Chapter 2: Night Escape to Jiangchuan City

Zhang Yunqi ate this birthday meal with both deliciousness and sadness.

He finished a bowl of noodles in silence, and let his sister Chunlan, who had been tired all day, go home and rest. Although he was also sleepy and tired, the tobacco leaves had to be put into the bed tonight, so he had to cheer up and continue working.

It was past nine o'clock in the evening when Zhang Yunqi heard the roar of a car. He looked over in the moonlight and saw a tall and strong young man with a flat head driving a tractor. It was his eldest brother Zhang Yunfeng.

"Brother, have you eaten yet?"

"We've eaten at Zhu Da's house." Zhang Yunfeng jumped off the tractor and said, "Zhu Da's mother's kidney disease has relapsed. She is hospitalized in the city and has no time to come. I borrowed his tractor. Tomorrow we will go to the county to sell cigarettes ourselves."

Zhu Da was my eldest brother's elementary school classmate, and they were close friends. Sometimes when he was driving at night, my eldest brother would accompany him and learn how to drive. Zhang Yunqi knew that my eldest brother wanted to buy a tractor to transport goods, but a tractor these days cost 7,000 to 8,000 yuan, which was an astronomical figure for the Zhang family, so he could only think about it.

The two brothers didn't talk too much. They braided the fresh tobacco leaves together, hung them on poles and set up pits, and burned coal to heat the tobacco. After finishing, Zhang Yunfeng lit a dry tobacco stick and said, "I found out that the flue-cured tobacco in our county this year exceeds the standard, and the price is not good."

Zhang Yunqi was tired of hearing this. Many tobacco smokers in the village were complaining that the supply of tobacco in Fengyang County was seriously oversupply this year, so the price was naturally not very good. However, this was also an opportunity to make a fortune, because he knew that the purchase price of flue-cured tobacco in Jiangchuan City was high this year.

Since his rebirth, he has been thinking about this matter. If he can convince his elder brother to become a cigarette dealer and sell cigarettes in Jiangchuan City, he will definitely make money! But the problem is that cross-border cigarette sales are still considered as reselling in the eyes of ordinary people, and no one dares to do it.

Zhang Yunqi said nonchalantly: "When Uncle Cheng was chatting at the entrance of the village, I heard him say that the price of flue-cured tobacco in Jiangchuan City is good this year."

"Jiangchuan is Jiangchuan, not our Fengyang County. Eh... After working hard for half a year, it's still a problem whether I can pay back the money I owe for coal." Zhang Yunfeng puffed on his pipe, looking indescribably sad.

Tobacco planting itself is a very hard and expensive job, from fertilizers and pesticides to coal, everything requires RMB. In good years, the Zhang family could still make some money from their few acres of paddy fields, but this year Yunxi Village suffered from a severe drought, and the tobacco harvest was at least 100 kilograms less than in previous years. Coupled with the pressure from the top tobacco policies, the whole family worked very hard for half a year and could only make ends meet.

Zhang Yunqi put a few pieces of coal into the stove and asked tentatively, "Brother, since the purchase price of flue-cured tobacco in Jiangchuan City is good, why don't we try to sell it at the Jiangchuan City Tobacco Station?"

Zhang Yunfeng was so surprised that he was unable to react.

He said to his brother angrily: "What are you thinking! It is illegal to sell flue-cured tobacco across borders. If you are caught, you will be sentenced. You are already sixteen years old, how can you not know what is wrong!"

"I just said it casually, don't take it seriously."

Zhang Yunqi tried to smooth over the matter, but he didn't really care.

The eldest brother still has the old thinking and ideas. In the past, flue-cured tobacco could only be sold to local supply and marketing cooperatives. Selling tobacco in other places was speculation and the government cracked down on it very vigorously. But now tobacco companies and supply and marketing cooperatives have been separated. He knows that the new "Tobacco Monopoly Law" will be officially implemented this year. Cross-border trafficking of flue-cured tobacco is no longer a crime. At most, it will be a fine. But in most cases, local governments turn a blind eye because it can promote the development of the local market economy. This led to a crazy emergence of tobacco dealers in the next two years.

He really didn't want to miss such an opportunity to make a fortune, but from his elder brother's stiff tone, he knew that it was useless to say more. His honest and steady elder brother would not take the risk of going to Jiangchuan City Tobacco Station to sell flue-cured tobacco.

The two brothers loaded the bundles of tobacco onto the tractor and did not return home until 1 a.m.

Zhang Yunqi had no mood to lament the dilapidated three-room mud house. The physical suffering often made his mind numb. Every time he returned home late at night, the only thing he wanted was to fall on the bed and sleep. He didn't even have time to think about anything else. But today was obviously different. After changing into clean clothes, he told his eldest brother that he would go to the tobacco curing room to keep watch today.

The flue-cured tobacco to be sold in Fengyang County tomorrow has been loaded onto the truck, and new tobacco is being baked in the flue-curing room. This is a fortune worth hundreds of dollars, and someone has to look after it. Rural people are generous, and there are many who steal and cheat.

It was already dark, and there were dim lights in the village in the distance. Deep in Yunxi Village, someone's mother was calling her children to go home and sleep in a long voice.

Zhang Yunqi squatted beside the tobacco curing room, puffing on his pipe. He had no desire to sleep at all. Although he felt sore and tired all over, his eagerness to make money was like a fire particle splashing in the wilderness, burning in his chest.

He didn't want to wait any longer. As the saying goes, the timid will die of starvation, while the bold will die of gluttony.

He wants to give it a try. If he only relies on the little money he earns from farming, the Zhang family will always be poor and will never be able to get out of this situation!
Without a watch and without knowing the time, he smoked a dry tobacco stick until it was dark. Then he ran to the nearby Crescent River to wash his face. He returned to the tobacco curing room, turned over the tractor handle from behind the door, started the tractor, and the roar of "thump, thump, thump" immediately broke the silence of the night.

Taking advantage of the night, Zhang Yunqi headed straight to Jiangchuan City!
Yunxi Village belongs to Fengyang County, 70 miles away from Jiangchuan City. He does not have a driver's license, and there are certain risks in cross-border tobacco trafficking, but he is not worried about being caught, so he just sneaks out to sell tobacco. His elder brother will definitely be furious when he finds out, but he really doesn't want to live this hard life anymore. He doesn't want to wait even a minute longer. The mess at home is so bad that he feels bad when he looks at it for a second.

The man is dead and the eggs are upside down, let’s fight!

He drove the tractor very fast on the sparsely populated dirt road. After entering Fengyang County, he took a long detour through the suburbs. Before dawn, he successfully arrived at the Jiangchuan City Tobacco Station.

It was still early and there were not many people at the tobacco station. After parking the tractor, he ran to the sink in front of the toilet to wash his face. After washing, he looked at himself in the water. The sixteen-year-old boy was yellow and thin due to malnutrition. His cheeks were a little sunken, and his nose looked tall and straight like a Greek. He looked old and dull, and did not exude the youthful glow that was unique to his age. But this also had its advantages. The waxy face made him look more mature than his peers.

Zhang Yunqi searched his pocket for small bills, ran to a stall outside the tobacco station and bought a bag of soft white sand, then went back to the tobacco purchasing office and waited. After a while, the shutter door of the purchasing office opened, and a middle-aged man with a beard came out yawning.

Zhang Yunqi immediately went over to him, took out a cigarette and asked, "Uncle, when does the tobacco station collect cigarettes?"

"Nine o'clock, there are still ten minutes." The bearded man glanced at him and said, "Your accent sounds like you're from Fengyang?"

"Uncle, you have good eyesight! You are from Yunxi, Fengyang." Zhang Yunqi smiled and took out a piece of soft white sand and handed it to the bearded man. After all, he had to ask for help, so he acted like a grandson quite authentically.

The bearded man smiled and said, "Why don't people from Fengyang sell cigarettes in Fengyang County? Isn't it a waste of time to come here?"

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said, "That's not it. I heard that Jiangchuan City had enough rain this year, and the tobacco harvest was not good, which had a great impact on the city's tobacco purchasing plan. I figured that I could sell tobacco anywhere, but selling tobacco here would allow the tobacco station to collect more, which would be more meaningful and could also be considered a contribution to Jiangchuan City's fiscal revenue and the four modernizations."

The bearded man was amused. He had never seen someone talk about reselling tobacco in such a righteous way. "Little guy, you are quite good at talking. Come in with me."

This year, Jiangchuan City's tobacco purchase quota does not meet the target, and the staff of the Tobacco Station will not have an easy life. People like Zhang Yunqi who take risks and come here to sell cigarettes are really contributing to the Jiangchuan City Tobacco Station's completion of the purchase quota. There is no reason for the bearded man to do something that harms others and does not benefit himself. Basically, people from other places who come to Jiangchuan City to sell cigarettes are warmly welcomed.

Zhang Yunqi unloaded bundles of flue-cured tobacco from the tractor, untied the ropes, and the bearded man rated them one by one.

Tobacco is priced according to grade, and is divided into upper level one and upper level two, middle level one and middle level two, and the final level. The middle level refers to the tobacco leaves from the middle branches, which are the most expensive, with middle level one being 4 yuan and level two being 3 yuan; the upper level refers to the top tobacco leaves, which are the second most expensive because of their high nicotine and tar content, with upper level one being 3 yuan and level two being 2 yuan.

Of course, the concepts of grade one and grade two are very vague, especially in the early 90s. The judgment depended entirely on the eyesight of technicians. The judgment criteria of technicians were not only based on the quality of flue-cured tobacco, but also on the purchasing situation. If some areas failed to reach the purchasing quota stipulated by the state, technicians would upgrade the grade of flue-cured tobacco, thereby raising the purchasing price in disguise. If some areas had a surplus of flue-cured tobacco, the grade would be lowered, resulting in a low price.

Jiangchuan City obviously belongs to the former.

In Fengyang County, the price of flue-cured tobacco of middle grade II is 3 yuan, while that of middle grade I is 4 yuan in Jiangchuan City. This leaves room for profit, but the bearded man is very serious in his businesslike manner. In the end, out of the 300 kilograms of flue-cured tobacco that Zhang Yunqi brought over, 213 kilograms were rated as middle grade I and 87 kilograms as middle grade II.

After rating the scale, Zhang Yunqi felt relieved that this one would be profitable!
He stuffed the remaining half of the pack of cigarettes into the bearded man's pocket and said, "Thank you for your help, uncle. I'll come over to sell cigarettes tomorrow. Please take care of me."

The bearded man smiled and said, "It's not a big deal. I just hope you don't forget your original intention and continue to contribute to Jiangchuan City's fiscal revenue and the four modernizations."

Zhang Yunqi agreed quickly and flattered the bearded man before taking the receipt to the finance office. After paying the money, he started his return journey. He was unsure about what would happen at home if he went to Jiangchuan City to sell cigarettes without telling his elder brother.

Sure enough, when he drove to the door of his house, Zhang Yunfeng heard the noise and ran out angrily.

******
(End of this chapter)