Li Long bought over two hundred kilograms of fritillaria from Mo Linsheng. Most of it was dried, with roughly a third still fresh.
Li Long paid Mo Linsheng nearly eight thousand yuan. Mo Linsheng did the sums himself and found he had made fifteen hundred yuan.
That was much faster money than robbing people of their fritillaria!
The main reason was that two people had come yesterday afternoon and sold him nearly a hundred kilograms of fritillaria that was eighty percent dry. That accounted for the bulk of it. After selling it, neither man returned to the mountains; they headed straight north.
"Actually, I was on guard against them robbing me. After all, I paid out quite a lot of money. But those two didn't show the slightest intention of robbing me. They seemed to take me for your agent, took the money, and left. Who knows what they ran into in the mountains."
Mo Linsheng had slowed down his eating by then. As he ate, he told Li Long, "I reckon there might still be something going on in the mountains."
Li Long unloaded the supplies into the Small Wooden Cabin, then loaded the fritillaria Mo Linsheng had traded for into the Jeep before saying:
"Would you be interested in carrying on like this? I have supplies anyway, and I can't come into the mountains every day. You could help me trade for things, or just do what you've been doing these past two days. You trade for them, then I buy them from you."
Mo Linsheng was tempted. There was really little risk involved, and it paid well.
But in the end, he shook his head and said:
"No, no, no. I still think I need to be in the mountains. I'm freer there. Here, I don't have