Star Tycoon

Chapter 17 Purchase
Tian Ersan soon arrived at Xueyuan Road, where the county's No. 1 Middle School is located.

There are some restaurants on the outermost edge of this area.

Shaxian snacks, Qianlixiang wontons, Lanzhou ramen, local fried chicken, braised noodles, flat noodles...

Because it's close to the school, the snack shops and internet cafes do more business.

Once we got a little further away, it quickly became much quieter.

After leaving Xueyuan Road and entering the alley leading to Gongyuan Road, it became noticeably cooler.

There are four- or five-story buildings on both sides, with all sorts of general stores on the ground floor.

There were vendors selling study materials and clothes; the further you went in, the more varied and disorganized the goods became.

From tea shops that students would never visit, to all kinds of snacks.

After searching for a while, Tian Ersan found a shop selling melon seeds and dried goods.

An old man was sleeping in a chair, breathing through his open mouth.

"Boss, how much are the sunflower seeds per pound?"

Tian Ersan asked while sitting on the tricycle.

No one responded from inside the house, and the owner, who was taking a nap outside, seemed unresponsive.

Tian Ersan was too lazy to ask any more questions and walked on to find another shop.

Small towns are full of people who do business casually, and sometimes they feel that doing business with others is a sign of respect for them.

They're clearly very poor, but they all have a "take it or leave it" attitude.

Too lazy to do business to sleep, they don't want to pay attention even if they hear something, or they just find an old man or woman who doesn't know anything to run the shop and knows nothing about it.

For most people, doing business is actually very simple.

Their minds are also very simple.

Despite having no advantages whatsoever, they remain so confident.

However, as long as they occupy a good shop location, rely on a large number of students and a regular customer base, as well as cheap labor costs and easy-to-bully customers, these shops can survive for several years.

Tian Ersan doesn't get angry with this kind of person. The money is in his own hands, and he can let whoever he wants earn it from do so!
After riding for another two or three minutes, Tian Ersan suddenly realized that he had come to the wrong place.

There are indeed grocery stores selling canned goods, sunflower seeds, and dried fruit here, but it's not a real wholesale market.

A true wholesale market should be more standardized!

For example, when selling fruit, it would definitely be truckloads of fruit.

The vendors selling melon seeds would definitely use those huge, meter-high bags filled with raw and cooked melon seeds, not these boxes of melon seeds displayed at the door.

The same goes for canned goods.

Oilseeds, grains, non-staple foods, vegetables, and dried fruits are all calculated in large quantities.

"Let's buy some first and see how things go. I only have a tricycle right now, and my time is very precious. How can I have time to pedal the tricycle to get the goods myself?"

Even though he knew it would be cheaper to go directly to the source of the goods, Tian Ersan still gave up due to the time and labor costs.

Soon, Tian Ersan found a grocery store run by a woman in her early thirties.

This place sells roasted nuts and snacks, including sunflower seeds, raisins, red dates, lotus root starch, vermicelli, and so on.

It looks like a family-run business, the kind of business that rarely hires outsiders because they can't afford the wages.

Wang Hong was minding the shop and playing on her phone when she looked up to check the goods displayed outside and noticed a boy riding a tricycle standing outside the shed.

"What's wrong?" Wang Hong asked, getting up.

Tian Ersan looked at the nearby goods and asked, "How much are the sunflower seeds?"

Seeing that he looked like he was there to buy something, and that his forehead and face were covered in sweat, Wang Hong walked over and said, "Come in and talk, it's hot outside."

Tian Ersan quickly got off the tricycle and stood under the sunshade.

Wang Hong explained, "It's five yuan per jin, all at the same price."

Tian Ersan reached out and opened the glass cover, then tasted one of each.

Are the sweet and original flavors the same price?

"They're all the same price."

Tian Ersan asked, "Isn't the sweet flavor more expensive to produce? Why is it the same price as the original flavor?"

Wang Hong said with a smile, "That's how we sell them. Some people like the original flavor, kids like the sweet flavor, and adults don't like this. Anyway, it's all the same price, so there's no need to go through all that trouble."

Feeling it was impossible, Tian Ersan asked, "Is the price the same when wholesaling?"

Wang Hong was caught off guard and didn't think that Tian Ersan was trying to steal her business, so she casually revealed, "The original flavor is expensive when you're wholesaling, the others are cheaper."

Tian Ersan believed that businessmen would not do business at a loss, and there was no issue of marketing or gaining traffic in this kind of wholesale business.

Tian Ersan quickly compared the original flavor with the other flavors of sunflower seeds. The original flavor seeds tasted milder, but were larger.

The quality of the other flavors varied, with some being large and others small.

It's probably a material issue; they're using different materials.

Perhaps there is time and other reasons.

However, Tian Ersan still prefers sweet flavors and can't distinguish subtle differences.

Wang Hong asked, "Are you buying it?"

Tian Ersan quickly nodded, "Can I get a discount if I buy more?"

Wang Hong assumed that students would buy in quantities of three or four jin (1.5-2 catties), and that they would generally buy after asking the price.

"I'll sell it to you for four yuan a pound, one yuan off for you."

Tian Ersan looked around and asked, "Do you have any canned food?"

Wang Hong is also in business. "Yes, there are also seasonings and drinks, all in the house."

Tian Ersan said, "Let's go in and take a look. I'll buy some canned goods."

Seeing that Tian Ersan's tricycle was loaded with a lot of cooking supplies, Wang Hong figured that the boy must know how to cook some canned food.

"Are you from the restaurant? I have canned yellow peaches and mixed fruit here, I'll give you a bottle for four yuan."

Tian Ersan asked, "How much do you pay per bottle?"

Wang Hong laughed and said, "Who asks that?"

After laughing, Wang Hong also revealed, "I bought it for three yuan, so you have to let me make one yuan."

Tian Ersan didn't believe her and said directly, "Tell me the truth, if it's suitable, I'll keep buying from here from now on. And it's not a secret. Sister, are you afraid someone will steal your business?"

When Tian Ersan called Wang Hong "sister," she smiled happily and said, "I can't even sell a hundred cans of food a month. I'm not afraid of others stealing my business. To tell you the truth, I buy them for two yuan a bottle."

Tian Ersan found a suitable price and asked curiously, "How come it's so cheap?"

Wang Hong explained, "There are many places selling yellow peaches near our Taoxian County, and many making canned peaches too. A pound of yellow peaches only costs three or four cents, and the factories probably sell them for a little over a dollar."

Tian Ersan quickly grasped a general price range and knew who to contact.

After entering the house, Tian Ersan looked at the various goods on the shelves and quickly picked up a bottle of locally produced canned yellow peaches.

"I'll open a bottle and try it," Tian Ersan said, and then opened it directly.

Wang Hong didn't stop them, firstly because the item wasn't worth much, and secondly because Tian Ersan didn't seem like the type to cause trouble.

Secondly, seeing that he was sweating so much, I assumed he was thirsty and didn't stop him.

Tian Ersan quickly tasted it and found that it wasn't much different from the canned yellow peaches he remembered.

Both the syrup and the peach flesh inside are quite delicious.

I checked the production date carefully, and it was canned food from February of this year.

"Okay, I'll take all the canned yellow peaches here." Tian Ersan looked at Wang Hong. "Do you offer delivery?"

Wang Hong laughed and said, "My husband can deliver goods, but it's not worth delivering just a few dozen bottles. Your tricycle should be able to fit them all."

Tian Ersan then said, "I'd like some melon seeds too."

Wang Hong smiled and said, "How much do you want? If it's more than ten kilograms, I can deliver it to you. I see you live in the city, so it shouldn't be too far."

After thinking for a moment, Tian Ersan settled on a price.

"If I want all the canned food, is three yuan a bottle okay?"

Wang Hong said, "Okay, fifty or sixty bottles can earn me more than thirty yuan. How many sunflower seeds do you want? If you have a lot, I'll deliver them to you."

Tian Ersan looked at Wang Hong and asked, "How much stock do you have?"

Wang Hong smiled, sensing that this young man was very arrogant.

"I have as much as you want!" Wang Hong joked with the young man.

For a woman in her thirties with a family, it's nice to have a young and handsome guy to talk to during her busy, quiet, and sometimes dull days; it can make her happy for days.

If a middle-aged man meets a beautiful young woman with a sweet voice, he can remember her for years.

If a young man meets a beautiful older woman who strikes up a conversation with him, he will remember it for a lifetime.

His good looks helped Tian Ersan a lot, but he relied more on his abilities to make a living, especially his shamelessness and his wariness and distrust of others, so he didn't waste too much time on women.

With two women in the family, most people would be sleeping soundly day and night, but Tian Ersan was still able to continue working hard to make money.

There are actually quite a few men who can do this, but there are very few who can do this without distrusting women.

While others entrust their money and household affairs to women, Tian Ersan always takes his money with him when he goes out and locks the door from the outside. He doesn't trust two women he's only known for less than half a day but has already slept together.

(End of this chapter)