Huang Lei rode to Wu City in high spirits.
After arriving in Wu City and getting off, he handed the driver a pack of cigarettes. Rather than unloading right away, he went outside the bus station and found three men in a small restaurant. He agreed to pay them one yuan each to carry his dried mushrooms to a nearby inn-his usual place. He had no room permanently reserved, but as a regular, he got a cheaper rate.
Since the market had opened up, private little restaurants and inns might not have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, but at least around South Railway Station, their numbers had been steadily growing.
Huang Lei was not the inn's only guest. When he brought the men in with sack after sack of dried mushrooms, not only was the attendant surprised, but the other guests heard the commotion and came out too.
"Well, Xiao Huang, quite a haul this time, eh?" One man spoke rather loudly, with a distinctly snide edge if one listened closely.
"Oh, no, just a little luck. Nothing compared to your haul, Comrade Liu." Huang Lei still wore that smile, even broader than the one he gave Li Long, though a little less sincere.
"How could I compare with you? I only bought three hundred kilos of grass mushrooms this time. Barely enough profit to cover my lodging. Those don't look like grass mushrooms to me. Come on, let me see what they are. I'll help you identify them, make sure nobody cheated you..." The man addressed as Comrade Liu showed no restraint at all. He came forward to grab the sack in Huang Lei's hand, still talking as though he were doing Huang Lei a favor.
"No need, no need. I've checked them all." Huang Lei hurriedly stepped