Chapter 94: The Tears of a Scalper

In just one afternoon, Xinlang Teyou toilet paper had completely conquered the Toulong Street market. After a few days of the "water army" warming up the market, the interest in Xinlang brand toilet paper among the vendors had exploded. Li Xian had almost effortlessly secured the orders from all eighteen toilet paper wholesalers on Toulong Street.

When Xu Maoh and Chen Shulin arrived at Toulong, it was already past two in the afternoon. By 4:30, with just an hour left before closing time, Li Xian had secured nearly 70,000 rolls in total!

This pace left Chen Shulin and Xu Maoh stunned into silence.

It wasn't until Li Xian took the two of them into a three-wheeled taxi that Xu Maoh slapped his thigh and gave a thumbs-up. "Little brother, today I've really seen something! If you don't get rich, it would be unjust!"

Li Xian smiled and waved his hand. "Xu Ge, you flatter me. These are just small tricks, nothing to be proud of. If it weren't for your efforts in these past few days, it wouldn't have been so easy to open up the market. I'll make sure to treat you well. Let's find a nice place for dinner tonight, and I'll be the host."

"Little brother, don't say anything more. If this is considered a small trick, then what is our scalping?" Xu Maoh shook his head and sighed. "I heard you were in the toilet paper business, and I thought it wouldn't work. But after seeing your skills and brains, I think even if you were selling crap, you'd still make a fortune!"

Li Xian twitched his eye at the comment and thought to himself: That's really not possible…

Xu Maoh, not realizing he had spoken too much, waved his hand grandly and had the three-wheeler drive to a high-end Russian restaurant near Central Street, insisting on treating Li Xian and teaching him a thing or two.

At the restaurant, Li Xian used Xu Maoh's mobile phone to call the factory, confirming the order quantities. He learned that all nineteen wholesalers he visited that afternoon had indeed placed orders, with six already having made payments. He finally felt at ease.

In his happiness, Li Xian drank a lot during the meal. But with the market for Xinlang opening up, he was thinking about getting back early, so he stopped Xu Maoh, who was about to order another bottle of vodka.

When Xu Maoh learned that Li Xian was leaving, he was unhappy. "Little brother, stay a bit longer if you have no other plans. I'm not just making idle talk when I say this—I really wish we had met earlier. With your brains, you'd have made a fortune in the north by now. You don't know... a few years ago, scalpers like us, if they weren't brave, are now all rolling in money…"

It was clear that Xu Maoh was quite drunk. He rambled on about his rise to success and his experiences in Russia in the 1990s. 

His father was the director of the first bicycle factory in Mudanjiang. After finishing middle school, his father wanted him to join the factory and take over. But this kid didn't want to stay in the factory and resolutely decided to go into business.

What kind of factory was the Mudanjiang Bicycle Factory?

Though it was called a bicycle factory, the name had nothing to do with what was actually produced. In the old industrial base of Northeast China, many such factories existed; their names often seemed unimpressive, even low-class. But in reality, the products they made were quite significant, sometimes even shocking.

The Mudanjiang Bicycle Factory was such a unit. Since its establishment, it had never produced bicycles. However, 20% of the barrels for the Type 81 automatic rifle used by the military at that time were supplied by this factory—definitely a major military production unit.

Rejecting such a factory, Xu Maoh became an anomaly in the eyes of his neighbors and relatives. But he had his own methods, making a considerable amount of money by trading in televisions, calculators, and radios. Later, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, he brought all his savings and joined a group of like-minded people heading north.

However, in the north, this overly straightforward person was betrayed by his own brother. While others were making a fortune, he ended up being among the small group who lost everything.

Listening to Xu Maoh's tearful ramblings, Li Xian frowned.

It was now late November 1992… According to the current progress, the "economic shock therapy" in the north should be ending soon. With Gaidar's downfall, the new and final round of frenzy for scalpers was about to begin.

Li Xian noted this situation and kept it in mind.

After dinner, the now thoroughly drunk Xu Maoh clumsily paid the bill with a slurred tongue. Li Xian refused to let him pay, covering the total amount of 325 yuan himself.

Chen Shulin's jaw dropped when he saw the bill, exclaiming that he had just spent half a month's salary.

At that moment, Xu Maoh, fully intoxicated, had already charged into the restroom, singing "Oh, ah, oh." Li Xian quickly took out a roll of sample paper from his bag and handed it to Xu Maoh, only for it to end up in the pit.

Holding his nose, Li Xian managed to drag Xu Maoh out of the restroom, already overwhelmed by the smell.

Seeing the attendant covering her nose and looking disgusted, Li Xian smiled apologetically. Pointing at Xu Maoh's disheveled clothes, he asked, "Do you have any paper here?"

The attendant turned around, grabbing a pristine white handkerchief from the bar and throwing it to him.

Seeing the silk-like, flawless handkerchief in his hand, Li Xian scratched his head. "Don't you have any napkins?"

The attendant impatiently waved her hand. "How rare! Our high-end restaurant never uses those things."

Li Xian nodded, and with Chen Shulin supporting Xu Maoh on either side, they left thoughtfully.

The next morning, instead of heading directly to the train station, Li Xian hired a three-wheeled taxi to tour several upscale restaurants near Central Street. After visiting a dozen or so, he and Chen Shulin, with a hint of a smile, bid farewell to the still bed-ridden Xu Maoh and set off for home.

In Bingcheng, with orders for over 70,000 rolls, nearly 150 tons, Xinlang Paper's production capacity would not be enough to meet the demand.

At the train station, Li Xian directly bought a ticket to Beilin City.

Although Beilin Paper Industry had signed an OEM agreement with Xinlang, Yuan Daqing did not take this forestry bureau's subordinate paper factory too seriously.

After signing the contract, he had sent someone to investigate Xinlang Teyou toilet paper. Although he knew the paper was selling well, he thought it unrealistic to sustain the factory solely by producing for this small brand.

In contrast, collecting debts was more practical.

He thought this way.

However, the debt collection process did not go smoothly. Hundreds of debt collectors who went out had returned after a few days of travel.

They left with pockets emptier than their faces and returned with stomachs emptier than their pockets.

After suffering for several days, very few managed to collect any money, let alone transport fees.

Just as a group of workers gathered around Yuan Daqing at the factory, demanding food, a weary Li Xian arrived at Beilin Paper Factory!