Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1054 In the business world, those who cheat won't last long.

The amount of stuff they receive isn't that large, so Chen Hongjun now does many things himself.

When someone comes to sell something, he registers and pays them at the counter according to the quality and inventory. If no one comes, he and his assistants process the goods they have collected.

If you want to make money, you can't be afraid of being lazy. Ever since he saw how fast Li Long made money, and after getting good deals from selling goods twice, Chen Hongjun has become even more diligent.

So he was somewhat surprised when Qin Liguo came to invite him.

"You've opened a purchasing station too? That's great! Where is it located? When is it opening?" Chen Hongjun didn't have much of an opinion about his former colleague Qin Liguo's purchasing station business.

Profitable businesses are rarely monopolized at the bottom level; instead, the tendency to follow trends has become a habit.

In reality, Chen Hongjun was so focused on his purchasing station that he didn't pay attention to anything else. Otherwise, if he had made a few inquiries, he would have known that Qin Liguo had already planned to set up a purchasing station when he first made money selling goods.

Qin Liguo was the colleague Chen Hongjun had chatted with when he was preparing to open the purchasing station. At the time, Qin Liguo said that if he joined, it would be a partnership. Chen Hongjun naturally didn't want to get involved. He had only contributed one person; if he hired someone who wouldn't invest any money, wouldn't that be giving money away for free?
Chen Hongjun ignored Qin Liguo, but Qin Liguo kept a close eye on Chen Hongjun's purchasing station. At first, seeing that only three or five people came to sell goods at Chen Hongjun's station each day, he secretly laughed at them.

But when Chen Hongjun sold his first batch of hides and made several thousand yuan, Qin Liguo couldn't sit still anymore.

We all came from the purchasing stations, and we know all the ins and outs of it—it's all about buying low and selling high.

Each of them had some connections, so since someone had already paved the way, Qin Liguo naturally wanted to follow suit. He wasn't following along just to get a taste of the good stuff, but to gnaw on some of the meat.

Setting up the yard, handling the paperwork, and hiring people. Qin Liguo hired his own cousin to save on wages.

Like Chen Hongjun, he took a leave of absence without pay, knowing he could always return to work even if he didn't perform well. For organizations like theirs, they'd be happy if everyone took leave without pay to start their own businesses, saving them money.

Unlike Chen Hongjun's low-key opening, Qin Liguo invited many people to the banquet, and decorated the courtyard of the purchasing station to make it lively and bustling.

As a former colleague, inviting Chen Hongjun over seemed like a polite gesture on the surface, but whether there were other motives was hard to say.

The banquet was to be held at noon, but they only came to call people in the morning. Chen Hongjun understood Qin Liguo's intentions perfectly. While tidying up the fritillaria bulbs, he said to Qin Liguo:

"I wish you a successful opening and great business. I won't go over there. You see, the shop is quite busy. I haven't hired many people for my little stall, so I have to do the work myself."

Qin Liguo smiled and said, "Alright, I won't disturb your business anymore. I wish you great success!"

After Qin Liguo left, Chen Hongjun didn't take the matter to heart. Opening one or two more purchasing stations in such a large city like Beiting wouldn't have a significant impact. The key was whether they could be established and whether they could grow into large and successful businesses.

Because he could learn from Chen Hongjun's purchasing station, Qin Liguo made a lot of preparations beforehand. He promoted the station in many places before opening and even put up a large blackboard at the entrance with the day's purchase price written on it.

He paid two yuan more per kilogram for fritillaria than Chen Hongjun, so many people came to sell things after the banquet started that day.

Although these people were only carrying three to five kilograms of fritillaria bulbs, the large number of people crowding together made it look quite lively and bustling, giving the impression that this business could be successful.

Once the news spread, many people were eager to see what would happen if Qin Liguo's shop and Chen Hongjun's shop went head-to-head.

If Chen Hongjun knew that everyone had this idea, he would feel wronged. He never thought about competing with anyone, he just wanted to run his purchasing station peacefully.

In the first two days after Qin Liguo's purchasing station opened, there were indeed fewer sellers on Chen Hongjun's side, but after a few days, those middlemen came back.

Chen Hongjun didn't ask around; the traffickers themselves told him the story.

"That purchasing station run by the man surnamed Qin was quite loud, saying that the purchase price was high and that we should go there to sell fritillaria bulbs."

The price is indeed higher than here on the surface, but they are picky and will deduct money if the size is a little smaller or the fritillaria is a little dirty.

Besides, the scale seemed a bit off; it removed too much tare and impurities, so after all that extra cost, it was actually cheaper to sell it to you, Boss Chen.

Middlemen don't care about relationships; they only care about profit. People come here to make money, and if you tell them on the surface that you'll earn more, but then actually lower the price in other ways, who can stand that?
Chen Hongjun just smiled when he heard this. He wouldn't gossip about others; he just wanted to do his job well and earn his own money.

He hadn't even thought about going to find Qin Liguo when, unexpectedly, Qin Liguo came to see him in mid-May.

When Qin Liguo arrived, Chen Hongjun was reviewing a seller's fritillaria bulbs:

"Your fritillaria bulbs are a mix of dry and wet. There are both dried and fresh ones, so it's hard to give you a price. How about this, we shake the bag well, take out a big handful, and see the ratio of fresh to dried ones."

"I'll give you dried scallops for 80 yuan per kilogram, and fresh scallops for 15 yuan per kilogram. I won't mention the impurities. After calculating the fresh-to-dried ratio, I'll give you a flat price, how about that?"

The dealer knew exactly what his fritillaria bulbs were like, so he naturally had no objection to Chen Hongjun explaining it to him so clearly.

Chen Hongjun shook the bag well, then grabbed a large handful of fritillaria bulbs from it. After sorting them, he determined that one-third were dried fritillaria bulbs and two-thirds were fresh. This allowed him to calculate the average price.

Weigh the goods, calculate the bill, and show it to the vendor. The vendor has no objections.

Just as Chen Hongjun was about to pay, Qin Liguo walked into the yard and, without paying attention to what Chen was doing, immediately said:

"Old Chen, I see your business is doing well, so I've come over to discuss something with you?"

"Wait a minute, let me pay the other person." Chen Hongjun had his own set of rules for doing business. After paying the vendor, he collected the goods from the next two or three people in line before looking at Qin Liguo.

Qin Liguo was getting impatient at this point, but he held back and didn't leave or lose his temper.

"Old Qin, what's wrong? Just say it." Chen Hongjun wiped his hands with a towel and told the shop assistant to take the collected fritillaria bulbs to the backyard for processing. There was no one else at the receiving counter at this time, so Chen Hongjun meant, "Just say what you need to say."

"Well, I wanted to ask what your selling price for fritillaria bulbs is?" This question from Qin Liguo made Chen Hongjun a little unhappy. He shook his head and said, "It depends on the market. The price people pay depends on the quality of the goods. I can't tell you that."

"Old Chen, I'm not trying to pry into your business secrets. I just wanted to suggest we do some collaboration. I'll sell you the fritillaria bulbs five yuan less than your purchase price, so you can make a five yuan profit, and it'll be easier for me to ship them out. What do you say?"

"Not good." Chen Hongjun immediately guessed that there was probably something wrong with the things Qin Liguo had received. His own buyer, Jia Tianlong, hadn't arrived yet, but he knew that Qin Liguo also had his own contacts.

The fact that Qin Liguo could say such a thing meant that others might not accept his goods. As for why, Chen Hongjun didn't want to know. He just wanted to do his business honestly and didn't want to get involved in other people's affairs.

“Five yuan is a lot. I’ve collected over a hundred kilograms of fritillaria these past few days. If you collect the fritillaria and resell it, that’s over five hundred yuan in income. How much was your salary before? This is half a year’s salary!” Qin Liguo didn’t expect Chen Hongjun to ignore his comment, and he said somewhat anxiously.

"Then why don't you sell them yourself?" Chen Hongjun retorted. "Wouldn't it be better if you earned five hundred yuan yourself? Don't tell me you can't find a place to sell them. I don't need to elaborate on what I did back then when I was running a purchasing station and selling fritillaria bulbs on the side, do I?"

Upon hearing Chen Hongjun's words, Qin Liguo's face immediately turned red. Back when they were at the state-run purchasing station, some individuals had done some shady work, colluding with dealers to confiscate fritillaria bulbs and then resell them privately to purchasing agents, making a profit from the price difference.

At that time, Chen Hongjun was not yet the station chief, so naturally he didn't interfere much. Later, when he became the station chief, he standardized the procurement of materials, and some buyers stopped coming.

Qin Liguo's face flushed red and then turned pale. Of course, he couldn't tell Chen Hongjun that the fritillaria bulbs he had bought contained other things. The buyers knew their stuff and noticed the problem at a glance.

Qin Liguo was essentially on the other side's blacklist. It was also his fault for being too eager; knowing Chen Hongjun was making money selling fritillaria bulbs, he wanted to get a piece of the pie as soon as possible. Adulteration, if done well, would most likely go unnoticed and be easily concealed—

Actually, it was his family who made the decision; by the time he found out, it was too late.

He didn't take it very seriously, thinking that since things had come to this, he might as well just leave.

But when they encounter shrewd buyers, their reputation is ruined.

Qin Liguo was unaware that those buyers were connected, divided into their own territories, and exchanged goods. He admitted that he had been blinded by greed the first time, and although he tried to behave himself later, he ended up being blacklisted by them. Actually, waiting was an option, since he did have genuine goods; at worst, he could pick and choose and sell them elsewhere.

However, unlike Chen Hongjun, Qin Liguo did not have a reliable business partner. He begged and pleaded with relatives and friends to raise less than 10,000 yuan in working capital, which has now been used up.

In the business of buying and selling goods, if you don't have enough funds, it signals to the middlemen that your credibility is not guaranteed.

Everyone wants to cooperate with people who have a good reputation in the long term. In the nearly two months since Chen Hongjun opened his business, although he has experienced a cash flow crisis, he has managed to get through it. At least on the surface, he has never stopped receiving goods.

Qin Liguo hadn't expected the money to run out so quickly, nor had he anticipated problems with his first shipment. Now, he didn't want to close the shop, but he also wanted to make some money, so it was a case of desperate measures.

Chen Hongjun didn't give him a chance; he was a competitor to begin with. Qin Liguo didn't have good intentions when he first started his business either. He wouldn't kick someone when they were down, but he couldn't bring himself to do something like repaying evil with kindness.

Having received no effective feedback from Chen Hongjun, Qin Liguo had no choice but to suspend business operations and hire a vehicle to transport the fritillaria bulbs to Ma County, intending to sell them to Li Long.

Li Long and Qin Liguo had interacted before, though their relationship wasn't deep, and in fact, they barely knew each other anymore. Qin Liguo figured that since they had at least met, he should still be able to save face for Li Long.

He was surprised to find about a dozen people queuing up at the purchasing station, each carrying bags of various sizes. He roughly counted them and found that the people queuing in the yard had brought more than 100 kilograms of fritillaria.

Qin Liguo generally knew the purchase price of fritillaria, and when he calculated it, he was truly shocked! This purchasing station run by Li Long was making at least several thousand yuan a day from fritillaria!
This is fucking incredibly profitable!
He was in a hurry, thinking that he could use his acquaintance with Li Long to cut in line, sell his fritillaria bulbs as soon as possible, and get the money back home so that the purchasing station could open in the afternoon.

Before he could take two steps forward with the bag, he was stopped and brought back.

"Don't you know how to queue?" The middlemen here all know each other and understand the rules. Therefore, they hate people who don't follow the rules the most.

"I know Li Long!" Qin Liguo immediately declared, "We're close. Don't worry about me, let me in first, I have something urgent!"

The vendors laughed upon hearing this: "What are you talking about? Everyone here knows Li Long."

"That's right, we even ate watermelon together last year."

"Don't talk about last year. Li Long came over a couple of days ago and even had tea with us. Knowing each other is one thing, but waiting in line is another! Don't try to build connections here. Old Gu said connections are useless!"

Qin Liguo wondered to himself, "Who is this old Gu?"

But with such a long line, he figured it would be noon by the time he got to the front of the line, which would take at least two hours.

In desperation, he shouted twice, "Li Long, Li Long, come out here! It's me, Lao Qin!"

Li Long didn't come out, but Liang Shuangcheng did. Looking at Qin Liguo's unfamiliar face, Liang Shuangcheng pointed to the line and said:

"Brother Long isn't here. You need to queue up to sell your stuff. If you need anything else, go to his house. Actually, you can't find him there either; Brother Long has gone into the mountains."

Qin Liguo had no choice but to join the queue since he couldn't see Li Long and therefore couldn't build connections. He quickly developed a sense of superiority, as two more people were behind him in line.

Someone in the courtyard was thirsty and went to scoop some tea from under the window. Qin Liguo also went over and drank a bowl.

He thought this method was pretty good, but at that moment he didn't have the mind to think about anything else; he just wanted to sell the goods as soon as possible.

When it was finally his turn in line, Gu Boyuan was already getting ready to leave work.

Qin Liguo hurriedly said, "I know Li Long. We used to work at this purchasing station. Please, have mercy and take my goods. I'm in Beiting City right now and I'm in a hurry to get back."

Since he had already said that, Gu Boyuan didn't want to offend him, but when the fritillaria was poured into the iron sieve, Gu Boyuan's expression changed.

"You've adulterated your fritillaria bulbs, haven't you? You didn't pick them out properly, did you?"

Old Gu has been collecting fritillaria bulbs for years, and while he might not have the eyes of a superhuman, he's certainly developed a keen eye. The fritillaria bulbs poured out of this bag were mixed with some beans. The beans had been ground in some way, making them look like crushed fritillaria bulbs. An ordinary person wouldn't be able to tell unless they looked very closely.

Although it may have been sorted again, Old Gu could tell from inside the fritillary bulb as soon as he opened it up.

"Where are the fakes? Where are the fakes?" Upon hearing that there were counterfeit goods, the vendors who were about to disperse immediately surrounded them. It was the first time they had ever heard of fritillaria being adulterated.

"Fake goods? How could they be fake? I collected these fritillaria bulbs myself." Qin Liguo panicked upon hearing this. "Boss, please look carefully. These are all genuine fritillaria bulbs. You can't just lie to lower the price!"

"I, Old Gu, am talking nonsense?" Gu Boyuan laughed in anger. "Ask these people. I've been looking at fritillaria for several years now. When have they ever said anything nonsensical?"

"That's right, we still trust Lao Gu's judgment."

"Let me take a look. Oh dear, this fritillaria doesn't look right. It's not the same as the ones I collected."

"I've seen something quite interesting today. Someone's actually selling counterfeit fritillaria bulbs? That's quite a sophisticated method!"

These people talked at once, making Qin Liguo lose his composure. He hardened his heart and said, "Don't slander me, I won't sell! Is that enough?"

"Alright, alright, take it quickly." Gu Boyuan didn't care about the more than 100 kilograms of fritillaria bulbs; there was no shortage of fritillaria bulbs available now. Dealing with fake ones would be quite troublesome.

Gu Boyuan spoke so calmly and resolutely that Qin Liguo hesitated.

"If I want to sell it, how much will you offer?"

"How much more money can you offer? These goods are quite troublesome to process and difficult to sort. If I were to buy them, I would only offer sixty yuan per kilogram at most."

"What? Sixty? I've paid more than sixty for this!" Qin Liguo shouted. "This is too cheap!"

“If there’s nothing fake inside, I can give you seventy-five.” Gu Boyuan smiled. “I’d rather not bother with sixty now.”

Qin Liguo is in a dilemma: to sell or not to sell?
He now deeply regrets not stopping his family's reckless behavior when he was blinded by greed. Now, he can't even choose for himself.

Of course, it's possible to hire people to pick the goods, but at this point, we're in a hurry to sell the goods and don't want to do that; it's too much trouble.

From this perspective, Qin Liguo is not cut out for business. He made a foolish move from the very beginning, and then he got anxious and kept making small mistakes. He was indecisive and only looked at the immediate situation.

In the end, Qin Liguo decided to try his luck in Shicheng, while Gu Boyuan collected the fritillaria bulbs from the other two people and then went back to have dinner.

When Liang Shuangcheng returned after dinner, before anyone else arrived, he asked Gu Boyuan what to do if they really collected those adulterated fritillaria bulbs.

"Just use a big iron sieve to sift it," Gu Boyuan said casually. "When you drop it, you'll find half a fake bean mixed in, and some fritillaria fragments too."

These items aren't very valuable; just sift them out and discard them. Then, pick through the whole fritillaria bulbs. This is meticulous work, but whole fritillaria bulbs are difficult to fake, so the workload isn't too heavy.

Liang Shuangcheng finally understood, and considered it as learning another trick.

Qin Liguo was directly rejected in Shicheng. The other party was state-owned, while Shicheng was a military base. The purchasing station there was not undergoing restructuring, and everyone could see through it. They simply refused to accept his goods.

This time, Qin Liguo was dumbfounded.

(End of this chapter)