It was the elderly gatekeeper who called out to stop Li Long.
"Young man, wait a moment."
Li Long stopped and turned to look at the old man and Li Xiangqian. He wanted to hear what they had to say.
If he hadn't gone to Stone City's Sugar Factory to sell sheep yesterday, Li Long wouldn't have been so firm. After all, ten sheep weren't as easy to sell as fish.
But after yesterday's trip, he was confident that even if the county Supply and Marketing Cooperative didn't want these ten sheep, he could sell them in Stone City. The wool mill supposedly hadn't bought any sheep yet, and Stone City had a Supply and Marketing Cooperative too.
This was an era of extreme imbalance between supply and demand. Whoever controlled the supply actually held the initiative. People in later years had long since figured that out.
It was just that those who controlled supplies at present didn't have the nerve to stand up to state-run organizations. Even what they were doing skirted the edges of the law.
But Li Long was different. He wasn't afraid.
He knew the market would open up after the New Year. Even if Li Xiangqian used his connections to put pressure on him now, it would only last through the Spring Festival.
He could afford to wait that long.
Seeing Li Long stop, the elderly Mr. Li smiled and said, "Don't be so hasty, young man. Business takes some give and take. If the price isn't right, we can negotiate."
Then he turned to Li Xiangqian. "Honestly, you're an experienced buyer. Why be so rigid about the price? He's gone to all this trouble to bring the sheep down from the mountains. You can't offer him the same price you'd pay if you went