"President You, the grain is on its way. Please give me the key to the warehouse later. I will notify you when the grain arrives. However, I need to inspect the goods first to see the quality of your ginseng."
President You didn't hesitate at all when he heard this:
"Dean Lin, no problem. Come on, follow me to the warehouse now."
"Walk!"
The warehouse of Tonghua Ginseng Cooperative is just behind the office building. As the main production area of Changbai Mountain ginseng, Tonghua has quite a lot of inventory.
In fact, Lin Sanqi didn't know why the ginseng farmers of Tonghua Ginseng Cooperative were facing a food shortage this year. Apart from natural disasters, it was actually related to him.
Domestic ginseng producing areas are concentrated in the Changbai Mountain area, which is just a few places.
Lin Sanqi needed a large amount of ginseng before, and the purchase orders issued by both traditional Chinese medicine hospitals and relevant state departments have always been large.
In addition to clearing out large quantities of inventory, ginseng cooperatives in various regions sent a large number of ginseng farmers to the mountains to collect ginseng, and even held competitions to see which group could collect the most wild ginseng.
As more people go out to pick ginseng, fewer people go to work in the fields.
With fewer able-bodied men available for labor, production cannot keep up, creating a vicious cycle.
If it were in previous years, the purchasing task would be heavy and the money earned would be high. At most, we could just buy from major farms in Northeast China. After all, it was a public-to-public transaction and no food coupons were needed.
The more money you have, the more food you get. At most, the price will just go up.
However, in recent years, major farms have suffered severe production reductions due to natural disasters, and they also have to ensure the country's planned grain, so there is no excess grain to sell to sister units.
This has led to all the major ginseng cooperatives in Changbai Mountain falling into a food crisis, or at least aggravating the crisis.
For example, the Tonghua Ginseng Cooperative has a total of more than 2,000 professional ginseng farmers, and behind these 2,000 ginseng farmers are tens of thousands of family members.
As the chief leader, President You is under tremendous pressure.
When Lin Sanqi opened the ginseng warehouse, he felt a warmth inside. It was obvious that someone was deliberately ensuring the temperature of the warehouse.
President You walked ahead and pointed to a wooden box in one of the warehouses and said:
"Director Lin, these are the ginseng your Chinese medicine hospital needs. There are 130 ginsengs over 50 years old, and 70 ginsengs under 50 years old, making a total of 200 ginsengs."
Lin Sanqi silently calculated that 200 ginsengs could be exchanged for 200 tons of grain, and one ginseng could be exchanged for one ton of grain.
If calculated based on the market price in 2013, the Chinese Medicine Hospital (Lin Sanqi) made a huge profit. After all, one ton of grain only costs about four to five thousand yuan.
A 50-year-old wild ginseng can be sold for around one million, not to mention that it contains century-old ginseng. Lingnan Hall has already hyped it up to over 4 million per piece.
But if we look at the actual situation in 1961, the ginseng cooperative made huge profits, because grain was comparable to gold at that time and could not be bought even with money.
You can choose not to eat ginseng, but you can’t choose not to eat rice, right?
However, it was Lin Sanqi himself who requested 200 tons of grain. This amount far exceeded President You's expectations, so he was extremely grateful to the Chinese Hospital.
When the box was opened, Lin Sanqi discovered that the ginseng had been treated with local hay to prevent moisture and wrapped with tree bark for easy transportation.
If it were just 200 wild ginsengs, it wouldn't be worth Lin Sanqi's trip through the snow and ice. He wanted more.
If you want more, you have to trick the other party into giving you all the good stuff.
"President You, how has your ginseng cooperative been doing in recent years?"
President You complained bitterly upon hearing this:
"Well, what are you talking about, Dean Lin? You know, ginseng has been a treasure since ancient times. In ancient times, it was a tribute, and only the rich and powerful were qualified to enjoy it. At that time, we ginseng farmers didn't care about our lives. We had no problem getting enough food and clothing.
Ahem, Dean Lin, I'm speaking the truth, I'm not saying the new society is bad."
Lin Sanqi thought, you are just complaining. If you say this in a few years, you will be beaten so badly that you can’t take care of yourself.
"No, no, I understand. This is a common problem faced by us in traditional Chinese medicine."
"That's right. After liberation, the people became masters of their own destiny and stood up. Those who were rich and powerful were overthrown. This is a good thing. But our country's leading cadres don't care about personal enjoyment. Don't eat ginseng.
Now, the rich have lost their ginseng, and the powerful don't want to eat it. Who are we going to sell our ginseng to? We could have exported it, but now foreign countries have imposed sanctions on us, and they would rather take ginseng from North and South Korea than ours.
But we have a target and plan for how much ginseng we harvest each year. Even if no one wants it, we have to keep harvesting and storing it. Over time, the ginseng piles up. Compared to the meager amount purchased, it's a drop in the bucket.
Fortunately, starting last year, your hospital has become a major purchaser for us, and we're able to make some money. Later, the relevant state departments also came to purchase a few times, and the quantities were relatively large. But we can't make money from state purchases, right? It was all in vain."
"Hey, no money?"
"Yeah."
Lin Sanqi suddenly realized and thought that it was all his fault.
Procurement by Chinese medicine hospitals is a unit behavior, it is a public-to-public relationship, they will give you the goods you pay for, it is fair and just, no one owes anyone anything.
But if it is national procurement, it is a task and you must obey. At most, you will be given a consolation prize. It is impossible to get it at the original price. After all, the country is not rich, right?
"Then President You, do you have much wild ginseng in stock?"
Since You Liqun is going to complain, he will complain to the end:
"We still have quite a bit in stock. We're counting on your Chinese Medicine Hospital to purchase more. Last year and this year, all our ginseng farmers were sent out, and they've brought back a lot of ginseng. Dean Lin, since you're here, why don't you buy some more?"
A light bulb lit up above Lin Sanqi's head, waiting for you to say this.
Of course, he still said with some embarrassment:
"In theory, our Chinese Medicine Hospital has a planned procurement process, and crucially, our food supply is rationed. However, President You, I can't bear to hear the difficulties you just mentioned regarding the experiment. So, how about purchasing more?"
President You suddenly became excited. He tried to cast a net regardless of whether there was any fish or not, and he actually caught a big fish.
At the same time, there was a hint of pride in his eyes when he looked at Lin Sanqi, thinking that the other party was indeed young and inexperienced, and he had fooled him and the other party had taken the bait.
He exchanged ginseng for food. I wonder if he would be beaten half to death by his family and leaders at work when he returned.
The two cursed each other in their hearts: Stupid X
"Then Dean Lin, how much additional ginseng do you plan to purchase?"
Lin Sanqi hesitated for a moment, but decided to be a profiteer. If he gave too much food now, his appetite would be enlarged in the future, which would be detrimental to the future purchase of ginseng.
"President You, to be honest, I see you're in real trouble and want to help you. But you also know that the national food supply is tight right now, so your asking price can't be too high.
I'm going to buy this ginseng back in the capital. Besides using some of it in our own hospital, I'm also going to sell it to other sister companies. So you can't let me suffer a loss, right?"
President You nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, it's not easy for anyone these days."
Lin Sanqi continued, "Well, I can trade you grain and penicillin, but the specific terms of the deal depend on the quantity and quality of your ginseng. Let me make it clear, I don't want low-aged ginseng. It's only good for making wine."
"There's also penicillin?" President You became even more excited.
Penicillin is treated like a treasure in the capital area, and in this small northeastern city, it is the most precious treasure.
If eating ginseng can improve health and possibly extend life, then penicillin is simply a "life-saving drug," a miracle drug, and an imported product that cannot be bought even with money.
Whether it is food or penicillin, President You wants them all, as they are also what ginseng farmers need most.
At this moment, he had only one thought in his mind: Change! Change everything! If this opportunity is missed, it will be gone forever!
"Dean Lin, this is a big deal. I need to discuss it with everyone. Please wait a few minutes."
"Okay, I'll just warm myself over here!"
You Liqun ran to the office, called everyone out, and told them what had happened. Even the female cleaning staff were overjoyed.
"President, this is great news. The county hospital treats penicillin like a treasure. It's only a few bottles."
"Alas, if only Old Liu's eldest son had a bottle of penicillin, he wouldn't have died of pneumonia at such a young age!"
"Yes, back then, a bottle of penicillin could be exchanged for a small yellow croaker. It was much more valuable than ginseng."
"We still have food. With food, we can all survive. So, exchange, absolutely exchange!"
Seeing that everyone agreed, You Liqun became more confident:
"Okay, then we have a deal. Let's switch. As for how to switch, let's all come up with a decision, so that I won't be the only one to blame."
One of the vice presidents slammed the table:
"Old You, it's already this late. It's a matter of life and death. Do you want us to starve to death while holding the ginseng?"
Another vice president also complained:
"Change, change everything. As long as Dean Lin has enough food and penicillin, we'll change everything. At worst, we can go to the mountains and collect them next spring. We don't have to grow them ourselves anyway."
"That's right. If we don't replace it now, when the national procurement order comes, we'll all be empty-handed. It's better to replace all the supplies now."
President You thought that the education of socialist ideology needs to be strengthened. Everyone is so selfish that they only care about their own lives at critical moments and don’t even care about national tasks?
"Okay, I'll try to negotiate a good price. Come on, Lao Zhang, Lao Sun, the two of you come with me to negotiate." (End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
