sinovels Chapter 1962 Hong Kong North and South Medicinal Herbs Yu Tai Chamber of Commerce
Chapter 1962 Hong Kong North and South Medicinal Herbs Yu Tai Chamber of Commerce
Chapter 1962 Hong Kong North and South Medicinal Herbs Yu Tai Chamber of Commerce
Compared to the others, Zhao Jun was much calmer. After popping two peanuts into his mouth, he said to everyone, "If he doesn't want to buy, fine. If it really doesn't work out, we'll just dry that big batch into dried goods and keep them to sell later."
Zhao Jun wasn't in a hurry about this. But while he wasn't, someone else was.
"Brother-in-law," Ma Yang put down the half-eaten fried crucian carp seeds and said to Zhao Jun, "I heard that you met several big bosses at the Ginseng King Conference in Fusong last time."
“Those are all middlemen,” Zhao Jun said. “You can’t get a good price selling to them.”
"Middlemen?" Upon hearing this, Li Ruhai hurriedly asked Zhao Jun, "Brother, if they are middlemen, who do they sell to after they collect the clubs?"
Li Ruhai, who used to be a middleman, knew that this job involved dealing with two parties at once, not only the downstream but also the upstream.
“They sell it outside,” Zhao Jun gave a shocking answer: “They’ve finished collecting it and are selling it in the port city.”
"Gangcheng?" Zhao Jun's words surprised everyone. In those days, Gangcheng was known to the mountain people as a very developed and wealthy place.
Just then, Zhao Jun continued, "After it gets to the hands of those ginseng traders in Hong Kong, they sell it to Southeast Asia."
“Nanyang?” Ma Yang was unfamiliar with this term.
“Yes.” Zhao Jun said as he ladled meat sauce into his bowl, “Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the Thousand Islands.”
Zhao Jun mentioned several foreign countries, but he wasn't going to sell wild ginseng to foreigners; he was going to sell it to Chinese people there.
It is said that in the early days, when people from Fujian and Guangdong went to Southeast Asia, they carried ginseng slices and ginseng powder with them to cope with the harsh environment and bumpy journey.
In the Chinese community of Southeast Asia, wild ginseng is considered the king of tonics, a top-tier health supplement. While bird's nest and shark fin are generally considered health-promoting, wild ginseng is a life-saving treasure for strengthening the body.
Chinese society values personal relationships highly, and wild ginseng is a popular gift among Chinese communities in Southeast Asia.
For birthday celebrations, visiting the sick, holidays, paying respects to influential figures, and social gatherings, giving wild ginseng as a gift is more respectable than giving gold or jewelry.
"Jun," Lin Xiangshun said to Zhao Jun after putting down his wine glass, "I heard that there's a lot of money going on in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand."
"Hmm," Zhao Jun responded, "We can only get a good price by selling to them."
Right now, in the late 80s, is the time when Chinese people in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand are at their wealthiest.
The wealthy are not afraid of high prices when buying wild ginseng; they are only afraid of it being fake or not being old enough.
In Hong Kong's famous ginseng and deer antler shops, even a mediocre seedling of *Gynostemma pentaphyllum* can easily cost several thousand Hong Kong dollars.
Back in 1988, through official channels, 100 Hong Kong dollars could be exchanged for 48 RMB. Through unofficial channels, 100 Hong Kong dollars could even be exchanged for 70 RMB.
In other words, the price of a seedling with three leaves sold in the port city could buy a small seedling with five leaves of average quality in the forest areas of Northeast China.
But there was nothing Zhao Jun could do; he had no connections there, and going to Hong Kong was a pipe dream for him.
"Hey? Brother." At this moment, Li Baoyu asked Zhao Jun, "When they collect clubs, supply and marketing cooperatives, and state-run pharmacies, do they also sell them there?"
“Yes, yes.” Zhao Jun nodded repeatedly and said, “They were all sold to earn foreign exchange.”
These days, and even further back, the Hong Kong dollar is considered a foreign exchange, and one of the most valuable ones.
"Tsk!" Xie Chen clicked his tongue and said, "If only we knew a few foreign businessmen, we could just sell them directly and make a fortune, right?"
"Hey, Dad?" Zhao Jinhui suddenly turned around and asked Zhao Weipeng, "Don't you know any foreign businessmen?"
“What use is it for me to know them?” Zhao Weipeng said, “The ones I know all make clothes and stuff, they do processing with supplied materials.”
"Uncle," Zhao Jun said to Zhao Jinhui, "Do you know anyone in Hong Kong? If you do, ask him if he knows anyone who deals with medicinal herbs."
"Huh?" Zhao Weipeng paused, holding his cigarette, and said, "I don't know him, but Wen Hongchang definitely does."
"Huh?" Zhao Jun's eyes lit up and he blurted out, "You know Uncle Wen?"
As soon as Zhao Jun finished speaking, Zhao Jinhui immediately asked, "Dad, how do you know Uncle Wen knows him?"
“How would I know?” Zhao Weipeng smiled and said, “They usually resell those hides to Hong Kong first, and then Hong Kong sells them to the Japanese and the ugly devils.”
"Ah..." Zhao Jun smiled upon hearing this and said, "Then I'll contact him tomorrow."
“Yes, brother.” At this moment, Li Ruhai picked up where Zhao Jun left off, saying, “Tell him I have a leopard skin pillow.”
"Bang!" Upon hearing the words "leopard skin pillow," Zhao Weipeng slammed his hand on the table and stood up, staring wide-eyed at Li Ruhai, asking, "Ruhai, what did you say?"
"Dad!" Zhao Jinhui stood up and stood side by side with Zhao Weipeng. The two of them were so big together that they looked like a wall.
"Ru Hai has a leopard-skin pillow in that village. I asked him to sell it to us, but he refused," Zhao Jinhui said indignantly to Zhao Weipeng, complaining about Li Ru Hai's lack of compassion.
"What's going on, Ru Hai?" Li Dayong asked, trying to help his son out of the predicament.
Normally, Li Ruhai would have embellished the story and told everyone a vivid tale of "Li Ruhai cleverly obtaining the leopard-skin pillow."
But he couldn't elaborate on how he got the leopard-skin pillow, only saying, "Dad, before I was strolling around the residential area, I saw a wooden pillow covered in leopard skin at the convenience store, so I bought it for fifty yuan."
"Wow!" Li Dayong knew that the Zhao family made a fortune selling leopard skins, and immediately laughed, "My youngest son is amazing!"
"Haha..." Li Ruhai was very happy to receive his father's approval. Seeing this, Ma Yang curled his lip and couldn't help but secretly complain about Ma Dafu.
In Ma Yang's view, he was far superior to Li Ruhai. Although Li Ruhai had discovered the leopard-skin pillow, how could he compare to Ma Yang, who had awakened the Three Miao Ginseng King?
Li Ruhai achieved results and received praise from Li Dayong. Ma Yang, on the other hand, achieved results but received a slap from Ma Dafu, which made him feel very unbalanced.
Just as Ma Yang was lost in thought, Zhao Jun, despite his exhaustion from the day, advised Zhao Weipeng, "Uncle, that's all nonsense. All that talk about getting rich quick or living a life of luxury is just a bunch of lies. You can fool others with that stuff, but you can't fool yourself!"
Li Ruhai, standing to the side, nodded repeatedly. Just as Zhao Jun said, they wouldn't sell it to their own people no matter how much money they were offered.
"What do you mean by lying to others?" Zhao Weipeng waved his chubby hand and said, "That old Wen, how much money did he make after covering that little quilt? And my classmate..."
"Stop being a classmate." Zhao Youcai nudged Zhao Weipeng, looking at him like he was an idiot, and said, "If that thing really worked, would my family still be selling it?"
"You...I..." Zhao Weipeng was stumped by Zhao Youcai's question, but he was still not giving up and said, "Then how come they all made money after buying it and waiting to get rich and live a life of wealth?"
“That’s just their fate,” Zhao Youcai said. Wang Meilan comforted Zhao Weipeng, saying, “Brother, they make money, and so do we, don’t we?”
As she spoke, Wang Meilan pointed out the window and said, "Our freight business is doing so well, isn't it? We can make a lot of money by the end of the year."
“That’s true.” Hearing Wang Meilan’s words, Zhao Weipeng’s expression softened slightly. At this moment, Zhao Jun interjected, “Uncle, if we can sell these three large seedlings, we’ll charter several more train cars and then charter all the timber from all the forest areas of Shanhe Forestry Bureau.”
We can't let the money we earn sit idle. The timber business is extremely profitable, so we have to take it over.
“Well… that’s fine.” Zhao Weipeng hesitated for a moment, then said, “But if I invest more… I’ll be able to come up with more than 200,000.”
“It’s alright, Dad!” Zhao Weipeng never expected that when he was short of money, it would be his chubby son who would step forward.
At this moment, Zhao Jinhui puffed out his chest and said to Zhao Weipeng, "After the club is sold, I'll still have my shares. That will be enough for me to invest."
"Ah..." Zhao Weipeng smiled when he heard this, looking at his chubby son.
"This is my eldest son!" Zhao Weipeng patted Zhao Jinhui's shoulder twice with his chubby hand and said, "He's made something of himself!"
"Hahaha..." Zhao Jinhui laughed heartily.
Upon seeing this scene, Ma Yang was no longer in the mood.
“Brother-in-law!” Ma Yang said directly to Zhao Jun, “Whatever business you’re in, take me with you.”
"You just stay put!" These were the words spoken by Ma Sheng. Even if Zhao Jun and his gang made money blindly, Ma Yang had no right to speak.
Even in forest areas and rural areas twenty years later, the saying still holds true: "A family with a thousand members has one person in charge." All matters, big and small, must be decided by the head of the family.
Besides, this is something a child like Ma Yang shouldn't get involved in. Ma Yang's behavior will easily make him a laughingstock for being unruly.
No one in the Zhao family's house laughed at him, but Ma Yang was very unhappy. However, since it was his older brother who was criticizing him, Ma Yang didn't dare to say a word.
After all the cornbread buns were put into the cellar, Liu Mei came up from inside and happily told Wang Meilan, Jin Xiaomei, and the others, "The cellar is almost full of cornbread buns."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun put down his chopsticks after finishing his meal, thinking about calling Wen Hongchang first thing tomorrow morning.
After the Zhao family finished eating, they went home as individual families.
When Zhao Jinhui left, Liang Xuemei noticed that her chubby son had an extra triangular pocket in his hand.
"What's this, son?" Liang Xuemei asked. Zhao Jinhui laughed and said, "Mom, this is the wolf I hunted."
"What?" Liang Xuemei was taken aback, and then Zhao Jinhui continued, "This time at Lushui River, I killed a wolf by myself, it weighed seventy or eighty pounds."
"You killed him?" Not only Liang Xuemei was surprised, but Zhao Weipeng, Grandpa Zhao, and Grandma Zhao were also astonished.
“It was my brother Hui’er who killed him,” Li Ruhai interjected smugly. “My brother Hui’er got his butt sat on by that wolf and died.”
Zhao Weipeng's family: "..."
……
After being away for a week, Zhao Jun finally returned home. He lay on the familiar kang (heated brick bed), embracing his wife, and slept soundly.
The next morning, I got up, washed up, and fed the dog.
After finishing breakfast, Zhao Jun was about to call Wen Hongchang.
But as soon as he arrived at the East Hut, the phone rang.
"Hello?" Zhao Jun answered the phone without the same domineering tone as Wang Meilan, simply saying, "This is Xishantun."
"Zhao Jun, you're back." As soon as he heard that on the other end of the phone, Zhao Jun recognized who it was.
"Manager Huang, I'm back," Zhao Jun said. "I arrived home last night."
"Ah, your mother answered the phone that day," Manager Huang said. "She told you, didn't she?"
"Ah, I already said so." Zhao Jun chuckled and said, "That's all right. Business is also about fate, isn't it?"
"Yes, yes, you're right." Manager Huang agreed with Zhao Jun's words and said, "It's really fate."
After saying this, Manager Huang paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "I've been trying to contact people about this matter at the pharmacy these past two days, and this time we've finally found the right person."
"Huh?" Zhao Jun was taken aback upon hearing this and quickly asked, "What kind of person is it?"
"They're in the medicinal herb business in Gangcheng," Manager Huang continued, emphasizing each word: "the Gangcheng North and South Medicinal Herb Yutai Chamber of Commerce."
"Oh my god!" Zhao Jun exclaimed. Although he didn't understand what Yutai meant, he still felt that the name sounded grand.
"Great!" Zhao Jun exclaimed happily, then asked, "Manager Huang, what did they say over there?"
"They haven't given me a reply yet," Manager Huang said. "I'm currently using an intermediary to take those photos you gave me to Hong Kong."
After saying that, Manager Huang changed the subject and said, "But I heard that if they see a good ginseng, they will definitely buy it."
"That's great!" Zhao Jun exclaimed with delight. "Then let them come and take it down right away!"
"Hehe..." You could tell that Manager Huang was also very happy. After all, he could get a six-figure commission for every ginseng king from the Zhao family that the customer he contacted bought.
"I reckon it'll be quick," Manager Huang said. "If they really can finalize things, they should be able to get there in two days by plane."
"Is that so?" Zhao Jun laughed. "Then I need to hurry up and make arrangements to entertain the guests."
"Then you go ahead and get busy," Manager Huang said. "I'll take advantage of these next few days to try and meet some interested big bosses."
"Manager Huang, listen to me," Zhao Jun said. "Just try to find people in Hong Kong; they can offer higher prices."
After saying this, Zhao Jun paused slightly, then said enticingly, "The higher the price, the more we'll earn, right?"
"Yes, I understand," Manager Huang replied, then hurriedly hung up the phone.
Hearing the busy tone on the other end of the phone, Zhao Jun put down the receiver, then picked it up again and transferred the call to Hebei through the operator.
The call lasted half an hour, but Wen Hongchang couldn't be reached. The call went through, but Wen Hongchang wasn't available. Zhao Jun left his name and asked the other end to tell Wen Hongchang to call him back when he was less busy.
After hanging up the phone, Zhao Jun came out of the house and found that only he and Ma Ling were left.
Zhao Hong and Zhao Na went to school, and Zhao Youcai was pulled to the fields by Wang Meilan. Now that Zhao Jun is back, Zhao Youcai doesn't need to watch the house anymore.
Li Baoyu from next door accompanied Liu Mei back to her parents' home. Liu Mei only has one daughter, and Li Dayong and Jin Xiaomei also asked Li Baoyu to visit her often.
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Jun decided to take Ma Ling back to her parents' home as well. They bought two cans of food and two packets of pastries at a convenience store, and walked towards Ma's house while talking to Ma Ling.
When they arrived at the Ma family's house, Wang Cuihua and Ma Yang were home, but Zhao Jun and Ma Ling were speechless when they saw the slap mark on Ma Yang's face.
I missed a chapter due to high blood pressure these past few days, so I'll make up for it with this chapter.