Finally, Wang An asked Qiao Xiaohu about the issue of transporting goods to other regions. After all, the transportation capabilities of this era were truly a bit lacking; for land transport, one mainly had to rely on trains.
To his surprise, Qiao Xiaohu said
"Once we've gathered enough to fill a train car, I'll give him a call and he'll send people over. The transportation issue will be handled by them at that time."
Wang An asked casually
"Who is this person you know? Is he that powerful? He can even arrange a train car?"
In his previous life, Wang An had never dealt in mountain products from his hometown. Mainly, by the time he realized that trading mountain products could make money, he had already moved to the South.
Furthermore, by then, the entire mountain product procurement market had already been carved up. If one wanted to enter, small-scale operations were fine, but large-scale trading was completely impossible.
Therefore, Wang An truly didn't know much about the transportation of mountain products.
Wang An had originally intended to ask Wu Dong and Zhang Shuya to help find connections to negotiate with the railway authorities, but he hadn't expected Qiao Xiaohu to have already settled the matter.
This point truly surprised Wang An; he was even shocked.
The main reason was that regardless of the era, someone capable of chartering a train car was definitely not an ordinary person.
Qiao Xiaohu gave a嘿嘿 (hehe) laugh and said
"His name is Li Xinhao. He's from Yandu, and he works for the railway."
Clinking glasses with Wang An and each taking a sip of liquor, Qiao Xiaohu continued
"One time, a few of us were bringing goods back and ran into a group of colleagues from out of town on the train. It turned out they were bringing goods toward Yandu."
At this point, Qiao Xiaohu suddenly spoke with a face full of awe
"Big Brother, you have no idea how fierce those people were. Before, I thought taking six or seven people to move goods was already quite something, but look at them—every time they moved goods, an entire train car belonged to them."
Hearing this, Wang An said with some confusion
"With that much cargo, wouldn't they have to use freight shipping? Otherwise, if a whole train car of goods entered the passenger carriage, where would other people stay?"
Qiao Xiaohu said flatly
"Yup, one train car couldn't fit it all, and they ended up occupying space in the passenger section. Otherwise, how would I have known they were in the same business as us?"
Wang An nodded without speaking, but in his heart, he already admired those people.
As a reincarnated person, Wang An knew that trading goods from the South could make money in this era, but these people had already started, becoming the first wave to feast on the dividends of the times.
Seeing Wang An nod in silence, Qiao Xiaohu continued
"We started chatting casually. Later, before it got dark, this guy named Li Xinhao came out, and that's when I found out that whole group was following this Li Xinhao."
Seeing that Wang An was listening, Qiao Xiaohu suddenly said with a laugh
"The moment Li Xinhao entered the carriage, that group all greeted him and called him Brother Hao. But our group stayed completely silent; nobody paid him any mind. Big Brother, you should have seen the scene back then, it was hilarious, hahahaha..."
Before he could finish, Qiao Xiaohu started laughing himself. It was clear that the so-called Brother Hao must have had a very interesting expression on his face.
Seeing Qiao Xiaohu so happy, Wang An couldn't help but laugh along. Once Qiao Xiaohu stopped laughing, he continued
"That Li Xinhao was also quite puzzled. He asked us, 'Who are you guys bringing goods for now? Don't you know who I am?' When he asked that, the few of us were momentarily stunned. Then I said, 'These guys are all bringing goods for me, so what? Why should I know you?'"
Wang An imagined the scene and couldn't help but laugh.
Mainly, Northeasterners speak quite bluntly. Although the accents of the three provinces are similar, there are differences in tone. Combined with Qiao Xiaohu's tone just now, it was clearly the posture of "What are you looking at? You got a problem?"
Qiao Xiaohu continued
"Big Brother, you don't know—the moment those words left my mouth, especially with my thick 'da cha zi' accent, that Li Xinhao was also fucking stunned. He stared at me with wide eyes, just looking straight at me. After a long while, Li Xinhao finally blurted out, 'Holy shit, a brother from the Northeast!' Hahahaha..."
As soon as he finished, Qiao Xiaohu started laughing again, slapping the table, tears coming to his eyes.
However, from Qiao Xiaohu's words, one could tell that this Li Xinhao operated on a very large scale, as he didn't even recognize all of his own employees.
After laughing for a while, Qiao Xiaohu regained his composure and said
"And that's how we met. We exchanged ages and names. He said he's 22 this year, and then we started chatting about the small commodity trade, and then moved on to mountain products."
"Then, I don't know what he was thinking, but he became very longing for our area. He kept asking me about things in the mountains. If he hadn't had work to attend to that time, he would have followed me straight to our county..."
Following this, Qiao Xiaohu told Wang An more about Li Xinhao, mainly regarding the confirmation of the mountain product business.
Through Qiao Xiaohu's narration, especially the dialogue between the two, Wang An couldn't help but feel a bit curious about this Li Xinhao.
Most importantly, Wang An hadn't found any issues with Qiao Xiaohu, so he believed that Li Xinhao should be someone suitable for cooperation.
Finally, Qiao Xiaohu suddenly said
"Right, Big Brother, I mentioned you to him. I told him that you're the one who had us do this business, and I told him a bit about you. He said that when he comes, he definitely wants to have some drinks with you and have a good chat."
Wang An nodded and said
"Mm, a chat is fine. Now that you've mentioned it, I'm also somewhat interested in meeting him."
Next, Wang An chatted with Qiao Xiaohu more about the mountain product trade. After calculating how much money a train car of goods could bring in, Wang An very generously pulled out 3,000 yuan and handed it to Qiao Xiaohu, saying
"The money earned from this business in the future will still be split half-and-half between us. I'll put in more money, and you'll do more of the work. Also, if we establish a company in the future, many things will be involved. Once we encounter any major issues, you must listen to me."
As soon as Wang An finished speaking, Qiao Xiaohu immediately expressed himself with a serious face
"Big Brother, no need to wait for a major issue. As long as you speak, I'll listen to you in everything. If it weren't for you, I'd still be struggling to find my next meal..."
Before Qiao Xiaohu could finish, Wang An said with a smile
"Alright, alright. If you weren't that kind of person, I wouldn't be taking you along. But people, you know, can change. So, we have to lay the ugly truth out in the open first. Otherwise, if such a day ever comes, hehehehe..."
Although Wang An didn't finish his sentence, the meaning was very clear: Wang An would not be soft-hearted.
Thanks to "Black A-Niu Brother" for the tip, thank you, thank you!
(End of Chapter)