Contract

The owner glanced at Li Ping, who was smiling with refined gentleness, and hesitantly asked, "How much are you selling these strawberries for?"

"That depends on how much you can wholesale."

"Depends on your price. If it's reasonable, I'd probably take around thirty jin a day." The owner barely regained some of a businessman's composure.

Li Ping curled his lips in a smile. The owner inexplicably shuddered and stiffened his neck as he emphasized, "When I buy wholesale at the market, it's only ten yuan per jin."

"Then forget it. We weren't destined to make this deal." Li Ping said it gently without pressing the matter, then turned to leave.

Huh? The owner was dumbfounded. Who was supposed to be asking whom here? What kind of salesperson was this? He was about to leave over one disagreement, with no idea how to spell persistence.

Zhao Danshi had played with Dou Dou long enough. Seeing Li Ping about to leave, he smiled at the owner and secured Dou Dou back in the carrier basket in the car.

Li Ping pulled open the driver's door and was just about to get in.

"Hey, hey, wait a second." The owner hurried over and grabbed him, holding the car door so he could not leave. "I never said I'd wholesale your strawberries for ten yuan. Let's talk some more. Don't be in such a hurry to go. Tell me first, how much can you offer for wholesale?"

"We usually sell our strawberries for thirty yuan per jin. For wholesale, we can consider twenty-three or twenty-five yuan per jin."

"Why are there two options? Two grades of strawberries, or two varieties?"

"No, they're all the same." Li Ping said gently, "If you only wholesale thirty jin a day, I'll give you a wholesale price of twenty-three yuan. If you take all our strawberries, I'll give you a wholesale price of twenty-five yuan."

The owner's eyes widened. "How come buying more costs more? Who does business like that?"

"My family's strawberries are good enough to be a signature fruit, aren't they?"

"They are, but..."

Li Ping cut him off. "If you take them all, then you'll be the only one in the market selling strawberries that delicious. We won't sell them anywhere else. If you manage things well, they might even become one of your store's signature products. Once strawberries become your signature, your other fruits will sell faster too. I'm sure you'll make quite a bit more over the course of a month. It's perfectly reasonable for a fruit that can become your signature product to cost a little more wholesale, right?"

The owner nodded, his train of thought led straight into Li Ping's trap.

Li Ping remained calm and composed as he continued, "If we sell them in scattered places, it'll be time-consuming and labor-intensive, and it won't be easy to find someone willing to take the entire lot. So we can only sell them at a lower price as a discount. That's reasonable too, isn't it? But think carefully, boss. If several shops nearby all sell my strawberries, then the signature effect will be gone."

The owner asked, "How many strawberries do you have a day?"

"Not many, sixty or seventy jin at most. There are so many people in the county town that they can easily consume them all." Li Ping smiled gently.

The owner's expression kept changing as he struggled to make up his mind.

Seeing him agonize over it, Li Ping said, "We picked your shop at first sight, so clearly we're fated. How about we try a different way of cooperating today? You don't need to buy our strawberries today. We'll leave them here for you to sell on our behalf, at thirty yuan per jin. No matter how much you sell, we'll give you a ten-percent commission. How does that sound?"

Money was money, and there was no reason not to earn it. The owner quickly agreed.

Li Ping asked him to clear out the most central spot in the shop. Then he personally wrote a sign and placed it there: "Premium Akihime Strawberries, Thirty Yuan per Jin."

Before handing the strawberries over to the owner, the two weighed them in the shop, then wrote up a contract and signed it to confirm everything, making the arrangement perfectly clear.

The owner ran a small business. It was his first time seeing someone take selling strawberries on consignment so seriously, and a trace of awe rose in his heart.

Li Ping dared to sell the strawberries at such a high price because their advantages were obvious. The moment this batch was set out, the fruit shop filled with the sweet fragrance of strawberries. The scent drifted through the air and permeated the entire shop, incredibly tempting.

Never mind the customers—even the owner could not resist. He weighed out a jin for himself, intending to take it to the back for his family to try.

He would not earn much from selling the strawberries on commission anyway. He might as well fill his belly and enjoy a treat.

Thirty yuan per jin really was expensive. After Li Ping and the others left, several waves of customers came into the shop. They were all interested in the strawberries and wanted to try them, but the moment they saw the price tag, they backed down. The price was simply too high. Thirty yuan was enough to buy three jin of meat.

One of the owner's regular customers came in and immediately spotted the large, bright-red strawberries in the center. They were red and glossy, as though covered in a layer of light, so appealing that it was hard to look away.

The regular customer could not help asking, "Boss, did you just get a new shipment?"

The owner came over with a smile. "No, a fruit farmer left strawberries he grew himself here for me to sell on commission."

"They smell so good. Give me a jin. I'll take them home for my grandson to try."

The owner handed her a bag and let her choose for herself. Every strawberry in the foam box was more beautiful than the last. She picked for a long time, wanting this one and that one too, only to discover at the scale that she had already chosen one jin and eight liang.

Looking at the strawberries in the bag, the regular customer could not bear to put any back. "Forget it, make it two jin. One jin isn't enough for anyone in my family to eat. There are so many of us."

Two jin came to sixty yuan, no small amount. Holding the weighed strawberries, the regular customer asked the owner, "Where's the faucet? I'll wash a couple and try them."

If these strawberries were all looks and no substance, she would demand an explanation from the owner.

"It's by the corner of the wall. Go ahead."

The regular customer casually picked two strawberries, gave them a quick wash, and popped them into her mouth. The abundant juice, carrying a sweet fragrance, flooded her entire mouth. What kind of strawberry was this? How could it taste so good?!

Her eyes lit up. "Hey, boss, these strawberries are really delicious. No wonder you dare sell them for so much."

"Exactly. I weighed out a jin myself just now to take home for the elderly and children in my family to try."

Carrying her plastic bag, the regular customer asked, "How many strawberries do you have here? I'll ask the others if they want to buy some."

The owner earned three yuan commission per jin from selling the strawberries. Seeing business coming his way, he hurriedly said, "Only sixty-eight jin. These strawberries are large, so it doesn't really add up to much."

"Oh, that won't do. I need to call them right away and have them come take a look too."

As she spoke, the regular customer hurried off while making calls.

The owner's business was good all day. Quite a few people came specifically after hearing that he had especially delicious strawberries. Others simply wandered in, then were drawn in by the rich strawberry fragrance and generously bought one or two jin.

Zhao Danshi had sold strawberries before and knew how popular his family's strawberries were, so he was not worried about the fruit shop.

The two happily took Dou Dou around the county town. They watched a forty-minute short film, took Dou Dou to get vaccinated, and spent the day eating and playing. Dou Dou stared curiously at everyone around him all day. By the time they returned to the fruit shop, he was already asleep in his carrier basket, still clutching a helium balloon.

Li Ping got out of the car, and the owner's eyes immediately lit up when he saw them. "You're back?"

"How did the strawberries sell today?"

"Almost all gone. There are only around ten jin left." The owner politely invited him inside to sit and even brewed tea, looking ready to discuss business.

At a glance, Zhao Danshi understood. He gently lifted Dou Dou out and sat beside them to observe. Compared with Li Ping, he was far worse at business. At this stage, he could only learn from the side, lest he say something wrong and ruin Li Ping's plans.

Li Ping sat upright on the sofa with a faint smile. "So, boss, have you thought it over? Will you stock our strawberries? How much do you want per day?"

"Yes, yes, yes." The owner had thought about it all day and had already made up his mind. "It's just that the price needs to be discussed a little more, right? I run a small business. I really can't afford a purchase price of twenty-five yuan per jin. Besides, thirty yuan per jin is too expensive for strawberries. Who would be willing to eat strawberries this costly every day? Once the novelty wears off, there might be a problem with sales."

Li Ping smiled and asked, "Then what purchase price per jin do you have in mind?"

"Twenty? No more than that. I really can't afford any higher." The owner looked miserable. "You know the spending level in our county town. A purchase price like this for a jin of strawberries is already the limit."

"And how much do you plan to sell them for?"

The owner fell silent. If they sold, he naturally still wanted to sell them for thirty yuan per jin. If they did not, he would deal with it then.

Li Ping said, "I probably can't lower the price any further. If I do, we'll be losing money too. How about this? I'll give you some concessions in other areas."

The owner hesitated. "What concessions?"

"How about we sign a special contract? Sell them if you can. If you can't, you can terminate our sales contract at any time. But there's one condition: you have to tell me in advance. For example, if you don't plan to continue working with us the next day, you need to tell me that evening. You can't wait until I've already sent the goods over before saying you don't want them."

"What if, one day, I can't sell my strawberries and plan to terminate our cooperation the next day? Can I return the strawberries to you?"

Li Ping replied with impeccable grace, "As long as the strawberries haven't gone bad, you can have someone bring them back to us."

This clause was already extremely generous. If the business worked, it worked; if it did not, the owner would not lose anything. He immediately nodded happily. "All right, we'll do as you say. Let's sign a contract."

Li Ping was satisfied as well. He carefully drafted the contract, confirmed there were no issues, then signed it with the owner and pressed their fingerprints on it. Each kept a copy tucked into his chest.

After signing the contract, the owner paid them for today's strawberries. There had been sixty-eight jin in total, selling for 2,040 yuan. After deducting the three-yuan-per-jin commission for the owner, they received 1,836 yuan.

Zhao Danshi watched in amazement. Only after getting into the car did he say, "Wholesaling our strawberries was really easy. If things go smoothly, we can just sit at home and wait to collect the money."

"Mm. Sending forty or fifty jin over every day is just enough for the owner to handle, and he won't think it's too much." Li Ping smiled. "We'll have to work a little harder in the future and get up more than an hour earlier every day to pick strawberries."

"It's fine." Zhao Danshi was full of bold spirit. "As long as there's money to be made, I don't mind hard work!"