Chapter 55: Selling Baskets for Money

Chapter 55

At the bustling intersection of a small chaotic street stands the largest store, Huang's Bamboo Crafts Store.

Many shops in the area don't even have a sign, so this store, with a big sign hanging at the entrance, is considered relatively formal.

That's why Su Youfu, an honest and straightforward man, chose to sell his brooms here, thinking that a large store would conduct business in a more proper manner.

For many years, he has been directly delivering his brooms to this store, and the price is always determined by the boss.

However, the boss is fair and gives him a higher price compared to others. Although Su Youfu is honest, he is not foolish and would inquire about the prices offered by others.

In reality, it is normal for the price of his brooms to increase several times when they reach the boss. After all, running a store of this size incurs costs such as rent, water fees, and workers' wages. It's not charity work.

The boss, Huang Yufeng, is a decisive and efficient person. This store was passed down from her maternal family. Her parents had two daughters, and as the eldest, it was agreed that she would inherit the store and find a son-in-law.

Once her younger sister got married, this store would no longer have any connection to her family.

Now, Huang Yufeng was looking at the young girl standing at the store's entrance with great interest.

"Old Su, is this your daughter? She looks beautiful," she commented.

Su Youfu smiled and nodded, standing a bit straighter than usual.

"Hello, Boss Huang," Xiao Qi greeted with a smile.

"The things you've made are quite interesting," Huang Yufeng, being a businesswoman, complimented the young girl. However, her gaze quickly fell on the bamboo-woven bag in Xiao Qi's hand, examining it closely.

The bag was exquisitely made, with a lid that had a button made of bamboo tied with hemp rope. It was convenient to open and close.

He sold these seven woven bamboo items for 950 yuan, while a bundle of brooms, twenty of them, was only sold for 300 yuan.

Su Youfu thought the price was fair, even pleasantly surprised. However, he was a slow person by nature, so even though he was particularly surprised, he didn't show it on his face. He just nodded.

Upon hearing this price, Xiao Qi didn't know if it was high or low. Although she had confidence in her father's craftsmanship, the market also played a role in such matters. Her father wasn't a master craftsman but an ordinary farmer. The price offered by the other party seemed quite good in her opinion.

Seventeen-year-old Su Xiaoqi wasn't good at this kind of thing, but she had the impression that agricultural product prices were not high, and the same applied to processed agricultural by-products made by farmers themselves.

Su Youfu left Aunt Liu's phone number. With everything sold, he carried the bamboo pole and a sack of vegetables and walked out with his daughter, wearing a serious expression on his face.

They walked for a long time, far away from that street, crossed the road, and passed by the entrance of a commercial bank. Suddenly, Su Youfu burst into laughter.

Su Xiaoqi: ...

"Dad, Dad!" Su Xiaoqi looked at the puzzled look on the security guard's face at the bank entrance and tugged at her father's sleeve.

"Xiaoqi, I've calculated all the way here. I can make at least two baskets and an additional small bag in a day. That's a total of 300 yuan per day, which means 9,000 yuan per month. You don't have to worry about your tuition anymore. Dad can earn money now. And when I earn more, we can renovate our house. We can fix the collapsed wall at the entrance and you won't have to worry about your monthly expenses anymore."

Su Youfu had never been so excited and full of ambition before. His shoulders straightened, and he no longer hunched his back.

"Dad, please don't get too carried away. The boss said they still need to see the sales volume. What if we can't sell them all?" Although Su Xiaoqi was happy, she thought her dad was being too optimistic. If things didn't work out, they would be disappointed. It's better to be clear-headed from the beginning.

"No, I'm not blindly selling things. I've checked out all the shops on that street. This boss pays the best and sells the fastest. I've seen it myself. She sells our brooms for two or three times the price she bought them from me. She also rejects some items. She doesn't accept everything that comes her way. But if she accepts it, it means she can definitely sell it. I sold her one for 150 yuan, and she can easily sell it for at least 500 or 600 yuan." Su Youfu explained to his daughter.

Su Xiaoqi thought to herself that her dad may seem simple-minded, but he's actually quite cunning. He's a typical crafty farmer from the countryside. She wasn't sure how to express it, but having some cunning is better than being foolish and getting taken advantage of.

Neither the father nor the daughter found anything wrong with the boss selling at a higher price. After all, that's how selling things worked. When watermelons are in abundance, farmers sell them to middlemen for a few cents per kilogram, but people in the city still buy them for one or two yuan per kilogram.

At this moment, both father and daughter were quite happy. Su Xiaoqi suggested, "Dad, why don't we buy you a mobile phone too? It's inconvenient for us to always go to Grandma Liu's house to make phone calls."