---
Chapter 32: Futures Fruits
Li Yi had been thinking about making money for several days.
At present, he had a complete plan in his mind.
He was indeed going to get into the fruit business, and he hadn't lied about that. However, it wasn't going to be an ordinary fruit business. Instead, it would be a business centered around futures fruit.
Of course, people today were more conservative and honest, and they focused on the direct exchange of money and goods. The concept of futures was almost nonexistent.
So, what exactly is a future?
Futures are a type of contract transaction. Unlike spot goods, where you pay money and receive goods immediately, in futures, the goods are delivered at a later time, whether that's a day, a week, a month, or even a year after the agreement is made.
Now, why did Li Yi want to go to Yandong City?
The reason was simple: Yandong City's apples were about to experience a roller-coaster-like price fluctuation this year.
Li Yi remembered that in this summer, a large number of fruits in Yandong City had experienced a bumper harvest, including apples.
Due to the concentrated listing of apples, there were simply too many, and the market couldn't absorb them. As a result, the price of apples had plummeted from the original 20 cents per catty to only two cents per catty. Unsold apples piled up everywhere.
There were so many apples that the fruit farmers had no choice but to allow middlemen to buy them at rock-bottom prices.
In some areas with limited transportation access, farmers had to feed their apples to livestock.
In short, the market was flooded with fruit this summer.
But then, unexpected weather changes caused everything to turn around.
In July, Yandong City experienced heavy rains, accompanied by hail.
The damage caused by the rains and hail to the fruits was unimaginable, and many apples spoiled in a very short time. The supply of fruit quickly shifted from oversupply to shortage.
Price is directly tied to the market supply and demand. After the heavy rains, the price of apples and other fruits soared.
The cheap apples from earlier had suddenly become expensive.
At its peak, the price of an ordinary Fuji apple soared to 50 cents per pound, 25 times the price it was before the rains.
Li Yi saw this as an excellent opportunity to make money!
He was confident that if he acted quickly, he could secure a batch of apples from the farmers at a relatively low price. Then, as the price increased, he would bring the apples back to Jiangcheng and sell them for a profit.
However, Li Yi wasn't interested in selling them door-to-door like small vendors. He wanted to move the apples quickly.
That's why he had focused on getting the attention of the factories. If he could secure the welfare fruit contract for the meat processing factory, the rest would be easy.
The meat processing factory currently employed more than 500 workers, and each worker needed at least 100 kilograms of fruit mid-year, meaning the business deal would require 50,000 kilograms of fruit in total.
Even if he only made 20 cents per kilogram of fruit, Li Yi could make 10,000 yuan from this deal alone.
And that was just one factory. There were other factories in Jiangcheng, like wool spinning plants, accessory factories, and state-owned cooperatives. These factories were accustomed to providing mid-year benefits to their employees. If Li Yi could secure all these contracts, it would be more than enough to earn his first pot of gold.
However, Li Yi hadn't told anyone about this plan yet, not because he was worried about it being leaked, but because no one would believe him.
After all, the concept of futures was too vague for most people.
Instead of explaining everything to them, it would be better to let the results speak for themselves.
Two days later, after Wei Sanpao and the others had settled down, Li Yi took all the 200 yuan from his family and set out with his brothers.
Yandong City wasn't far from Jiangcheng—just 300 kilometers by straight-line distance. However, there was neither high-speed rail nor EMU at this time, so the only options for travel were by train or long-distance bus.
In the end, Li Yi and his group chose the bus because it was faster. The train would take more than eight hours, while the bus ride would only take about three hours.
Although the bus ticket was two cents more expensive than the train, for Li Yi, the time saved was worth the extra cost.
Once on the bus, Xiaowu and the others couldn't contain their curiosity any longer and asked:
"Brother Yi, what are we going to Yandong City for?"
"Brother Yi, Sanpao said you want to take us to make money. How exactly are we going to make money?"
Li Yi glanced at the time. There was still a while before they reached the station, so he decided to explain his plan.
"Since you asked, I'll tell you. From now on, we are the purchasing team for our meat processing plant!"
"The purchasing team for our factory?"
"Yes, we're the purchasing team for the meat processing plant. Our job in Yandong City is to purchase welfare fruit for the factory workers. The order we need to fulfill is 500,000 kilograms!"
"500,000 kilograms!!"
Everyone was shocked by Li Yi's words. Although no one could visualize exactly how much 500,000 kilograms of fruit would be, the sheer scale of the number—500,000—was staggering.
"Brother Yi, apples aren't expensive right now, but 500,000 kilograms will cost a lot of money. Do we have that much?"
Li Yi smiled calmly. "I brought 200 yuan!"
Wei Sanpao patted his pocket. "I brought 1,000!"
"I brought 100!"
"I brought 300!"
"I brought 200!"
After a quick calculation, the total amount of money they had was 1,800 yuan. It was certainly a decent amount for a casual trip, but for business, it was far from enough to purchase 500,000 kilograms of fruit.
"Brother, with this amount of money, we can only buy 10,000 or 20,000 kilograms at most, not 500,000 kilograms!" Wei Sanpao frowned.
Li Yi just patted the briefcase on his waist and smiled. "The things in my bag are worth 100,000 yuan. With this, we can easily secure 500,000 kilograms. Heck, even 5 million kilograms would be no problem!"
"100,000 yuan?"
"Brother, what's in your bag? It's worth so much?"
Li Yi signaled for everyone to be quiet. "From now on, just remember your role and observe carefully. Don't worry about anything else!"
"Understood!"
---