Chapter 33: First Battle, First Victory!
Arriving at the fruit area, Jiang Tao and the other three pretended not to know each other.
Each found a vacant spot to park their truck.
Just as they finished parking, a market administrator with a red armband stopped by Jiang Tao’s truck.
“Master, how much for a day?”
After getting out of the truck, Jiang Tao greeted the administrator with a smile and offered him a cigarette.
“Twenty a day, WeChat or Alipay?”
The administrator collecting the fee was an old man with white hair and a thin build, appearing to be around sixty years old.
“Alipay!”
Jiang Tao took out his mobile phone, and with a ding, scanned the old man’s Alipay payment code, paying the 20 yuan stall fee. He added:
“By the way, Master, if my goods sell out and I go back to get more, do I have to pay again?”
“Twenty yuan covers you for the whole day, no repeat charges. We are an organized and disciplined unit, a proper establishment, and we don’t overcharge.”
The old man gave Jiang Tao a look that said he didn’t need to worry.
“Great! Then you carry on!”
Jiang Tao said to the old man with a smile and turned to go back to the driver’s cab to get the small loudspeaker for broadcasting.
“Master, how much are these satsuma mandarins?”
Before Jiang Tao could turn on the loudspeaker, an auntie wearing a green down jacket, with permed curly hair and holding a few scallions, stopped in front of the truck to ask the price.
Jiang Tao stopped and said with a chuckle, “10 yuan a jin, a case is exactly 10 jin for 100 yuan.”
“How much? 10 yuan? Young man, that price is too high! Just two days ago at the market it was only 5 yuan a jin! And now it’s 10 yuan?”
Upon hearing Jiang Tao’s quoted price, the auntie’s eyes widened in surprise.
Jiang Tao patiently explained, “Auntie, you might not know!
There was a heavy snow in Guangxi, and the satsuma mandarins couldn’t get out.
We are already paying over eight yuan a jin at the wholesale market!
Selling them to you for ten yuan is really not overcharging. If you don’t believe me, you can ask around elsewhere.”
“10 yuan is too expensive! I’m not buying, not buying.”
The auntie said, then muttered to herself, shaking her head, and walked towards Liu Zhiyuan, who was closest to Jiang Tao.
The first customer wasn’t secured, but Jiang Tao wasn’t discouraged. He turned on the small loudspeaker and began broadcasting.
“Satsuma mandarins, sweet and sour satsuma mandarins, authentic Guangxi satsuma mandarins, 10 yuan a jin!”
The catchy jingle from the loudspeaker began to play on repeat, causing the fruit vendors selling apples and bananas nearby to glance over.
They had never seen satsuma mandarins priced at 10 yuan a jin before!
Jiang Tao lit a cigarette and looked at the auntie who had walked away from his stall.
The auntie first stood at Liu Zhiyuan’s stall for about half a minute, then walked over to Shan Yufei.
She stayed at Shan Yufei’s for another dozen seconds, and finally walked over to Zhang Chao.
After repeated confirmation, the auntie finally determined with certainty that the price of satsuma mandarins had indeed increased!
Before she left home, her granddaughter had specifically asked for them, and she would surely be upset if she didn’t buy them.
In the end, the auntie had no choice but to compromise with the market, exchanging a bright red hundred yuan banknote for a case of 10 jin of satsuma mandarins.
Among the four, Zhang Chao was the first to make a sale.
With the loudspeaker broadcasting, there was no need to bargain.
Jiang Tao directly entered “fishing” mode, waiting for those willing to bite.
“Master, why are these satsuma mandarins so expensive all of a sudden? Last market it was 5 yuan a jin, and now it’s 10 yuan!”
“Miss, the roads in Guangxi are blocked by heavy snow, and the satsuma mandarins can’t get out. Our cost price is over eight yuan, we don’t want to sell them this expensive, but we have no choice!”
The elder sister in front of Jiang Tao had inquired all the way from Zhang Chao’s direction. In the end, she also had to compromise with the market, spending 200 yuan to buy two cases and leave.
Originally, Jiang Tao had thought that business would be significantly affected at the beginning of the price increase.
After all, it would take time for consumers to accept such a sudden surge in price.
The result, however, far exceeded his expectations.
He had a truck full of 300 cases of satsuma mandarins, and they were all sold out before noon!
In just one morning, he had earned over 30,000 yuan!
This situation was truly puzzling to Jiang Tao.
This situation seemed to defy market principles!
“Forget it, why bother thinking about it? The faster they sell, the more I sell, the more it benefits me!”
“No matter what the reason, the important thing is to hurry back and get another truckload!”
Jiang Tao couldn’t figure out the reason, so he stopped thinking about it. He opened the car door, jumped in, and prepared to drive back to Xiao Shahe to get more.
Ding dong!
As soon as Jiang Tao got into the car, he received a WeChat message on his mobile phone from Liu Zhiyuan.
【Brother Jiang! You’re on the news, quick, look, these satsuma mandarins are trending on the news! 】
Seeing Liu Zhiyuan’s message, Jiang Tao clicked on Weibo to take a look.
There was indeed a trending topic about satsuma mandarins on the hot search list.
And it was quite high up!
The 8th item on today’s trending list was titled: “The Whole City is Looking for Satsuma Mandarins!”
Upon clicking, he found a news report detailing the price trend of satsuma mandarins.
It wasn’t just Jiang Tao and his group who had raised prices; the satsuma mandarins in major supermarkets in the Capital City had also doubled in price.
The prices of satsuma mandarins in various fruit supermarkets, markets, and wholesale markets had all increased.
And they were all severely out of stock.
Seeing this, the smile on Jiang Tao’s lips was harder to suppress than an AK.
Calming himself, Jiang Tao informed Liu Zhiyuan and the other two in their WeChat group and headed back to load more.
For lunch, Jiang Tao quickly ate a bite and packed a portion of fried flatbread with meat and a portion of pig head meat for each of them, including Liu Zhiyuan.
Full and satisfied, they continued their work!
Around 2 PM, Liu Zhiyuan and Zhang Chao also finished selling their first truckload and went back to get another to continue selling.
At 2:30 PM, Shan Yufei’s truck was sold out.
At 4:30 PM, Jiang Tao’s second truckload of the day was sold out, and he went back to load another.
They worked busily until 6:30 PM.
As the sun set and the crowds dispersed from the Shahe Market, Jiang Tao and the others reluctantly called it a day.
It was already around 7:30 PM when they returned to Xiao Shahe.
Jiang Tao invited Liu Zhiyuan and the other two to find a relatively decent restaurant in the urban village.
Today’s first battle was a success, a good start.
Jiang Tao, as the largest shareholder and primary beneficiary of this satsuma mandarin project, was willing to treat his brothers to a meal.
Stewed chicken with mushrooms, boiled sliced pork in hot chili oil, braised pork hock, pickled fish, roast duck…
On the not-so-large dining table in the restaurant, all the establishment’s signature dishes were laid out.
“Brothers, you all worked hard today. Eat your fill, rest well, and we’ll continue tomorrow!”
“Let’s make a killing before the end of the year and go home for a good New Year!”
“Come, let’s all have a drink.”
“Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
Liu Zhiyuan and Shan Yufei also had bright smiles on their faces.
Only Zhang Chao’s smile was somewhat bitter.
What was this situation!
All his brothers were making money, and he was left behind!
However, he couldn’t blame anyone else for this.
Brother Jiang had given him an opportunity back then, and he hadn’t seized it!
