webnovelfull Chapter 424 Busy Until Late at Night
Chapter 424 Busy Until Late at Night
The two followed closely behind him.
Between this mountain and the mountain diagonally opposite, there is a ravine that is neither too deep nor too shallow.
Traveling during the day might not be a big deal, but traveling in the dark on a rainy night is a completely different story.
Qiu Dayong chose a route that cut across the mountainside, a path so narrow that only one person could pass at a time.
To the left is a gentle slope covered with shrubs, and to the right is a dark ravine. You can't see how deep it is, but you can hear the faint sound of water flowing.
"Watch your step, this stone is loose," Qiu Dayong said, walking in front and turning back every now and then to remind him.
His flashlight shone on the road ahead, the beam of light jumping between the gravel and tree roots, leaving behind a patch of flickering light on the ground.
Blue Moon walked in the middle, carrying a bag in one hand and holding onto a tree trunk by the roadside with the other to maintain her balance.
I stumbled along, stepping on loose stones several times, my body swaying slightly before I quickly regained my balance.
Xu Xiaoyan brought up the rear, her steps were more steady than the first two, but she didn't dare to be careless. If she fell, not only would the pine resin in her bag spill out, but she would also get injured, which would be a huge loss.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, the road under our feet gradually widened, and the trees on both sides changed.
The silvery-white trunks of birch trees are becoming increasingly rare, replaced by the rough, dark brown bark of pine trees covered with scaly flakes.
The scent in the air changed, gradually transitioning from the distinctive astringent aroma of birch to the familiar and intense fragrance of pine resin.
"We've arrived." Qiu Dayong stopped and shone his flashlight forward, the beam sweeping across a small but dense pine forest.
This pine forest grows along the mountainside, extending from the mountainside all the way to the ridgeline.
The tree trunks weren't too thick, but they grew densely, one next to another, their canopies intertwining overhead to completely obscure the night sky.
Xu Xiaoyan took a deep breath; the scent of pine resin was much stronger than that of the mixed forest before.
She didn't even need to use a flashlight; just by the smell, she knew that this forest's resin yield was definitely much higher than the previous one.
"How big is this area?" Blue Moon couldn't contain herself any longer, sweeping the beam of her flashlight back and forth through the forest as if measuring the area of this "battlefield".
"It's just a small part of the mountain," Qiu Dayong said, slinging the woven bag back over his shoulder. "From here, all the way up to the ridgeline, there are pine trees everywhere."
The other side of the ridge is full of birch trees. Stop studying these things and hurry up, or we'll be in trouble if others come.
After he finished speaking, he stepped into the pine forest, and the beam of his flashlight was immediately cut into countless fragments by the dense tree trunks.
Xu Xiaoyan and Lan Yue didn't linger any longer, each choosing a direction and dispersing.
It took the three of them nearly two hours to finally search through the small pine forest from beginning to end.
The beam of the flashlight lingered, swept, and lingered on the trunk of each pine tree, leaving no stone unturned in looking for any scars or cracks that might contain resin.
Xu Xiaoyan's fingertips were hardened by pine resin, and her nail crevices were filled with brown resin fragments that could not be scraped off even with a knife.
She carried the bag back to the agreed meeting point, under an exceptionally thick old pine tree.
She opened the bag and, using the light of her flashlight, roughly estimated that it weighed a little over five pounds, at most no more than six pounds.
Lan Yue and Qiu Dayong also emerged from the woods from different directions.
Blue Moon's trousers were covered in mud, and a few pine needles clung to her hair. She looked like she had rolled around in the forest, but her eyes were frighteningly bright.
Qiu Dayong, on the other hand, was in the best spirits. Although his face was covered in dust, his mouth was stretched almost to his ears, and the woven bag in his hand was bulging.
The three of them gathered the bags together, weighed them one by one, and looked at each other. They found that the weights were almost the same, all around five pounds, with a difference of no more than half a pound.
Qiu Dayong put the woven bag down on the ground, put his hands on his hips, tilted his head back and let out a long breath towards the dark night sky, his tone filled with an irrepressible elation:
"I'm rich! I'm rich! Adding what I found in that grove of trees, I've got at least eight or nine pounds tonight, that's sixty or seventy compressed biscuits!"
He counted on his fingers and said, "That's enough for me to rest for a while. I can lie down at the camp for a period of time without having to work!"
As he spoke, he spun around on the spot, almost tripping over his own foot, completely immersed in a dizzying excitement.
Xu Xiaoyan glanced down at her watch; the dial showed 23:02.
She turned her gaze away from her watch. "It's already 11 p.m., and the trading point won't open until 7 a.m. tomorrow."
Let's hurry back and rest, wash our hands, sleep for a few hours, and be among the first to exchange our currency tomorrow morning.
After she finished speaking, she looked at Lan Yue, who nodded, clearly thinking the same thing.
I've been exhausted for a whole day and night, my knees are so sore. If I don't go back and rest for a while, I'm afraid I won't even be able to stand up tomorrow.
However, Qiu Dayong shook his head. He tied the opening of the woven bag tightly, picked it up, and weighed it in his hand.
"I'm planning to bring a tent and camp out at the trading point to grab the best spot. As soon as it opens tomorrow, I'm going to be the first one to rush in and exchange my currency."
The two of them froze, exchanged a glance, and their faces were filled with confusion: "Was it really necessary to be in such a hurry?"
Xu Xiaoyan spoke first, her tone tinged with confusion, "Brother Qiu, is it really necessary to be in such a hurry?"
The trading point opens at 7:00 AM. If we get there early, we might be among the first to open, right? Is it really necessary to wait outside all night?
Blue Moon echoed, her voice carrying a hint of consolation:
"Yeah, it's so late at night, there's not even any shelter from the wind at the entrance of the trading point. It's so miserable for you to squat here all night. Can't you just get up earlier tomorrow?"
Qiu Dayong patted the dirt off his knees, turned to face the two men, and said, "You don't understand."
His voice calmed down, carrying the certainty of someone with experience: "Things are valued for their scarcity; you all understand that principle, right?"
The two nodded.
Qiu Dayong continued, "Let me put it this way, my hometown is a major tea-producing area. Do you know the tea market?"
Tea leaves picked before the Qingming Festival have tender buds, low yield, and good appearance. They are called "pre-Qingming tea" and can sell for 200 yuan per kilogram, and there is no guarantee that they will be available.
But once the Qingming Festival is over, just a few days before and after, tea plants grow like crazy, they're everywhere, and the price drops drastically.
Tea leaves harvested after Qingming Festival can only sell for 20 yuan per kilogram, which is less than a fraction of the price of tea harvested before Qingming Festival.
He held up two fingers to indicate the price difference, then withdrew one, his tone carrying the visceral pain of witnessing countless price discrepancies firsthand:
"Same tea trees, same mountain, same processing techniques, just a few days' difference, and the price is ten times different. Tell me, how can I not be anxious?"