When Li Long returned to the Purchasing Station from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, he found several people already waiting there.
He stood his bicycle by the roadside and went to unlock the gate. As he did, someone said:
"Boss, why is your Purchasing Station open some days and closed others? We've been waiting quite a while."
Li Long unlocked the big iron gate, then turned to fetch his bicycle, asking as he pushed it:
"Didn't a new Purchasing Station open over by the market? Why didn't you go there?"
News did not spread as quickly as it would with mobile phones in later years, but the county town was only so big. Even if Li Long said nothing, these people would soon find out.
"Heh, of course we went. But they don't know how to do business. They drive the prices down too low. We don't want to sell there. Your prices are better, boss."
The speaker was also pushing a bicycle, with a roll of hides strapped to the rear rack. Li Long glanced at them and saw that apart from one Mongolian gazelle hide, they were all sheepskins and rabbit skins.
"Friend, do the sheepskins come with the small intestines? I won't take them without those."
"Yes, yes. We know the rules," the man said with a smile. "This isn't my first time here. We know how it works."
The Leather Factory had requirements for buying hides, and these resellers who went from street to street and house to house generally did not hold much stock. Selling the sheepskins to Li Long fetched less than selling to the Leather Factory, but they were quite content to make three to five yuan per hide.
Li Long put his bicycle on its stand, locked it, and opened the Purchasing