Chapter 194: Exchange Food for Cash

Section Chief Kong is an experienced purchaser and has heard the most about this matter. He nodded thoughtfully and said:

"This matter really needs to be taken seriously. I heard that a fleet of Red Star Steel Plant once went to the Northeast to deliver goods. On the way back, the drivers bought some potatoes locally and wanted to transport them away, but they were discovered on the way.

The matter was brought to the attention of the local government, who confiscated the goods for speculation. Even the Red Star Factory's leadership personally called them, but it was useless. It was a whole truckload of potatoes. The transportation department at the Red Star Factory was so angry that they nearly drew their guns.

Lin Sanqi also spread his hands and said:

"Yes, now your leaders know how dangerous it is for me to go out and buy food, right? This isn't medicinal herbs, and medicinal herbs can't be eaten as food, so no one will snatch them away. But the food I bought this time is actually edible."

Dean Shen had already noticed that Lin Sanqi had some hidden agenda, so he asked:

"Alright, alright. I know you've worked hard, and since you brought it up, you must have a solution. Tell me about it."

Lin Sanqi's eyes rolled. "Our logistics department has several warehouses at the Fengtai Freight Station. We've been purchasing less supplies in recent years, so they're mostly empty. I was wondering if the hospital could lend me a warehouse so I can stock up at any time."

Dean Shen breathed a sigh of relief:

"I thought it was something else. It's not that difficult. Just go talk to Section Chief Quan and ask him to give you a key to the warehouse. No one else can use it except you, and it can't be known to outsiders. You can do whatever you want."

Lin Sanqi was secretly delighted. Owning a legal warehouse in the capital in 1959 would make it much easier for him to abuse his power for personal gain in the future.

"Then I have one last question, and it's the most important one, which is crucial to whether my purchase will be successful."

"What is it?" the three hospital leaders asked in unison.

"Of course it's the procurement funds."

Dean Shen breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this: "The money problem is easy to solve. The hospital only requires money for treatment, not tickets. We have relatively sufficient liquidity now."

Lin Sanqi rolled his eyes. "Master Dean, do you think you can buy precious food, meat, eggs, and vegetables with cash?"

"Well……"

Dean Shen was dumbfounded.

Everyone on earth knows that if money does not reflect purchasing power, it is just a piece of waste paper. Material goods are king. This is the same principle as in doomsday novels.

The same thing happened in 1959. What good was having more money? It had almost lost its monetary value, and its purchasing power was completely inconsistent with the face value. In those days, food and meat coupons were the real "money."

So Lin Sanqi didn't want cash. What could he do with money? These days, there are very few businesses that only accept cash and no receipts. Does he have to go to the hospital every day?

Dean Shen asked in return:

"Then what do you think we should do? Our Chinese medicine hospital only has medicinal herbs. Are we supposed to trade them for food? That's unrealistic. Who would take medicine if they weren't sick?"

Lin Sanqi patted the armrest of his chair and chuckled, "I really have to exchange medicinal herbs for food."

The three hospital leaders were all full of questions. They had seen all kinds of strange operations, but they had never seen such a weird operation.

"If you want food now, you have to think of some unconventional ways. Conventional procurement is definitely not going to work. I also need to ask for help. If I ask for help, shouldn't I give something? Besides money, the best thing is precious Chinese medicinal herbs."

Vice President Ji laughed:

"That's understandable. Anyone who can help us get food must have a very strong relationship. It's only natural for us to give them a gift."

Dean Shen also nodded: “Yes, it’s right to give gifts.”

Lin Sanqi continued to deceive:

"Just giving gifts isn't enough. For example, I want to buy pork. Normally, it's only 73 cents per pound, but this pork is unavailable, and it's in short supply during the holidays. I'm afraid the price will double, or even triple. Will the hospital be able to accept that?"

Dean Shen asked cautiously, "How much is pork per pound on the black market now?"

Lin Sanqi also lowered his voice and replied, "Big fat meat, 10 yuan a pound, no bargaining."

Section Chief Kong was shocked: "It's so expensive?"

Vice President Ji was very calm and nodded slightly:

"That's indeed the price. Not to mention the fat meat, even the lean and fat ones are this price. The key is that it's hard to buy. There's not much meat on the black market either, mostly wild boar meat. But wild boar meat doesn't taste good, yet people are still rushing to buy this."

Lin Sanqi glanced at the vice president and thought that this vice president Ji seemed to be someone who often went to the black market secretly and was well-informed.

Dean Shen thought for a long time, and then discussed it with Vice Dean Ji for a long time, while Lin Sanqi was fiddling with his camera. Finally, the leaders came up with a conclusion.

Dean Shen then said earnestly:

"Xiao Qi, let me give you 30,000 yuan in cash. You can buy as much food, meat, eggs, and vegetables as you want, as long as it's edible. Try to give more, not less. If the money is not enough, let me know and the hospital can add more.

"But Comrade Lin Sanqi, the organization has entrusted you with this arduous task. We hope you can demonstrate your integrity and do your best to complete the food procurement. And most importantly, don't ask for anything. You have a bright future ahead of you. Do you understand?"

(Lin Sanqi has already entered D on the front line)

Lin Sanqi nodded seriously: "Don't worry, Dean, I'm not interested in money and will never embezzle public funds."

Dean Shen and the others nodded slightly. After all, the top management of the hospital knew that Lin Sanqi had a black market background and he had no worries about food and drink, so there was really no need for him to be tempted by public funds.

"It's only 30,000 yuan in cash. 15,000 yuan of that is exchanged for wild ginseng that's at least 50 years old. Also, it would be best if you could get a few that are at least 100 years old."

Dean Shen thought that this was Lin Sanqi going to do a favor and didn't think much about it:

"Okay, our hospital doesn't have enough wild ginseng, but the supply and marketing company must have some in stock. I'll take care of that. By the way, Xiaoqi, where are you going to buy so many supplies?"

Lin Sanqi knew that this was a small test from the dean, so he shook his head:

"Dean, I haven't thought about the task you suddenly gave me yet. Well, I have to ask around, you know."

Dean Shen thought that Lin Sanqi was going to ask his friends in the black market, so he pretended to understand immediately:

"Yes, yes, we need to find out more about it. After all, there are so many supplies."

Lin Sanqi finally stood up and said, "It's alright, I'm leaving first. Ginseng is coming quickly. I'll leave when I can."

Dean Shen didn't hesitate: "Wait, come with me to the pharmacy department and take the wild ginseng in our unit for emergency use."

An hour later, Lin Sanqi pulled a small cart and took away all 15 wild ginsengs from the Capital Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, including the three century-old wild ginsengs that he had not been able to deal with last time.

This batch of 15 wild ginsengs were calculated at cost price, totaling 3,000 yuan.

The Chinese Medicine Hospital urgently requested medicine from the supply and marketing cooperatives across the country to collect 15,000 yuan, which was equivalent to giving Lin Sanqi almost 40 more wild ginsengs.

If these forty or fifty wild ginsengs were sold in 2013, their value would be over fifty or sixty million yuan.

There are a total of 442 employees in the Chinese Medicine Hospital, including those in service and retired. Even if each person is given 5 kilograms of pork, it is cheaper if it is all fat meat. It will cost less than 100 yuan to buy it at the vegetable market or supermarket.

442 people only earned more than 40,000 yuan, which is a huge profit compared to the tens of millions of yuan from wild ginseng.

After Lin Sanqi put all the ginseng into the "passage space", he returned to the Gege Mansion and found that no one was at home, so he hurried back to the back garden.

At this time, the waterside room in the back garden was already very lively, and the whole family was there.

Lin Gancao was sitting there cutting vegetables. A large cabbage was cut into four pieces. Jin Caifeng and her two daughters-in-law spread it flat on the stone slab to dry.

Lin Sophora flavescens and Lin Eucommia ulmoides were washing the water vat by the well. The water vat was very large and it was difficult to wash it.

The two children were running around in the yard and having a lot of fun.

"Mom, are you planning to store the cabbages in the water jar? Don't we have a vegetable cellar?"

"No, we plan to make all these cabbages into pickles so that we can eat them slowly during the winter."

"Ah, pickles again?"

Lin Sanqi was a little confused. It seemed that there was always pickles on the dinner table in 1959. They went well with rice, but his stomach couldn't handle eating them every day, not to mention that they were unhealthy.

Pei Xuehua didn't know that Lin Sanqi and his parents were often secretly eating delicious food, so she smiled and said:

"What else can we eat in winter if not pickles? It's just that there aren't enough Chinese cabbages. Hey, little brother, you have a good relationship with Section Chief Quan, so why don't you go talk to him and ask him to bring us a few hundred more kilograms?"

Jin Caifeng was delighted to hear this:

"Section Chief Quan has already given us an extra 300 kilograms. How dare you ask for more? Wouldn't that make us seem greedy?"

When Lin Sanqi heard this, he secretly made a note of Section Chief Quan and decided to give him more gifts next time.

"Mom, can you make the Northeastern Chinese sauerkraut? We can stew some sauerkraut with bones, it's so delicious. We can also make some Korean kimchi, which would be delicious in the winter. Don't always eat pickles, let's change the taste."

Lin Sanqi knows about food, and he even arranged how to eat it as soon as he opened his mouth.

Jin Caifeng was really at a loss for words when she heard this:

"Silly son, even these 400 kilograms of cabbage are hard to come by. Where would we get extra cabbage to make sauerkraut? You can't even buy it in the market now. Look, there's not even any radish."

Lin Sanqi thought about it and thought, it shouldn't be a problem to get some cabbage and secretly pickle sauerkraut, right?

"Mom, leave the cabbage to me. I'll figure out a way. Tomorrow I'll get 2,000 kilograms of cabbage. Is that enough for our family?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Lin Sanqi in surprise.

Jin Caifeng was a little flustered:

"So much? Can you really get it? Then, Muxiang and Xuehua, you two should take the day off tomorrow. We'll store half and eat it fresh, and make the rest into Northeastern sauerkraut and kimchi."

Lin Sanqi looked at the sky and said, "Dad, why isn't it snowing yet?"

Lin Kucan came over after washing the water tank, looked at the sky and sighed:

"This year's temperature is much lower than in previous years. It's windy but not snowing. This isn't a good sign. I'm afraid next year's drought will be even worse. I wonder how many people won't make it through this winter..."

(End of this chapter)