Chapter 5: Golden Opportunity

Su Pingnan was going into the pine-nut business. The memories in his head made him decide on this immediately.

For the next thirty-plus years, the pine-nut business would be one of Tiannan Province’s largest export trades. Countless people made fortunes from it, showing how hugely profitable it was.

Su Pingnan’s forceful personality showed clearly in his plan. He intended to seize this golden opportunity to the fullest—controlling production and sales end-to-end. If he was going into the market, he wanted the biggest share.

Tiannan Province was Xia Country’s largest mountain-goods exporting province, and Feng City, 700 kilometers from Wucheng, accounted for 80% of Tiannan Province’s share.

And 90% of Feng City’s output was concentrated around the Baishan area, Ertai Town and several other townships.

Su Pingnan’s golden opportunity came from a local, idiosyncratic policy in Feng City.

That policy was that all pine nuts in Feng City could only be sold to a single local produce company subordinate to the local Forestry Bureau—no external sales allowed.

At that time, Wucheng’s transport infrastructure and outlook were far ahead of the remote Feng City. Huge volumes of goods flowing out of the mountains were routed through Wucheng to Yungang, one of Xia Country’s earliest ports opened during the reforms.

Yungang attracted many Japanese merchants, and pine nuts had long been believed by their people to have health benefits, so demand exceeded supply. The Japanese merchants at Yungang bought almost everything available, and first-grade pine nuts in Wucheng’s agricultural market were already being speculated up to 7 yuan per jin, with more buyers than goods.

Su Pingnan set his sights on Ertai Town in Feng City.

Although pine nuts were highly profitable, Feng City’s local produce company kept prices at the origin very low. To maintain the monopoly, road transport of pine nuts was practically impossible—the local Forestry Bureau kept a tight lock-down.

Su Pingnan had thought it through: he would use the railway. At that time, the railway system was somewhat autonomous. A local Feng City policy was like wind on their ears—easy to ignore.

Back in Wucheng, Su Pingnan immediately acted swiftly. He didn’t have much time.

Next year, Feng City would realize its mistake and quickly revoke the policy. By then Tiannan Province, to encourage private enterprise, would grant import-export permits to companies with registered capital above 300,000 yuan—so Su Pingnan only had a short six months. He had to reach a certain scale within that half year to have any chance of continuing.

Everyone around Su Pingnan began operating at full force.

Su Pingnan understood that whether this route would work depended on three key positions.

One: the freight-yard attendant at Ertai Town station. The attendant held much power; the freight director mostly just signed off, while loading and sealing depended on the attendant. If necessary, he could even bypass the director to get you railcars.

Two: the train conductors on the Ertai Town–Wucheng run. As long as they didn’t cooperate with Feng City’s local inspections, cargo could enter Wucheng’s freight yard openly under the guise of other goods.

Three: a powerful local boss in Ertai Town who could help Su Pingnan sweep up pine nuts and avoid the local Forestry Bureau’s attention.

Su Pingnan’s orders to his people were blunt and direct: I don’t care how you do it, I want to make friends with the train conductors running the Ertai Town route.

A person suggested by Guo Guangyao entered Su Pingnan’s view.

Zhang Tong, the son of an old conductor, Zhang Jianguo, who ran the Wucheng–Feng City line.

Zhang Tong was the second son and it had been made clear early on that his elder brother would take over, so he was resentful at home. After graduating from technical school, he had no job, so he loitered in Wucheng every day, was rough in manner, and a petty thug.

Beneath the department store in front of Wucheng South Station was a pool hall. In an era with little entertainment, it became a gathering place for the unemployed and small-time ruffians, thick with cigarette smoke and filth.

With a cigarette between his lips, Zhang Tong watched the rolling balls with a sullen face, muttering curses under his breath.

He was betting on the game—2 yuan for each ball sunk into a pocket—and he was already five behind, ten yuan. For Zhang Tong, with no steady income, that was already a heavy burden.

Bang! The pool hall’s door was kicked open heavily, and the accumulated cigarette smoke billowed out as if the place were on fire to anyone looking from outside.

Discontented curses immediately rose inside the hall. Zhang Tong, furious at losing, cursed along.

Some sharp-eyed people quickly recognized who the men were that kicked the door. The news spread fast and the pool hall fell silent.

Zhang Tong also recognized who had come: the head enforcer of the South Station freight yard, Little Red Robe’s right-hand man, Yang Qianli. He immediately clamped his mouth shut.

These people were truly fierce. Zhang Tong usually had a high opinion of himself, but he was honestly impressed by them. He had been at the scene when the members of the Sihairen gang were driven away, and it had made his legs weak.

“Who is Zhang Tong?” Yang Qianli scanned the room. The light was dim and it was hard to make anyone out, so he called out loudly.

“Me,” Zhang Tong answered through gritted teeth.

Yang Qianli stared at Zhang Tong for a long time. His expression became awkward when he remembered what Su Pingnan had told him to do.

Among Su Pingnan’s three subordinates, Su Wenwen was ruthless but smooth-tongued, Guo Guangyao handled affairs steadily and was very sociable dealing with others. Only Yang Qianli, aside from being ruthless, was a taciturn lump. Making him build relationships with people was nearly impossible.

Su Wenwen was assigned by Su Pingnan to find places to store large amounts of pine nuts, and Guo Guangyao had to stay at the freight yard, so Su Pingnan had no choice but to send Yang Qianli to find this guy. Knowing his bro’s temperament, he specifically instructed him to be very polite—extra polite.

Yang Qianli stewed for a long time, unable to grasp what “extra polite” meant. Finally, he sighed inwardly and whispered: “Brother Tong, my big brother wants to invite you to dinner.”

Zhang Tong stared at the fierce man who had choked on that line for so long and was terrified inwardly. After a stunned silence he stammered out, “Okay, big brother.”

Everyone would later laugh at Yang Qianli about this for a long time to come.