1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 382 Gathering Strength
"Something's not right!" someone reported during a break from their busy schedule, "It seems like he has less mustard greens today."

As more people looked on, the wholesalers' eyes were sharp; they could tell at a glance that some vegetables were missing.

"Damn it, the God of Wealth is playing a trick on us!"

"No wonder they dared to raise prices like this; it's because there's a shortage of mustard greens."

"Ugh, I'm not watching anymore, it's boring."

Although that's what everyone said, everyone could sense the sourness in the others' words.

Regardless of whether he had too few dishes, the fact remains that he has an extremely reliable customer base.

What businessperson wouldn't yearn for customers like this?
How many can actually possess it?
In this way, out of sight, out of mind.

Zhong Chao, who was at stall number 59, inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief. Less stock was better; he had brought quite a bit of mustard greens today.

He was actually a little nervous when gear number 63 suddenly erupted.

They're all mustard greens. If he's 6 cents cheaper per pound and still can't outsell others, he won't necessarily feel ashamed, but he'll definitely be remembered for a long time.

There's no shortage of fun things in the market, but no one would complain about having too much fun.

Fortunately, stall number 63 was missing some high-quality mustard greens, but its mustard greens sales speed still didn't seem to be faster than yesterday.

While serving customers at his stall, Zhong Chao's eyes kept glancing at stall number 63.

The arrival of a group of regular customers made stall number 63 sell out quickly, and he began to lose track of how many people had taken chicken heart mustard.

After most of these customers left, stall number 63 started receiving buyers again, returning to its usual state, and sales remained stable.

Occasionally, someone will take chicken heart mustard.

Suddenly, he saw a customer who had failed to reach an agreement at stall number 63 appear in front of him with a flashlight. The person had slightly curly hair.

"Boss, how much are the mustard greens?"

"2.2 yuan per jin (0.5 catties)"

The visitor bent down and examined the mustard greens in the bamboo basket, turning them over and over again.

Zhong Chao said, "They're all fresh; they were just harvested from the field today."

The visitor said, "These leaves don't look very good. They're a bit yellow and wet. Most of the vegetables under the bamboo basket are probably 'overheated' and will easily rot if you take them home. If you don't have a styrofoam box, you could at least put some ice packs in."

You really are a genuine customer of customer number 63, aren't you? You don't mention number 63 in any sentence, but its shadow is in every sentence.

Zhong Chao smiled and said, "The weather isn't that hot yet, so take it back and use it sooner rather than later, it won't break so quickly."

The visitor remained silent, continuing to examine the goods over and over, almost emptying the entire basket of vegetables to check them.

"Could you lower the price a bit? Would you sell it for two yuan a pound?"

Zhong Chao's face almost turned green with anger. "We can't sell it."

The person stood up straight and said, "Then I'll take another look around and come back later."

A while later, another customer came to ask about mustard greens, but left after saying, "I'll take another look and come back later."

This happened intermittently several times.

Zhong Chao's stall did quite well today, even taking away some customers from stall number 63, but for no reason he suddenly felt very irritable.

He kept an eye on the pedestrians coming and going in the passageway from time to time. About an hour later, he saw the man with slightly curly hair return to the stall.

However, they still came to ask the price, and after learning that they wouldn't sell it for two yuan, they turned around and left.

"Given the current market conditions, if you want to buy two yuan's worth of mustard greens, you'll have to wait until dawn to pick up the last remaining stock."

Zhong Chao shook his head and complained, "Another one who likes to take advantage of others."

But then I suddenly realized something was wrong. Wasn't that customer from booth number 63?

When did you become so greedy for bargains?

He instinctively looked toward booth number 63 and saw the man with slightly curly hair standing there.

After exchanging a few words with Li Cai, it seemed that he placed an order and started calling for a tricycle to load the vegetables.
Damn, that was so decisive.

Zhong Chao cursed inwardly, but when he turned around, he made eye contact with a neighboring merchant. Damn it, this is going to be hilarious.

"Boss Juan, it has to be you again. You dawdled around for two hours just to buy some mustard greens, and then came all the way back. Aren't you tired?"

"It's always good to walk around more."

Curly ultimately chose to follow her heart.

Mao Liangcai is now a powerful figure, controlling the vegetable supply for several government agencies.

He's spoiled her with his food.

Taking risks to buy cheap goods might earn you more money, but if you can't deliver the goods, it's all for nothing.

After writing down the order for Curly, Li smiled and said, "Mr. Mao, 5 cases of mustard greens cost 425 yuan, plus the 20 cases of bok choy that were sent over before cost 1400 yuan... the total is 2255 yuan."

"Is the quality okay?"

Curly hasn't checked the goods yet, and doesn't plan to anymore. He was delayed too long buying groceries and needs to get back to the market as soon as possible.

Li Cai smiled and said, "Come back to me anytime if you have any problems."

"Row."

Curly-haired guy paid the money quickly.

Li Cai still felt that selling vegetables today was a bit slow. Apart from a few regular customers who were there to "hold the fort," other customers came one after another, but none of them placed an order directly.

"Let me take another look," "Let me go around again," and "I'll come back later" have become popular phrases today.

Although quite a few did eventually return, it wasn't this slow in the past.

As expected, only a minority of people went both ways.

It is indeed precious.

However, Li Cai was quite satisfied and in a particularly good mood. The scene of queuing up to get food at eight o'clock was deeply imprinted in his mind and lingered there.

Around two or three in the morning, the people buying vegetables in the market changed again.

They walked around in the same hesitant manner, once, twice, and some even three times.

But Li Cai was very patient in dealing with the customer. After all, prices had risen sharply, and most customers were still very price-sensitive, so he had to be considerate of their feelings. "Boss, you can rest assured about the quality. You can come to me with any problems."

"Refund guaranteed if goods cannot be delivered!"

"Come on, have a smoke. We can talk about anything, right?"

By 3 or 4 p.m., dozens of tons of vegetables such as bok choy and Chinese cabbage had been sold out, and only a small amount of 7000 kilograms of water mustard greens remained.

After taking stock of the remaining goods, Li Cai smiled and said, "Ding Qiao, you can go back and rest. Leave the rest to me."

“Great.” Ding Qiao replied cheerfully, “Boss Cai, today was really awesome, the price really went up by 3 cents.”

Li Cai sat in the chair, a slight smile playing on his lips. "As expected."

Besides Li Cai, several of He Qiang's porters also work at the stall, so it's safe and secure.

Ding Qiao then walked back to her dormitory with her head held high, chatting with passing merchants from time to time, as if selling vegetables was quite an exciting business.

While Li Cai finished up, he bent down at his desk and started organizing the receipts.

Apart from the mustard greens, everything else was largely unchanged from yesterday, but it was precisely this change that made him deeply understand the significance of the principles he had always adhered to.

This also reinforced our belief in quality, stability, and reliability.

Li finished his work around 7 p.m., two hours later than usual, but he felt more refreshed.

As he got into the van that came to pick him up and drove away, he had a cigarette between his fingers and stuck it out of the window. A gentle breeze was blowing through his hair. At that moment, he was the most handsome guy in the room.

Zhang Qiren, who was still selling black-skinned winter melons, stared blankly at the departing van.

"He really sold them all out?"

"What are you looking at? He's not only more handsome than you, but he's also better at selling vegetables. What good are you?"

"My black-skinned winter melons are selling pretty well."

"Others call him handsome or a lucky charm, but do you want people to call you a dark-skinned winter melon from now on?"

Two porters at stall number 63, who were preparing to go elsewhere to find work, chuckled and joked, "You know what, this black-skinned winter melon is quite a fitting description."

"Stop your nonsense!"

His wife, hands on her hips, was about to yell at him when Zhang Qiren suddenly had a brilliant idea.

He vaguely recalled that Mr. Chen next door and the God of Wealth had both subtly suggested that he focus on selling black-skinned winter melons, as the variety of products was too mixed up...

"The black-skinned winter melon seems alright too."

"???"

The three people who were arguing looked on in surprise. No, buddy, you really don't mind?

On the other side, Zhong Chao was on the verge of tears, guarding the mustard greens that hadn't been sold yet. Losing money was a minor issue, but the huge amount of waste was unbearable!
Oh no, oh no, now people will be talking about me for at least a month.

...

Forgive me for my unruly and free love in this life
I'm also afraid that one day I'll fall down.
Li Cai returned to the office building in a good mood. After putting his things away, he first called the Pengcun base.

"Director Ao, you can never be too concerned about the quality of vegetables. Don't be afraid of the trouble."

“This batch of goods is fine. Let me tell you, the price of mustard greens at the stall just went up.”

"It went up by 3 cents in one go!"

...

After arranging the work, Yi Dinggan was still inspecting the fields when his pager received a message from Li Cai, causing him to frown.

"Why are you calling back at this hour? Is there something wrong with the food from last night?"

On his way back, he was still thinking about the details of yesterday.

After I called Li Cai back, I heard him ramble on and on.

"So that's why you called me?"

"I suddenly had an epiphany."

"Tch, that's weird."

With a snap, the phone was disconnected. Yi Dinggan had been selling vegetables for so long, he had seen all kinds of situations. Although he wasn't the main character, it wasn't Li Cai's place to show off in front of him.

Li Cai, however, showed no anger at being hung up on earlier. Instead, he shook his head and sighed, "Just an ordinary mortal."

Then he turned on the radio and listened to music in his office, humming a tune.

A short while later, Wen Rong and accountant Jiang Xiaoyan arrived at work together.

Jiang Xiaoyan greeted him, "Oh, Mr. Cai, you seem to be in good spirits. It looks like the vegetables sold very well last night."

Li Cai smiled and said, "Haha, it's not bad. The price of chicken heart mustard has gone up by 3 cents per pound, but it's all sold out."

Jiang Xiaoyan and Wen Rong were both slightly surprised; they had been discussing this matter on their way here.

It was already expensive, and then the price increased so quickly, so I guessed that this night might be hard to get through, but I didn't expect it to sell out so early.

Jiang Xiaoyan smiled and said, "This is really something to be happy about."

Wen Rong also praised, "Boss Cai is amazing. Business at your stall is getting better and better."

Just then, more sounds came from outside the door.

"Of course the God of Wealth is powerful."

"There are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names, which is why we are becoming more and more prestigious."

Chen Zhengxu and Xue Jun entered the office, while Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu lagged behind.

"Mr. Cai, have you had breakfast yet? If not, let's go out for drinks and dinner together."

Li Cai was surprised: "Drinking in the morning?"

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "I'm flying to Yunnan at noon. I was afraid I wouldn't hear about your brilliant achievements, so we can only have an early drink together."

Li was somewhat tempted. Drinking was secondary; what he really wanted to do was brag about what happened last night—or rather, to be honest, it was quite exciting.

(End of this chapter)