After leaving Gao Wangshan's office, Xu Jianguo did not go back to the dormitory directly. Instead, he walked out of the factory gate, found a deserted place, and slipped into the space. He changed out of his work clothes from the machinery factory, took out ink to paint his face black, then left the space with a backpack on his back and strolled to Wuyi Lane.
Today was the day he and Mr. Jin had agreed to meet. Xiao Wu arrived at the entrance of the black market with ease. He spotted Xu Jianguo from a distance and trotted over. He smiled and said, "Little brother, you're finally here. Mr. Jin has been waiting for you for a long time."
Xu Jianguo smiled awkwardly and said, "I'm sorry, something delayed me. Please tell Mr. Jin to bring the poultry and livestock I want. I'll wait for him in the yard."
"Okay, you go first, I'll go inform Mr. Jin now!"
Xu Jianguo came to the yard where he had traded with Mr. Jin before and started taking things out of the space.
8,000 kilograms of cornmeal, 433 pheasants, 28 hares, and a wild deer filled the entire room.
After waiting for a while, footsteps were heard outside the courtyard wall. Just like last time, Jin Ye's two younger brothers came in first and checked every room. Xu Jianguo didn't care and just stood there watching quietly.
One of the younger brothers went out to report the news, while the other stayed in the yard. A moment later, Master Jin and his men came in from outside. When he saw Xu Jianguo, he smiled and said, "Little brother, you made me wait for so long. I thought you wouldn't come today!"
"Please forgive me, Mr. Jin, I was delayed suddenly by something!"
"It's okay, as long as you can come, I'll wait for you no matter how late it is!"
"Mr. Jin is so generous! Let's start the transaction. Where are the poultry and livestock I want?"
"Little brother, I've placed the poultry and livestock you want in a yard not far from here. They're being cared for by specialized personnel. Once we're done with the transaction, I'll have Xiaowu take you there."
"Okay, let's get started. 8,000 kilograms of cornmeal, 433 pheasants, 28 hares, and a wild deer. What's your price?"
Mr. Jin went into the house and checked the wild deer, rabbits and pheasants. He found that the meat was very fresh. He couldn't help but feel deeply wary of the power behind Xu Jianguo.
After all, it is unlikely that so much fresh wild game should be hunted separately, which also shows that the power behind Xu Jianguo should be very large.
Grandpa Jin opened the cloth bag of cornmeal and took a look. He nodded with satisfaction and said, "Little brother, your goods are still as good as ever! Cornmeal is 2 yuan, hare and pheasant are still 4.5 yuan, and I'll give you 5 yuan for wild deer. What do you think?"
"Why is cornmeal 2 yuan?" Xu Jianguo asked with a frown.
"Hey, little brother, it's the autumn harvest season recently, and people have no shortage of food, so the price has dropped. When you came last time, cornmeal could be sold for 3 yuan on the black market, and now it's only 2.5 yuan at most. I buy it for 2 yuan, which is not a low price." Grandpa Jin said with a smile.
Xu Jianguo sneered and said, "Mr. Jin, don't try to fool me. The autumn harvest is true, and the people have enough food. But how many people would trade fine grains for coarse grains? You and I both know that. With such high demand, how could the price be cheap? Do you really think I'm just starting out as a businessman? My cornmeal is finer than the ones ground at the grain station, so I have no trouble selling it. Business is all about mutual consent. Since I'm not satisfied with the price you're offering, let's forget about this deal. Find someone to take me to get the poultry and livestock."
When Mr. Jin heard what Xu Jianguo said, he was shocked. He didn't expect Xu Jianguo's attitude to be so tough. He quickly said, "Little brother, little brother, don't be anxious. Don't be anxious. If you ask for a high price, you can pay it back on the spot. If you think this price is not suitable, we can discuss it again!"
"Cornmeal is 2.5 yuan, and everything else remains the same. If you agree, it's a deal. If you don't agree, forget it!"
Mr. Jin thought about it, nodded and said, "Okay, let's go by the price you said!"
"Let's weigh it!" Xu Jianguo said expressionlessly.
Mr. Jin waved his hand, and a group of his younger brothers started moving.
An hour later, everything was weighed. Grandpa Jin took the account book handed over by his younger brother and said, "Little brother, 8140 kilograms of cornmeal, 1290 kilograms of pheasants, 196 kilograms of wild rabbits, and 47 kilograms of wild deer. The total is 100 kilograms. Do you think it's correct?"
"No need to look, I trust Mr. Jin!" Xu Jianguo said with a smile.
"So, little brother, what are you going to ask for this time? Money, tickets, or gold?"
"Twenty thousand in cash, and the rest in gold and notes."
"Okay, I'll have someone prepare it right away!"
After about 20 minutes, two younger brothers came in carrying two small wooden boxes.
Mr. Jin opened one of the boxes and took out 20 stacks of big black rice paper and placed them in front of Xu Jianguo.
Xu Jianguo took a look and put the money into the backpack.
Grandpa Jin then opened the second box, took out 20 small yellow croakers and placed them on the table.
According to the traditional measurement unit of Longxia Kingdom, the basic weight unit of gold bars is "liang".
Before the metric system was adopted, one catty in the old Longxia Kingdom was 16 taels, which is the origin of the saying "half a catty is equal to eight taels".
At that time, a small yellow croaker weighed one liang. If we divide 500 grams in the metric system by 16, the weight of the small yellow croaker is about 31.25 grams.
The large yellow croaker weighs ten taels, which is about 312.5 grams.
Before October 1, 1957, the People's Bank of Longxia State had three purchase prices for mineral gold: the purchase price for mineral gold outside the Great Wall was 110.25 yuan per tael (31.25 grams); the purchase price for mineral gold inside the Great Wall was 95 yuan per tael; and the purchase price for gold mined by agricultural production cooperatives, gold mining production cooperatives and individual farmers was 95 yuan per tael.
The first two prices include a 5% tax, while the latter price does not include tax, which is paid by the People's Bank of China to the state.
Based on this increase in the gold purchase price, the country raised the gold purchase price twice in 1960 and 1963, and finally set it at 240 yuan per tael. This price remained for nearly 10 years until it was raised again to 262.5 yuan per tael in 1973.
So to put it in perspective, at this time, the price of one gram of gold is about 8 yuan. Of course, it is basically impossible to buy gold on the black market at this price.
"Little brother, I'll charge you 312.5 yuan for each small yellow croaker. There are 20 of them here, so I'll give you 10 yuan per gram. That's a total of 6,250 yuan. Is that okay?"
"Sure!" Xu Jianguo pushed the small yellow croaker on the table into the backpack. The crackling sound of metal collision made the people around him gasp in amazement.
"Here are seven or eight hundred tickets of various kinds. They basically have everything you can think of. They're all what I collected this year. There are also 100 national food coupons worth one jin (approximately 1000 kilograms) each. Can I use them to pay for the remaining 1,022 yuan?"
"Sure!" Xu Jianguo said. Suddenly, he seemed to think of something and asked, "Mr. Jin, I want to buy something from you. I wonder if you have any!"
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