Selling Vegetables

The manager looked at the tomato and wiped the drool from his mouth.

Su Ye handed the tomato to the manager. "Have a taste, Manager. I guarantee it's delicious."

The manager couldn't be bothered with anything else. He took the tomato and bit into it.

His eyes immediately went wide. The moment he bit down, the tomato's flavor flooded his entire mouth, and its cool juice felt like a mouthful of spring water in the middle of summer.

In a few bites, the manager finished the entire tomato, which was as big as a volleyball. He let out a burp, then made sure to lick his fingers.

"Did you really grow this?" the manager asked doubtfully.

"Yes, Manager. A friend of mine who runs a laboratory just developed this new variety. I'm the only one selling it," Su Ye said.

The manager glanced casually at the cucumber, which was as thick as a drinking glass and more than a foot long. Then he rubbed his stomach and thought better of it.

"Are these things as delicious as the tomato?" the manager asked excitedly, pointing at the cucumber and the vegetables in the shopping bag.

"Of course," Su Ye said.

"Then how much per jin?" the manager asked.

"Well, Manager, as you can see, my vegetables aren't like the others, so the price might be a little higher," Su Ye said.

These were all grown with spiritual energy water. Wouldn't he be taking a huge loss if he sold them cheaply?

"Name a price," the manager said.

"How about this, Manager? Can we discuss it when you come over?" Su Ye said, unable to make up his mind.

"That works. We can discuss it when I come to pick up the goods," the manager said.

"I'll leave these with you as samples. If they meet your standards, my next batch of vegetables will be ready to sell in another two months. Please come find me in Jiuhua Village, Nanping Town. I've set up a farm there." As he spoke, Su Ye pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to the manager.

The card was simple, with only Su Ye's name and phone number on it.

"Ha ha, young man, heroes really do emerge in their youth! You're so young and already have a business of your own. In two months, I'll definitely come to Jiuhua Village to buy vegetables from you," the manager said.

"Oh, right, my name is Yang Yuntao."

"All right, then I'll be waiting for you in Jiuhua Village, Manager Yang," Su Ye said.

"Two months from today? I'll definitely be there," Manager Yang said.

After exchanging pleasantries, Su Ye went to another three restaurants and pitched his produce to their owners or purchasing managers. Unsurprisingly, every one of them sang its praises.

Next, Su Ye went to a fruit shop to pitch his watermelon. The fruit seller stared in astonishment at the watermelon, which weighed at least seventy or eighty jin, and only came to his senses after a long while.

Ordinary watermelons cost only three or four yuan per jin, but Su Ye asked the fruit seller for thirty yuan per jin for his. After eating a piece of Su Ye's watermelon, however, the seller clearly began to waver. Su Ye then handed him his business card and told him to come to Jiuhua Village in two months to buy from him. The seller readily agreed.

When Su Ye returned home, he carried two sacks of rice inside.

"Xiao Ye, what are you carrying?" Mother Su asked when she saw him come back with two large sacks.

"Mom, when I went into the city this time, I visited my friend. This is a new variety of rice he developed. It's delicious and very nutritious. He gave me two sacks of the finished rice, so we'll eat this from now on," Su Ye explained.

Just like that, the days passed one by one, and before he knew it, two months had gone by.

During those two months, Su Ye often cultivated in the Immortal Spirit Space, and his cultivation had broken through to the Qi Refining Fifth Layer.

He also learned three new spells: the Water Bullet Technique, the Water Shield Technique, and the Ice Arrow Technique.

Even the spiritual rice in the space had all been used up by Su Ye.

Because Su Ye often used the ginseng and Solomon's seal in the corner to practice the Sweet Rain Technique, the two medicinal herbs not only grew better and better, but also seemed to be showing faint signs of mutation. The ginseng, for instance, had turned faintly red all over. There was no telling what it would become.

Ever since they began eating the spiritual rice Su Ye brought back from the city every now and then, Father and Mother Su seemed to be growing younger. Their white hair had disappeared, and they had far fewer wrinkles.

That day, Su Ye got up early and called Zhang Erhu and several villagers to help harvest the vegetables.

Before Su Ye had even gotten up, the owners and managers of the various restaurants had called one after another, asking him to have the vegetables harvested so they could load and transport them as soon as they arrived.

In just over two months, the vegetable field had been completely transformed.

At a glance, the former wasteland had become a vast expanse of green. Su Ye had planted all his seedlings, covering about ten mu: cabbages and greens as tall as a person, tomatoes as big as volleyballs, watermelons as big as three or four basketballs, cucumbers as long as baseball bats and as thick as drinking glasses...

"Xiao Ye really is capable. He's grown his vegetables so big! I never knew they could get this big," one villager said.

"Isn't that the truth? These days, everything takes learning. An educated person can do anything well," another villager replied.

After a busy morning, all the vegetables had pretty much been harvested.

Looking at the heaps of vegetables, everyone was too stunned to speak.

A little later, a luxury car slowly drove toward Jiuhua Village.

Before long, it pulled up beside Su Ye's farm and stopped.

A potbellied middle-aged man slowly stepped out of the car. It was Manager Yang.

As soon as Yang Yuntao got out, he was stunned by the sight before him: vegetables piled as high as hills.

"Ha ha, young friend Su, long time no see!" Yang Yuntao called out warmly as he approached.

"Hehe, hello, Manager Yang," Su Ye replied.

Before long, another car drove over.

The door opened, and a beautiful woman of about thirty stepped out.

"Lin Wanwan, what are you doing here?" Yang Yuntao asked in surprise.

"What? Does this place belong to you, Yang Yuntao? If you can come, why can't I?" Lin Wanwan replied.

Lin Wanwan was the proprietress of the second restaurant Su Ye had visited. It was called the Wafting Fragrance Pavilion, a major restaurant as well known as the Supreme Flavor Pavilion.

Just then, the purchasing agents or owners of several more restaurants arrived, and all were stunned by the sight before them for quite a while.

"I have too many vegetables here, and I was afraid one restaurant couldn't take them all, so I contacted a few more. You don't mind, do you?" Su Ye explained slowly.

"Not at all, not at all."

With so many vegetables, it would be difficult for a single restaurant to use them all. Even for a chain, it would take a long time to turn them all into dishes and sell them, even if they were frozen.

Besides, vegetables were meant to be eaten fresh.