CHAPTER 24: CHAPTER 24: THREE CHAPTERS TODAY, PLEASE KEEP READING

New District Market, just at the break of dawn, quite a few vendors had already arrived early.

There was no choice; this kind of market, unlike a vegetable market, doesn’t have fixed stalls. If you come late, there’s simply no spot.

Qi Yun and the others picked a spot near the center, parked the car, and took out dozens of boxes of frozen shrimp to place in front of them. Soon, the peculiar small loudspeaker started happily announcing.

The driver rummaged from under the seat for a small stove, lit a few pieces of charcoal, and the three of them sat around it. Their frostbitten hands finally felt a hint of warmth.

Qi Yun took out his phone, wanting to check today’s news, but saw a message from the boss who wholesaled the frozen shrimp to him.

"Boss, the price of large frozen shrimp has risen to 350 per box today. I had to bring in other people’s goods to sell to you. My phone’s been ringing off the hook all morning, and I’m getting cursed out."

The voice on the other end sounded very frustrated. Qi Yun smiled wryly, not knowing how to comfort him.

Missing an opportunity often feels more disheartening than never having it at all.

At the same time, Wei Yong also sent him a message, bubbling with barely contained excitement.

"Old Qi, my girl went to the supermarket to look. Today, frozen shrimp’s retail price is 80 per kilogram, and the smaller ones are selling for 65."

In six days, it’s the Spring Festival, and last night’s government notice predicted extreme weather conditions will last for about ten more days.

So price hikes are inevitably the trend, even though the government has ample reserves of staples, those only include some grains, vegetables, and standard meats.

Seafood like frozen shrimp is not part of the conventional reserve materials.

And such seafood is precisely an essential dish for the New Year’s Eve dinner, especially since kids love eating it. Naturally, prices are rising rapidly.

Qi Yun explained the situation to Skinny. As he was just putting his phone away, a bespectacled lady approached the stall.

She looked at the foam box on the ground with the lid open, then raised her head and asked, "Boss, why are your shrimps so expensive? Last week I bought them for 230 per box."

Before Qi Yun could respond, Skinny had already stood up, smiling as he explained, "Madam, our cost price for these shrimps is 340 per box. We’re only making a few bucks off it as a hard-earned fee.

They’re selling for 80 per kilogram in supermarkets today. You can go and check if you don’t believe me."

The lady looked suspicious, shook her head, and walked away.

As time went on, more people gradually filled the market. Many heard the little loudspeaker announcing South American prawns at 350 per box and curiously came over to take a look.

However, none of them bought any, believing Qi Yun and the others were arbitrarily pricing them.

After a few attempts, Skinny couldn’t help but worry, frowning as he turned to Qi Yun and said, "Old Qi, we’re not selling these overpriced, are we? Why is no one buying?"

Qi Yun’s face showed no sign of impatience, calmly smiling, "Don’t rush; let’s wait and see."

By noon, the internet started flooding with news that most living supplies had increased in price.

One person was complaining online, "Why are the prices so ridiculous around the New Year? I just bought some lamb at the wholesale market, and it was 60 per kilo!"

"What’s that compared to me? I bought shrimp for 80 a kilo at the supermarket this morning."

"Haven’t you seen the news? The price hike isn’t just because it’s almost New Year; the snow is too heavy, lots of goods can’t be transported, so the prices are rising."

"..."

As the news spread more, Qi Yun and the others, who had waited for hours, finally welcomed their first business deal.

A young lady came to the stall, looked at the quality of the prawns, then directly addressed Skinny, "Boss, give me a box of these."

"Alright." Skinny, hearing that, immediately beamed with joy, swiftly wiped the snow off the foam box, tied it up with a string, and handed it to her.

Soon after came the second, then the third.

"Boss, give me a big box!"

"I want two small ones! Can you give me a discount?"

"..."

The customers started coming one after another, and Qi Yun was busy collecting money while continually handing products to them.

Two hundred boxes of frozen shrimp were sold out in just over three hours.

Skinny’s face was flushed with excitement, rubbing his hands, he said, "Old Qi, who’d have thought, they sold out so quickly!"

Qi Yun was in a good mood too, patting his shoulder, "Come on, let’s head back."

The three packed up and drove away in the truck.

Not far from their stall, two faces were looking dejectedly as the truck’s taillights disappeared into the distance.

One of them said, frustrated, "Bro, why are they daring to sell at 350 a box? They’ve stolen all our business—we haven’t sold a single box all day."

The other person sighed helplessly, "How would I know? Our cost price is already 350; we can’t sell at a loss."

...

Qi Yun and the others returned to the courtyard in Xia Ping Village, finding that Wei Yong had beaten them back.

But then it made sense, Wei Yong and their team were setting up near a large supermarket, so they likely heard about the price hike earlier.

Seeing Qi Yun and the others come back, Wei Yong quickly came up, full of excitement, "Old Qi, today’s business was great; tonight we must celebrate properly!"

Qi Yun nodded with a smile, "Sure, later we’ll find a good restaurant and have a nice meal."

The group entered Old Wang’s store to rest, where Old Wang had boiled a kettle of hot water and poured each of them a cup of tea.

Then he sat down beside Qi Yun, asking, "Looks like things turned out well?"

Qi Yun took a sip of hot tea and nodded, "Yeah, it went alright."

Upon hearing this, Old Wang chuckled, leaned in, and whispered, "Then about that thing you mentioned before regarding interest..."

"What interest?" Qi Yun turned his head, looking at him in surprise.

Seeing this, Old Wang immediately put on a mock angry face, "Ah, you kid, if that’s how it is, tonight I’ll have to eat two boxes of your shrimp!"

"Fine, eat to your heart’s content." Qi Yun laughed, knowing he was joking.

But even if Old Wang didn’t want the interest later, Qi Yun would still give it to Little Blonde.

They hadn’t sat for long before others also started coming back one after another, all with jubilant expressions.

Especially Wei Yong’s wife, whose smile couldn’t be contained.

Busy for most of the day, from morning until now, they hadn’t eaten yet, so the group headed grandly to the Szechuan restaurant from the previous day.

Old Wang had to watch over the store, so he didn’t join them.

More than a dozen people filled a large table with dishes. After eating and drinking, Qi Yun immediately settled the wages for everyone.

Once everyone had dispersed, Wei Yong and his wife, Little Blonde, and Liu Meng followed Qi Yun to his rented room.

The small house suddenly felt crowded once five people squeezed in.

However, none of them seemed to mind and quickly found places to sit before starting to sum up the day’s earnings.

Qi Yun’s team sold 200 boxes today, a hundred of each size, totaling 62,700 yuan in revenue.

Some customers bought two or three boxes at a time, requesting discounts of ten or twenty yuan, which was quite normal.

Aside from Wei Yong, it was almost the same for the others as well.

Because Wei Yong’s truck couldn’t hold that much cargo, he came back halfway to load another batch, selling a total of 150 boxes and earning 49,000 yuan.

Altogether, the five of them made nearly 300,000!

This was just the first day, and already they had recouped half their investment. They still had over two thousand boxes left to sell.

Qi Yun immediately took out a notebook to start accounting and distribute the money.