He said to the people at the restaurant, "Have your Section Chief Zhang come out and hand over these fish quickly. I need to get back, or I'll get soaked in the rain on the way. You two help me push my car to the door. My car might have gotten wet in the rain and the connection is bad, so I can't drive it. Hurry up, it's blocking other cars."

As she spoke, she nodded to the cars blocking the road behind her. The two people at the restaurant genuinely thought she was there to deliver fish, and they helped her push her tricycle all the way to the restaurant entrance.

"Could you please send someone to call your supervisor and tell him to come and collect the goods as soon as possible? I'm in a real hurry!"

The two agreed, and a moment later they indeed led out a middle-aged man with a big belly and a big smile on his face.

"Who are you? Who gave you the fish?" the middle-aged man asked, casually opening the car awning to reveal several boxes of lively fish. "Wow, not bad, they're all wild."

Chen Hong frowned and asked him, "What's your surname? Where's Section Chief Zhang Baiqiang? Didn't he say he was waiting for me at the door?"

Upon hearing Zhang Baiqiang's name, the middle-aged man paused, then continued rummaging through the crabs in the bucket, saying, "I don't see him. How much are these blue crabs today? And what about the green dragon crabs? What's the price?"

"Green lobster 90, green crab 100, spiny lobster 130. No, weren't the prices agreed upon? We're supposed to weigh it and pay in cash right away? What's wrong with your hotel? You're not keeping your word! Get Zhang Baiqiang out here, I want to talk to him."

Suddenly she looked up. "Oh no! I've gone to the wrong place. This isn't the Dragon Palace Hotel; this is the Pearl Restaurant. Wasn't it supposed to be the only big hotel on Shengxing Road, easy to find? How did it turn into a big restaurant?"

Chen Hong pushed away the middle-aged man's hand: "I'm sorry, this is a delivery to the Dragon Palace Hotel. I'll contact someone to tow the truck away right away."

The middle-aged man spread his arms to block the car, saying, "You can't leave. You've come all this way, how can you leave?"

Chen Hong stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. "What, are you trying to stage an accident? I didn't damage a single paving stone. You think you can stop me from leaving? Believe me or not, I'll call 110 right now."

The middle-aged man quickly changed his expression to a smile: "Young lady, you've misunderstood. I'm not trying to scam you. I just want to buy your fish. Anyway, you're already at my doorstep, so it doesn't matter who you sell to, right? I'll give you a price that will definitely satisfy you. Sell me this truckload of fish! Let me introduce myself first. I'm the deputy manager of this restaurant, in charge of purchasing. My name is Zheng Gaoxing."

Chen Hong laughed: "Your name is really good, but if I sold it to you, you would be happy, but Section Chief Zhang would be furious with me. I can't do something so dishonest. This is a long-term business for me, and I can't ruin my reputation."

"Young lady, do you own a seafood shop? Which one? Let's cooperate in the future. As long as the quality is the same as the seafood in the truck, our restaurant will buy from you."

"No, these are fish that my family caught ourselves at sea. You can't find this many fresh, large, wild-caught fish in seafood stores."

“Sister, just sell all the fish to me. Look, this car is broken. If we spend more time finding a tow truck, all the fish will die, and you'll suffer a loss. It would be better if you sold them to me before they turn white.”

"Zhang Baiqiang, why don't you just say the car broke down and the fish died? You worked so hard to catch this fish, you can't let it die when it's almost at the restaurant. You have to be flexible in business, you can't put all your eggs in one basket!"

Although Chen Hong kept saying no, her attitude wasn't so firm anymore. Seeing that there was a chance, Zheng Gaoxing suppressed a smile, waved and called for people to quickly unload the three water tanks and one bucket from the truck.

Chen Hong objected immediately, "No, we can't unload the truck yet, we haven't even discussed the price!"

Zheng Gaoxing laughed heartily: "Don't worry, sister, I'll quote you the price Zhang Baiqiang gave you. I definitely won't lower your price. We're one of the top three restaurants in Rongcheng. We don't do things that would lower our standards."

After hearing Zheng Gaoxing's words, Chen Hong took out a price list she had drawn up in advance and handed it to him. "No, let's be upfront and settle this amicably first. Take a look at the transaction price between us and the Dragon Palace Hotel. Only unload and weigh the goods if you agree to it. Also, let's make this clear from the start: it must be cash on delivery. We fishermen rely on this money to support our families!"

Zheng Gaoxing was delighted to have stopped so many high-quality wild animals. When he looked at the price list, he found the prices to be very reasonable, and some varieties were even much cheaper than what they had bought in the market.

After looking at the whole table, his eyes widened. It listed the prices of many rare and large abalone, including one-headed abalone, two-headed abalone, 5-jin geoduck, 10-centimeter-diameter sea urchin, half-jin sea cucumber, 5-jin stonefish, and 5-jin grouper, among other rare and large species.

This table illustrates one point: they have traded the goods listed on it. This beautiful woman in front of us must have a family with deep-sea diving experts who can obtain rare seafood that is not available on the market.

This message stirred something within him. He felt that he had discovered an incredible channel, a channel that could truly elevate his family's restaurant to the high-end market.

With a broad smile, he said, "Young lady, we accept all the prices listed above, and we'd like to continue our cooperation with your company. We hope you can continue to supply us with goods in the future. Could you send some of the fish listed here tomorrow?"

Chen Hong saw him pointing to several items in front of the form: abalone, geoduck, sea cucumber, sea urchin, and other rare seafood.

"No, it's been raining these past few days, so we can't go out to sea. We can't deliver ordinary fish either. If you want any goods, you'll have to wait until the weather clears up and we can go out to sea again. Besides, the kinds of things you mentioned aren't something you can just buy whenever you want. These can only be caught by diving, and even if you do catch them, we can't guarantee their size."

So, you have a diving expert in your family?

"I wouldn't call myself a pro. I can only find some good catches in shallow water. You know, even wild ones are a matter of luck."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!