Moving on to Stone City

"How much for that big bighead carp? Must weigh ten kilos, judging by its size."

"Eight yuan for that one," Li Long said with a smile. "The other big fish-common carp, five-stripe perch, and grass carp-are two yuan each. Silver carp are one yuan fifty each."

With yesterday's experience selling fish under his belt, Li Long had brought fish of fairly uniform size this time. They looked about the same size, which would help avoid arguments.

Plenty of people eyed the big fish longingly, but nobody offered to buy it. Two of the large common carp sold quickly, though, and someone who knew his fish picked out the only three five-stripe perch on the stall.

After that, there were plenty of onlookers but few buyers. Li Long took the opportunity to scan the surroundings. The people selling ration coupons were still there, and the meat stalls had fairly large crowds too. With New Year approaching, every household probably wanted to buy some meat.

There were customers at the grain stalls too, but the stalls selling other things had fewer people.

A little over half an hour later, daylight had begun to break. More than half the large fish on his stall had sold. There were still people gathered around, pointing at the big bighead carp, but nobody bought it.

"Young fellow, that bighead carp of yours is too big. I couldn't finish it if I bought it. Could you just sell me the head?" someone asked. "There's hardly any meat on the head anyway. How about two yuan?"

"No, I can't do that," Li Long quickly refused. Unlike silver carp, bighead carp had large heads that made excellent soup. Was this man trying to take advantage of his supposed ignorance? "The head's the best part. If you take it, the rest won't be nearly as appealing to other buyers. Of course, if you're willing to pay more, we can talk. Five yuan for the head."

The head of this bighead carp alone weighed three or four kilos, but Li Long's asking price was still rather steep.

The man scoffed and made no further offer.

A little while later, someone else came over and bought a common carp and a silver carp. That left only the big bighead carp and two silver carp weighing a little over two kilos each.

As the crowd began to disperse, Li Long knew he had pretty much reached the limit here.

The county town had a small population, and even fewer people dared to shop at the Black Market. There was only so much purchasing power here. After a moment's thought, he simply bundled up the fish, picked them up, and left.

He returned to the horse cart and said to Tao Daqiang, who was pacing back and forth to keep warm:

"Come on. Let's go to the pork canteen."

He had made seventeen yuan fifty in total. Li Long bought six meat buns at the pork canteen, and the two ate as they headed toward Stone City.

Tao Daqiang still sounded hesitant as they traveled:

"Long, why don't we find a residential compound in the county town and sell them like yesterday? We don't know a thing about Stone City..."

"No, we're going to Stone City. People in the residential compounds here have connections. If we run into someone malicious and they report us, we'll be hauled in, fish and all.

"Stone City has plenty of factories. Nobody bothers with this sort of thing in the factory residential compounds, and the workers have money, so it's easier to sell fish. It's just a bit farther away."

It really was a long journey. By the time they reached Stone City, it was almost noon.

Looking at the city, which seemed both slightly unfamiliar and somewhat familiar, Li Long allowed himself a brief, private moment of reflection before leading the horse cart toward the agricultural machinery factory's residential compound.

Although the agricultural machinery factory was also operating under the unified state purchasing and sales system at this time, it apparently took on some contract manufacturing and repair work as well. In any case, it certainly wasn't short of money.

Once again, he had Tao Daqiang park the horse cart outside the compound, then headed straight inside with the urea sack on his back.

The gatekeeper was an elderly man. Seeing Li Long heading inside, he hurried to stop him. Li Long smiled and said:

"Sir, I'm bringing some fish to my uncle..."

"Fish?" The old man's eyes lit up at the mention of fish. "Is that sack on your back full of fish?"

"That's right." Li Long set down the urea sack and held it open for the old man to see. "All big ones."

"That many? Whose place are you taking them to? Sell me a couple. New Year's almost here. It's hard to put together a proper New Year's Eve dinner without fish."

"Two yuan each." Hearing that, Li Long promptly seized the opening. "Silver carp are a little cheaper. One yuan fifty."

"That price... isn't bad." The old man was secretly delighted. In fact, they were already very cheap. Although the factory had handed out holiday provisions, how could those ribbonfish frozen in blocks of ice compare with these big common carp with their red heads and tails?

After paying for two common carp, the old man exposed Li Long's story:

"Young fellow, you came here to sell fish, didn't you? All right, go on in. Just don't go into the buildings."

"Thank you, sir!" Li Long was quick with a polite word. He hurriedly shouldered the sack and walked inside.

The compound wasn't large: two buildings, each with two stairwell entrances. A few children were spinning tops in the courtyard, and they looked at Li Long curiously as he came in.

Li Long regretted not bringing a few fruit candies, but now he could only try coaxing them with words. He walked over to the children, opened his sack, and said:

"Kids, would you like some fish? I've got big fish here. If you want some, go home and tell your family to bring money and buy some. These fish are cheap!"

Some of the children looked doubtful, but one little boy suddenly shouted:

"I want some! I'll go get my mom!" With that, he darted into a stairwell.

Two of the other children ran after him. Whether the rest already had plenty at home or simply weren't interested in fish, they took one look and went back to playing.

Li Long waited there. Just then, someone came in through the gate. Seeing that it was a middle-aged man, Li Long didn't approach him. He knew that in this day and age, women generally did the cooking, while men rarely concerned themselves with kitchen matters.

The man, however, came over of his own accord and asked:

"I heard from old Mr. Li that you're selling fish?"

"That's right." Li Long watched him with a hint of wariness.

"Let me see what kind." The man stepped closer.

Li Long thought the man looked like an official of some sort and worried that he might try to detain him. Still, he was young and strong; if worse came to worst, he could abandon the fish. He held the sack open for the man to look.

"Good fish. Pretty fresh." The man pried at one fish's gill cover. "How much?"

"One yuan fifty each for silver carp, two yuan each for the others," Li Long said.

"That's a pretty high price," the middle-aged man said. "Someone came selling fish a couple of days ago. They were about the same size as yours, and he charged one yuan each. You're asking too much."

Li Long inwardly scoffed. The nearby source of water was the Ma River, where breaking a hole in the ice in winter might not yield even two or three fish in a whole day. The nearest reservoir was forty or fifty kilometers from the city, farther away than his own home. If someone really caught fish and brought them here to sell, one yuan each? Even three yuan would be unlikely!

This man was talking nothing but nonsense!

Still, he didn't call him out. Instead, he smiled and said:

"First, my fish are fresh. They were only caught yesterday. Second, big common carp with red heads and tails like these are rare. They look festive. Just imagine a plate of one on the table for New Year. Third, what I earn is money for hard work. Breaking through ice a meter thick takes two or three hours, then you have to wait another half a day for the fish. You can barely catch a few in a whole day..."

"Well, you've got an answer for everything." The middle-aged man hadn't expected Li Long to make such a well-organized case. While he was still marveling at it, a child came downstairs tugging at his mother's sleeve and stopped beside Li Long:

"Mom, I want this fish!"

Seeing that there really were fish, the woman looked them over and asked:

"How much are the fish?"

"One yuan fifty for silver carp, two yuan for the others."

"Per kilo? That expensive?"

"Per fish."

"That's really cheap, then. Give me two!"

There we go-business was rolling again!

(End of chapter)