Chapter 10: The First Bucket of Gold
On Tuesday, April 13, 2004, Li Dong woke up before four o'clock. He waited until Cao Fang left before getting up to wash and hurriedly headed to Dongping Market.
The truck he had arranged the previous afternoon was waiting at a corner on the market's edge. Li Dong greeted the truck driver and chatted briefly until Old Wang arrived.
"Dongzi, the goods are all ready. Have a look yourself, and if everything is fine, we can weigh them."
Li Dong didn't act overly cautious. This was his first transaction, and he needed to inspect carefully, regardless of whether he knew the person or not. If he got swindled, it would be a big problem.
Moreover, he wasn't too familiar with Old Wang, and it wasn't uncommon for people in business to take advantage of familiar faces.
Old Wang's truck was neatly packed with dozens of plastic crates full of red crayfish. Li Dong picked up a few to check their weight; they were sizeable, and mostly cut in half.
The main thing was their freshness. If they died before reaching the provincial capital, he would be at a significant loss.
After a thorough inspection, Li Dong was relieved to see that Old Wang's goods were in good condition with few dead ones. He signaled that everything was acceptable.
They weighed the goods and settled the payment. After removing the dead ones, the total came to about eleven thousand one hundred jin.
Old Wang casually removed a few dead crayfish, then wrote down the total. He looked up at Li Dong and said, "Dongzi, it's eleven thousand ninety-six jin. I've rounded off the change for you. It's twenty-two thousand yuan, correct?"
"Correct. Thank you, Uncle Wang."
Without Old Wang needing to say anything further, Li Dong added, "I'll give you a receipt with a thumbprint. Payment will be settled in three days."
Old Wang smiled and said loudly, "Fair deal! You're a straightforward guy. If this sale goes well, come to me again next time. I'll make sure you get the best price!"
The two wrote down the receipt and exchanged thumbprints. Old Wang then had his workers help Li Dong with the goods.
After all the fuss, it was already dawn. Li Dong checked his phone; it was ten past six.
He bid farewell to Old Wang and quickly drove his rented truck back to Pingchuan.
The truck driver didn't ask why Li Dong was transporting the goods to the provincial capital. Li Dong had paid a thousand yuan for the shipping, which wasn't cheap, but the driver didn't seem to care.
In this line of work, everyone was minding their own business. Li Dong had mentioned that if this trip went smoothly, he would use the driver again. If he could make ten to fifteen trips a month, it would be quite profitable.
...
By the time Li Dong arrived in Pingchuan, it was already nine-thirty. He had called the big-bearded seller along the way.
The truck was parked on an empty lot behind the South Gate Market. The big-bearded seller, along with a few of his relatives, was waiting.
As soon as the truck stopped, the big-bearded seller hurriedly wanted to inspect the goods. Li Dong didn't stop him.
After unloading a crate of crayfish, the big-bearded seller inspected them, nudging a few around before nodding to his relatives.
After about five or six minutes, the big-bearded seller was satisfied and said, "Not bad. The quality is good. Can you guarantee it will always be like this in the future?"
"Don't worry. Would I deceive Mr. Chen?" Li Dong smiled. "Since it's getting late, should we start unloading and weighing? The dead ones are on me. I don't want Mr. Chen to be at a disadvantage on our first deal."
"Haha, straightforward! Alright, we'll unload the goods!"
With that command, the few men, all experienced in seafood sales, quickly began unloading. They worked faster than in Dongping, finishing in about half an hour.
A few crayfish died due to the bumpy ride, but it wasn't many—just a few tens of jin.
After accounting for some shrinkage, the final tally came to just under eleven thousand jin. The big-bearded seller and Li Dong didn't mind the small difference and settled on eleven thousand jin for the payment.
The big-bearded seller's business was quite substantial, so taking out several tens of thousands of yuan in cash wasn't difficult. He paid Li Dong on the spot, handing over fifty-two thousand yuan wrapped in newspaper, along with Li Dong's ID card.
Li Dong counted the money to ensure it was correct before breathing a sigh of relief. His face showed undeniable joy. With twenty-two thousand yuan for the goods and a thousand yuan for shipping, and no labor costs for loading and unloading, he had made over twenty thousand yuan in this transaction.
It was a bit incredible and hard to believe that no one else in Dongping was doing such a profitable business!
It seemed too simple—there was no technical complexity at all. If the fish vendors in Dongping were willing to take a bit of risk, the market would be theirs.
However, thinking ahead, this wouldn't be a unique opportunity for long. Li Dong felt a bit of disappointment. If he could keep this up, he wouldn't need to do anything else. Earning twenty thousand a day meant he could retire comfortably within a year.
The initial disappointment quickly faded. He reminded himself to be content. In just a day or two, he had earned so much. There was no need to be greedy.
After chatting with the big-bearded seller briefly, Li Dong didn't want to disturb him further. He got back into the truck and headed back to Dongping with the driver.
It was good he had just sent away the truck driver; otherwise, if the driver saw so much money, he might have been tempted.
Li Dong considered whether he should switch truck drivers next time. However, changing drivers often was impractical, and finding reliable ones was challenging.
He thought that if he could keep things under wraps for another couple of months, this business should be over. He paid a high shipping fee, and since the driver hadn't seen his profit, there was little chance of complications.
...
The rest of the journey was uneventful. Li Dong arrived back in Dongping before two in the afternoon.
He got out of the truck near the school and hurried to his class, arriving just as the afternoon lessons were about to start.
Wang Jie, seeing Li Dong, looked worried and hurriedly said, "Dongzi, you weren't here in the morning, and Old Chen got really mad. He even came to the classroom looking for you."
Li Dong slapped his forehead, realizing he had forgotten to request leave.
He wasn't worried about Old Chen's anger but was concerned that the teacher might call his parents. With the college entrance exams approaching, if his parents found out he had skipped class, they'd be furious.
Without talking to Wang Jie, Li Dong rushed to the office to find Chen Guohua.
...
In the office, Chen Guohua was grading papers. Seeing Li Dong enter, he frowned and said, "You skipped class this morning? Do you know how you did on the mock exam?"
Li Dong was taken aback. He remembered Wang Jie mentioning a mock exam, but since he hadn't been reborn at that time, he hadn't paid much attention.
Chen Guohua didn't wait for Li Dong's response and continued, "Five hundred and twenty points!"
"Ranked thirty-seventh in the class. I remember you were ranked seventh when you first entered high school. You've dropped thirty places! With this score, it's hard to get into a first-tier university and barely possible for a second-tier one. Do you think you're doing justice to yourself?"
Chen Guohua was disappointed. Li Dong was smart and wouldn't have entered the experimental class if he weren't, but he wasn't focused on his studies. He was always online, fighting, and now even skipping classes.
Li Dong looked innocent and quickly explained with a smile, "Teacher, I know I'm at fault this time. But I wasn't skipping class; I had an upset stomach this morning and couldn't ask for leave in time. I came as soon as I could."
Seeing that Li Dong's condition was indeed poor, probably due to sitting in the truck all day, Chen Guohua didn't press further. Instead, he advised, "The college entrance exams are coming up soon. Don't eat anything irregular. Taking care of your health is most important."
Noticing that Li Dong hadn't left, Chen Guohua asked curiously, "Is there something else?"
"Well, Teacher Chen, I want to request a few days off…"
"At this critical time, you still want time off? Are you still unwell?" Chen Guohua's expression wasn't very pleasant.
Li Dong shook his head and smiled awkwardly, "It's a personal matter, but don't worry, Teacher Chen. I won't slack off in my studies. It's just about a week. We're in the review phase now, and I'll be reviewing on my own in the evenings, so it won't affect my study."
Chen Guohua frowned. While he understood the need for personal matters, self-study alone couldn't match the efficiency of studying in school with everyone.
However, with graduation approaching, being too strict might lead to rebellious behavior in teenagers.
After some thought, he said, "If it's not urgent, it's best not to take leave. If it's very urgent, you can come to school for self-study in the evenings and ask teachers if you
have questions."
Li Dong agreed, planning to use the evenings for self-study and to ask about any questions.
After leaving the office, Li Dong thought Chen Guohua was quite reasonable. He hadn't expected him to agree.
Back in class, the afternoon lessons had already started.
Li Dong didn't attend, continuing to search for exam materials to see if he could find more high school exam questions.
To his surprise, he found several similar questions in the afternoon. The only difference was the data; the questions were almost identical.
Having made money and found more exam questions, Li Dong felt quite pleased.
For a few questions he didn't understand, he wasn't worried. With many talented students in his class and teachers around, he could ask for help.
But he still needed to be cautious. Adding a few different types of questions would be better. If people found out he was only asking about exam-type questions, it would be problematic after the exams.