Song Tan's Notes

Song Tan pondered Tao Zhuangzhuang's actions:
Nothing wrong with it either.

These days, to be a successful businessman, you need to be thick-skinned and daring.

What's more, a commission of five yuan per kilogram is pretty good and quite generous!

He wanted to use Qiao Qiao's popularity to become more well-known to everyone. If everyone were as thoughtful as him, Song Tan wouldn't refuse at all.

She readily agreed: "Okay!"

Tao Zhuangzhuang was overjoyed and quickly asked, "My family's vineyard is the largest in our county, and it's well-managed. Should we go and check it out before we start the live stream?"

Nobody took it seriously.

After all, scientific management of water and fertilizer and orderly planting are necessary, and most households probably follow similar practices.

But Qiaoqiao does need an outdoor environment for her live streams.

She looked at Yanran.

Yanran glanced at the first few basic data points that appeared and nodded silently.

Despite the high temperature, Qiaoqiao packed her live-streaming equipment, including cooling patches (carefully prepared by Brother Yanping), and the group drove to Tao Zhuangzhuang's orchard.

"It's a bit like our house, it also has this kind of tall fence." Qiaoqiao looked up.

Tao Zhuangzhuang smiled wryly: "I have no choice but to pretend."

He pointed to the fence: "At first, I wanted to save money, so I built it myself with bamboo. But not long after, the bamboo poles with nails were all removed."

"Later, the fence was replaced. Then, this kind of taller and thicker barbed wire was installed."

The heartache, anger, and sighs experienced during that time are all contained in these few simple words.

"We have one at home too." Qiaoqiao, oblivious to the helplessness of adults, instead became smug.
"But my sister is so clever! We installed this kind of wire mesh from the beginning, so no thieves can get in!"

When Tao Zhuangzhuang listened to Qiao Qiao speak, he saw that his fair face was full of sincerity and obvious pride. He did not feel offended at all, but rather felt like he was looking at his own junior.

After thinking about it, he seemed to understand why Qiaoqiao was so popular.

Therefore, instead of coaxing or persuading him like a child, she directly said:
"Actually, for those of us who do farming, what we're really afraid of isn't thieves."

When a thief steals such a large quantity of goods, there are always clues to follow.

Even if it were stolen, at least some of the loss could be recovered.

But the most frightening thing in this world is "hating others for having things and laughing at others for not having them".

A village may seem harmonious, but if someone gets rich, others will still be envious.

"...Take this vineyard for example. Putting everything else aside, I can't stand them just having a few bags of salt dumped on a rainy day, let alone any other methods."

He spoke with a sigh, clearly having experienced similar things.

Qiaoqiao listened attentively, and then thought about it:

"It's alright where I am. There are thieves too, but they've all been caught. We have security guards, lots and lots of them! And we have lots and lots of dogs, some of them have medals."

When Qiaoqiao mentioned the medal, Tao Zhuangzhuang initially thought it was for a show dog, but his attention was quickly drawn to the security guards and many other dogs.

"With so many people, the expenses must be considerable—what do you mainly grow?"

What he really wanted to ask was: Is live streaming really that profitable?

After the fruits and other produce are sold out in the first quarter of the year, and you have nothing to do the rest of the time, don't you feel anxious?

The villagers say Qiaoqiao is a big streamer, but he only glanced at her a couple of times and didn't have much time to learn more about her, so now he's full of questions.

Qiaoqiao didn't hide it from him, and started counting them off on her fingers one by one:

"Wow, we have huge mountains, huge lotus ponds, huge rivers! And several ponds too."

"We planted rice, wheat, and rush. Do you know what rush is? My grandpa could weave really, really nice rush mats from it!"

"Watermelon—my sister said that in two years we won't be able to intercrop watermelons in the tea fields anymore, because the tea plants will have grown up and we'll need to move to another sandy plot."

"Peaches, apples, pears, pomegranates, jujubes... Oh, we also planted some grapes this year, and lemons and oranges next year."

"We also grow a lot of vegetables. We also have huge tea plantations, and the tea sells very well."

"They also grow silver ear and black fungus in the chestnut orchard. Xiaodong said he's got his eye on a few plots of land and is thinking of growing shiitake mushrooms! If possible, we can also get the villagers to grow shiitake mushrooms together..."

As he spoke, Tao Zhuangzhuang's expression shifted from surprise to admiration, and then to speechlessness:
"You," he said, filled with envy.

"You're integrating production and sales! You pick the fruit here and sell it online there." Good heavens! If he had that kind of ability, he wouldn't have to worry about growing another 100 acres of vineyards.

"No," Qiaoqiao said honestly.
"We have too many things, and we sell them all online. We won't have a moment of rest all year round. It's so tiring."

Tao Zhuangzhuang's eyes were almost red from listening!

Since we're all involved in farming, isn't it only natural that we should work hard?

Do you still want to have some free time?
Don't you spend money when you have free time? Aren't you anxious?

Looking at Qiaoqiao's untouched face—she certainly doesn't seem anxious.

Unperturbed, Qiaoqiao spoke frankly: "So most of it is outsourced! The rest is sold online at a low price."

Tao Zhuangzhuang: ...

Wait a minute! If he remembered correctly, what did the young people in the village say again? Peaches cost 100 yuan a pound—

You call this a cheap sale? Then what price is it if it's not cheap?

His eyes widened in disbelief.

The two men, one in black and one in white, one weathered and the other young, were from different generations, yet surprisingly, they chatted with great enthusiasm.

Song Tan and Lu Chuan followed slowly behind, listening attentively as well.

I must say, it's really rare to find someone like Qiaoqiao who can be friends with anyone.

When they arrived at Tao Zhuangzhuang's orchard, everyone was stunned.

“You…” Song Tan looked at the vineyard in front of her, then at Tao Zhuangzhuang, “You said you would keep it tidy before, but you were so subtle about it.”

That's exactly what being subtle is all about!
In the vast, boundless vineyards before me, rows and furrows are clearly defined, covered with mulch and meticulously maintained, without a single weed in sight.

The grapes on top are arranged in an exceptionally neat manner. Because of the proper management, at first glance, it seems that each bunch of grapes looks almost the same.

Row after row, section after section, not a single tree was out of place.

This isn't just a matter of scientific management; it's clearly obsessive-compulsive disorder!
Tao Zhuangzhuang was reaching out to pluck a half-scorched leaf from the side when he saw everyone looking over, and he looked somewhat bewildered.
"What's wrong? Do you want me to find a place to stream? I don't know how."

"It's nothing." Song Tan turned her head and saw Qiao Qiao exclaim:
"Sister, Zhuangzhuang's plants are neater than ours!"

Yes, that's something Song Tan has to admit.

Tao Zhuangzhuang took a small pair of scissors from a toolbox hanging on the fence, picked out a string of scissors, and snipped them off:
"Come on, try some of our grapes. They all taste pretty much the same. I've marked the less desirable ones with red ribbons tied to them."

No wonder he was so anxious about sales!

That level of discipline must have taken an immense amount of effort; they probably live and eat in the orchard. To see the grapes rot in the ground would be truly...

Qiaoqiao unhesitatingly pulled up her phone stand: "When I'm broadcasting here later, can I cut the grapes however I want?"

Tao Zhuangzhuang was somewhat surprised:
"Is this the beginning?"

Realizing they would be the first to start selling directly, they nodded without hesitation: "Sure! Pick as many as you like!"

After opening the live stream's backend and performing various operations, Song Tan became frustrated again:
"I should have brought Brother Yanping along."

The online store and such weren't her responsibility, and she's struggling to manage them right now.

"It's alright." Lu Chuan reached out and took it. "I'll handle the backend. You can ask She Min if there are any special considerations."

The customer service assistant, who works with Yun Duo and Gao Xinzhi, is currently busy remotely dealing with the hundreds of peaches sold yesterday and simply can't attend to this matter.

The two of them have been working on the backend for a while now, and thankfully they've managed to get all the links ready.

However, Yanran's report also arrived, along with her suggestions:

"There's nothing wrong with the grapes from Mr. Tao's farm; that's the quality we're tasting. Here's a brief report."

"As for the others, there are slight differences between each one. Some have a stronger fruity aroma, while others are more refreshing..."

Lu Chuan thought for a moment and said, "How many large grape growers are there in Baiyu County? Why don't we use this as a selling point and sell our own grapes in each orchard?"

As for those small-scale individual investors, they can slowly filter the quality during the live stream.

When will the security guards we called arrive?

Fresh produce needs to be shipped out as soon as it's sold; quality control is crucial. (End of Chapter)