Chapter 20: The Big Guest at the Market Was Intercepted

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Chen Youlu twitched her nose vigorously and sniffed. “Eh, that’s the feeling! I thought it was tea, but it turned out to be water. Looks like the water quality is very special. There should be special minerals.”

Chen Baijia was also intoxicated. When the tea was slightly cold, he eagerly picked up the teacup and took a sip.

This feeling…

It was different from the feeling of his young and healthy body being restored by the system a few days ago. Although it was different, he could not help but be addicted. The father-daughter pair drank one cup after another, forcefully drinking till the tea was bland before stopping.

Chen Baijia looked at the bucket of five-liters water with a different expression.

Good stuff!

If this person was not Chen Chu, he would have ‘taken’ the item no matter what, even if it was a sky-high price of hundreds of millions. However, this person was Chen Chu. So he could not.

Chen Baijia got someone to get some water samples and took them to the pharmaceutical company’s laboratory under his name to test the composition. It didn’t mean anything. He just wanted to know what special ingredients were beneficial to the human body in the water.

~

The next day, Sunday.

At 4:30 in the morning, Chen Guoqiang went out early and went to the large meat factory in the suburbs to get meat.

As usual, there were three pieces of pork and a whole set of pig offal. He watched the pigs, picked them, and then slaughtered them. He shaved them, cut them, and split them in half. He also went to the cattle and sheep slaughterhouse to get 40 pounds of fine beef and an entire sheep.

He mainly sold pork and beef and mutton. He got the meat factory’s handyman to carry a few pork slices, a sheep, and more than 40 pounds of fine beef to the back of the three-wheeled motorcycle.

Chen Guoqiang greeted a few familiar grannies and drove straight to the market. At this moment, the sky was already bright. It was past six o’clock. Some of the early risers had already come to sell their meat.

Chen Guoqiang greeted them and threw two pork slices onto the table. He held a slice that weighed 150 to 160 kilograms in one hand. His aura was terrifying.

A few morning customers came over to buy meat. Business started early in the morning. The market was very big, and there were basically people in the same industry. They were fish-killers, pork sellers, beef and mutton sellers, and chickens, ducks, and geese sellers.

Yang Yumei also rushed over. In front of her hung the bag that the Chen family had given her. She helped to cut the bones and cut the meat.

Business was booming. Customers came and went in waves. The couple was extremely busy. The sky was bright. Taking advantage of their business break, the couple took a break.

A man selling meat at the side poked her head over to take a look. “Yo, Old Chen, business is not bad today. It’s almost 30% sold. It looks like you can close your stall early today.”

Chen Guoqiang sighed. “Don’t say anymore. Business is getting harder and harder. Other people had long bought the bones and mixed organs. Every time, there were only about 20 pounds of lean meat and dozens of pounds of plain white meat left. The profits are all in this leftover plain white meat.”

The meat factory only allows them to take the whole slice of pork, half of it is not allowed. So, they either take one more or one less. However, their regular customers were fixed. If they took one less, dozens of regular customers would buy meat from others because they couldn’t buy it. Those were the regular customers they had worked hard to keep. Who would be willing to give it up?

After selling the one slice of pork, he would earn one to two hundred profits.

The man selling meat next door also sighed. “That’s right. Let’s not talk about earning more or less. I’ll be thankful if I can sell all the meat every day. It was fine even if I had to pay a little. Otherwise, I’ll really spend all my money on this leftover meat. I’m so worried.”

Chen Guoqiang looked at him enviously. “Old Xiao, stop pretending. Who doesn’t know how many big clients you have? The two dumpling noodle shops and restaurants ordered more than 20 pounds of lean meat every day. They could eat more than 20 to 30 pounds of white meat usually.

“If you couldn’t sell them all, you could just pack them up and sell them to them. That would save you a lot of trouble. Unlike us, who had no connections and could only worry about these leftovers. Those that could not be sold out were all in our hands. I could only cut down the losses and sell them to those who swept the goods at the night market. I lost more than a hundred yuan for no reason. I’ll earn two hundred less.”

Old Xiao chuckled. “Can’t the rest be made into cured sausages or minced into meatballs?”

Chen Guoqiang sighed and said, “It’s not like it’s a festive season. We won’t be able to sell cured meat and sausages! Meatballs weren’t something I specialized in. Who would buy meatballs if they weren’t as delicious as the ones I specialized in?

“Although my business was good today, it was good meat from a good location. The bones and offals had been picked up by someone. Take a look. There might be a pile of white meat left today.”

As the two of them spoke, they suddenly saw a fat man in the uniform of the kitchen of a big restaurant enter the market from afar. Beside him were two people who looked like they were doing chores in the kitchen.

The fat man crossed his arms and walked steadily. The vendors around him looked at him eagerly. Chen and Xiao’s eyes lit up. Usually, people dressed like this were the procurement officers of a restaurant.

The meat that hotels and restaurants asked for every day was a huge amount. A few dozen kilograms was not enough. A hundred kilograms was not too much. If they met a big restaurant, business would be booming and the customer flow would not stop all day long. The amount of meat sold in a day was a huge amount.

In short, he was a big client. If he could hook up with him, he would definitely be a big customer.

However, this situation was very rare and might not happen even once in a few years. After all, such a big restaurant had its own channels. Such a big customer could only be chanced upon by luck. Even the vendors were fawning over him, so there was no need for him to come out and buy anything.

Even if they were lucky enough to encounter it, it was impossible for them to compete with others. There were more than 20 people in the market!

Their excited faces immediately collapsed. This was because although their stalls were near the entrance of the market, there were still a few places ahead of them. Once this procurement officer was over, they would definitely give it to him at a cheaper price, or even get rid of it at the cost price. Or maybe even lower.

As long as they didn’t keep the remaining meat into their hands and get rid of it, everything else would be profitable. Who didn’t understand this logic? The two of them sighed and were no longer in the mood to chat. They lowered their heads and dealt with the meat on the table.

However, to everyone’s surprise, the chef did not even look at anyone and walked straight towards the two of them.

Yang Yumei had been busy shaving and dealing with the pig’s leg hair in the meat stall. Chen Guoqiang was dealing with the white meat on the chopping board so that it would be easier for someone to take it away later.

At this moment, Chen Guoqiang felt that someone was coming. He quickly looked up and smiled. “What do you want…?”

Wasn’t he the procurement officer he had been thinking about just now?

The shopkeeper looked at him and smiled. “Boss, what’s the price of your pork?”

Chen Guoqiang was excited. Without any hesitation, he pondered for a moment and said, “The lean meat is 16 yuan per 500 grams, and the white meat is 9 yuan per 500 grams.”

This was almost the cost price. He did not earn anything at all. However, it was still the same thing. As long as he dealt with the remaining meat every day and did not lose money on it, it would be a profit!

It was better than selling the leftover thirty pounds of meat to the night market at half price after earning 500 yuan during the day. That meant that he had lost more than ten pounds of meat. He had only earned four hundred yuan.

If he were to sell the leftover meat at the cost price, then it was neither profitable nor loss-making. It’s equivalent to him selling all the meat.

He still earned 500 yuan.

~

After Chen Guoqiang said the price, he was still a little nervous. He was waiting for this person to bargain so that he could give in a little more.

Chen Guoqiang and Yang Yumei stared nervously at the procurement officer.

Old Xiao, who was at the side, wanted to bid, but when he thought about how the two families had known each other since the market was built, he could not bear to give up the relationship and fall out. He sighed. Forget it, forget it. He was not a hypocrite who lacked loyalty. He was a loyal person.

However, Old Xiao took into account their friendship and did not say anything to intercept them. The others might not be the same. The meat seller on the opposite side shouted, “Boss, I only sell 15 for the lean meat, and eight for the white meat!”

Chen Guoqiang and his wife’s expressions changed as they looked at their colleague opposite them with ugly expressions.