Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 977 Li Long: To Make Money Continue, You Must Be Unique and Irreplaceable

For Sasken and Nathan, Li Long's arrival was nothing short of a festival.

Although they own a tractor, they don't use it here. For ordinary herder children, a tractor is already a luxury; a jeep is something they can only look up to.

So as soon as Li Long arrived at the ranch, the group of children who were playing after school immediately surrounded him, running and shouting as they followed the jeep.

Li Long let Nathan and Sasken get into the car. He didn't see the Jiang family's children from Yushan; they should have already gone to Harbin Middle School or gone home.

After all, when children get older, they know how to help with chores around the house after school.

The jeep stopped in front of Halim's yard. Li Long gave each of the two children a handful of fruit candies and told them to share them with their friends. He then got out of the jeep and took the sheep out of the bag.

Halim's mother came out of the house and smiled when she saw Li Long. When she saw Li Long carrying the sheep, she quickly turned around, opened the kitchen door, tidied up the things on the counter, and after Li Long came over and put the sheep down, she took Li Long's hand and went to make him milk tea.

“Nathan, tell your grandma that I’ll butcher the sheep before we drink.” Li Long didn’t want the old man to butcher the sheep—although the old man would certainly butcher it himself, he couldn’t let the old man do that work while he was here.

Upon hearing Li Long's shout, Nathan hurriedly ran over to translate for his grandmother.

Li Long had already drawn his knife and started butchering the sheep—legs, neck, ribs, tenderloin, and so on.

The pieces were unloaded and arranged neatly, and the milk tea was prepared and served.

Li Long drank the milk tea, asked Nathan and Sasken a few questions, and then distributed the school supplies he had brought with him, as well as toys—a soccer ball and a basketball—to them to play with.

Besides sheep, Li Long also brought some daily necessities, including brick tea, salt, sugar, needles and thread, and a pair of cloth shoes and a pair of rubber shoes for each person.

With Halim and the others away, Li Long tried his best to take good care of things here. Although he didn't come often, he would make sure to replenish everything he needed whenever he did.

Then it was at Yushan Jiang's house. Yushan's wife was there; she was still in her prime, and their two children were quite old, so Li Long didn't unload the sheep. He just put the things down, drank a bowl of milk tea, and left.

Back in the county, it was dinnertime. Han Fang had finished her final exams and, like the other students, was preparing for her holiday. She had done well on her exams and was in a good mood.

According to Gu Xiaoxia, if Han Fang continues to study with her current grades, she still has a good chance of getting into university—mainly because she is too hardworking, and in Li Long's opinion, she is comparable to Li Juan.

Li Juan was single-mindedly focused on that goal; she was hardworking and had finally grasped the concept. Han Fang, on the other hand, matured early due to her family situation. She knew that only by studying hard and getting a good job could she repay her mother and make her family's life better.

In fact, Han Fang had always wanted to attend a vocational school so that she could start working and earning a salary as soon as possible. However, Sister Yang often talked with Gu Xiaoxia and felt that it would be better for Han Fang to go to university.

The idea was the same as telling Li Long that Li Juan should try her best to get into university.

Ever since Li Long bought a courtyard house in Yanjing and sent Li Juan and Li Qiang to Yanjing to broaden their horizons, Sister Yang has been secretly determined to take Han Fang there to broaden her horizons when she has time, so that she can also take the college entrance exam.

When Li Long returned to the courtyard, Han Fang was playing with Mingming and Haohao. Compared to Sister Yang, Mingming and Haohao preferred to run around following Han Fang, while Sister Yang was still a little worried and would occasionally peek out from the kitchen to tell Han Fang to be careful.

When Li Long drove in his jeep, Mingming and Haohao were pulling on the lamb's ears in a tug-of-war, while Han Fang was supervising to prevent the lamb from butting the two children.

Upon seeing Li Long return, Mingming and Haohao immediately dropped the lamb and tried to run over, but Han Fang quickly pulled the two children into her arms and squatted down to prevent them from going over.

When Li Long stopped the car and got out to play with Mingming and Haohao, he asked Han Fang:

"Xiaofang, I'm going to Yanjing on business in a while. Would you like to come along?"

Sister Yang had helped him so much. Although she paid him a salary, she was actually better than some of his relatives. So Li Long thought that since Li Juan and Li Qiang had already gone to Yanjing, he should take Han Fang with him to visit them.

"No, I'm not going." Han Fang thought for a moment and said, "My mother can't leave right now. I want to stay with her. When she has some free time, I'm thinking of going to Yanjing with her."

"Okay, sure." Li Long thought about whether he should give Sister Yang a break too. In the past two years, Sister Yang has only had time off during the Chinese New Year, which is really hard work for her.

After dinner, while Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia were watching Mingming and Haohao sleep, he told Gu Xiaoxia about his idea.

"Sister Yang deserves a break," Gu Xiaoxia said with emotion. "Sister Yang is busy all day long and doesn't have much time to rest. It's only right that she gets a break."

I've been inquiring about daycare centers within our education system lately. Children can go as early as two years old, but I've heard the caregivers there aren't very patient. Right now, Mingming and Haohao can't wipe their own bottoms yet, so we'll have to wait a while before sending them there.”

"Yes, that's right." Li Long thought to himself that it made sense that children in later generations only went to kindergarten after the age of three. Only after the age of three could children develop basic living habits, such as eating by themselves and going to the toilet by themselves.

Two years old is still too young. The daycare center in the education system can't possibly give Mingming and Haohao special treatment or extra care, so let's start practicing at home first.

However, I can still take a holiday. Li Long said, "I don't have much to do lately. It's summer vacation now. If Sister Yang wants to take Han Fang out for a trip, I can stay home, cook, and look after Mingming and Haohao."

"Sure," Gu Xiaoxia readily agreed, but said somewhat apologetically, "I should have been the one taking care of the child..."

"Don't say that. Whoever has time can do the housework," Li Long said with a smile. "You just focus on your work."

Gu Xiaoxia sighed, "How can I be so happy? At work, I only have to work, and when I get home, there are ready-made meals. I don't have to worry about household expenses, and I can save all my salary. My mother-in-law doesn't have to take care of me either—and someone even takes care of my child. Everyone at my workplace is so jealous of me."

"Then let them die!" Li Long said with a smile. "We just need to live our happy lives..." He glanced at Mingming and Haohao, who were already fast asleep. He then turned on the light and got into bed.

Silent all night.

The next morning at breakfast, Li Long told Sister Yang about the holiday. Sister Yang was a little surprised. After understanding what Li Long meant, she shook her head and said, "What holiday? I'm not busy at all today. I just cook and take care of Mingming and Haohao."

Now that Mingming and Haohao are over two years old, they're more sensible and easier to take care of. I mainly just cook, which isn't hard work at all. Even if we go out, we still have to cook, right? Xiaofang is still too young, so I don't want to go out. I'm not in the mood for it.

"If you find me annoying, I'll just stay in the front yard for a few days—but what about your meals? His uncle's busy with business, always on the go, and his aunt, you have to work, so what about Mingming and Haohao?"

Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia exchanged a glance, and then he said with a smile, "Alright, we thought you'd been working hard, so we'll give you two days off. But if you're not feeling tired, you don't have to take the days off, which will save us trouble. However, I'll give you the travel expenses that were originally planned for you to go out and explore this month with your salary. You can do whatever you want."

Sister Yang has contributed a lot to this family. Li Long pays her a monthly salary, and Sister Yang spends a portion of it on groceries. Li Long also gives her bonuses from time to time.

That was settled, and life in the courtyard became mundane. As the weather grew hotter, Mingming and Haohao didn't really want to play outside anymore, so Sister Yang took them to play in the shady area of ​​the courtyard every day, so that they could get more sun, as Li Long put it.

Li Long bought several truckloads of watermelons during his spare time. He put them out in the Fourth Team and at Old Ma's place, one truckload at the main courtyard, and another at the purchasing station. Now, those who come to sell their goods can get free watermelons and free mung bean soup.

This alone made those who came to sell their goods truly admire this purchasing station.

For Li Long, a kilogram of watermelon costs less than a dime, and even if he cuts a dozen or so a day, it's only a matter of a few dollars. But for these people who come to sell their goods, even at home, they can't eat watermelons to their heart's content. This hospitality alone is enough to make them feel a sense of belonging.

Moreover, even though there are no mobile phones now, people spread the word. If one person says a recycling station is good, others will just listen. If two or three people say so, some people will believe it. If more people say so, the reputation will be established.

So even though it's the off-season for the purchasing station now, since fritillaria is already out of season, black tiger paw mushrooms are just coming to market, and the harvesting of melon seeds hasn't started yet, there aren't many people coming here to sell things as usual.

But in reality, the number of people coming wasn't much less than during the peak season for fritillaria. Dozens of people came every day, so Li Long simply contacted a watermelon farmer and had him deliver two sacks of watermelons daily, as it's better to eat them fresh. Although Sun Jiaqiang privately said that eating watermelons like this was too wasteful, Li Long didn't think it was a problem. Although these people came to sell their goods, some carried relatively little, while others were even there specifically for the watermelons.

But just like how promotions in later generations allow people to sample products, overall, the profits and reputation gained far outweigh the costs.

Next, a large quantity of black tiger paw mushrooms were sold over – initially only a few people picked and sold them, but later, people who came here to sell other things saw that these mushrooms could be sold for such a high price, and they all thought about going to the mountains to pick mushrooms.

Picking mushrooms is different from digging for fritillaria bulbs. Digging for fritillaria bulbs will get you arrested by the forest rangers, but picking mushrooms won't—so suddenly a lot of people went into the mountains to pick mushrooms.

This has resulted in a much larger harvest of black tiger paw mushrooms this year than last year. Before mid-July, more than a ton of dried mushrooms had already been received!

Li Long was shocked!

He even went to ask some mushroom pickers, "Don't you need to harvest wheat?"

He argued confidently, "Picking mushrooms for a day can earn you tens of yuan, while my family's entire acre of wheat wouldn't even fetch twenty yuan... Picking mushrooms for a day is equivalent to several acres of land, so what else is there to do?"

That makes perfect sense, and Li Long was speechless.

He was also somewhat shocked by the sheer number of black tiger paw mushrooms in the mountains, which seemed to be far more abundant than morel mushrooms.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. A fresh black tiger paw mushroom can weigh up to half a kilogram, and a dried one or two hundred grams, while a dried morel mushroom can only weigh a few grams. There's no comparison at all.

In late July, when the wheat harvest was almost complete, Huang Lei finally made an appearance.

Li Long met him in the reception room. While cutting a melon, Li Long said to him, "Boss Huang, are you done with your business? Everything's alright now?"

"It's alright, it's alright," Huang Lei said with a smile. "In the end, it was found out that someone framed me by putting a few poisonous dried mushrooms in the storeroom of a restaurant I sold dried wild mushrooms to, which caused problems for the people who ate them."

"Not bad, we were able to figure it out." Li Long cut up the watermelon and handed it over. "Here, have a slice."

"Originally, the case was unclear, but it ended up falling on my shoulders. I just didn't expect that I would be seen picking poisonous mushrooms, and the poisonous mushrooms I picked are quite famous in our area, with many people knowing about their toxicity."

I've become quite well-known for selling wild mushrooms these past two years, and although some people are jealous of me, I've also done some good deeds. The person who saw me picking poisonous mushrooms happened to know me, and after learning about what happened, he told me what had happened.

"Now that we know who did it, the rest is easy," Huang Lei said with a smile. "Having done business for a few years, I have some connections. A quick interrogation will tell us everything. As soon as I finished my business there, I came straight here to buy dried mushrooms. Aren't I a good friend?"

Li Long knew things were definitely not as simple as Huang Lei had described, but it was a good thing that they could find out the truth.

"It's good that you're here. I've harvested a lot of wild mushrooms recently. If you hadn't come, I would have been unable to keep up and had to sell them to others. Several people came to buy my wild mushrooms a few days ago."

Li Long wasn't lying. In the past few days, every day or two, people would come to him wanting to buy the mushrooms they had collected.

The prices offered were not low, basically reaching the prices Huang Lei mentioned, and one even charged two yuan more.

But Li Long didn't sell. Since he had already promised Huang Lei, he didn't want to break the contract. Besides, maintaining another client would be troublesome, as he didn't know their background and might cause problems. He figured he might as well wait for Huang Lei.

Fortunately, Huang Lei did not disappoint him and finally made it through.

"You didn't agree, did you?" Huang Lei glanced outside the yard, where a lot of black tiger paw mushrooms were drying on an iron sieve. Some people couldn't wait and brought the wild mushrooms here fresh to sell.

Tillandsia's current job has become picking out whole dried black tiger paw mushrooms every day, removing broken, spoiled, and impurity parts. Although this reduces the weight, it improves the quality of the product by several levels.

"Of course not, I was just waiting for you," Li Long said with a smile. "Don't worry, since I told you, I really am waiting for you. Of course, I also need to see if you brought enough money. This time, it's quite a lot!"

"Don't worry, I'm planning to come over as soon as I've sorted things out on my end. I brought a lot of money with me, and you seem to have quite a lot of goods here too."

After finishing the watermelon, Huang Lei said he wanted to see the goods, so Li Long led him into the warehouse. Looking at the bags of black tiger paw mushrooms, Huang Lei opened one of the bags and exclaimed, "So many? This is much more than last year! And it's only mid-to-late July..."

"Yes, judging from the current situation, harvesting two or three tons of black tiger paw mushrooms this year is definitely not a problem, and it might even be more. Everyone's enthusiasm for making money by picking wild mushrooms is really high," Li Long sighed.

"The quality is quite good," Huang Lei said with admiration. "I've collected so many mushrooms, and I've gone to other places when I'm not here. To be honest, every time I see your dried mushrooms, I don't want to go to other places to collect them."

But you still don't have enough stock. I have to go to other places. So I've been hoping that there will be a supplier whose dried mushrooms are of similar quality to yours, even if they are a grade lower.

No, not a single one!

Huang Lei sighed, and Li Long laughed. He thought to himself, "I was able to run such a large purchasing station. In 1986, when even households with ten thousand yuan were rare, earning hundreds of thousands a year, that's not something you can just talk about."

Huang Lei's remarks made Li Long realize even more how important it is to ensure the quality of products.

Even with such a good relationship with Huang Lei, he still goes to other places to find sources of goods, and even looks for alternative products.

If they find it, given the nature of businessmen, Li Long's influence will inevitably decrease.

Fortunately, it can't be found.

In other words, Li Long is irreplaceable; otherwise, he wouldn't have rushed over so quickly after the matter was resolved.

This applies to dried wild mushrooms, fritillaria bulbs, skins, and watermelon seeds. The key is to achieve exceptionally high quality, so high that others cannot match it, thus creating brand recognition and customer loyalty.

Despite his words, Huang Lei still insisted on inspecting each bag of dried wild mushrooms. Li Long simply said, "Since you're buying them today, let's move the dried mushrooms out and you can check each bag. Don't worry, there are absolutely no other mushrooms mixed in. I always do it this way."

Huang Lei smiled and explained, "I didn't doubt you."

"You don't need to doubt it. I have confidence in the product. You can check it yourself."

After taking out the dried mushrooms, we used a weighing scale and an iron sieve to pour out the bags one by one for Huang Lei to see.

It's a genuine black tiger paw mushroom. Straw mushrooms aren't growing anymore—mainly because it's too hot. There are some straw mushrooms in the mountains, but who goes into the mountains without aiming for the more expensive black tiger paw mushrooms?

The reed mushrooms in the plains have stopped growing because the grass has grown and it's too hot and dry, so now the warehouse only has black tiger paw mushrooms.

When these bags were laid out, Huang Lei felt a little numb. After all, these things were light, and each bag could only hold thirty or forty kilograms. Li Long alone brought out forty or fifty bags in a short while.

Fortunately, he trusted Li Long more than Huang Ying did. After checking the weighing, he generously went to hire a car without asking anyone to watch over it. He also believed that Li Long wouldn't tamper with it—Li Long suspected he might have marked the bag.

It weighed over 1,400 kilograms in total and sold for over 30,000 yuan.

Although it can't compare to fritillaria, it's still a significant source of income.

(End of this chapter)