Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

In the specialty products hall of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission's Beijing office, Xiao Wang is demonstrating to guests how to eat spicy mutton offal:
"Look, there's a small notch on the side of this bag. Just tear it gently from here, and the bag will open. This bag is sturdy and not easy to break, so the contents won't easily spill out."

But this notch was designed to make it easy to open, isn't that convenient?
After tearing it open, you'll see two things inside the bag. One is vacuum-packed lamb offal, which also has a tear in the bag. The other thing is folded toilet paper, which is used to wipe your hands when eating the lamb offal.

After Xiao Wang's demonstration, the customers really felt that the packaging design was thoughtful, and some of them were already thinking about buying it. After all, the bag is so sturdy, what else can it hold after the food is finished?

Don't think that plastic bags are ordinary at this time. For ordinary people, these things are very useful.

Of course, even 30 or 40 years later, collecting plastic bags is still a hobby for some middle-aged and elderly people. I wonder if it is a stereotype left over from the shortage of resources at that time.

Therefore, a sturdy plastic bag that only has one opening torn open without affecting its use is a plus.

Although the Beijing liaison offices are mainly responsible for receptions, these local specialties can be quite useful at times.

Meanwhile, in the reception room of the purchasing station, Liu Gaolou was studying how to eat the bag of mutton offal.

It's really good, the design is great, although it's a little spicy, but still acceptable.

At least it's not like the old way of eating beef jerky, which required a lot of chewing and strained your jaw.

Different strokes for different folks. Some people like to eat dry, hard jerky, while others prefer juicy lamb offal.

Li Long ignored it and was leading his men to unload the truck—this time they had brought over two ordinary Mercedes-Benzes. Even the iconic "W14" Mercedes-Benz isn't easy to find; having two ordinary Mercedes-Benzes was quite good.

Of the remaining vehicles, there was a Land Cruiser in average condition, and the rest were luxury Volga vehicles. There were no GAZ-69 jeeps on this trip; according to Liu Gaolou, border control there has suddenly tightened, and vehicles can't leave for a while.

Li Long didn't care. He had sold enough cars in the past two years. If those cars didn't come now, they would come later.

Even twenty years from now, there will still be people who love green trains, not for their performance, but for the nostalgia they evoke.

The two Mercedes-Benzes were in excellent condition, and Li Long didn't want them to get damaged or scratched while unloading them, as that would cost him a lot less money.

After unloading the truck, Li Long instructed Liang Shuangcheng to watch over the unloading of the hides while he led the truck carrying the antelope horns to the courtyard to unload the stuff.

The antelope horns that came this time were generally a bit short, so Liu Gaolou said that these were 20 yuan a pair, 5,000 yuan a pair, or 100,000 yuan.

Li Long thought to himself, "Is the situation over there really that bad? Have they started killing the baby antelopes?"

He now understands why the antelope population has been reduced from nearly two million to just tens of thousands over the past decade—when food is scarce, money and resources are scarce, the only recourse is to take from nature.

After unloading the antelope horns, he returned to the recycling station with the truck. Liu Gaolou had already finished eating two bags of offal, threw the bags into a makeshift trash can made from a scrap metal drum, and said to Li Long:
"Judging from your expression, are you planning to do this in the future?"

“I’ll invest money and take a stake in the business, and then I’ll get a share of the profits,” Li Long chuckled. “Anyway, you guys need it, and I can sell what I make here. I don’t have to worry about sales, right?”

“That’s true. They don’t pick and choose anymore, or rather, they never did,” Liu Gaolou said. “You’re quick-witted; you deserve to be rich!”

Li Long wasn't thinking about that. He was wondering if he should ask Sister Yang to investigate the cannery if they were to set up one. These things aren't something you can just buy and forget; if they don't fit, it'll be inconvenient to replace them.

After all, this is not a small item. If you buy a complete set of equipment and it doesn't fit, it will be very troublesome to adapt to it or return or exchange it.

Li Long suddenly thought of Director Du and wondered if they wanted to go to Kou Li for an inspection, and if so, whether they could bring Sister Yang along.

After the machinery factory developed a variety of very novel equipment with excellent market prospects, the factory had more opportunities to go out for inspections and exchanges. Several times, Director Du called Li Long to ask if he wanted to go.

Li Long didn't plan to go. He knew his own shortcomings. He was relying on his old memories to "develop" those devices. In reality, he had no theoretical knowledge or foundation. Going there would only make him look foolish (literally), so there was no need.

Anyway, it's fine as long as I receive a lot of dividends every quarter and remain a big shot in other people's eyes.

But if Sister Yang wants to expand the factory, then he has to get this production line up and running, otherwise he'll have to solve any problems that arise later.

After seeing Liu Gaolou and the others off to the guesthouse, Li Long told Sister Yang about it when they went back for lunch in the afternoon.

Upon hearing that there was an order for several tons, Sister Yang was truly tempted—mainly due to Li Long's analysis.

"Are you sure you can have such large orders for at least ten years?" Sister Yang asked again.

"It might take more than ten years, maybe even twenty." Li Long knew that even thirty years later, the development of light industry in the neighboring country was still very slow.

After all, there is a major industrial country with a full range of products here, and there are so many ports on both sides, making it convenient to transport goods over there. It would be strange if it could develop.

“Then I’ll go… I’ll go after I’ve made the arrangements.” Sister Yang was really tempted. “If we buy a suitable canning production line, we can produce canned meat continuously.”

Since her daughter was admitted to a vocational high school and is doing well so far, and is not having any difficulties at school, Ms. Yang's ambition has suddenly increased.

Li Long thought this was a good thing, after all, she needed to have a spiritual support, right?

Gu Xiaoxia once said that she talked to Sister Yang one night and wanted to ask her if she was still looking for it. Sister Yang shook her head and said she didn't plan to look anymore.

At least for now, their feelings are probably genuine, or perhaps they just haven't met the right person.

Then let's dedicate ourselves to our careers; at least having something to do is better than idle thoughts and aimless daydreaming.

Since Sister Yang had made the decision, Li Long called Director Du the next day to inquire about the inspection.

"There definitely won't be any before the new year. If we want a suitable opportunity for oral communication and investigation, we'll have to wait until after the new year—around March."

We'll be sending someone then. Please give me your identification information so I can register it.

If she's buying canning equipment, I'll have Engineer Deng introduce her to someone. She should prepare the specific requirements, and we can recommend reliable companies.

To be honest, buying a complete set of equipment requires a considerable amount of time for debugging and production. If sales are poor, it's normal to not make a profit for one or two years. You need to be aware of this.

"Don't worry, I only plan to buy this equipment after I've already secured the sales channels," Li Long said with a smile. "As long as the equipment is working properly, it's fine."

"That's a minor matter. Prepare the money and the necessary parameters." Seeing that Li Long had resolved the main issues, Director Du stopped worrying about him and instead talked about the current influence of drip irrigation tape production equipment.

Thanks to the patent application and Deng's publication of papers in important domestic journals, several groups of domestic visitors have come to see their equipment.

Even people from Israel and Japan came to visit, and even asked for core technical parameters.

Director Du rejected the idea—Li Long had already warned him, and people of their age were more or less influenced by the veterans of the Production and Construction Corps, and had an inexplicable wariness of foreigners.

In response, the Japanese representative even lodged a protest with their superiors, and then fell silent.

Northern Xinjiang is not a place of confinement; the struggle against external forces has never ceased. Unlike some organizations that are very focused on attracting investment, protests are easily resolved there.

Although foreign guests are guests, sometimes it is only right for guests to follow the host's lead. At least at this time and here, there is no question of guests overpowering the host.

Even in the future, such preferential treatment will be rare here, only the conflict will be directed in a different direction.

Listening to Lao Du laughingly recount how he made the Japanese "guests" suffer, Li Long felt quite pleased.

Who would want to bow and scrape when they can hold their head high?

After discussing the matter of Sister Yang going to investigate, Li Long hung up the phone.

On January 6th, they called to say they had caught a lot more fish and wanted to ask Li Long to lend them a truck.

"Can you drive it?" Li Long asked, somewhat surprised. "That truck is different from a car."

“If you have something to do, our current small truck won’t be enough to carry you,” Xie Yundong said. “If necessary, we’ll have to hire a truck from a transportation company.”

Li Long thought for a moment and then asked, "So when do you plan to go?"

"Your truck can be left idle tomorrow. We've already caught more than five tons."

“Then let’s do it tomorrow. I’ll drive there, and you guys follow in your GAZ trucks. Once we get there, I’ll take care of my business, and you can sell the goods there yourselves.”

"That's fine." Xie Yundong was quite happy. "You just drive there, we'll take care of selling the fish."

Li Long thought that since the new product had just been developed and there were only twenty days left until the Chinese New Year, he should send some New Year's goods to his friends in Wucheng.

Fish is a must-have, and dried meat is essential. They've also started offering lamb offal, so that'll be perfect too.

The next morning, Li Long drove his truck to the team to pick up the fish. This time, the fish were left at Xie Yundong's house. Seeing that Li Long wasn't involved, his older brother, Li Jianguo, didn't go either. After so many days of hard work, the money wasn't much, and the ordeal was exhausting, so he simply decided not to participate.

Li Junfeng was among them, mainly because he felt that since he was idle anyway, making more money was the right thing to do.

There were still six families, and this time they had quite a lot of fish. It took them about half an hour to load them all. Then they drove off, stopped at the purchasing station, loaded the things Li Long was going to deliver into the car, and then got on the Urumqi-Yining Highway.

They arrived in Wucheng a little earlier than last time, around 11 a.m. There were even more cars parked at the market entrance than last time. Li Long guessed that it was because the Chinese New Year was approaching, and many people were thinking of bringing more goods over during this period so they could sell them faster.

Whether you're rich or poor, everyone wants to buy things during the Chinese New Year that you wouldn't normally spend on. People who wouldn't normally spend money on these things become much more generous during this time.

Li Long didn't care what those people were selling. He found a spot on the outskirts, parked his truck, got out, told Xie Yundong and the others, and then drove away in his GAZ truck.

After Li Long left, Xie Yundong and his group set up their stall and were about to start their sales pitch when they noticed two trucks near the wholesale market that were also selling fish. Their calls had already attracted a lot of vendors.

We've met our match!
Xie Yundong's expression darkened – he hadn't expected another competitor; this time, the fish probably wouldn't sell well.

"It's alright, we still made a lot more money last time someone came," Xu Haijun encouraged everyone. "Let's go pay the management fee first."

So Xie Yundong paid the management fee, and the others started shouting.

Li Long drove to the jade carving factory first. Engineer Liu was there, but the apprentices were not.

"Hey, Little Li's here." Seeing Li Long arrive, Engineer Liu was overjoyed, smiling like a child, his wrinkles crinkling together. Just then, no one was around, so he opened the door to let Li Long in, complaining, "You can come all you want, but why do you always bring things?"

“Our meat processing workshop owner has developed a new product, so I brought it over for you to try.” Li Long highlighted the lamb offal, “Lamb offal, you can eat it right after tearing open the package. Now that it’s winter and cold, you can pour it out into a basin, add some water, and make lamb offal soup.”

"Hey, there's a big carp too! This one's beautiful!" Engineer Liu didn't care much for the lamb offal, but he really admired the big carp with its red head and tail. He said with a smile, "This is good!"

"The New Year is almost here, so I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year in advance." Li Long put his things down, sat down, and took the tea that Engineer Liu handed him. "I won't be coming over for the two days of the New Year."

"Hey, that's true. We've been busy all year, we need to take a break," Engineer Liu said with a smile. "I've been going to the factory a bit lately when I have some free time, and I found a few pieces of material. Do you want them?"

"Yes, I'll definitely take it. The material you found must be excellent." Li Long said with a smile.

Mr. Liu was pleased to hear this, and while being modest, he opened the drawer and took out the materials inside.

“More and more people like bracelets now, so I made two more bracelets. The core material of the bracelet was made into a ‘peace and safety’ pendant,” said Mr. Liu, taking out two bracelets, one made of mutton fat jade and the other of jadeite.

Li Long observed that the jade wasn't entirely green, but it was crystal clear; in modern terms, it would be considered high-grade ice jade, and it was quite beautiful.

Both signs are very pretty. Although they don't have strings attached, they feel comfortable to hold in your hand.

Then there's the material.

One piece of mutton fat jade, not very big, slightly smaller than Li Long's fist; two pieces of jadeite, the green color not very strong, but at least icy type—these two pieces are not small, both weighing more than one kilogram.

"Great, I'll take them all." Li Long asked the price, "How much in total?"

Engineer Liu only asked Li Long to offer the cost price, but Li Long added 200 yuan, making it 1,200 yuan.

It was totally worth it.

After packing up his things, Li Long chatted for a few minutes and then left. He first found a place nearby to eat, and then went to deliver the items to Professor Wu and a few others.

Professor Wu had just finished eating and was complaining that Li Long wasn't eating at her house. As usual, she asked about Li Long's farming situation.

Since Professor Luo was not there, having gone to participate in an exchange activity in Kou, Li Long left the things he was given to him with Professor Wu, and then went to find Professor Yang.

Professor Yang was at home. He didn't care about Li Long's things and instead pulled Li Long aside to talk about the drip irrigation experimental field.

He had originally been talking to Principal Yang on the phone, and he knew that Li Long was actually the one planning everything. Now that the person in charge had arrived, he naturally had many things to explain and discuss.

At the market, Xie Yundong and his colleagues didn't look too happy.

They sold fish until after lunchtime, and only sold a little over a ton, with most of it still in the truck.

No matter how loudly they shouted, their business was still not as booming as the two trucks at the market entrance. Xu Haijun went over to inquire and found out that the two trucks were selling fish for even lower prices than theirs, and claimed that the fish were brought over directly from the mainland!

"That fish in that fart's mouth, I can tell at a glance, it's just a fish from the reservoir!" Xu Haijun said indignantly. "They're trying to fool the foreigners!"

That's what he said, but even if he went over there and shouted it out, the vendors wouldn't believe him.

After all, it's easier for outsiders to chant sutras. Even if you're not an outsider, you can still sell your products by advertising them yourself, right?
Xie Yundong and his team also lowered their prices, but they still couldn't outsell their competitors.

The price would drop even lower, to 1.5 yuan or less, but they couldn't bear to part with it.

But if they don't lower the price, it's obvious they won't be able to sell, so everyone is in a dilemma.

This is because the first two fish sellers made a lot of money, which raised their expectations, so they were unwilling to lower them again.

But not lowering the price wasn't an option either. Even after Xie Yundong convinced everyone and lowered the price further, making it cheaper than two truckloads of fish over there, very few people still came.

The main problem is that the prime time in the morning didn't attract people, so naturally fewer people came in the afternoon.

Their arrival also affected the two trucks; they still haven't sold all the fish on them, though not much remains—one truck has a little over a ton of fish, and the other has a few hundred kilograms left.

All three companies paid management fees, so when the middle administrator came to inspect, they didn't find any problems.

The fish were getting harder and harder to sell, and even Tao Daqiang, who was usually good-tempered, couldn't help but curse. Their prices were the cheapest, but the vendors who came to buy fish were picky, so Tao Daqiang simply chased them away.

No one objected to his behavior, and they couldn't stand it either.

If you want to buy, buy; if you don't want to sell, leave. If you're just dawdling around, spouting vulgarities, picking and choosing and trying to take advantage, then you might as well not do business with me.

At this point, Xie Yundong realized that none of these people were cut out for business; they lacked the ability to be flexible and adaptable.

"Daqiang, when you and Xiaolong were selling fish together before, did you ever encounter people like this? What did Xiaolong do?" Liang Dacheng asked, his gossipy nature stirring when no one was around.

"Same here, Brother Long said the same thing, if you can buy it, buy it properly. Back then, we encountered some disgusting people who were pulling and tugging in the water, looking like they wanted to kill the fish. Brother Long chased them away."

“Hey, Xiao Long has quite a temper too,” Xu Haijun chuckled. “He’s really lucky; you can get some of his good fortune by following him.”

The others expressed their agreement to varying degrees.

They started looking towards the exit, hoping that Li Long would return soon.

"Don't think about it anymore, just rely on yourself," Xie Yundong initially thought so too, but then he remembered that Li Long said he had to go see several people and probably wouldn't be back for a while, so he had to rely on himself.

He regretted coming all this way; he should have backed out when Li Long said he was quitting.

It's all about money—I want to make more money.

Li Long and Professor Yang chatted until 5 p.m., when it was noticeably less bright outside the window than when he arrived, before he got up to say goodbye—this was the third time he had indicated that he was leaving.

"Alright, we'll keep in touch by phone later. I might visit you after the New Year." Professor Yang was still a little reluctant to leave, but knowing that Li Long had serious business to attend to, he took two bottles of wine from the house and handed them to Li Long: "Take these, don't be shy when you come to my place."

Li Long didn't stand on ceremony and actually took the wine back with him.

When Li Long arrived at the market, he found that all the other vehicles except for the truck he had driven there had left.

Xie Yundong and his men stood guard in front of the truck, their faces looking rather grim.

The carriage panels haven't been installed yet, and there are still more than half of the fish in the carriage that haven't been sold.

He parked the car, got out, and walked over to the truck, asking, "What's going on? Not selling well?" Li Long was also somewhat surprised, as these kinds of things should sell quite well during this period before the Lunar New Year.

Even if we don't say we're robbing them, they should at least sell out faster than last time.

“Two trucks arrived before us,” Tao Daqiang said first. “They were near the market entrance. They came earlier. Three trucks of fish per piece, but they didn’t sell any – those two companies left first.”

"Do they have this many left?" Li Long asked again.

“No, they only have a few hundred kilograms left,” Liang Dacheng interjected. “They’re better off than us—and they can even get a lower price.”

Li Long looked at the sky and said, "Let's go back. There's hardly anyone around at this time."

In fact, that was exactly what everyone else was waiting for. As soon as Li Long spoke, everyone started to tidy up, putting the fish back into sacks, carrying them onto the truck, and securing them to the side of the truck.

"Are you hungry? Do you want to grab a bite to eat?" Li Long wasn't hungry at all. He had eaten quite a lot at noon, and he hadn't done much else besides chatting. He had eaten a lot of fruit at Professor Wu's and Professor Yang's houses.

"No, thank you," Xie Yundong said, glancing at the others who remained silent. "Let's head back now. It'll be a hassle to unload all these fish."

Tao Daqiang sat in the passenger seat of the truck and recounted the events of the day on the way back.

"You said you only sold less than two thousand yuan worth in total?" Li Long was somewhat surprised; that was far from the truth.

"What can we do then? If they lower their prices, we won't be able to sell them if we don't." Tao Daqiang couldn't figure it out either. "If we lower our prices and sell them cheaply, we won't make any money."

If a ton of fish costs an average of one dollar and fifty cents, how much money can that make?
"If they weren't sold, they weren't sold." Li Long knew there was no solution to this kind of situation; the market was only so big and couldn't hold that many fish.

He was also wondering if it would be better to drive to another market in the morning.

But that's hindsight; let's go back and ask Xie Yundong and the others what they think.

When the car arrived in Ma County, it wasn't dark yet. At the purchasing station, Li Long got out of the car and asked Xie Yundong and the others what to do with the fish: whether to take them back to the Fourth Team or sell them again tomorrow.

"Let's leave it here for now. It's not good for us to take it back. The fish that each family has left behind might not even be finished by spring." Xie Yundong looked at the others and said, "We won't sell it tomorrow either. Leave it here. If someone wants it, we'll sell it. If no one wants it, well... we'll talk about it later."

Clearly, they were discouraged and didn't want to go to Wucheng and run into a wall again.

Li Long actually wanted to persuade them that just because one market was limited didn't mean they wouldn't be able to sell all their fish in other markets.

Seeing the expressions on their faces, Li Long decided not to try to persuade them. Everyone has their own budget, and business can't be won by persuasion. Besides, he himself couldn't guarantee anything, so he decided to keep quiet.

Xie Yundong offered to pay Li Long for the shipping fee, but Li Long pointed to the fish and said to try selling them first, and the shipping fee would come from there if they were sold.

Li Long called Liang Shuangcheng over, and the two of them covered the fish on the truck with a tarpaulin, weighed it down with bricks, drained the water from the tank, and then went back to the reception room.

Hearing the commotion, Li Qingxia, the old man, came over and said, "That Section Chief Hu from the sugar factory called you this afternoon."

Section Chief Hu? Make a phone call?
"Dad, did he say what it was about?"

"They said they wanted to buy a car."

Section Chief Hu asked me to buy a car?
Li Long had never thought about it from this perspective. He felt that someone like Section Chief Hu, even if the company didn't provide a car, should buy a new one if he wanted to, such as a Santana.

Buying a used car? That shouldn't be the case.
“I told him you went to Wucheng to sell fish, and he said he would call me back when you come back.”

Li Long looked outside. It was almost time to get off work. He decided to talk about it tomorrow.

I have a good relationship with Section Chief Hu. Among the cars I currently own, I can sell a Mercedes-Benz. I don't know if Section Chief Hu will buy it. He probably won't be too ostentatious. If he can sell it, it should be a luxury Volga. It looks more pleasing and luxurious than a Santana, and the price is also cheaper.

"Looks like this batch of fish didn't sell out?" Li Qingxia asked, looking at the tarpaulin-covered truck outside after finishing his business. "Is it hard to sell?"

"Well, there were many people selling fish, not just our truckload, so we didn't sell any," Li Long explained. "Yun Dong and the others said to leave the fish here first and see if we can sell them. If not, we'll see what happens."

Li Qingxia frowned; the fish she had put here last time still hadn't sold out.

Ma County has many reservoirs, and many people who want to eat fish raise their own. Although it is not easy to raise fish in winter, those who live near reservoirs or canals can sell their fish cheaply even if they don't want to raise them themselves, so the fish sales are not going well.

During dinner that evening, Gu Xiaoxia inquired about the fish-selling situation and, upon learning that it wasn't going well, offered to help find solutions.

There are so many fish, we definitely can't finish them all. She said she'll call the education bureau tomorrow to ask if they need any.

Sister Yang then asked if the fish could be canned—actually, there were canned small yellow croaker and canned ribbonfish on the market at that time, but no one was making canned freshwater fish.

There are too many fine thorns, but there could be other reasons as well.

“Think about it, when stewing fish, sea fish usually won’t fall apart even if you stew it for a long time, and carp and grass carp will fall apart if you stew them for too long. If you stew them for too short a time, they will have more bones,” Li Long said. “Making canned fish will affect the taste.”

As for the muddy smell of freshwater fish, it's not a problem for people who like to eat these fish.

The topic drifted off to canned pork and canned beef.

Sister Yang already knew that she would be visiting Kou Li with the machinery factory's exchange group to inspect the introduction of complete sets of canning equipment.

She was both excited and apprehensive, after all, this was the first time she had done something so big, and she had heard that a complete set of equipment would cost at least tens of thousands of yuan.

If you need automated equipment, it could cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, which is no small amount!

She had only saved up tens of thousands of yuan after working with Li Long in the jerky business for several years. How long would it take to save millions?
But Li Long told her to visit other companies and, if possible, to buy advanced automated equipment directly.

“We’re going to do this for ten or twenty years. If things go well, we might break even in a few years, and the rest will be profit. Now we have sales channels, so we’re not afraid of not being able to sell our goods.” These are Li Long’s exact words.

Sister Yang felt that she had broadened her horizons and become quite bold in the past two years, but compared to Li Long, she was still far behind.

She wasn't in Li Long's position, so she really didn't know how many cans of food Liu Shanmin could consume—theoretically, as long as Liu Shanmin was there, he could consume as many cans of food as Li Long produced.

even more.

And it's still expensive.

Actually, Li Long was gambling, betting that Liu Shanmin could protect him. Now that he's a citizen there and married a local woman, he should be able to protect himself, right?

This topic wasn't suitable for in-depth discussion, so Li Long didn't say much. He just told Sister Yang to take a good look around when she went to investigate, and not to worry about the high prices.

At the dinner table, Gu Xiaoxia asked about Han Fang's situation again, and Sister Yang said that Han Fang would be on vacation in two days.

"Now I can finally get some rest," Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile. The last few weekends Han Fang came back, she said that studying was too stressful, and that she had to rely mainly on herself, unlike in junior high.

"Yes," Sister Yang said with a hint of pride, "she needs to rest well. She always says the school food is bad, but she looks a little chubby."

“It’s time for him to grow taller,” Li Long interjected. “But he needs to make sure he gets enough nutrition; he can’t skimp on food.”

"No, that won't happen." Sister Yang is now considered "well-off," and she gives Han Fang a considerable amount of money for meals while she's in school.

The next day, after breakfast, Li Long took Mingming and Haohao to kindergarten—the holidays were just a few days away, and Mingming and Haohao were a little reluctant to leave.

After returning to the purchasing station and waiting for a while, judging that Section Chief Hu should have finished his meeting, I called him.

After two rings, the call connected. Li Long introduced himself, and Section Chief Hu said with a smile, "You've been quite busy lately."

"Haha, it's winter, so we're always busy doing nothing," Li Long replied casually, then asked, "Section Chief, are you buying a car?"

"Yes, I'd like to buy a car. As you know, only the leaders in our sugar factory have official cars; everyone at our level is assigned a car when they go out."

But given the current situation, I can't always have my car with me, and sometimes I have to ride a bicycle, which is inconvenient.

Li Long understood.

“I have some nicer cars here, like Mercedes-Benz—not the W140, but the regular Mercedes-Benz…” Li Long began to introduce.

"Let alone the Mercedes-Benz W140, I can't even afford a regular Mercedes. Even a used one would cost several hundred thousand, right?" Section Chief Hu laughed and said self-deprecatingly.

"That's true. Also, there are luxury Volga cars. They're all in good condition. We've brought in three in the last couple of days. They're around 100,000 yuan each. They look better than the Santana and are cheaper. If you want one, Section Chief, 100,000 yuan will do."

"A truck is here right now? It was just brought in? I have to go check it out—" Section Chief Hu was immediately tempted.

Li Long sold him the car at a discount, so he naturally appreciated the favor.

"Section Chief, do you have a driver's license? If so, I'll pick you up now. Once we buy it, we can drive off right away," Li Long said.

"No need, I have something else to tell you—you have fish there, right?"

"Hmm, about three or four tons." Li Long remembered that his father had told Section Chief Hu yesterday that he had gone to sell fish.

“Perfect timing, it’s almost the end of the year, the factory is giving out benefits, we’ll take all your fish.”

"Okay, okay, will you send a car over? Or should I take it over myself?"

"I'll take the truck over," Section Chief Hu said. "Xiao Song, come with me. You have people loading the truck over there, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Li Long said with a smile.

After hanging up the phone, Li Long quickly called his older brother and asked him to call Xie Yundong and the others over.

Li Junfeng was in Li Jianguo's house. He was quite pleased to hear this and immediately drove to call Xie Yundong and the others.

When Section Chief Hu and his group arrived, Xie Yundong and his group also arrived.

Li Long shook hands with Section Chief Hu. Seeing that the finance staff had also come along, Song Ming shook hands with Li Long and smiled, saying it had been a long time since they last met.

During this period, Song Ming brought over several truckloads of sugar residue every week. One truckload was for Yushanjiang, and two truckloads were for storage at Lao Ma Hao. Li Long didn't see him often, but he didn't skimp on the freight fees.

Of course, only one copy is given; the other copy is for official business, and Song Ming receives a subsidy, so Li Long doesn't need to worry about it.

Section Chief Hu was immediately drawn to the Mercedes and the luxury Volga parked in front.

He asked the finance department and Song Ming to handle the fish-related matters, while he watched the car.

Li Long then handed over the fish matter to Xie Yundong and the others to handle, while he stayed with Section Chief Hu.

"Mercedes is indeed impressive." Section Chief Hu exclaimed after just looking at the exterior.

In fact, Li Long thought the luxury Volga was good, the Land Cruiser was good, and Mercedes-Benz only had the advantage of brand name. In any case, the current cars are not as good as the configurations of domestic cars in 20 or 30 years, so he was demystifying them.

"How much is this car?" Although he knew he couldn't afford it (openly), Section Chief Hu couldn't help but point to a Mercedes and ask.

"Three hundred thousand," Li Long said. "The asking price is five hundred thousand, but there's room for negotiation. If you want it, Section Chief, it'll be three hundred thousand."

In fact, Li Long's words were a trap. The ordinary Mercedes he sold before ranged from 300,000 to 500,000 yuan, with slight differences in car condition and model, so the prices were naturally different as well.

"Can't afford it, can't afford it. These few Volga tanks, are they the ones you mentioned that cost over 100,000 yuan?" Section Chief Hu asked, looking around to make sure there were still people nearby.

"Yes, they're all about the same, three to five years old, with less than 50,000 kilometers on the odometer, and all in very good condition." Li Long opened one of the cars, took out the documents inside, and handed them to Section Chief Hu, saying, "The paperwork is complete."

Section Chief Hu glanced at it, then got into the car, asking as he looked at it, "Can it be driven?"

“It can be driven. You can test drive it in the backyard,” Li Long said. “Everyone who comes to buy a car tests it in the backyard.”

In the backyard, Xie Yundong and his team have already started loading fish. The finance department has the authority from Section Chief Hu to keep the price of the fish below 2.5 yuan, and after some discussion, they discovered that these people are willing to sell them for 2 yuan.

As for the fish, it's excellent.

The car was fully fueled. Li Long and his team had prepared everything before Section Chief Hu arrived, so it started easily. They then drove it around the backyard a couple of times.

Section Chief Hu was very cautious, drove very slowly, and had a good feel for the car's condition.

This is clearly not his first time driving; he's not an experienced driver, and his actions are fairly standard.

Li Long prefers this type of driver, at least they won't do anything dangerous.

After driving around twice and parking the car back in its original position, Section Chief Hu asked to drive the other car as well.

Li Long naturally complied with his request.

After driving around the car twice more, Section Chief Hu finally decided to take the previous one. However, he still called Song Ming over to take a look at the car. Song Ming also drove around the car and then gave his honest opinion.

The car is a good car, with no wear and tear inside or out, and it drives very well—it's been broken in, so at least for now, he hasn't found any problems.

Section Chief Hu smiled.

Li Long guessed that the man didn't quite trust him, feeling that the machine he initially gave him might not be good. But that was understandable; it was a big deal worth 100,000 yuan, so he couldn't be too cautious.

Since Section Chief Hu had already made his decision, Li Long took him to the meeting room to sign the contract.

When the finance department saw Section Chief Hu coming over, they quietly reported the fish matter to him.

"As long as the fish is good." Section Chief Hu didn't say much; his attention was now focused on the car.

Li Long took out the contract and showed it to Section Chief Hu. After reading it, Section Chief Hu carefully signed his name and then took out stacks of hundred-yuan bills from his bag.

Ten stacks.

"I know I'm taking advantage of you," Section Chief Hu said with a smile. "But I really don't have that much money to spare."

"Don't mention it, Section Chief. We've been dealing with each other for so long, there's no need to be so formal," Li Long said with a smile. "Back when I was running a small business, you took good care of me."

Upon hearing this, Section Chief Hu burst into laughter.

Li Long remembered this, and he was genuinely pleased.

We must not forget our roots.

When Section Chief Hu came out with the contract, the fish had almost been loaded.

The finance department is working with Xie Yundong to weigh and calculate the accounts.

"Xiao Song, Accountant Liu, you two go ahead with your work, I'm leaving now." Section Chief Hu couldn't wait any longer and wanted to take his new car for a spin, so he said goodbye to Song Ming and the finance staff and walked towards his car.

After watching Section Chief Hu leave, Li Long told Xie Yundong that he also needed to pay his taxes and deposit money.

When Li Long returned, Xie Yundong and the others were still there, which surprised Li Long.

"Thanks to you this time." Xie Yundong and the others were sincere. "We never expected that fish that couldn't be sold for 1.5 yuan in Wucheng could be sold for 2 yuan here."

"Just in time." Li Long smiled. "It's alright, it's good to sell them. It's less of a worry. Otherwise, it would be really difficult to deal with these three or four tons of fish if they were left unattended."

"So you have to accept this money." Xie Yundong took out a wad of cash and stuffed it into Li Long's hand. "Without you, these fish would really have to wait until spring to dry them and then feed them to the pigs."

"It's not that bad..." Li Long declined, but Xie Yundong and the others insisted that Li Long accept the money, so Li Long finally did.

Two thousand yuan, which means Xie Yundong and his team gave the extra money they made to Li Long.

All are happy.

"Brother Long, let's try catching rabbits in a few days. See if we can catch any 'quack chickens' too. If we can, we'll bring them over to you." Tao Daqiang was quite excited; they'd gotten their share of the money again!
He always felt that following Brother Long would bring him good luck, and now it seems that's indeed the case!
When I went back yesterday, a few people from the team came to visit me at home last night, and again this morning. They kept implying that I was greedy and never had enough money.

At that time, we could only endure it. Just wait until we get back today, I'll spit in their faces! (End of Chapter)