“Thank you for bringing it back. Please sit down and have some watermelon before you go?” Liu Dongmei said, getting out of the car to invite him.
Liu Yifeng shook his head, “No, I need to go back and cook. This watermelon is so big, you probably can’t finish it all at once. You can call some relatives to share it!”
Li Dongmei nodded, “Yes, that’s what I was thinking!”
Then Liu Yifeng was about to leave when he saw Li Dongmei’s mother-in-law carrying water with a shoulder pole.
Even though the two buckets were not full, she looked strained, walking slowly towards the kitchen.
Liu Yifeng couldn’t bear to watch and hurried over, “Auntie, let me carry it for you!”
Wei Dama saw it was Liu Yifeng and quickly said, “No… no need, I can do it myself!”
Liu Yifeng knew she didn’t want to trouble others. Without further ado, he took the shoulder pole, carried the water into the kitchen, and poured it into the large water缸.
“Thank you, please stay for dinner before you leave!” Wei Dama said gratefully.
Liu Yifeng put down the shoulder pole and buckets, smiling, “I need to go back and cook. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving now!”
Li Dongmei watched Liu Yifeng get into his car and only returned to the living room after he had left.
The child looked at the huge watermelon and drooled with desire!
“Mom, I want to eat watermelon, can I?” the little girl asked timidly.
Li Dongmei looked at her child’s longing eyes. Although she couldn’t bear to refuse, she thought that if she cut it open now, they wouldn’t be able to finish it.
They didn’t have a refrigerator, and it would spoil.
So she said gently, “Be good, the watermelon will spoil if you don’t finish it. Tomorrow, Mom will call your uncles over to eat it together, okay?”
The little girl nodded understandingly, “Okay!”
Liu Chunsheng, who was waiting at home for Yifeng to return, saw that his son hadn’t come back yet, and the ominous premonition that had subsided rose again.
He had been gone for so long. Could it be that there was something illicit between him and Li Dongmei?
Just as he was becoming increasingly uneasy, Liu Yifeng drove back.
Seeing his father’s furrowed brow, Liu Yifeng quickly got out of the car and asked worriedly, “Dad, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
Liu Chunsheng stared blankly at Liu Yifeng, which made Liu Yifeng’s heart pound, “Dad… Dad, why are you looking at me like that?”
“You tell me the truth, are you involved with this widow?”
Liu Yifeng didn’t react for a moment, “Wha… what?”
“Don’t play dumb with me. I’m asking you, do you have any improper relationship with Li Dongmei?”
Seeing his father’s stern face, Liu Yifeng cried out, “Dad, how is that possible? Why would you even think that?”
“If not, why are you so good to her? And why did you take so long to come back just now?”
“Didn’t you say no one was pulling the peanuts at home? I thought Sister Li was having a difficult time, so I wanted to help her out. How did it become an improper relationship in your eyes?” Liu Yifeng felt a bit helpless.
But Liu Chunsheng still didn’t quite believe him, “Are you lying to me?”
“Why would I lie to you? Besides, Sister Li has a child. If I were to find someone else, I wouldn’t choose her!” Liu Yifeng admitted that she was quite attractive in the village.
But no matter how desperate he was, he wouldn’t choose a widow; it would sound bad if word got out.
Moreover, he now had Tongtong, and he wasn’t that desperate for women.
Seeing his son’s sincere pledge, Liu Chunsheng finally felt truly at ease.
However, he still said earnestly, “Yifeng, when you find a wife in the future, you can choose someone who has been married, but absolutely not someone with a child, understand? I will only recognize Tongtong as the descendant of our Liu family!”
“Dad, don’t worry. When I find a wife in the future, I’ll definitely let you approve first!”
“That’s more like it. Alright, you go cook, and I’ll sort out the rest of the watermelon!”
Then, Liu Yifeng went to cook.
While Liu Yifeng was cooking, the watermelons at Bai Guoyuan began to be sold.
They were priced at fifteen yuan per jin, immediately attracting many customers who came to buy fruit.
They had eaten watermelons since they were young, but they had never seen such large ones. They looked very tempting.
However, upon hearing the price of the watermelon, they couldn’t help but frown.
“What’s going on with your Bai Guoyuan? Even if you sell high-quality fruit, you can’t just charge whatever you want!
What kind of watermelon can you sell for fifteen yuan a jin? Are you treating us as suckers to be fleeced?”
Su Wanru had been in the store, wanting to see if the watermelon could be sold.
Upon hearing the customer’s doubts, she immediately explained, “Hello, madam. Our prices are commensurate with our quality. We are absolutely not overcharging!”
“You say you’re not overcharging, but why are you selling this watermelon for fifteen yuan a jin? Besides being big, what else is special about it?
I was thinking, if it was five yuan a jin, I might buy one to try. But now, I guess not!”
“Madam, don’t be in a hurry. Our watermelons can be sampled. It’s not too late to say it’s not worth it after you’ve tasted it!”
With that, Su Wanru had the staff cut open a watermelon.
The staff cut the watermelon flesh into squares and then used toothpicks to pick them up, so customers wouldn’t drip juice on themselves.
As the staff cut the watermelon, the customers were already enticed by the flesh inside. The aroma was rich, and the color of the flesh was particularly bright, looking very delicious.
After cutting, several customers in the store couldn’t help but pick up the watermelon pieces and eat them.
As a result, they couldn’t stop. A box full of flesh was consumed by them.
“Everyone, do you still think this fifteen yuan per jin watermelon is expensive?” Su Wanru asked.
The female customer who had previously thought it was overpriced was now completely won over by the watermelon’s taste.
She shook her head repeatedly, “It was my carelessness with words earlier. This watermelon is indeed sweeter than any imported watermelon I’ve ever eaten. Is this watermelon imported?”
“No, this is a watermelon grown by our own people. But currently, only our Bai Guoyuan has such watermelons. You can’t buy them at other fruit stores.” Su Wanru said.
“Alright, give me one. I’ll buy it back for my family to try. This watermelon is really good.” The woman said immediately after hearing this.
Others were not to be outdone, “Give me two. A watermelon this delicious, one isn’t enough!”
“I want three!”
Hearing this, the woman was afraid of buying too little and losing out, so she immediately asked for another one.
She wanted to buy three, but her car couldn’t fit so many, given how big the watermelons were!
“Hello, two watermelons weigh a total of 105 jin, which is 1575 yuan!” the staff said to the woman.
“And give me a box of cherries, and a box of mangosteens,” the woman pointed to these two fruits.
Finally, she paid 2,100 yuan and left with her purchases.
In just ten minutes, the store sold eight large watermelons, and other fruits were also sold.
It could be said that anyone who tasted the watermelon bought it, with a sales rate of 100%.
Just as Liu Yifeng had said, as long as they tried it, everyone would buy it.
Although they were sold expensively, the people who came to their store were all well-off.
This was why Su Wanru dared to sell them for 15 yuan per jin.
She distributed the 300 watermelons to three stores, 100 in each.
By the time the store closed in the evening, more than half of the watermelons had been sold, with a turnover of 120,000 yuan, which was exactly the amount she had paid Liu Yifeng for the watermelons.
In other words, whatever was left of the watermelons would be pure profit.
Su Wanru estimated that these over 130 watermelons would help her earn at least 100,000 yuan, with a profit margin of 50%.
That evening, she couldn’t help but share the good news with Liu Yifeng and mentioned that she would arrange for people to pick more watermelons from the field the next day.
Liu Yifeng was also very happy. With the watermelons selling so well, he no longer had to worry about their future sales.
The next morning, Liu Yifeng loaded the vegetables onto Du Ziheng’s truck.
He was going to buy crayfish, but to his surprise, the owner of the crayfish farm refused to sell them to him.
This made Liu Yifeng anxious, and he quickly asked for the reason!