"Boss Li, I thought you weren't coming!" the man carrying a bag said with a smile.
"I thought you'd save up your fritillaria, find somewhere to dry it, then sell it down the mountain." Li Long parked the tractor and climbed down. "The fritillaria season's nearly over, isn't it?"
"Yes, just another day or two," the man said. "The fritillaria in some places has already started flowering."
Li Long hadn't expected some of the fritillaria to flower so soon. It seemed the season really was coming to an end.
Still, however he worked it out, he had already made his money back.
The man's fritillaria weighed seventeen and a half kilograms. Li Long rounded it up to eighteen and paid him fifty-four yuan. The man happily left with the money. Li Long knew this was probably the last time the man would sell fritillaria to him this year. Whatever he dug up next would most likely go straight to the county seat.
Li Long took the basin to the spring to wash the fritillaria, swept the dust off the wooden floorboards with the Big Broom, and spread the fritillaria there to dry.
There weren't many supplies left in the Small Wooden Cabin, and Li Long had no plans to replenish them. He would barter away whatever he could, then simply pay cash once he ran out. He would leave the remaining rice and flour here. He would certainly come into the mountains again later, so they could stay as backup supplies.
Not wanting to cook lunch, Li Long set up the stove inside the cabin and prepared to toast the steamed buns he had brought along for a quick meal.
As the fire got going, two people came to sell fritillaria. Neither had much, around seven or eight kilograms each.