Three days later, Tonghua Railway Station
Lin Sanqi came out of the car shivering. Even though he had a military coat wrapped over his cotton-padded jacket and his underwear was covered with hot packs, he still felt like he was freezing.
For a genuine southerner, the cold in the Northeast is no longer a physical cold, but a magical, all-round, 360-degree attack with no dead angles.
Seeing Lin Sanqi shaking every time he took a step, the fellow Northeasterners on the platform all burst into laughter.
One of the middle-aged men asked, "Comrade, are you from the South?"
Lin Sanqi adjusted his Lei Feng cap and nodded. "I'm from the capital, but my hometown is Huadu, which is as far south as it can get."
"Oh, no wonder why comrades from the capital would come here on business? It's freezing here, there's nothing to eat."
Lin Sanqi knew that the other person was not really concerned about you, but was trying to trick you. If a stranger suddenly came to a small border town like this, everyone would think of the 500,000 people walking around.
"I'm from the Capital Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and I need to buy ginseng from your area. I also want to see the northern scenery described by the great men, with thousands of miles of ice and snow, and feel the splendid mountains and rivers of our motherland."
This is a beautiful statement. To use the words of later generations, it is called political correctness, and it will work no matter where you go.
Sure enough, when the people on the platform heard this, they immediately showed great respect for Lin Sanqi. Following the scenery described by the great man was the greatest praise for the Northeast.
The extroverted fellows from Northeast China suddenly became enthusiastic:
"Young man, where do you want to visit? Tell us a place and we'll take you there by shovel. We'll make sure our comrades in the capital feel the warmth of our Northeast Bank."
"What is a plow?"
"Haha, you don't know what a plow is? It's what the books call a sled, pulled by horses, and it goes really fast."
Lin Sanqi understood. A few decades later, this thing would cost dozens of yuan to travel around the scenic spots in Northeast China. It is probably now the main means of transportation in Northeast China in winter.
But the sled is open-air, and in the extremely cold weather in Northeast China with temperatures of dozens of degrees below zero, riding a sled is not a pleasure but a torture, and you will definitely be blown into an ice stick.
"No, no, comrade, if anyone of you could be so kind as to give me a ride to your Tonghua Ginseng Cooperative, that would be fine."
"Why not? Let's go. I'm just on my way!"
After hearing this, a passenger enthusiastically invited Lin Sanqi to go with him for free. It must be said that people from Northeast China are very righteous.
Tonghua Ginseng Cooperative is not far from the train station.
This is a small city. Maybe because it is too cold, there are few pedestrians on the streets. Even though it is almost the New Year, there is no festive atmosphere and it seems gloomy.
Lin Sanqi sat on the sled and observed, sighing secretly. The people of the whole country still have to endure for another year.
After a while, the fellow from Northeast China parked the sled in front of a two-story building:
"Comrade, we're here. This is the Ginseng Cooperative."
Lin Sanqi climbed down from the sled with great difficulty, his hands and feet numb from the cold.
"Thank you, Master. Please wait a moment."
After saying that, Lin Sanqi took out a small bottle of Erguotou from his backpack. The label had been removed. "Here, Master, warm yourself up."
When the fellow from Northeast China saw that it was white wine, he burst into laughter without any hesitation:
"I shouldn't have taken it, but this is good wine. I feel bad for accepting it, brother. Thank you very much."
The two sides exchanged pleasantries for a long time before saying goodbye. Lin Sanqi had specially purchased a lot of small bottles of Erguotou in the market in 2013 for this trip to Northeast China, just to use them to build relationships.
Tonghua Ginseng Cooperative
Lin Sanqi looked at the sign at the door and knew that he had not found the wrong place, so he went in.
"Comrade, who are you looking for?"
"Oh, I'm from the Capital Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. My name is Lin Sanqi, and I've contacted your president, You Liqun, in advance."
"You are Dean Lin from the capital. Wow, you are so young. President, hurry up, Dean Lin is here!"
The female staff member yelled, and immediately yelled out all the staff in the various offices. Then Lin Sanqi saw a middle-aged man running down from the second floor, rushing towards him at a flying speed:
"President Lin, we've been looking forward to seeing you here for a long time, haha. Uh, President Lin, you... look so young..."
You Liqun's hand suddenly stopped in mid-air. Should he shake hands or not? Wouldn't it be too embarrassing if he recognized the wrong person?
Lin Sanqi chuckled. He was only 23 years old this year. To anyone, he looked like an ordinary staff member. In the eyes of the general public, all the directors from the capital had to be white-haired old men.
"President You, you're not mistaken. Here, this is my work ID. I'm Lin Sanqi from the Capital Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. I'm not the dean, but the deputy, hehe."
You Liqun looked at his work ID and then at Lin Sanqi, his mouth wide open in surprise.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Dean Lin, please forgive me. Look at my dog eyes, I didn't recognize the real Buddha. Please come in quickly. Xiaomei, go make some tea!"
President You took Lin Sanqi to the office upstairs, leaving behind a group of staff members chattering and gossiping.
"Wow, the vice president looks so young? I see he's not even thirty."
"How can he be thirty? I saw he's younger than my son, at most in his early twenties."
"Are all the big organizations in the capital so impressive? He's already a vice president at such a young age. Is he at the deputy section chief level?"
"Bullshit, you don't understand anything. The Capital Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine is a department-level unit, and the vice-president is a deputy department-level unit."
"Oh, our president is only a regular section chief. Isn't that three levels higher than our president?"
"There must be someone at home, otherwise how could a newly weaned child climb so high up?"
"that is……"
The president's office was warm. Lin Sanqi sat by the fire for a while and then he felt alive again.
After You Liqun made the tea, he carefully sat down on the chair, smiling apologetically:
"It's almost Chinese New Year, and Dean Lin has to travel all the way to Northeast China to deliver food to us. I really can't express my gratitude in words."
Lin Sanqi burst out laughing:
"President You, don't worry. As long as the warehouse is ready, the food will arrive soon. I'm here, are you still worried that I'll be empty-handed?"
You Liqun was not embarrassed and continued to smile:
"That's right, Capital Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine has always supported our work. Comrade Yang Jinbo from your unit's procurement department is an old friend of ours."
Lin Sanqi thought about Yang Jinbo, who was the team leader in charge of procurement in the Northeast region, but he had only met him a few times and was not familiar with him.
"By the way, President You, are natural disasters in Northeast China so severe? I see white snow everywhere. Auspicious snow should indicate a good harvest."
When You Liqun heard this, he sighed:
"Dean Lin, you don't know that in recent years, God has been playing tricks on us. The south has been plagued by constant floods, the north has been plagued by severe droughts, and in our Northeast, it's been cold year-round.
Look outside, it's over 30 degrees below zero now. Even in spring when it's time to plant crops, the temperature is extremely low. The seeds will be frozen to death if they are planted. Even if the seedlings emerge, they will be born with deficiencies and the yield will be extremely low.
The problem is that we live in the Northeast Forest Region, with little arable land. Ginseng farmers spend their days wandering the mountains searching for ginseng, sometimes staying there for months. This isn't the type of work that farmers do.
Fortunately, we are all experienced hunters here and can still hunt some game and pick some pine nuts and hazelnuts. Otherwise, we would really starve to death, so I can only shamelessly ask you to support us."
Lin Sanqi didn't want to be taken advantage of by President You, otherwise there would be endless troubles in the future. He had to cry poor when it was time to do so:
"Life is tough in the Northeast, and it's not much better in the capital. The food quota for workers in the capital is only 24 kilograms for men and 21 kilograms for women, and that's under the premise of nationwide support for the capital. It's even worse in other regions."
I did get the food, but it was grown on our farm, not purchased from outside. Even this was saved by the hospital staff by tightening their belts. It wasn't easy."
President You was a little embarrassed. "Yes, yes, it's not easy. Thank you to the comrades at the Capital Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine for their support."
What President You was thinking was, as long as there is food, I don’t care where it comes from. What shamelessness do I have for a bite to eat?
After Lin Sanqi finished talking about the difficulties, he knew that he had to give the sweet dates. He came to the Northeast in person, not only to help "transport" the food, but also to get some good stuff.
He just didn't believe that such a large ginseng cooperative would not have good products. It was just a matter of price.
Now, for Lin Sanqi, you can get food if you want it, and money if you want it. He is just a middleman, and he just wants the best wild ginseng. (End of this chapter)
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