talk about cooperation."

Mr. Qin smiled and offered Li Long a cigarette, but Li Long waved his hand and said, "I don't smoke. How can we cooperate? Do you want to buy in bulk?"

"Yes, yes, I see you have quite a few sheep heads and hooves. How about I order a hundred?"

What's the price?

"I've inquired. Your sheep head and two hooves cost three yuan and fifty cents. If I want to buy in bulk, how about three yuan each?"

“If it’s three yuan each, it can’t have the hooves on,” Li Long said. “As you can see, we’re not worried about selling them. In just this morning, we’ve already sold about six or seven hundred heads.”

The man did some calculations, thought for a moment, and said, "How about offering a hoof?"

“If you want to take a hoof, then you’ll have to take all the sheep heads in my car,” Li Long said. “Otherwise, it’s not worth it for us.”

Upon hearing this, the man looked up at the carriage, considered it for a moment, gritted his teeth, and said, "Okay, sure."

The man went over and found a cart to pull up the sheep's head. Li Long and Li Junfeng passed it down from the cart, while Li Jianguo counted it from below. The man brought another person to help load it.

It took four trips to haul all the sheep heads. There were 231 sheep heads left. After matching them with a sheep hoof, there were more than 300 sheep hooves left in the truck, which Mr. Qin bought for 4 mao each.

Based on this calculation, Boss Qin would have to pay Li Long over eight hundred yuan.

But judging from his happy expression, he must have made a profit.

"Hey, I didn't expect to end up selling in wholesale," Li Junfeng said. "I thought it wouldn't sell as fast in the afternoon as it did in the morning, and that these leftovers would sell by sunset. I really didn't expect this."

"Let's go check out the market," Li Long said. "There are some fresh vegetables here that we don't have in our Ma County market, so we can buy some to take back with us."

There are three shops selling fresh vegetables in the market, all covered with cotton quilts, and there are stoves in the shops.

Some of the vegetables were chives and celery, but only one shop had chili peppers, and the price was not low, five yuan per kilogram. As soon as Li Jianguo heard that, he turned around and left.

Li Long still bought three portions, each weighing two kilograms, so that each household would need some.

Then he bought some chives, while Li Jianguo bought some kelp. He couldn't bear to buy fresh vegetables, feeling that they weren't as tasty as cabbage and potatoes in winter.

As for leafy greens, there are some in the pickle jar, but they don't taste quite the same.

Li Long bought some more tofu and bean sprouts, and then the three of them went back together.

There were three of each item. After getting on the bus, Li Long said, "Each family gets one of these. Take them back with you." Then he counted out a wad of cash from his bag and gave Li Jianguo and Li Junfeng one hundred each: "This is your hard-earned money for today. Don't think it's too little."

Li Jianguo wanted to decline, and Li Junfeng naturally wanted to decline as well, but Li Long turned them down. He said with a smile, "Since you've gone to all this trouble, you can't let it go to waste. Take them all, brother. You have to take them, otherwise Junfeng will feel embarrassed to take them."

Li Junfeng blushed.

Li Jianguo accepted the money and said, "Will you come again tomorrow?"

"I plan to sell the rest at the Wucheng vegetable market tomorrow. There are more people there, and I think I'll sell them faster."

"Okay, but don't give us any money tomorrow. This hundred yuan is more than your second brother's monthly salary. We earned it in just one day, this is too much money."

Li Long smiled and then drove west.

Back at the purchasing station, Li Jianguo and Li Junfeng didn't leave immediately. Instead, they joined Li Long and the others to load the remaining sheep heads and hooves from the warehouse onto the truck, covered them with tarpaulins, and then drove back.

"Selling pretty fast today," Li Qingxia said as she came over to check. "What, lots of people want it?"

"Well, we bought some wholesale, and the rest we'll sell in small quantities. We sell them cheaply, so there are a lot of people who want them," Li Long said while sorting through the loose change. "It's just that these small change coins are a bit of a hassle."

"What's the trouble? We'll just deposit it in the bank tomorrow, and then it'll be a whole bill," Li Qingxia said with experience. "Keep some; we can't have only whole bills in this house."

"Okay, I got it. By the way, I have to go sell them tomorrow, I think I'll get a lot of change," Li Long said.

It was a tiring day, and after collecting the money, Li Long went back to the courtyard early. It had been a long time since he had sold things himself, and Li Long felt quite refreshed, or rather, he found that feeling from when he first started his business selling fish and other things.

So although I was tired, I was still quite excited. Even after resting for a while at home, when I was about to go to the kitchen to cook, I felt that the lamb offal didn't seem so unpalatable.

Just as he was about to try making a big plate of lamb tripe, the door opened and Sister Yang returned carrying a bowl of vegetables.

"I made two kinds of lamb offal today, shall we try them tonight?" Sister Yang said as she carried things to the kitchen after seeing Li Long. "Uncle, if you can't eat it, I'll cook you something else."

"I can eat, I can eat," Li Long said with a smile. "I've recovered."

"That's great. How are the sheep's heads and trotters selling today?" Sister Yang asked while busy in the kitchen.

"Great! We'll probably sell out by tomorrow," Li Long said with a smile. "I really didn't expect those people to actually buy so much!"

"The market is getting better."

"Yes, that's right, it's getting better."

(End of this chapter)