"Let's go home." Zhao Shufang helped Liang Mei and Liang Fu, looking at the two still-shaken girls with heartache.
"No, Mother, we haven't sold all of this yet. How are we going to explain this to Chaosheng when we get back?" Liang Mei said reluctantly, looking at the pile of seafood.
"Still thinking about selling them! Hurry back and apply medicine to your wounds!" Zhao Shufang said angrily. "I don't know what Lin Chaosheng was thinking, letting two women like you out here... These days are so dangerous!"
“Mother!” Liang Mei took Zhao Shufang’s arm. “Don’t say that about Chaosheng. It’s not his fault. It’s just that we weren’t prepared.”
“It’s not your fault, it’s my fault…” Wei He spoke up from the side, “Brother Lin told me to take good care of the two sisters before he left, but…”
"Alright! It's no one's fault, it's all that scoundrel's fault!" Lin Shanhai interrupted the two of them as they apologized.
"That's right, that's right, it's all this scoundrel's fault, let's go home quickly!" Zhao Shufang quickly advised.
So the five of them pushed the cart and helped each other home.
Lin Chaosheng, on the other hand, is completely unaware of what's happening, and is happily negotiating prices with someone.
"No, just one yuan, that's the lowest I can go! Go to this black market, you won't find anywhere this cheap!" Lin Chaosheng was haggling with someone over the price of the grouper.
The person opposite said sincerely, "We are making a large purchase and will come back to buy more in the future."
It turned out that this was a purchasing agent from a state-owned restaurant who came out to buy goods. He saw that Lin Chaosheng had bought a lot of high-quality products and wanted to cooperate with him in the long term, and also wanted to lower the price further.
"How much do you plan to buy in bulk?" Lin Chaosheng thought that if it was a lot, it would be a worthwhile deal.
"We need twelve grouper a week, and forty catties of mantis shrimp a week. I'll ask about the others in more detail when I get back," the purchasing agent said.
Lin Shansheng's eyes widened instantly upon hearing this, "So many!"
"Of course, we are a state-run restaurant after all, and we have quite a few customers every day." The purchasing agent became confident.
Lin Chaosheng considered his options and agreed after a moment's thought, "Okay, but since you're buying so little this time, I really can't sell it to you at a discount."
The purchasing agent thought for a moment, looking at the remaining seafood in his basin.
There were also mantis shrimp, grouper, a few mackerel and sea bream, and several pounds of crabs inside.
"How about this, I'll buy the rest, and you can give me a bigger discount," the purchasing agent compromised.
"All of them?!" Lin Shansheng turned to look at Lin Chaosheng in shock.
Then she leaned close to Lin Chaosheng and whispered, "How about we sell them all to him cheaply..."
Lin Chaosheng thought it over and over, and seeing that it was getting late, he figured that there wouldn't be many more people buying seafood.
Moreover, these seafood items had been sun-dried and were somewhat wilted, so they didn't look as appealing.
Most importantly, this is a purchasing agent for a state-owned restaurant. If I can cooperate with him long-term, then I will have a stable source of income.
Lin Chaosheng made his decision and nodded solemnly, "Okay, then I'll give you a 20% discount, and we'll start cooperating from tomorrow."
"Great, great, you're such a straightforward person!" The clerk was overjoyed and immediately agreed, "Then let's talk about this collaboration over here."
"Okay, I'll pack these up for you first." Lin Chaosheng sorted and packed the seafood, handing it to the cashier. "This will cost six yuan and eighty cents in total."
"Here you go," the clerk handed Lin Chaosheng the money, "Let's talk at the state-run restaurant then."
Lin Chaosheng agreed, as he also wanted to see what dishes the state-run restaurants offered so he could cook them for his family at home.
"Brother, can we really go to the state-run restaurant? Can we eat something there?" Lin Shansheng was so excited he almost jumped up.
"Eat, eat, eat. You have so much money?" Lin Chaosheng gave Lin Shansheng a flick on the forehead. "Just wait. When your brother makes a lot of money in the future, I'll take you, your parents, and your sister-in-law to eat at state-run restaurants every day."
"Brother, you're so kind!" Lin Shansheng looked at Lin Chaosheng with tears in his eyes.
Lin Chaosheng looked at Lin Shansheng with disdain, "Stop, stop, stop, can you stop being so mushy?"
The three walked for a while and finally arrived at the state-run restaurant.
The entire restaurant was enveloped in the rich, dark aroma of oil and soy sauce, with an enticing hint of spiciness.
The dusty gray facade bore the large, solemn, and simple words "Serve the People".
The restaurant had red lacquered tables and chairs, and the waiters, wearing white aprons, hurried around with expressionless faces.
"This place smells nice, but why does it feel so impersonal?" Lin Shansheng wondered.
"Don't talk nonsense, you can't just say whatever you want in this place!" Lin Chaosheng stopped him.
"It's alright, it's alright. This place is always frequented by important people, which is why everyone seems so serious," the clerk said with a smile.
After saying that, he turned around and pointed to the kitchen, "Come on, come and take a look over here."
Upon reaching the kitchen, the two brothers exclaimed in surprise.
Several chefs in white hats were seen skillfully and methodically flipping the wok, their orderly movements inspiring admiration.
"This is our seafood chef," the interviewer introduced to the two brothers.
"Old Sun, what do you think of this seafood?" The purchasing agent handed the seafood he bought from Lin Chaosheng to the chef.
Old Sun opened the bag and exclaimed, "Great! It's fresh enough, and the meat is thick and tender."
"That's good. From now on, we'll get all our supplies from Mr. Lin." The purchasing agent was very happy.
The purchasing agent then led the two brothers to his office, where they wrote down the goods they needed.
"This is the seafood we need every day, please take a look." The purchasing agent handed the paper to Lin Chaosheng.
"Sure, I can get all of these." Lin Chaosheng quickly finished reading and agreed to the request from the editor.
"That's fine then. I'll trouble you to put the goods at the back door of our kitchen every day. I'll take you on a tour in a bit." The purchasing agent stood up and invited Lin Chaosheng to see the specific location.
The two had a very pleasant conversation and eventually settled on a price that satisfied both of them.
"Oh right, I haven't asked your name yet?" Lin Chaosheng slapped his forehead, speechless at himself for forgetting such an important thing.
"My surname is Liu, and my given name is Liu Qi. You can just call me Lao Liu from now on," the clerk said, shaking hands with Lin Chaosheng. "Then I wish us a pleasant cooperation!"
"Okay, it's a pleasure to work with you." Lin Chaosheng happily shook hands with him.
Afterwards, the two brothers couldn't wait to go home with the good news, chatting and laughing all the way.
Lin Shansheng happily counted, "Brother, does that mean we'll have a fixed income of five yuan every day from now on? I never even dared to dream of such a lot of money!"
"What's the big deal? Wait till I show you how to earn a hundred a day!" Lin Chaosheng said confidently.
"Brother, stop bragging..." Lin Shansheng pushed open the door with a speechless expression.
"You're finally back!" Zhao Shufang's eyes immediately welled up with tears when she saw the two brothers return.
"Brother Lin, it's all my fault today, it's all my fault..." Wei He said, and was about to slap himself.
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