The major activity of the members of the chat group of Jinlan Residences clearly did not escape the eyes of Mr. Sun who had been silently paying attention to the group. Compared to Mr. Qian, who had a disdainful attitude, Mr. Sun, the owner of Gluttony Place Snack Store, was very interested in that batch of watermelons.
If he wanted the business of his snack store to go well, he would most importantly have to find the right goods.
He had to refresh the goods sold at his store with the most popular snacks at the moment, as well as snacks that were trending on the Internet. Otherwise, his store would soon become unpopular.
Although young people were the main consumers of the snack shop, Mr. Sun was also very familiar with the group of elderly ladies from Jinlan Residences.
Seeing that the elderly ladies had shown their amazing purchasing power when they bought the watermelons that cost 30 yuan each, Mr. Sun was extremely curious about Zhou Kun’s fruit.
Mr. Sun, who was rather sensitive when it came to business, understood that Zhou Kun’s fruits must have been very special. He knew so because he understood the elderly ladies too well.
They were essentially the same as typical elderly ladies who vied with others to snatch groceries. Previously, there was a batch of fruit and corn in the snack shop, and the elderly ladies insisted on removing the skin before weighing them on the scale. They refused to be shortchanged, not even by a single cent.
Yet, they were now vying for watermelons that cost 30 yuan each without even bothering to weigh them. He reckoned that they must have been delicious. Otherwise, Zhou Kun would have long faced their wrath, and they would have attacked Zhou Kun by throwing watermelon skin at him.
Hence, after Zhou Kun sent Huang Fang and Xu Yang away, he greeted the owner of Gluttony Place Snack Store.
“Mr. Zhou, I saw in the chat group that you have a new batch of watermelons in store. Is that right?”
Unlike Mr. Qian, Mr. Sun had always been polite. Hence, Zhou Kun was rather courteous to him as well.
“Mr. Sun, the elderly ladies from Jinlan Residences have just left after purchasing some watermelons from me in bulk. So, I don’t think it’d be easy for you to sell them to residents of the estate for a while.” Zhou Kun was telling the truth. After all, the price he quoted the elderly ladies was the wholesale price.
“That’s alright, I have two other branches in Lan City, and I’m here today to talk about cooperation. Can I try some of these watermelons?”
Seeing that Mr. Sun had already said that, Zhou Kun couldn’t possibly drive business away.
The watermelon that Zhou Kun had cut up just now was eaten up by the elderly ladies. Hence, Zhou Kun sliced open a new one.
Watching the fruit knife slice through the pitch-black watermelon rind, a look of amazement flashed across Mr. Sun’s eyes.
The watermelon was beautiful!
Two rows of symmetrically-aligned black seeds were engulfed in the red flesh of the watermelon, and the fresh aroma of watermelon began to fill the air.
Zhou Kun casually picked out all the watermelon seeds and cut off a slice, which he then handed to Mr. Sun.
“Delicious!” Mr. Sun exclaimed and smacked his hand against the table as soon as he tasted the watermelons. He felt that he had to buy them no matter what!
“Mr. Zhou, how many watermelons do you have?” asked Mr. Sun who thought that if Zhou Kun had a small quantity, he would buy all of them.
“I have a lot, about tens of tons.”
“In that case, I’ll order 200 watermelons,” said Mr. Sun who was a little disappointed after hearing Zhou Kun say that he had plenty in stock. After all, things would only be precious if they were low in quantity. He could not afford to purchase tons of watermelon, and others would buy them from Zhou Kun too.
“Sure!” Before Zhou Kun could even mention that it was five yuan per 500 grams, Mr. Sun whipped out his mobile phone skillfully to transfer the money.
“How would you like me to transfer the 6000 yuan to you?”
“Uh… you can transfer it through mobile e-payment.” Well, everyone found five yuan per 500 grams to be too cheap.
After transporting Zhou Kun’s watermelons back to his own store, Mr. Sun began thinking about the marketing and sales of the fruit.
Zhou Kun’s batch of watermelons was of outstanding quality, and the purchase price was expensive too. Hence, if he were to market it like an ordinary watermelon, there wouldn’t be any effect at all.
As such, he planned to package the watermelons and sell them in the form of gift boxes that cost 99 yuan each.
Following Zhou Kun’s cutting method, Mr. Sun found the only line on the watermelon and cut it along that line, revealing a row of dark watermelon seeds.
Mr. Sun did not rush to pick out the watermelon seeds but instead wrapped half of the watermelon with plastic wrap, after which, he cut the remaining half into pieces. He plated them for samples.
Although the snack store wasn’t yet at its peak hour during the day, a few customers entered successively.
They were attracted by the fresh aroma of watermelon as soon as they entered but were deterred by the price of 99 yuan per watermelon. They turned to Mr. Qian’s fruit store, but Mr. Sun didn’t panic at all, because he was confident that he would be able to sell all the watermelons.
“Huh? Why does this watermelon look like the ones we bought through the chat group?” remarked an elderly lady who had sharp eyes. She noticed that the watermelons sold in Mr. Sun’s shop were the same black-skinned ones that the group of residents had purchased in the morning.
“Boss, how much are these watermelons going for?”
“99 yuan each.”
“So expensive!” The elderly lady didn’t expect the price of the watermelon to increase from 30 to 99 yuan so quickly.
She frantically sent the message to the group chat.
“I saw the watermelons that we bought in bulk today at Gluttony Place Snack Store in front of our estate. Each one is going to sell for 99 yuan.”
“Are they really the watermelons that we bought as a group?”
“Yes, they have black skin and a single row of seeds. I can tell at a glance that they’re the same type of watermelons.”
“Little Zhou sold it to us at wholesale price.”
“Those watermelons are too expensive. They cost 99 yuan each.”
Mr. Sun looked at the notifications that were continuously popping up on his screen, after which he thought, ‘Previously, you guys were willing to buy a honeydew for 300 yuan each, but today you’re starting to think the watermelons are too expensive.’
Soon, the members of the chat group stopped criticizing the watermelons and began praising them instead.
Old Mrs. Gao who used the emoticons was seated on her couch while reading the messages in the chat group with her presbyopic glasses.
Since she was not very good at typing, she was almost unable to join in the discussion. It seemed that it was time for her grandson to help her update her mobile phone with a batch of emoticons.
“Yangyang, it’s been a long time since you updated my emoticons. Lately, I haven’t been able to participate in the discussion in the group chat,” old Mrs. Gao said as she walked into her grandson’s room with her mobile phone.
Old Mrs. Gao’s grandson, Gao Jiyang was doing his best to snap up some shoes. Seeing that her grandson was busy, the elderly lady turned around and went to the kitchen to cut a watermelon.
When she entered again with the cut-up watermelon, the flash deal of Gao Jiyang’s shoes was over.
“Grandma, what did you say to me just now?” Gao Jiyang asked while chewing on a slice of watermelon.
“When did you get these watermelons? They’re so sweet.”
“That’s what I was just trying to tell you, you’re going to have to update my emoticons. I can’t even join the discussion in the group.”
“Is it the same chat group for purchasing, like the previous time?” Gao Jiyang was rather patient. He was the one who made the emoticons that she had, based on the usual jargon of the members of the chat group.
“Yes, yes, this watermelon was part of a group purchase in the chat group.”
“Grandma, this group purchase chat group is much better than the ones you joined previously.”
“The members of this group are all residents of the estate. It definitely wouldn’t be bad. I bought these watermelons with the group, for only 30 yuan each. Do you know how much they’re going for in the snack store in front of the estate? 99 yuan.”
“How did you guys manage to get it at such a cheap price?”
“We bought them straight from the supplier’s cold storage.” Having been paying attention to the messages in the group for a while lately, the elderly lady was familiar with professional terminologies like suppliers and such.
“Are fruit sellers that professional nowadays? Grandma, you managed to purchase 99-yuan watermelons for 30 yuan. If the price speculation on these watermelons were similar to that of shoes, you’d be able to earn 69 yuan per watermelon!” Gao Jiyang teased.
They had no idea that Zhou Kun’s watermelons had indeed been speculated.
It was sold for 30 yuan each in the wholesaler groups and 99 yuan each in Gluttony Place Snack Store. In Xiang Banquet private restaurant, the prices had gone up to 399 yuan each.