Chapter 24: Let’s Do Something Big!
Ding ling ling—
The alarm clock set on his mobile phone rang at exactly 5 AM.
Jiang Tao was groggy for another five minutes, then, before his brain could object, he shot up from the bed.
After putting on his clothes, he quickly washed his face and left home with a high-powered flashlight.
In the bitter cold of the twelfth lunar month, at 5 AM, there were still stars filling the sky.
The breakfast shop called “Lao Guo’s Shop,” where Jiang Tao often ate, had just opened.
The boss’s surname was Guo, and his employee was his wife. The couple were also Beijing Drifters who had come from another place to work in the capital.
Jiang Tao stopped outside the breakfast shop and asked, “Boss Guo, are the steamed pork dumplings ready?”
“Three more minutes. Master Jiang, come inside and wait. Have a cigarette first. By the time you finish this cigarette, the baozi will be ready. You can eat them hot.”
The breakfast shop owner greeted Jiang Tao with a smile, pulled out a pack of Yuxi cigarettes from his pocket, and offered one to Jiang Tao.
“Thanks, boss. I’ll wait. I have to do some manual labor later, and I won’t have energy if I’m hungry.”
Jiang Tao didn’t stand on ceremony with Boss Guo. He smilingly accepted the cigarette and then walked into the shop.
It was only 5:12 AM, so there was still time for breakfast.
After greeting Jiang Tao, Boss Guo went back to busying himself with kneading dough, preparing for the next batch of steamed pork dumplings.
Although this breakfast shop was only a little over thirty square meters,
it could sell over a thousand yuan in a single morning.
The couple ran this shop, selling only breakfast and lunch; the afternoons and evenings were for rest and sleep.
After a month of hard work, after deducting expenses for water, electricity, gas, and rent, the monthly net profit was about fifteen to sixteen thousand yuan.
It was more profitable than Jiang Tao hauling goods outside.
But the work was truly hard.
Jiang Tao felt it was tough to wake up at five, but the breakfast shop couple started their preparations for the morning business at two or three in the morning.
“Master Jiang, the baozi are ready. What filling would you like?”
Jiang Tao hadn’t even finished his cigarette when Boss Guo called out that the baozi were ready.
“A steamer of pork and scallion! And a bowl of tofu pudding.”
“Certainly! Master Jiang, please wait a moment!”
After speaking, Boss Guo took a steaming basket of plump white pork baozi from the steamer.
He then scooped a large bowl of tofu pudding from the insulated container for Jiang Tao, adding a savory sauce.
Jiang Tao added some chili from the dining table to his tofu pudding.
One steamer of baozi and one bowl of tofu pudding cost a total of 12 yuan, and he was full.
After eating his fill and paying the bill, Jiang Tao lit another cigarette and walked towards the village entrance with his flashlight.
As he walked, his flashlight beam caught sight of a chubby person in a green military coat walking ahead.
The chubby person was about 1.7 meters tall, round, and wearing a Lei Feng hat.
Jiang Tao quickened his pace and tapped the person on the shoulder.
“Xiao Liu! So cheerful! Did your family arrange a blind date for the Spring Festival already?”
“Whoa! Brother Jiang! Why so early today!”
Xiao Liu’s name was Liu Zhiyuan. He was from the village next to Jiang Tao’s, two years younger than Jiang Tao, and single.
Jiang Tao smiled and said, “I’m going to the fruit and vegetable wholesale market today too, to haul some satsuma mandarins for the boss of Pang Dongdong Supermarket.”
“Then we’re going the same way. And, coincidentally, I’m also planning to haul satsuma mandarins to Shahe for the market today!”
Liu Zhiyuan always spoke with a smile, his small eyes narrowing into slits, making him look quite amusing.
Jiang Tao cut to the chase and said:
“Oh, Xiao Liu, since I ran into you, I have something to tell you.
Tonight, I’ll ask Xiao Dan and Xiao Zhang over to my place.
I have a lucrative business to discuss with you guys.”
“A lucrative business? Brother Jiang, give me a hint first.”
Liu Zhiyuan’s small eyes lit up. No one would refuse a lucrative business.
“It’s related to the fruit industry you guys are in. I’ll tell you the specifics tonight when everyone is here.”
“7 PM tonight, don’t be late.”
After speaking, Jiang Tao walked towards his truck not far away.
“Alright, Brother Jiang! I’ll be there!”
After Liu Zhiyuan gave Jiang Tao his promise, he also got into his own vehicle.
The two trucks drove one after another towards the Huilongguan fruit and vegetable wholesale market.
Although they were both going to wholesale satsuma mandarins, they were buying from different wholesalers, so they went their separate ways after driving into the market.
Jiang Tao followed the address Yu Dongdong had given him yesterday and arrived at stall D-245 in the fruit and vegetable wholesale market.
It was early morning, before dawn, and over a dozen trucks were already waiting in line to load goods.
Jiang Tao went to a temporary office within the stall to check in, got a pick-up slip, and then went to wait in line to pick up his goods.
He waited for about an hour before it was his turn.
The satsuma mandarins here were packed in 10-jin blue plastic boxes. Jiang Tao was strong and could load 5 boxes at a time.
It only took about twenty minutes to load 200 boxes.
After loading the truck, he drove directly back to Xiao Shahe Village and to the temporary warehouse behind Pang Dongdong Supermarket.
Jiang Tao finished unloading the truck at exactly 8 AM, which did not delay him from hauling goods at the market during the day.
After finding Yu Dongdong at the front to settle the payment, Jiang Tao drove his truck directly to the Hongxing Secondhand Wholesale Market to wait for work.
In the morning, he hauled three more loads, earning a hefty 240 yuan.
At noon, he found a roadside restaurant, ordered a portion of fried flatbread, and took out his mobile phone to check his current deposit balance.
“Damn it, if I had known about satsuma mandarins earlier, I would have delayed paying back some of the engineering project debts!”
Seeing that his balance was only a meager 18,000, less than 20,000,
Jiang Tao immediately felt that repaying the external debt was still a long way off!
In the past few days, he had made over a hundred thousand yuan through the intelligence system.
On one hand, he repaid the external debt of his family, and on the other, he transferred over 50,000 yuan to his wife, Xu Li.
The money came quickly and went even faster for Jiang Tao, leaving him with not much in the end.
With the money he had, he could at most buy over 500 cases of 10-jin satsuma mandarins, which wouldn’t make much of a splash!
At best, he would only earn some hard-earned money.
To make big money, one needed a certain amount of capital to invest!
“This intelligence about satsuma mandarins is definitely a very rare opportunity.
The price increase is as high as 100%. Even if I raise it by 50%, I’ll still make a killing.
If I don’t dare to seize this opportunity that heaven has placed in my mouth, I won’t amount to much in the future!
“After binding the intelligence system, am I still going to wait for work for the rest of my life?
“Caution is not cowardice. If you don’t dare to act when you know a product will increase in price, then you’re truly pathetic!”
He had been using the intelligence system for some time, and Jiang Tao had great confidence in the information it provided.
Mobile phones in bottle caps, hands and feet in down jackets, private money in secondhand sofas, lucky number bills in ATMs…
Every piece of intelligence was true and reliable.
After finishing his fried flatbread, Jiang Tao had made up his mind.
He had to go big on this wave of satsuma mandarins before the Spring Festival!
Whether he could have a good year depended on this!
