Chapter 51 - Watermelon Purchase
Chapter 51: Watermelon Purchase
“What? Did you say your watermelon isn’t for sale anymore?”
After Shi Chunming heard Shi Lichun and his wife’s decision, he was immediately confused.
“No. It’s not that we’re not selling our watermelons anymore, but we’re not selling them to that Boss Liu.” Shi Lichun shook his head and said, “I’ve troubled everyone to come over. In two days, I’ll invite everyone to help.”
The so-called help was to invite them to work again.
To rural people, this work was a part-time job.
Based on eight hours, a man’s day rate was 100 dollars, and a woman’s day rate was 80 dollars.
Some of the villagers didn’t understand.
He asked, “Lichun, there are still so many watermelons left in the Shi brothers’ fields. Are you really not selling these watermelons?”
Shi Lichun was unwilling to let his niece take the blame.
He shook his head and said, “No, Boss Liu’s purchase price is really too low. I’m really unwilling to sell it to him.”
Just now, his niece had pulled them to the side and said that their watermelons had completely met the green food requirements. She could get her friend to buy them, and the price would be high.
They heard that the price could be higher. Of course, the three of them were tempted.
At first, they thought that Gu Qingming was helping because they were relatives, but Gu Qingming repeatedly explained that their watermelons had met her friend’s requirements. She also said that she had already informed her friend to come over and take a look. If they really met her requirements, they could harvest the remaining watermelons.
Shi Lichun and his brothers were sure that their niece would not harm them. So they believed her.
They just had to wait a day or two.
Shi Lichun gave Boss Liu a call.
On the phone, Boss Liu said aggressively, “Shi Lichun, do you know the market for watermelons today? To think you even despise the price I gave you for being low? When I went to someone else’s farm to buy watermelons, they were all thirty to forty cents. I saw that your watermelons were of good quality, so I thought of buying them at a higher price. I didn’t expect you to be so ungrateful and refuse to sell them.”
Shi Lichun couldn’t offend him, but he wasn’t someone to be trifled with either.
He said, “Boss Liu, I don’t care what the price of other people’s watermelons is, but I really can’t accept the price of 45 cents, so I don’t plan to sell them.”
“You…” Boss Liu gritted his teeth angrily and said, “Alright, alright, you’re not selling them anymore, right? Then I won’t accept them anymore. I won’t accept them in the future as well. Let’s see to whom you would sell the tens of thousands of catties of watermelons in the Shi brothers’ land.”
Ordinary people really didn’t have the ability to buy tens of thousands of catties of watermelons at once.
With that, he hung up angrily.
He couldn’t hold back the anger in his heart.
“Bastard! Our car is halfway there but said he wouldn’t sell them. Does he really think that I, Liu Tiancheng, am easy to bully?”
The driver asked, “Boss, are we still driving forward?”
“Drive on!” Boss Liu said angrily. “Some people will sell their watermelons. Also, I’m halfway through my journey before he told us that the watermelons were not for sale. Then how should I account for the cost of transportation and labor? If he didn’t want to sell them, he should have rejected me long ago.”
“Yes!” The driver replied indifferently, but he thought to himself that Boss Liu was really unreasonable. After all, one had to consider profits and losses in business.
Boss Liu continued to scold angrily, “They’re not selling them for 45 cents, and they still want 50 cents for them. Hmph, pfft, do they really think their watermelons are made of gold and silver and everyone is fighting for them? If they don’t sell the watermelons to me today, they’ll definitely beg me to buy them tomorrow.”
Thinking of this, Boss Liu’s anger subsided a little.
After all, Shi Lichun’s family said that they didn’t want to sell their watermelons because the price was too low, but if these watermelons were left on the ground, they would easily rot. In two days, Shi Lichun and his brothers would beg him to buy them.
At that time, the price of the watermelon would not be 45 cents. If he wanted to buy it for 30 cents, they would probably be eager.
Thinking of this, the anger in Boss Liu’s heart dissipated.
He had been eyeing the watermelons of the Shi brothers.
It was mainly because their watermelons were sweet and easy to sell.
Previously, he had not come. He had only seen that the watermelon market was not very good. No matter how sweet the watermelon was, it could not be sold for a high price. If it could not be sold, he would lose money doing business.
Every year, the price of the watermelons of Shi Lichun and his brothers would be higher. Since that was the case, his profit would be less.
Therefore, if he could lower the price, he would definitely do it.
This time, he had already negotiated with several big clients. As long as the quality of the watermelon passed, the price would be good. Then he could earn a lot.
He had long targeted the watermelons of Shi Lichun and his brothers. He was just short of lowering the price and buying them.
However, he never expected that they would not sell it in the end.
“Hmph, they’re not selling it? The price is too low? I want to see how high a price they can sell it for!” Boss Liu said angrily. “Do they think their family only has a few thousand catties of watermelon that they can sell casually? It’s tens of thousands of catties. Ordinary people can’t buy them all.”
Boss Liu still drove into Stoneback Village.
Shi Lichun and his brothers were not the only ones planting watermelons in Stoneback Village. A few other families also planted watermelons.
Although the watermelons from those families were not as good as those of the Shi brothers, they were better than the watermelons from other villages.
Previously, Boss Liu had booked the melons of Shi Lichun and his brothers, so he had nothing to do with those other families selling watermelons.
Now that Shi Lichun was not selling, he would have to buy watermelons from those families.
There were also five families in Stoneback Village who had planted ten to twenty acres of watermelons. They had sold some at a cheap price previously. Now, there were also tens of thousands of catties of watermelons in their fields.
The watermelon market was not good this year. They were frowning. How could they sell them?
They had heard early in the morning that a boss had come to buy 20,000 catties of melons from the three Shi brothers.
While they were envious, they were also vaguely jealous.
Why were the watermelons from Shi Lichun’s three brothers sold in greater quantities when they were more expensive than theirs?
Of course, they had eaten the watermelons of the Shi brothers before, but they were unwilling to admit that their watermelons were better than theirs.
“I heard from Chunming that the Shi brothers are not selling their watermelons anymore, right?”
These melon farmers gathered together.
“Not selling? Why would they make such a decision all of a sudden? If they don’t sell it, who are they going to sell tens of thousands of catties of watermelons to? The market for watermelons today is so poor. Many peoples’ watermelons are rotting on the ground. No one would come to buy them even at a price of ten to twenty cents.”
“That’s right. The watermelon vendor gave them a price of 45 cents, but they were still unwilling to sell it. What are they thinking?”
“What can they be thinking? They definitely wanted to sell it for 80 to 90 cents a piece like in the past. The difference between tens of thousands of catties of watermelon is not just a few hundred dollars, but tens of thousands.”
“But the problem is that they have to sell it. If they can’t, it won’t be a difference of tens of thousands of dollars.”
“Who knows what the brothers were thinking?”
“That’s not right. I heard that they listened to that niece not to sell the watermelons.”
“Which niece?”
“Which niece can they have? They only have Shi Yashu’s daughter.”
“How muddle-headed. How can they listen to a child?”