sjar Chapter 102 An Accidental Encounter with a Leader in a Military Overcoat
Chapter 102 An Accidental Encounter with a Leader in a Military Overcoat
Although Lao Qin complained, he took it seriously. He borrowed the clinic's phone and dialed Chen, the assistant to the leader he often contacted at the forest farm. He told Li Ju'an to wait until the weather was better and then lead the gang of dogs to Chen to sound him out, since he couldn't guarantee they could get the job.
Li Ju'an grinned, revealing his white teeth, and said in a serious and earnest tone, "Brother Qin, from now on you're my brother!"
"You brat, get lost! You're always talking like you're covered in honey."
A thick haze appeared, everything was white, and the air was filled with cold snow particles, making visibility very low.
Li Ju'an stayed in Niubei Village for two more days. He and Sun Weimin originally wanted to stay at the guesthouse, but the hospitable Niu family insisted on bringing them inside. Wang Guochang's injuries had improved considerably, and his son and daughter-in-law warmly treated Li Ju'an and the others to a good meal at their home.
Song Desheng was quite moved. He had applied for a day off during the recent blizzard, and he had originally planned to spend his days in the guesthouse, freezing and rubbing his hands in the cold. He never expected to find a warm bed to stay in, and although the food wasn't exactly a feast, it was still good wine and dishes, which made him feel very satisfied.
"Brother Li! If you need any more work, just call me. I'll still work for you!"
Li Ju'an didn't stand on ceremony and immediately took out his money to ask Song Desheng if he could get TV tickets. Song Desheng patted his chest and guaranteed that, not to mention TV tickets, as long as you had the money, he had connections; he could even get bicycle tickets.
He confidently declared he'd get the tickets, which made Li Ju'an a little apprehensive. He contacted Song Desheng, and they planned to go down the mountain together to sell the wolf pelts for money once the weather improved, then split the profits. The tickets weren't urgent; they'd get them if they came along, and wait if not.
The fireworks display in the mountains came and went quickly, and the weather returned to calm three days later.
With the help of the villagers of Niubeitun, Li Ju'an led his mule to the county town to exchange the hides for money at the supply and marketing cooperative's purchasing station. He then shared the money with a group of hunters from Niubeitun.
A regular wolf pelt costs 150 yuan. But this time, after the wolves were blown up by the felt and gunpowder, many were torn to shreds and couldn't fetch a good price. He could only keep them to make wolf pelt hats. He was still shaken by the fact that Old Qian's youngest son had been killed, so he didn't keep the wolf pelts to make hats and distributed them to hunters who needed them.
Besides wolf pelts, wolf teeth, and wolf meat, which could also fetch a good price, he and a group of hunters set up a stall at the market that day. They smoked cigarettes, chatted, and called out their wares. Many people inquired, but few actually bought. Most people, however, were very interested in them.
"Young man, why is there so much wolf meat? Are you hunting wolves?"
The middle-aged man who came to ask the question was riding a bicycle, wearing a dog-skin hat, a collared fleece jacket, and a stylish military overcoat. His dog-skin fur was long and thick, making him look imposing and exuding a heroic air. The two ear flaps of his hat were tied under his chin, leaving only his eyes showing, which looked very warm.
Li Ju'an glanced at him and thought the man looked very kind, so he chatted with him for a bit longer.
"We went into the mountains to hunt wolves, but not a pack of wolves. We just happened to run into more than twenty wolves. If we didn't fight them, we would just have to wait to die. What else could we do?"
The middle-aged man, seeing that he was young but had a respectful yet assertive attitude and a unique demeanor unlike that of ordinary young men in the mountains, glanced at him a few more times and asked, "Which village are you from, hunter? Which gang leader are you working with?"
Song Desheng, who was standing to the side, stared at him with his eyes wide open and waved his hand dismissively, saying, "Why ask so many questions? You're not buying wolf meat. You're not interested in wolf teeth either. Li Pao, let's ignore him; he's blocking our business."
The middle-aged man wasn't annoyed. When he heard the name "Li Pao," he looked Li Ju'an up and down a few more times, his eyes filled with interest. He simply got off his bike, put it on the bicycle parking stand, and went to take a look at the stall.
Li Ju'an was happy to chat a bit more. Before his rebirth, he had traveled south and dealt with many wealthy businessmen, and he knew that some people simply had a different aura. Even if someone wore the same fur hat and military overcoat as an ordinary person, you could tell from their presence that they were no ordinary person.
He offered him a cigarette, but the person opposite him waved his hand, indicating that he didn't want one.
Song Desheng snorted coldly, shook his head impatiently, and said, "Still pretending? If you don't want to smoke, then don't smoke."
Li Ju'an was very patient and briefly recounted his experience of hunting wolves.
The middle-aged man laughed heartily: "Young man, you're bold and lucky. You were fortunate to go into the mountains and even led the team out."
Song Desheng, his temper flaring, stood up and shouted, "Lucky? No way! We ran into a pack of wolves and almost died. What are you looking at? Are you going to buy it or not? If not, get out!"
If it were anyone else, a shout of "What are you looking at?" could start a fight right there at the market entrance. The middle-aged man ignored Song Desheng, instead handing Li Ju'an a slip of paper, opening his military overcoat, taking out a fountain pen from the pocket of his fleece-lined jacket, and quickly scribbling down a phone number.
"Little Li, call me back later. Let's chat on the phone."
Li Ju'an didn't know who he was, but he found the man interesting. He handed over a 6-centimeter-long wolf tooth from the stall and said, "This is some mountain produce. Take it back, string it with a red string, and hang it up for the kids to play with."
The middle-aged man was surprised that he would hand over a wolf tooth, and the wolf tooth looked to be of very good quality, indeed a mountain specialty worthy of being served at a formal event. He also smiled and said, "My surname is Chen. If I don't answer the phone, and someone else answers, just say they are looking for me, and call back in five minutes."
"Alright! Brother Chen."
After the middle-aged man rode away on his old bicycle, Song Desheng watched his retreating figure in his military overcoat, feeling increasingly uneasy, and clicked his tongue twice in complaint.
"Wearing a military overcoat is really impressive. But this guy is shameless, isn't he? He's not buying anything, but he still comes to look. It's one thing to look, but Brother Li, why did you give him a wolf tooth? I wanted to sell that wolf tooth for a good price, at least 5 yuan, to get half a pound of grouse meat for a snack with drinks tonight."
Li Ju'an retorted, "What do you know, you little brat! This 5-yuan wolf tooth can be exchanged for a big job."
He glanced down at the phone number in his hand and the elegant, flowing handwriting, and formed a rough guess about the middle-aged man's identity.
If he really were that Leader Chen, he probably wouldn't need to ask Lao Qin for help. But he also knew in his heart that although he had been a leader once, he was still too inexperienced, especially in terms of the number of dogs he had. If someone had a job to ask someone to do, they would definitely choose the leader of the dog gang.
He figured he needed to buy more dogs to build up his reputation as a gang leader so he could get more work and earn more money.
Beside him, Song Desheng was still staring at the middle-aged man's bicycle back, his eyes full of envy as he looked on: "That old Dongfanghong brand bicycle, it's so damn cool! If I could get one, and have my wife ride on the back of my bike, I'd seduce that girl to death."
In the 1980s, most bicycles had a long crossbar, and everyone called them "28-inch bicycles." Young people were proud to own a brand-new 28-inch bicycle; being able to ride a bicycle was no less significant than driving a car today. The excitement young people felt when they first touched a 28-inch bicycle—from borrowing it to buying it with a ticket—is something later generations can never truly understand.
Li Ju'an stared wide-eyed at the old bicycle. In his previous life, he could ride a bike with one hand, quickly cornering to admire beautiful women. Now, he was struggling to get a bicycle ticket. He slapped Song Desheng on the back of the head and said, "What are you looking at? Hurry up and go home. Get the ticket for me later, and I'll give you the money we'll share."
Song Desheng also got excited and stood up, shouting, "Okay, let's each get one, and then go look at the pretty girls on the street."
"What are you looking at? Even if you keep looking, it's not yours. Your wife will pinch your ears when you get back."
The two sat by the market and laughed heartily.