“Young man, come over and sit down. Let’s eat watermelon together.” After ensuring that there was no need to snatch and vie for the watermelons, the elderly ladies returned to their usual amiable demeanor. They smilingly called Xu Yang over to eat some watermelons.
Becoming a manager of Xiang Banquet private restaurant at such a young age, Xu Yang could be considered to have experienced plenty of events and knew how to communicate with others. Hence, he walked over fearlessly.
“Young man, you’re Little Zhou’s childhood friend, aren’t you? How old are you?”
“Since you’re his childhood friend, you’re definitely about the same age as Little Zhou. Do you have a girlfriend yet?”
“Young man, you’re good-looking. Do you want me to introduce you to someone?”
Zhou Kun watched Xu Yang get bombarded by the enthusiastic elderly ladies. Not wanting to get implicated, he excused himself to go to the warehouse in order to pick up the goods—sneaking away early.
By the time Zhou Kun returned from the cold storage warehouse, he saw Xu Yang looking at him and seemingly asking for help while sitting cross-legged.
“The watermelons are here, the watermelons are here!” With the appearance of the watermelons, the elderly ladies decidedly gave up on Xu Yang who had little value and instead stared at the watermelons brought by Zhou Kun.
“They’ve all been taken out of cold storage!” There were quite a few elderly ladies who were at Zhou Kun’s shop for the first time. They found it a novelty to be purchasing straight from a cold storage warehouse.
“Little Zhou, are these watermelons seedless?” Old Madam Huang was clearly much more rational. After all, she had long seen such a scene.
“They’re not considered seedless. They just have lesser seeds. There’s only one row of seeds. When you’re cutting them up, slice along the line, and the seeds will be removed.” Zhou Kun casually picked up a watermelon and gestured with it.
“How much are you going to sell these watermelons for?”
“Five yuan per 500 grams?” Zhou Kun said with some uncertainty. After all, it was a wholesale price and ten yuan per gram was already considered expensive.
“What? Only five yuan per 500 grams?”
With the precedent of the grapes that had been sold at 30 yuan per 500 grams, five yuan did seem much cheaper.
Zhou Kun was a little apprehensive. He did not know whether the prices of goods in Tong City were soaring or whether the elderly ladies were simply too wealthy. They actually thought five yuan per 500 grams was cheap for watermelons. Why hadn’t he met customers like them before?
“How many kilograms of watermelons do the residents of your estate want in total?” Zhou Kun brought out the large electronic scale in the shop and prepared to start weighing watermelons for the elderly ladies.
“Little Zhou, you can’t sell your watermelons like this!”
Zhou Kun was stunned to hear Huang Fang’s words. How else was he supposed to sell the watermelons?
“How much does each watermelon of yours weigh?” old Madam Huang asked.
“Around 2.5 kilograms, probably less than three kilograms,” Zhou Kun answered, a little uncertain. Hence, he weighed one watermelon and found that it was about 2.7 kilograms.
Huang Fang suddenly said, “These watermelons seem to be about the same size. Why don’t you sell them for 30 yuan each?”
If he priced it at five yuan per 500 grams, 30 yuan would be three kilograms’ worth of watermelons. Each watermelon weighed less than three kilograms. How did she fix a price on her own?
“Little Zhou, you’re an honest person. You are definitely offering the watermelons to us at a wholesale price. However, these watermelons are different from grapes. Grapes are of different sizes and the bunches may be divided. How are we supposed to distribute these watermelons among the residents of the estate? Am I supposed to weigh every watermelon and count how much they cost? I don’t have the time to do that. So, let’s fix it at 30 yuan each! They’ll pay for the number of watermelons they get!”
Upon hearing her words, the other elderly ladies thought that her suggestion made sense too. The watermelons were about the same size. If the price was fixed, it would make the tabulation of money much easier.
“Yeah, we’re going to be really busy when we go back. We have to buy groceries and cook. We don’t have that much time, so Little Zhou, just sell it to us at this price.” One by one, the elderly ladies stared advising him again.
As soon as Zhou Kun heard her words, he was stunned. He felt that they were making it sound as if his time wasn’t valuable at all.
Xu Yang, who was watching the scene, was dumbfounded as well. He had never seen customers who would initiate a higher price.
“We have tried Little Zhou’s watermelons. The quality is superb, and now, we’ve decided on a price of 30 yuan per piece. Each piece weighs a little more than five pounds. State the number of watermelons that each of you would like to purchase in the chat group. When we go back, we’ll follow the old rules. Go to my place to pick up the goods.”
While speaking, Huang Fang did not give Zhou Kun the chance to say anything at all and actually came to a decision on her own. Once again, there was a huge uproar in the chat group.
“The watermelons are so cheap. They cost only 30 yuan each. I want five.”
“I have few family members, two will be enough.”
“I didn’t manage to get the honeydews previously. It’s good that there are enough watermelons this time. I want 10 of them.”
“Can you finish 10? I have a lot of people in my family. I want ten too.”
Old Mrs. Gao, who often used emoticons, sent a photo of the digit ‘5’ in a large font.
Everyone else copied and pasted the same emoticon. Zhou Kun reckoned that it was a bunch of elderly ladies who didn’t know how to type and were just following the trend.
The few elderly ladies in the store took out their presbyopic glasses. One of them was in charge of writing down the numbers while another was in charge of reading out the numbers. They were very organized.
In the end, the members of the chat group of Jinlan Residences ordered a total of 761 watermelons. Old Madam Huang waved her hand and rounded the number up to 800.
“Auntie Huang, why are you buying so many?”
“I bet these watermelons are going to sell out, so I need to stock up on more.”
“You won’t be able to finish them all!”
“I have a cellar. I don’t have to worry about that. Watermelons can be kept for a long time. Besides, I have so many friends. I can just give it to them,” Old Madam Huang said with a righteous expression. Zhou Kun had no way to refute. He thought, ‘Fine, you have a cellar you are the most powerful!’
Zhou Kun initially planned to schedule some time to deliver the goods, but old Madam Huang waved her hands to turn Zhou Kun’s offer down.
Soon, three or five pickup truck drivers carried away the watermelons ordered by the elderly ladies.
“Little Zhou, you should at least save some watermelons for us. I reckon there won’t be enough by then!” Old Madam Huang settled the payment for the goods and left in a dashing manner.
Zhou Kun and Xu Yang watched the group of elderly ladies leave, and all of a sudden, the entrance to Zhou Kun’s shop was quite empty.
“Where did those elderly ladies come from?” asked Xu Yang who had never seen elderly ladies with such a strong purchasing power.
“They are my biggest wholesale client at the moment. She was rather funny previously. I purchased a batch of grapes that weighed about two tons, and they bought all the grapes from me at 30 yuan per 500 grams. I’m a fruit wholesaler and yet, I can’t provide enough supply to a bunch of old ladies. It’s such a joke.”
“Do you still have grapes? Are they of the same quality as these watermelons and the honeydews from before?” Xu Yang instantly highlighted the key points from Zhou Kun’s words.
“Yes, the quality is not inferior to the watermelons.”
“Why didn’t you tell me previously then?”
“Didn’t you hear me? I told you, those elderly ladies bought all two tons of grapes that I had in my cold storage!”
Zhou Kun excitedly raised two fingers. That matter had clearly left a strong impression on him.
“Do you still have any now?”
“I’ve just replenished the stocks. Ah, I forgot to tell them just now that the grapes are in stock now.” Zhou Kun was so focused on selling watermelons earlier that he had forgotten about the grapes.
“It’s a good thing I didn’t go toe-to-toe with them just now.” Xu Yang was a little scared. He continued, “Let me try the grapes too. I’ll stock up on a batch as well.”
If Zhou Kun were to say those things to him earlier on, Xu Yang wouldn’t believe him at all. However, after witnessing the “Flowers of Jinlan” in action, Xu Yang expressed that he really might not be able to beat that bunch of old ladies in terms of buying.
In the end, Xu Yang left with 100 watermelons and 15 kilograms of grapes.