Han Chengshan smiled with satisfaction and patted the chubby boy's head: "Well done."
He surveyed the classroom like a leader and said, "From now on, when you buy candied hawthorns, only buy from those two old men's stalls, understand?"
"Okay, big brother!"
"Big brother, don't worry, even if you don't say anything, I'll only eat the candied hawthorns from Grandpa's shop!"
"I can only eat the food from the old man's house; I can't chew the food from other places."
"Grandpa's candied hawthorns are the best, the sugar is crispy and crunchy!"
"We'll only buy candied hawthorns from the old man's shop!"
Han Chengshan strode out of the classroom with the gait of a leader, only to bump into the homeroom teacher of Class 3, Grade 1.
"Han Chengshan! What are you doing in our class?!"
Coincidentally, this homeroom teacher also served as the director of the teaching affairs office, which was the same person who issued the three disciplinary actions against Han Chengshan.
Han Chengshan immediately stopped his swaggering pace, straightened his back, and marched in step, smiling broadly: "I came to see the junior students, they're so cute. It's nothing, I'll be going now, bye-bye!" He waved his hand, looking completely upright.
The head of student affairs pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses. His rigid and serious face was expressionless, and his narrow, almond-shaped eyes stared intently at Han Chengshan through the clean, shiny lenses, his expression stern and silent.
Han Chengshan led his underlings to quickly retreat, hiding out of the dean's sight. Leaning against the wall, Han Chengshan patted his chest: "Damn, that old woman is really fierce!"
"Shh! Brother Shan, we can't let the head of discipline hear us, or we'll get punished!"
"Discipline, discipline, discipline! What else can she do besides issue disciplinary actions?! She's so annoying!" Han Chengshan ruffled his hair and said irritably, "Let's go back to the classroom and sleep!"
The head of student affairs entered the first-grade classroom and asked worriedly, "Has he bullied you? Don't be afraid, tell the teacher. No bad student is afraid of me!"
The first-graders blinked their innocent, wide eyes and shook their heads in unison.
The chubby boy said happily, "Big brother didn't bully us, he was just introducing us to delicious candied hawthorns!"
His deskmate was a dark-skinned boy who had lost a front tooth. He nodded and said, "Yeah! It's delicious. I can chew it. It's not sour or bitter!"
The head of student affairs asked suspiciously, "Would he really be that kind?"
She asked several classes in a row, and the children's answers were almost identical. The head teacher frowned, feeling that the boy was not so well-behaved, but she couldn't find anything wrong with him for the time being, so she could only let it go.
...
Han Fei and Old Man Xu went to the market to inquire about the price of hawthorns and tasted them. Not only were they expensive, but the hawthorns had also become dry and hard after being left out for a long time.
"Old Han, why did you leave?"
Old Xu, who wanted to browse around the market, saw Han Fei walk out of the market gate and quickly chased after him.
"The hawthorns here are too expensive. Not only will we not make any money, but the taste and texture will also be compromised."
"Let me try to negotiate the price a bit more, don't leave yet!"
"We don't source our goods here."
"Not sourcing from here? Where will you source from?"
"Go to where they source their goods."
Old Xu said with a bitter face, "People you don't know well at the wholesale market don't get much of a discount."
Upon arriving at the wholesale market, Han Fei inquired at several hawthorn vendors, only to find that they required a contract to confirm the monthly order quantity before offering a discounted price.
Without a contract, the price is not much different from the price at the market, and the round-trip transportation cost is even higher than the price offered by the nearest market.
Old Xu pulled Han Fei aside: "Ordering goods won't work; you'll need to pay a deposit and a penalty for breach of contract!"
Han Fei toured the wholesale market and formed a general judgment in his mind.
These listed prices are all inflated; they are likely negotiated between the wholesale market owners and the vegetable market vendors who purchase the goods. This is to entice some retail customers who are hoping for a bargain to eventually return to the vegetable market to buy. In this way, the wholesale market's business is guaranteed, and the vegetable market vendors' business is also guaranteed.
There are only two ways to get the real price from these people: one is to get to know the owners of the wholesale market so that you can get a more realistic price, and the other is to sign a contract, which requires you to pay a deposit first and pay a penalty if you breach the contract, which carries a lot of risk.
Today is the first day of setting up a stall. Business has been up and down. At first, we couldn't sell anything, but later we sold like crazy. But no one can guarantee that business will be this booming tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or the day after that.
If they breach the contract, he and Lao Xu could lose their entire savings of 20,000 yuan.
Han Fei walked out of the wholesale market, and Old Xu advised, "Let's go to the vegetable market to buy goods. It's closer, we don't need to pay for transportation, and it's actually cheaper."
Han Fei shook his head: "The hawthorns in the market aren't fresh."
The vendors at the vegetable market must have signed contracts. When they can't sell all their old stock, new stock arrives, resulting in a large amount of new and old stock being sold together.
It's fine to pick fresh hawthorns from the basket when you go to the market to try something new, but they need a lot of hawthorns, so it's too time-consuming to pick them one by one.
"Old Han, don't just blindly move forward. Tell me, do you even have a plan? What are you going to do?"
"Let's go home first."
"You went back? Not going to restock? Didn't you promise the elementary school students you'd set up a stall after school?"
When they arrived at Old Xu's self-built house, Old Xu was about to open the door and go in when he saw Han Fei walking straight ahead.
"Old Han, we're at my house!" He thought Han Fei wouldn't recognize him.
Han Fei waved his hand: "I'll go check out the house up ahead. Do you recognize that house?"
"I know him, he's a distant relative, but I have a bad reputation, so he doesn't really want to talk to me."
"Then don't follow me."
Han Fei knocked on the gate of the self-built house in front of him. An old woman with gray hair opened the door. Despite her gray hair, she was full of energy and had bright black eyes.
Who are you looking for?
Hello, I'm looking for you.
"Looking for me?" The old lady stared at Han Fei for a long time, then shook her head: "I don't recognize you."
Han Fei looked at the hawthorn tree in the courtyard. The hawthorns on the tree were all ripe, and many hawthorns were on the ground, almost rotting.
"I see that the hawthorns in your yard are all ripe. I was wondering if you would be willing to sell them to me?"
“This hawthorn tree was planted when my eldest son was born. He was the only one in the family who loved to eat hawthorn. A few years ago, he went to work in another city and rarely came back, so no one ate the hawthorns on this tree. If you like them, feel free to pick them. You don’t need to pay me.”
"That won't do, you still have to pay. I want all these hawthorns. I can't offer the same high price as at the market, but I can offer 60% of that. Is that acceptable?"
"Just give me a hundred as a token, take it all, and pick them yourself."
Han Fei thought about it and then agreed.
People here have a custom of planting a fruit tree on the day a child is born, with hawthorn and orange trees being the most common choices.
So Han Fei visited several places and negotiated prices that were nearly half the price of those at the market, though it would be a bit tiring as he would have to pick the produce himself.
Han Fei returned to Old Xu's self-built house. When Old Xu saw him come back empty-handed, he shook his head and sighed, "Old Han, don't be stubborn. Go to the market to buy some vegetables."
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