Reborn in 1981, starting by smashing my iron rice bowl.

After all that, it turned out Liu Weidong wanted to buy a clivia, which disappointed Guo Yang, who had just perked up a bit. Clivias aren't worth much; they're only a few yuan a plant.

For private customers like Liu Weidong, buying ten or so trees at a time is the most they can manage, and the business would only be worth a few dozen yuan at most.

Therefore, Guo Yang felt that Liu Weidong was making a mountain out of a molehill. For just a few clivia plants, he actually took a long-distance bus all the way from the neighboring city to Xichun. He must have had too much time on his hands!

However, since the conversation had already gone this far, Guo Yang couldn't very well ignore him, so he asked with little interest, "So, how much does Comrade Liu plan to buy?"

Liu Weidong smiled faintly and gestured a number to Guo Yang: "Eight hundred trees!"

"What?!" Guo Yang was taken aback and looked Liu Weidong up and down, saying, "Comrade Liu, you're not joking with me, are you?"

Liu Weidong said seriously, "How could that be? I even brought the money with me, look!"

As Liu Weidong spoke, he pulled out a thick wad of ten-yuan notes from his pocket and waved them in front of Guo Yang.

Guo Yang perked up immediately and stood up, saying, "Comrade Liu, I'll take you to see the clivia right now!"

Hualong Nursery was huge, and the area where they grew clivia was quite remote. So Guo Yang specially arranged for two bicycles to accompany Liu Weidong to see the clivia.

This is indeed the largest nursery in the surrounding cities, with over a thousand pots of clivia plants, neatly arranged in the ground.

Guo Yang proudly said to Liu Weidong, "Comrade Liu, you've come to the right place. I can tell you with absolute certainty that apart from our Hualong Nursery, nowhere else could you possibly have that many clivia plants to sell to you!"

Liu Weidong nodded with a smile and said, "These clivias are indeed quite good. Manager Guo, please name your price."

Guo Yang pondered for a moment and said, "These clivia plants of this size would sell for at least eight or nine yuan each on the market right now. But since you're buying in large quantities, I'll give you a wholesale price of seven yuan each. How about that?"

Liu Weidong looked at the large patch of clivia in front of him and nodded readily, saying, "No problem, but Manager Guo, you have to pick the biggest ones for me!"

Actually, Guo Yang had initially offered this price expecting Liu Weidong to haggle. He hadn't expected Liu Weidong to agree so readily, leaving him completely flustered. All the bargaining arguments he had prepared were stuck in his throat, almost causing him to burst out laughing.

Seeing Guo Yang's constipated expression, Liu Weidong guessed what was wrong and chuckled inwardly. He knew perfectly well that if he bargained with the other party, he could save a lot of money, maybe several hundred yuan!

However, Liu Weidong wasn't sure when others would start hyping up clivia; it might have already begun. Guo Yang was in the industry, and if he found out about the price increase, he wouldn't be able to buy clivia even for seventy-one yuan apiece, let alone seven yuan! Therefore, to avoid any unforeseen complications, Liu Weidong had no intention of haggling.

It took Guo Yang a while to come to his senses. He stared in disbelief and said, "Comrade Liu, you are such a straightforward person. Doing business with you is such a pleasure!"

"That's right, I hate all that fussing and haggling, it's so boring!" Liu Weidong said with a smile. "But I haven't haggled at all, and I'd like to ask Manager Guo for a favor, what do you say?"

Guo Yang immediately tensed up and said cautiously, "Comrade Liu, as long as I can do it and it doesn't violate any regulations, I certainly won't refuse!"

Liu Weidong said seriously, "When I came in, I saw a truck parked inside the gate. I have no way to transport so many clivia plants back home, so I would like to trouble Manager Guo to send a car to help me deliver them to my home. That's all I ask."

This request was indeed not unreasonable, and Guo Yang immediately felt relieved, readily agreeing, "It's my duty, Comrade Liu, don't worry, I will definitely ensure that this batch of clivia is delivered to your home safely!"

Now that the terms were agreed upon, the rest was easy. Guo Yang immediately found the nursery workers, who poured the clivia plants out of the pots, neatly stacked them in willow baskets, and then loaded them onto the truck.

Liu Weidong counted that each willow basket could hold about twenty clivia plants. The workers filled forty-three baskets in total, which meant there were at least eight hundred plants.

Since Guo Yang was so straightforward, Liu Weidong naturally didn't hesitate and immediately counted out five thousand six hundred yuan for him.

Back then, there were no hundred-yuan bills, only ten-yuan notes. Five thousand six hundred yuan was quite a thick stack. Guo Yang counted it three or four times before nodding with a smile and saying, "The money is correct, Comrade Liu, have a safe journey!"

Since there were delivery trucks available, Liu Weidong naturally wouldn't waste money taking a long-distance bus. He simply stayed in the cab and guided the driver. After several more hours of bumpy travel, they finally returned to the village.

The large truck stopped right next to Liu Weidong's private plot of land, and the nursery workers accompanying it began unloading. This scene quickly attracted the attention of others, and many people gathered around to watch the spectacle.

Although everyone in the village knew beforehand that Liu Weidong planned to plant flowers on his private plot, they were all astonished when they saw so many flowers and plants being unloaded from the truck. It turned out that Liu Weidong was serious about it!

Aunt Zhao from next door was the first to come and see what was going on. As she watched baskets of clivia being unloaded from the truck, she couldn't help but whisper to Liu Weidong, "Weidong, so many flowers, they must have cost a lot of money, right?"

Of course, Liu Weidong wouldn't tell anyone that he spent over five thousand yuan to buy these clivia plants. He simply said casually, "It's alright, it didn't cost much."

However, Aunt Zhao didn't quite believe it. If these flowers were worthless, would they be delivered by truck? That's just nonsense!

Liu Weidong also noticed this and immediately smiled at Aunt Zhao, saying, "Aunt Zhao, didn't I say last time that neighbors your age can also make money? Now the opportunity has come!"

Aunt Zhao immediately forgot about the price of clivia and eagerly asked, "How do you make money?"

"There are at least eight hundred clivia plants here, all of which need to be planted in the flowerpots I bought beforehand," Liu Weidong said with a smile. "Now that the soil is ready, I'd like to hire a few people to plant all the clivias. Older people tend to be more meticulous and are better suited for this kind of work, don't you think?"

Aunt Zhao naturally wouldn't object, so Liu Weidong continued, "These flowers need to be planted as soon as possible, because they'll die if left too long. You definitely can't plant them all by yourself, so I'm planning to hire four or five people to help, ten yuan each, and they need to be planted before dark!"

Liu Weidong's words made sense, and Aunt Zhao naturally wouldn't object. She immediately called her friends and started working.

For these old farmers, growing flowers is their old profession, and they quickly finished planting all the clivias.

Liu Weidong simply gave each person a ten-yuan note, and the elderly villagers happily went home.

Looking at the neat rows of clivia plants, Liu Weidong was overjoyed and whispered to Wang Shujuan beside him, "Sister, these are all money!"

Wang Shujuan smiled sweetly at Liu Weidong, but before she could say anything, Aunt Zhao rushed back and shouted, "Weidong, Shujuan, hurry back, your uncle is here!"