After an uneventful night, Li Yi was up early the next morning. Today, he planned not only to set up his liangpi stall but also to sell mushrooms in the city, so an early start was a must.
Given the huge demand yesterday, Li Yi had prepared extra noodles today. Familiar with the process, he kneaded over 30 pounds of dough and made more than 150 liangpi sheets. With freshly washed and chopped toppings, he hitched up the red mule and headed toward the county town.
Since mushrooms lose a lot of moisture under the sun, Li Yi decided to sell them in town first before setting up his stall by the sugar factory.
Instead of selling his mushrooms at a roadside market, Li Yi headed straight to the state-run restaurant in the city center. In these times of scarcity, most people preferred fatty cuts of meat over mushrooms, so if he sold them on the street, they wouldn't fetch much. However, it was different at the state-run restaurant, which served local officials and wealthy customers who had a taste for wild mushrooms. Occasionally, they would even go out to the countryside to buy mushrooms at decent prices, sometimes as high as 50 to 60 cents a pound—but they didn't buy just any mushrooms.
So, Li Yi decided to try his luck at the guesthouse, hoping he could become a regular mushroom supplier.
The state-run restaurant was located on Xinglong Street, not far from the county government. This was the busiest street in Qingshan County, and even though it was only around ten in the morning, the place was already packed with people.
After tying his mule under a big poplar tree by the entrance, Li Yi walked into the restaurant. As soon as he reached the door, a young woman with two braids stopped him. "Comrade, may I ask who you're looking for?"
Li Yi quickly replied, "Hello, I'm from a nearby village and heard that your guesthouse buys mushrooms, so I came to ask about it."
"Mushrooms? I haven't heard anything about that," she said with a frown.
"No worries; you could ask your manager. If you're really not buying, I'll take them elsewhere. It's a simple matter, don't you think?"
The young woman, sympathetic to his travel-worn appearance, hesitated but nodded. She asked him to wait at the front desk, poured him a cup of hot water, and then went upstairs to check.
Soon, she returned with a middle-aged man in a Zhongshan suit.
As he approached, the man introduced himself, "Comrade, I'm Liu Jingshan, manager of the state-run restaurant. I hear you're here to sell mushrooms?"
"Yes, fresh wild pine mushrooms, and some trumpet mushrooms," Li Yi replied.
"Could I take a look at your goods?"
"Of course."
Li Yi led Manager Liu over to his mule cart and uncovered the two large baskets hidden beneath straw mats.
Seeing the mushrooms, Liu Jingshan was somewhat impressed. It wasn't the quantity that surprised him but the fact that these mushrooms had clearly been cleaned. Each mushroom was free of dirt and debris, making them look especially appealing.
Over the years, people occasionally brought in foraged mushrooms to sell, but they were often covered in dirt and grass, a hassle for the kitchen staff to clean.
"How much do you want per pound?" Liu asked.
"What are you offering?" Li Yi countered.
After a moment's thought, Liu replied, "Fresh mushrooms usually go for around 40 to 50 cents a pound, with a slight variance. But yours are in excellent condition, clearly handpicked and cleaned. I'll give you 70 cents a pound. How does that sound?"
"That high?" Li Yi exclaimed.
"Your mushrooms are well-prepared, evenly sized, and cleaned. I can tell you've put effort into selecting them—two pounds of regular mushrooms wouldn't yield one pound of these," Liu remarked.
Li Yi chuckled, "You've got a sharp eye, sir!"
"Let's weigh them, then."
With the help of some restaurant staff, they weighed the two large baskets of mushrooms.
Fifty-seven pounds in total, for a grand sum of 39.9 yuan!
Generously, Liu handed over four large bills without delay.
Transaction complete, Li Yi happily climbed back onto his mule cart and left the restaurant.
Li Yi was thrilled, not just because he'd made 40 yuan from selling mushrooms, but more importantly because, just before he left, Liu Jingshan had told him that if he could keep bringing in mushrooms of this quality, the restaurant would take all he had.
This meant that from this one transaction, Li Yi had found another path to prosperity. Unlike the liangpi business, which he managed solo, selling mushrooms wasn't something he could do alone—he'd need his younger brothers' help, which would also mean he could bring his friends along on this road to wealth.
In high spirits, Li Yi soon arrived at the entrance of the sugar factory. Although it wasn't even 11 a.m., a good crowd had already gathered—by their clothing, he could tell they were factory workers.
As Li Yi approached, the workers quickly gathered around him, clamoring for liangpi!
Without any hesitation, Li Yi quickly set up his stall and got to work. Thanks to the workers' enthusiastic word-of-mouth from the day before, word had spread around the factory about this delicacy called liangpi, and everyone wanted to try it. The business was booming right from the start.
Despite expecting this level of demand and preparing extra, Li Yi still underestimated the workers' enthusiasm. In just under an hour, all 156 servings of liangpi were completely sold out.
Even then, plenty of people still hadn't gotten any and complained that Li Yi should have prepared more!
All Li Yi could do was apologize profusely, promising that tomorrow he'd make sure everyone could get a taste, before packing up and heading off.
After closing up shop, Li Yi made his way to the supply and marketing cooperative again. But instead of going inside immediately, he scanned the area outside.
Though he had made a good profit today, he was still facing a hurdle when it came to purchasing items at the cooperative—he lacked the necessary ration tickets.
In this era when practically everything required ration tickets to buy, having cash wasn't always enough. For example, a pound of grain might only cost a few cents if you had tickets, but without them, it could cost twice as much.
Moreover, some items, like bicycles, sewing machines, and watches, couldn't be bought at all without the right tickets, no matter how much money you had.
But for every regulation, there was a workaround, and there were always people who had tickets but no money, creating a small network of scalpers who sold their ration tickets to those who needed them.
Right now, Li Yi was searching for such a person to trade some tickets. Before long, his gaze settled on a young man in his twenties.
The young man was leaning against a utility pole, a stalk of foxtail grass dangling from his mouth, his eyes scanning the passing crowd with a look that gave him an air of mischief.
After parking his mule cart, Li Yi strode over to the young man.
Without beating around the bush, he got straight to the point: "Hello, comrade. Do you have tickets for sale?"
The young man's eyes lit up, and he quickly replied, "Yes, do you need grain tickets or cloth tickets? Or maybe industrial vouchers?"
"Can you get a bicycle ticket?"
"I can, but it'll take a few days!"
"How much per ticket?"
"10 yuan each!"
"Alright, I'll take one. Also, I need 50 jin of flour tickets, 20 portions of oil tickets, 2 jin of sugar tickets, and five jin each of vinegar, soy sauce, and salt tickets."
The scalper was taken aback. He had never had a customer order this much in one go, and, most importantly, he didn't have that many tickets in stock!
"Brother, I… I don't have that many tickets!" he admitted.
Li Yi frowned and asked, "Tell me what you do have, then."
"I have 40 jin of flour tickets, 20 jin of rice tickets, 20 jin of meat tickets, more than ten bolts of cloth tickets, and a few oil, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and salt tickets, but not in large quantities."
"I don't need meat or cloth tickets. I'll take all the rest. Tell me, how much do I owe?"
"I'll cut you a deal—five yuan."
To be honest, that wasn't exactly cheap. Right now, a pound of fine flour only cost 16 cents, and rice was only 18 cents per pound, so five yuan could buy over 30 jin of flour!
But he needed these tickets. Without the seasoning tickets, he wouldn't be able to set up shop tomorrow, and that loss would be much more costly than this small expense.
"Deal!"
Money and tickets were exchanged on the spot, and once the transaction was done, Li Yi reminded the young man that he'd be back tomorrow. If he could get more tickets, he should bring them by.
Finally, with a pocket full of ration tickets and cash, Li Yi walked into the supply and marketing cooperative!