Qin Lin watched Zhao Moqing and his mother washing dishes in the kitchen, a faint smile on his face.
With Moqing here, there was a bigger smile on his mother's face, and she was in a good mood.
Smiling more and staying in good spirits would do his mother's health good.
His mother clearly wanted to help him bring Moqing home as his wife, but their family's circumstances made that impossible.
So he still needed to buy a house as soon as possible, then put the marriage certificate in front of his mother and bring Moqing home.
That was probably what he wanted most right now. You could say he had no grand ambitions.
There were always things more important than ambition in life.
Thinking of that, he looked at the game screen, wishing he could activate a cheat and level up his Game Character, plant red strawberries across every plot, and make a few million a day.
When Qin Lin was about to take Zhao Moqing home, Lin Fen followed them downstairs and kept reminding him, "Xiao Lin, make sure you get Moqing home safely. Ride slowly on the way..."
"Mom, I know!" Qin Lin replied with a smile, then rode out of the complex with Zhao Moqing.
Zhao Moqing lived in the Dongcheng Mingyuan complex.
Qin Lin stopped his bike inside the complex. Just looking at the surroundings, he could tell they were worlds apart from the old residential complex where he rented.
It was one of the best complexes in Youcheng County. Homes there had already reached 14,000 yuan per square meter. A 120-square-meter home, including renovations, cost a little over two million.
Many homes in the provincial capital cost only a little over two million, which showed just how absurdly high prices were in this little county town of Youcheng.
Every time he came here, he couldn't help thinking about one thing: under normal circumstances, if he wanted to buy a home here, he would have to live frugally and spend three to five years paying off his family's debts.
If he couldn't find a way to make money and change his circumstances during that time, he would need to spend another five years or more saving enough for a down payment.
And that was assuming housing prices didn't rise any further.
In the past, every time he came here, he felt a little anxious. He was afraid of letting Zhao Moqing down.
Thankfully, the game in his mind could pull him out of that helpless quagmire.
Zhao Moqing seemed to sense how he was feeling. Rather than getting off the bike, she pressed her face against his back. "Qin Lin, how about we just tell our families the truth? I want to work hard alongside you."
Qin Lin knew Zhao Moqing was trying to show him how determined she was. She had brought this up more than once.
He took her hand and promised, "Didn't we agree you'd give me a little more time? Don't worry. I've got a new business going lately. I've been doing some wholesale, and I'm making more than before. I'll be able to bring you home soon."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Mm, I believe you!"
Those few simple words showed how much faith she had in Qin Lin.
After they shared a tender moment, Qin Lin handed Moqing another two jin of Quality 2 red strawberries that he'd prepared.
"You have more?" Zhao Moqing exclaimed, delighted.
The strawberries from earlier had been so delicious that she and Lin Fen had finished them all.
Qin Lin nodded. "Mm. As long as you like them!"
Zhao Moqing was delighted, of course. She gave Qin Lin a long, passionate kiss, then reluctantly went upstairs. When she got home, she found her mother, Chen Xiao, and her sister-in-law, Li Jiawen, watching TV in the living room.
"Moqing, you're back!" Li Jiawen was the same age as Zhao Moqing and worked as a makeup artist. She dressed very fashionably. Seeing her sister-in-law return, she smiled warmly. "Moqing, come try these! I had someone buy them for me from overseas. They're imported strawberries, 200 yuan a jin. It's rare to get to try them."
As she spoke, she picked up a strawberry and held it to Zhao Moqing's lips.
Zhao Moqing obediently opened her mouth.
Li Jiawen popped the strawberry into Zhao Moqing's mouth and asked, "How does it taste? Pretty good, right?"
After eating it, Zhao Moqing gave her sister-in-law a strange look. "Jiawen, these strawberries cost 200 yuan a jin. Are you sure you weren't ripped off?"
Li Jiawen asked, puzzled, "How could I be? A close college friend helped me buy them. They don't taste good?"
Zhao Moqing didn't answer. She took a strawberry from the bag in her hand and held it up to Li Jiawen's mouth. "Open up!"
Seeing the red strawberry, Li Jiawen obediently opened her mouth and bit down. Then she froze. It was so much tastier than the strawberries she'd bought. "Moqing, where did you get these? They're so delicious! How much did they cost? They must've been expensive, right?"
"I guess they weren't expensive!" Zhao Moqing hadn't asked how much they cost, so she answered vaguely. "Qin Lin gave them to me. His store probably sells them cheap. Maybe 20 yuan a jin?"
"20 yuan a jin?" Hearing that price, Li Jiawen looked dejected. "What? The 200-yuan-a-jin strawberries aren't as good as the ones that cost 20? Moqing, I think I really did get ripped off. She ripped me off for 200 yuan, too. We're done as friends."
As she spoke, she had already reached into the bag in Zhao Moqing's hand.
The strawberries she'd bought didn't appeal to her anymore. The ones her sister-in-law had brought home were the good ones.
Hearing Qin Lin's name, Chen Xiao frowned and asked, "How's Qin Lin been doing lately?"
"Mom, Qin Lin's been doing wholesale lately. He'll do better and better." Zhao Moqing didn't actually know how Qin Lin's wholesale business was going, but she could only say good things about him. After that, she hurried to her room, not wanting to get drawn into the subject.
Li Jiawen said, "Mom, Qin Lin's actually a decent guy. He's hardworking, and he treats Moqing well."
Chen Xiao sighed. "I know he's decent, but you know what his family's like. How much hardship will Moqing have to face if she marries him?"
Li Jiawen didn't answer that.
The next morning, Qin Lin picked the watermelons and strawberries that had ripened overnight, then planted new seeds.
After washing up and eating breakfast, he went straight to the warehouse. He moved the watermelons out of the game, then delivered the ones Liu Dasheng and the others had ordered.
"Xiao Qin, I need to ask you something." After weighing the fruit, Liu Dasheng asked a little awkwardly, "Watermelon prices have dropped lately. Could you lower your wholesale price by 20 cents?"
At that news, Qin Lin frowned slightly. Watermelon prices were already starting to drop?
He'd expected the price to fall. Every year, watermelon prices soared in July and August, then began falling after late September.
But had the wholesale market in Youcheng really dropped its prices this early?
After thinking it over, he roughly understood why. His involvement had brought more than 800 watermelons, weighing over 9,000 jin, into the market every day. That was bound to have some impact on a small county town's market.
In that case, he needed to consider growing something else. Once watermelon prices fell, they would keep getting cheaper, and in the end they often sold for less than one yuan a jin, leaving little profit.
Sure enough, when he delivered the goods to RT-Mart that evening and settled the bill, Manager Chen brought up lowering the price too.
That only strengthened his resolve to stop growing watermelons.
As soon as he left RT-Mart, he sent the shopkeepers a message. It went something like: "My second granduncle's wife's nephew's uncle's son has sold all the watermelons he grew back home. You can all go buy watermelons wholesale at the market tomorrow."
He didn't feel guilty about suddenly stopping deliveries. Business was business, and he'd never signed a long-term supply contract.
Once he was done, he immediately looked at the game screen in his mind. He controlled the Game Character out of the ranch and headed to the seed shop in Mineral Town to see if any crops that could grow on basic plots sold for more than watermelons.
At the same time, he searched online for the prices of those crops. Naturally, he wanted to pick something suitable, reliable, and expensive.
After searching for a while, he actually found something very suitable.
It was okra.
Of the crops that grew on basic plots, okra had the highest price, and its growing time was similar to watermelon's.
More importantly, okra grew from seeds, not seedlings. Like watermelons, it was discreet and hassle-free.
The current wholesale price in the southern region had already reached more than six yuan a jin.
His only cost was the price of the seeds. He wasn't asking for much; he'd be happy to wholesale it for six yuan a jin.
With that in mind, he went to the seed shop and bought a bag of okra seeds.
When he got home, he entered the game, put the okra seeds in the seed storage box, then exited the game and controlled the Game Character to dig up the watermelon seeds he'd planted earlier. After that, he planted the okra seeds in those 24 plots.
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