HPDBC Chapter 1963 Wild Ginseng Purchasing Station
Chapter 1963 Wild Ginseng Purchasing Station
Chapter 1963 Wild Ginseng Purchasing Station
Although Ma Ling is not a Voldemort like Zhao Chun, under normal circumstances, if she saw her younger brother, whom she had raised since childhood, being beaten, Ma Ling would definitely ask about it.
But when Ma Ling saw the slap mark on Ma Yang's face, she acted as if she hadn't seen it and didn't even ask about it.
Since Ma Ling didn't say anything, Zhao Jun was even less likely to ask.
Wang Cuihua asked the young couple to sit on the kang (heated brick bed) in the east room while she went to the outer room to make sweet soup for Zhao Jun.
As soon as Zhao Jun and Ma Ling sat down, they heard barking. The little black dog that Zhao Jun had given to the Ma family ran out excitedly.
Someone has arrived.
Zhao Jun looked up at the window and then said to Ma Ling, "Our brother is here."
I was away for a week and came back too late yesterday, so Ma Sheng didn't come over. Ma Sheng came early this morning.
Ma Sheng didn't come empty-handed either; he was carrying a small helmet containing the chive pancakes that Xu Xiaoqing had made.
"Mom," Ma Sheng greeted Wang Cuihua as he entered the house.
Although Ma Dafu and Wang Cuihua could no longer provide financial support to Ma Sheng after the family split up, they never hesitated to lend a hand whenever Ma Sheng needed help, such as taking care of the children or working in the fields.
People are all made of flesh and blood. The elders did their best, and Ma Sheng and Xu Xiaoqing became close to them.
"Shengzi." Seeing her eldest son, Wang Cuihua was also very happy and greeted Ma Sheng with a smile, "Come inside, your sister and her brother are back."
Hearing the noise, Zhao Jun got up from the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and Ma Sheng, who rushed in, called out "Brother!"
"Come on, Jun and Mei'er." Ma Sheng put the small bowl covered with an enamel helmet on the table, then called to Zhao Jun and Ma Ling, saying, "You two eat this box, your sister-in-law just baked it."
After saying this, Ma Sheng looked around and asked, "Hey? Where's my little brother?"
"What about that room?" Ma Ling gestured with her chin toward the doorway, then whispered, "Dad beat me again. I'm too ashamed to show my face."
“I was telling you.” Ma Sheng smiled upon hearing this, and then called out from the tightly closed west room door, “Little brother, come and eat some boxed dumplings.”
"A box?" Upon hearing this, Ma Yang, who was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) in the west room, immediately sat up. He nearly bumped into Wang Cuihua, who was carrying a bowl of sweet soup, because he was in such a hurry.
Seeing the handprint on Ma Yang's face, Ma Sheng didn't delve into the reason.
After taking two bites of a box, Ma Yang asked Zhao Jun, "Brother-in-law, have you contacted the buyer yet?"
“I’ve made contact,” Zhao Jun said. “After I made the contact, your sister and I came out. We’ve notified Manager Huang and Boss Wen.”
"Hmm." Ma Yang took another bite of the box and mumbled, "They need to hurry up."
"Huh?" Zhao Jun was taken aback, and then he heard Wang Cuihua scold Ma Yang in an annoyed tone: "Eating can't shut you up, just shut up and eat."
Ma Yang, who had been rebuked, didn't dare to say a word, only stealing a glance at Wang Cuihua. Just then, Ma Sheng seemed to have thought of something and immediately said to Zhao Jun, "Jun, I was thinking about this this morning."
"Hmm?" Zhao Jun looked at his brother-in-law, and then heard Ma Sheng continue, "Look, those people in Hong Kong you contacted, aren't they just middlemen too? According to you, if you want to make money, you have to find a way to contact people in Southeast Asia."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun blinked. Although contacting overseas Chinese was not easy, his brother-in-law's statement made sense.
Zhao Jun glanced at Ma Sheng, then at Ma Yang who was sucking oil from his fingers, and couldn't help but shake his head inwardly.
“Brother, the key issue now is that we don’t have any connections,” Zhao Jun said. Ma Sheng asked, “Jun, what about those middlemen you know in Fusong? They’re always sending out swindlers, do you think they can help you?”
“They know each other, but they can’t tell us,” Zhao Jun said. “No matter how much water I pump for them, they won’t stay dry.”
Ma Sheng understood Zhao Jun's reasoning, because doing so would be a one-off deal.
"Hey?" At this moment, Ma Ling gently tugged at Zhao Jun's arm and said, "Do they know any of the supply and marketing cooperatives or pharmacies down the mountain?"
“They can’t,” Zhao Jun said. “They’ve collected it all and handed it over to higher authorities. They only collect it, they don’t sell it.”
"Hey?" Suddenly, Ma Sheng asked Zhao Jun, "Jun, we don't have a purchasing station here, do we?"
In Lingnan, wild ginseng obtained by ginseng growers is first sold to purchasing stations in various places. But in the mountains and rivers, few people have heard of dedicated wild ginseng purchasing stations.
Last year, when Zhao Jun went down the mountain to sell ginseng, he sold it to pharmacies and supply and marketing cooperatives.
As for whether there are purchasing stations in Shanhe and Daohua, Zhao Jun really didn't know.
After staying at the Ma family's house for more than two hours, Zhao Jun took Ma Ling back home.
When they arrived home, they had just reached the front of the house when they heard the telephone ringing inside.
"Honey, slow down," Zhao Jun told the pregnant Ma Ling to walk slowly, while he hurried into the house to answer the phone.
"Hey, this Xishan Village." When Zhao Jun arrived at the east hut, he picked up the phone and heard a familiar voice on the other end: "Jun, it's me, brother-in-law."
"Ah, brother-in-law," Zhao Jun replied, "I'm back. I came back last night."
“I know you’re back. I heard it from Uncle Li.” Zhou Jianjun lowered his voice and said, “You’re back? Why don’t you come and say hello?”
"Ah..." Zhao Jun was taken aback upon hearing this. Ever since he took on this forest protection job, he had become increasingly lax.
Zhao Jun also sensed something was wrong and quickly said, "Brother-in-law, I'll go over this afternoon."
"Forget it, stop making a fuss." Zhou Jianjun said in a low voice, "Just come back tomorrow, it's fine."
Hearing this, Zhao Jun finally understood why he had become increasingly lax – it was all because he had been spoiled.
"Hehe, okay, brother-in-law." Zhao Jun responded, then asked, "Brother-in-law, is that all you called about?"
"What do you mean, just this? I have other things to do," Zhou Jianjun said. Zhao Jun quickly replied, "What is it, brother-in-law? Tell me, and I'll take care of it for you."
Zhou Jianjun, or rather the Zhou family, rarely needed Zhao Jun.
“It’s not my business,” Zhou Jianjun said. “Well… the day after you left, Director Bi from our bureau’s logistics department told me that he has an uncle or cousin who works at the club purchasing station in Shanhe.”
"Huh?" Zhao Jun was taken aback and subconsciously asked, "We have a purchasing station here?"
“Yes,” Zhou Jianjun said, “but from what I heard, nobody sells clubs there. They usually sell them to supply and marketing cooperatives and pharmacies.”
"Then what did he want from you, brother-in-law?" Zhao Jun asked. Zhou Jianjun replied, "Well, it's because nobody's selling clubs there anymore, so Station Chief Bi got punished. And then he said that if he doesn't meet his targets this quarter, he might get fired."
"Oh dear." Zhao Jun immediately understood what was going on. Even if the purchasing station wasn't doing well and it was a low-paying job, it was still a secure job.
Moreover, this man surnamed Bi is the head of the purchasing station, and he's the boss in the government office, so it's not just a matter of having a secure job.
At this point, Zhou Jianjun on the other end of the phone continued, "His brother, Director Bi, has been calling the forestry areas these past few days, trying to arrange this for his brother, but..."
Zhou Jianjun paused at this point. Zhao Jun, who had overheard this, continued, "Brother-in-law, he'll have to wait a while to get that club, right?"
"Ah!" Zhou Jianjun responded, then asked, "They said they wanted first-class goods. Jun, how much does first-class goods cost?"
"My God." Zhao Jun thought to himself, "Just as I thought," and then said to Zhou Jianjun, "Brother-in-law, a first-class item must cost four or five thousand."
“It’s so expensive.” Zhou Jianjun laughed as he spoke, saying, “I was wondering why this was so difficult to handle. If it’s a difference of three or two hundred, these people will do it for you out of a favor. If it’s too much, no one can handle it.”
Zhou Jianjun said this to put the matter behind him.
The logistics director is a good person, but there's a limit; we can't give away too much.
Just then, Zhao Jun suddenly asked Zhou Jianjun, "Brother-in-law, did he say how much money he'll give us?"
"It seems they're not nearly as good as those pharmacies and supply and marketing cooperatives," Zhou Jianjun said. "Their purchasing stations don't have much money to begin with. Besides, even if they did, they couldn't just throw money around. If they did, wouldn't they get even worse off?"
"Otherwise, no one would sell them clubs," Zhao Jun joked, then said to Zhou Jianjun, "Brother-in-law, how do I contact that Station Chief Bi?"
"Huh?" Zhou Jianjun was taken aback upon hearing this, and then quickly said, "Jun, we can't afford to lose too much."
“It’s alright, brother-in-law,” Zhao Jun said. “I have plenty of good ones on hand right now. If you need one that’s evenly matched, I can give him one.”
“They seem to be quite different.” Zhou Jianjun lowered his voice and said, “I heard from Old Wang in the logistics department that Director Bi’s uncle is quite something… He’s trying to make a little extra money while collecting the clubs.”
"Hehe..." Zhao Jun laughed. No wonder the purchasing station was going out of business.
He wants to buy a club for 80 yuan when others can sell it for 100, then reports 100 to his superiors. If he does this, no wonder no one will want to work with him in the long run.
The key point is that even at this point, Station Chief Bi still had such thoughts, which shows that he is someone who would rather risk his life than part with money.
"It's alright, brother-in-law." Even so, Zhao Jun still said, "Then you should also help me contact him. I need to talk to him about something."
"You need to see him for something?" Zhou Jianjun didn't believe him, saying, "Really? Are you kidding me? Jun, don't do anything like that for your brother-in-law..."
"No, no." Zhao Jun didn't hide anything from Zhou Jianjun and said, "Brother-in-law, have you forgotten? Didn't I want to hold a ginseng king conference in Shanhe? This... in case someone whispers about us, this Station Chief Bi will be useful."
Zhao Jun remembered that Shen Qiushan had complained to him in his previous life. He said that he had sold that Phoenix Ginseng King for 350,000.
But this price is the price paid to the purchasing station.
Fusong is known as the hometown of wild ginseng, and the purchasing stations there are very powerful, so powerful that even large local pharmacies dare not buy ginseng of any grade.
When purchasing ginseng, the price was also driven down. For example, the ginseng king in the collection of the Jilin Hall of the Great Hall of the People was only classified as second-grade ginseng in 1981 and was paid 1,600 yuan at the purchasing station.
The ginseng was later bought by the provincial government for 20,000 yuan and sent to the Jilin Provincial Government for safekeeping. The appraiser received a bonus of 1,200 yuan, and the purchasing station was rewarded with a Dongfeng truck.
Then, the four mountain herders who carried the ginseng king received an additional three hundred dollars in compensation.
It was against this backdrop that Wu Baoguo and others convened the King of Ginseng Conference, and that's why they treated Song Da and others with such respect.
Logically speaking, Shen Qiushan shouldn't have sold the Phoenix Ginseng King to the purchasing station in his previous life. Although 350,000 was a considerable sum at the time, it didn't reflect the true value of the Phoenix Ginseng King.
However, Shen Qiushan still sold it to a purchasing station.
Why did Shen Qiushan still sell his ginseng to the purchasing station when his uncle Wu Baoguo organized two folk ginseng king conferences every year?
Whenever this matter is brought up, Shen Qiushan bursts into a tirade of curses. And the person he's cursing is one of the underlings of his Shen family gang.
Because Shen Qiushan was not a very considerate person, he exploited his subordinates quite a bit and often withheld the money that should have been paid to the ginseng workers.
This not only alienated him from the Shen family gang, but also made some people hate him.
In his previous life, the Phoenix Ginseng King was carried by Wu Baoguo and his son at Shen Qiushan's behest. It had nothing to do with the Shen family gang, and the ginseng workers below him didn't get a share of the profits.
In this situation, after the news of Shen Qiushan's intention to sell the ginseng king spread throughout the industry, the most envious people were his ginseng workers.
Although Shen Qiushan was the one who opened the door for this task, and it wasn't wrong for him to have an outsider carry it, the Shen family gang believed that as the leader, Shen Qiushan should share the spoils with his subordinates as well.
Coupled with their previous grievances against Shen Qiushan, the two accomplices from the Shen family gang went directly to the purchasing station and filed a complaint against Shen Qiushan.
Then, on the day of the King's Conference, the people from the purchasing station caught both parties in the middle of a transaction.
In those years, wild ginseng that could be exchanged for foreign currency had to be taken to the purchasing station for appraisal after it was brought out. Only those that did not meet the standards could be taken back and sold privately.
Of course, wild ginseng poses no harm to society, so the investigation into it is not as thorough.
As the saying goes, "If the people don't report it, the officials won't investigate." Without anyone reporting it, the purchasing station has no way of knowing who is making private deals.
But when they were caught red-handed, Shen Qiushan had no way to escape.
Thanks to Wu Baoguo's good connections in the area, he managed to get the Phoenix Ginseng King priced at a staggering 350,000 yuan.
However, compared to its actual price, this exorbitant price is an exaggeration to say it's just a drop in the ocean.
But according to Shen Qiushan, the Phoenix Ginseng King was sold to a Hong Kong businessman for more than 1.8 million.
Now that Zhao Jun is going to hold the Ginseng King Conference in Shanhe County, he has to be careful that someone doesn't talk behind his back.
Although the chances of this happening are slim, it's always good to be safe than sorry.
Of course, no one within the Zhao family gang would betray Zhao Jun; the main reason was to guard against outsiders.
“Okay, Jun.” Hearing Zhao Jun say this, Zhou Jianjun said, “Wait for me to contact that Director Bi first, and then I’ll get back to you.”
After Zhou Jianjun finished speaking, he hung up the phone.
After hanging up the phone, Zhao Jun went to the outer room and down into the cellar to check on his cornbread buns.
Just like Liu Mei said, the cellar is almost full of steamed buns.
Zhao Jun has a good memory. He doesn't need to open each of the ginseng buns one by one; he can tell which ginseng seedling each bun corresponds to just by looking at the outside.
Half an hour later, when Zhao Jun came up from the cellar, Wang Meilan, who had gone down to the ground, returned with a group of people.
Just as Zhao Jun glanced outside, the telephone rang in the small east hut.
Zhao Jun went over to answer the phone and said, "Hello, this is Xishantun."
As soon as Zhao Jun finished speaking, a voice came from the other end of the phone: "Hello, I'm looking for Zhao Xianjin."
"Huh?" Zhao Jun was taken aback upon hearing this, thinking to himself, "Do they have someone named Zhao Xianjin in Xishan Village?"