Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1190 Old Gu, Like a Fish in Water
Xinyuan Sixth Brigade.

Near Kansugou, Gu Boyuan was checking the quality of a bag of fritillaria bulbs in front of a house.

"The fritillaria bulbs are nice, quite fresh, but you could wash them a bit more." Gu Boyuan said somewhat helplessly after looking at them. "This is the third time I've bought fritillaria bulbs from you, isn't it? I've told you before that the cleaner and drier the fritillaria bulbs are, the more valuable they are."

"You can run around in the mountains and dig up so many fritillaria bulbs, why didn't you wash them?"

"Hehehe." The owner of the fritillaria was named He Wanbing, and he just chuckled.

His clothes were patched in several places, his hair hadn't been cut in a long time, and his beard was unkempt. Although he was not yet forty, he looked older than Old Gu.

The yard had no gate and not a single decent farm tool. Two children, one a little over four years old and the other a little over six, were playing with pebbles in the yard.

The children's clothes were also very worn out. They would occasionally glance at the people trading outside, their eyes full of curiosity, but they dared not come out to watch.

There were two mud-brick houses, and you could faintly hear children crying inside.

"Alright, alright, I know your family is struggling financially, so I won't say anything more. Come on, let's weigh it. These fritillaria bulbs are pretty good sizes, I'll give you ten yuan per kilogram."

The price of fritillaria has gone up, so Gu Boyuan will adjust the price accordingly when he comes to collect it. He Wanbing is someone Gu Boyuan met the first time he came to collect fritillaria. At that time, he had heard that there were fritillaria in Kansu Gully, but he didn't know if anyone was digging for them nearby.

The famous Narat was nearby, but at that time it was still a poor and remote area that had not been developed.

Gu Boyuan asked each family one by one. He didn't have much hope when he got to He Wanbing's house, because there were only two families in the village who knew how to dig for fritillaria, and most of the others were ethnic minorities who didn't even know what fritillaria was.

He Wanbing was the only one who chased after them and offered to dig for fritillaria bulbs, saying that if they were given just one day, something would be found by tomorrow.

Gu Boyuan believed him. The next day, when he was traveling to other villages, he turned this way, and He Wanbing actually brought him several kilograms of fritillaria bulbs, which looked freshly dug.

That's how we got to know each other.

This is the third time today. Gu Boyuan's intention is that he won't come again after this purchase. Coming down occasionally to help the purchasing station advertise is fine, but coming down every day won't work; that would turn him into a traveling merchant.

The purchasing station receives fritillaria bulbs steadily every day, but Gu Boyuan still wants to make more trips.

Although he advertised on television, he discovered that in many mountainous villages in Yili, the entire village might not even have a single television.

The overall economic level is much worse than that of the fourth team, or even than that of Ma County.

Take He Wanbing's family for example. He has the skill of digging for fritillaria bulbs. This place is close to the mountainside and there are no forest rangers. In theory, it should be easy for him to make money.

But it was no exaggeration to say that their house was completely bare. The last time Gu Boyuan came to collect fritillaria bulbs, I thought I'd rest at his house for a while, but when I opened the door, there wasn't even a stool inside.

There were quite a few babies—five in total, ranging from teenagers to under one year old!
Then I learned from He Wanbing that everything the family owned had been confiscated.

Serves you right. What can you do if you can't control your lower body?
Team Four also had families with more children than allowed, but they accepted the penalties and paid the fines... Well, it seems Li Long played a part in this. At least ever since Li Long started taking on jobs at the supply and marketing cooperative, the working income for the families in Team Four seems to have increased.

Old Gu once thought that the area around Ma County or the Fourth Team was a microcosm of rural northern Xinjiang.

But once he arrived, he realized how little he knew—not only was the overall situation in Yili different from that in Ma County, but even the specific situations in the various brigades of Xinyuan were different.

The closer to the mountains, the more severe the poverty becomes. Some villages genuinely lack electricity, and some families are in even worse condition than those left behind in the pastoral areas of Ma County.

He could have bought things at an even lower price, like He Wanbing's fritillaria bulbs. Even if they were only one yuan per kilogram of fresh ones, He Wanbing would still be willing to sell them.

He was really too poor.

However, Gu Boyuan still paid the market price. Niu Dawei, the veteran who was with him, poured the fritillaria into the bag he had brought, returned the patched bag to He Wanbing, and then let Gu Boyuan get in the car.

There are vicious dogs in this village. When we arrived earlier, they chased after the car. Now he was worried that if he got into the car first, and the dog suddenly ran out and bit Gu Boyuan, wouldn't he have gotten his salary for nothing?

After Gu Boyuan got into the car, Niu Dawei got into the passenger seat, and the driver, Ding Haiyang, asked, "Boss, shall we go?"

"Let's go." Gu Boyuan glanced at He Wanbing, who was counting money outside the car, and said, "Let's go to the Fifth Brigade. I remember there are two other companies that have appointments there."

After driving the car for about twenty or thirty meters, He Wanbing finally counted the money. Remembering this, he waved to the car, picked up the bag, and turned to go into the yard.

"With the family in such a state, why have another child? The baby won't even have enough to eat, won't he suffer?" Niu Dawei complained, somewhat puzzled.

"Well... how should I put it? Some people really think that just giving them food is enough." Gu Boyuan didn't know how to explain it.

At this point, one should indeed think about how to improve one's life. People like He Wanbing also have this desire, but this is the reality of the country at that time.

The fritillaria season is coming to an end, but Gu Boyuan knows that the purchasing station can't rely solely on fritillaria and hides if it wants to operate long-term. He and Li Long have discussed that fritillaria will eventually be banned, and the same goes for hides.

Therefore, if a purchasing station wants to operate in the long term, it must seek more stable sources of goods.

In Yili, apart from Yining, which is relatively prosperous, the other counties and cities are not as developed as Ma County, let alone the towns and villages.

However, due to the small population and excellent environment, the local produce is actually quite abundant. The areas around the county seat and towns are fine, but the situation in the countryside, especially in the mountainous areas, is similar to that of Ma County in the early 1980s. Many people have no idea that the antlers of deer and roe deer in the mountains can be sold for money.

So there are many opportunities, but if you want to promote yourself, you have to travel frequently.

The first step was to become a traveling merchant, which was also part of Gu Boyuan's development strategy. He needed to let more people know that these things were valuable, and quite valuable. Otherwise, if Gu Boyuan didn't go to the countryside to collect them, these people wouldn't bother to bring them to the city to sell.

As for middlemen, most of them only go to the black market for furs and meat, and rarely go to villages closer to the mountains.

Gu Boyuan worked like a diligent salesman, gradually carving out this market.

As for the cost, it was that I got ripped off even more, and my food and lodging were rather haphazard.

Ding Haiyang and Niu Dawei both came from the 7th Infantry Division (not the 7th Agricultural Division of the Production and Construction Corps; this 7th Infantry Division was later converted into the Armed Police). They were known for their hard work and perseverance. They followed Gu Boyuan around and admired their boss.

"Alright, looks like we won't be able to find a restaurant for lunch again today. We'll just have to eat naan bread." After picking up a slightly damaged lynx pelt from another family he had arranged to meet, Gu Boyuan looked at the sky and said to the two of them.

"Eating naan is fine, there's red tofu too." The two veterans weren't picky at all; since the boss was eating naan, they figured they might as well join him.

Besides, eating naan bread at this time of year isn't really a bad treatment.

It was almost dark when we got back to Yining.

Ding Haiyang went to tidy up the car, while Niu Dawei went to the warehouse to hand over the items collected that day. Gu Boyuan kept a record of every item collected, and transactions with the warehouse also needed to be recorded; the system was well-established.

The purchasing station not only has a GAZ truck, but also an imported used truck, which Gu Boyuan bought from Liu Gaolou. He needs to transport goods to various counties, and he can't do without a truck.

The purchasing station has closed, but the person in charge of receiving goods today is still here. His name is Zhu Wanjiang. He used to be an accountant for a production team. Later, the production team was changed to a village, and someone took over his job, so he came out to work and was discovered by Gu Boyuan.

After working for a while, I found him to be a reliable person, so I promoted him to assistant manager to help me receive goods.

Zhu Wanjiang had been waiting for Gu Boyuan to return. When Gu Boyuan came in, Zhu took out the register of the day's purchases, including the remaining money, and reconciled the accounts one by one.

Gu Boyuan looked at each item he had acquired one by one, and finally checked the total account.

That day, a total of over 700 kilograms of fritillaria bulbs were harvested, including over 200 kilograms of dried fritillaria bulbs, over 100 kilograms of semi-dried fritillaria bulbs, and the rest were fresh fritillaria bulbs.

The number of pelts collected was relatively small, a total of twenty-seven, all ordinary red deer and roe deer pelts, with one wolf pelt. Of the twenty-seven pelts, seven were complete pelts, and the rest were damaged pelts.

There are some other random things left.

The records are very detailed, and Zhu Wanjiang's handwriting is very beautiful. No wonder he was an accountant in the production team. The ledger also looks very clean.

"Alright, you've worked hard. Go and get some rest." Gu Boyuan put away the notebook and the remaining money, and said, "I won't go out tomorrow. You can just help me out."

The job of an assistant only required bookkeeping, which Zhu Wanjiang liked. He nodded and got up to leave. The pay was high and the benefits were good; he had no other thoughts but to do his job diligently.

After Zhu Wanjiang left, Gu Boyuan locked up the notebook and money, turned off the lights, and left as well.

The courtyard was quite large and lively. From afar, you could hear Niu Dawei talking to his roommates about the interesting things that happened to him that day.

Gu Boyuan was calculating his gains for the day.

The day the purchasing station opened was the day with the highest turnover, after which it steadily declined until it finally stopped falling and started to rise again a couple of days ago. My biggest gain from this trip to the mountainous countryside was that lynx pelt.

He believed that there should be many such valuable hides among the people, it just depended on whether he had the ability to acquire them.

Gu Boyuan was confident, after all, he was the only private purchasing station in the industry at the moment, and he had set out the service and quality standards for the purchasing station in Ma County from the very beginning.

There's tea in the courtyard, and the prices for buying things are high, especially the latter, which directly attracted many people to come and become loyal customers.

However, its influence has expanded relatively slowly and requires a period of time to develop.

Gu Boyuan wasn't in a hurry. He knew that people like Wu Yongbo would follow suit, but they couldn't offer him the same price advantage.

So he'll definitely be the winner in the end.

After leaving Ma County, Gu Boyuan had more autonomy. Not only did he earn more money, but he also felt confident that he could make something of himself.

In the past, in Ma County, he mainly acted as the manager, and he listened to Li Long's general policies. Although he didn't feel resentful, he was never quite right.

Although we often have to go to the mountains here, we enjoy it and find it really worthwhile.

This is where my career is located.

He told his second daughter, Gu Xiaoyu, about it over the phone. Like most people, Gu Xiaoyu thought the conditions there must be bad, and just told him to take care of himself.

Gu Boyuan agreed verbally, but didn't really take it seriously. In his opinion, the climate here was much better than in Ma County. The yellow dust before spring, the vast grasslands and seas of flowers—although the conditions were a bit worse, the environment was great.

He likes it here!
On this point, Li Long supported him during their regular phone calls, which made Gu Boyuan feel like he had found a kindred spirit with his son-in-law for the first time.

It's a mess, I suppose.

The fritillaria season is coming to an end, but the purchase of wild mushrooms and deer antlers is increasing, so Gu Boyuan plans to go out every two days to promote them in remote areas.

The area of ​​the Yili mountainous region is much larger than that of Ma County, and the output of various materials is also greater. Therefore, Gu Boyuan's idea is to make the amount of materials purchased by the purchasing station here exceed that of the purchasing station in Ma County within two years.

He has that confidence!

The next day, after a quick wash, we ate breakfast.

Because there are many people and the courtyard is large, Gu Boyuan hired a woman around forty years old to cook.

The woman's name was Hu Yuhua. Her family used to run a canteen. Later, after the public-private partnership, her family's canteen became state-owned. She went to school, then went to the countryside, and later returned to the city to start a family.

At that time, it was difficult to find work, and odd jobs were sporadic. Later, when the economy improved, she set up her own stall to sell snacks. Because it was a mobile stall, she often sold her food near the recycling station. Since Gu Boyuan had hired more people, he simply discussed with her and asked her to cook for the people at the recycling station.

Seventy yuan a month is quite a lot.

After breakfast, the young men quickly finished packing up. Some of them sorted the collected items in the back warehouse, while others opened the gate of the purchasing station.

When Gu Boyuan was getting ready for work, the place had already been cleaned up and tea was laid out outside, just waiting for the guests to arrive.

The first person to arrive was Wu Yongbo.

He drove up in his car, carrying two bags of fritillaria bulbs, and smiled at Gu Boyuan, saying:

"Boss Gu, come and see the good stuff I just got!"

Since selling the things he had collected from Li Long last time, Wu Yongbo has been driving a car.

After comparing the options, he realized that selling the collected items to Li Long was less profitable than simply leaving them with Gu Boyuan. Running back and forth for several days was less convenient than dealing with Old Gu directly.

Wu Yongbo had initially harbored some resentment, but that's long gone now. He realized he didn't have the ability to back it up, and he was willing to listen to Li Long's advice, so he maintained a calm and composed attitude.

As a local expert, he knew better than Gu Boyuan where the local specialties were and from whom he could buy the most.

Although the purchasing station advertised on TV, some people didn't have TVs and couldn't see it at all; these people were Wu Yongbo's potential customers.

In just this one fritillaria season, he has already earned 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, more than he earned in the entire previous year. Now he has even handed over the business of getting and selling local specialties from Liu Gaolou to his cousin, and he has devoted himself entirely to purchasing these medicinal herbs and hides.

He didn't want to be a peddler forever; his goal was to earn 50,000 yuan this year so he could open a purchasing station in Huiyuan, Qingshui, or Huocheng.

Even if it's just a shell, it's still amazing.

Wu Yongbo was a major client, and they had a good relationship. Gu Boyuan joked with him while inspecting the fritillaria he had sent over.

The quality is indeed quite good; Wu Yongbo did a better job in this respect than others.

After receiving the fritillaria bulbs, Gu Boyuan told Zhu Wanjiang to make a note of it, pay the money, and then had the shop assistant next to him take the fritillaria bulbs to the back to be sorted and packaged.

After selling the fritillaria bulbs, Wu Yongbo didn't leave immediately. His previous business here wasn't related to this, so he's still humbly learning from Lao Gu.

There weren't many people outside, so Lao Gu casually shared some business tips with him. These weren't things worth keeping secret; telling him was actually telling the dealers as well.

For example, integrity, pricing, and fairness.

Wu Yongbo was more interested in hearing what other items he planned to collect, and the prices of those items, such as black tiger paw mushrooms, ginseng, and copper coins.

The copper coins were something Li Long mentioned when he was chatting with Gu Boyuan, especially those that had been dug up and were lumped together. Li Long said that these copper coins would definitely be more valuable in the future.

Gu Boyuan noted it down. Anyway, now he would buy it at the low price of scrap copper, since it was all lumped together and would definitely contain impurities.

The buying and selling of copper coins has existed since ancient times. So it's not a rare thing. Most of the copper coins that ordinary people come into contact with are of common quality, and since they don't know how to distinguish them, they'll sell them as long as they can get money.

Wu Yongbo likes to listen to these kinds of things.

He felt that he was too isolated from information because he was staying here, and he didn't know anything.

Although he had a good relationship with Liu Gaolou, he felt that Liu Gaolou was in the high-end business, which was beyond his reach. He felt that Lao Gu's side was more practical.

Gu Boyuan also liked to talk about these things, bragging. He naturally wouldn't talk about things he couldn't say, but he could talk about common things and things that were commonplace in Ma County.

It's just an information gap; it's not that one place is better than another. Each place has its own unique characteristics, and this can be considered a form of mutual exchange.

This made the traffickers quite happy, as they felt they had learned a lot, just like Wu Yongbo.

Gu Boyuan quite enjoyed this feeling. At this moment, he was not only treated as the boss, but also as a teacher. Well, that feeling was really good.

When Liu Gaolou arrived in early June, Gu Boyuan had already acquired over two tons of fritillaria bulbs and nearly a thousand hides, along with two lynx pelts and two snow leopard pelts as the grand finale, which he planned to transport back to Ma County with the truck.

After being away for so long, I've gained a lot.

(End of this chapter)