Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 48 Reservation
Chongwenmen Farmers Market.

After finishing his work at the morning market, Ma De plopped down on a chair behind his stall, his eyes glancing casually at the Sun family across the street. Sun Tao and his mother had also been there since early morning, busy all day, while the Li family, who shared the stall, were nowhere to be seen.

After observing for a few days, Ma De noticed that the Li family didn't arrive at the market until after 9 a.m., which was already past the morning market hours. They were a lazy bunch, so lazy they couldn't even catch a hot meal.

Ma De stretched out his right arm and glanced at the Shanghai timetable. It was already 9:35. He guessed that the Li family would be arriving soon. He got up and walked towards Sun's vegetable stall. "Taozi, I need to talk to you about something."

"Brother Ma, what's up? Please tell me." Sun Tao took out a cigarette and handed it to him.

What are your thoughts on the Li family raising the price of cucumbers?

"I definitely wouldn't be happy about that, but the cucumbers belong to someone else, so there's nothing I can do."

"If you're out of options, I'll show you a way. Want to hear it?"

"Brother Ma, please speak."

"If he raises the price, we won't buy his cucumbers, let him have a bad deal of cucumbers."

"Brother Ma, is your idea feasible?" Sun Tao thought it was unreliable. The market in Beijing is so big, why can't it be sold anywhere?
"Let's give it a try, whether it works or not. Anyway, if the vegetables don't sell, it's not us who will lose money, it's him."

"Even if I don't buy it, can you guarantee that others won't buy it?"

“I’ve spoken to everyone else, and I’m sure no one will buy today.” Ma De patted Sun Tao’s shoulder with his right hand. “That’s all I have to say, brother. Think about it yourself.”

Sun Tao watched Ma De leave, his gaze sweeping over the other stall owners. He noticed that they were all looking at him, intentionally or unintentionally, and immediately realized that he might be being ostracized.

These people probably planned this in advance, but they didn't tell me because they were worried that I would notify Li Zhe in advance?

Sun Tao was in a dilemma. He didn't want cucumber prices to rise, but he also didn't want to offend the Li family along with these people. Li Zhe treated him differently from other stall owners, and he had made more money because of this relationship.

However, if he were to publicly support Li Zhe, he would completely offend his peers, which would also be a troublesome matter.

Just then, Li Zhe pushed his cart into the market shed, with two baskets on it, followed by Lao Li and Zhao Tiezhu.

The surrounding stall owners couldn't help but gather around.

Sun Tao looked up and forced a smile, "Brother Li, you're here."

"Auntie, Taozi, good morning."

"It's getting late. If it's any later, I'll be having lunch," Sun Tao's mother joked, noticing only two baskets on the cart. "Why are there so few vegetables today?"

“The price of vegetables went up, and I argued with the vegetable vendor for a bit. The old man got angry and refused to sell. I pleaded with him for a long time, and he only gave me eighty jin.” Li Zhe had already prepared his excuse in order to raise the price. “Taozi, thirty jin are for you, and I’ll sell the rest myself.”

Ma De opened his mouth, but the words he had prepared wouldn't come out. More than half of the cucumbers were gone, and they weren't even planning to sell them to them? What kind of boycott was that?
"Everyone, you can go home now. There really aren't any extra cucumbers today." Old Li lifted the quilt on the basket and placed the tender green cucumbers with their prickly hairs on the stall.

The stall owners stared at each other, this wasn't what they expected.

Li Zhe glanced at the stall owners and joked, "What are you guys doing standing here? Are you blocking the wind for me?"

Ma De took a deep breath. "Mr. Li, how much are the cucumbers for today?"

"Six yuan per pound."

Ma De shook his head. "It's true that we people in Beijing have money, but we're not fools. I think it's difficult for you to sell it for this price."

"Yes, this price is too high. It could buy three pounds of fatty meat."

"Boss Li, we really can't stand this kind of price increase." Several stall owners said with bitter faces, trying to appease him. "Gentlemen, I didn't set these prices. I'd love to lower them, but the farmers don't agree." Li Zhe wasn't one to hog the profits. If these stall owners really weren't making any money, Li Zhe was willing to offer them a discount.

But their performance in scrambling to buy goods last time was clearly not like that.

The price of cucumbers can go up or down, but it depends on the market conditions and is decided by Li Zhe.

Hong San seized the opportunity to back down, saying, "Boss Li, I can tell you're in a difficult position. But there are rules in every trade, and price increases need to be justified. If prices go up by one yuan today and two yuan tomorrow, neither the vegetable sellers nor the buyers can stand it, and the price bureau can't agree to it either."

Li Zhe looked at him and said, "Then give me an idea."

Businessmen rarely speak the truth. Hong San wasn't sure if Li Zhe had grown or harvested the cucumbers, but regardless, he had to be humble if he wanted to get his hands on some from the Li family. "To be honest, I still want to buy your cucumbers. I can accept the price increase this time, but I'd like you to provide some guarantees."

What kind of guarantee?

“We won’t raise prices anytime soon.” Hong San knew he couldn’t stop Li Zhe from raising prices, but he was afraid that Li Zhe would keep raising prices. “The purchase price of six yuan has already squeezed our profit margin very low. If we raise prices again, we really won’t be able to sell.”

Li Zhe pretended to be hesitant and said, "How about this, I guarantee that cucumber prices won't rise for the next two weeks, but after that, it's hard to say. Sigh, I'm in a difficult position too..."

"Okay, half a month it will be." Hong San readily agreed. The weather was getting colder and colder, and who knew how many more days the cucumbers would last? This guarantee was enough. "Boss Li, you have fifty catties of cucumbers, which you can't sell all at once. How about you give me twenty catties?"

Ma De's expression changed. "Damn it, Hong San, what happened yesterday..."

Before he could finish speaking, Li Jinxia interrupted him, "Hey, Mr. Li, I want ten catties of cucumbers too."

With the two of them taking the lead, the other stall owners also chimed in, "Boss Li, I'll pay in cash, give me ten jin."

"I also want……"

Seeing this, Li Zhe realized he had achieved his goal and, too lazy to sell them himself, simply divided the fifty jin into several pieces.

The stall owner, who hadn't been able to buy any vegetables, said helplessly, "Mr. Li, could you please stock more cucumbers next time? I've failed to get any twice in a row."

“I didn’t grow the cucumbers. If you think they’re too expensive, I do too. I don’t dare to stock too many.” Li Zhe thought for a moment and said, “How about this, whoever wants to buy can place an order with me in advance and pay a 50% deposit.”

The stall owners looked at each other, but no one immediately spoke up.

Li Zhe laughed and said, "What? Are you afraid I'll run off with the money?"

“No way, Brother Li, when are you coming next time? I’ll order another thirty jin.” Sun Tao was the first to express his support, and immediately took out his money from his pocket to count it.

Hong San followed up, "I want twenty catties of cucumbers."

Li Jinxia said, "I'll also order 20 jin."

"The deposit is the basis for ordering cucumbers. Anyone who wants to order cucumbers should come to me to pay." Li Zhe took out his blue ledger and started collecting money and making entries.

A group of stall owners gathered around, all talking at once as they reported their numbers.

Ma De was so angry that his face turned pale. He flung his arm and left.

By midday, 80 jin of cucumbers had sold out, totaling 480 yuan. In addition, the vendors had pre-ordered 200 jin of cucumbers, receiving a deposit of 600 yuan, bringing Li Zhe's total earnings for the day to 1080 yuan.

Not far from the vegetable stall, Zhou Yongqiang had been watching quietly. When he saw Li Zhe collecting a large sum of money, his eyes widened in astonishment.

(End of this chapter)