Looking at Sun Benchuan greeting him with a smile, Li Long smiled and said:
"Mr. Sun, my answer is still the same. I won't sell the jade. If you're interested in beef and mutton, though, we can talk."
Sun Benchuan hadn't expected Li Long to shut him down before he could even speak. Still unwilling to give up, his smile stiffened for a moment before he asked:
"Comrade Li Long, don't you want to hear my offer?"
"No need. Whether it's the twenty thousand US dollars you offered before or fifty thousand, I won't sell. Like I said, if you want beef and mutton, we can talk. If not, we have nothing to discuss. Please leave."
This time, Li Long hadn't even invited Sun Benchuan inside when he arrived-mainly because, after receiving that phone call, Li Long had worked out the reason behind all this. He suspected the man had bad intentions and might be trying to kick him while he was down, so he had no intention of being polite.
Sun Benchuan took a deep breath and suppressed his displeasure. Reason prevailed, and he continued with a smile:
"All right, then let's discuss the price of beef and mutton. If I buy all the beef and mutton you have in stock..."
"If you buy it all, mutton is two yuan fifty, and beef is three yuan." Li Long quoted prices he would hardly have considered before.
"How can it be that expensive?" Before Sun Benchuan could speak, Luo Liwei objected. "I asked around. You're buying mutton for under one yuan eighty and beef for two yuan. With that kind of volume, even a markup of ten fen per kilogram would earn you plenty. Who's going to buy it with such a big markup?"
"If you'd bought my mutton a