Chapter 97 Bargaining

“…The price is acceptable, but you can’t sell these vegetables to anyone else.”

"How many customers does Mr. Xu's restaurant receive every day? How many dishes does he need? If Mr. Xu doesn't want that many dishes and doesn't allow me to sell them to others, it's a waste and I can't accept it."

The two of them didn't know how many rounds of negotiations they had, and the price had already been negotiated to the ceiling for vegetables, but some of Xu Li's demands were really annoying.

Xia Wu frowned, knowing that Xu Li was not a easy person to deal with, so he took him for a walk and talked on the mountain.

Xu Li said, "Since I've paid this price, I can't let my guests eat somewhere else. Wouldn't that be a bit unfair to them?"

"Mr. Xu can't guarantee that he'll sell all the world's top salmon to you, right? Why do you demand exclusive sales from me?" Xia Wu's face showed a hint of mockery, a knowing look on her face. She waved her hand, "Forget it, Mr. Xu isn't in a business mood at all. I don't have to sell my stuff to you. You should find someone else. We can still be friends."

Xu Li was a little embarrassed. He did look down on the vegetables grown in Yanggou Village. They had no gimmicks. He had already paid a high price, but he still couldn't monopolize Xia Wu's determination to sell the vegetables to others.

"So what does Miss Xia want?"

"Sixty-one kilograms, selected suppliers. You pay for the shipping, and you can control the quality. For the first year, I will only cooperate with your private restaurant. As for after that year, we'll talk later. Other than that, you can't interfere with who I sell the vegetables to."

Xia Wu didn't want to take advantage of Xu Li anymore, and was willing to discuss cooperation with him only for Ma Xueqing's sake. An old man ran back and forth three times, and if he didn't really like their land, he wouldn't think of introducing business to them.

Xu Li stopped talking, obviously thinking.

After a moment, he spoke, "Okay, Miss Xia is a fair person, so let's make this a deal. By the way, I see the apricots on the mountain are ripe. I wonder what price Miss Xia plans to sell them for?"

"The scorer."

"How do we divide it?"

"If I sell it to Mr. Xu, it's thirty-one. If I sell it to others, it's eight yuan per pound."

"What's the difference between thirty-one and eight yuan a pound?"

Xu Li has learned to be smart and knows to ask first instead of getting angry.

Just as they were walking near the orchard, Heidou and Jindou ran out when they heard the noise. When they saw Xia Wu, their tails wagged like propellers, and if they were thrown into the river, they would take off on the spot.

"Mr. Xu, you've already tasted the apricots. They should suit your taste, otherwise you wouldn't have asked me the price."

Xu Li smiled awkwardly, "Indeed, it tastes good and is perfect for our store's new product launch in May. But the price is..."

"Mr. Xu, we've all seen the world. You don't have to act in front of me. Thirty-one coins might be a bit expensive for ordinary people, but for you rich people, it's probably like drinking plain water."

"That's true, but rich people don't make their money out of thin air. Miss Xia always treats me differently, which makes me feel uncomfortable."

Xia Wu glanced at him sideways, with a half-smile on her face, and she looked so beautiful that Xu Li's heart skipped a beat.

Then I quickly reminded myself in my heart that this was a beauty trap.

Don't be fooled.

"Mr. Xu, please don't be prejudiced against me. I said I'd sell it to you for thirty-one. Of course, I'm not cheating you. It's absolutely worth it."

After saying that, Xia Wu called Hei Dou over and said, "Go find some delicious apricots. There's a reward for finding them."

Hei Dou instantly woke up, thinking, "What? The master is going to give him some delicious food again!" Paw Patrol is out!

It barked twice, then immediately ran into the woods and stopped under an apricot tree. "Woof woof! (Here it is!)"

Although he had seen Hei Dou's cleverness before, he was still surprised to see it again. Xu Li asked, "Is this an expensive additional service?"

If dog lovers come to his restaurant to eat, maybe he can charge more for playing this video.

Xu Li thought to himself.

Xia Wu was upset. He didn't know how such an honest old man like Ma Xueqing got to know Xu Li, a black-hearted businessman who was obsessed with money.

"No, Mr. Xu will know in a moment."

Xia Wu led Xu Li into the apricot forest. They came to the foot of a tree, turned over the leaves and searched for a while. She asked Xu Li to look at it. "Here are the thirty-one apricots. I wonder what Mr. Xu thinks of them."

"It's so big!" Xu Li blurted out a compliment.

He tentatively measured the size of the apricot. Wow, this apricot was equivalent to the one and a half he had just eaten.

For girls with small hands, this apricot is just right.

"This is the King Apricot from our mountain. Not only is it large, but it's also incredibly sweet. However, there aren't many of them, so we can't sell them on a large scale. We only keep them privately and circulate them among acquaintances. So, it just meets Mr. Xia's requirements. Do you think the price is acceptable?"

Xu Li was not only tempted, he also took action immediately: "Can I pick a hundred apricots like this now? I want a hundred before I leave tomorrow."

Xia Wu showed a proud smile, "Don't worry, I guarantee it will be done!"

"By the way, Mr. Xu, are you planning to give it as a gift? If so, would you like it to be packaged in a high-end gift box? This would also help avoid any problems during transportation."

Xu Li: "You have?"

Xia Wu nodded "hmm", she was just waiting for the sucker to come to her, she had already prepared for it!

“…How much is a gift box?”

"Ten dollars."

"So expensive? Are you trying to rob me?" Xu Li was still angry and embarrassed. Zhang Wuji's mother was right. The more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to lie.

"Mr. Xu, you're too polite. Once you see the box, you won't think it's expensive anymore."

Xia Wu opened his cell phone, took out a photo he had taken earlier, and showed it to Xu Li.

The photo shows a square bamboo box, which is bamboo green in color. The delicate bamboo weaving seems to have the fresh air of plants. It is made of top-grade material and polished clean. Inside is a concave sponge, which wraps a large orange-yellow apricot like a mother holding a baby. At first glance, it looks like some kind of jade, giving people a feeling of expensiveness and exquisiteness.

Xu Li was silent. Ten yuan didn't seem particularly expensive.

It’s mainly this combination and this aesthetic that are very artistic and worthwhile.

"A hundred boxes, are there?"

"Yes, what time does Mr. Xu plan to leave tomorrow? I'll make sure it's done before you leave."

"Nine o'clock."

"Then let's pay a deposit first?"

"Okay, add me as a friend and I'll transfer you."

Xu Li gave Xia Wu a deposit of two thousand yuan.

After receiving the deposit, Xia Wu made an OK gesture, took out his cell phone and started making a call.

"Hello? Dad, are you busy? Do we have enough bamboo weaving at home? Bring it up the mountain and find some skilled bamboo weaving boxes. They cost six dollars each, and I need a hundred. I want them done today. Okay, okay."

Xu Li on the side: "???"

They swore that they had it, but it turned out to be made fresh!

"Oh, by the way, has Mr. Xu ever tried our loquats?"

Xu Li: “…No.”

"Come on, come on, I'll ask Mr. Xu to have a taste."

Half an hour later, Xia Wu called Yang Guojun again: "Dad! Give me another hundred bamboo boxes!"

Xu Li was extremely heartbroken!

"Oh, by the way, has Mr. Xu ever tried our raspberries?"

Xu Li: "This is not necessary, right?"

Half an hour later, he paid a deposit for raspberry jam.

Xia Wu accepted the money. In just a short while, she received a deposit of four or five thousand. She was still not satisfied, but the attractive things on the mountain had not arrived yet.

"Mr. Xu, will you come again next month? By then, the peaches and plums here will be ripe. Oh, and the watermelons, cantaloupes, and melons are almost ripe. I wonder if Mr. Xu would be interested?"

…

At noon, Yang Guojun received a task assigned by his daughter, which was to find villagers to make bamboo boxes for six yuan each. He immediately took action and looked for skilled people in the village.

This kind of work is best done by women, as they are very meticulous. Although Yang Guojun did the first bamboo weaving by himself, he believed that no man in the village could do it better than him.

Yang Guojun was looking for people at the store at the entrance of the village. When they heard that it would only cost six yuan to make a box, many people wanted to take the job, but Yang Guojun still needed a trial period.

"You're not doing a good job. Look, the pattern is all crooked. Isn't your wife at home? Call her over."

"What? Going back to her parents' home? What a waste of time. Forget it, who else is willing to give it a try?"

There must be a brave man under a large sum of money. In just ten minutes, Yang Guojun found people who could do bamboo weaving, four women and two men. He brought them home. Yang Guojun was responsible for weaving the bamboo, and the others were responsible for making boxes.

It is not difficult to make a bamboo box. If you are slow, you can make one in half an hour, and if you are fast, it can be done in about ten minutes. At the beginning, people are a little slow, but then they get more and more excited and their speed becomes faster and faster.

Xia Wu needed a total of 200 bamboo boxes. Six or seven people continued to work after lunch. It took them an entire afternoon to finish the boxes and earn them 100 or 200 yuan.

The shockproof sponge is ready-made, and the box is made of the same size. Put the sponge in, and an elegant high-end gift box is made.

After finishing, Yang Guojun looked at the artwork he produced but was still a little unsatisfied. He found the tools he had used to iron cabinets for others and printed a small section of bamboo with leaves on each box.

In the past, every family had solid wood furniture that could be passed down for two or three generations. It was usually made by a woman's parents when she got married. In order to make it look good, craftsmen would print some patterns on the furniture, such as plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, mandarin duck, cloud pattern, and so on.

Yang Guojun used to do this.

However, with the changing times, fewer and fewer people make solid wood furniture, and there is no need for craftsmen to print patterns one by one. Instead, they can use machines in the factory to print and batches of furniture can be shipped out.

Although he lost his job, Yang Guojun has not forgotten the skill of making a living. He usually likes to tinker around at home and make some handicrafts with wood and bamboo. He didn't expect that he could still make money from this after so many years.

evening.

There was a barbecue party planned for the evening, so Liu Guizhen started helping out on the mountain in the afternoon. When the clouds in the sky were red for half the day, the school bell of the elementary school three kilometers away rang, and was carried far away by the wind.

"School's over!"

As soon as the get out of class was over, Yang Mingyuan immediately took out the schoolbag he had packed during the previous break and shouted.

The teacher was still standing at the podium, obviously about to finish the unfinished question.

Looking back, she saw Yang Mingyuan standing up. The young female teacher frowned and said sternly, "Yang Mingyuan, who said school is over? Sit down."

"Teacher, the principal said school is over. Didn't you hear the bell? Ding-ling-ling, ding-ling-ling!" Yang Mingyuan rang the bell with his tongue, making the classmates laugh.

Class teacher Yan Lingling's face turned red.

Yan Lingling became the class teacher just after half a semester at Dongkeng Village Primary School.

The original homeroom teacher was an elderly man named Wang, who was said to have taught Yang Mingyuan's parents' generation. When Wang Minping mentioned him, she would say, "Your father's teacher taught Chinese, English, and physical education. He must bear a lot of responsibility for your father's poor grades."

Yang Mingyuan's father graduated from junior high school. He can't distinguish the initials and finals in Chinese, and can only use Chinese to mark English in English. His bus level is about the same as his father's, and he is only good at sports.

During physical education class, I would go to the teacher's house to do chores, such as cleaning, harvesting rice, and feeding pigs...

After many years, the village primary school not only had no students, but also lacked teachers. No one knew which genius invited Old Man Wang to come out of retirement to teach students English.

After Old Man Wang stopped teaching, he opened a chicken farm. Now he no longer raises chickens, but has started teaching again. After three months, the principal saw that if he continued to teach, the children in several nearby villages would be doomed. Whether they could get into university was another matter. With such a low level of English, he would be laughed to death in front of foreign friends if he showed off his English.

So he went to his superiors every few days to ask for teachers, and finally a lot of new teachers were recruited into the school.

If you work as a teacher here for three years, you can get a regular position and can be transferred to the county or city. Therefore, some people who cannot pass the exam to get a regular position in the city come to the town primary school to be a teacher as a roundabout way to save the country.

Today's students are very smart. They all know that new teachers will leave sooner or later, so they have no feelings for their teachers.

Yan Lingling is 23 years old and has just graduated from college. She is a lively and cheerful girl in private, but she has to put on a stern face and maintain the authority of a teacher in front of these naughty children.

Rural children have poor foundations, most of them are left-behind children, lack parental discipline, and it is difficult for teachers to discipline them. Communicate with their parents, but they are all grandparents, and they will only let teachers beat the children if they are disobedient.

The salary is not high, just over two thousand yuan.

Although food and accommodation are provided, I can’t buy anything because I have all the money left.

Yan Lingling has no money, lives far away from home, lives in a remote and poor village, has difficult students to manage, and now is being laughed at by all the students in the class. She is really having a hard time.

Yang Mingyuan is a smart kid, a little rebellious in his intelligence. Yan Lingling likes him very much and takes good care of him.

Being betrayed in public by her "beloved disciple", Yan Lingling felt aggrieved for a moment, and her eyes gradually became moist. She had a tear incontinent constitution, and she stared with her eyes wide open, stubbornly trying not to cry in front of her students, while gritting her teeth and telling herself not to cry in her heart.

But I still couldn't help it.

Tick-tock.

A tear slid down her eye, quickly ran down her cheek, and dripped onto the dry concrete floor.

"The teacher is crying!"

"Stop laughing!"

The class instantly became quiet, and everyone stared at Yan Lingling.

Yang Mingyuan was at a loss. He just wanted to go back early to eat barbecue, but he didn't think about making the teacher cry!

Yan Lingling pursed her lips. Seeing that students from other classes had all come out, she said in a hoarse voice, "get out of class is dismissed."

He then quickly left the classroom and said to Yang Mingyuan before stepping out, "Yang Mingyuan, come to my office!"

Yang Mingyuan's world collapsed.