Back to 1984: Earning Money, Raising Kids, and Keeping the Household Busy

Chapter 91 Wholesale Seafood
Lin Qin's eyes lit up, and she became excited. "Great! I wouldn't normally say this, but with the New Year approaching, if we have really fresh seafood, we definitely won't have trouble selling it. But how do we set the price?"

The city's supply and marketing cooperatives don't sell seafood. If she remembers correctly, it will be another two or three years before seafood appears in large quantities in the city.

Seafood is now considered a rarity in the city. The most common ones are dried mackerel and dried oysters, both of which are inexpensive. Fresh seafood certainly cannot be sold at this price.

Chen Wenjun was also undecided. "I heard that seafood is not expensive to buy wholesale by the sea. Even if we sell it at the price of freshwater fish, it should sell well. Let's see what happens tomorrow."

The two were excited all night, and got up at four o'clock the next morning to collect their nets and traps. They found that their harvest was quite good, and the plastic buckets they had brought were full.

Once the fishing boats entered the harbor, Chen Wenjun immediately went over to ask about the prices, while Lin Qin stayed on the boat watching over the goods.

A short while later, Chen Wenjun was seen carrying a large basket over.

Lin Qin quickly lent a hand, and after the things were put away, Chen Wenjun made three more trips, bringing back a total of four large baskets of seafood.

Lin Qin was shocked, "How can there be so many?"

They only brought two hundred yuan with them on this trip in case of emergency, but it seems that Chen Wenjun has spent all of it.

Chen Wenjun grinned and said, "They're all alive. We just caught them this morning, and they froze on ice as soon as they got on the boat. Look at the eyes of these fish, aren't they beautiful? Most importantly, they're cheap. These small yellow croakers and sardines sell for 40 cents a pound, but back in the city they can sell for 1.2 to 1.5 yuan a pound. And these razor clams are only 30 cents a pound, but we'll sell them for 1.2 yuan, even cheaper than river snails. It'll definitely sell out during the Lunar New Year. The squid is also fresh, 50 cents a pound, but we'll sell it for 1.8 or 2 yuan."

Lin Qin gave a wry smile. "Then let's hurry back and go to the market to see how much we can sell."

These things are worth several hundred dollars! If she can't sell them and they become a burden, she'll cry for days.

It's only around 5:30 now. By the time I get back to Nanyu, it will be almost 7:00, and by the time I get to Xiatian Market, it will be almost 8:00.

Neither of them dared to waste any time.

The northwest wind in winter gave everyone a headache, so Lin Qin wrapped a sweater around Chen Wenjun's head and hid in a plastic tarpaulin.

The fishing boat, which had been dozing off, had already docked at the port closest to Shimodasha.

Chen Wenjun said, "Let's get these things ashore first. You stay here and watch over things. I'll take the boat back to get the cart and the scales, and I'll also call Dad to come and help."

Lin Qin agreed without hesitation.

This method saves a lot of effort; it only takes about ten minutes to get from here to the Xiatian vegetable market, instead of having to push a bunch of stuff all that way.

Once everything was on land, Chen Wenjun returned to Nanyu as quickly as possible.

Hearing the noise, Lin Yi came to open the door, his face full of surprise. "I thought you wouldn't be back until the afternoon! Huh? Where's Aqin? And all those things?"

Chen Wenjun didn't have time to explain. He rushed in a couple of days later, grabbed the stroller and the scale, gave the two children a few words of advice, and then left with Lin Yi.

Before leaving, they made sure to lock the gate at the gap.

On the way, Lin Yi learned that Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin were wholesaling seafood.

"You two are really daring. There's no fresh seafood for sale in the city. What if you can't sell it?"

That's all money!
Chen Wenjun wasn't worried at all. "If we can't sell them, we'll sell them cheaply to restaurants. Boss Zheng will definitely know their stuff."

If he hadn't been reborn, he definitely wouldn't have dared to do that. Given a second chance, he would no longer be the cautious Chen Wenjun he once was.

Upon hearing this, Lin Yi said nothing more.

The two quickly arrived at the port near Shimoda. The whole process took less than twenty minutes.

After pushing the cart ashore, Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin took some of the items to the market, leaving the rest to Lin Yi to watch over.

The couple has a fixed stall here, and many people greeted them as soon as they arrived.

"Wenjun, you're so late today? We thought you and your husband weren't setting up your stall today!" the old lady selling vegetables next door asked with concern.

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin quickly laid out the seafood and said with a smile, "We went to Nangang and brought back some seafood to sell. Everyone come and see! Fresh seafood, caught in the middle of the night, a must-have for the New Year's table!"

Lin Qin's shout attracted a large crowd.

An old man frowned in displeasure, "Why are all of these dead!"

Lin Qin explained loudly, "Grandpa, it's seafood! It's caught from the sea and frozen with ice as soon as it's on the boat. Look at these eyes, these skins, how beautiful they are! They're so fresh! If you have a refrigerator at home, you can buy some and freeze them. You can eat them until the New Year."

I dare say, in Anshi, only our stall has this fresh seafood; you definitely can't buy it anywhere else!
There are also razor clams, still covered in mud, but they're all alive. They'll keep for a day or two without any problem. They're only 1.2 yuan per pound, cheaper than river snails! Don't miss out!

Among these people, there were indeed discerning customers. Upon learning that these seafoods were only a few cents more expensive than ordinary freshwater fish, some immediately picked out quite a few and paid very readily.

Once there's one, there's two; once there's two, there's three. Plus, some discerning people like to show off, giving the couple free advertising. Even those who don't know much about the product grit their teeth and spend money to buy some, planning to try it out when they get home.

By 8:30, the couple had sold almost everything they brought.

Lin Qin pushed her cart to find Lin Yi, loaded up some more, and sold until ten o'clock before closing up shop.

The remaining seafood filled more than a basket, and together with the fish that Lin Qin caught, they were all delivered to Guoxing Hotel.

Zheng Guoxing was busy in the kitchen when he saw Chen Wenjun come over. He just said casually, "It seems a little late today. You can weigh it first."

Chen Wenjun didn't busy himself as usual. Instead, he pulled Zheng Guoxing outside, pointed at the seafood, and said, "These are the seafood we have today. Tell me if you want to buy them or not!"

Zheng Guoxing glanced at it and immediately jumped up in shock, "My God! Brother Chen! You're amazing! How did you get so much seafood? Where did it come from?"

Chen Wenjun gave a concise explanation.

When Zheng Guoxing heard that the call was made in the early hours of the morning and that it was delivered with ice, he immediately bought it all, paying the price Chen Wenjun was selling it for.

While the waiter weighed it.

Zheng Guoxing tugged at Chen Wenjun's sleeve, his face beaming with a fawning smile, "Brother Chen, could you send me some seafood every now and then? I don't ask for much, just like today, but it would be even better if you could send more. The price is negotiable."

He owns a restaurant, and there's a large freezer in the kitchen for storing food.

Chen Wenjun looked puzzled. "No, your family has a wide network of connections. What kind of seafood can't you get?"

He had heard that Zheng Guoxing had a relative who was the team leader in the motorcade.

The convoy carries all kinds of goods, including seafood.

Zheng Guoxing shook his head. "You don't understand. Seafood is hard to store. It takes more than two hours to drive from the port to the city. You have to stay at the port in the early morning. A truckload of goods is half ice. If you include the round-trip fuel cost, the price is ridiculously high. I can get seafood, but I can't sell it at that price!"

I had another question for you! Can you break even at this price?

(End of this chapter)