Chapter 514 Make Trouble
Recently, there were rumors that the vegetables sold at Zeng Family’s vegetable store were injected with some kind of hormone. In the beginning, this kind of thing would change a person’s physical appearance, and later, it would become more serious. Rumors were a scary thing. One person might not make believable rumors, but what about a hundred or a thousand people?
The words of the crowd could crush an empire.
Eventually, many people believed such rumors.
“Ol Zeng, tell me the truth. Did you put some hormones into the vegetables? Otherwise, how can their taste be so good?”
“That’s right, Od Zeng. I also heard the same thing. Eating these vegetables will exacerbate one’s illness. Is that true?”
When they heard the rumors, all of them went forward to ask Zeng Qinghua. His vegetables were too special, and thus they couldn’t help but get suspicious.
Zeng Qinghua naturally also heard the rumors.
He explained, “You have been my regular customers for many years. When have I ever cheated my customers?”
“Ol Zeng, we believe your character but you didn’t grow these vegetables yourself, right? How do you know they aren’t tampered with?” Someone questioned.
Zeng Qinghua said with a smile, “Before I cooperated with the owner, I did my investigation. Her vegetables are selling very well in the local area. The supply exceeds the demand, and they have been selling for more than half a year.
“If there’s really something wrong with these vegetables, the people there would have complained already. Plus, if the boss didn’t expand her farms, she didn’t even need to sell her vegetables to us.” Having said that, he paused for a moment and said with a very serious expression, “I don’t know where you heard these rumors, but I can say with certainty that the people who spread these rumors have sinister intentions. Their goal is definitely to destroy my business.”
When these regular customers heard this, they immediately fell silent.
“Ol Zeng, it’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s just that the vegetables taste too good. If there’s no fire, where does the smoke come from?” He still believed those rumors.
Zeng Qinghua said at this moment, “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but someone went to Jun Hao Hotel and tasted the vegetables there. They also didn’t believe they would taste so good naturally. So the hotel paid the agency to have the vegetables tested.
“The result showed that these vegetables are completely organic, and they are rich in minerals. The main thing is that there is an active molecule in them that is very beneficial to our health.
“Once this result was out, many rich and powerful people went to the Jun Hao hotel to eat. I’m not making this up.”
Most of the customers who could buy such expensive vegetables at Zeng Qinghua’s place had decent living conditions.
Naturally, they had also heard of this.
A regular added, “I’ve heard this from a friend. My friend said that the specialty vegetable dishes that the Jun Hao Hotel now sells are good for his body.
“His legs have been hurting a lot when it rains, but the pain lessens by a lot after he started to eat at Jun Hao Hotel. But Ol Zeng, how is this related to Jun Hao Hotel….”
Zeng Qinghua said with a smile, “We get our stock from the same boss. If there’s something wrong with these vegetables, the business of Jun Hao hotel won’t be so good, and there won’t be so many customers lining up to eat them.”
The customer said with a smile, “You’re right.”
Zeng Qinghua continued, “Although I don’t know who spread these rumors, they are pure rumors.”
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The regulars were silent for a moment. Then Uncle Liu said, “Boss Zeng, it’s not that we want to believe those rumors, but they sound so real.”
Zeng Qinghua smiled bitterly and said, “That’s the purpose of the rumors!”
“Yeah,” a customer echoed, “There are too many rumors. No one knows whether they are true or false.”
A customer thought for a moment and said, “Ol Zeng, although these are rumors, I still rather be careful. I’ll just take some normal vegetables today.”
The other customers also said, “Yes, boss Zeng, I haven’t bought those ordinary vegetables for a long time. I’ll buy some ordinary vegetables to eat today. Fortunately, your family has these ordinary vegetables, right?”
Zeng Qinghua still ordered the vegetables from the local farmers. They would send their vegetables over daily. Even though he now had the cooperation with Boss Xiao, he didn’t cancel his order from the local farmers. he was not a bad person.
Zeng Qinghua could only smile and say, “Okay, you are all my regulars. You can buy whatever you want. I don’t have the right to interfere.”
Many customers listened to such rumors, so they didn’t dare to buy the delicious vegetables for the time being. They found the vegetables too good to be true.
This meant that the business of the other vegetable shops slowly recovered.
Zeng Family’s Vegetable Shop’s new vegetables were all organic. The other vegetable shops had green, organic vegetables too. Their prices were ridiculously expensive, even more so than the ones at Zeng Family’s Vegetable Shop. In the past, they sold well. But once Zeng Family’s Vegetable Shop appeared, the organic vegetable sales at the other shops halted because their customers all went to Zeng Family’s Vegetable Shop. So the few bosses ganged up together to release the rumors. Finally, their business was returning.
“President Qiao, your method is brilliant,”the boss of Li’s vegetable store said with a smile, “It’s only been a few days since the rumors were spread, but our business has already picked up. In a few more days, Zeng Family’s vegetable store might be completely out of business.”
Qiao Shiliang was a shrewd businessman. He shook his head and said, “No, that won’t happen. We’ve all tasted the vegetables in Zeng’s shop. They are popular even among the kids and elders.”
“President Qiao, what do you mean?” President Li asked.
Qiao Shiliang said, “It’s very simple. Our business is only recovering for a short period of time. Many families with elders and children will return to buy those vegetables. Then, our business will become bleak again.”
Their stores mainly catered to the rich. These rich people only cared about their health, so organic vegetables were the best choice for these people.
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Therefore, these people’s target market was the rich people. The common people would visit the smelly market and would not frequent their high-end stores. So, their main profit came from selling organic vegetables. If the organic vegetables stopped selling, they would suffer a loss. If this continued, they might need to close down.
When President Li heard Qiao Shiliang, his expression darkened. He asked, “President Qiao, what should we do now?”
Qiao Shiliang’s eyes darkened, and he spat out a few words coldly, “Since now there’s smoke, we’ll create fire.”
“Wonderful!” The other two bosses looked at each other.
However, they didn’t know that while they were discussing this, the other big hotels in City Z were negotiating deals with Zeng Family’s Vegetable Shop.
“Boss Zeng, we are really sincere in buying these vegetables. Can’t you lower the price? We want 1,000 catties!” said manager Wang, the purchasing manager of Grand Hyatt Hotel.
Grand Hyatt Hotel and Marriott Hotel were both five-star hotels.
Previously, they had also thought of cooperating with the farm at Taoyuan Village. However, the purchasing manager of Grand Hyatt Hotel already had existing cooperation with another commercial farm. In fact, he had earned quite a lot as the middleman. If he changed partners, he would lose a lot of money.
As for the vice general manager of Marriott Hotel, he was forced to be there. He was in charge of purchasing because the existing purchasing manager had been suspended. The purchasing manager was the nephew of one of the directors.
Manager Wang from Grand Hyatt Hotel had inquired about Taoyuan Village earlier and realized the price was all very high. He thought no one would work with the boss. Who would have thought Jun Hao Hotel would rise to the top after they cooperated with the farm at Taoyuan Village. Therefore, Manager Wang had to come to rectify this mistake.
“Boss Zeng, look, I really came here to purchase these vegetables, but you can’t sell them to me at such a high price!” Manager Wang, the purchasing manager of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, wanted to cry. He had the opportunity earlier, but he gave it up.
Boss Zeng said helplessly, “Manager Wang, it’s not that I don’t want to give you a low price. I’ve signed a contract with the Boss. They are responsible for the prices here. I have to sell them at the price she set.”
Manager Wang frowned and asked in confusion, “What’s wrong with this boss? She has already sold her vegetables to others, so why should she care about how others run their businesses?
“Boss Zeng, she has sold the vegetables to you, so you can manage the stock however you like. Shouldn’t you be the one who decides what price to set and how to sell it? How is it related to the boss anymore?”
Zeng Qinghua smiled and said, “Manager Wang, you don’t know this, but these vegetables don’t belong to me personally. I’m only helping the boss sell them. So the price of these vegetables is not something I can control.”
“Huh?” Manager Wang was a little dumbfounded. “You’re the Boss’ retail agent?”
Boss Zeng said with a smile, “That’s right. See, my shop has expanded several times. The fact is it has been bought by the boss of Green Fresh Company. Even they pay the rent. So I can only do what they say.”
Manager Wang became more and more confused. “How can this be? I heard that you’ve obtained the exclusive sales rights.”
“Yes, the store did obtain the rights, but not me personally. To put it bluntly, I’m just a decorated salesman.”
Manager Wang, “…”
Manager Wang thought about it and said unwillingly, “Boss Zeng, seeing that I bought so many vegetables, can’t you give me some discounts? Lower the prices or something?”
Boss Zeng shook his head and said, “I’m sorry, Manager Wang. I can give you a few more catties of vegetables, but I can’t lower the price for you.”
Manager Wang grumbled unhappily, “So stingy!”
However, no matter how unhappy he was, he still had to buy the vegetables. Otherwise, his superior would skin him alive. Manager Wang chose the type of vegetables and then added up to a total of 1,000 catties. He wanted to buy more, but he could only buy 1,000 catties at most.
The Marriott Hotel’s Shen Jincheng personally went to the store to choose the type of vegetables. He also picked a total of 1,000 catties.
There were also a few hoteliers who heard the news and rushed over to buy the vegetables. They picked a few hundred catties each.
In a short while, the vegetables in the shop were almost sold out.
These hoteliers were from high-end hotels, so they didn’t mind the high price.
The normal customers wouldn’t have their purchasing power. Even with the rumors, the vegetables in the shop were all sold out in the morning.
Zeng Qinghua looked at the empty store and felt a little complicated. God had really closed a door and opened a window for him.
After his regulars abandoned him, the big bosses came to clean up his store.
Zeng Qinghua had a hunch that things would get a lot busier.
Zeng Qinghua’s hunch was right.
The store would be bustling again tomorrow, but the commotion was due to a reason different from what he expected.
The news of the big hoteliers sweeping out Zeng Family’s vegetable shop reached the ears of the other vegetable shop bosses.
“No, if this goes on, our store’s business will be completely suppressed by Zeng Family’s vegetable store. That plan has to be pushed earlier.” Qiao Shiliang said with a vengeful look in his eyes.