Chapter 40: Sorry, We’re No Longer Accepting Mushrooms (Please Subscribe)

At four o’clock in the early morning, Li Yi rose early to start making cold noodles.

There was no other choice. With the house construction going on at home these days, Li Yi had to get up earlier to avoid being seen while making the noodles.

After all, street vending was strictly prohibited at the moment, and he had been quite conspicuous lately. If someone noticed, there might be those with petty minds who would secretly report him to the commune.

Although Li Yi wasn’t afraid of such things, he still considered them troublesome and thought it best to be cautious.

By seven in the morning, when the laborers arrived at Li’s house, Li Yi had already finished preparing the cold noodles and the white flatbreads.

Moreover, with so many mountain goods gathered these days, no one suspected that the mule cart carried anything “forbidden” apart from mushrooms and wood ear fungus.

At nine o’clock sharp, Li Yi appeared at the entrance of the state-run restaurant.

The restaurant staff, already familiar with him, came out to greet him upon seeing the bright red mule cart.

They knew well how much Director Liu valued this young man from the countryside.

As usual, the weighing and settlement went smoothly. When Li Yi left the restaurant, all the baskets of mountain produce had been exchanged for “Great Unity” currency.

He earned 650 yuan this time, and his spirits were high.

At this rate, it wouldn’t take long before he became the first villager with a net worth of ten thousand yuan.

Of course, Li Yi didn’t care much about the ten-thousand-yuan title itself; what he valued was the initial accumulation of capital.

As a successful businessman, Li Yi understood clearly why some people, despite having ability and opportunities, lived their entire lives as mere wage slaves from nine to five.

One crucial reason was their inability to accumulate the initial capital. Without this starting fund, even the best ideas and strongest abilities couldn’t be realized.

With the curtain of reform and opening-up already raised, it was expected that the Wenzhou region would pilot private-owned economies this year, leading to an explosion of individual businesses like spring shoots after rain.

Seizing this opportunity, the nation’s economy would soon enter a rapid development phase within a few years.

From then on, business success would no longer be about who dared the most, but about who had the strongest capital and the most discerning vision.

Therefore, Li Yi silently resolved to accumulate sufficient capital before that time.

After leaving the state-run restaurant, Li Yi headed straight to the supply and marketing cooperative.

These days, with the house under construction, he not only had to pay the helpers their wages but also provide meals.

Since these people were invited to help, though the wages were not high, the food had to be decent.

Thus, Li Yi decided to purchase tofu, vermicelli, and similar items—he couldn’t let people say the Li family was stingy.

With over a dozen people cooking at home, daily consumption was huge, so his purchases were substantial.

Besides about ten pounds of tofu and seven or eight pounds of dried vermicelli, Li Yi also bought ten pounds of meat, nearly a hundred pounds of fine flour in two large bags, and a fifty-pound sack of rice—filling nearly half a small cart.

But he didn’t mind; at his current daily earnings, a few dozen yuan was nothing.

Meanwhile, as Li Yi busied himself with large purchases at the cooperative, Xu Hong arrived at the state-run restaurant on his bicycle.

After returning yesterday, he had gathered several trusted educated youth friends and told them he had found a way to make money.

Learning that Xu Hong could sell unwanted mushrooms from the back mountain at three mao per jin, these youth were thrilled. After completing their quotas, they rushed straight to the back mountain.

However, all the mushrooms on the hills around the village had been picked clean by Dongzi, Shitou, and their group. What had once carpeted the ground was now scarce.

Helpless, Xu Hong and the others had to venture deep into the mountains.

Because Li Yi was strict about not letting children go deep into the forest for safety reasons, Xu Hong’s group did find some mushroom patches.

After tremendous effort, they finally gathered several baskets.

Thinking that these mushrooms could fetch at least fifty or sixty yuan, and even after sharing with the other youth, he could still earn twenty or thirty yuan, Xu Hong was so excited he barely slept that night.

Early next morning, he borrowed a bicycle, tied the mushrooms to the back seat with a snake-skin sack, and headed straight for the county town.

To avoid letting Li Yi know he was encroaching on his business, Xu Hong didn’t come to the state-run restaurant first. Instead, after Li Yi had finished his delivery, he sneaked quietly to the restaurant entrance.

Upon seeing Xu Hong enter, a staff member immediately said, “Comrade, we don’t sell breakfast here...”

Xu Hong hurriedly replied, “Hello, comrade, I’m not here to eat. I’m here to deliver mushrooms!”

“Mushrooms?” The staff member suddenly understood. This person must be here to sell mushrooms. Recalling Director Liu’s notice from yesterday, he said, “Sorry, we’re no longer accepting mushrooms here!”

“No... no longer accepting?” Xu Hong was stunned and hurriedly asked, “Wasn’t everything fine just yesterday? Why suddenly stop?”

“Sorry, that’s the decision of our leadership. I don’t know the details,” the staff member replied.

“That’s not right. I just saw someone sell mushrooms earlier. Why do you accept his but reject mine? That’s unfair...”

“Comrade, whether to accept mushrooms and whose mushrooms to accept is the state-run restaurant’s own business. Please don’t cause trouble here!”

The staff member, annoyed by Xu Hong’s persistence, spoke with a noticeably firmer tone.

At that moment, Liu Jingshan came out of the office, heard the commotion, and came over to check.

“Xiao Li, what’s going on?”

“Director, this comrade is here to sell mushrooms. I told him we don’t accept mushrooms anymore, and he’s unhappy,” Xiao Li explained honestly.

Liu Jingshan glanced at Xu Hong and said, “Comrade, our state-run restaurant is small. We have already procured enough mushrooms for our needs, so we are no longer accepting external mushrooms. You should try elsewhere.”

“How can you do this? Why accept others’ mushrooms but not mine?” Xu Hong was furious, his voice rising.

Liu Jingshan, not wanting to escalate the matter and damage the restaurant’s reputation, and pitying Xu Hong’s difficulty in gathering mushrooms, said, “How many mushrooms do you have? If their quality is acceptable, we’ll take them today—but only this once. No exceptions in the future!”

Hearing this, Xu Hong breathed a sigh of relief.

Although only a single sale, which was not quite what he had hoped for, at least he could sell the mushrooms he had gathered yesterday and answer to the other educated youth.

Moreover, Xu Hong calculated that once that loafer was out of the picture and no one else delivered mushrooms to the state-run restaurant, wouldn’t they have to buy from him?

With that thought, Xu Hong carried several tightly packed snake-skin sacks from his bicycle into the restaurant.

Seeing him use snake-skin sacks for mushrooms, Liu Jingshan felt a sudden ominous premonition.