At the Xia family home, Jin Feng Huang was pouring her heart out for Wang Jian Hua from her ivory tower.
Meanwhile, the Xia family’s “broken shoe” was cycling through the commercial district’s streets and alleys. On her way into the city, she could take a detour to deliver the eels ordered by Hu Yong Cai to the Municipal Party Committee Guesthouse before selling the remainder at the farmers’ market.
This was her second time delivering goods to the Municipal Party Committee Guesthouse, and Xia Xiao Lan was familiar with the route to the back door.
“Comrade, I’m looking for Comrade Hu Yong Cai.”
Within five minutes, Hu Yong Cai rushed out, appearing to be in quite a hurry.
“You’ve come early today – I was worried you wouldn’t make it.”
Hu Yong Cai peered into the bicycle basket and saw that Xia Xiao Lan’s eels were still fresh, untouched by previous sales. Lifting the bamboo cover, he saw them writhing together, looking vigorous. Hu Yong Cai was delighted, “Sister Xia, this is your lucky day, coming so early. Don’t unload the eels yet – follow me to the Huang He Hotel. They’re hosting a banquet tonight with dozens of tables. I guarantee you can sell all your goods in one go.”
“Ah? Thank you so much, Elder Brother Hu!”
Hu Yong Cai introduced her to valuable connections.
Xia Xiao Lan hadn’t expected things to progress so quickly – she’d thought it would take several more interactions before he would open up.
In her previous life, Xia Xiao Lan hadn’t encountered society until after graduating from university, more than a decade later, when social customs had already changed. Procurement officers like Hu Yong Cai had grown accustomed to “sweet bombardments” of corruption – what was one carton of cigarettes? But in 1983, people as generous with gifts as Xia Xiao Lan were rare – two cartons of cigarettes and a bottle of liquor were enough to secure someone a job.
Starting with a carton of cigarettes, Xia Xiao Lan had been exceptionally generous. After returning home, Hu Yong Cai thought it over – having accepted the gifts, he needed to help her properly. What Xia Xiao Lan asked wasn’t anything major, just finding stable buyers for her eels. While the Municipal Party Committee Guesthouse had regulated meal standards, the Huang He Hotel, which opened in 1975, was different – it was a foreign-oriented establishment.
The hotel specialized in Cantonese and Sichuan cuisine, requiring no small amount of eels.
To put it simply, those who came to the Municipal Party Committee Guesthouse had power, while those who went to the Huang He Hotel had money.
A serving of braised eel could sell for 10 yuan, and even a simple stir-fried shredded eel dish cost 6 yuan – far more profitable than the Municipal Party Committee Guesthouse.
Hu Yong Cai briefly introduced the situation at Huang He Hotel, which was located on Zhong Yuan Road, not far from the Municipal Party Committee Guesthouse. When Hu Yong Cai led Xia Xiao Lan there, the procurement officer – possibly having been contacted beforehand – bought all of Xia Xiao Lan’s eels without hesitation.
57 catties of eels, still at 1.2 yuan per catty, and they even bought the 200 eggs Xia Xiao Lan had brought.
This person was quite familiar with Hu Yong Cai, and though he didn’t promise to pre-order eels as Hu Yong Cai did, he was straightforward:
“When you have goods in the future, come here first and ask for Zhu Fang.”
Zhu Fang was quite arrogant – his family connections must have been decent enough to get him placed at Huang He Hotel. Both being procurement officers, he and Hu Yong Cai from the Municipal Party Committee Guesthouse were friends who helped each other out. Hu Yong Cai had visited him after work yesterday, asking if Huang He Hotel needed eels, saying he had a relative selling them.
Of course, Huang He Hotel needed eels – they specialized in Cantonese cuisine, and how could they call themselves authentic without braised eel?
If he couldn’t handle this small matter, wouldn’t he lose face in front of Hu Yong Cai?
What Zhu Fang hadn’t expected was that Hu Yong Cai’s relative… would be so beautiful.
As beautiful as those Hong Kong and Taiwan actresses in the videotapes – Zhu Fang hadn’t imagined such people existed in real life, and he’d almost lost his composure in front of Xia Xiao Lan.
“Brother Hu, what kind of relative is she? How come you’ve never mentioned her before?”
Well, here was another one captivated by Xia Xiao Lan.
Zhu Fang usually carried himself with an air of superiority, but now here he was, offering cigarettes and smiling at Hu Yong Cai, who found it quite remarkable.
“What’s this? You interested in her?”
Zhu Fang coughed awkwardly, “We could be friends.”
Hu Yong Cai thought to himself, with the current crackdown on crime everywhere, what young lady in her right mind would want to be “friends” with you? Any relationship not intended for marriage was considered hooliganism. Hu Yong Cai didn’t know much about Xia Xiao Lan, so he casually responded:
“You’ll have plenty of chances to deal with her – this business will last at least until November. Just don’t take advantage of a female comrade, mind your boundaries!”
Since Zhu Fang’s family had some influence, and he was an eligible young bachelor in high demand who wasn’t bad-looking, what if he was Xia Xiao Lan’s destiny? Hu Yong Cai didn’t want to completely shut down the possibility.
Hearing this, Zhu Fang thought there might be hope!
Xia Xiao Lan must be unmarried, or Hu Yong Cai would have mentioned it.
He immediately regretted his earlier aloofness – if he had directly arranged for her to deliver a set amount of eels to Huang He Hotel daily, wouldn’t that mean seeing her every day? What a perfect opportunity for getting to know each other!
Xia Xiao Lan didn’t realize that her looks had once again worked to her advantage – finding major buyers for her eels would no longer be a concern.
She hadn’t expected to sell all her goods so smoothly today. She had started with over fifty yuan, and after selling the eels and eggs, she now had around 150 yuan. Since it was still early, Xia Xiao Lan cycled to the farmers’ market.
There was an oil press factory further out from the farmers’ market toward the outskirts. Not wanting to return to Qi Jing Village with an empty cart, Xia Xiao Lan wanted to do some business along the way. After careful consideration of the rural market, she realized that farmers would only spend money on things that could help them earn money.
What did An Qing County have?
The two biggest factories were the Agricultural Machinery Factory and the Meat Processing Plant. Xia Xiao Lan couldn’t get involved with the Agricultural Machinery Factory, but because of the Meat Processing Plant, many farmers around An Qing County raised pigs. No family would be extravagant enough to keep an entire pig for the New Year – even if they slaughtered one themselves, they would sell most of the meat, keeping only the offal and trimmings for the holiday. More commonly, they would sell the whole pig to the An Qing County Meat Processing Plant. Pig farming was possibly the farmers’ largest source of income outside of working the fields.
Pigs that were too lean wouldn’t fetch a good price, so farmers would fatten them up.
The Liu family also raised two pigs, and Xia Xiao Lan had heard Aunt Li Feng Mei say she wanted to buy some oil cakes to feed the pigs but hadn’t found any after two trips to the township market. When Xia Xiao Lan heard this, something clicked, and she asked what kind of oil cakes these were.
“Oil cakes are the residue left after pressing oil.”
After pressing oil from rapeseed, there would be some oil residue left, which, after fermentation, became feed for fattening pigs – mixing some into pig feed made the pigs grow quickly. The fact that Li Feng Mei couldn’t find anyone selling oil cakes after two attempts proved that people were selling them, just not with reliable supply… Where there was demand, there was profit to be made.
If An Qing County’s surroundings didn’t have enough oil cakes, they could get them from Shang Du City.
Xia Xiao Lan wouldn’t need to make special trips just for oil cakes – she could bring them back after selling her eels, and she wouldn’t even need to go to the market specifically to sell them. While collecting eels from various villages daily, she could sell the oil cakes to pig-farming villagers along the way.
Being observant of one’s surroundings was proving useful – how else would Xia Xiao Lan have known about the oil press factory near the farmers’ market?
She cycled over there, and the power of a carton of “Da Qian Men” cigarettes once again proved effective – Xia Xiao Lan had become skilled at using cigarettes for social connections. Giving a whole carton would be too conspicuous, so she bought another carton but separated it into individual packs.
Walking into the oil press factory, the aroma was overwhelming.
“What’s your business?”
The factory guard was alert and called out to Xia Xiao Lan from afar. The oil press factory was a coveted workplace – how scarce was oil in these times? Similar establishments like sugar factories, alcohol factories, and meat processing plants that were closely tied to people’s daily lives all offered good benefits and welfare.
“Hello, I’d like to ask if the factory sells oil residue?”
As Xia Xiao Lan asked this, she naturally offered a cigarette. The guard, a man in his forties, was caught off guard by her gesture.
Xia Xiao Lan was a very beautiful young woman, and beyond her beauty, she was warm and generous. The saying goes that one doesn’t strike a smiling face – unable to refuse Xia Xiao Lan’s cigarette strategy, the guard naturally couldn’t refuse her request either.
Of course, the oil press factory sold their residue – what else would they do with it?
The Meat Processing Plant only handled the slaughter of livestock like pigs; they didn’t raise them. Large-scale pig farms were few, so the oil press factory had to sell their residue in smaller quantities. However, “smaller quantities” meant between 100 and 1,000 catties – ordinary farmers coming to buy a few catties of oil residue wouldn’t even make it past the factory gate.
“0.03 yuan per catty, how much do you want?”
The oil residue at the factory was piled as high as small mountains, yet it only cost 0.03 yuan per catty. Li Feng Mei had previously bought oil residue for 0.08 yuan per catty.
That meant a profit of 0.05 yuan per catty.
Xia Xiao Lan only made 0.02 yuan profit per egg!
Plus, the oil residue could be simply loaded into the basket on her bicycle’s back seat, with virtually no waste. As long as Xia Xiao Lan could carry it, she could buy as much as she wanted!
After gauging her physical strength, Xia Xiao Lan resisted her greed:
“Let’s start with 300 catties.”