Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1298 The Luxury of Ordinary People
When Xie Yundong and Li Junfeng drove to find Li Long, Li Long was somewhat surprised.

"Why did you decide to sell fish?" Li Long asked Xie Yundong.

"That's because Junfeng said that things sell quickly at that wholesale market," Xie Yundong said with a smile. "These past two years, we haven't had much fishing at Xiaohaizi, and there's nothing to do in the winter."

"Just the two of you, or are there others?" Li Long asked again.

“Daqiang and the others all have them. Daqiang also said that everyone has made money in the past two years, so he can’t do it like he did a few years ago, going to people’s yards to hawk his wares. But if it’s wholesale, then he can do it.”

Li Long smiled, and in an instant, he thought of the time when he and Tao Daqiang pulled a sled to Shicheng to sell fish.

"Are those fish easy to catch?" Li Long asked while scraping the grease off the sheepskin. "If you really want to do wholesale, you definitely need several tons of fish."

"In the past two days, we broke seven holes in the ice in Xiaohaizi and caught more than 500 kilograms of fish. It's cold this year, and the ice is frozen solid. We've been catching fish for the past two days, and I estimate that it won't take more than five days. One truck won't be enough to hold them all."

"Okay, you guys catch him and call me from my older brother's house. I'll drive my truck over and pick him up."

Li Long stopped getting involved in fishing through the ice holes; he had other work to do.

Xie Yundong and the others hadn't originally planned to bring Li Long back to the village. They were just asking him if he wanted to participate. If he did, they would drive the truck; if not, they would think of other ways—trucks are different from cars; they can't just be driven casually.

With Li Long's agreement, Xie Yundong and his team could proceed with their plan.

Li Long didn't think too much about it; it was just a matter of hauling fish to Wucheng, nothing serious.

Using the leftover plastic materials, Sister Yang began experimenting with packaging dried meat and lamb offal.

Now she has to bring a lot of lamb offal from the purchasing station every day, thaw it, clean it, mix the seasonings, and then stir-fry it.

Several pots were set up here, and the aroma of stir-frying wafted far and wide.

Because of the packaging experiment, some packaging products would be defective, so Sister Yang asked the workers to divide them up and take them back.

The female workers were all quite happy.

After several days of trial production, the first batch of vacuum-packed lamb offal was put on display for trial sale in the market's dried meat shops.

Because it's a new product, Sister Yang is offering a discount to get market feedback as quickly as possible. The original price of half a kilogram of cooked mutton offal was three yuan, but now you can get it for two yuan and fifty cents.

A large sign that read "Discount" was placed next to the counter, with bags of lamb offal next to it, quite eye-catching.

Tong Xuejun didn't go home after get off work at noon; instead, he strolled over to the market.

He works at the county leather factory. The factory's wages and benefits are considered good by the standards of the county. He is twenty-two years old and still single—mainly because his standards are quite high. He has been introduced to potential partners, but he hasn't been interested.

He needs to be beautiful, educated, and have a stable job—then how can anyone even consider him?
Tong Xuejun has a good job, but he's not tall and his looks are average; he just has a high opinion of himself. Since both his parents work and don't ask him to pay for food or anything like that, he saves his salary himself.

He had some fair-weather friends who would often ask him to treat them to meals, and they mostly spoke well of him. After being flattered for a long time, Tong Xuejun began to believe that he was truly exceptional.

His salary is relatively high, so he comes here from time to time to treat himself. He is a regular at the jerky shop and often buys a bag as a snack.

When I arrived today, I saw that big "Discount" sign and casually asked about it.

"Spicy lamb offal, our new product," the salesperson introduced skillfully. "The original price is three yuan a bag, but now it's on special offer for only two yuan and fifty cents. It's all pre-made, just tear it open and you can eat it. If the whole family is eating, just add water to the pot, add some seasonings, and you'll have lamb offal soup. It tastes great."

This is how to prepare the dish in two ways, and it's printed on the outside of the packaging. Because it's a selling point, the salesperson explained it to us.

Tong Xuejun immediately became interested. Dried meat was affordable, but chewing it was tiring. This lamb offal didn't look dried; it could be eaten directly.

He immediately took out his money and bought a bag, then tore it open in front of the salesperson, squeezed out a piece of tripe, and took a bite to taste it.

"Hey, it tastes good!" Tong Xuejun hesitated a little when he took out his money, but after tasting it, he thought it was pretty good.

My hesitation vanished instantly; it's better than eating jerky!
"It tastes great, your new product is really good." He praised it as he ate, and as he walked out, the sales clerk noticed the oil still on his lips and quickly said:

"Comrade Tong, wait a minute, come here, get me a piece of paper, you have oil on your mouth!"

Tong Xuejun smiled awkwardly, walked back to the counter and took the toilet paper—at that time, toilet paper wasn't the kind that came in pull sheets, but rather it was packaged in rectangular plastic bags that could be torn into long strips, and you could tear off only the amount you needed.

"It's a bit oily, but it smells pretty good." He added, wiped his mouth, and continued eating as he left.

People outside saw Tong Xuejun eating mutton offal and became curious because of the smell. Some even went into the store to ask, while others stood at the entrance and peered inside.

Those who can afford to buy dried meat are generally people with a fair amount of money. Ordinary people, counting their meager savings, wouldn't think about this; if they crave it, they'll usually buy some meat or offal to cook at home.

So either those with money hesitate to buy, then see someone else buying and decide to buy a bag, or they don't even look at the butcher shop and just buy what they need and leave.

In the afternoon, Sister Yang came to the store to check on things. The sales clerk pointed to the remaining bags of mutton offal on the counter and said:

"We sold 21 bags this morning, and 7 bags this afternoon so far."

"Did any customers eat it on the spot? Did they give any feedback after they finished eating?"

"Two people said the price was a bit high, but it's okay after the discount; otherwise, they probably wouldn't buy it." The saleswoman had already received instructions from Sister Yang and kept them in mind while selling the goods, so she spoke very smoothly at this moment:

"There are quite a few people eating here, but some customers complain that the sauce makes their hands, mouths, faces and clothes dirty. One pack of tissues isn't enough for me."

The sales volume was decent on the first day of the promotion, but it's unlikely to be a bestseller since it's a new product.

However, the problem of juice making things dirty was indeed something that hadn't been considered before. Sister Yang frowned, thinking about how to solve it.

Just then, someone rushed into the shop, pointed at the sheep tripe, and said:

"Give me two packs. By the way, how long does this discount last? When will the price go back to normal?"

"It will last for ten days," the salesperson said. "After ten days, the price will return to normal."

"Then... give me four packs," the middle-aged man said. "Ten days, okay."

Sister Yang hurriedly asked, "Comrade, are you taking so much to keep at home for yourself, or to give away?"

“My family runs a shop in the village. Someone came to me today asking about this. I couldn’t just say we didn’t have it, so I came in to buy a few bags to take a look.”

It's for purchasing goods.

Sister Yang nodded and didn't ask any further questions.

After the man left, Sister Yang went home.

During dinner, she seemed a little absent-minded, so Gu Xiaoxia asked her what was wrong.

"The packaged lamb offal is already on sale at our store in the market," said Sister Yang. "So far, the market's acceptance is going well, but customers are complaining that it's juicy and makes their hands or clothes dirty."

"Why not just add a pack of tissues?" Li Long said casually. "Just add a small sheet of toilet paper to the bag."

He recalled that a certain brand of beef jerky in northern Xinjiang (not really dry, but the kind with juice) also had paper added, and not only paper but also toothpicks.

“It’s not good to put it outside the packaging either,” Li Qingxia said. “What, stick it on? If we put it inside, won’t it get wet from the juice?”

Neither Gu Xiaoxia nor Sister Yang understood what Li Long meant.

"What I mean is, our lamb offal is vacuum-packed, so why not make it two layers? The outer layer can have the instructions, ingredients, production date, shelf life, etc. printed on it, and the inner layer can be vacuum-packed. Just put a folded piece of toilet paper between the two layers."

After Li Long explained it this way, everyone understood.

"It's quite troublesome." Li Qingxia felt that doing this was a bit unnecessary.

Sister Yang started to think about it; she was considering the cost-effectiveness.

Gu Xiaoxia was quite supportive of Li Long: "That's great! It's convenient and clean to eat from here, and your hands won't get dirty after you finish. You can just put the inner bag and toilet paper into the outer bag, and that's it."

"It is a bit troublesome, but the people who buy it aren't short of money. If we satisfy them, they will be more likely to buy it again," Li Long explained.

Sister Yang understood and nodded seriously: "Then we'll prepare for both scenarios. On one hand, we'll do vacuum packaging, and on the other hand, we'll contact a packaging factory to print bags."

Since Sister Yang had already made her decision, Li Long didn't say anything more. With the general direction settled, the next step was the details. Women are meticulous, and with so many female workers there, brainstorming together would surely lead to good results.

Tong Xuejun's bag of mutton offal really got his hands and mouth dirty, and he even dripped oil onto his clothes.

The tissue in my hand can wipe the juice off my hands and face, but it's more troublesome to wipe it off my clothes.

So Tong Xuejun didn't go to the market to buy dried meat for the next few days.

The food at home was a bit bland, but he still couldn't resist going to the market entrance today.

There were quite a few people buying bagged food at the store entrance. Some people just carried it out, while others tore it open after buying it, and then I watched them pull out a piece of paper from inside before tearing open the packaging—wait, there's paper inside!

Has this been changed?

Tong Xuejun quickened his pace and walked inside. Seeing the sales clerk collecting money and getting goods for customers, he asked:
"Little Ma, have you changed the packaging?"

"Yes, Comrade Tong," Xiao Ma, the sales clerk, explained while attending to other customers, "The original packaging made it easy to get your hands dirty, so our boss changed it later."

"This is good." Tong Xuejun smiled. "Oh... there's still a discount? Here, give me two packs!"

……

The repackaged lamb offal is quite popular locally, but of course, it doesn't sell in large quantities. The population of Ma County is limited, and the market is only so big; it's a fixed market.

But Sister Yang just needs feedback from here; she just wants the improvements to be well-received.

The shelf life of vacuum-packed food at room temperature has not yet been determined and is still being tested, but in the dead of winter, it certainly won't spoil after being frozen solid for a month or two.

Li Long casually mentioned that the production line for tin cans is actually not expensive, and once they are sealed, they can last for several years.

It can even be preserved for more than ten years—he vaguely remembered that he heard Director Li Xiangqian say at the supply and marketing cooperative that they had found military canned braised pork from the 1960s stored in the warehouse, with a shelf life of five years, and it had been more than 20 years since then.

The worker pried open the lid, tasted it, and found the meat was perfectly fine.

Sister Yang had some ideas—she asked Li Long if Liu Shanmin would always need canned meat.

Li Long immediately nodded. The demand for canned goods over there could continue until the early 2000s.

It's almost never stopped!

Sister Yang was tempted.

But that's not an option right now. We need to focus on the immediate tasks first, and then we can think about the rest.

She then began mass-producing vacuum-packed lamb offal, which she then shipped along with dried meat to the Beijing office of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, Huang Lei, and Zhao Hui.

Let's see the results.

At this point, Li Long was mainly responsible for coming up with ideas. If Sister Yang was going to do it, he would contact the canning equipment supplier, as these things are easy to buy in China.

But things are fine for now. We can pave the way for the lamb offal business first, and we should keep the dried meat business. If we continue to make canned goods, we won't need to adjust the pre-processing.

On the evening of December 19th, Li Jianguo called Li Long and said that they had caught enough fish and that if Li Long was free, he could come over the next morning to load them onto the truck and take them away.

Li Long naturally had no objections.

"Bring some crucian carp over and cook them here." The next day, before dawn, Li Long went to the purchasing station to drive his truck. Hearing the commotion, Li Qingxia got up and, after finding out what was going on, said, "They're really something, starting to deal with fish in the dead of winter, and several tons of them!"

Li Long tidied up the truck, started it, and drove off to Team Four.

By the time they reached the fourth team, a sliver of light had just appeared in the east; it was still not fully light.

In Li Jianguo's yard, about twenty bulging burlap sacks were piled up. When the truck arrived, Xie Yundong and the others, who had already arrived, quickly came over and started loading them.

"So many!" Li Long said with a smile. "You guys have been amazing these past few days."

"Yeah, there are a lot more fish in the little lake now. I remember in the first two years, we caught a lot, and the fish seemed to be getting fewer. Even breaking through the ice didn't catch many. Later, we stopped catching them, and slowly the fish started to come back. You don't know, we've caught quite a lot of big crucian carp these past few days!"

"Hey, big brother, did you keep the fish? When I came over, my dad said he wanted to bring some crucian carp over so they could cook it."

"I put them all in a few iron buckets. The water temperature isn't high, so the fish are all alive," Li Jianguo said with a smile. "Later, I'll put them in the car and take them to the county, to your home."

Li Long didn't go with the loading; instead, he went to check on the live fish.

Against the wall in the kitchen, there was a row of five iron buckets: two buckets of large crucian carp, two buckets of palm-sized crucian carp, and one bucket of small dogfish.

Sensing the disturbance, the previously quiet fish suddenly became flustered, splashing water as they swam.

“I was saying I’d bring you fish as soon as I caught them, but they said it was too tiring to fish out of the ice every day, so they’d wait until you came over,” Sister-in-law Liang Yuemei explained with a smile. “Take them away today, they’re all alive, they’ll be fresh to cook and eat when you get home.”

Outside, all the able-bodied men carried sacks, two to a time, and with a jerk, they tossed them into the carriage. Tao Daqiang and Xu Haijun were on top, stacking up the sacks that had been thrown up.

After more than twenty sacks were piled up, the carriage was bulging but not so much that it would shake. Before closing the carriage, Li Jianguo and Xie Yundong lifted the scales onto it.

Since it's wholesale, this is the main thing we use.

Li Long carried a bucket in each hand and put them into the van his older brother was going to drive. The van had plenty of seats, so everyone could sit down.

With more people around, it'll be more lively. Since I don't have anything else to do anyway, I might as well make a trip to Wucheng.

After finishing, we set off, first going to the county town, where we put the five buckets of crucian carp in the courtyard, and then heading east.

It was not yet noon when they arrived in Wucheng. Li Long remembered the road he had taken last time. He drove to the entrance of the wholesale market and saw that there were still a few trucks left there, so he parked in the same spot he had parked last time.

Li Jianguo arrived quickly in his van. Several young men got out, lowered the rear panel of the van, took down the scale, and waited.

There weren't many people around yet, so Li Long went to the carriage to take down a large plastic sheet and laid it on the side of the carriage. Tao Daqiang and Liang Dacheng carried down a sack of fish and poured it onto the plastic sheet.

When this sack of fish was dumped, a huge amount of fish appeared, which looked quite spectacular.

This attracted quite a few people.

At this moment, Li Long saw that the fish in the sack were all over one kilogram, mainly carp, silver carp, and grass carp, with some bighead carp—that is, bighead carp.

There were very few black lines; I didn't see many.

The vendor pushing the cart saw the fish, and two people immediately came over and asked about the price.

"Carp retails for 2.2 yuan, grass carp and silver carp retails for 2 yuan, and bighead carp retails for 1.8 yuan. Wholesale price starts from 50 kilograms, and the price is 0.2 yuan cheaper per kilogram."

This was a price agreed upon beforehand. Currently, carp are priced at around 2.4 or 2.5 yuan per ounce, but the quantity is limited. Other fish are also priced higher than what Li Long and his group quoted. They're offering a lower price now to sell them quickly.

The two vendors who came over were experts. They squatted down and tried to lift the gill covers. These things were frozen solid and difficult to lift, so they broke the gill covers. But they could tell that the gills were bright red, and although it was frozen, it had only been frozen in the last two days.

Most people who come here don't haggle much; the two vendors are trying to mix and match different items.

“A mix and match is fine, but we need to pack it for you; we need everything. Of course, the wholesale price is one yuan and eighty cents,” Li Long said.

The two men discussed it and had no objections, so one bought 50 kilograms and the other bought 80 kilograms. After weighing them, they collected the money and drove away.

Then a few more people arrived. It had all been agreed beforehand that Li Long would be responsible for driving, and once they arrived, he would oversee the entire operation; he wouldn't need to worry about anything else. So after explaining the first two deals, Li Long stopped interfering and instead focused on keeping an eye on the surroundings.

With Li Jianguo overseeing things here, there were no problems with negotiating prices or wholesaling fish. Li Long then wandered over to the other trucks.

He found vendors selling ribbonfish and frozen shrimp—frozen shrimp is a thin, rectangular block of ice filled with a lot of large shrimp. It must have been caught from the sea, frozen together with water in a plate, and then transported over in batches.

There was a good amount of frozen goods, as well as seaweed, peanuts, and other items.

Li Long went over to ask how much the ribbonfish cost, and he found that there weren't many left in the carriage.

Before the customer could even haggle, the last basket was bought up by a vendor pushing a cart.

"Comrade, I'm sorry, we're out of stock." The middle-aged man pulling the ribbonfish smiled apologetically at Li Long and said, "We'll go get more in a few days."

After he finished speaking, Li Long helped him clean up the carriage and then chatted with him for a few minutes.

Then the middle-aged man said he was going to the market management office to pay management fees, which surprised Li Long, who quickly asked:
"Do we have to pay management fees for selling goods outside the market?"

"Yes, you have to pay. You sell fish over there, right? If you only come here occasionally, it's fine whether you pay or not, as long as the patrols don't care. But if someone reports you, you'll be fined if you don't pay."

Of course, for those of us who come here regularly to sell goods, we definitely have to pay.

After the middle-aged man explained, Li Long understood and said, "Then let's pay too, brother. I'll go with you?"

The middle-aged man was surprised that Li Long would voluntarily pay the management fee. In fact, the market management office basically turned a blind eye to the trucks hauling goods outside the market. If no one reported them, they really wouldn't care, since their main responsibility was the stalls inside the market.

However, if someone actually reports it, it's impossible to ignore it.

Li Long followed the middle-aged man inside, chatting as they walked. He learned that the man's name was Yao Zhenggang, a local from Wucheng, who had only started buying goods from the coast to sell in the last two years.

"Are you bringing it directly from over there? There must have been a lot of trouble along the way, right?" Li Long asked.

“No, I have people over there who will buy the goods and then transport them here by train. It’s too far to drive by car, and the road costs are too high,” Yao Zhenggang said. “However, even over there, it still requires transshipment from the coast to the train station that connects to Wucheng, which is quite troublesome.”

"Judging from how fast you're selling this stuff, you should be making quite a bit of money."

"We make a lot of money, but the costs are also high. Buying ribbonfish from the seaside isn't too expensive, but transporting them to the train station involves passing through several cities, and the tolls add up," Yao Zhenggang complained bitterly. "Unlike you guys, your fish are local, right? You don't have any trouble."

They arrived at the management office, and Li Long watched as Yao Zhenggang paid the money first.

He knew that supply and marketing cooperatives also dealt in seaside goods like ribbonfish, so it was much easier to do it through official channels. Everything followed proper procedures, and under normal circumstances, no one dared to charge extra fees.

Of course, because the market is relatively large and the amount of cargo transported is relatively small, these private cargo transport services are necessary to supplement it.

"Okay, Director Liu, I've finished paying. By the way, this Comrade Li is my friend. He does wholesale in small quantities and came to pay his management fee voluntarily. He deserves praise." After paying, Yao Zhenggang didn't leave immediately but introduced Li Long to the people at the management office.

It's called the management office, but it's actually just a small house at the entrance of the market. The house has its door open, and the furnishings inside are simple: a stove against the wall and a table.

Behind the table sat two men wearing military green cotton overcoats and fleece hats. They were both wearing blue uniforms underneath. When Li Long and his companions entered, one was dozing off, and the other was reading a magazine.

Yao Zhenggang then called out to the people and handed over the money.

"One car? Where did it come from? What kind of car is it? How many are there?"

“Yes, it’s a truck from Ma County, selling frozen fish from the reservoir,” Li Long said hurriedly. “About five tons in total.”

"Five tons of fish, right? Pay a hundred yuan." The man reading the book picked up a pen to write. "What's your name?"

Li Long looked at the two hundred yuan Yao Zhenggang had just paid, and his own one hundred yuan. Was it because ribbonfish were more expensive than carp?
"Don't worry about the price," perhaps because of Yao Zhenggang, seeing Li Long's hesitation, the director explained to Li Long, "For wholesale goods, the tax is included in our management fee."

Li Long immediately took out his money—this was really cheap, including tax.

Holding the tickets, Yao Zhenggang wanted to buy some more things, so Li Long parted ways with him and they left the market.

By this time, a lot of people had gathered around the truck. Fortunately, many people came over, otherwise we really wouldn't have been able to handle it all.

Li Long had already seen several empty sacks on the side of the truck bed. He understood why the fish were selling so quickly: firstly, they were fresh, and secondly, they were cheap.

Before he even reached the truck, Li Long noticed two men on the perimeter who weren't pushing their carts. They were looking at the fishmongers inside and whispering to each other. Li Long decided to go over and listen to what they were saying.

The noise was too loud, and he could only vaguely hear the words "stealing business" and "we'll teach them a lesson." By the time he got closer, the two men had already turned around and gone to the market with their hands in their pockets.

Are they competitors? Or are they fishmongers who already sell fish in the market?
By this time, the market was beginning to show signs of prosperity. Although it wasn't as bustling as it would be ten or twenty years later, it was still much better than it had been five or six years earlier.

Everyone used their unique skills to sell all sorts of things, and even if some goods were unavailable in the market, someone would quickly find a business opportunity to fill the gap.

Everyone is using their intelligence and talent to get rich, but some people will also think of crooked ways.

Li Long walked over, but he didn't go into the crowd. His older brother was organizing Xie Yundong and the others to sell fish; they already had enough manpower. He stayed outside, watching to see if anyone was trying to cause trouble or take advantage of the situation.

Believe it or not, there really is!

"What are you doing!" When Li Long grabbed one of the men's wrists, the man, enraged, shouted, "What do you want? To steal something?"

His shout created a large space around him, revealing him and Li Long.

"Xiao Long, what's wrong?" Li Jianguo asked when he saw Li Long grab someone.

Xie Yundong and the others stopped what they were doing and looked at Li Long. Clearly, if anything happened, they would swarm over immediately.

Outside, the people in Team Four are still very united.

"What do you want?" The man's expression changed slightly when he saw that Li Long was with the fishmonger, and then he shouted, "What, you think you can bully people just because you have more people? Let me tell you, you should ask around and find out whose territory this is. We locals aren't afraid of you... Don't be afraid, everyone..."

"Slap!" Before he could finish speaking, Li Long slapped him across the face.

He moved quickly, and the others were stunned for a moment before their expressions changed.

Some people are disgusted, while others are just watching the show.

Li Long ignored all that and pointed to a fishmonger waiting to buy fish, saying, "He was so close to you just now, didn't you feel it? Look at your clothes, he ripped such a big hole in your coat, and your wallet is gone, didn't you notice?"

The man's expression changed drastically when he looked down. He looked up at the thief who had been slapped across the face by Li Long and had five red finger marks on his face. He was about to hit him.

Li Long reached into the thief's back pocket and pulled out a cloth wallet, saying, "Is this yours?"

"It's mine!" The victim, who had slapped the thief hard, took the wallet, opened it, counted the money, and only breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that he had enough.

Unable to resist because he was restrained by Li Long, the thief was hit several more times and screamed in pain.

Now, everyone who bought fish started checking their pockets.

Fortunately, no one else lost money.

"Alright, you guys continue buying fish, but keep an eye on your wallets," Li Long shouted. "I'm taking him away."

"Comrade, well done!" someone suddenly shouted. "Thanks to you!"

The others also praised Li Long. Li Long smiled and turned his head. The thief was about to walk towards the management office when he saw the two people who had said "stealing business" coming over with two people wearing red armbands.

"It's them! They sell fish and don't pay management fees!" one of them whispered to the manager. "Fire them to death!"

Li Long realized that the administrator knew these two people, and even the thief he was handling—before they even got close, he heard the administrator ask:

"Ji Xiaobo, what's wrong?"

Before the thief could speak, the man whose money he had just stolen interrupted, "Manager Wu, do you know him? He stole my money! He slashed my clothes with a knife... If it weren't for this comrade, I would have lost my money..."

"Thief?" The administrator's expression changed. "Ji Bo, do you understand that this is a crime?" He looked at Li Long after saying that. He had originally wanted to question Li Long because someone had reported him, but now he hesitated.

"He caught the thief, but he's still selling fish here illegally, which is against the rules!" The two men were getting anxious. "Manager Wu, we can't let him get away with this!"

"Yes, yes, pay the management fee. Manager Wu, they haven't sold all their fish yet, they can pay after they've sold them all." The one whose money was stolen realized what had happened and helped Li Long and the others explain, then glared at the two who had reported it: "You two go and sell your fish properly!"
"Their fish aren't as good as others', but they're selling them for a higher price. Are they planning to resort to underhanded tactics?"

"What do you mean by using underhanded tactics? We just can't stand some people selling fish privately! This market has to be built with fees, and we've all paid our fees properly, so why shouldn't they pay?" The two men were a little surprised, not expecting the fishmonger to speak up for Li Long and his group, and hurriedly began to defend themselves.

Li Long laughed. He had already planned ahead when he guessed that the two people had reported him, but he didn't expect that someone would speak up for him now. The others weren't standing idly by either; they were all talking at once, trying to exonerate him.

So catching the thief just now really earned you points.

Since he couldn't show off or slap anyone in the face anymore, Li Long took out the ticket he had just paid for and said:
"Manager Wu, right? We just paid the management fee, take a look."

The two people who reported it were completely dumbfounded. How could this be?

This is clearly the first time someone has come to sell fish in a truck like this. I've never seen them before. How do they know that we have to pay management fees?

Also, there wasn't this big guy at the fishmonger's place earlier. How did he suddenly appear? Did they get some prior notice and know to come over and pay the management fee?
The administrator surnamed Wu took the ticket from Li Long, glanced at it, then looked up at the truck loaded with fish, smiled, and said:

"Not bad, quite proactive, and even acted bravely. Hmm, very good."

He handed the ticket to Li Long and then held out his hand, saying, "Just hand the person over to us. We'll handle this seriously. Thank you!"

Li Long then handed the person over to Manager Wu.

"You two should focus on selling your fish from now on and stop causing trouble. Making money is the important thing," Manager Wu said sternly to the two people who had reported him. "You have no right to speak without investigation. You need solid evidence to report others."

The two men had no choice but to slink away.

So they continued selling fish.

After the people who had been surrounding the fish had taken them away, only five or six sacks remained on the side of the carriage.

Only then did Li Jianguo and the others have some free time to relax and rest.

"Brother Long, what made you suddenly decide to pay the management fee? Are you thinking about the old days when we were selling fish in Shicheng Old Street?" Tao Daqiang asked, squatting down to bask in the sun.

"No, I went to see the ribbonfish seller. They told me after they sold out," Li Long explained. "This truckload of ours should make around ten thousand yuan. Since we're on their turf, we have to make sure we understand the rules."

None of them said anything, but they all remembered this.

Everyone else was tired, but Li Long had nothing to do, so he unloaded another sack of fish from the side of the truck bed.

Before long, more people came to buy fish, and everyone got busy again.

Li Long could tell that these people must have come after hearing the news. After a quick inspection of the fish, they bought them in large quantities, at least 70 or 80 kilograms, and some even bought over 100 kilograms.

It's clear that people's lives are gradually becoming more affluent, and more people can afford to eat fish. In addition, Wucheng itself has a large population, so when several tons of fish are poured in, it's like a drizzle; they quickly blend in and disappear.

Before 2 p.m., the last sack of fish in the carriage was bought by a vendor, leaving two people who hadn't bought any and had to leave disappointed.

As they left, they asked Li Long if he and his group would come back the next day.

Li Long didn't leave them any definite news, after all, it was hard to say whether they would still be able to catch fish.

Next, we ate.

I got up early today. Although it wasn't particularly strenuous, I was still quite tired, and I was really hungry.

We didn't pick a place; we just ate at the same restaurant as last time and ordered two large plates of chicken, plus a few other dishes.

As a result, we waited for a long time—it takes the boss a lot of effort to fry a chicken, and by then other customers were already ordering fried noodles and mixed noodles.

Since they had plenty of free time, Li Long and the others started counting the money separately.

Fortunately, since it's wholesale, most of the money they give is in five or ten yuan, and there are quite a few in fifty or a hundred yuan, while one or two yuan is the least common.

"In the end, it adds up to exactly twelve thousand two hundred and twenty-seven yuan," Li Jianguo calculated the total.

"Let's take Xiaolong's 100 yuan management fee first," Xie Yundong said, and then directly took 100 yuan and gave it to Li Long.

Li Long didn't stand on ceremony and put the money away.

"Shall we split the rest equally?" Li Jianguo asked for everyone's opinion.

“That won’t do. Xiaohaizi is contracted by Xiaolong,” Xie Yundong said. “Logically, we’re just helping Xiaolong catch fish and sell them. If we really want to calculate it, we should just take some wages…”

Tao Daqiang naturally agreed, and Xu Haijun then realized that Xiaohaizi was contracted by Li Long. However, Li Long usually didn't interfere with everyone's fishing, so the villagers gradually got used to catching fish freely in it.

But that doesn't mean that people won't care if we catch so many fish all at once.

Li Long hurriedly waved his hand: "No way, you guys are the ones catching fish, I only contributed a vehicle, how can I split it with you? As for contracting the small lake, the contract fee I paid to the team wasn't much, so just leave me the transportation fee."

“That won’t do,” Tao Daqiang was the first to object. “If you hadn’t built the sluice gate for Xiaohaizi, the north dam of Xiaohaizi would have collapsed during the floods these past two years. How could we have caught so many fish? You should definitely get the lion’s share of the profits!”

Liang Dacheng and Jia Weidong said the same thing. Xu Haijun found it quite interesting, and then whispered to Tao Daqiang, "When you guys used to work, was this how you split the money? Did everyone give way to each other?"

"Pretty much, anyway, I used to earn more, and I felt embarrassed that Brother Long always gave me a bigger share," Tao Daqiang said in a low voice.

Although the voice was soft, Li Long could still hear it. He thought to himself that Da Qiang wasn't stupid after all.

In the end, Li Jianguo made the decision. Li Long was the contractor of Xiaohaizi and had also provided the truck, but he was away these past few days while everyone was working hard catching fish. It was fine for him to get a larger share, but not too much.

The other seven people each received 1,400, and the rest went to Li Long.

Since the eldest brother had spoken, the others had no objections.

The others were also quite happy, after all, they did a really good job, earning more than a year's salary for others in less than five days!

"So, are you still going to catch fish?" Li Long asked, putting away his two thousand yuan. "It seems there's a real shortage of fish in this market."

Actually, the contract fee he paid to the team for Xiaohaizi, even after the increase in the past two years, was only 800 yuan a year. He really made a huge profit!
“Fish are in short supply, but of course we sell them cheaply, just like last time when we sold sheep heads and hooves,” Li Jianguo said. “If we have time, we can catch some more.”

"Catch them, catch them, catch them! We're just idling around anyway." Tao Daqiang was the most enthusiastic. "I'm definitely going to catch them."

"We probably won't be able to catch this many fish in the small lake," Xie Yundong said. "How about we go to the big lake?"

“The large lake is much bigger than the small lake. Although there are many fish in it, it’s probably difficult to spread them over such a large area,” Xu Haijun analyzed objectively.

“Since we have a lot of people, why don’t we make two preparations at Dahai Lake?” Li Long said. “We can either break a hole in the ice at Dahai Lake to cast our nets, or break a hole in the ice at Xiaohai Lake to scoop up fish. Of course, we can also try breaking a hole in the ice at Dahai Lake.”

Bringing the fish over to sell is profitable, but getting several tons of fish from the small lake would be quite difficult.

After all, with such a small body of water, clearing out so many large fish at once means the remaining fish won't be so lacking in oxygen.

Everyone started discussing it, and they only stopped talking when the big plate chicken arrived. They devoured it like a whirlwind because they were really hungry!
When they returned, Li Jianguo and his group had reached an agreement: to set nets to catch fish at Dahai Lake, to break as many holes in the ice as possible, and to cast multiple nets. Since Dahai Lake had a large surface area, they would break holes in the ice a considerable distance from where the nets were cast to scoop up fish and assess the situation.

If that doesn't work, we'll switch to Xiaohaizi.

Their fighting spirit is truly high.

It's all driven by money—if he couldn't make money, he probably wouldn't be so courageous.

(End of this chapter)