Chapter 29: Helper Huang of the State-Owned Restaurant, and Li Mingcheng

Xie Zhao had seen people selling river snails outside the Aquatic Products Supply and Marketing Cooperative for fifty cents a jin, and that was with their tails already snipped off.

Yet business had been mediocre.

After all, they were a hassle to prepare, took too much time and oil, and weren’t filling. No one wanted to buy them.

But now, Liu Zhi was actually offering one yuan per jin!

Xie Zhao kept his expression steady, pretending to ponder for a moment. Then, looking conflicted, he sighed, pulled out another cigarette, handed it to Liu Zhi, and said helplessly, “Brother, that price is still a bit too low.”

“You know, if it were summer, that price would be fine. But it’s winter now. The river water is bone-chilling cold! And these things love to hide in the crevices of rocks. Finding them is no easy task!”

“At one yuan a jin, I’m afraid I won’t be able to find anyone willing to catch them.”

Xie Zhao paused, appearing to think it over seriously. Finally, looking as though it pained him to make the concession, he gritted his teeth and held up two thumbs to Liu Zhi.

“One yuan twenty a jin! How about it, Brother Liu? If we can agree on this price, I can deliver the first batch to you tomorrow morning!”

One yuan twenty?

Liu Zhi’s eyelids twitched.

Too expensive, way too expensive!

He also gritted his teeth and stamped his foot. Looking at Xie Zhao, he shook his head. “One yuan ten! That’s the absolute highest price I can offer! When buying in bulk, people usually raise the price cent by cent. You raised it by twenty cents all at once! That’s too much!”

Xie Zhao suppressed a smile.

His face still showed a look of pain. After hesitating for a long while, he finally nodded, “reluctantly” agreeing to the deal.

“Fine! One yuan ten it is! It’s a deal!”

The two clapped hands to seal the deal.

Xie Zhao then asked for Liu Zhi’s address. Learning that he was staying at the county town’s guesthouse, they agreed on a time and the specific details of the transaction.

A moment later, Liu Zhi looked at Xie Zhao with a sigh of admiration.

This young man looked so young, probably only in his teens, so how was he so experienced and mature when it came to business?

Why did he have a strange feeling that he was being swindled?

“Ahem!”

Looking at Xie Zhao, Liu Zhi added, “I brought someone along with me. He’s a young fellow named Zhao Wuyi. I’ll bring him to meet you tomorrow. He’ll be in charge of collecting them in the future. I have other things to attend to.”

Xie Zhao nodded to show he understood.

Only then did the two bid each other farewell.

By now, it was already twelve o’clock.

Xie Zhao glanced sideways at the Aquatic Products Supply and Marketing Cooperative; the doors were already closed.

It was going to be tough to sell the fish today.

But Xie Zhao wasn’t willing to just carry such a large bucket all the way back. After thinking it over, he got his bearings and headed straight for the State-Owned Restaurant^[1] on Hongxing Street.

In this day and age, state-owned restaurants were still the best.

In his earlier years, Xie Zhao had traveled far and wide, once visiting a riverside county town with a highly developed shipping industry.

While treating someone to a meal at the State-Owned Restaurant there, he had seen the kitchen buy a massive black carp weighing over thirty jin!

That was a fish from the Yangtze River, with fresh, tender meat. Whether used for hotpot or braised in soy sauce, it tasted even better than pork!

Hudong County was no different.

As long as you had food coupons and money in your pocket, you could eat anything.

Fish was a rarity in the winter, so the State-Owned Restaurant would definitely buy it.

Twelve-thirty.

Xie Zhao handed a cigarette to the kitchen helper with a smile.

“I just caught some fish, very fresh. Look, I came straight to our State-Owned Restaurant first thing to see if you all want them. If you take them all at once, I’ll give you a cheaper price. It saves me from running around, doesn’t it?”

The helper was an old man in his fifties.

Smoking his cigarette, he revealed a mouthful of yellow teeth. He had a somewhat casual, lazy air about him. Clearly, he had landed this easy job through nepotism and had some say in the kitchen’s affairs.

Xie Zhao hadn’t approached him by pure luck.

He had come here to eat with Chen Donghai years ago and had seen this helper.

Back then, the man had been scolding the head chef, clearly backed by someone powerful.

Helper Huang lit the cigarette, took a drag, and glanced into Xie Zhao’s bucket. Only then did he say lazily, “We’re short on fish in the winter, and few people sell them. The kitchen buys them at a flat rate of one yuan sixty cents a jin. Take it or leave it, no bargaining.”

“Still, your fish are a bit small. I don’t know if they’ll do.”

They were both shrewd characters. How could Xie Zhao not understand the unspoken rules here?

He immediately smiled and bent down, reaching into the bucket to grab the largest crucian carp, which weighed about two jin, and placed it into an empty basin nearby.

“Big or small, isn’t it all about freshness?”

Xie Zhao said, “You take this fish home to eat, Uncle. Consider it a token of our friendship!”

Helper Huang immediately burst into laughter.

Tsk!

This kid knew how things worked!

“Alright! I’ll call someone over to weigh these fish. If you have any more in the future, bring them here too! I’ll take them all!”

Dealing with sensible people was always a pleasure!

Helper Huang took another couple of drags from his cigarette, turned around, and shouted. Before long, a young man wearing an old-fashioned black knit hat, a blue cotton-padded jacket, and polyester pants walked out. His name was Li Mingcheng.

Carrying a steelyard scale and a mesh bag, he deftly began to weigh the fish.

“Uncle! It’s twenty-three jin and four liang in total. That comes to thirty-seven yuan, forty-four cents!”

When calculating the total, he only paused in thought for a brief moment before quickly coming up with the answer.

Xie Zhao looked at him with some surprise.

This guy was sharp. He would make a great businessman!

“Here’s the money!”

Li Mingcheng counted the money again and handed it to Xie Zhao with both hands.

Xie Zhao took it, swept his eyes over him, and thanked him with a smile.

Smoking his cigarette and carrying his fish, Helper Huang walked away, fully satisfied.

Li Mingcheng turned to go back inside, but Xie Zhao called out to him from behind.

“Excuse me, brother, does our restaurant buy other things as well?”

he asked in a low voice, handing over a cigarette as he spoke. “My home is right at the foot of the mountain. I can usually get some wild pheasants or ducks. It feels like a waste to eat them ourselves. If I can sell them for some money, I can buy some fabric to make clothes for my wife and kid. Wouldn’t that be better?”

Li Mingcheng chuckled.

He looked at Xie Zhao with some surprise. “You look even younger than me, yet you already have a wife and a kid?”

Xie Zhao nodded.

“Yeah, I married early. That’s how it is for us country folks.”

Li Mingcheng took the cigarette, but sized Xie Zhao up even more closely.

A villager?

But this young man looked fair-skinned and handsome. He did not look like someone who dug in the dirt for a living at all!

Still, he did not dwell on it.

Leaning in, he lowered his voice and said, “We do buy them, especially mountain goods. Some of the leaders love that stuff. If you have any, bring them over. The rarer they are, the higher the price we’ll pay!”

Xie Zhao grinned.

He thanked him, said goodbye to Li Mingcheng, and headed to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative store with his empty bucket.

It was impossible to count on Xie Youzhen and Xie Cheng to buy rice and flour.

The two of them had pinched pennies their whole lives, wanting to save every cent they had, but Xie Zhao did not see it that way.

Money was meant to be earned, not saved.

Besides, what was the point of earning money anyway?

Wasn’t it just to give his wife, children, parents, and relatives a better life?

He was willing to spend.

When he arrived at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, a clerk was on duty inside.