Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 29: Pulling the Price
"Did you catch it?" someone asked.

"That's right," Yu Qiutang said with a smile, "If it wasn't caught, how could it have run into my bag on its own initiative?"

"What should we do?"

Most of the people who deal in wild animals travel far and wide. After some trials, they found that Yu Qiutang was not as easy to fool as he seemed, so they began to try to ask about the price.

Yu Qiutang doesn’t know how much he can sell for now.

When he first arrived, he noticed other people buying and selling wild rabbits on the road. A dead wild rabbit was basically sold for one yuan per pound, and if it was alive, it could be sold for about two yuan per pound.

That means an adult fat rabbit costs about six or seven yuan.

But even if it is a wild rabbit, you need to take chances to catch it alive. This guy is timid and has weak resistance. He will be scared to death if you are not careful. Even if he is not dead when you catch him, he may die if you take him home and lock him up overnight.

Most of the ones sold on the street are dead.

Only relatively wealthy officials or wealthy businessmen would want to eat live rabbits. Small restaurants or steamed rabbit stalls basically only sell dead rabbits.

A live rabbit can be sold for six or seven yuan, and a small civet cat is even more precious. He expects the price to be at least fifteen yuan, and he should be willing to try doubling it.

"What price do you offer? I only have this one thing, and since several of you are asking, I will definitely sell it for the highest price."

Yu Qiutang showed a bit of "honesty" at the right time and threw out the difficult question.

Wait for them to make an offer before you can make adjustments.

"Your stuff, you name a price, we'll take it if we can afford it, if not, you can just keep selling it."

"Yes, that's right. Just bargain."

These people were all old foxes, each one smarter than the other, and they started to fight with Yu Qiutang.

Yu Qiutang said: "I said it's not appropriate. You guys don't want what I want, so you're all scared away."

"Look at you kid, you are joking. We are doing business outside, and you can scare us away. You think we are not easily scared. Just say whatever you want, we are sure we can handle it."

"Okay, thirty yuan, whoever likes it can take it." Seeing that these people were not willing to offer a price, Yu Qiutang decided to offer a price. There were two children waiting over there, so he couldn't stay here for too long.

"Why don't you go and rob it?!" someone blurted out immediately, and turned away angrily, as if he had suffered a great injustice.

"You kid, I told you to bid properly, but you didn't listen at all. What you said was a price. You were just fooling us."

"I can't sell it. I bought a black-footed civet cat a few days ago. It's in better condition than this one, but I can't get it for this price."

"..."

These people had just pretended not to bid because Yu Qiutang hadn't made any bids. After Yu Qiutang made his bid, they all started saying it was too expensive.

This is their usual tactic. Through repeated pulling and pulling, they gradually wear down Yu Qiutang's patience so that they can take advantage of him in the end.

Yu Qiutang certainly understood all this, so he smiled and said, "I've already announced the price. If any of you can afford it, just pay up, take the item and leave. If you think it's too expensive, you can find another one."

After saying this, he was neither hurried nor panicked, and looked leisurely. He was totally different from the young man who didn't understand the market as everyone imagined. Instead, he looked more like an old man who had experienced a lot.

"Brother, tell me clearly, how much is this thing worth?" Someone started to test again.

"Didn't I call out the price?"

"The price you quoted is too low. It's impossible to sell it. Just tell me, brother, I really want it."

"If you really want it, just name the price. What's the point of haggling with me?" "I'll give you 14. What do you think?"

This person was the first to give a clear price. When Yu Qiutang heard the number 14, he had a rough idea in his mind.

It seems that 20 yuan is not out of reach, and it is still possible to earn it with a little effort.

"Brother, you are playing a trick on me. I asked for 30, but you reduced it to 14. People usually pay back one or two dollars. Are you cutting my heel?"

"14 is not enough, this price is very reasonable," the man pretended to be enthusiastic, and seeing that Yu Qiutang was unmoved, he gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I'll give you two more yuan, 16 yuan, I really can't give you more!"

"Then I'll wait for others." Yu Qiutang smiled politely, but he had no intention of selling anything.

The man smiled awkwardly and said nothing more.

At this time, the number of onlookers not only did not decrease, but was even greater than before. Most of them were vendors carrying bags, mixed with a small number of mountain people who came to watch the fun.

Only then did Yu Qiutang realize that he still did not fully understand how precious the civet was. From the looks of the mountain people and hunters, it could be seen that they all cherished this creature very much.

It's not something that everyone can easily come across.

This strengthened his determination to ask for a higher price.

"Young man, I'll give you one more piece, give me 17 yuan." A female vendor said nearby.

Yu Qiutang still shook his head, "Not enough."

"You can't just name a price and then not move. You're a young man, how can you do business with a fixed price? Business is all about negotiation. Can't you be cheaper and give everyone a real price?"

"Can I make it cheaper? Okay, since you really want it, I'll give you a lower price, 26 yuan, fixed price." Yu Qiutang was very obedient and didn't continue to be stern.

"I can't sell it. I can't sell it." Some people shook their heads and left. They probably didn't see any hope and thought they wouldn't make much money even if they got it.

Only half of the people are left.

One of the old men, who was about fifty years old, squatted down, looked around at the little civet, and asked with a smile: "Young man, can I see this little guy?"

Yu Qiutang also squatted down and took off the bag, revealing the original appearance of the little civet cat. "Look, when I caught it, I hit its legs with an axe, so there is something wrong with one of its legs, but it does not affect the integrity of its skin, and the rest is fine."

"Let me take a look."

The old man squatted down and changed his angle, looking at the belly of the little civet cat. Suddenly his eyes lit up, as if he had discovered something interesting.

Yu Qiutang had been paying attention to his expression. Seeing this, he followed the old man's gaze and was slightly startled. He instantly knew what the old man was thinking.

He pushed the little civet into the bag and didn't look at it carefully. He was just thinking about feeding it and not starving it to death. Just now, when the old man reminded him, he found that the bumps on the little guy's chest were very rosy and the hair had become very thin.

It turns out this little civet is also a mother.

Judging from her size and fur, the little civet has probably been fed for a while and is now full-term and can be semi-free-range.

"Young man, I can give you 26 yuan, but you have to promise me one thing."

Yu Qiutang didn't expect that he could really sell so many, but after a little thought, he understood the old man's idea, so he smiled and asked: "Brother, do you want me to tell you where I caught this black-footed civet cat?"

The old man was startled when he heard this, and subconsciously asked back: "How do you know?"

(End of this chapter)