Chapter 3 The First Bucket of Gold
For these government agencies, the amount of waste paper generated every day is no less than dozens of kilograms.
Just throw it away when you are done using it.
As for taking them to the scrap yard to sell them for money, they never consider this method. Firstly, it is embarrassing; secondly, it is far and laborious, so it is not worth it.
This young man is the first one who takes the initiative to collect waste paper at home.
"Boss, big brother, the money I give may not be much, but it's still enough to buy a few popsicles. Everyone is working so hard and hot here. No one will say anything if you sell some scraps and buy popsicles."
Shen Lin's words touched the middle-aged man. He glanced at the pile of newspapers in the back room of the office and asked, "How much do you charge for a pound of waste newspapers?"
"15 cents for 10 kilograms of waste paper."
At that time, the price of a popsicle was only two cents.
It would be great to exchange these useless things for a few popsicles. What's more, those piles of newspapers are not only useless but also take up space.
"Okay, then you can weigh them to see how many pounds they weigh." The skinny man said this and waved to a young man, "Xiao Li, pick up those useless old newspapers. We can sell them and buy popsicles."
Little Li looked to be in his early twenties. Hearing what the skinny man said, he rubbed his hands excitedly and said, "Oh my, Brother Chen is really thinking about us. These newspapers are useless if we just throw them away. We can kill two birds with one stone by exchanging them for popsicles."
At this point, he pointed to a pile of discarded books and said, "Hey, buddy, do you want these books?"
"Yes, seeing that you are all well-educated and cultured people, I can give you the price of 1.6 cents per ten pounds for the books." Shen Lin smiled naively, looking sincere.
"Okay, then come over and clean up."
Shen Lin came prepared. When he saw that the first deal was done, he quickly took out a few ropes from his pocket and quickly tied up the books.
In the office, the fan was still spinning, some people were working, some were chatting, and except for Xiao Li who occasionally took out some old newspapers and magazines, basically no one paid attention to Shen Lin who was bundling things.
Shen Lin finished eight bundles quickly and efficiently in just a short while.
He weighed the waste newspapers with a beam scale and took a deep breath in his heart.
It’s less than 400 kilograms, so if you calculate the price, it’s about 50 cents.
Tsk tsk, this was only the first deal and he almost lost all his capital, it was really cruel!
However, once these waste papers are transported to the waste collection station, you can make a lot of money, and your capital will be more sufficient.
Shen Lin, overjoyed, took out his only fifty cents and said in a generous tone: "Brother Leader, I should give you forty-seven and six cents for these waste papers and books. Forget the change, it's not worth it. Take this fifty cents."
Oh, there is an unexpected gain.
The skinny old He held the fifty cents in his hand, and his thin face smiled even more: "Oh, it's not easy for you either, this money is a bit too much!"
"It's okay. It's the first time, but we'll get used to it the second time. You take care of me so much, so I naturally can't be stingy with you." Shen Lin still looked naive.
This attitude can easily win people's favor.
Shen Lin is well versed in the ways of the world.
"Hahaha, you're a good boy!" Lao He patted Shen Lin on the shoulder and said with a smile.
Shen Lin's kindness really won Lao He's favor.
It's rare to find such sensible young people these days .
Shen Lin didn't dare to stay. After a few polite words, he quickly ran towards where he parked the flatbed cart. He wanted to make a few more trips while there was still some time before the end of the get off work at noon.
When I was in the office, although the air was hot, the running fan still brought some coolness.
Now running outside, Shen Lin suddenly felt the scorching sun, sweat kept pouring out, and his body was sticky.
Eight bundles of waste newspapers filled up the flatbed truck. Under the scorching sun, Shen Lin felt his throat starting to burn.
Drops of sweat kept flowing down his face. Although he could pull more than 400 kilograms of waste paper, Shen Lin still staggered forward under the scorching sun.
How could Shen Lin, who had been pampered since childhood, have ever done such a job?
According to his memory, Shen Lin came to a scrap collection station three miles away from his home.
This scrap collection station is quite large. On the rusty gate, five big bright red characters "Scrap Collection Station" are prominently written on a piece of tin.
When Shen Lin walked into the purchasing station, he saw a fat, fair-skinned middle-aged man in a blue work suit smoking leisurely.
"Boss, I have some old newspapers and magazines here. What price can you offer?" Shen Lin greeted the fat man with a smile on his face.
"Old newspapers are 1.3 cents per pound, and books are 1.5 cents per pound!"
Three cents, five cents!
Hearing this price, Shen Lin breathed a sigh of relief. The current price at the scrap collection station is a little higher than he remembered.
In other words, he can earn a little more.
"There's a scale over there. Move all your stuff over there and I'll show you how much it weighs." The fat man took a puff of his cigarette, glanced at Shen Lin's newspapers and said, "You have quite a lot of newspapers. Where did you get them from?"
"My uncle's unit asked me to bring these old newspapers here." Shen Lin said with a smile as he thought about it.
Although there is no technical skill involved in collecting waste, inventing a non-existent backer may have an unexpected effect.
The fat man looked at Shen Lin, who was covered in sweat but looked clean and refreshed, and felt that this young man was different from the previous rag pickers.
He smiled and said, "Your uncle treats you well. By the way, when you weigh yourself, put the magazine inside the book."
This sentence naturally meant to give a hint, so Shen Lin quickly agreed: "Okay, thank you for your help!"
Putting more than 400 kilograms of books and newspapers on the scale twice, the fat man leisurely moved the sliding weight on the scale and said, "Books weigh 110 kilograms, newspapers weigh 290 kilograms."
As he spoke, he took out a red ticket book and wrote something on it: "Go, go to the finance office to get the money."
Walking out of the finance office, Shen Lin had a thick stack of banknotes in his hand.
One dollar, forty-two cents, this is the money Shen Lin has in his hand now.
Holding the money, Shen Lin felt a burning sensation in his heart.
After gulping down a bellyful of cold water from the tap at the scrap collection station, Shen Lin felt much more energetic!
Humming a little tune, he pulled the flatbed cart towards the office building again.
"Kid, how much is the ice cream?"
"Ice cream, delicious cream ice cream, five cents a piece!"
A kid wearing a straw hat, who looked to be about ten years old, was riding a bicycle.
On the rear rack of the bicycle was a wooden box painted white, covered with a small black and blue checkered quilt.
On the side of the box, the word "ice cream" was written in big red letters.
Shen Lin hasn't seen this kind of ice cream selling situation for many years.
Shen Lin, with sweat dripping down his face, felt his throat becoming dry again.
Although his stomach was full of cold water, he felt very thirsty at this moment.
Seeing that business was coming, the child stopped the car and said, "The cream ice cream from the First Ice Cream Factory, packaged, is five cents a piece, and popsicles are one cent each. How about one?"
Five cents a piece!
Shen Lin smacked his lips and finally said, "Give me four ices... no, four popsicles!"
Shen Lin gritted his teeth.
Four ice creams, this is a big deal. The child with the straw hat said in surprise: "Okay, I'll get it for you right away!"
As he was talking, the child took out four pieces of ice cream wrapped in green plastic and handed them to Shen Lin, saying, "Here, this ice cream is so sweet and tastes like milk!"
Shen Lin took out two dimes and handed it to the child. He placed four popsicles in the shade under the handlebars and walked towards the office building in two steps.
"Busy!" Shen Lin walked in with a smile on his face and said, "I just met a cold drink seller and I brought a few for you on the way. Eat them quickly while they're still cool, before they melt."
As he spoke, Shen Lin handed over four ice cream sticks.
"Oh! There's still ice cream?"
Shen Lin's actions greatly surprised the office staff.
They never imagined that the rag collector would not only pay for the waste paper, but also take the initiative to give them ice cream.
For an ice cream that costs five cents a stick, even those civil servants with stable jobs would hesitate for a long time before buying it. After all, it is too expensive.
Xiao Li looked at the paper wrapped around the ice cream and immediately exclaimed, "Oh, it's still cream ice cream, not bad!"
As he spoke, he picked up one.
Lao He wanted to be reserved, but his throat swallowed uncontrollably.
"Hey, young man, what are you doing? It's so embarrassing to eat your ice cream."
Shen Lin smiled and said, "Look at what you said. I didn't plan to make money from this first business. After I met you guys, the business came! Speaking of which, it's you who took care of me!"
As he spoke, Shen Lin picked up a piece of ice cream and handed it to Lao He with both hands.
Lao He took the ice cream and said to the two colleagues who were walking over to the office, " This is a gift from Xiao Shen. Don't waste it."
Although giving ice cream was a small gesture, Shen Lin's action won him a lot of favor in their hearts.
This young man bought four ice creams at once, ran over to deliver them in a sweat, and even lied that he had already eaten them. Just for his thoughtfulness, we should be moved.
Who doesn’t like young people who have high emotional intelligence and are good at dealing with people?
What is given is not ice cream, but human relationships.
