The word about the flash deal of the honeydews that had been sold out was being spread around Jinlan Residences. However, for Mr. Qian and Mr. Sun, the owner of the stores, the successful flash deal was rather shocking.
Due to the fact that old Madam Huang had mentioned the fruit collection, the two owners stood by the door one after another and secretly observed the situation while the elderly ladies were tallying the goods. However, they only realized that things were terrible when the first batch of elderly ladies, who had collected their honeydews, began to send their feedback and reviews to the chat group. There was another fruit seller in Jinlan Residences who appeared out of nowhere.
Thereafter, the two of them slowly began to ask around and tried to find out through various sources, who 'Little Zhou' whom the elderly ladies had been talking about, was.
Ever since the "Flowers of Jinlan" purchased all of the fruit in his warehouse previously, Zhou Kun had not been able to replenish the stock in time. At this moment, Zhou Kun was maintaining eye contact with the silly dog Two Thousand in the store. He decided to replenish the stock once the passage opened again.
All of a sudden, someone arrived in Zhou Kun's store and asked, "Are you Mr. Zhou, the owner of the fruit store?"
Mr. Qian, the owner of Daily Vitamin C Fruit Store, began to wonder whether he had gone to the wrong place because there was no fruit in the store at all. There was nothing in sight except for empty display shelves.
"Yes, may I know who you are?"
"I'm the owner of the fruit store in front of Jinlan Residences. My surname is Qian."
"Mr. Qian, hello, may I know what's the matter?" asked Zhou Kun who reckoned that the matter was probably related to the grapes and honeydew that he had sold to the residents of Jinlan Residences.
"Mr. Zhou, you've sold a batch of honeydews to the residents of Jinlan Residences previously. They were well-received. I'm here today to talk to you about cooperation."
"Oh? Is that so?"
"Mr. Zhou, I've also heard about group purchase of fruits that you've organized in the chat group of Jinlan Residences before. Besides the one in front of Jinlan Residences, I also have two other fruit stores in the Creation Residences and Mingfeng Garden Residential District. Hence, I'd like to purchase a batch of goods to sell in my shop, Mr. Zhou."
Zhou Kun originally didn't think much of it. After all, there were many fruit store owners who had purchased fruit in bulk from him before.
However, what Mr. Qian said next made Zhou Kun feel a little uncomfortable. "Did you pay to hire the person who helped you initiate the group purchase in the chat group yesterday? How much did it cost? You made a lot of money from those honeydews, didn't you? Those elderly ladies are so gullible, though."
"They're all patrons of my business," Zhou Kun answered instead of responding directly to what he said.
"Forget about it, let's talk about the honeydew business. Do you have any samples here that I can try?"
Zhou Kun felt uncomfortable after hearing Mr. Qian's words. In turn, he answered coldly, "No, this honeydew is not cheap. Outsiders are not allowed to try them."
Mr. Qian looked at Zhou Kun in shock. He completely did not understand how he had offended Zhou Kun.
"Sure. I've already seen the feedback in the chat group. Your honeydews look good. I'd like to order 50 first. What is the wholesale price? It should be about 120 yuan each, right?"
Actually, Mr. Qian had come prepared. Although he did not manage to get a honeydew during the flash deal the day before, he managed to purchase one from his neighbor at a high price.
As a person who had been in contact with fruit for numerous years, Mr. Qian had to admit that that batch of honeydews could be considered the best on the market.
That was the reason he offered a "high price" of 120 yuan.
Zhou Kun began to feel amused after hearing Mr. Qian's monologue.
Zhou Kun had no idea where Mr. Qian had popped up from. He first accused Zhou Kun of fooling the elderly ladies in the chat group before presumptuously offering Zhou Kun a price of 120 yuan. It was as if the honeydews belonged to Mr. Qian, and Zhou Kun was trying to buy them from him.
"Mr. Qian, you're being rather insincere by quoting that price. These honeydews are of such great quality. He'd have to sell them to you at a price of at least 200 yuan each," said a third person who interrupted.
Zhou Kun and Mr. Qian looked at the entrance. Mr. Qian knew who he was. He thought, 'Isn't this Mr. Sun, the owner of Gluttony Place Snack Store that's next door?'
Why is this fellow here too? Mr. Qian began to have an ominous feeling.
"Hello, Mr. Zhou, I'm the owner of the snack store at the entrance of Jinlan Residences. I came here today with the intention of discussing the honeydew business with you too," said Mr. Sun who expressed his objective as soon as he spoke.
Zhou Kun grabbed his business card and nodded at him. Snack store?
Zhou Kun had never cooperated with a snack store before.
"I was just discussing with Mr. Zhou. Why are you interrupting?"
"That's how you do business. The one who offers a higher price will win!"
"You..."
"Hey, who does the silvery-gray Corolla outside belong to? Can you move your vehicle? You're blocking the lots."
At this moment, Xu Yang also came to join in the fun. He wanted to park his car in the lot, but he was blocked by the Corolla.
"Please wait a moment, I'll be right there." Mr. Qian couldn't care about his car. It seemed that Mr. Sun had intervened, and he might not be able to clinch the honeydew deal.
"Zhou Kun, is this your client?"
"He's here to talk about the honeydew business."
"Didn't we agree that you'd sell all the honeydew to me?" asked Xu Yang who had gone there for the sake of honeydew that day.
Xu Yang decided to purchase all the honeydews that Zhou Kun had in store.
Lately, the fruit platter had been the best-selling item in Xiang Banquet private restaurant. After seeing how popular the fruit platter was, Xu Yang and the chef launched numerous new dishes that involved honeydew after some discussion.
In addition to the fruit platter that was launched previously, they also served freshly squeezed honeydew juice. Due to the fact that the honeydew was too sweet, they had to add ice cubes or original-flavored soda, like in cocktails.
The honeydew-flavored desserts had also been well received by customers.
Plenty of customers, who were food enthusiasts, had actually developed their own new ways of eating them.
Xiang Banquet private restaurant was originally famous for Hunan cuisine. Many customers who could not tolerate spicy foods, developed a love-hate relationship with the delicious hot and spicy dishes.
Sweet food is the best for alleviating spiciness. Hence, they discovered that taking a bite of spicy vegetables followed by a sip of chilled honeydew juice, was extremely intoxicating.
Someone even came up with a slogan for Xiang Banquet private restaurant—"Come to Xiang Banquet private restaurant, pair the spiciest dishes with the sweetest honeydew."
Zhou Kun first stated that he did not have much honeydew left in stock. Hence, Xu Yang immediately rushed over to purchase all the remaining stock that he had.
"You just interrupted. I haven't had time to explain."
"According to the terms that we've agreed on, you shall sell all your remaining stock to me at 300 yuan each."
"Alright, follow me to the cold storage warehouse to collect the goods." As they spoke, they soon began to ignore Mr. Sun and Mr. Qian.
"What kind of attitude is that? Do you know how to do business at all?" Mr. Qian chided, looking at Xu Yang who claimed that he wanted to purchase all the stock that Zhou Kun had at 300 yuan per honeydew. He suddenly realized why Zhou Kun's attitude was that cold. Due to such, he felt rather embarrassed and turned around to leave.
However, Mr. Sun knew that he had similar thoughts as Mr. Sun. He had still underestimated the honeydew business. Xu Yang did not hesitate to purchase the honeydews at 300 yuan each. Yet, he still confidently declared that he would purchase them at 200 yuan each. The thought of it was truly embarrassing.
Nevertheless, one of Mr. Sun's attributes was that he could accept his mistakes. Most importantly, he could get over the matter too. He felt that the 300-yuan honeydews definitely had some extraordinary characteristics. Hence, he continued smilingly, "Since you've decided to sell all your honeydew to someone else, let's cooperate again another time if there's an opportunity to. I'll buy them from you at 300 yuan each. Once there's any stock, please inform me immediately, Mr. Zhou."