Chapter 16 Free Timber and Straw
On June 6, the chicken farmer and the butcher shop owner called me at the same time to say that the meat was ready.
I drove my truck to the farmers and butchers early in the morning to pick up the meat, and used the money I had set aside to pay the remaining balance.
Without lingering on the street, they took the meat straight home and put it in the large freezer.
My two large freezers were just the right size, holding 300 pounds of meat and 20 chickens.
Then he drove around looking for a place to stock up on firewood.
I was doing research online before, and some netizens said that if you went to a furniture factory and handed them a pack of cigarettes, you could take away a whole truckload of timber for free.
There happens to be a timber furniture factory in our town, so I'm going to try my luck there.
When I arrived, many workers were busy at work, using chainsaws to cut large tree trunks into rectangular shapes. Some people were using an unknown machine to cut the tree trunks into thin slices. There wasn't a single complete piece of furniture in the entire factory. It didn't look like a furniture factory; it looked more like a wood processing factory.
I stood awkwardly at the door, my mind replaying the words of a netizen: "It's just a matter of handing over a pack of cigarettes."
Excuse me, who should I offer the cigarette to?
"Who are you looking for?" A deep, husky voice rang out behind me.
It startled me.
Turning around, I saw a dark-skinned, thin old man with half a cigarette in his hand.
I thought to myself, wow, it seems like something has been triggered, is this really the perfect moment?
"Grandpa, I'd like to buy some scrap metal for firewood." As I spoke, I stepped forward and offered him a pack of cigarettes.
I bought a pack of cigarettes for 35 yuan. Since I couldn't find anyone to give them to here and didn't know who to give them to, I simply gave them to the old man.
"Oh, you want to buy firewood?" The old man squeezed the cigarette in his hand and put it directly into his pocket.
"It is indeed scrap metal. The original price is one yuan per kilogram, but my old man has been guarding the gate for quite some time. If you say he's my relative, the boss will give me some face and only charge me 50 cents per kilogram."
Wow, this cigarette-offering thing actually worked out!
"Everyone seems quite busy. Is it appropriate for me to go in now?"
"Come with me," the old man said in a low voice, then turned and walked out.
I followed the old man around the factory, taking a long detour, until we reached the back of the factory.
The sight before me stunned me. If my coal was a small mountain, this timber was a huge mountain.
"Is there no one willing to buy this timber?" I couldn't help but wonder.
"Who would buy it? Every household burns crop stalks, who would spend money to buy this stuff?"
"Aren't there some factories that need it? The kind that do collective recycling?" I continued to ask.
"Our town is too remote. There aren't any factories in the county or nearby villages that need timber. Transporting timber to further away would incur costs, so the price would be lower. The boss is too lazy to make that little money, so he didn't sell it," the old man said, trying to sound profound.
"But this doesn't look like it's been stored for a long time." I still didn't quite understand.
"Workers in the factory could take some home if they wanted to burn it, and the boss would turn a blind eye."
"Huh? Then..."
"Oh, stop asking. It's not 50 cents a pound anymore. Just fill it up, 50 yuan a truckload, fill as many truckloads as you can." The old man suddenly interrupted me, not letting me ask any more questions.
He seemed a little guilty. Could it be that he wanted the money?
But it doesn't matter. What I care about more is that it's only 50 yuan a truckload. What's the difference between that and giving it to me for free?
I hurriedly replied with a smile, "Okay, okay, sure."
The old man ignored me and turned to leave. As he walked, he said, "Go ahead and load it. Check how many trucks it takes yourself. There are sacks over there; take them and use them. When you're done, come back to the front and give me the money. I'll be here the whole time."
Although I felt a little guilty, the freebie emboldened me.
It was too much trouble to throw the pieces onto the car one by one, so I shamelessly took the sacks that were stacked more than a meter high and used them.
I wonder who put so many sacks here. Maybe the old man often steals and sells timber, and deliberately left them here.
While I found the old man amusing, I started pretending to be a block of wood.
It's incredibly efficient; the wooden blocks slide down automatically with a simple pull, and a sackful can be filled in just a few minutes.
In two hours, 30 sacks were filled. The sacks were tied up with rope and loaded onto the truck before being driven home.
The old man never imagined that I could haul 30 sacks in one truck.
Once home, I quickly unloaded the truck and continued loading.
I don't know where I got this super energy from today; I'm working like a madman, not feeling tired at all.
When the fifth truck was full, I couldn't hold on any longer; it was already late at night.
I went to the security booth at the front to find the old man. I transferred 251 yuan to him, and he asked me expectantly if I would come again tomorrow.
Come on, I'll come again tomorrow.
Five truckloads, 150 sacks of timber. They filled almost half of my yard.
On the morning of June 7th, ignoring the sore muscles all over my body, I continued loading the truck, afraid that the boss would find out and stop me from loading.
The second day was less efficient than the first day, but we still managed to load all five trucks.
Before leaving, I still transferred 251 yuan to the old man.
The old man didn't ask me again if I would come tomorrow, because I had shrunk that mountain into a small one.
When I got home, I wasn't in a hurry to unload the truck because there was nowhere left to unload it.
I stacked these 150 sacks upright on top of the previous 150 sacks.
Finally, we've cleared out some space in the yard.
Looking at the magnificent sight of this half-yard, I felt incredibly proud.
I used to get arm and leg pains from the slightest movement, so I never imagined that one day I could carry 300 bags of wood in one go and stack them up.
I spent 500 yuan on 300 bags of firewood. I'm so proud! I got firewood for less than two yuan a bag and they even gave me a free sack. Have you ever seen anything like that?
Whether you've seen it before or not, you have now seen it.
Hahahahahaha
On June 8th, reason returned, and I began to think that in addition to the wood blocks, I also needed some kindling, which was firewood that could ignite the wood.
This stuff is so easy to get; there are bundles of straw all over the mountains and fields.
Inner Mongolia is a sparsely populated province, with each household owning hundreds of acres of land. After planting corn, there's simply not enough corn stalks to burn. So they're piled up on the mountains or in some open space to rot.
My method for finding straw is very simple: I drive three or four kilometers away, point to a large pile of straw, and ask a passing shepherd whose it is.
There are only a few households in the village, so you can easily find out which one belongs to whom by asking.
After the shepherd pointed to a house, I went directly to his house and asked if he could sell it to me.
The family looked at me strangely, wondering why anyone would be short of firewood.
"Take it if you want, it's free," he said after thinking for a moment.
"Since these are your belongings, you should still accept some money."
I slipped 100 yuan to my older brother and went out to load the truck.
The older brother seemed embarrassed after I gave him the money. He followed me out to load the truck.
"Let me do it. You're too skinny to lift it."
My older brother told me to stand aside and tossed a bundle of straw into my hand. In just over 40 minutes, he had thrown more than 100 bundles of straw onto my truck.
I tied the straw into a bundle using the hemp rope that I had placed on the ground beforehand, thanked the owner, and then took it home.
I don't want straw to take up the other half of my yard. That's my passageway and the outside of the west wing. If it's completely full, it'll be difficult to get in and out.
After thinking it over, I put the straw on the open ground of the threshing ground.
Apart from a passageway, the threshing ground was completely blocked by coal and straw.
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