Chapter 233 Guarding the Car
Gao Mingcheng was naturally completely unaware of the right and wrong in the village. Even if he knew, he would just smile indifferently.
Now he was sitting in the car, heading towards the Zhangshu Medicine Exchange venue.
When he attended the pharmaceutical trade fair last year, he got up early in the morning to catch the bus, but did not arrive in Zhangshu until the evening. It was not because the two places were far apart, but because a lot of time was spent waiting for the bus.
Now that I drive myself, I wonder how much time I can save!
Xiao Jinfeng is used to transportation. Although he has never been to Zhangshu, he has asked an experienced driver for directions before, and now he drives steadily all the way.
He specifically took the main road, not because he was afraid of being intercepted by thieves if he took the side roads, but because at this time only the main roads were repaired roads. Some so-called side roads were fine for people to walk on, but heavy trucks could not go there, otherwise there would be the risk of the vehicle getting stuck or overturning.
They are not in a hurry to do anything, so they have to be cautious.
After the expressway was built in the previous life, it only took two hours to drive from Gao Mingcheng's county to Zhangshu. Including the time for getting on and off the expressway, it would take at most three hours to get there.
But the expressway has obviously not been built yet, so we have to take the national highway, which has some differences in speed and distance.
Xiao Jinfeng arrived at Gaojia Village to pick up Gao Mingcheng at 8:30, and set out for Zhangshu at about 9 o'clock. They drove for five hours without stopping along the way before finally entering Zhangshu City.
When he was at the outskirts of the city, Xiao Jinfeng parked his car outside a restaurant and decided to have a meal there first, and then drive all the way to the Yaodu Hotel where the Pharmaceutical Fair was held to check in.
Along the way, the closer Gao Mingcheng got to Zhangshu City, the more trucks of all sizes he saw.
These trucks are either new or old, but they are all filled with various medicinal materials. The people on the trucks, from their facial features and clothing, can also be seen to be from all over the world.
Zhangshu, as a famous medicine capital since ancient times, has been a distribution center for medicinal materials since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. After liberation, the first national medicinal materials exchange meeting was held in October 1958. It was suspended for 16 years and resumed in 1980. Every year, it is more lively than the previous year, and the number of participants increases year by year.
The rapid development period of Zhangshu Medicine Fair was from the early 1980s to the early 21st century. After that, it went downhill.
With the advent of the Internet, pharmaceutical trade fairs seem less important.
In the past, you had to attend a pharmaceutical trade fair to purchase various medicinal materials at one time, but with the advent of e-commerce, the transaction of medicinal materials has become more convenient.
The medicine trade fair of Zhangshu has entered a period of transformation and development.
Xiao Jinfeng parked the car, and the three of them got out and went into a restaurant.
It was no longer the peak dining time, but half of the customers in the restaurant were still eating. They spoke different dialects and the content of their conversation was all related to medicinal materials, with words such as Henan Baiquan and Hebei Anguo popping up from time to time.
It turns out that Baiquan in Henan, Anguo in Hebei and Zhangshu in Jiangxi are known as the three major medicine fairs, and the time of the medicine fairs is different every year. Baiquan in Henan is held in spring, Anguo in Hebei is held in summer, and Zhangshu is held in autumn.
Some specialized drug dealers would attend drug fairs one by one, and then buy and sell continuously to make a profit from the difference.
Gao Mingcheng is considered a retail investor. There are two main reasons why he came up with the idea of participating in the medicine fair. One is that there are medicinal materials all over the mountains, and the other is that the camphor trees are relatively close to where he lives. If he wants to participate, it will be very practical.
Gao Mingcheng could understand most local dialects, so he kept listening attentively, and even the dishes were ordered by Xiao Jinfeng.
Xiao Jinfeng has traveled to many places over the years, so he can understand some dialects. While waiting for the food, he listened to the conversations of people around him.
The prices of some medicinal materials often come up in these conversations. This is relatively important information, from which we can infer which medicinal materials are more popular.
If you have popular medicinal herbs, you can naturally sell them faster and make more money.
Among the three, only Gao Mingli was a rookie who had just entered the world of martial arts. It was his first time traveling far away, and he could not understand the dialects at all. As they say, the customs are different every ten miles, and the accents are different every hundred miles. Even the dialects of the slightly remote villages and towns in their county would be somewhat different from that of Gaojia Village.
Not understanding what was said, he opened his stupid eyes and looked around with curiosity.
The decoration of this restaurant is quite good and it can be considered a mid-range restaurant. For Yu Xiaojinfeng, it is a place he eats frequently, but for Yu Gaomingli, it is the first time he has set foot in a high-end restaurant.
Soon, the restaurant waiter brought the food Xiao Jinfeng ordered. The dishes were very rich, including meat, fish, vegetables, and a large plate of white rice.
After driving for a long time, Xiao Jinfeng was very hungry. When the food came, he started to serve the rice while inviting the two to eat.
It was already past one o'clock in the afternoon, and Gao Mingcheng and Gao Mingli were naturally hungry, so they didn't hesitate to eat like a whirlwind.
The three men all had big appetites. After finishing their meal, they ordered a few more meat buns. By the end of the meal, Gao Mingli was burping.
He felt that he had never eaten so much in his life as in this meal!
It’s not that he was short-sighted, but seeing how fast Xiao Jinfeng and Gao Mingcheng ate, he unknowingly followed them and ate more.
"Burp." An uncontrollable burp came out, which drew good-natured laughter from Gao Mingcheng and Xiao Jinfeng.
"We've already reached Zhangshu, so there's no rush. How about this, we take a walk here and digest our food before we go on." Gao Mingcheng suggested.
Xiao Jinfeng naturally had nothing to object to. It was his first time coming to Zhangshu, and he planned to get familiar with the route.
So the three of them left the restaurant and started walking around the neighborhood, but Gao Mingcheng and Xiao Jinfeng were collecting information, so only Gao Mingli was just walking.
About half an hour later, his stomach was no longer so bloated, which made Gao Mingli feel relieved, because he felt a little embarrassed when he burped.
He was clearly the one who ate the least among the three, but he acted as if he ate the most.
It’s almost time. The three of them are ready to get in the car. This time they will drive to Yaodu Hotel in one go.
People stay in the hotel and the goods are sold in the medicinal materials trading market.
"Let me drive. I'm more familiar with the road." This time, Gao Mingcheng offered to drive.
Xiao Jinfeng had no objection and gave the driving seat to Gao Mingcheng. After all, Gao Mingcheng had been here before, and it would be difficult for him to drive after entering the city if he was not familiar with the road.
Relying on his memory of last year, Gao Mingcheng drove the car smoothly to Yaodu Hotel. There was a large open space near the hotel for parking.
Many people who come to the medicine fair will conduct bulk transactions. Whether sellers or buyers, they will drive large trucks. After the transaction, the medicinal materials can be transported away in a timely manner.
Driving a big truck is very convenient, but it is not convenient enough because there is too much cargo and it cannot be unloaded at any time. It has to be loaded on the truck. Then someone has to be left to guard the herbs. Otherwise, if the herbs are stolen, there will be no place to cry.
The surveillance is not effective at the moment, and many theft cases end up being left unsolved.
After parking the car, Gao Mingcheng said to Gao Mingli, "You stay here to guard the car. I'll take Brother Xiao to check in first."
Gao Mingli was a little timid about unfamiliar places, but he did not show it and just nodded in agreement.
The reason why Gao Mingcheng brought him here was to guard the medicinal materials! Gao Mingcheng had already said this before.
"Don't worry, as long as you stay here, nothing will happen." Seeing Gao Mingli's deep worry, Gao Mingcheng patted his shoulder and comforted him.
Although there are still petty thefts these days, and even carjackings in remote areas, this is already an urban area with a lot of people coming and going. In addition, the local people in Zhangshu attach great importance to the drug trade fair, and police officers patrol here from time to time.
There may be thieves, but there is no open robbery.
After arranging Gao Mingli to stay behind to guard the car, Gao Mingcheng took Xiao Jinfeng to Yaodu Hotel to check in. In addition to checking in, they had another purpose for this trip, which was to infiltrate the drug dealers and obtain more information on medicinal materials and prices.
Long before, Gao Mingcheng and Xiao Jinfeng wrote down all their goods on a piece of paper. If they encountered bulk transactions of medicinal materials, they could sell all of their goods at once.
The medicinal materials produced in the suburban villages of the county are actually similar to those produced in Gaojia Village, but Gao Mingcheng has much more Ganoderma lucidum and Poria cocos than Xiao Jinfeng's goods, and Gao Mingcheng's goods are also very mixed, because Xiao Jinfeng does not accept small quantities, and he does not like scattered goods and is too lazy to sell them.
"Brother Xiao, let's go separately." Gao Mingcheng suggested, scanning the crowd with his eyes, and then luckily saw a few familiar faces.
At last year's pharmaceutical trade fair, he developed friendships with many people with his outstanding communication skills. Although they haven't seen each other for a year, it's always better to meet again than as strangers.
If we had WeChat now, we could keep in touch with our connections and relationships in a timely manner.
Xiao Jinfeng naturally agreed to separate. If they separated, they would be able to obtain more information, and they could sort out this information at night.
Xiao Jinfeng had been a soldier. He had a handsome temperament and a unique aura in the way he spoke and did things. As soon as he showed up, he quickly attracted some other veterans.
As long as you have served in the military, you are a comrade-in-arms. The friendship between comrades-in-arms is not comparable to ordinary friendship. Even if two people do not serve in the same barracks, let alone in the same period of time, it does not affect the emotional closeness.
With these, Xiao Jinfeng quickly broke into a small circle, talking about his past as a soldier and his business.
At night, Gao Mingcheng and Xiao Jinfeng summarized the information they had obtained. After dinner, Gao Mingcheng said, "Brother Xiao, I will guard the car tonight, and you and Mingli will sleep."
Because one person had to guard the car, only one room was booked.
Xiao Jinfeng originally wanted to guard the car by himself, but Gao Mingcheng didn't let him.
He originally planned to rent Xiao Jinfeng's truck, but Xiao Jinfeng was unwilling to charge rent, and Gao Guobing agreed with this.
In this case, all the gas and meal expenses along the way will be paid by Gao Mingcheng.
Gao Mingcheng also planned to go on guard alone on this first night.
Tonight is the time when there are the most medicinal herbs. Two-thirds of the herbs in this car belong to him. He would not feel at ease if he let others guard it.
So it is safest to guard it yourself.
Xiao Jinfeng saw what Gao Mingcheng meant and knew Gao Mingcheng's abilities. He felt at ease letting Gao Mingcheng guard the car, so he agreed.
Soon, Gao Mingcheng and Xiao Jinfeng went to the parking lot together.
Gao Mingli sat in the car, looking a little drowsy.
It's really boring to be here alone without being able to communicate.
"Mingli." Gao Mingcheng called Gao Mingli to wake him up, and Gao Mingli woke up immediately. When he saw his second brother, he actually felt very close to him.
Gao Mingli was scared after staying in this strange place for most of the day.
He couldn't wait to jump out of the car.
Gao Mingcheng smiled and said, "Are you hungry? I left some food for you. You and Brother Xiao can sleep in the hotel tonight. I'll guard the car."
When Gao Mingli heard this arrangement, the worry that had been hanging in his heart finally came to his mind.
It’s okay to let him guard during the day, but he is really scared if he is asked to guard at night.
So Gao Mingcheng stayed, and Xiao Jinfeng took Gao Mingli back to Yaodu Hotel and brought the reserved food to Gao Mingli to eat.
(End of this chapter)
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