Chapter Eleven: Unrelenting Fury (New Book Seeking Your Attention!)

After a silent night, Li Yi got up early the next morning!

Because today he not only had to set up a stall to sell cold noodles but also needed to sell mushrooms in the city, he had to rise early.

Given the booming business yesterday, Li Yi had prepared extra dough today.

With practiced ease, he kneaded over thirty pounds of dough and made more than 150 sheets of cold noodles. After washing and chopping the side dishes, he hitched up the big red mule and headed for the county town again.

Since mushrooms lose a lot of moisture once exposed to the sun, Li Yi decided to sell the mushrooms first in the urban area before setting up his stall in front of the sugar factory.

He didn’t choose to sell the mushrooms at the street vegetable market but went straight to the state-run restaurant in the county center.

Li Yi knew that in this era of scarcity, most ordinary people preferred fatty slices of meat and rarely liked mushrooms.

If he sold these mushrooms on a street stall, they wouldn’t fetch much money at all.

But the state-run restaurant was different. It usually served officials or wealthy patrons who prized wild mushrooms greatly.

In recent years, the state restaurant would periodically collect mushrooms from the countryside, offering good prices—sometimes as high as fifty to sixty cents per pound, though they didn’t accept just any mushrooms.

So Li Yi decided to try his luck at the guest house; perhaps he could become their mushroom supplier.

The state-run restaurant was located on Xinglong Street, not far from the county government. This street was the busiest in Qingshan County.

Though it was just past ten in the morning, the street was already packed with people. Where did so many come from in such a tiny county?

At the restaurant entrance, after tying his mule to a large poplar tree, Li Yi stepped inside.

He was immediately stopped by a girl with two braided pigtails. “Comrade, may I ask who you’re looking for?”

Li Yi hurriedly replied, “Hello, I’m from a nearby village. I heard your guest house buys mushrooms, so I came to inquire.”

“Buys mushrooms? I haven’t heard anything about that,” the girl frowned.

“That’s alright. You could ask your leader. If you really don’t buy, I’ll take my business elsewhere. It’s just a matter of a word, right?”

The girl, kind-hearted, glanced at the dusty and weary Li Yi, hesitated a moment, then nodded.

She told him to wait at the front desk and even poured him a cup of hot water before hurrying upstairs.

Soon she returned with a middle-aged man dressed in a Zhongshan suit.

Approaching Li Yi, the man said directly, “Comrade, my name is Liu Jingshan, director of the state-run restaurant. I hear you’ve come to sell mushrooms?”

“Yes, authentic wild pine mushrooms and some trumpet mushrooms,” Li Yi replied.

“May I see your goods?”

“Of course!”

Li Yi led Director Liu to his mule cart and lifted the two large baskets covered with straw mats.

Upon seeing the mushrooms in Li Yi’s baskets, Liu Jingshan was slightly surprised.

It wasn’t the quantity but the fact that the mushrooms were clearly processed—each one cleaned of dirt and debris, making them very appealing.

Occasionally, people brought freshly picked mushrooms to the restaurant, but their mushrooms were always covered in dirt and weeds, looking grimy and troublesome for the kitchen staff to clean.

“What's your asking price per pound?” Liu asked.

“How much can you offer?” Li Yi countered.

Liu considered and said, “Currently, fresh mushrooms sell for about 40 to 50 cents per pound on the market, fluctuating no more than five cents. Your mushrooms are of good quality, clearly handpicked. I’ll offer you 70 cents per pound. How about that?”

“That’s quite high!”

“Well, I see your mushrooms are processed—each uniform in size and cleaned of all dirt and debris. Two pounds of raw mushrooms don’t even yield one pound of premium quality, right?”

Li Yi smiled and said, “You truly have a keen eye and know your trade!”

“Let’s weigh them.”

With the help of several restaurant staff, the two big baskets of mushrooms were weighed.

Fifty-seven pounds in total, amounting to 39.9 yuan!

Liu Jingshan was generous and immediately handed Li Yi four 10-yuan bills.

After the deal, Li Yi left the state-run restaurant in high spirits!

His joy was not just from earning forty yuan selling mushrooms but also because Liu Jingshan had said that if Li Yi could keep providing mushrooms of this quality, they would buy them all.

This transaction opened another path to wealth for Li Yi.

Unlike the solitary cold noodle business, selling mushrooms required help from his younger brothers, allowing him to bring his friends to prosperity as well.

In high spirits, Li Yi soon arrived at the sugar factory entrance. Though it was not yet eleven, a crowd of factory workers had gathered.

Seeing Li Yi approach, the workers quickly surrounded him, clamoring for cold noodles!

Without hesitation, Li Yi set up his stall and began business for the day!

Thanks to the workers’ spontaneous promotion yesterday, many knew about the delicious cold noodles and wanted to try them, so business was booming from the start.

Although Li Yi had anticipated this and made plenty extra, he still underestimated the workers’ enthusiasm.

In less than an hour, all 156 servings of cold noodles were sold out.

Many still missed out and complained bitterly that Li Yi hadn’t prepared enough!

Li Yi could only keep bowing his head in apology and promised that tomorrow everyone would get to eat cold noodles before packing up and leaving.

After closing the stall, Li Yi went to the supply and marketing cooperative again.

But he didn’t enter immediately; he looked around outside carefully.

Though today’s earnings were good, Li Yi knew buying supplies still faced the problem of ration coupons.

In this era where everything required coupons, having money wasn’t always enough.

For the same pound of grain, those with coupons paid just a few dimes, while those without coupons had to pay double.

Moreover, some goods—such as bicycles, sewing machines, and watches—couldn’t be bought without coupons, no matter how much money one had.

But where there’s a policy, there’s a workaround; some people had coupons but no money, giving rise to a group of coupon dealers.

They roamed around supply cooperatives and state-run restaurant entrances, selling various coupons to those in need.

Li Yi was now searching for such a person to exchange coupons.

Soon, his gaze settled on a young man in his twenties leaning against a utility pole, chewing on a foxtail grass stalk, eyes constantly scanning passersby with a somewhat sneaky look.

After parking his mule cart, Li Yi strode up to the young man.

Without beating around the bush, Li Yi asked directly, “Hello, comrade, do you have coupons?”

The young man’s eyes lit up, and he quickly said, “Yes. Do you want grain coupons, cloth coupons, or industrial coupons?”

“Can you get bicycle coupons?”

“Yes, but it takes a few days.”

“How much per coupon?”

“Ten yuan each.”

“Alright, I want one. Also, I need coupons for fifty pounds of flour, twenty portions of oil, two pounds of sugar, and five pounds each of vinegar, soy sauce, and salt.”

Hearing this, the coupon dealer was stunned.

He had never seen such a big client in his small business, and more importantly, he didn’t have that many coupons.

“Brother, I... I don’t have that many coupons!” the young man admitted.

Li Yi frowned and asked, “Tell me what coupons you do have!”

“Forty pounds of flour coupons, twenty pounds of rice coupons, twenty pounds of meat coupons, over ten bolts of cloth coupons, and some for oil, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and salt, but not many.”

“Forget the meat and cloth coupons. I’ll take all the rest. Calculate how much that costs.”

“Hmm, I’ll give you a little discount: five yuan.”

Honestly, that price wasn’t cheap. At present, a pound of fine flour cost only sixteen cents, and rice about eighteen cents per pound. Five yuan could buy over thirty pounds of flour!

But he had no choice. Without coupons for oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, he couldn’t set up his stall tomorrow.

Compared to that loss, this money was nothing!

“Deal!”

Money exchanged for coupons, and after the transaction, Li Yi reminded the young man he would come again tomorrow, and if more coupons became available, to bring them over.

Then, clutching a bundle of ration coupons and money, Li Yi entered the supply and marketing cooperative!