Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 941 A Super Bargain: What Others Can Pick Up, I Can Pick Up Too!

"Young man, are you here to buy these paintings and calligraphy?" Manager Yao glanced at Li Long and his two companions, then immediately said to Li Long, "You want to buy all the paintings and calligraphy we have here?"

"Well, I just feel the price is a bit high, and also, I don't have that many foreign exchange certificates, so I want to buy it with US dollars."

Li Long's request did not comply with the rules here, which is why the staff had to consult with the authorities.

"Well, the price is negotiable, and paying in US dollars... isn't out of the question." The manager clearly had more authority and was more flexible. "What price do you think would be suitable?"

“How about five thousand US dollars? Anyway, it’s not easy for you to sell these paintings and calligraphy here…” Li Long said with a smile.

“This price is a bit too low,” Manager Yao shook his head. “I can’t agree to this. Although these paintings and calligraphy are indeed hard to sell, they were priced before they were delivered here. The maximum I can set for you here is seven thousand US dollars… You see…”

"Okay, no problem!" Li Long thought seven thousand was fine too. He was afraid something might go wrong if he waited too long, so he immediately agreed. "Could you pack it for me?"

"That's definitely possible," Manager Yao said with a smile. "Shall we pay now?"

"Okay." Li Long walked to the counter, taking money out of his backpack as he asked, "Will you be sourcing goods from other places later?"

"What's wrong? Didn't you buy enough?"

"Hehehe." That was exactly what Li Long was thinking.

“We’re not sure, since it needs to be arranged by our superiors, but we can apply.” Manager Yao was quite pleased, watching Li Long take out US dollars and count them as he spoke. “You can come back in a couple of days, and we’ll see how things go then.”

The staff took the US dollars from Li Long and examined them one by one. The denominations were quite large, so they were very cautious.

After counting out all seven thousand dollars, Li Long looked up and signaled to Manager Yao that everything was fine. Manager Yao smiled and said to Li Long:
"Shall we take a look at these paintings and calligraphy? After we inspect them, we'll pack them up here. Then, you can decide where to send them, or..."

"Can you pack it and mail it?" Li Long suddenly asked. "I'm not a local, and I'll eventually have to take it home. If you can mail it..."

“We can pack it up; we also have wooden crates here, but that will cost extra. We can also mail it from the post office, but you'll have to pay the postage yourself.”

"Okay." Li Long didn't dwell on the postage and followed Manager Yao to check the paintings and calligraphy, watching them pack and box them one by one.

This is the largest income the antique shop has had in a month, so Manager Yao felt it was no problem to provide some extra services.

Whether it's foreign exchange certificates or US dollars, isn't the nature the same? As for whether to sell the paintings and calligraphy to Chinese or foreigners, these aren't major issues of principle; as long as the antique shop completes its task, that's all that matters.

So we were busy until mid-afternoon before we finished packing and boxing everything. The main problem was the lengthy inventory process; paintings and calligraphy are fragile, so we had to be careful during both counting and packing.

Tom had already taken the dollars and left. His only regret was not insisting on a piece-rate commission, otherwise he could have earned thousands of dollars in one go.

Shao Licheng also had his own business to attend to, and Li Long gave him a hundred-dollar referral fee. Although he felt that Li Long's actions were somewhat unworthy, Shao Licheng still admired the man's financial power.

After the two left, Manager Yao told Li Long that he could come by himself next time, as he was a major client and didn't need to hire a shill anymore.

Li Long blushed slightly, but Manager Yao didn't laugh at him and even treated him to a meal at the antique shop.

The work meal was simple, just a bowl of noodles—Li Long was somewhat surprised that he had come to Yanjing and ended up having to eat noodles with soybean paste.

Li Long didn't pack up all the more than a thousand paintings. He knew nothing about these things, so he took seven paintings with him according to his own ideas: three by Qi Baishi, two by Zhang Daqian, and two by Li Keran.

The rest were packed into boxes, and then Li Long followed the staff of the antique shop to transport the paintings to the post and telecommunications building, where they were sent to northern Xinjiang.

The inside was made of paper, and the outside was a wooden box. There were people from the antique shop accompanying us, so we didn't check much—the inspection of mailed items wasn't very strict these days, partly due to the lack of advanced technology.

More than a thousand paintings filled two large boxes, and Li Long spent a lot on postage, but of course, it was far less than the value of the paintings themselves.

After mailing it, Li Long walked back with his backpack. He didn't take a taxi or the bus. Today's events were somewhat miraculous and unexpected, so he decided he needed to sort things out.

After spending seven thousand dollars, he now has less than ten thousand dollars left.

Of course, for Li Long, this money is just numbers, just pieces of paper. It would be best if he could buy something practical, but right now he has almost bought what he needs, and he really doesn't have the urge to buy anything else.

By the time they got back to the hostel, it was already dark, and Li Jianguo and the others had already returned.

Li Jianguo was alone in the room, while Li Qiang was in the next room. When Li Long pushed open the door and came in, Li Jianguo, who was half-lying down, sat up and asked, "Why are you back so late? Have you finished your business?"

"All done." Li Long said with a smile as he took off his backpack and placed it by the bedside. "I bought some calligraphy and paintings, like those by Qi Baishi and Zhang Daqian. I brought a few back, and sent some more home."

"Let's take a look." Li Jianguo didn't know much about this either, but Gu Boyuan knew a bit; the two of them had talked about it before. Plus, he'd occasionally heard about it on the radio. After all, Gu was a renowned scholar of our time, so naturally, they wanted to see it.

Li Long carefully took the paintings out of his backpack. None of the paintings were framed; they were just on paper. The seven paintings were rolled up and placed in a cardboard tube, which would preserve them better.

"Sigh, I don't see what's so great about it." Li Jianguo shook his head after looking at it. "We're still just roughnecks. Let's wait until Juan and Qiangqiang go to university before we look at it. Since it's something by a great painter, we should just keep it safe."

Regardless of the circumstances, even if people don't understand it, many people, like Li Jianguo or people of this generation, still have a certain respect for artists.

"Have you bought any furniture?" Li Long asked.

“We bought some,” Li Jianguo said. “When we got there, there were many people queuing up with their household registration books to buy things. Mingming’s aunt had a work ID and led us into the warehouse to pick out the furniture.”

Good heavens, that warehouse is piled high with all sorts of furniture! Our yard isn't small, but we didn't buy much. We spent a few hundred yuan and bought a whole truckload of furniture, just enough to fill the main house.

At this point, Li Jianguo leaned closer to Li Long and said, "I've taken a good look at these old pieces of furniture. Some of the wood is quite good and will last a long time."

"That's good." Li Long thought he would come over in the spring and summer to renovate and clean the two courtyards, and then buy some furniture.

To reiterate, it's not that we can't afford new furniture, it's that it's unnecessary. The two courtyards will most likely remain uninhabited for some time; we'll just come over occasionally and use some old furniture.

"Sigh, I only realized after seeing it that the common people in Yanjing City aren't living very well either." Li Jianguo sighed, his hands clasped behind his head, leaning against the headboard. "Looking at those people selling things, they're selling things for ten or twenty yuan, and things for one or two yuan, or even a dollar or eighty cents. Some of them are alright, but many of them look quite pitiful."

Li Long put the scroll down, sat down, and said to his elder brother:

"Brother, we've been living well these past two years. Have you thought about it? Right now, you can easily pull out several hundred yuan to buy furniture without feeling the pinch. That's considered upper-middle class in Beijing. If you were in the whole country, with your current wealth, you'd easily surpass more than 80% of the population."

"How could that be?" Li Jianguo naturally didn't believe it.

"Brother, you don't believe me? Think about it, besides our fourth team, how much net income can the others in the third and second teams earn in a year? This northern Xinjiang has a lot of land. Back in our hometown, each family only has a few acres of land, what can they possibly harvest?" Li Jianguo thought about it and realized it made sense. It was only in the last two years that they had done some side jobs, growing cash crops and earning a lot of money. Plus, Li Long had been doing it for four or five years, so their family's life had been very good, or rather, very good, since the household responsibility system was implemented.

Li Long has always lived in the county, and since he spends little time at home, he doesn't have a deep understanding of the local culture.

Living in the team, especially during the winter when things were quiet, my dad would often say that life was really good, much better than that of the landlords of the past. If we could live like this for a few more years, we would have lived a truly worthwhile life.

Why does the old man understand this so deeply? It's because he lived in the old society for the first half of his life. When he came to the new society, life was a little better, but the country was built from scratch in those years. The Central Plains itself had little land and a large population. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to send Li Long to the northern frontier.

Even without Li Long in their hometown, life there was still below the poverty line. But after arriving in northern Xinjiang, life took a dramatic turn, leaping from barely making ends meet to a comfortable life. How could they not feel the difference?
In fact, Li Jianguo himself felt this deeply, but he had been so busy these past few years that he hadn't thought about these things. He knew his father's feelings, and he knew about the poverty in his hometown; things were different here in northern Xinjiang.

Li Long was busy running around trying to make a better life, but Li Jianguo was actually even busier than him. The two families had dozens of acres of land, plus Gu Boyuan's land, and newly reclaimed land. Just planting all that land required thinning, weeding, spraying pesticides, and fertilizing. In their spare time, they also had to do side jobs.

Li Jianguo wished he had eight hands—fortunately, his wife Liang Yuemei was quite capable, and his parents could lend a hand from time to time. He also didn't have to worry much about his two children's studies; otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to manage.

Then came the small four-wheeled tractor, and last year the large tractor came along, making farming much easier. The mechanization of farming is truly remarkable. For example, the cultivator that Li Long made could do in half an hour what a person could do in a day by hand, such as weeding.

Although the completion rate is not as high as that of manual labor, it has the advantage of being faster. If a family only has one or two acres of land, they can cultivate it intensively. If they have one or two hundred acres of land, they are lucky if they can manage to grow it in a rough and ready way.

Li Jianguo was too busy to think about it, but now that he calmed down and thought about it, it really was true. Even though the household responsibility system had been in place and reform and opening up had been going on for nearly eight years, and many people's living standards had indeed improved, his own had improved a bit too quickly. Although he hadn't stood out, he had certainly surpassed many others.

While others are selling things, you are buying things, spending hundreds of dollars at a time without feeling any pain. These hundreds of dollars won't hurt your family much, which really shows that your family's living conditions are already very good.

Thinking of this, Li Jianguo smiled, which meant he agreed with Li Long's statement.

Hearing the commotion next door, Gu Xiaoxia, Gu Xiaoyu, Li Juan, and Li Qiang all came over. Li Long talked about his purchases, but didn't mention the quantity, only saying that he had bought some paintings, and then took out some paintings by Qi Baishi and Zhang Daqian to show them.

Gu Xiaoxia didn't know much, but Gu Xiaoyu had heard of several masters. She was a bit confused about her brother-in-law's "investment direction" and therefore didn't make any comments.

Li Juan and Li Qiang looked at it carefully, but they couldn't really see anything special. They just thought it was a fun drawing.

"Tomorrow I plan to go to the antique shop's purchasing department to see if I can buy some good stuff. We also want to buy some local specialties to take back. Xiaoyu, could you recommend some to us?"

"Specialty products? Now the time-honored shops have all reopened, such as Zhengmingzhai and Daoxiangcun pastries, Liubiju pickles, Bianyifang roast duck, Tongrentang prepared medicines, etc."

What can we bring back? Li Long thought for a moment and said, "Let's buy some pastries. We can only take these back with us."

"You can mail it, or you can ship it at the train station," Gu Xiaoyu reminded her.

Li Long wasn't too comfortable with mailing it, mainly because pastries are fragile and roast duck is difficult to transport. Shipping it through the train station seemed like a good option. He wondered if he could get a large wooden crate, like he did with mailing paintings and calligraphy, pack the pastries inside, and ship it from the train station to Wucheng, where he could then pick it up himself.

"Then let's buy more luggage. We've come all this way to Yanjing, we should at least bring some things back with us. I wonder if we can pack up the roast duck to take with us," Li Long said. "If we can, let's bring some back too."

To borrow a common saying, since we're already here, we might as well spend the money. It's not like we're going to lose a little bit—these paintings alone could conservatively earn us a lot of roast duck.

By this point, Li Long felt a sense of fulfillment; all that remained was to add the finishing touches, ensuring the trip had been worthwhile.

The next day, after Li Long and his group finished eating, they split up again. This time, Shao Licheng didn't come over to disrupt their plans. Li Long went to the acquisition department of the antique shop.

Sure enough, there were many people queuing to sell things, and there were indeed scalpers waiting there, who would find their targets and then negotiate with them.

Some people couldn't wait and sold their items to scalpers, while others disagreed, probably feeling that the scalpers' prices were too low and that it would be more appropriate to sell them to antique shops.

Li Long's gaze fell on the items the people were carrying. Most were porcelain, some were bronze mirrors, and a few were calligraphy and paintings, though those were fewer in number.

Most people wrap their belongings in cloth or put them directly in their bags, holding them tightly in their hands to prevent them from being stolen.

Li Long observed for a while and indeed there were people nearby whose eyes were darting around, searching for their target.

Of course, there are people patrolling here from time to time, calling out to remind those with ulterior motives, which makes them behave a little.

Li Long had originally considered trying to learn from scalpers and act as middlemen to buy the goods, but given the current situation, he abandoned the idea. With his current knowledge, he couldn't distinguish whether these porcelains were from last week or from a thousand years ago, so it was better not to buy them at all.

Moreover, the people receiving the goods were watching him intently, clearly afraid that he would steal their business, so Li Long didn't need to cause them any trouble.

So he went back. On his way back, he came across a consignment shop. Li Long went in to look at the goods that were for sale and found that bicycles, cameras, radios, televisions, watches and other items were being consigned for sale. The shop had a wide variety of items, but Li Long didn't see anything particularly valuable like gold or jade. He figured these things were probably just for storage.
He looked around, found nothing he wanted to buy, and then left.

When they returned to the hostel at noon, Li Jianguo and the others were already back. They seemed a little puzzled to see Li Long return empty-handed. Li Jianguo said:
"Today we went to look at shoes and hats from a time-honored brand. The shoes weren't anything special, but we bought a few hats to give as gifts later."

"Have you bought any pastries? If not, go buy some tomorrow, make a lot, pack them up and ship them back home to give as gifts," Li Long said. "We don't have much to do after this."

"How about we go to the Summer Palace tomorrow? The Old Summer Palace burned down, so we should be able to see the Summer Palace, right?"

"It's viewable, but I wonder what it's like in the dead of winter." Li Long thought to himself, "It must have been viewed in late spring or early summer, right? If we go now, we probably won't see anything."

"We'll have to take a look."

"Okay, let's visit the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, and other familiar places." There are actually quite a few places in Yanjing; it would definitely take more than a day to see them all. Li Long could tell that his older brother was in a good mood. Since the tasks they needed to do had already been completed ahead of schedule, they might as well enjoy the sightseeing.

When Gu Xiaoxia was told about it, she was quite happy. After all, she had only had a proper look around the Tiananmen area during her trip, and hadn't had a chance to explore the other places properly. She was a little reluctant to go back now.

However, she didn't plan to go anywhere else this afternoon. She left the child with Li Long, and the two sisters, Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiaoyu, went out together.

It's somewhat mysterious.

Li Long could guess what was going on, but he didn't say anything. Since his wife didn't plan to take him and the child, she probably didn't intend to tell anyone.

Let's leave it for now.

Li Long decided to take his older brother and the others to see his two courtyards.

"Hey, this courtyard is really nice!" Li Jianguo said with a smile when he saw the two-courtyard house. "It's not as big as yours, but it's very well furnished. It looks like the garden of a wealthy family in the old society."

That's really true. In the past, how could ordinary people possibly live in a courtyard like this?
Li Long himself was quite satisfied.

PS: Thank you to reader Crocodile Tears L for the generous donation, and thank you to readers Xie Lan'an, Jiangbei Haijiao, Lin Ruo_AE, and Zuo Jing for their donations.

(End of this chapter)