Wang An remembered that starting this year, because policies were being relaxed more and more, there were an increasing number of people wandering through the streets and alleys of the countryside collecting hides, bear gall, bezoars, and antiques, as well as those collecting goose feathers, duck feathers, pig bristles, hair, and various other things.
Therefore, Wang An's idea was to slowly sell off the things at home; regardless of how he did it, he couldn't afford to sell them for a loss again.
Mainly, whenever Wang An thought about how the prices of those items had surged shortly after he sold them last time, he felt incredibly frustrated. He had missed out on over a thousand yuan—it was fucking disgusting!
In a short while, the three of them arrived at a pharmacy with a store area of over 100 square meters.
Before entering, Wang An glanced at the name of the pharmacy: Li's Pharmacy.
As soon as they entered, a woman with regular features and dressed in a simple, traditional style came forward to greet them.
The woman said very politely
"Welcome to Li's Pharmacy."
To be honest, the three of them had been wandering around this medicinal herb wholesale market for half the day, and this was the first time they had encountered such a polite clerk, so they felt a bit out of place.
Thus, before Wang Li and Mu Xueli could react on how to answer, Wang An took the initiative to speak
"I saw it written at your door that you buy bear gall and bezoars. I was wondering what your buying prices are?"
Hearing this, the female clerk said unhurriedly
"There are chairs here, please sit down and wait a moment."
After speaking, the clerk walked inside, brought out a piece of paper, and placed it on the table beside the three of them.
When they looked, it was indeed the pharmacy's price list for the acquisition of various precious medicinal materials.
Wild ginseng, bear gall, bezoars, pig stones, dog stones, horse stones, musk, and other items were clearly listed.
Aside from these, velvet antler, deer blood, deer penis, deer blood powder, deer heart, deer tail, and so on, all had their own prices.
However, the acquisition price for bear gall on this price list was quite interesting.
In DJ County, bear gall was only divided into brown bear gall and black bear gall, and regardless of whether it was brown or black, they were only categorized into three grades: gold gall, iron gall, and grass gall.
But on the pharmacy's price list, the bear gall depended on the color of the gall powder.
Gold gall was further divided into golden-yellow and brownish-yellow.
Iron gall was divided into dark-brown and ink-green.
As for grass gall, there was no division; there was only grass-green.
As the name implied, when the supply and marketing cooperative in DJ County bought bear gall, there were only three grades: gold, iron, and grass.
But here, the acquisition of bear gall was subdivided into five grades based on the color of the powder. Arranged from highest to lowest price, they were golden-yellow, brownish-yellow, dark-brown, ink-green, and grass-green.
What made the three of them quite satisfied was that the acquisition prices here were much, much higher than those of the DJ County supply and marketing cooperative.
The cooperative's buying price for black bear gold gall was a flat 14 yuan per gram. Here, even the brownish-yellow gall powder listed was 20 yuan per gram, and the golden-yellow gall powder reached as high as 25 yuan per gram.
For black bear iron gall, the cooperative calculated it at 9 yuan per gram. Here, the ink-green iron gall powder was 12 yuan per gram, and the dark-brown was 14 yuan per gram.
As for black bear grass gall, the cooperative paid 6 yuan per gram, while here it was 9 yuan per gram.
The prices for brown bear gall were similarly much higher. Crucially, in the memory of the three, brown bear gold gall had always been the same price as black bear grass gall, but here, that perception was shattered.
Because here, brown bear gold gall was the same price as black bear iron gall.
Arranged by color downwards, the prices were 14 yuan, 12 yuan, 10 yuan, 8 yuan, and 6 yuan per gram.
After seeing the acquisition prices for bear gall, Wang Li said to Wang An and Mu Xueli with a face full of resentment
"Oh, fuck my life! This fucking price is way too different from ours!"
After Wang Li finished, Mu Xueli also said indignantly
"Exactly! If we had calculated by this price, wouldn't we have undersold the bear gall we sold last year and this year by five or six thousand yuan!"
The reason Mu Xueli said "this year" was because in Heilongjiang Province, they only counted days by the lunar calendar. So, although it was already 1982 by the solar calendar, the locals in Heilongjiang still didn't consider the New Year to have passed.
Although Wang An was also depressed, he didn't speak. Mainly, the items had already been sold, and besides, that was just the price in DJ County. The cooperative's attitude had been "sell it or don't, I don't give a shit," so if he was frustrated, he just had to endure it.
However, the female clerk who heard the conversation between Wang Li and Mu Xueli turned around and walked into the inner room.
Soon, an old man who looked to be in his sixties or seventies walked out. Before he even sat down in front of the three, the old man spoke with an excited expression
"I just heard you two young brothers say that you sold a lot of bear gall last year? May I ask, distinguished guests, did you come from across the border?"
As long as someone had been to the Northeast, they could tell immediately from the accent that the three of them were Northeasterners.
There was no helping it; although the Northeastern accent was the closest to Standard Mandarin, the local dialect—what outsiders called the "thick corn-husk flavor"—was very strong.
Mu Xueli and Wang Li stopped their discussion and looked toward the old man along with Wang An.
Wang An replied with a smile
"I wouldn't call us distinguished guests, but we did come from across the border. However, we are from the Lesser Khingan Mountains, not the Greater Khingan Mountains or the Changbai Mountains."
The reason Wang An said this was that although the Lesser and Greater Khingan Mountains were adjacent, they were actually separated by the Heilongjiang River. As for the Changbai Mountains, they had no relation to either the Greater or Lesser Khingan Mountains.
Even between the Lesser Khingan Mountains and the Changbai Mountains, there was a vast Northeast Plain.
If one had to say there was a connection, it was that they all belonged to Huaxia.
After Wang An finished, the old man said with a chuckle
"Same thing, same thing, all Northeasterners. Hehehe, right, the bears over where you are are quite a bit larger than the bears over by the Changbai Mountains, hehehehe..."
After a few simple pleasantries and a brief self-introduction from Wang An, the old man directly stated his purpose
"The bear gall here in the North basically all comes from your Northeast. Hearing you speak just now, I'm tempted. If it's convenient for you, you can sell all the bear gall you have to me. I'll give you an extra ten percent on top of these prices. How about it?"