"Can you tell us why?" Zhang Liunian also noticed the change in their expressions after hearing his name, but he didn't remember offending them, so he wanted to figure out the reason.
"Can't I just dislike you?" The short man tilted his head and glared at Zhang Liunian, thinking to himself that it was the captain who refused, otherwise he wouldn't dare to stand out.
"Since that's the case, then we have nothing more to say." Zhang Liunian saw that they didn't want to talk and didn't force them.
He wasn't in a hurry to sell the grain anyway. By the time they realized how difficult it was to collect enough grain in the south of the city, there might still be a chance.
However, this matter was indeed beyond his expectations. He thought it was a sure thing, but there were still deviations in the end.
"Brother Liunian..." Du Ziteng, seeing that he wasn't going to sell the grain anymore, was extremely anxious.
They had collected 17.5 million catties of grain during this period, and the farm was almost full. If they didn't sell this grain, Brother Liunian's money would be wasted.
"No need to say more, let's go!" Zhang Liunian had a plan in mind and pulled Du Ziteng along.
Du Ziteng didn't know that these people came to collect grain, and not only did they have a time limit, but the quantity was also very large. He kept chattering all the way.
On the other hand, the grain collection team felt some regret after seeing them leave.
The short man who had just driven them away looked at the grain collection captain and said, "Captain, I just heard that they have tens of millions of catties of grain. Are we really not going to buy it?"
This team came to collect grain, and their superiors had said that the minimum was 20 million catties, with no upper limit.
They finally encountered someone with grain when they opened for business, but the captain refused to buy it. This made many people confused.
The grain collection captain had a stern face and didn't answer. He couldn't say that Old Man Zhu had warned him, could he?
Moreover, this was a move they had to make to explain themselves to Old Man Zhu. As for what happened next, they would deal with it later.
Meanwhile, on Zhang Liunian's side.
The two of them returned to the old shop. Du Ziteng was still angry about this matter. They had been working from dawn till dusk and had put in so much effort, only to be kicked out as soon as they reported their name. How could he not be angry?
"Brother Liunian, what should we do now? They are clearly trying to oppose us. With so much grain, how can we deal with it?" Du Ziteng was very concerned about the destination of this grain, as it was all collected by him and his men, truckload by truckload.
Moreover, he also knew that Zhang Liunian wanted to make money by selling this grain to buy a factory, so he was even more anxious.
"Wait." Zhang Liunian replied with a single word, his expressionless face.
Du Ziteng was even more confused, thinking to himself, would waiting be useful?
"Brother Liunian, do you have any plans?" Du Ziteng was puzzled seeing his constant composure.
"You'll know when the time comes. Let's wait for three days first." Zhang Liunian planned to wait for the price to rise a bit, and then let others help him try to sell it.
If his guess was correct, they just didn't want to buy Zhang Liunian's grain.
But what if the grain wasn't sold by him?
Would they still refuse?
Zhang Liunian was not sure. The only thing he was sure of was that in his previous life, this group bought grain at 0.5 yuan per catty, and still didn't collect enough. Clearly, their grain collection quantity was indeed very large.
With their 10 million catties, they could easily absorb it. As long as their huge grain collection channel remained open, there would be no problem selling it.
In the worst-case scenario, if they absolutely refused to buy his grain, he would activate his second plan: de-husk the paddy rice, process it into food, and sell it.
Of course, if he did that, he might not be able to afford the two department stores he had his eye on.
So, it would be best to sell this grain if possible.
Seeing that Zhang Liunian seemed to have a plan, Du Ziteng didn't say anything more. Anyway, he just needed to follow Brother Liunian and obey his orders.
"I'll listen to you. Let's wait for three days and then see." Du Ziteng could only suppress his eagerness to sell the grain when he said this.
"Help me call Zhiping over. I have something to ask him," Zhang Liunian suddenly ordered.
Du Ziteng nodded and turned to call Zhang Zhiping over.
"Brother Liunian, this is the account statement from our shop during this period. The money is in the locked cabinet upstairs." Zhang Zhiping handed the account book to Zhang Liunian.
Zhang Liunian took it but didn't look at it immediately. Instead, he asked about another matter, "Did you handle the matter I entrusted you with last time?"
When Zhang Zhiping heard him mention this, he immediately replied, "There are more and more haulers coming to our place to pick up goods. You asked me to pay special attention to those who are trustworthy, and I have found several good people among them."
"Oh? Tell me about them."
"Okay."
"..."
After chatting with Zhang Zhiping, Zhang Liunian asked Zhang Zhiping to invite two haulers to chat tomorrow. Then, he went to the new braised meat shop managed by Grandpa Tang.
The braised meat in both shops was still in short supply, and so were the pickles. They sold as much as they had, with no inventory, forcing the factory to work in two shifts.
What made him happy was that during this period, he had an additional net income of three million yuan. This included all the income from selling pickles, seasonings, braised meat, and crayfish.
As for the funds for the construction site, he had not used them and continued to use them for construction.
The days passed peacefully for two days.
"What's going on? At a price of 0.3 yuan per catty, we've only collected one million catties of grain? What are you doing?"
The grain collection captain did not expect that on the third day of their arrival in the south of the city, they had only collected one million catties of grain. This was far from enough.
After all, they only had five days in the south of the city. Within these five days, they had to purchase more than 20 million catties of grain, otherwise, they would definitely be punished when they returned.
"Why don't we still buy Zhang Liunian's grain? I heard he has tens of millions of catties in his hands," the short man suggested in a low voice upon seeing the captain's anger.
There was no other way. If they couldn't complete the task, they would all be scolded, and perhaps even lose their jobs.
To complete this task, he felt that he could go and find that person named Zhang Liunian again.
"Twenty million catties in five days, this is really too difficult. If we can buy Zhang Liunian's grain, it's also a way out," other team members also felt that this quantity was indeed very large and persuaded him one after another.
"Increase the price to 0.5 yuan per catty, spend money to hire people to publicize it, and let people spread the news to the countryside. There is definitely not enough quantity in the south of the city."
The grain collection captain frowned tightly, not agreeing to buy Zhang Liunian's grain, but instead raising the price one last time, making a desperate attempt.
When others heard that the price had been raised to 0.5 yuan per catty, they opened their mouths, but considering the consequences of not bringing back the grain, they swallowed the words that were about to come out.
"Did you hear? The provincial winery is buying grain at 0.5 yuan per catty. Quick, let's notify our relatives and friends to bring their grain to the city to sell to them."
"Really? How can it be so high?"
"It's true. I specifically went to ask just now, and I even saw people selling it. Payment was made on the spot."