It was past three o'clock when Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang returned to the station, and there were no trains back to Dongshi after three o'clock.
Li Xiangyang took her to the second hotel. It was a three-story building. The lower row of doors were all noodle shops. There were restaurants, shoes sellers, and clothing sellers. Customers could be seen in every shop.
The two arrived at the accommodation registration office. After asking the comrades at the registration office, they learned that Zhou Xiaohong and Chen Dongming had not come to register yet.
Li Xiangyang took out the letter of introduction and opened two rooms, telling those who registered that there were two more people.
The comrade who registered asked them to wait until the two of them arrived and just register with a letter of introduction.
After registering, Li Xiangyang asked him which floor the wholesale of aniseed materials was on?
The person at the registration desk told the two that the aniseed products were sold in several rooms at the back of the first floor.
A woman in her thirties with shoulder-length hair took the two of them to the second floor. There were two rooms next to each other. The room had two single beds, a writing desk, and two chairs.
After the waiter left, Lin Lan looked at the sheets and pillows on the bed. They had probably been changed and they looked quite clean.
Li Xiangyang came from next door and said to Lin Lan: "Xiaolan, you take a rest for a while, I'll go downstairs to take a look first?"
"Let's go together."
Lin Lan picked up the military satchel, and the two of them went downstairs and walked towards the back room on the first floor. Before they arrived, they smelled a strong smell.
When the two of them got closer, they saw that the door of the room where aniseed was wholesaled was open, filled with sacks, and there were several men playing poker together in one room.
Li Xiangyang and Lin Lan looked next to each other, asked about the price, and walked to the corner room, where someone was buying goods.
Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang walked in. The slightly bald boss glanced at them and was still busy loading the goods for the man.
Lin Lan grabbed a few star anise and looked at it: "How does the boss sell star anise?"
The boss smiled and said: "We don't sell them for zero."
“We don’t come here to buy small items either!”
"This man is busy on his way, please wait a moment." The boss said and quickly loaded the goods, collected the money, and sent the man away.
Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang took a look and found that there are several kinds of star anise, some with strong flavor and some with lighter flavor.
The boss came back, looked at the two of them with a smile and said: "Do you want the star anise produced in Guangzhou or Sichuan?" Then he picked up two types of star anise that looked the same, "This kind is from Guangzhou, most of them are used for medicinal purposes.
This is the most commonly purchased daily condiment in Sichuan.”
Lin Lan took it and looked at it, feeling that the octagonal ones from Guangzhou were larger and the ones from the province were smaller: "Is there any difference in price between the two?"
"The ones in Sichuan are cheap, but the ones in Guangzhou are expensive. Just buy the ones in Sichuan for your daily condiments."
Lin Lan asked about the prices of several kinds of seasonings, and thought they were cheaper than those at other stores: "We buy daily seasonings, please tell us the price."
After the boss quoted the price, he also showed his account statement to the two of them: "You can rest assured to buy my goods, they are absolutely genuine."
Lin Lan looked at Li Xiangyang: "What do you think?"
Li Xiangyang said: "Boss, we are a new store and have a large purchase volume. If the price you mentioned is cheaper, we will buy it from your place."
The boss looked at Li Xiangyang in embarrassment: "Brother, to tell you the truth, I just came here not long ago, and the prices set by regular customers are the cheapest. If they are any less, I will not make any profit."
Lin Lan smiled and said: "We come from Dongshi, and the shipping fee is also expensive. You can make it cheaper."
The boss smiled and shook his head: "Dongshi is not far away. I advise you not to check it. If you don't tell me the trouble, it will be easily dropped. Trust me, when the goods are loaded, I will find a bag carrier to help you carry it to the car. The fee is
I'll give it."
Li Xiangyang looked at him: "If the price is cheaper, we will recognize your family from now on."
The boss hesitated for a moment and said, "I'll give you another two cents discount on each item. If the price is less, there's no need to negotiate."
"Okay!" Li Xiangyang agreed readily.
The boss smiled and asked them their names and told them his surname was Ge Changfa.
Li Xiangyang praised him for his business skills. The two of them followed Boss Ge's advice, prepared all the ingredients, gave Boss Ge a small deposit, and told him that they lived in Room 203 on the second floor and would pick up the goods before leaving tomorrow morning.
Boss Ge smiled and said: "There is no need for a deposit. We will pay it together when you come to pick up the goods tomorrow morning."
"That's fine!" Lin Lan collected the goods list, and when the two of them came out of Boss Ge's place, they saw Zhou Xiaohong and Chen Dongming standing at the accommodation registration desk, asking if they were coming.
"Sister Zhou, we are here." Lin Lan shouted.
Zhou Xiaohong walked over with a smile: "I thought you were still at Lao Chen's place!"
Lin Lan smiled and said: "We have put in all the ingredients."
Zhou Xiaohong looked at the two of them in surprise: "You are quite fast!"
"We just sat at Lao Chen's place for a while and then came here." A few people laughed and went upstairs, pushed the door in and sat down.
Chen Dongming smiled and said: "Mingxuan's clothing business is really good. A group of people came after you left, and Xiaohong and I helped for a while."
When he and Zhou Xiaohong were leaving, another group of people came. Xu Mingxuan originally said he would send them away, but they couldn't get out.
Zhou Xiaohong took over the conversation, "Mingxuan told us not to be cheap when purchasing goods. The materials must be chosen better so that there will be more repeat customers." She said and looked at Lin Lan, "Xiao Lin, Mingxuan is going to Yangcheng next Wednesday.
I plan to go with him next week. What are your plans?"
Zhou Xiaohong thinks that Xu Mingxuan's business is business, and that what she and Lin Lan earn is hard-earned money. They come and go in the wind and rain all year round. As I get older, my waist and legs can't stand it after standing for a long time, especially on cloudy and rainy days.
It hurts like a pinprick.
She went to the hospital for a checkup and was told that the rheumatism was severe and she was told to try not to get wet, otherwise her joints would become swollen and deformed in the future.
She discussed it with Chen Dongming on the way, and while she was still running, she would save more money after years of hard work and buy a front-end house for her children. They would also save some pension money to save themselves from burdening their children in the future.
Lin Lan thought that today was also Wednesday, and she only had a few days to prepare if she wanted to go. She hadn't asked Li Xiangyang and Uncle Da yet if they had made an appointment?
She turned to look at Li Xiangyang: "Xiangyang, look?"
Li Xiangyang said: "Uncle Da and I have made an appointment to go there next Sunday, so you can only go first."
Zhou Xiaohong nodded: "Then let's take the first step."
The four of them talked for a while. Lin Lan and Zhou Xiaohong washed their faces. Seeing that it was getting late, they went to the station to buy tickets together without eating.
When they arrived at the ticket office of the train station, the four of them were dumbfounded. They found that there were more people buying tickets at the provincial capital station, and the people queuing up to buy tickets were all lined up outside the ticket office.
Li Xiangyang said to Lin Lan and Zhou Xiaohong: "Brother Chen, wait in line first. I will take you back to the hotel first. If you are hungry, you can eat downstairs without waiting for us."
Zhou Xiaohong nodded: "Okay, let's go back first and order some food for you."