eurekapd Chapter 1039 Bargaining
Chapter 1039 Bargaining
"Dad!" Li Jianghe jumped down from the exhaust pipe that was still emitting steam, and staggered towards the curled up figure on the side of the road.
Fortunately, the car was not going very fast, and Li Dao just lay on his side on the gravel road. When the five tractors behind him caught up, the brothers of the Iron Blood Society surrounded them, and the leader Wang Sanke shouted at the top of his voice: "Brother Qi, do you want a hand? There must be a hundred people here!"
"Everyone, disperse! He must have suffered from heat stroke. It's even more troublesome if people are piled together and there's no ventilation."
Zhou Qi waved away the crowd. He noticed that Li Dao's lips were blue, which was similar to the symptoms of his excessive blood donation that year. After he donated 800cc of blood, he could not even stand up because of the white mist in front of his eyes.
When the tractor team got back on the road, the people on the ground finally recovered: "It's just... everything looks white..."
"Sold blood?"
Zhou Qi squatted down and looked at the fresh needle marks on the man's arm. "Six hundred a day, are you trying to kill yourself?"
"I thought I was strong enough that selling this little blood wouldn't be a big deal."
Li Dao propped himself up and sat up, his chest heaving violently: "Who would have thought that I would feel so powerless these past few days, even breathing is difficult."
Li Qiang stared at his father's blue lips, his throat clogging up: "Dad, if I had known you were going to suffer this, I would rather not go to this school."
"Nonsense! How can you have such an idea?"
Li Dao reached out to pat his son's shoulder, but his arm was too weak to lift:
"Take a rest for two days and eat a few eggs and you'll be fine. Besides, I drank a whole bowl of salt water before selling blood, so drawing this little blood won't hurt anything."
Zhou Qi put the motorcycle key in his pocket and said, "If you have any troubles at home, just come to me. When you recover, I'll take you to a restaurant in town to replenish your energy."
"What restaurant are we going to?"
Li Dao waved his hands repeatedly: "We have eggs and old hens at home. We can just weigh half a pound of pork belly later. How can we afford to eat in those big restaurants?"
It was not until dusk that Li Dao, who had been slumped in the rattan chair for almost two incense sticks of time, began to show some color on his face.
Zhou Qi got on his rumbling motorcycle and headed straight for Juxianglou, the most imposing building in Lailong Town.
Doctor Wang and his son were already waiting in the private room. Wang Bangqiang poured tea for everyone attentively: "Boss Zhou has seen a lot of delicacies from land and sea. Today, I have prepared some rare things in the city for you."
As he spoke, he lifted the lid of the steaming casserole, and the spicy and fresh aroma rushed straight to his head.
“Don’t miss out on the main dishes you should order.”
Zhou Qi pushed Li Dao to the main seat: "This old man has been selling blood for three consecutive days, he needs to replenish his energy."
"Boss, you sold your blood?"
The tea bowl in Gao Guizhen's hand slammed down on the table, and the tea splashed all over the table.
"What's a little blood loss for a grown man?"
Li Dao tore off a piece of scallion pancake nonchalantly: "Eat a full meal and you'll be back to life."
In a blink of an eye, the eight-immortal table was filled to the brim. The bright red spicy crayfish piled up like a small mountain, the silver fish soup shone like pearls, and there were also stir-fried frogs, wild mushrooms and stewed pheasants, and other rural delicacies.
Wang Bangqiang specially brought a basin of clean water, in which were several lively green-shelled shrimps swimming.
"These are all wild fish caught in Ergan River."
He picked up a crayfish with its claws bared by its whiskers and said, "Most of the shrimps sold in restaurants in the city nowadays are raised in ponds. How can they be as fresh and sweet as our river shrimps?"
As he spoke, he broke off the plump shrimp tails - the chefs at that time were particular about only using the tenderest part of the shrimp tails for cooking, unlike later generations who just put the whole shrimp into the pot to save trouble.
“They are all wild products freshly caught from rivers and lakes.”
Wang Bangqiang picked up the teapot to refill Zhou Qi's water, and the boiling water almost splashed onto the tablecloth:
"My brother made a lot of money with Boss Zhou, and he said he would build three bright tile houses for the old man in the fall! If this kid were in town, he would kowtow to you three times."
Across the round table, Li Jiang and his family of four held their chopsticks tightly, not daring to move, staring at the braised pig's trotters and swallowing their saliva.
The waitress in a floral dress lifted the curtain and poked her head in: "What would you like to drink? We just got a new bottle of Jueshi Fenghua, 50 cents a bottle, very affordable!"
"The world is prosperous!"
Wang Bangqiang slammed the table so hard that the dishes jingled: "Boss Zhou is here, of course we drink our own signature wine!"
"But Shengshi Tianxia wants 60 cents."
The waiter counted on his fingers as he reported the bill: "Although the price of Peerless Fenghua has dropped, it smells pretty good!"
Zhou Qi placed the cup in his hand on the turntable with a click: "Bring both! Didn't Jiang He pass the imperial examination? It's a good opportunity to ask for a good fortune of 'passing the imperial examination' and 'winning the imperial examination'."
As he spoke, he took out his reading glasses, and the reflection from the lenses obscured the coldness in his eyes.
After the waiter came in with two boxes of wine, Zhou Qi first picked up the blue bottle of Shengshi Tianxia and rubbed his thumb over the raised anti-counterfeiting patterns on the bottle.
The gold-plated dragon on the wine label looks vivid, but the price seems wrong - the authentic product sells for at least one dollar and fifty cents in the city, so how come it is reduced to only sixty cents here?
“When will Bangguo return to the village?”
Zhou Qi asked suddenly, and out of the corner of his eye he saw that the Wang brothers froze at the same time.
The peanuts in Wang Bangqiang's hand fell into the vinegar dish with a "plop", splashing brown water in the silent box.
"Brother Qi, is there anything wrong with this wine?"
"Nothing, I'm just curious why the price can be so much cheaper?" Zhou Qi turned the bottle around and looked at it.
Wang Bangqiang scratched his head. "I was confused when the waiter quoted the price just now. This wine usually costs 1.5 yuan, but today it suddenly dropped to 60 cents. Bangguo said he went to the neighboring county to explore the market and said he wanted to open up new channels."
"You haven't even sorted out your own territory, but you're in a hurry to run away."
Zhou Qi knocked the bottle of wine on the table and said, "Don't just pick sesame seeds outside, or your watermelon will be taken away by someone else."
These words made the Wang family father and son break out in cold sweats, and they exchanged glances.
"Mr. Zhou, what did you find?"
"I feel like this wine isn't right. Open the bottle and try it."
As soon as Zhou Qi said this, more than a dozen pairs of eyes turned to him when everyone heard that there was something wrong with "Prosperous World".
"Don't be nervous, I'm just surprised that the price has dropped so sharply. Let's eat and drink well first, and we'll talk later."
Zhou Qi hurriedly tried to smooth things over, but he was thinking in his heart: If the price hadn't been adjusted, I would have probably encountered a counterfeit product.
After three rounds of drinks, even Li Qianglong and his sister raised their glasses.
"You two kids, just take a couple of sips to show your appreciation." As Zhou Qi finished speaking, the two young people quickly nodded.
Putting down the wine glass, Zhou Qi asked everyone: "Do you think this wine tastes right?"
Wang Bangqiang smacked his lips and said, "It's no different from what I drank before."
"Old man, can you check it?"
"I am a doctor who doesn't usually drink alcohol, so I don't know how to drink."
While everyone was still toasting, Zhou Qi went to the cashier counter to ask the boss a question and handed him a cigarette: "What's your name, boss?"
"Just call me Lao Shi, Shi Qiang."
The boss took the cigarette and moved closer to the flame: "You also found that the price of the wine is wrong?"
"I remember this wine normally sells for 1.5 yuan. Now the price is cut in half, isn't it too outrageous?"
"I heard it's a new supplier."
Shi Qiang lowered his voice and said, "They are very secretive. They said they will first distribute the product in limited quantities and then increase the quantity once the market opens up."