At the fruit section, Jiang Tao and the other three pretended not to know each other.
Each found an empty spot to park their vehicles.
Just as they parked, a market administrator with a red armband stopped by Jiang Taoâs truck.
"Master, how much for one day?"
Jiang Tao got out of the car, smiled, greeted the administrator, and handed him a cigarette.
"Twenty a day, WeChat or Alipay?"
The fee-collecting administrator was an elderly man with gray hair, very skinny, seemingly around sixty years old.
"Alipay then!"
Jiang Tao took out his phone, scanned the administratorâs Alipay code with a ding, paid the 20 yuan stall fee, and casually mentioned:
"By the way, if I sell out and go back to restock, I donât need to pay again, right?"
"20 yuan covers you for the whole day, no double charging. Our organization is disciplined, legitimate, and doesnât mess around with fees."
The old man gave Jiang Tao a reassuring look.
"Got it! You take care now!"
Jiang Tao smiled at the old man and turned to get the broadcast megaphone from the cab.
"Master, how much for these sugar tangerines?"
Before Jiang Tao could turn on the megaphone, an elderly lady in a green down jacket with small curls, holding some green onions, stopped by his truck and asked for the price.
Jiang Tao paused, looked at the old lady with a smile, and said, "10 yuan a kilo, a box is exactly 10 kilos for 100 yuan."
"How much? 10 yuan? Young man, your price is too high! Just two days ago, at the big market, it was only 5 yuan a kilo! Now itâs suddenly 10 yuan!"
The old lady, upon hearing Jiang Taoâs pricing, looked surprised with wide eyes.
Jiang Tao patiently explained, "Auntie, you might not know!
Thereâs heavy snow in G West, and the sugar tangerines canât be transported out.
Weâre buying them at over 8 yuan a kilo at the wholesale market!
Selling it to you for 10 yuan isnât overcharging, if you donât believe me, you can check elsewhere."
"10 yuan is still too expensive! Forget it!"
The old lady muttered and shook her head as she walked toward Liu Zhiyuan, who was closest to Jiang Tao.
The first customer couldnât be won, but Jiang Tao wasnât discouraged and turned on the megaphone.
"Sugar tangerines, sweet and sour sugar tangerines, authentic G West sugar tangerines, 10 yuan a kilo!"
The megaphoneâs catchy selling cry looped, attracting the attention of several fruit vendors nearby who sold apples and bananas.
It was the first time they had seen sugar tangerines priced at 10 yuan a kilo!
Jiang Tao lit a cigarette, watching the lady walk away from his stall.
The lady stood for half a minute at Liu Zhiyuanâs stall, then walked to Shan Yufei.
She stayed there for another ten seconds, and finally moved to Zhang Chao.
After repeatedly confirming, the elderly lady was finally certain and absolutely sure the price of sugar tangerines had indeed gone up!
Before going out, her granddaughter specifically requested them; not buying would certainly upset her.
In the end, the old lady had to compromise with the market, exchanging a crisp 100-yuan bill for a 10-kilo box of sugar tangerines.
Among the four, Zhang Chao was the first to make a sale.
With the megaphone broadcasts, it spared them from bargaining.
Jiang Tao switched directly to a direct fishing mode, willing buyers come forth.
"Master, how did sugar tangerines suddenly become so expensive, last market it was 5 yuan a kilo, and now itâs 10 yuan!"
"Beauty, itâs heavily snowing in G West, and roads are blocked, nothingâs coming out, our purchase price is over 8 yuan, we donât want to sell high, no choice!"
The lady in front of Jiang Tao had inquired all the way from Zhang Chao, and finally had to compromise, spending 200 yuan to buy two boxes.
Originally, Jiang Tao thought the price hike would severely impact business.
After all, consumers need time to adapt to such a steep price jump.
The outcome surprised him enormously.
He brought a full truckload of 300 boxes of sugar tangerines and sold out before noon!
In one morning, he made over 30,000!
This situation utterly puzzled Jiang Tao.
This seems to defy market trends a bit!
"Forget it, why bother thinking about it, the faster and more we sell, the better for me!"
"No matter why, going back to collect another load is the real deal!"
Unable to understand the underlying reasons, Jiang Tao decided to stop pondering, opened the car door, hopped in, and planned to drive back to Xiaoshanhe to restock.
Ding dong!
Just as Jiang Tao got in the car, he received a WeChat message from Liu Zhiyuan.
[Brother Jiang! Itâs hitting the news, take a look, the sugar tangerines made it to trending news!]
Seeing Liu Zhiyuanâs message, Jiang Tao opened Weibo to take a look.
Indeed, there was a trending topic about sugar tangerines.
And it was quite high up!
The 8th spot on todayâs trending list read - Searching the city for sugar tangerines!
Clicking in, it was indeed a report on the sugar tangerine price trends.
Not only Jiang Taoâs prices had increased, but the sugar tangerines in major supermarkets across Beijing doubled as well.
All fruit supermarkets, markets, wholesales had a sugar tangerine price increase.
And they were all severely undersupplied.
Seeing this, the smile on Jiang Taoâs lips was harder to suppress than an AK!
Calming himself down, Jiang Tao informed Liu Zhiyuan and the others in their WeChat group and headed back to restock first.
For lunch, Jiang Tao had a quick bite, packed a meat stir-fried pancake for each of the three, plus a hint of pork head meat.
Well-fed and satiated, it was back to work!
Around 2 PM, Liu Zhiyuan and Zhang Chao also sold out a truckload each, returning to restock and continue selling.
By 2:30, Shan Yufeiâs truck was empty.
By 4:30 PM, Jiang Taoâs second truckload for the day was gone, so he went back to load another.
Busy as bees, working till 6:30 PM.
With the sunset westward, the crowd cleared from the Sha River market, leaving Jiang Tao and his friends indifferently retreating.
Returning to Xiaoshanhe was around 7:30 PM.
Jiang Tao summoned Liu Zhiyuan and the others to find a decent restaurant in town.
Todayâs first battle won, a successful opening.
As the main shareholder and the biggest beneficiary of the sugar tangerine project, Jiang Tao was generous in treating his pals to a meal.
Chicken stew with mushrooms, spicy boiled meat slices, braised pork hock, pickled fish, roast duck...
The small dining table in the restaurant was filled with the restaurantâs foundational dishes.
"Brothers, you worked hard today, eat and drink to your fill, rest well, we continue tomorrow!"
"Letâs make a killing before the end of the year and have a merry new year!"
"Come on, letâs drink!"
"Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
Liu Zhiyuan and Shan Yufei shared the same radiant smiles.
Only Zhang Chaoâs smile looked somewhat bitter.
What sort of situation is this!
The brothers are all making money, except for him!
Yet, he couldnât blame anyone else.
After all, Brother Jiang had given him the opportunity, and he hadnât seized it!