187: Buying loquats!
The Old Man was puzzled upon hearing this. "There's definitely over seven thousand jin. Young man, why do you ask?"
The Old Man scratched his head in confusion. Seven thousand jin was the kind of quantity only contractors or factories sourcing supply would buy in bulk.
Even ordinary fruit vendors would at most buy a few hundred to a thousand jin.
Seven thousand jin might be hard to visualize, but it would take two small trucks to haul that much fruit.
Small-time fruit vendors couldn't possibly sell that much, and even some large fruit shops that used fruit for various products couldn't use that many loquats.
The Old Man hadn't even considered that Chen Kai could buy it all by himself.
After all, there weren't many people with that kind of sales capacity, and those big factories usually signed multi-year contracts, so who would care about people like them?
He just hoped to sell them piecemeal to fruit vendors; as long as the price wasn't too low, it was still better than letting them rot in the ground.
Chen Kai smiled faintly. "Old Man, if you have over seven thousand jin of fruit, I'll buy it all. The quality is consistent, right? There won't be any sub-par fruit, will there?"
The Old Man was stunned, staring blankly at Chen Kai. The next moment, he grabbed his hand.
"Boss... are you serious? If it's true, I thank you on behalf of my wife!!"
The Old Man swallowed hard, suddenly realizing he was too excited to have answered Chen Kai's question.
"Our trees will definitely have some sub-par fruit. Since we're growing trees, we can't avoid it. We wish all the trees only produced good fruit, but there's no way around it."
"But... but I definitely won't pick sub-par fruit for you, my benefactor! Everything we pick for you will be good fruit with the sub-par ones culled out!"
Chen Kai smiled faintly. That was enough; he didn't want to deal with ingratitude later on.
"Alright, Old Man, take me back to the Orchard to take a look. If the quality is the same as what you're selling, then I'll take all the produce from your two mu of land."
"Really?!! Benefactor, let's go! My home isn't too far from here!! Come back with me!"
The Old Man was immediately thrilled, standing up excitedly to pack up his small fruit stall.
He immediately led Chen Kai toward his home.
"Where is your home? I drove here, let's just take the car back."
Chen Kai followed behind the Old Man, walking slowly.
"It's not too far, a half-hour walk and we'll be there."
Chen Kai: ??
"Forget it, Old Man, let's just take the car!"
Chen Kai immediately pressed his car key, and the doors of the mercedes-benz gle unlocked.
The Old Man was stunned at the sight, standing by the car door, hesitating to speak.
"Boss... this car of yours is too nice, and I'm a bit dirty... I'm afraid I'll dirty your car..."
Chen Kai smiled faintly. "Get in, it's not that nice of a car."
He quickly helped the Old Man into the car and put the loquat crates into the trunk.
Afterward, he quickly got into the car and drove toward the Orchard, following the Old Man's directions.
...
Twenty minutes later, Chen Kai parked the car in front of a self-built house in the countryside.
The house was slightly rudimentary, looking like a style from the 1990s. Some of the walls had exposed red bricks.
"We're here, Boss. Please, please, please come in. Our family's situation is average, and we didn't tidy up specially, so I hope you don't mind, Boss."
The Old Man said happily, his eyes filled with a glimmer of hopeful joy.
Chen Kai shook his head. "I don't mind, how could I mind?"
"Take me to see the fruit in a moment. I won't be eating here; I already ate this morning."
Chen Kai said calmly, his eyes scanning the courtyard.
He discovered there were only two chickens, one goose, and one big yellow dog in the yard.
He reckoned that the Old Man and Old Woman usually raised the chickens and geese just for eggs, too reluctant to eat them themselves.
If they tried to treat him to a meal, they might even kill the chickens and geese they relied on for eggs and protein just to entertain him.
Chen Kai decided it was better to be clear in advance, so the elderly couple wouldn't feel guilty about not having anything to host him with.
"Ah? This... this isn't very good, right? You came all this way to help us buy fruit, and we can't even treat you to a meal; that's a bit unreasonable."
The Old Man was immediately a bit ashamed, speaking in a flustered manner.
"I didn't come here specially to help you; I'm helping myself too. Buying fruit is the same no matter whose house it is, I just felt yours was a bit sweeter. This isn't specifically helping you."
"If your fruit quality wasn't good, I wouldn't even want it."
Chen Kai said with a chuckle. He was speaking the truth; if their fruit wasn't good, he really might not want it.
He wasn't running a charity.
But... if the quality was only slightly off, he would still take it all, as long as it wasn't recognized as sub-par fruit on the market.
"Okay, okay, okay! That's for sure. I've been growing these trees for six or seven years; the quality is definitely guaranteed."
"Besides, this belongs to an early-maturing variety; it's extra sweet and better than other fruits."
The Old Man said proudly.
Under Chen Kai's strong insistence, he had no choice but to give up the idea of inviting him to eat, and led Chen Kai directly toward the nearby Orchard.
Arriving at the Orchard, Chen Kai looked at the loquat trees covering the mountain and plains. The fruits were all covered in white bags, so he couldn't see their size or quality.
He went down and randomly spot-checked fruit from a few trees; the quality seemed to be about the same.
When he removed the white bags, he found the quality of the fruit was quite good, the size was up to standard, and it was about the same as the loquat he had tasted at the beginning.
He immediately peeled one to taste and found the flavor and the balance of sweetness and acidity were also about the same.
"Not bad, the quality of your fruit is good. I'll take it all."
The Old Man immediately stared at him with an incredulous and excited look.
"Really? You're really taking it all?"
With his three mu of land and seven or eight thousand jin of fruit, he never imagined he could sell it all within a day!!
He had even thought that if he could just sell half this year, it would be enough to not lose money!
He hadn't even thought about making a profit! He never expected that a boss would buy all of their fruit!
Chen Kai nodded. "Pick all the fruit during the day today. How much labor is needed?"
"Hiss... I'm afraid we'll need sixty people."
The Old Man silently calculated the efficiency; usually, picking this much fruit would take three days.
To pick it all within one day, he would definitely need sixty people.
"I'll cover the labor costs; just report the amount to me when the time comes."
"By the way, we should talk about the purchase price for the loquats, right?"
Chen Kai smiled faintly and rubbed his chin.
Upon hearing this, the Old Man gritted his teeth. One shouldn't be too greedy; he couldn't let down this boss, could he?
"How about this, Boss... is 2.5 yuan per jin okay?"