Outside the supply and marketing cooperative, thirty-six-year-old Li Xiangqian climbed out of the passenger seat of a truck, stamped his feet hard, and asked with a smile:
"What's going on? What are you all gathered here for? Welcoming me? I don't deserve that!"
"Who's welcoming you?" the old gatekeeper said with a laughing scold.
"It's because the holiday benefits you arranged weren't good enough. Everyone's had to buy meat elsewhere. Look how good this young fellow's meat is-one yuan a kilogram, and no meat coupons needed."
"That good?" Li Xiangqian walked over to the horse cart, took off his gloves, and prodded the remaining sheep neck.
"Not bad. Fresh, from a well-fattened sheep. One yuan a kilogram? Worth it."
"Too bad there were only two sheep. They're already sold out," someone who had wanted a leg of lamb but missed out put in.
"This young fellow can get quite a few sheep. That's why he's come looking for you, Section Chief Li, to see whether you'll buy them." Without waiting for Li Long to speak, the old man explained what he had come for.
Li Long was a little surprised too. The old man was being rather too enthusiastic, but he knew he had to speak up now, so he said with a smile:
"Hello, Section Chief Li. I'm from the Fourth Team of the Xinhu Brigade in Red Flag Commune. I have a few friends in the mountains. They brought me these sheep, and I can indeed get quite a few more from them. Their sheep really are fattened on grass."
These days, few people could keep sheep penned up and raise them on feed anyway.
"How many can you get?" Li Xiangqian pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Li Long glanced at the brand: Golden Leaf.