After looking over the high-horsepower tractor, Regimental Commander Qi and Wang Mingjun drove off without staying at the Purchasing Station, saying they still had business at Division Headquarters.
Seeing that they were driving Wang Mingjun's GAZ-69, Li Long wondered whether the commander's 212 was older than the GAZ-69, and the commander wanted to try out its performance.
Of course, that was only a guess.
"Boss Li, you didn't sell that high-horsepower tractor?" A trader saw Li Long watching the GAZ vehicle leave and came over to ask, "Which regiment's commander was that?"
"Why all the questions? Gathering intelligence? Careful, or they'll arrest you as a spy," Li Long said half-jokingly. "It costs hundreds of thousands. Of course they have to look it over before deciding. How could it sell that easily? Is this all the goods you brought today? That won't even cover your travel expenses, will it?"
As soon as Li Long changed the subject, the man caught on and followed his lead, complaining:
"It's the dead of winter. Nobody goes out now. At some houses, I call from the gate and they won't even open up. They're hibernating. I'm lucky to have collected this much... People aren't that short of money these days, either. They're hanging on to their good stuff and don't want to sell."
Li Long supposed that was true. Prices were rising quickly these days, after all, and bank deposit interest rates were shockingly high. Ordinary people might have limited access to information, but they could still sense the changes in the market.
So unless they were particularly short of money, some would rather hold on to their good things and watch the market than sell right away.
That made things fairly difficult for the resellers now. They always collected less stock in winter than