Chapter 28: A New Business Opportunity!

The clerk at the cooperative said lazily, “I told you, if we don’t have it, we don’t have it! It’s the dead of winter, where would we get those things? If you keep making a scene, I’m going to call someone!”

The middle-aged man’s face flushed with anger. He glared at the clerk one last time before turning and walking out.

“Who does he think he is?”

He couldn’t help but curse again, “A loser who’ll never afford a decent meal in his life!”

Xie Zhao ran right into him.

“Oh! Sorry about that, sorry!”

The middle-aged man quickly waved his hands in apology.

Xie Zhao took a step back, his eyes quickly sweeping over the man.

A leather jacket, suit pants, a pair of chunky leather shoes, and hair slicked back with pomade.

Tsk.

This outfit must have cost at least a hundred yuan.

Looking at the leather jacket again, it was bulging, clearly stuffed with cash.

This man was rich.

And he was very likely here on business.

Having reached a conclusion, Xie Zhao smiled and waved his hand. “No worries, big brother! Just watch your step!”

The frustration in the middle-aged man’s chest eased up quite a bit.

“From your accent, you don’t sound like you’re from Hudong County, big brother. Are you from Liu City?”

As Xie Zhao spoke, he pulled a pack of Hongtashan from his pocket, smiled, and offered him a cigarette.

He had bought this pack of Hongtashan at the tobacco and alcohol counter next to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

You could only buy one pack at a time. Otherwise, if you got caught, you could be charged with speculative trading^[1].

Hearing that Xie Zhao could recognize his accent, the middle-aged man’s eyes lit up. When he saw the Hongtashan, he immediately knew this young man was socially savvy.

He reached out to take it, a smile finally gracing his face as he introduced himself. “You must have traveled quite a bit, comrade! You’ve got sharp eyes! I’m Liu Zhi, from neighboring Liu City. I came to Hudong County to take care of some business!”

He pulled out a box of matches, struck one, and lit the cigarette. After taking a few deep puffs and calming down, he glanced back over his shoulder and spat on the ground.

“But what is wrong with these clerks? They get so impatient just from a few questions. They really think they’re set for life with their iron rice bowls^[2], walking around with their noses in the air!”

Xie Zhao set his bucket down. The water sloshed, and the fish inside began thrashing their tails, splashing water everywhere.

Liu Zhi instinctively glanced down.

“Oh! You’ve got fish?!”

He paused, then quickly squatted down to take a closer look. A moment later, the light in his eyes faded again.

“Well, it’s the dead of winter. Where would anyone find them? What a headache.”

He muttered to himself, but Xie Zhao caught it.

“What are you looking for, Brother Liu?”

Xie Zhao glanced at the Aquatic Products Supply and Marketing Cooperative behind them and asked with a smile, “Is it seafood? I happen to live right by the river. If you need something, I can help you look.”

Living by the water?

Liu Zhi’s eyes lit up.

Ha!

That was it!

If this guy could catch fish in the dead of winter, he must have some real skill!

“It’s nothing fancy, just river snails. Have you seen them before? Ever eaten them? You snip off the tails, stir-fry them in hot oil, simmer them in water, and throw in a handful of perilla leaves. They’re incredibly fragrant!”

River snails?

Of course Xie Zhao had eaten them!

But in this day and age, they really weren’t considered anything good.

For one simple reason: they took too much oil and effort. Who would eat them for fun?

People barely had enough time to finish their farm work, so who would go to the rivers and fields to gather river snails? Once you got them home, you had to snip off their tails, stir-fry them with a ton of oil, and when you ate them, you had to suck them out. If you couldn’t suck them out, you had to pick them out with a toothpick.

By the time you went through the whole process, you could have done half a day’s work in the fields!

Who would want to waste their time on that?

No matter how good they tasted, it wasn’t worth it!

Especially for farmers!

If they heard about eating river snails, they would definitely scold their wives!

Why did Liu Zhi want them?

Xie Zhao frowned, about to ask, but in the next second, a thought suddenly popped into his head!

Wait!

Liu City?

Wasn’t that the Liu City famous for slurping noodles?

There were tons of noodle shops there, and a certain noodle dish made with a river snail broth was especially famous. Xie Zhao had visited and eaten it in his past life. The flavor was indeed savory and robust, a true delicacy.

Xie Zhao figured it out in an instant.

In the dead of winter, the people of Liu City loved slurping noodles. A steaming hot bowl would warm them right up.

With the New Year approaching, demand had skyrocketed, and the local supply of river snails definitely couldn’t keep up.

That was why he had come to other places to buy them.

“Brother Liu, are you planning to use them for Luosifen^[3] broth?”

Xie Zhao smiled and said, “I’ve had Luosifen before. The flavor is indeed great.”

The way Liu Zhi looked at Xie Zhao changed completely!

Oh!

He had actually eaten Liu City’s Luosifen!

And he was even used to that unique smell. Not bad at all!

In an instant, Liu Zhi felt a sense of warmth in this unfamiliar town. Combined with the frustration he had been bottling up, he quickly explained the whole situation to Xie Zhao.

In reality, the situation was pretty much exactly as Xie Zhao had guessed.

During the month before and after the New Year, the temperature dropped rapidly, making a steaming hot bowl of Luosifen the favorite of the people in Liu City.

But how could the local supply keep up?

This was something they needed every single day!

On top of that, in the winter, river snails liked to hide in the crevices of rocks or burrow into the mud of the fields. Finding them was no easy task.

Liu Zhi’s family ran Luosifen shops.

And they didn’t just have one or two; they had over twenty locations.

He sighed and couldn’t help but complain, “Why did the old man give me such a difficult task? Who wants to go gather river snails in the dead of winter? He even told me to ask at the Aquatic Products Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Isn’t that just asking to get yelled at?”

As Liu Zhi spoke, he didn’t notice Xie Zhao’s eyes suddenly lighting up beside him.

He was actually here to buy river snails!

A massive business opportunity!

“How many do you need?”

Xie Zhao suddenly asked.

His eyes burned as he stared at Liu Zhi, his expression suddenly turning serious. “If I can get them for you, will you buy them? How many, and at what price?”

Liu Zhi: “…?”

He froze for a moment.

Then, he grew excited too.

Oh!

“If you can really get them, I’ll take as many as you have! Even if my family can’t use them all, selling them to Liuzhou will still make a profit!”

Liu Zhi rubbed his hands together. He stopped smoking entirely, tossing his cigarette to the ground and stamping it out. Staring at Xie Zhao with excitement, he said, “As for the price, that’s easy. I’ll give you this much!”

He held up a single finger.

Xie Zhao raised an eyebrow. “One yuan?”

Liu Zhi was also staring intently at Xie Zhao’s expression.

He was observing him.

Trying to gauge the price Xie Zhao had in mind.

But Xie Zhao was an old fox who had lived two lifetimes, after all. With his wealth of business experience from his previous life on top of that, Liu Zhi failed to catch even a flicker of emotion on his face.

A bit disappointed, Liu Zhi nodded and said, “One yuan per jin. That’s quite a lot, and it’s the highest price I can offer.”

Yet at this moment, only Xie Zhao himself knew that his breathing had quietly quickened.

One yuan per jin.

This price was double the price in Hudong County!