Chapter 421 - 355: Cans, 6-Leaf
Right there on the counter were soda in pull-tab cans!
This was the first time Zhao Jun had seen them since he was reborn.
He hadn’t even seen them in the big stores In the Town.
Zhao Jun had originally just wanted to ask the saleswoman to help him find Sun Haizhu, but the moment he saw the cans, he pointed at them on the counter and asked her, "How much are these?"
"One-thirty!" the saleswoman answered without looking up.
’One-thirty!’
Back then, some adults would have to think twice about spending five cents on a half-pound of jawbreakers for their kids.
How many people could bear to buy a drink like this? No wonder no one was at this counter.
Zhao Jun glanced at the cans, then leaned toward the saleswoman and asked, "Miss, is Sun Haizhu here?"
"Huh?" Hearing that Zhao Jun was looking for Sun Haizhu, the saleswoman looked up at him. "You know Manager Sun?"
"Yeah, we’re sort of related," Zhao Jun replied.
"Related..." The saleswoman leaned over the counter, turned her head to the left, and yelled, "Xiaowang, go get Manager Sun! Someone’s here for him!"
Her voice was so loud it made Zhao Jun’s ears ring.
Then, like a relay, someone over there picked up the call, shouting, "Manager Sun! Someone’s looking for you!"
A short while later, a middle-aged man in his forties parted the crowd and walked over. He came to the counter selling the canned soda and asked the saleswoman, "Who’s looking for me?"
The saleswoman glanced at Sun Haizhu, then pointed at Zhao Jun and asked, "Isn’t this a relative of yours?"
"Oh!" At her words, Sun Haizhu turned to Zhao Jun. He gave him a brief, frowning look, then pointed a finger and smiled. "Little brother, you must be from the Lingxi Yong’an Forest Farm, right?"
"Yeah!" Zhao Jun replied instinctively, then looked down at his shirt and pants. ’I’m not even wearing my work uniform.’
But seeing Sun Haizhu extend a hand, Zhao Jun quickly shook it. He heard him say, "Little brother, let me guess. Your surname is Zhao, isn’t it?"
Hearing this, Zhao Jun smiled too. "Hello, Brother-in-law Sun. I’m Zhao Jun. Brother Xie must have told you about me."
"That’s right." Sun Haizhu shook Zhao Jun’s hand, beaming. "My senior brother-in-law has called me several times. I’ve known you were coming and have been waiting for you for days."
"Something came up and delayed me, haha," Zhao Jun replied with a smile. This Sun Haizhu was the type to get friendly fast, but dealing with people like that was actually quite easy.
Just then, Sun Haizhu let go of Zhao Jun’s hand and gestured for him to follow. "Come on, brother, let’s talk in the back."
In this Supply and Marketing Cooperative, the front was the retail area, and the back was for storage and for purchasing mountain goods and furs.
Sun Haizhu also had an office there, but it was very simple, with just a wooden desk and two wooden chairs.
But after they came in and sat down, Sun Haizhu immediately pulled open a drawer, took out cigarettes and matches, and pushed them toward Zhao Jun. "Have a smoke, brother!"
"Ah, no thanks, brother. I don’t smoke." Zhao Jun politely declined. The cigarettes Sun Haizhu offered were actually pretty good, though—Shilin Cigarettes.
Seeing that Zhao Jun didn’t smoke, Sun Haizhu exclaimed, "Ah," and glanced around before saying to Zhao Jun with a wry smile, "Brother, I don’t have anything in this office. I can’t even pour you a glass of water."
"It’s fine, really."
But Sun Haizhu reached under the desk, opened a cabinet door on the left, and pulled out a bottle of soda. Then he took a bottle opener from the drawer and popped the cap off with a POP.
"Here, brother, drink this."
"Oh, thank you." Zhao Jun quickly took it with both hands.
And so, Zhao Jun sat on his side of the desk, holding the soda and taking small sips. On the other side, Sun Haizhu smoked his cigarette.
Sun Haizhu flicked some ash into the ashtray and asked Zhao Jun, "Brother, I heard from my senior brother-in-law that you’re looking to sell some ginseng?"
Sun Haizhu had an interesting way of speaking. Both Jie Zhong and Jie Chen were his younger brothers-in-law, but he referred to Jie Zhong as his "senior brother-in-law."
Hearing this, Zhao Jun quickly said, "Yeah. A while back I was working at the Logging Camp and ran into Elder Zhao on the road. I slipped into Elder Anzi’s territory and got a few ginseng shoots. I was looking for a place to sell them, and Brother Xie said his brother-in-law was here, so I came."
"Hsss..." Sun Haizhu took a drag from his cigarette and exhaled, frowning at Zhao Jun. "Brother, my senior brother-in-law mentioned this to me a few times, but as your brother-in-law, I’ll be straight with you. Here in the city, we buy everything. The state-run pharmacy, on the other hand, only buys medicinal herbs."
"We buy ginseng, too. But if you have top-grade ginseng, we can give you a high price. If you just have Three Blossoms, Second-class, Lantern Platform, and the like, the price we give you might not be as high as the pharmacy’s."
That was very frank.
Jie Zhong had also mentioned on the phone that Zhao Jun had gone ginseng hunting himself. Sun Haizhu figured the young man must have just had a stroke of dumb luck to dig up a few small shoots. How could he possibly have found a major haul?
But on the phone, Sun Haizhu couldn’t just tell Jie Zhong not to let Zhao Jun come. He just planned to wait for Zhao Jun to arrive and explain the situation to him in person. That way, Zhao Jun could go to the state-run pharmacy and make a little more money.
He was looking out for Zhao Jun.
But after hearing him out, Zhao Jun let go of his soda bottle, opened his satchel, and took out the Ginseng Bun, wrapped in Sixth-grade Leaves.
At that moment, Sun Haizhu was sitting across from him, smoking and watching Zhao Jun unwrap the Ginseng Bun.
But when Zhao Jun opened the Ginseng Bun and revealed the ginseng to Sun Haizhu, Sun Haizhu froze.
"Oh my god!" The next second, Sun Haizhu shot up from his chair, threw his cigarette butt on the floor, and stomped it out with his foot. Then, he braced his left hand on the desk and waved his right hand over the ginseng, as if afraid the smoke he’d just exhaled might touch it.
This reaction amused Zhao Jun, who chuckled and said, "Brother-in-law Sun, it’s not that serious."
"You dug this up?!" Sun Haizhu took two steps to get to Zhao Jun’s side. At this point, Zhao Jun couldn’t remain seated, so he quickly stood up to stand beside him.
Zhao Jun said, "I dug it up."
"Brother, you’re incredible!" Sun Haizhu gave Zhao Jun a thumbs-up. "Your brother-in-law here has been in this business for over ten years. I’ve seen plenty of ginseng, and even though I’m no expert, I can tell that this one..."
He trailed off, shaking his head. "Is a real treasure."
With that, Sun Haizhu turned to open the door and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Second Brother! Hey, Second Brother!"
"Coming, coming!"
No sooner had the words left Sun Haizhu’s mouth than someone answered, and a man quickly walked in.
As soon as he entered, Sun Haizhu pulled him over to Zhao Jun and introduced him. "Brother, this is one of our own. He’s the second oldest in his family, so I call him Second Brother."
Zhao Jun understood immediately. Sun Haizhu wasn’t actually related to this man; when he said "one of our own," he just meant they both had the surname Sun. The so-called "Second Brother" title was likely just a convenient form of address.
Sun Haizhu then pointed to Zhao Jun and introduced him to the newcomer. "Second Brother, this little brother is from over at the Lingxi Yong’an Forest Farm."
"Here, brother." The man extended a hand to Zhao Jun. "My name is Sun Desheng."
"I’m Zhao Jun." Zhao Jun shook his hand and smiled. "I’ll follow Brother-in-law Sun’s lead and call you Second Brother, too."
"Sure, sure."
Just then, Sun Haizhu put a hand on Sun Desheng’s shoulder and said, "Take a look at the ginseng our brother brought. And give him a good price."
"Whoa!" Sun Desheng only needed one look before he said to Zhao Jun, "Your Second Brother here has been in this business for over ten years. I’ve seen plenty of ginseng, but this one of yours is a real treasure!"
Zhao Jun smiled and nodded in response, but thought to himself, ’Why do they all have the same script? Did they go through training or something?’