Reborn in the 1980s, starting with fishing and hunting to build a fortune

Chapter 68 The Troubles of Happiness

"What...? Brother Weimin, what good news has happened?"

Li Xiangyang maintained an awkward smile. He couldn't recall doing anything for Tu Weimin recently.

However, Tu Weimin quickly noticed his embarrassed state.

Tu Weimin then slapped his forehead hard and laughed awkwardly.

"Oh dear, I got so excited that I didn't even tell you what happened. I just kept thanking you, which confused you too."

"It's alright, it's alright. A good match is never too late, and good things never have to be delayed. It's the same whether you say it now or not."

"Hey, Xiangyang, I'm so glad I made the right friend! Just yesterday, before the restaurant closed, our manager called me into his office and said that starting today, I'm being promoted to head of the purchasing team."

Tu Weimin tried his best to suppress his excitement and said in a low voice.

However, his brows were also full of pride.

"That's a good thing, Brother Weimin."

Li Xiangyang quickly stood up, cupped his hands in congratulations, and said, "Congratulations! I'll have to teach you, Team Leader Tu, from now on."

Although the purchasing department of the state-run hotel kitchen has only a few people, just three to five, it is divided into purchasing specialists and purchasing team leaders.

The higher the rank, the more powerless one becomes; naturally, the benefits and treatment vary drastically depending on the rank. Li Xiangyang knew this without even asking.

But what does this have to do with him...?

"Brother Weimin, your promotion to purchasing team leader is the result of your many years of hard work."

"Sigh." Tu Weimin waved his hand: "If hard work could lead to a team leader position, I wouldn't be stuck as a purchasing specialist after all this time."

"That is...?" Li Xiangyang frowned.

"Hasn't the supply and marketing cooperative tightened its supply these past two days? Our former purchasing team leader has been trying to connect with people inside the supply and marketing cooperative, but with the current market conditions, who would dare to loosen the supply?"

This directly caused problems with our restaurant's supply chain, but luckily I bought over 200 kilograms of fish and a few rabbits from you yesterday, which inadvertently resolved the kitchen's predicament of not having any ingredients yesterday.

I never expected that the store manager would promote me to team leader just because of this!

"I see." Li Xiangyang nodded with a smile and patted his chest.

"Brother Weimin, I'll say it again: as long as the road from our village to Wuzhen is passable, I'll deliver ingredients to you for a day."

"Alright, alright, I'm relieved to hear you say that, Xiangyang."

Tu Weimin was very pleased, then got up and took a package of kraft paper from the counter and handed it to Li Xiangyang:

"This is a seasoning packet made from several spices such as white pepper, cumin, and white cardamom that our restaurant obtained through special channels, and then our chef blended them together."

You can't buy it on the market!

"Whenever you eat meat in the future, whether you roast it or stew it, add some of this, and the taste will be amazing..."

As Tu Weimin spoke, he seemed to be savoring something, and he unconsciously swallowed his saliva.

"Brother Weimin, this is far too expensive." Li Xiangyang raised his hand to refuse.

In 1980, the domestic pepper supply was mostly concentrated in black pepper. White pepper had a complicated processing technology and very few import quotas, so supply and marketing cooperatives in Inner Mongolia hardly sold it.

Cumin, on the other hand, needs to be purchased from other provinces such as Xinjiang and Gansu.

Needless to say, white cardamom is mainly produced in Southeast Asia. Although it is also produced in South China, the output is extremely low, and it is almost not available in the market in Inner Mongolia.

At that time, the people of Inner Mongolia had never even heard of these spices, let alone bought them to eat.

This shows how precious it is.

"No! Don't refuse." Tu Weimin suddenly became serious: "Xiangyang, you've helped me a lot. I'm just giving you some spices as a token of my appreciation."

"I……"

"No, don't make excuses!"

"Then... I shall respectfully accept your offer."

Seeing Tu Weimin's sincerity, Li Xiangyang stopped making excuses.

Conversely, it also makes sense.

These spices were indeed scarce, but they were only for small herders like him who had no power, no position, and no connections.

Tu Weimin is now the head of the purchasing team for state-run hotels. Since state-run hotels can buy these things, he has the right to get some surplus stock.

Five skinned rabbits, 120 jin of fish, and eight plucked pheasants were all taken by Tu Weimin.

He also knew that Li Xiangyang wouldn't be able to deliver goods to him like this for more than a few days. But by then, with the weather freezing cold, no one would be eating at the state-run restaurants.

After settling on 68.8 yuan, Li Xiangyang was finally satisfied and drove the horse-drawn carriage to the black market, still having 11 rabbit pelts to sell.

The carriage remained parked in the same secluded alleyway not far from the black market.

Although Li Xiangyang judged that the market management team would not come to the black market to arrest people at this time, he decided to go and check it out by himself just to be on the safe side.

If anything seems amiss, it's easy to run away.

Before leaving,

Li Xiangyang pulled a long, tightly wrapped piece of greaseproof paper from under the carriage and handed it to Liu Jianguo:

"There's a gun in here, so keep a close eye on it. The snowstorms have been coming more and more frequently lately, and things might get chaotic in some unseen, dark corners."

Li Xiangyang clearly remembered that around this time in his previous life, several thefts and vicious robberies occurred in Wuzhen.

and,

Those thugs almost exclusively targeted merchants who came to the black market to sell their goods.

So he made a point of bringing the gun from home with him when he left in the morning.

For this,

Liu Jianguo's heart skipped a beat and he felt a brief moment of excitement when he received the gun.

He'd never even touched a gun before! But he wasn't particularly surprised:

"My brother-in-law may seem very bold on the surface, but he is actually extremely cautious."

Watching Li Xiangyang's departing figure, he suddenly had an epiphany and silently wrote it down in his mental notebook.

"To achieve great things, one must be like my brother-in-law: bold yet meticulous, and able to consider all aspects of a matter in order to succeed."

After walking through five streets, he turned a corner at the end of the sixth street and arrived at the black market. This turn truly shocked Li Xiangyang.

The black market, which was previously 40 or 50 meters long and spread out on both sides, has now expanded to more than 60 meters long, and is packed with people.

and,

It's obvious that everyone is more willing to speak now. Although their voices are still not loud, they no longer have to lean close to each other's ears to ask about prices, unlike before.

Li Xiangyang glanced at it casually.

There aren't many food stalls, since it's a well-known fact that a snow disaster is coming. Unless someone has so much food that they can't finish eating it all, why would they still be selling it?

And then,

The black market mainly sells daily necessities or small handicrafts made by herdsmen and farmers.

Li Xiangyang walked towards the stall that had been set up earlier: "It's been quite a few days since I've been here. I wonder if Uncle Quan has come, and if he has, did he save me a spot?"

However, as it turned out, Li Xiangyang's doubts were completely unnecessary. Liu Quan, who sold soap, not only came, but also saved a spot for him.

"Uncle Quan, good morning!"

Upon hearing that long-lost, hearty shout, Liu Quan immediately looked up and saw the tall, handsome young herdsman in front of him.

He frowned slightly, and said with a hint of complaint, "Oh... Xiangyang, you've finally arrived."

"Finally... here?"

Li Xiangyang was a little puzzled.

Before Liu Quan could explain, several sharp-eyed women saw Li Xiangyang arrive and surrounded him. These were the women who had previously bought fish from Li Xiangyang.

I know that the fish Li Xiangyang sells are not only affordable but also fresh.

"Young man selling fish, you've finally arrived!"

"Why haven't you come for so long? We thought you weren't coming anymore...?"

"Yes, we're really counting on buying a big carp from you for our New Year's Eve dinner this year to make it look impressive!"

Everyone was talking at once, and the scene became somewhat chaotic.

At this moment, a slightly plump woman in the crowd called out, "Oh dear, stop with all that nonsense and let the young comrade put the fish out!"

So everyone shut up and stared wide-eyed at the sack on Li Xiangyang's back.

His eyes were filled with longing, but Li Xiangyang could only manage a helpless bitter smile.

Where can he sell fish now?

"Ah, the troubles of happiness!"