Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1148 The Six-Nine Cars Have Finally Been Sold Out
While Zheng Xiangyang was fiddling with the car, Li Long whispered to Wang Mingjun:

"Company Commander, can Political Instructor Zheng drive? Does he have a driver's license?"

"He can drive, but he doesn't have a driver's license, which is why he wanted that older car. According to him, he's just driving around the farm, so no one checks, and even if someone does, it's easy to deal with."

Wang Mingjun glanced at Zheng Xiangyang, shook his head, and said:

"He brought money this time. If Old Chen wants to drive, he'll have to wait."

“Well, if the instructor wants to drive this car away directly, then we’ll just have to ask Lao Chen to wait. Fortunately, my partner will start work after the Lantern Festival, and I’ll have him bring over a few more then,” Li Long said.

Old Chen wants it, Zhao Zongming wants it, and Xu Chengjun might also want it. These GAZ-69 trucks are quite popular, so Li Long is thinking of waiting for Liu Gaolou to come over and talk to him about getting a few more.

Although the average price per unit is not high, the profit margin is actually quite substantial.

Zheng Xiangyang started the car, put the water bucket aside, and got in but didn't start driving immediately. Instead, he familiarized himself with the steering wheel and gear shift.

Li Long went over and brought the bucket over, and together with Wang Mingjun, they kept the accounts.

"If we hurry up these next couple of days and do one more round of snow removal before the snow melts, that should be enough," Wang Mingjun said. "The New Year is so late, and I found out about this way too late. If I had known about the car a few days earlier, I would have been more proactive in removing the snow, and now it should be enough."

"It's not too late now. The temperature has risen these past two days, and the gazelles and deer should be heading north from the southern mountains. Your area is a necessary passage. Run around in the sand dunes, and you're sure to find them. Find a few more herds and you'll have enough."

Wang Mingjun nodded in agreement; Li Long was telling the truth.

That's exactly what he was thinking. He came here today, but Old Chen didn't come, so he was actually leading his men into the sandbags to scout the situation. If they ran into each other, they would naturally give them a good beating.

Zheng Xiangyang drove around the yard a few times, starting slowly but gradually getting faster and faster. Li Long was a little frightened by his speed and shouted for him to stop.

Zheng Xiangyang smiled at Li Long from inside and slowed down slightly, which made Wang Mingjun yell at him. The main reason was that Zheng Xiangyang was going in circles and wasn't paying attention, and almost crashed into Wang Mingjun's car.

Zheng Xiangyang was still a little intimidated by Wang Mingjun, so he slowed down a bit, probably feeling that he was losing face, and circled around twice more before stopping.

“Drive slower. This yard is big, but there are cars and people. If you drive too fast and hit a car or a person, you won’t be able to afford to pay for it.” Before Li Long could speak, Wang Mingjun scolded him without any politeness, “We’re here to buy things, not to cause trouble.”

Zheng Xiangyang chuckled dryly:

"I was so excited when I first got behind the wheel. This car drives so smoothly, I want this one!"

“Then you can pay now and drive away directly.” Li Long already knew from Wang Mingjun that Zheng Xiangyang had brought money, so he said with a smile, “There are fewer people and wider roads where you are, so it’s okay to drive faster. But you should drive slower on the way back.”

"Are all the paperwork complete?" Zheng Xiangyang asked.

"Everything's there. It's all in the car. You didn't notice it earlier, did you? It's right in the passenger seat. Take a good look." Li Long pointed to the car.

Zheng Xiangyang went to the car to find the paperwork, and Li Long said to Wang Mingjun:
"You're in such a hurry, did you have breakfast this morning? I bet the restaurants aren't open yet. Come on, let's go to my yard, I'll treat you to dinner today."

"No, no, don't bother me." Wang Mingjun waved his hand. "He'll definitely leave once he pays for the vehicle, and so will I. I'm driving the tractor back now. When I get to Xinhu, I'll grab something to eat by the roadside. If I can make it back to the company, maybe we can even have another go at night."

Li Long wouldn't let him leave, but Wang Mingjun insisted on leaving. While the two were struggling, Zheng Xiangyang came out with the paperwork and asked Li Long some specific questions, which interrupted their struggle.

When Li Long was explaining to Zheng Xiangyang how to get the paperwork and license plates, Wang Mingjun started his small four-wheeled vehicle and drove off.

He was actually embarrassed because he had come in a hurry and hadn't brought anything. He felt ashamed to eat at someone's house without bringing anything, which was why he was leaving.

Li Long didn't have time to persuade him, so he just let it go.

After Zheng Xiangyang had clarified the details, he started to take out his money. He was carrying an ordinary yellow satchel, from which he pulled out a stack of hundred-yuan bills, and another stack of hundred-yuan bills, fifty-yuan bills, and large unity bills mixed together.

After Li Long finished counting and found that there were enough, he began to write the contract by hand.

Since Zheng Xiangyang had handled things meticulously, Li Long didn't want to give anyone cause for criticism. He drafted a simple contract, had Zheng Xiangyang review it, and after both parties signed it, Li Long said:
"Instructor, you can drive this car away now. It's full of gas, so driving it back won't be a problem."

Wang Mingjun had already left, so Li Long didn't stand on ceremony with Zheng Xiangyang any longer. Zheng Xiangyang was also eager to test drive the car, so he said goodbye to Li Long and hurriedly drove away.

Another car is missing. Looking at the two nearly new cars left, Li Long sighed.

There are currently no buyers for these two cars, but there are two and a half people who want cars priced at 20,000 yuan.

He had told Zhao Zongming it was 25,000 yuan, but since Lao Chen had told Zheng Xiangyang it was 20,000, the car payment had been leaked. Li Long thought it best to treat everyone equally.

It all depends on whether Zhao Zongming is willing to pay more to drive the car away.

If you don't want to, then just wait. Anyway, the car won't arrive until March, so there's no rush.

It seems like no one got much rest during the Spring Festival. On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Zhao Zongming brought a truckload of leather goods over with his men.

He was with a young man, whom Li Long vaguely recognized; it must have been the one who helped Zhao Zongming stop him at the beginning.

Zhao Zongming found Li Long's courtyard because the purchasing station was closed.

"I'm a little sorry to bother you during the New Year, but consider this a belated New Year's greeting," Zhao Zongming said as he knocked on the door and looked at Li Long.

When he came, he brought two frozen chickens and a yellow sheep as New Year's gifts.

"Not too late, not too late. Come in, come in, come in and have some water," Li Long said with a smile. "Looks like you got quite a few hides this time."

"It was alright. When we got back, we ran into two large groups," Zhao Zongming said. "I just took a few men and shot them with submachine guns. This time, there were quite a few bullet holes in the hides, but luckily there were still a lot of hides. We can take them over and sell them. It's almost spring, and although the company doesn't need to spend money on agricultural supplies for farming, we still have to spend a lot of money on other things."

"Okay, perfect timing, I also have something to tell you. Come on in, have some water to warm up." Li Long opened the door and let the people and the tractor in.

After the tractor stopped, Li Long closed the front door, invited people into the living room, poured water, and then Zhao Zongming took the initiative to say:
"Has the truck arrived? I heard from Company Commander Wang that you're hauling two kinds of trucks this time, the cheaper one costs 20,000 and the more expensive one costs 30,000?"

"That's how it is," Li Long nodded and said.

"I'm a little sorry, the car I brought last time was a bit older, so I priced it at 20,000 yuan, which is two or three years longer than I originally planned for you. I was thinking that if you wanted this kind of car, I would give you a 5,000 yuan refund."

It turns out those two cars were driven away early on, which was my fault. So, if you can wait, I'll refund you 5,000 yuan first. After the Lantern Festival, when our partner sends the cars over, I'll call you again.

If you don't want to wait, there's a slightly newer car available for 30,000 yuan. Since it was my problem, I'll compromise: if you want that 30,000 yuan car, you can drive it away for 29,000 yuan, how about that?

Zhao Zongming hesitated for a moment, then asked:

"Can I take a look at the car? I already knew yesterday that Zheng Xiangyang drove the car back, and I even went to check it out."

"Of course, the car is at the recycling station right now. Let's go over there, boil some water, and it'll be running in a bit."

"Let's take a look first." Zhao Zongming nodded. Several thousand yuan was no small matter. He had a lot of experience and knew that he couldn't make a decision right away.

Because they were in a hurry, Zhao Zongming wanted to go check on the car after sitting for only a short while, so Li Long got up and led them to the purchasing station.

The difference between a car that costs 30,000 and one that costs 20,000 is quite obvious; you can tell just by looking at the car body.

While Zhao Zongming was looking at the car, Li Long went inside to set up a stove and boil water.

When Zhao Zongming brought the young man in, the stove was already lit, and the water was steaming.

"This vehicle is quite good," Zhao Zongming said with a smile. "It looks much newer. I saw Instructor Zheng's vehicle yesterday and thought it was already pretty good, but this one is even better. I'll give it a try later."

"Okay," Li Long said. "While the water is boiling, shall we mark the hides first?"

“Okay.” Zhao Zongming then started peeling the skin off the young man.

There are 81 full hides and 177 damaged hides, totaling 23,880 yuan. If Zhao Zongming wants the car, he just needs to give Li Long an additional 4,000 yuan.

The water had already boiled. Zhao Zongming must have been familiar with the car from Zheng Xiangyang, so he scraped some boiling water into a bucket, carried it to the car to add water, and then prepared to start the engine.

Li Long stood at the door watching, while the young man started the tractor. Li Long assumed he was making room for Zhao Zongming to practice driving, but the young man drove off without warning.

It seems that Zhao Zongming has pretty much decided to take this car.

As the car started, Li Long was a little worried, mainly because Zheng Xiangyang's driving was not very steady, and Li Long didn't know if Zhao Zongming was a novice driver.

Surprisingly, he drove quite steadily, quickly making three circles before stopping.

"Not bad, not bad, it's better than Instructor Zheng's car." Zhao Zongming was smiling as he got out of the car. "I'll take this car."

So Li Long had to give Zhao Zongming 19,880 yuan. After settling the money, Li Long wanted to invite him to stay for a meal, but Zhao Zongming, excited and eager to get back, left without eating.

I don't know if he's going to show it off when he gets back, or if he's planning to familiarize himself with the car on the way back.

When Sun Jiaqiang came out after hearing the commotion, Zhao Zongming had already left.

"Boss, did you sell another car?" he asked when he saw Li Long as he walked around to the door.

"Yes, quite a few people have come to buy cars these past two days." Li Long nodded, exchanged a few pleasantries with him, and then gave him an instruction: every morning after breakfast, he should set up the stove next to the reception room of the purchasing station so that he could be prepared in advance if someone came to buy a car.

Sun Jiaqiang readily agreed.

To Li Long's surprise, after he instructed Sun Jiaqiang to set up the stove, no one came over these past few days.

On February 27th, Li Long went to the team to pick up Mingming and Haohao to prepare for the start of school. At this time, Li Juan had already returned to the No. 2 Middle School to live on campus for the start of the new semester.

Li Qingxia told Li Long that he had called his hometown and asked Anmin to tell the village that anyone who wanted to come and work could come over once the snow melted.

“Judging from Anmin’s tone, there should be about seven or eight people coming,” Li Qingxia said. “After all, the Northwest is bitterly cold. Although Junxian went back, and in recent years, some people thought they could make money here, those who want to work still think that the coastal south is better, with more opportunities.”

“That’s perfect, too many people would be hard to accommodate.” Li Jianguo was still quite cautious. “If we don’t have that many people, we have family members too.”

Li Long smiled but didn't say anything about that. He just said that once the snow melts, they should hurry up and build the house.

“I’ll go and bring the bricks back in the next few days,” Li Jianguo said. “We’ll prepare the bricks and cement first, and start working on it whenever we can.”

In rural areas, people generally don't go out to find craftsmen to build single-story houses; they usually find a few skilled craftsmen in their own village to do the work.

“That’s perfect, my skills haven’t gotten rusty yet,” Li Junfeng said with a smile. “Perfect for building the wall.”

At this time, the brick houses were still built with wooden roofs. So as long as the foundation was solid, the walls were strong, and the concrete was mixed, there weren't any major problems.

They all had labor experience. Even without a plumb bob, some people knew to tie a brick with a rope to compare how straight the brick was when building a pigsty for their own homes. So building a small bungalow wouldn't be a problem.

Of course, another major reason is that this area has never experienced a major earthquake, and even minor earthquakes are rare. This is why earthquake-resistant housing was not widely adopted in later generations.

It wasn't a big deal, so Li Long just mentioned it casually, not expecting that his older brother had already made a plan.

He figured that building a few bungalows wouldn't cost much in bricks, so he didn't ask any further questions.

Li Jianguo thought that farming was mainly his own business, and Li Long had his own things to do over there, so he should build the bungalow himself.

It won't cost much.

When Li Long picked up Mingming and Haohao and turned around, he ran into Gu Boyuan driving a van. Li Long stopped and greeted him, but Gu Boyuan didn't get out of the car. He said he was going to see a friend and then drove away.

Seeing that Gu Boyuan was neatly dressed and clean-shaven, Li Long wondered if he was the kind of friend he had imagined. Was his father-in-law experiencing a second spring in his life?
It's possible.

Of course, it was just gossip, and Li Long went back. Before this matter was confirmed, it was naturally impossible to make any wild guesses.

Mingming and Haohao were a little reluctant when they got on the bus, but after they got home, they quickly returned to normal and started packing their schoolbags, planning to go to kindergarten to see their good friends the next day.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, when the purchasing station was open for business, Wang Mingjun and Lao Chen came together, driving a tractor and taking another person with them.

When they arrived, Li Long was at the purchasing station, tidying up with Gu Boyuan and Liang Shuangcheng.

The yard of the purchasing station was well-prepared when it was first built, with brick paving in both the front and back yards, so it wasn't muddy when the snow melted. At that time, most yards in the county town had hard ground, which was the most troublesome thing when the snow melted, so the conditions here were much better.

"Hey, I was in such a rush last time I came. Today is the Lantern Festival, so I brought you some smoked meat, some wine that our company brewed ourselves, and some honey."

It's said to be a few, but all of them add up to more than half a sack, which is quite a lot.

"You're too kind," Li Long said with a smile. "Looks like you've brought in quite a few hides this time?"

"Well, the main reason is to drive the car back this time," Wang Mingjun said. "I can't wait any longer. The roads over there are almost dry now, and we're about to start construction. I'll be traveling back and forth to the regimental headquarters quite often, and riding a bicycle is too much trouble. Driving the car back will be more convenient."

Old Chen, standing to the side, exposed his shortcomings:
"It's not for convenience. The instructor drives around every day, and the company commander is really anxious. He's been hunting for several days in a row, so he came over as soon as he had enough money."

Li Long smiled but didn't say anything.

"Aren't you the same?" Wang Mingjun blushed. "I heard that the 20,000 yuan car was gone, but this 30,000 yuan car was better. He chased after a herd of gazelles for more than a day. Now that he has enough, he must be happy, right?"

"Alright, alright, alright, let's not argue. Let Xiaolong take a look at the leather; I want to have a good look at the car."

After Zhao Zongming drove the car away last time, Li Long called Wang Mingjun's company and told Lao Chen about the car. Lao Chen didn't have any objections. Cars can have different prices, so their conditions must be different.

The instructor drove the 20,000 yuan car back, and Lao Chen had experienced driving it before, so this time he brought extra cargo and money to see what was different about the 30,000 yuan car.

Since everyone was in a hurry, Li Long called Liang Shuangcheng over to help count the leather and calculate the money.

Both parties knew that the leather Wang Mingjun brought was worth more than 15,000 yuan. After deducting the cost, he only needed to pay another 10,000 yuan to drive the car away.

Old Chen's piece of leather was worth about 20,000 yuan, and he only needed to pay 10,000 yuan to drive the car away.

Li Long reduced his salary by two thousand yuan and told him not to tell anyone.

Old Chen felt a little guilty and asked Li Long if it was his big mouth that had caused Li Long trouble.

"It's okay, as long as we don't tell anyone this time. By the way, let's test drive the car first and see if we're satisfied."

Now that it's hot, the car is easier to start and test drive, so Old Chen couldn't wait to go and test drive it.

Li Long could tell that Lao Chen's driving skills were better than Zheng Xiangyang's. Reassured, he began keeping accounts.

Wang Mingjun had already started cleaning his car. Seeing how much he cherished it, Li Long remembered that when he bought his first car in his previous life, he also cleaned it every day.

Then, I don't know when, I just stopped paying attention to it.

Given the situation at Wang Mingjun's company, this vehicle probably won't be wiped down many times, since the sandstorms are too severe and the road is gravel.

Soon, Old Chen finished his test drive, got out of the car, and said with a smile:

"That's it."

(End of this chapter)