Chapter 8: The Scrap Yard Couple

One hundred yuan, to Li Manjun, who currently didn't have a single cent in her pockets, was a truly substantial sum of money.

How to utilize it to generate even more money was what she needed to consider now.

Li Manjun took the money and went straight into the department store, but she did not follow her mother’s instructions to buy herself a pretty outfit.

After casting a lingering glance at the stylish jeans and little vests, Li Manjun decisively took out twenty yuan, handed it to the clerk, and asked for twenty catties of white sugar.

It was fortunate that it had already been ten years since the Reform and Opening-up began, but given the lag in rural towns, the mid-eighties were when the reforms truly took hold. If this had been a few years earlier, Li Manjun wouldn't have been able to buy this sugar even if she had the money.

It was still early, only 3:30 in the afternoon. Liu Yan and her younger brother hadn't returned from the countryside yet, so Li Manjun carried the heavy twenty catties of sugar toward Liu Yan’s house.

There was no one home, but the latch on the kitchen shed was only loosely fastened. Outsiders wouldn't know, but Li Manjun was well aware that if you just flicked the latch out of the eyelet, the lock wasn't actually locked at all. She opened the kitchen door without a hitch.

Li Manjun set the sugar down, planning to make a big score in the two days before the Dragon Boat Festival!

She hid the sugar well, re-fastened the latch, and checked carefully to ensure no one had noticed her. Li Manjun left Liu Yan’s house and went to the bus stop to look around.

She didn't see the "Boss Liu" who collected toothpaste tubes; he wouldn't come until the time was right.

However, in the scrap collection station behind the bus stop, a husband-and-wife team was busy packing up scrap.

Li Manjun stood outside the door for a while before walking in to ask about prices.

Soda bottles and wine bottles were two mao each, cardboard was five mao per catty, scrap copper was three yuan per catty, and scrap iron was one yuan and five mao per catty.

Hearing this, Li Manjun had a sudden realization. No wonder so many people loved stealing manhole covers and electrical wires; the recycling prices for copper and iron were indeed high.

"What about duck feathers and chicken feathers?" Li Manjun asked.

Seeing her keep asking questions and covering so many categories, the proprietress suspected she was a competitor and her expression turned unfriendly.

"Are you buying or selling? We’re busy here!" the proprietress said impatiently.

The busy husband also stopped his packing and looked over; both of them were very guarded.

In this day and age, scrap collection was the type of business where you made a fortune quietly. Most people wouldn't think that this seemingly sloppy job had so much profit behind it, so those in the trade were very sharp, terrified that someone would find out they were making money and compete with them.

Especially in Shinan Town, the cake was only so big; if two more people came, everyone would go hungry.

Several groups of scrap collectors had come and gone before, but none had lasted as long as this one behind the bus stop.

Li Manjun guessed that this husband-and-wife shop must have better channels, allowing them to cut out the middlemen and keep the price difference, which was why they were so persistent.

However, channels were a taboo subject, and she hadn't come to offend anyone by prying.

"I just want to pick up some scrap to earn a little pocket money, that's why I'm asking," Li Manjun said in a gentle and polite tone. Only then did the couple’s expressions soften.

If she wasn't a competitor, then it didn't matter.

"We don't collect duck or chicken feathers; we only take hard goods. That 'Big-Head Liu' collects the soft goods. Look, he’s over in that alley across the way. He usually wanders around there between four and five in the afternoon. You can go ask him yourself later," the proprietress introduced enthusiastically.

People in their line of work all knew each other and would refer business to one another.

"By the way, do you have a lot?" the proprietress suddenly asked.

What did that mean? Li Manjun didn't even blush as she lied, "I have quite a bit. Why, do you take large quantities too?"

The couple exchanged a look, their eyes filled with the shrewdness and calculation of merchants. Li Manjun didn't mind; business was about one's own ability, and she wouldn't be the one losing out.

The proprietress said, "If you have a lot, bring it all at five mao per liang. No, let's say six mao. But it has to be completely dry, and we don't want the stems."

"So, the ones with stems are five mao per liang?" Li Manjun asked.

The proprietress choked, then nodded as if forced, "Right."

"Good, then I'll come to you when I have more," Li Manjun said with a smile.

But she didn't leave. Her gaze fell on the metal utensils in the large plastic barrel behind the husband. "What are those? The style looks quite unique."

"Scrap copper and iron we collected," the husband replied.

The couple lived up to their reputation as merchants, smiling and telling Li Manjun that these things could still be used if washed, and asked if she wanted to buy one.

"It depends on whether it catches my eye. If it does, I'll take it; if not, then forget it," the proprietress said, nimbly tying up another bundle of cardboard and throwing it onto the shelf with a "thud."

She had great arm strength. Li Manjun marveled inwardly and walked toward the large plastic barrel. Inside were thermos bottles with intact liners, though the paint was chipped and the outer plastic shells were black and dirty.

There were also quite a few enamel basins, all patched over and over with the plastic from toothbrush handles, making them completely unusable.

Li Manjun wanted to find one to use as a chamber pot; she really didn't want to experience the irritation of getting up to go to the toilet at night anymore.

Li Manjun rummaged for a while and, at the very bottom of the barrel, pulled out a pitch-black bowl whose original color was impossible to tell, feeling heavy in her hand.

It was round, about thirty centimeters in diameter and fifteen centimeters deep, narrow at the top and bottom with a fat belly.

The size and depth were perfect. With a lid, it would be the perfect chamber pot.

The proprietress had a sharp eye. Seeing Li Manjun was interested, she immediately said, "This iron bowl was brought out of an old, dilapidated temple in the countryside. I heard that temple was built during the Qianlong era and has been receiving incense for hundreds of years. It can ward off evil spirits! You have a good eye, sister!"

Li Manjun laughed, "I'm just thinking of using it as a chamber pot. This bowl counts as three catties of iron at most. If you sell it for four yuan and fifty mao, I'll take it. If not, forget it."

She put the bowl down naturally, but before she could set it all the way down, the husband grabbed it and weighed it on the scale: three catties and six liang. "Five yuan and four mao, you take it. I haven't made a single cent off you."

Li Manjun thought to herself, *I believe you!*

She made a counter-offer, "Four yuan and eight mao."

"Five yuan and two mao!"

She remained indifferent, "Four yuan and eight mao."

"Five yuan, that's the lowest! I can't go any lower!"

Li Manjun sighed, counted out four yuan and eight mao, and handed it over. "Four yuan and eight mao, I'm taking it."

The husband hesitated to take it, but Li Manjun shoved it into his hand, picked up the pitch-black bowl, and turned to leave.

Neither of the couple stopped her; they followed her out, complaining that they had lost a fortune.

Li Manjun still held the same thought: *I believe you!*

In passing, she asked the proprietress for a worthless, tattered bedsheet to wrap the dirty bowl in, then hoisted the bundle and strode toward the alley across from the bus stop.

After waiting a while, Liu Yan and her brother returned, drenched in sweat. The cloth bag on Liu Cheng’s back was bulging, and Liu Yan’s sugar jar was empty.

"Manjun, why are you here? Aren't you... on a blind date?" Liu Yan said the last three words very softly, afraid of being overheard; she was still a bit shy. "Is it already over?"

Li Manjun nodded, saying only that they would meet in the city after the Dragon Boat Festival. She didn't want to discuss it further and delay her money-making. She took the two of them to find Boss Liu—the "Big-Head Liu" the couple at the scrap station had mentioned—and sold the toothpaste tubes from the day.

(End of chapter)