Chapter 100: Market Day
The market was as bustling as ever.
By five o’clock in the morning, nearly all the premium stalls had been snapped up.
Auntie Lu set up her stall outside the market as usual to avoid paying the stall fee. However, the goods Jian Xingxia was selling this time were delicate and high-end, making them unsuited for display on the bare ground. Furthermore, she deliberately wanted to sell them in a separate area to avoid letting slip any secrets, so she told Auntie Lu she wanted to head inside to look for a proper stall.
Hearing this, Auntie Lu couldn’t help but advise her against it, “Xiaxia, there’s no need for that. A stall inside costs twenty yuan; that’s not cheap.”
The village yielded plenty of mountain goods, but every time they went to the market, the round-trip fare alone was ten yuan per person. When two or three people traveled together, adding the stall fee meant spending several dozen yuan right off the bat. A single batch of goods would only bring in three to four hundred yuan at most, and the market only occurred once every ten days, so this money truly couldn’t be wasted.
But Jian Xingxia had her own practical reason, “I’m driving a vehicle today. If I don’t go inside and rent a stall, I can only park the tricycle in the furthest lot.”
After all, the prime spots close to the market entrance had long been claimed. Auntie Lu and Fangfang could only carry their bundles inside to slip into whatever gaps they could find. Seeing that she put it that way, Auntie Lu couldn’t say much else, so she told Fangfang to help Jian Xingxia carry her things.
This time, Jian Xingxia didn’t refuse.
The two drove the vehicle to the rear of the market stalls, located the market administrator, and spent twenty yuan to rent a small stall.
Fangfang helped Jian Xingxia move her produce onto the stall display. Just as she was about to help pull off the cover cloth, Jian Xingxia handed her another twenty-yuan note.
“Fangfang, see if that vendor with the jellied tofu from last time is around. Also, check if there are any pan-fried dumplings. If there are, buy me a portion. I’ve been craving pan-fried dumplings.”
The moment Fangfang heard about food, she agreed instantly.
“Alright, sure! Do you need anything else?”
Items at the market weren’t expensive; a portion of jellied tofu and pan-fried dumplings wouldn’t cost twenty yuan.
Jian Xingxia smiled and said, “Keep the change. You can decide what to get for yourself.”
Fangfang said with a bright smile, “That won’t do. Today my mom and I hitched a ride with you and you didn’t charge us a cent. How can I eat your food for free?” Fangfang thought it over and said, “Tell you what, Sister Xiaxia. I’ll wander around and buy whatever looks good. I’ll make sure to buy exactly twenty yuan worth of food for you, okay?”
That was perfect!
Jian Xingxia didn’t expose the plump little girl’s secret desire to roam around the market in search of delicious snacks, granting her permission decisively.
“Go ahead!”
Fangfang happily dove into the crowd and vanished.
Only then did Jian Xingxia pull off the cover cloth.
The four-colored cherry tomatoes and fruit cucumbers were one thing; although they clearly looked like novelties and premium varieties, they were still obtainable on the open market if one looked hard enough. But the strawberries and blueberries were entirely different. These were rare treasures seldom seen on the market at this time of year.
Jian Xingxia had barely finished sorting out the slightly bruised strawberries when an sharp-eyed customer spotted her stall in the corner.
“Oh my goodness! How are there still such massive strawberries at this time of year?!”
Jian Xingxia mixed truth with fiction in her reply, “They’re a newly cultivated, four-season variety. They were harvested fresh from the greenhouse just last night—massive and incredibly sweet!”
The middle-aged woman who spoke looked a bit suspicious, “A new variety? They aren’t genetically modified or anything, are they…”
Jian Xingxia: “…”
Genetic modification wasn’t used for things like this. But she still explained with a cheerful smile, “They’re an absolute genuine, premium variety cultivated in a constant-temperature greenhouse. It took a significant amount of effort!”
Having worked part-time in sales, field promotion, and shopkeeping, Jian Xingxia had more or less absorbed a merchant’s mindset. When opening the day’s account, even if one encountered a difficult customer, one should try their best to secure the first order. Otherwise, if the very first customer walked away, the entire day’s business could be thrown off.
Jian Xingxia decisively took a heavy loss—plucking a beautiful, ruby-red strawberry and handing it to the middle-aged woman.
“Sister, try one. They’re truly delicious, I’m not lying to you.”
Faced with such a beautiful and perfectly shaped strawberry, the middle-aged woman couldn’t resist the temptation and popped it into her mouth.
The very next second, the brow she had furrowed in critical suspicion smoothed out completely.
“This strawberry… is so fragrant! So sweet! And so juicy!”
The dense, soft, and velvety flesh of the strawberry seemed to melt in her mouth like fresh cream. The rich fruit aroma felt like it was bursting with pink bubbles, enveloping her taste buds and oral cavity.
“It’s absolutely delicious!”
The older sister completely forgot about varieties or genetic modification. “How much is it a catty?”
Jian Xingxia steeled her heart, “Sixty…”
She remembered clearly that during the peak strawberry season, the large strawberries Liang Chengcheng bought cost ninety yuan a catty. It was currently summer, and her strawberries were larger, more fragrant, and sweeter. She couldn’t afford to sell them cheaply.
However, she still felt highly apprehensive in her heart—as an impoverished young woman, she had never purchased such expensive fruit herself, so she didn’t know how customers would react to such high pricing.
The older sister’s relaxed brow furrowed tighter and tighter. She looked at Jian Xingxia, then at the strawberries, back at Jian Xingxia, and down at the strawberries again.
“No, little sister, these strawberries of yours… there isn’t some kind of catch, is there?”
“Huh?”
“Strawberries this massive, and you’re only selling them for sixty yuan a catty?” The older sister’s face was filled with sheer shock. “Of course, I don’t mean sixty is cheap. I mean, for strawberries this excellent… My daughter absolutely loves strawberries. Just a couple of days ago, I bought some at the supermarket that were barely larger than a thumb, and they charged 29.8 yuan!”
Jian Xingxia: “!!!”
Her heart bloomed with pure ecstasy!
Jian Xingxia had been tempered by her part-time jobs after all, so she spoke up immediately, “Sister, you have an incredible eye! These are our new variety of strawberries. This is the very first batch hitting the market, and we haven’t established the brand yet, which is why we’re selling them at a promotional price.”
Jian Xingxia smiled and said, “I set up a four-season picking greenhouse, precisely regulating the temperature and humidity to simulate the ideal growing climate for strawberries, so I was only able to grow a small quantity.”
The older sister caught the underlying meaning, “You’re doing greenhouse farming?”
“You could say that,” Jian Xingxia pulled out her phone and showed the older sister a photo of her graduation certificate. “My major was agricultural science. After graduation, I came back to my hometown to start a business. I just built a greenhouse, and it hasn’t officially opened for business yet, so I came down to the market first to test the waters.”
Upon seeing Jian Xingxia’s graduation certificate from a top-tier university, the last shred of doubt in the older sister’s mind vanished instantly.
“That’s truly wonderful! A graduate from a top university.”
The older sister was utterly delighted, “No wonder you kept saying it’s a new variety. I was worried they had been sprayed with chemicals. Sixty a catty, right? Weigh out two catties for me!”
“Alright! Coming right up!”
Jian Xingxia immediately set to work, gently and carefully placing the strawberries into a plastic bag. For the two catties of strawberries, she even packed them separately, “Strawberry flesh is very delicate; try your best to avoid crushing them.”
The older sister agreed completely, “Exactly.”
Right after, she offered a tip regarding Jian Xingxia’s “basin-style strawberry” presentation, “Your strawberries are so massive and beautiful, you ought to use specialized anti-crush boxes. It looks good, it’s secure, and it carries an elegant presentation.”
Jian Xingxia absorbed the valuable feedback, “Got it, I’m planning to buy some.”
The older sister walked away happily clutching her strawberries. Before she had taken more than a few steps, Jian Xingxia saw her slide her phone into the plastic bag to take a video of the fruit.
“Hey everyone, look! Didn’t I say you have to scour the morning market to find the best treasures? Look at these massive strawberries I got. My daughter is going to be absolutely thrilled today! They’re so huge, and they only cost sixty yuan a catty! They taste incredibly delicious!”
As the older sister walked into the distance, Jian Xingxia felt overjoyed.
The opening order of the day was a complete success!
One hundred and twenty yuan secured.
