Song Tan's Notes

Da Liang was really anxious.

The Party Secretary, standing behind, also tiptoed and peered through the fence, calling out, "Zhuangzhuang! Zhuangzhuang!"

Unfortunately, Tao Zhuangzhuang, who was so busy and excited that he wanted to pick grapes himself, had already entered the vineyard and could no longer hear the calls from the doorway.

Besides, even if he could hear it, he wouldn't listen!

At this moment, he looked around suspiciously, like a thief, before speaking to Song Tan again:

"Come on, take any of these grapevines you like. They're all saplings in their fruit-bearing season. Take them home and plant them this fall, and I guarantee your family will have a bumper harvest next year!"

Song Tan was somewhat surprised: "You're really giving it away? We've planted some at home too, so this isn't necessary. You go ahead and do your thing."

Tao Zhuangzhuang then said embarrassedly, "Well, I was mainly looking for an excuse to avoid the villagers."

Qiaoqiao is live streaming right now. Although she doesn't say much, even just a few simple words are causing orders to surge.

If he didn't have a plausible reason for such a big matter, he wouldn't be able to stop the villagers from asking him questions.

But at this moment, he gave Song Tan a thumbs-up with admiration:
"Oh, Mr. Song, you guys are really experienced. It's a good thing you hired these security guards from your own place to help watch over the vineyard."

"Otherwise, everyone in and around the village is either an acquaintance, an elder, or a relative or friend. If they all call me from the doorway, I would really feel embarrassed to pretend I didn't hear them."

But, as Boss Song said, with so many people and so many tricks, it's one thing to hire proper workers, but with such a large group of them, there's not enough room for them to stand in the vineyard. Who knows what kind of trouble might happen?
If someone with malicious intent were to sabotage the selected and packaged goods, he would be in for a world of trouble with after-sales service alone.

In short, since everyone has already seen what they wanted to see in the live stream, instead of asking follow-up questions, you might as well properly sort out the fruit in your own vineyard.

If someone were truly sensible, they would have gone back to make preparations long ago if they couldn't wait for him.

As for showing up himself, but resolutely refusing to open the door—

Hey, even though everyone says they understand, when it comes to relatives or acquaintances calling out to them outside, can they really just pretend they don't hear it?

That's how it's always been in the village; if he acts too rule-abiding, he'll seem out of place.

Now, using the excuse of selecting grapevines for oneself as a live-streaming e-commerce boss is the most legitimate reason at all.
After all, which top livestreamer can sell over 10,000 kilograms of grapes in just a short time?

When Tao Zhuangzhuang thought of this, the corners of his mouth turned up, and he couldn't help but smile.

But he was genuinely sincere about giving away the grapevines: "Everyone in the county is planting them this year, and I guess other places will too. I feel that the price of Shine Muscat grapes will drop even further next year, and the price competition will become chaotic again."

Even though they were so worried about sales this year that they almost hanged themselves, now that the news of their successful sales has spread, there will always be those who don't believe in bad luck and want to try it again this year.

Humans have always been like this.

But Tao Zhuangzhuang understood:

"Without your support, I couldn't sell it at this price even if I shouted the loudest. We already planned to reduce production next year."

His grapevines are well-managed; many people should be interested in them. Picking out the best ones and distributing them to Boss Song is nothing; two hundred vines are really nothing.

"If you don't mind, and if you want to produce more, I can sell them to you at a lower price."

Song Tan was somewhat surprised: "So decisive?"

"That's necessary."

Tao Zhuangzhuang said with a wry smile, "It's obvious that I'm making money this year. With such a big orchard, I really won't be able to keep an eye on it next year. It's better to shrink the area this year."

His words revealed the true nature of humanity, and it was clear that the other person had seen a lot about people's character during his years in the planting business.

At this moment, Song Tan nodded:

"Okay, I'll go back and study the mountain plan."

To be precise, we should ask Yanran and the others; they are the experts in this area.

While others worried about the price of grapes dropping, she wasn't concerned.

While they were talking, Tao Zhuangzhuang quickly picked up his phone again and looked at the store in the live stream room—ah!

More than 8,000 orders.

The sheer number left him somewhat bewildered, and he couldn't help but wonder, "How did they accumulate so many fans?"

He saw other top livestreamers with millions of followers, and they had to shout and hawk their products for a long time before they could sell them!
And it has to be a big brand, with good discounts.

How did you accumulate them?

That's a good question, because Song Tan doesn't know either.

After thinking it over, she decided: "I just want to take pictures of flowers, grass, fruits, and vegetables, and occasionally sell them online?"

"I see." Tao Zhuangzhuang seemed to understand, but not quite. He figured it was probably because the large number of wealthy city dwellers were curious about rural life and had a passionate and fantastical view of the countryside, which brought in the traffic.

He'll learn from him too; since production will be reduced next year anyway, he might as well do some research himself.

Putting everything else aside, if he accumulates 100,000 or 200,000 followers and sells a few hundred or a thousand items, that would be quite a success.

Completely unaware of the fierce competition in the online marketplace, Tao Zhuangzhuang was full of fantasies. He glanced at his phone again, then at Qiao Qiao—

He was holding up his phone to show everyone the vineyard.

"Kids, this is Zhuangzhuang's vineyard, it's a hundred acres!"

"Zhuangzhuang is so thoughtful. He cleans up the scorched leaves and spoiled fruit every single day."

"And these trees, planted exactly the same, even better than the ones we planted at home."

There were plenty of orders today, and everyone instinctively rushed to grab them. But when they found that there were still some left after they were all gone, they couldn't help but relax.

Following Qiaoqiao's perspective, you'll see a boundless vineyard stretching before you, which indeed looks like it was modeled and built by someone with OCD.

How could anyone even impose a standard on the direction in which grapevines grow, forcing it to conform to a specific trellis?

[OCD sufferer's delight! This muscular guy must be a retired soldier, right?]

Oh dear, I was just thinking it was too expensive, so I didn't place an order. But just for the orchard being so well-maintained, I have to try it out.

How is this managed? Look at the position of the lowest branch of each grapevine; they all seem to be almost exactly the same.

I love it so much, it's so pleasing to the eye!

[The owner must be incredibly meticulous to manage even the grapevines so well.]

Yes! These grapes are probably just as Qiaoqiao said, exactly as she described.

[Buy, buy, buy!]

Hehe, if I can't get a peach for 499 yuan, can't I afford grapes for 150 yuan?

This price is too expensive for me, but... well, I'm curious to see why it's so expensive, since even Qiaoqiao's family can't get their hands on it.

The barrage of comments was lively and dazzling.

Tao Zhuangzhuang looked down at his phone with its distorted screen, a wide smile spreading across his face.

Then he sighed, "People online are so nice to talk to."

Someone like him was already somewhat out of place in the village.

Especially when it comes to growing grapes, experts initially taught and adjusted the process step by step, which enabled everyone to establish a scientific management model.

But the villagers all love to follow the crowd; when to weed and when to spray pesticides, they all have to do it together in a group.

He was different; after studying diligently, he developed his own study plan.

When I have nothing to do, I stroll around the garden, pick some leaves, twist the vines, and tidy up the rotten grapes.

In short, anyone from the village who takes a look around his vineyard is amazed, and then goes back and murmurs about it:
"Tell me, Old Tao is such a rigid person. Let the grapevines grow however they want, we just prune them according to the rules, right?"

"He's different. He only feels comfortable when he's turned in that direction. Isn't he just being nosy?"

"Exactly, if the grape buyer sees a vineyard like this, are they going to give them an extra ten dollars?"

Tao Zhuangzhuang had heard plenty of this nonsense, and some people would even jokingly ask him about it in public.

Tao Zhuangzhuang pretended not to care, saying he was just idling around anyway, but in reality he cared terribly.

Can't he just like things neat and tidy like this?

Now look at this young boss, Mr. Song—

Hey, maybe the extra ten yuan he charges compared to other places is because of the garden itself!

And look at this netizen, they weren't planning to buy it, but now they've placed an order.

His neat and tidy garden was well worth the effort!

This realization made him incredibly happy.

Just then, Tao Zhuangzhuang, who was about to refresh the order count again, suddenly paused and frantically tapped the screen a few more times:
Why is the page grayed out?

He looked at Song Tan nervously. Song Tan glanced over and said, "It's been taken down. Look at the three grayed-out words below: 'Take Down.'"

"Oh, it's been taken off the shelves."

Tao Zhuangzhuang snapped out of his daze, then erupted in a burst of elation. "Boss Song, how many orders did you say you got this time? Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine, right? Oh my! Oh my!"

He was so happy he didn't know what to do, but then he saw Song Tan also take out his phone:

"Well, I estimate your best grape yield this year to be around 80,000 jin, so I'll only order 25,000 of these Grade A grapes for you."

"We have over 30,000 orders for grade B fruit, and another 3,000 to 5,000 kilograms of loose grade A fruit that were cut off. What are you planning to do with that?"

How to do?
This was the first time Tao Zhuangzhuang had sold such a large number of orders online, and it was also the first time he had seen such efficient delivery of fruit.

After thinking it over, he asked, "Mr. Song, do you have any suggestions?"

Song Tan replied without hesitation, "You can sell these piecemeal yourself; they should sell well. But Qiao Qiao's fans have been very supportive today. If you ask me, I'll definitely side with Qiao Qiao." But Tao Zhuangzhuang wasn't a greedy person. Putting everything else aside, the sale of Grade A fruit had already made him money.

With a firm expression, he said, "It's alright, Mr. Song, just tell me what you're thinking—are you planning a giveaway? I've seen many streamers do giveaways."

"That's way too much."

Song Tan shook her head. "If you send them like this, what will happen to the other people in the village?"

"How about this, let's calculate based on 5,000 jin, and offer it as a benefit at 9.9 yuan per jin with free shipping to our live stream fans, limited to one order per person."

"Do you think it's feasible?"

That's still 50,000 yuan!

Even though there wasn't much left after deducting packaging and shipping costs, Tao Zhuangzhuang still nodded without hesitation:
"no problem!"

Boss Song is a well-fed man who doesn't know the hunger of a starving man.

He can't even sell this whole bunch of good grapes. He has to go to great lengths to sell these broken grapes for 9.9 yuan. How long would it take to sell them at a stall?

The cut fruit can't be left out, but it needs to be processed quickly without affecting the village...

It's better to leave it like this.

Although it's supposed to be a perk, if you eat well there and become a regular customer, you might even save some opportunities for next year.

As they were talking, Song Tan had already relisted the orders and casually said to Lu Chuan beside her:
"Let's go talk to Qiaoqiao about today's sales arrangements."

Tao Zhuangzhuang was naturally extremely grateful, but he refused to leave.

"There must be a lot of people gathered at the entrance now. I'll just stay here and look at the grapevines. If anyone asks, I'll just say I'm picking out grapevines. Anyway, I'm not going to the entrance."

is not that right.

If the village secretary had already rushed over after receiving 3,000 orders, it would have been a great relief.

Later, when the number reached five or eight thousand, farmers from the entire county flocked to the area.

There are also many people who need to work, relatives and friends who come to join in the fun, or even those who have only cultivated a small plot of land and want to get on board...

Tao Zhuangzhuang was right not to come; his phone is still ringing with voice messages from relatives and a series of vibrating calls.

He muted his phone, pretending he hadn't heard a thing—sigh! That's how it is; because of the frequent interruptions from phone calls, he couldn't watch Qiaoqiao's live stream.

But we have no choice but to do it this way, look at what those news reports say!

Even his mother couldn't help but speak well of him to the relatives:

“Zhuangzhuang, your uncle’s family also harvested more than 200 jin of grapes this year. That’s not much of a yield in our orchard. Why don’t you sell them together with him?”

That's not how things are done!
He has a close relationship with his uncle. If he encounters any difficulties and needs 20,000 yuan, Tao Zhuangzhuang will transfer the money without hesitation, without expecting the uncle to pay him back.

But if the grapes are sold together, and the livestreamer brings people from afar to sell the grapes and manage the vineyard, wouldn't that be a waste of their time?
Besides, if his uncle is going to take them, shouldn't his aunt take them too? His cousins ​​also have grapes; should they all be taken along?

In short, he pretended to inspect the grapes, his phone lying on the ground, his heart pounding with anxiety as he paced around inside, but he didn't look at it once.

……

as predicted.

When Song Tan and the others found Qiao Qiao, he had already moved to a deeper part of the vineyard, holding up his phone stand.

"What are you doing here?" Song Tan asked casually, handing over a bottle of chilled mineral water that had just been delivered from the convenience store at the entrance.

When Qiaoqiao saw her, she instantly forgot about the live stream and immediately said obediently:

"There were so many people at the entrance, and it was so noisy. I wanted to show the children the orchard properly, so I moved to a new location."

Song Tan glanced at the live stream and, sure enough, the chat was full of questions, such as "Why is it so noisy?", "What was that noisy conversation about before?", or "I only heard a few snippets about grape sales," and so on...

She then smiled and said:

"Everyone was surprised that Qiaoqiao's children trusted her so much, buying grapes worth hundreds of yuan without hesitation, so they were very excited."

Qiaoqiao understood too, and now she explained it to the other children as well:

"The grapes in Baiyu County can't be sold this year because the quality is good and the cost is high. They definitely can't sell them even if they are bought cheaply. They have been worried about this for a long time."

"My sister asked me to help sell the products, and they didn't expect them to sell so quickly."

She couldn't help but frown again, "Do you still have money? Don't buy it if you don't have enough money, this really isn't as good as what we have at home."

That's what I said.

[If your food is so delicious, why don't you go and eat it yourself!]

Exactly! All they do is tempt people with their food all day long.

If you have that stubborn streak, you can send a comment like: "I won't, I'll buy it anyway."

[Hmph, I'll buy his, not yours. Feeling bad?]

[Got it, so you didn't manage to grab anything, did you?]

[Family, the peaches have arrived! Hahaha, I'll eat them first!]

Good guy!
This comment instantly diverted all the hatred from the screen.

Song Tan then told Qiao Qiao about today's live stream plan.

Qiaoqiao nodded seriously, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and pressed the mineral water bottle to her cheek.

"It's so hot. I wonder if the kids will get hot watching the live stream. I'll have to change the cooling pads on my phone every now and then."

Despite this, he still earnestly explained his livestream plan for the day:
"Please don't rush to buy, this link will remain open until all the fruit is sold out. My sister said there are about 25,000 orders for Grade A fruit, and we'll add Grade B fruit later."

"Grade B fruit is 40 yuan per jin, 120 yuan per order, but there are a lot of these, 50,000 orders."

At this point, he couldn't help but look around the vineyard again:
"Brother Zhuangzhuang is the biggest grower in their county! There are only 600 mu of vineyards in the whole county, and he owns one-sixth of them."

It is said that during peak demand, the daily wage can be several thousand yuan.

Qiao Qiao had already categorized Tao Zhuangzhuang as a "big brother she had just met and had a good impression of," so she felt honored to praise him now and was particularly sincere.

"Then there are Grade C fruits. There are also 50,000 orders for Grade C fruits, but these cost 90 yuan."

His words made the crowd even more excited:

I would carefully consider the choice between grapes priced at 9.9 and 150, but there's not much difference between 90 and 150.

This isn't meant to show off wealth, but rather because after spending so much time in Qiaoqiao's live stream, one naturally becomes less sensitive to prices.

Moreover, he has a large fan base, and in addition, it's in the nature of Chinese people that nothing is more satisfying than eating.

After a while, he started saying things like that.

Exactly! Since we're already gritting our teeth, why not grit them even harder?

[Qiaoqiao, please explain the difference between Grade A and Grade C in detail.]

Lu Chuan pointed to the comment and showed it to Song Tan, who then took out a pair of scissors without hesitation, found a bunch of grapes on a nearby vine, and snapped them.

After Qiaoqiao took them, she held both bunches of grapes in her hands for comparison:
"A bunch of Grade C fruit isn't as heavy, and it doesn't look as perfect, but it's still very pretty overall, and it's a presentable gift."

"It tastes just as delicious, and a little sweet."

"We won't sell the worse ones. The difference between the worse ones and the regular ones isn't that big. Everyone can buy them at the supermarket near the entrance."

That's what he said, but look at the two bunches of grapes for comparison:

In other words, the skewers are differentiated by size, the particles are slightly smaller, and some are uneven, but overall, the difference is not that big!
Those who are short of money but still eager to indulge in a taste of fruit set their sights on this C-grade fruit.

“And,” Jojo emphasized again:
"Please don't buy if you don't have the money! After these are all sold out, Zhuangzhuang said there are small bunches and bits of grapes cut from the previous Grade A grapes. Everyone can buy one pound! It's only 9.9 yuan with free shipping."

Looking at Song Tan, he added, "But that's not much, only five thousand orders."

Goodness, that familiar sense of urgency is back; we still have to fight for the final spot!

"Yeah, I'm poor, so don't try to take it from me. I only want this one for nine yuan and ninety cents."

What? What's the difference between eating a whole skewer and eating loose ones? This is my comfort zone!

Okay, okay, I'll go climb the cell tower right now.

As they spoke, Song Tan glanced at everyone's spending habits and then simply uploaded the next few links, with the descriptions remaining the same:

【Premium Shine Muscat Grapes, Grade B, from Tao Zhuangzhuang's Family, Baiyu County】

[...Grade C fruit]

As for the final benefits, since the exact amount hasn't been weighed yet, and we're worried about affecting previous sales, we haven't posted them yet.

But it was already past closing time, and more and more people were joining in the fun in the live stream.

Although the purchases had already been made, the number of viewers kept increasing, with new fans rushing in, piecing together information from the comments, and placing orders without hesitation.

At the main entrance, Da Liang was gathered with a group of people, holding his phone, watching the sales figures refresh and change.

The page briefly went gray, then quickly popped up again...

He checked the time: "It's only been less than half an hour..."

But this link contains grapes of three different grades, and it has already sold nearly 60,000 orders...

The villagers were even more frustrated: "If we had known that selling online would be so efficient and fast, we would have hired more livestreamers beforehand!" (End of Chapter)