Chapter 341 - 323: A Fine Use of the Word ’Only

Chapter 341: Chapter 323: A Fine Use of the Word ’Only

Then, Lin Quan and the other relatives remembered the purpose of Li You’s visit that afternoon.

Bringing customers to buy peaches?

Was that really a thing?

The relatives had, of course, all seen the peach trees at Liu LiangZhong’s house.

Everyone was surprised that the peaches were already ripe at this time of year.

They had ripened far too early.

What variety was this? How did they ripen so early?

The relatives were all asking Liu LiangZhong this question.

But Liu LiangZhong didn’t know either.

Well, that couldn’t be helped.

So, how did they taste?

After each of the relatives picked and ate a peach, they were pleasantly surprised to find that the taste was excellent.

This made the relatives quite excited. After all, if these peaches were sold, they would surely fetch a good price.

The only thing was, they could probably only be sold in the local town. The county seat was too far away.

But even if they were only sold in town, getting five or six a pound shouldn’t be a problem.

After all, peaches were a scarce commodity right now.

And now, this chef named Li You was actually bringing customers to buy peaches. What was that all about?

The relatives all started asking Liu LiangZhong about it.

Liu LiangZhong explained what happened. He said that when he went to find Li You yesterday afternoon, he had brought some peaches with him. There were customers there at the time, so Li You shared the peaches with them.

The customers thought they were delicious and wanted to buy some.

Understanding dawned on the relatives.

’That’s good, that’s very good!’

Even if not many customers came—just a few, each buying several pounds—that would still be excellent.

That would mean selling dozens of pounds at the very least.

Selling dozens of pounds so easily without even leaving the house—that was already fantastic.

Of course, there was another important question: how much would they sell for per pound?

If the price was too low, it wouldn’t be worth it. They might as well go through the trouble of taking them to town to sell themselves.

In any case, the peaches should sell well right now.

"Uncle, how much are you selling them for per pound? Did you agree on a price?" Lin Quan asked the question on everyone’s mind.

Liu LiangZhong nodded. "We did. Ten a pound."

"Ten?"

All the relatives, including Lin Quan, were a bit stunned.

’For real?’

Would Chef Li You’s customers really be willing to pay such a high price?

Liu LiangZhong said, "Of course it’s real. Xiaoyou already told his customers the price. They all said it was acceptable."

For some reason, this made the relatives even more excited.

’This is even better than we thought!’

It was one thing for the customers to come to their door to buy, but to sell at such a great price on top of that? This was just too good to be true.

Lin Quan gave him a thumbs-up. "Uncle, you’re a natural at business! That’s a brilliant price."

Liu LiangZhong shook his head. "It wasn’t me. It was Xiaoyou’s suggested price. I was originally going to sell them for just five or six a pound. But Xiaoyou said that since peaches are scarce right now and mine taste so good, they should sell for at least ten a pound. To be honest, I was worried the price was too high and the customers wouldn’t want to spend that much. I never expected they’d all be willing to buy."

So that’s how it was.

The relatives, Lin Quan included, found themselves admiring Li You all over again.

’Amazing. That young man is really something else. He and Liu LiangZhong are just from the same village, yet he’s so considerate of him.’

’Truly rare!’

They were all even more eager to meet Li You now.

Just then, Liu LiangZhong continued, "In fact, this isn’t the first time Xiaoyou has brought customers to our village to buy fruit. Before this, he brought customers to Liu Jialiang’s place for plums and to Liu Zhanghong’s for grapes. He brought so many people that they nearly bought out all the plums and grapes from both families in one go. Those two were so happy they were always bragging about it to us."

The relatives were stunned to hear this, and then their praise for him grew even more.

’That young man is incredible!’

"Lao Liu, I never imagined your village would produce such a fine young man. Remarkable!" one of the relatives, who was about the same age and generation as Liu LiangZhong, said with emotion.

The other relatives felt the same.

For a village to have a young man like him was truly remarkable.

Liu LiangZhong added, "And the benefits Xiaoyou has brought to our village go far beyond just that. Crayfish—you’re all familiar with them. Your own villages probably have a lot of them, right?"

"A ton! We’ve got loads of those things."

"Our village has a lot too. Lao Liu, why are you bringing up crayfish?"

Liu LiangZhong smiled faintly and said, "Have you ever tried catching and selling them? Do they sell well?"

"We used to catch them and take them to town to sell. But they didn’t sell well. They’d probably sell better in the county seat, and for a higher price. But it’s too much trouble. And there’s no guarantee they’ll sell well there either. So, basically no one bothers catching crayfish to sell anymore."

"In our village, hardly anyone catches crayfish either. And certainly no one sells them, because they’re hard to sell. If people in town want to eat crayfish, many of them just come out to the countryside to catch or fish for them themselves. They’d never buy them. So, there’s no market for crayfish in town."

"I hear eating crayfish is really popular in the cities now, that a lot of people love them. But I don’t think they’re all that great. We’ve caught and eaten them ourselves. The taste is just so-so, they’re a pain to eat, and there’s so little meat. I really don’t get why so many people like them."

Lin Quan laughed. "Uncle Wang, that’s probably because you didn’t cook them right. If crayfish are prepared well, they’re actually delicious. If I were the one cooking them, you’d most likely find them tasty."

"Is that so? Well, next time you’re at my place, I’ll go catch some from the fields for you to cook. I’d like to see how they taste."

"Sure! We can set a time."

"Great. Huh? Wait a second, we’ve gotten off-topic. Lao Liu, what was it you were trying to say?"

Liu LiangZhong smiled again. "What I was trying to say is that here, we can go catch crayfish to sell anytime. Whatever we catch, we can sell; we never have to worry about them not selling. And we sell them at the normal market price. Right now, it’s thirteen a pound. In fact, you could say that every household in our village has a pretty good income from catching and selling crayfish. Take me, for example. Last month, I made this much from selling crayfish."

As he said this, Liu LiangZhong held up four fingers.

"Four hundred?"

That was the relatives’ first reaction. They figured it had to be 400, because it couldn’t possibly be 4,000.

If it were 4,000, that would be unbelievable.

Making 4,000 a month just from catching crayfish in the village? That was more than what many people with office jobs earned.

’Impossible.’

But Liu LiangZhong said, "What four hundred? It’s four thousand. And I’m not even the one who made the most. Some people made five or six thousand."

When he said that, all the relatives’ eyes widened in utter disbelief.

’That can’t be possible, right?’

’How could they possibly make that much?’

Lin Quan said, "Uncle, you can’t be serious. That’s terrifying. I work in the city, and my monthly salary is only five or six thousand. You guys are making five or six thousand a month just by catching crayfish in the village? That’s seriously insane!"

Liu LiangZhong replied, "Why would I lie to you? If you don’t believe me, ask Old Duan. He probably made three or four thousand last month too."

The "Old Duan" Liu LiangZhong mentioned was a fellow villager among the relatives named Duan Cangyun.

At that moment, Duan Cangyun said with a chuckle, "I was pretty busy last month, so I had limited time to go catch crayfish. I only made 3,100."

Only made 3,100?

The casual use of the word "only" was a real kicker.

Lin Quan and the other relatives all felt the urge to cough up blood.

...