New Year's Day in 1993 should have been a festive start to the year, but an unexpected phone call instantly plunged Li Long into sorrow.
The call came from Director Dai at the Ethnic Affairs Commission Beijing Office. The office was supposed to be closed that day, but clearly, something rather unusual had kept Director Dai at his post.
"Comrade Li Long, I imagine Secretary Zhang hasn't told you about this, but it really is quite serious, and I think you ought to know. His condition hasn't been very good lately..."
When Director Dai called, Li Long was at the Purchasing Station, chatting with Fan Mingcheng, who had returned from the Border Crossing.
Fan Mingcheng hadn't just come to chat with Li Long. He also wanted to change vehicles. This time, he had taken a liking to the Land Cruiser Li Long drove and wanted to buy one from him.
Li Long asked why he hadn't bought one at the Border Crossing. Since he had come from there, surely there were used vehicles for sale there too. The price of a Land Cruiser brought here from the Border Crossing included transport costs, so why not buy one there?
Fan Mingcheng gave a wry smile. "I've looked around the Border Crossing and River Valley. They do have vehicles like this, but very few, and they're expensive. Much more expensive than yours."
Li Long was still rather surprised. He had thought his own prices were quite high, yet Fan Mingcheng actually considered them cheap.
Had I priced them wrong, or was I not ruthless enough?
Still, since Fan Mingcheng wanted to buy one, he certainly wasn't going to refuse.
The fact that Fan Mingcheng could afford over a hundred thousand yuan for this Land Cruiser showed that his import and export trade