Private room on the second floor of Quanjude.
When the waiter came in with the gilded copper pot, Chen Changyuan was picking up a lotus leaf pancake with the tip of his chopsticks and looking at it against the light - through the translucent dough, he could see Mr. Wei's shiny forehead opposite him.
Chen Changyuan picked up a piece of duck meat, and the oil spread out on the lotus leaf pancake to form a golden circle.
Mr. Wei was breaking the duck bones and throwing them into the soup.
Mr. Wei sucked on the crispy bones of the duck carcass, the oil dripping down his chin and into his mink collar. "Brother Changyuan has been making quite a fuss in the village. I heard he's after both medicinal herbs and livestock?"
Chen Changyuan rolled scallion slices into lotus leaf pancakes, the dough stretched translucently between his fingertips. "I've fenced off twenty acres of land in the back mountain. I'll plant Gastrodia elata in the spring."
He paused the tip of his chopsticks dipping into the sauce on the blue and white porcelain plate. "I'm planning to raise a hundred or so piglets, but the problem is how to sell them..."
“What a coincidence!”
Mr. Wei suddenly slammed the table, causing ripples to appear in the hot and sour soup in the copper pot.
He bit a half-finger of duck neck with his gold teeth and said vaguely, "Director Ma of the Meat Processing Plant asked me to find a source of goods yesterday. The state-owned enterprise wants this amount of money—"
He made the shape of an "eight" with his greasy fingers.
The sound of a car horn drifted in from outside the window, and Chen Changyuan caught a glimpse of a black Volga parked across the street.
The hem of the peacock blue satin skirt flashed through the gap of the car door, and his chopsticks holding the chopped green onions hung in the air for half a second.
"30% profit."
Chen Changyuan suddenly spoke, and the chopsticks dipping in the sauce made a crisp sound as they tapped against the edge of the plate.
Seeing Mr. Wei stunned, he smiled and stuffed the duck meat into his mouth: "Brother Wei is the one who made the connection, and I'll give you 30% of each pig."
Mr. Wei's Adam's apple rolled twice, and the duck bone that his gold teeth were biting broke into two pieces with a "crack".
He grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth carelessly, not even noticing that his mink collar was stained with sauce. "Are you serious, brother?"
"You'll just have to say something, and I'll cover the cost and take the risk."
Chen Changyuan scooped a spoonful of hot and sour soup and squinted his eyes in the steam. "There's just one problem—the transport team has to use the Chunfeng Teahouse's car. It takes too long to transport it from our village."
The hot and sour soup gurgled in the copper pot. Mr. Wei's gold teeth bit into the duck neck and ripped it apart, splashing oil onto the mink collar. "Brother, this is a very clever plan!"
He extended his greasy palm and slapped Chen Changyuan's shoulder heavily. "The car team in Chunfeng Lane is full of experienced people. They have to cover the piglets tightly with tarpaulins. Last month, they were transporting cotton to the textile factory, and three bundles were lost on the way!"
Chen Changyuan picked up the last piece of duck skin and rolled it in the sugar dish. "So I'll have to trouble Brother Wei to send someone capable to escort the car."
He deliberately sprinkled sugar on the corner of the table and watched the ants line up to crawl towards him. "I'll give you an extra five dollars for each trip."
As dusk deepened outside the window, a black car across the street suddenly honked twice.
Chen Changyuan caught a glimpse of the rear window lowered to a gap half a palm's width, and the peacock blue satin lining flashed under the street light.
His hand holding the chopsticks paused, and the green onion slices he picked up fell into the sauce dish.
"That's settled!"
Mr. Wei suddenly slammed the table and stood up, causing the copper spoon to drop into the soup. "I'll have Ma Zi lead the convoy over tomorrow at noon. That guy has been with me for eight years, and he's never let a single nail go under his nose!"
He grabbed the napkin and wiped his mouth carelessly, but the sauce on his mink collar spread even more.
Chen Changyuan smiled and stood up to pour the wine, turning the celadon wine jug around his fingertips. "I'll have to rely on Brother Wei to introduce a few more bosses in the city."
As the amber liquor poured into the glass, he heard the muffled thud of a car door closing across the street. "How about vacating two rooms in the east wing of the Spring Breeze Teahouse for storage? If we put the medicinal herb samples there, it'd be as impressive as a supply and marketing cooperative."
"You kid..."
Mr. Wei suddenly leaned in close, his drunken breath blasting against Chen Changyuan's ear. "Are you planning to turn your teahouse into a pharmacy?"
His gold teeth bit the rim of the cup, making a harsh friction sound. "But I like it!"
"That's right."
Mr. Wei suddenly lowered his voice, his gold teeth biting the rim of the cup, "Brother, if you want to set up a transit station in Chunfeng Lane, you have to be careful of Wang Quezi who is near my Chunfeng Teahouse."
He drew a circle on the table with his drink. "Last month, they robbed two fertilizer trucks from the supply and marketing cooperative, specifically at night..."
"Brother Wei, take care."
Chen Changyuan stood up and fastened his trousers. "It's best to split the transport team into two groups. The medicinal materials go through the east gate, and the livestock go through the west gate."
He stuffed a packet of Daqianmen into Mr. Wei's pocket and said, "The village elder will bring people to meet us at the fork in the road. Let's have a pleasant cooperation."
The kerosene lamp in front of the hotel swayed in the night wind, and Mr. Wei's mink collar brought with it a smell of duck fat as it rubbed against Chen Changyuan's shoulder.
The sound of a clapper came from the street corner, and the cold air in the middle of the night climbed up my trouser legs.
"Brother, please stay."
Mr. Wei suddenly pressed down Chen Changyuan's hand that was pushing the door open. His gold teeth shone faintly in the dark. "That An Zhiyuan that Zhang Mazi was talking about..."
His Adam's apple rolled twice, and the sauce between his fingernails rubbed brown marks on the door panel. "The overseas Chinese's money is hot."
Chen Changyuan took out a match and lit a cigarette. The flame jumped into orange eyes between the two of them. "What do you mean?"
“Last spring…”
Mr. Wei suddenly lowered his voice. In the distance, he heard the sound of wild dogs biting each other. "Old Liu from the south city has received an order from overseas Chinese. He said he wants 20 tons of pecans."
Half a gold chain slipped out of his sleeve, jingling in the darkness. "When the goods were ready, they showed me the customs approval document saying it failed the quarantine inspection."
The cigarette butt flickered in the night, and Chen Changyuan saw the curtains in his room on the second floor move.
Mr. Wei's breath puffed behind his ear. "Old Liu lost all his money for his coffin. He was floating in the moat last month. When he was fished out, his fingers were all gnawed off by fish."
"Thank you, Brother Wei, for the advice."
Chen Changyuan took out a matchbox and turned it three times in his palm. "Have you heard of An Caicai?"
Chen Changyuan crushed the cigarette butt with the heel of his shoe: "Looks to be in his twenties."
"I really don't know. I'll have my people find out for you in the next couple of days."
The morning mist had not yet dissipated when the carved wooden door of the Chunfeng Teahouse creaked.
When Chen Changyuan stepped over the threshold, he saw Zhang Mazi squatting on the eight-immortals table, eating fried dough sticks, and the ashes pinched by the severed fingers of his left hand fell onto the blue brick floor.
"Brother Changyuan!"
Zhang Mazi kicked over the teacup as he jumped down, and the brown tea soaked into a map on the tablecloth. "Master Wei said you wanted to transport pigs? I packed up the convoy last night. Take a look—"
He pointed his oily fingers out of the window. Three Jiefang trucks were emitting white steam, and the tarpaulins in the truck beds were rustling in the wind.
Chen Changyuan unbuttoned his coat, revealing a brand new Dacron shirt underneath. "Medicinal materials go through the east gate, livestock go through the west gate. Each car will have two escorts, and they need to be sharp-eyed."
As he spoke, he stared at Zhang Mazi's little finger which was missing half.
The teahouse waiter brought a purple clay teapot, and the aroma of tea mixed with the smell of Zhang Mazi's tobacco swirled in the private room.
Zhang Mazi suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Changyuan, there's a new checkpoint outside the west gate."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
