Her Cultivation Diary
Chapter 1057: The money delivered into one’s hand

Chapter 1057: The money delivered into one’s hand

Tian Tian brought this up, not just upset about the price being 60 yuan per pound, but also because the strawberries tasted terrible!

"Sure, they smell good, but the flesh is crumbly and hollow inside, with hardly any sweetness at all."

And yet they dare to sell this for 60 yuan—clearly fruit prices during the New Year are outrageous.

She stared at the box of strawberries on the table with full conviction: "I’ve tried our strawberries; if we sell them for 60 yuan per pound, people will be scrambling to buy them!"

That’s how confident she was!

"Yeah," Song Tan nodded, "Teacher Tang told me this kind of fruit should follow the boutique route—it’s a good fit. They’re not fully ripe on a large scale yet, right?"

"Nope," Tian Tian shook her head, "During the planting period, we focused on encouraging it to grow stolons, so we can transplant and expand next year. Right now, it’s just the first batch that’s ripening."

While talking, everyone had already started sampling the strawberries.

Lao Zhu, shameless as ever, was the first to reach out when Wu Lan said everyone could have a taste. By the time the box made its way around to the younger Xiaodu, he hesitated to grab one.

Lao Zhu got impatient: "What are you being so shy about? Did you drink less last night or what? If it’s there, just eat, don’t hold back. Later, just work a little more, and when you leave, leave your contact number. If anything comes up, lend a hand—isn’t that easier?"

With the ’green light’ from the boss, Xiaodu immediately helped himself, grabbing one red and one white. He zeroed in on the deep red, glossy one, and took a big bite!

Lao Zhu winced inwardly: "Like a cow chewing peonies!"

Yet his own hand was clearly already preparing to grab a second one.

Song Tan nodded: "Then next year, I’ll register a new sub-brand, something like Yunqiao Premium Fruit. These can be supplied more to Lao Zhao, and the daily surplus can go to online sales."

"Sounds good." Lady Tang was clearly partial to the white strawberries. The blend of yellow peach aroma with strawberry fragrance made them irresistibly tempting. Even though they couldn’t quite match those grown in Song Tan’s own greenhouse, in terms of cost-effectiveness, these actually ranked higher.

She said, "At 60 yuan per pound, I could afford to buy them every day. But at 180 yuan per pound, I might only buy them on weekends or when I want to treat myself."

Even Lady Tang, with her penchant for small indulgences, who was most willing to splurge on food and clothes, had this view—showing that next year, Yunqiao Premium Fruit could very well become a regional specialty centerpiece.

"Alright!"

After organizing her thoughts, Song Tan let it go and turned to Tian Tian: "You eat more too, and aim to cultivate more seedlings by spring and summer next year—oh, after lunch, could you take my grandma to check out the strawberries?"

She chuckled: "Grandma wants to grow strawberries next year; picking tea leaves isn’t worth the effort anymore!"

"Who says picking tea leaves isn’t worth the effort?" Wang Lifan, who was tidying up as a motorbike approached, hurried over:

"Picking tea leaves is something we do in March and April. I can still learn to grow strawberries without it interfering. Earning 100 yuan a day is smarter than not earning anything!"

Song Tan: ...

"Isn’t picking tea leaves tiring?" She asked helplessly. "Standing under the sun all day, soaked in the dew from the tea bushes, with the blazing sun overhead..."

"Oh come on, how is that tiring? I’m not in a rush, and I don’t even have to cook. Just wear those plastic pants they sell on Douyin, the ones that are combined with shoes—makes everything so convenient! You just need to buy me a pair then."

The old lady had it all planned out—tea picking, chatting, and earning money she wouldn’t hand over to anyone else! After all, strawberries aren’t even in season in spring!

Song Tan: ...

"Fine, fine!" She waved dismissively, "Whatever you say—so long as it makes you happy."

Only then was the old lady content. She grinned at Tian Tian, "Do call out to me when you pass my house. I’ll go dig out my hat and scarf first."

Everyone seemed to have their hands full; only Lao Zhao was still squatting near the field, watching Zhou Maozhu pull radishes.

"There’re just these ten or so left—aren’t you going to keep them for yourself to try?"

"Nah, nah," Zhou Maozhu thought to himself—five yuan fifty per pound, why should I eat these radishes when I can eat something else?

But faced with the big boss, his smile was wide: "Lanhua’s family grows radishes. I’ll just bag a couple when I visit them later."

Stuff like this is so common—nothing special at all!

Lao Zhao glanced at the time—it was almost noon. If he kept dawdling, he might miss lunch altogether!

Fortunately, Zhou Maozhu had the money to keep things moving, pulling radishes quickly and efficiently. Soon, he lugged the last of the big radishes home.

Meanwhile, back at the yard, Li Lanhua was helping her nephew pack crates. For the last few radishes, she swung her knife with ease, cutting off the leaves, scrubbing them clean, and even using a towel to dry them before putting them on the scale:

"Radishes weighed 52 pounds and 2 ounces, leaves more than 20 pounds."

"Alright!" Lao Zhao pulled out a calculator and quickly tallied: "Round it off—altogether 1575 pounds of radishes, 8,662.5—round to 8,660."

"And for the cabbages, it was 8,115."

"These leaves came to 732 pounds—1,464."

"Altogether that’s 18,239—I’ll send you the payment shortly."

18,000 yuan... Just like that, selling some cabbage and radishes earned them 18,000 yuan!

Zhou Maozhu and Li Lanhua were already feeling euphoric, pulling out their phones excitedly: "Alright, whatever works—transfer is fine too!"

And Lao Zhao was quite pleased himself—he’d spent 18,000 yuan and packed the truck to the brim!

Compared to his visits to Song Tan’s home, where he could only afford a shallow layer of top-tier produce, things were different now.

Plus, now that the prices were slightly more affordable, they sold like hotcakes! Just this morning, nearly one-third of the pre-order list had already been filled.

People would try them out first, and then come back for more. Yun City folks, with their love for good food and financial means to match, could easily afford them daily!

This business had enormous potential!

It’s a shame, though—why were there only a few tons produced in the village this year?

There wasn’t much they could do; after all, the strong young workers were all off earning money elsewhere. Excluding the lazy ones and the troublemakers, even having ten households growing crops here was something to be thankful for!

Lao Zhao couldn’t help but repeatedly urge them: "If the quality next year is still this good, I’ll keep buying at these rates! If the market price goes up, we’ll adjust together—but there’s one thing: grow more crops!"

He scratched his head in doubt: "Cabbages and radishes practically grow themselves once planted..."

He paused, then corrected himself: "Just watch out for the chickens—don’t let them peck at the plants. Such easy crops—why not grow more of them?"

Li Lanhua was full of regret.

Wu Lan had said they might fetch high prices by year-end, but back then, they only casually agreed they might grow some seedlings. Anyone who wanted seedlings just needed to help out for a couple of days...

Why didn’t they plant more?

If it weren’t for the free seedlings, they wouldn’t even have bothered growing this much. In previous years, a few hundred pounds for the household was plenty.

Sigh! Looking back now, they truly lacked foresight!

No wonder Lao Song’s family always did so well. Song Tan had the ability to invest millions right after graduation, while they hesitated to earn easy money handed right to them!

When comparing whose kids were educated, or how well they were educated, the gap was just too big!

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