After dinner, they went home. The grandparents rarely go to the city and said they were exhausted, saying it was even harder than farming.

Xu Lai smiled and shook her head. Shopping is tiring, but if her wallet is fat enough, she can shop for several days.

Not long after she returned, Uncle Guiping came to see her. Xu Lai quickly invited him in to sit down. Uncle Guiping got straight to the point: "Xiao Lai, it's like this, you helped the village buy nectarines before, and you earned more than you could from selling them at a stall, right? That's why someone came to see me again."

As Xu Lai poured tea, he said, "Let me guess, are you going to sell Sanhua plums?"

Uncle Guiping exclaimed, "How did you guess that?"

Xu Lai sat down on the chair next to him. "Uncle, it's plum season now, and after thinking about it, this is the only one I can think of."

She found the proposal, handed it to the village chief, and said, "I finished writing it a few days ago. What do you think?"

Uncle Guiping flipped through it a couple of times, then put it down and said, "Actually, none of this matters. I believe in your abilities."

Xu Lai said modestly, "Not at all. I'll need to trouble you to persuade everyone to let me sell it."

She saw Uncle Guiping to the door, and the smile on her face faded. It wasn't that she couldn't help someone selling things, but it was purely treating her as free labor. Helping her once was fine, but if it was like this every time, she would have to think about it.

Xu Lai consulted a senior colleague who works in marketing planning about this issue. The senior colleague suggested, "You can buy the villagers' fruit at a low price and then set your own price to sell it. Whether you make a profit or a loss is up to you."

Xu Lai thought this plan was feasible. She would buy in bulk and pay the market price, but when she sold, she would have to match the online price.

She still asked Zheng Yuan to help film the promotional video. The orchard she chose was Xu Shen's. He was a major fruit grower in the village and had made a lot of money from those fruit trees.

Unfortunately, the day of the shoot was very hot, and the plum grove was stuffy, making it easy to get heatstroke if you weren't careful. She specifically chose the evening, but she still ended up sweating profusely after the shoot.

Seeing that Zheng Yuan's complexion wasn't good, Xu Lai asked worriedly, "How are you? Are you alright?"

Zheng Yuan shook her head: "I'm just a little dizzy and nauseous. It might be a bit of heatstroke. I'll be fine after resting for a while."

Xu Lai was still worried, so she took her to the village clinic to have her checked out. This clinic had only been built in the last two years, and the doctor worked at Heng County Hospital, working during the day and returning to the county at night.

The doctor asked about her situation, planned to prescribe some medication, and asked, "Are you married? Are you trying to conceive or are you already pregnant?"

Zheng Yuan was taken aback by the question, but she still answered honestly, "I'm trying to conceive recently."

The doctor's expression changed, and he took her wrist to check her pulse.

Seeing the doctor's demeanor, Xu Lai thought Zheng Yuan had some serious problem, and her heart was in her throat.

The doctor casually remarked, "Congratulations, you're pregnant. You're over a month along. Find some time to go to the county for a checkup."

Zheng Yuan was stunned for a moment and sat there blankly. Xu Lai then called Liu Tao directly, "Zheng Yuan is in the infirmary, come over quickly."

He hung up the phone and practically ran over, rushing into the infirmary: "Yuanyuan, what's wrong? Where do you feel unwell?"

Zheng Yuan smiled and said, "Congratulations on becoming a father!"

Liu Tao was a bit of a hothead, and in front of the doctor, he said, "Really? Can this doctor really get a proper diagnosis?"

Zhang Ye clicked his tongue in annoyance: "Who are you doubting? Can't you see my sign? Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic. Are you questioning my medical skills?"

Xu Lai tried to smooth things over: "Alright, alright, this is clearly a joyous occasion, why make it so tense?"

She saw the young couple off and was about to go home when she saw the doctor preparing to close the door. She asked, "Are you getting ready to go home?"

Zhang Ye glanced at his watch. "It's almost six o'clock. Am I supposed to stay and work overtime instead of leaving?"

Xu Lai was taken aback by his somewhat harsh words and walked away.

...

She showed the final plan to the village chief and proposed that the plums be purchased at a low price.

The village chief hesitated for a moment, "I'm afraid some people won't be happy with what you're doing."

Xu Lai disliked them; they all wanted to make money but didn't want to put in the effort. There was no such thing as a free lunch.

The village chief lit a cigarette and asked, "So, what's your intended purchase price?"

"Four yuan per jin (500g)."

"Four pieces?"

The orchard owners, who were gathered at the village committee to discuss prices, exclaimed, "Old Xu's granddaughter is really too greedy! Even if we sell our plums at the market, the lowest price is five yuan per kilogram."

The village chief said the same thing yesterday, but Xu Lai replied, "Uncle Guiping, you know that's the market price for individual sales, but this is my purchase price, and I'll buy it regardless of size. If they try to sell it, will they be able to sell those inferior fruits?"

The orchard owner fell silent. He just wanted to make more money. Luckily, there was someone in the village who worked in the internet industry, so he didn't have to worry about selling his produce. He even wanted to ask for eight yuan a pound.

The village chief said directly, "Xu Lai said that if you don't want to sell, that's fine. She doesn't lack goods to sell. Besides, she helped you sell your things for free before, worked hard for several days, and didn't ask for any money from you. In the end, she only got a few hundred yuan as a service fee. Would you do it if you were in her shoes?"

Everyone was persuaded. Those supermarkets and fruit shops had stable supply channels and monopolized the market, so the farmers' fruits simply couldn't get in.

Even if they had the chance to get in, they could only do so at extremely low prices. It would be good enough if they didn't lose money, let alone make a profit. At four yuan per kilogram, they had already made a profit.

Seeing that everyone agreed, the village chief took out the contract and asked them to sign and stamp it.

Xu Lai is live streaming again, this time selling five catties of Sanhua plums for 32.9 yuan.

Netizens who had previously bought fruit flocked back in and placed several orders.

In no time, several thousand orders were gone. Xu Lai smiled and said, "Thank you all for your support."

Xu Lai's live stream was mainly quiet; it was too hot for her to get excited.

"If any babies need it, they can go and take pictures themselves. If you have any questions, you can ask in the chat. I'm reading the comments."

Someone asked: "Is the streamer married?"

Xu Lai smiled helplessly and replied, "The host is single, but please try to ask questions related to the product."

Some fans also posted:

[Host, can I marry you? Your cooking looks so delicious in your videos.]

The streamer is good-looking.

How long can this plum last?

Xu Lai specifically addressed the product issue, saying, "It's fine to keep it at room temperature for three days, but we recommend refrigerating it after receiving it."

Suddenly, the system displayed: [Duying Qiuyue has sent a gift.]

Xu Lai glanced at the screen and saw that a large airplane had been sent. She quickly thanked the sender, saying, "Thank you for the gift from Du Ying Qiu Yue, but please don't send me any more. If you want to buy plums, just place your order through the link."