Chapter 553 - The Crowd  

“Here, this is it, Taoyuan Village’s Green Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Supermarket!” At seven or eight o’clock in the morning, many old ladies and old men were carrying baskets or pulling small trolleys.

At the same time, they were holding a poster in their hands.

“Does this whole supermarket only sell vegetables?”

“No. Didn’t you see the poster? Other than vegetables, there are eggs, beans, peanuts, and other agricultural products.”

“But the prices of these things written on the flyer are too high. Look, one catty of cabbage costs 1 RMB plus. You can buy them in the market for 50 cents for one catty.”

“No, there are two prices too. The flyer also says that the things on the first floor are cheaper, but the things on the second floor are twice as expensive.”

Most of the people in the crowd were quite well-off. They lived nearby. They had some complaints about the high prices.

“However, the flyer also says that everything will be 50 to 20 percent off on its opening day, so I’m here to take a look.”

“Me too. The vegetables sold here are so expensive. I want to see if they’re made of gold.”

If these people lived near Zeng Family’s vegetable shop, they would definitely know the value of these vegetables.

However, the name of Taoyuan Village’s Green Fresh Fruits and Vegetables was only limited to the rich circle of City Z.

After all, not every family could afford Taoyuan Village’s Green Fresh Fruits and Vegetables products daily. Furthermore, Xiao Lingyu had already meant to work the high-end line from the beginning.

Some old ladies and grandpas gathered at the entrance of the supermarket. They looked at the flower baskets on the left and right sides, as well as the signboard at the entrance of the supermarket, and began to discuss among themselves.

“The things in this supermarket are really expensive, but it also piqued my curiosity. I’ll go in and take a look.”

“Me too. But this supermarket is so big. It’s even bigger than the market.”

“The vegetables sold here will be cleaner. Plus, the place will be cleaner than the market where it is smelly and dirty.”

“Sigh, if these vegetables were cheaper, I would definitely be more willing to come here to buy vegetables.”

“Look, the eggs here are sold at 1.80 RMB each. Even if they are free-ranch chicken eggs, that price is too high. If you buy them in the market, you can buy them by the catty. They cost four to five RMB per catty, and there will be eight to ten eggs per catty.”

“But those are for ranch chickens. For free-ranch chicken eggs, they will also go for 90 cents each.”

“By the way, this is the first time I’ve heard of a vegetable supermarket.”

“The boss must be rich to open a vegetable supermarket. It’s clearly a losing business. The rent and other fees here are not cheap.”

“But don’t you see that the prices here are not low either?”

While these old ladies and grandfathers were discussing, they did not see that the originally empty parking lot was slowly filled with cars.

Many of the cars were not cheap. There were BMW, Audis and so on.

The majority of the people who got out of the car were people in suits and leather shoes, holding briefcases and looking somewhat imposing.

“Is this the place?” A middle-aged man holding a black briefcase asked the assistant beside him.

The assistant nodded. “Boss Pang, this is the place. Look at the sign, Taoyuan Village’s Green Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Supermarket! Zeng Family’s vegetable shop gets their stock from Taoyuan Village.”

Boss Pang looked around and said with some doubt, “I don’t know what the boss is thinking. Why would he open his shop in such a remote place? The residents close by are not rich either. In contrast, Zeng Family’s vegetable shop is close to the silk-stocking district.”

The assistant said, “I heard that the boss opened his shop here because it’s spacious and good for parking.”

“…” Boss Pang asked curiously, “Who did you hear it from?”

“My cousin. My cousin is on good terms with boss Zeng of Zeng Family’s vegetable store. He heard it from boss Zeng.”

Boss Pang heard this and said with a slightly displeased look on his face, “Xiao Li, this is your fault. Your cousin is on good terms with boss Zeng. Why don’t you ask him to get Boss Zeng to cooperate with us and sell us some of his vegetables?

“The hotels that cooperate with Zeng Family’s vegetable shop have such good business compared to our Friendship Hotel.

“Can’t you see that our business is declining every day?”

Assistant Li felt wronged. “Boss Pang, I didn’t know that my cousin had a good relationship with boss Zeng at first. But when I found out, many hotels and restaurants had already reserved their vegetables.”

Boss Pang glared at him and said, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

If he had told him, he would have tried to get close to Boss Zeng and get him to supply his hotel with some vegetables. Then his hotel business wouldn’t be so miserable!

“I… I didn’t mean to hide it,” mumbled Assistant Li.

Boss Pang stared at him for a while and said, “Forget it. We’ll talk about this later. We need to find the general manager or the boss of this supermarket now.”

He looked around and saw that the door was still closed. He thought for a moment and said, “Xiao Li, quickly go and order a flower basket and send it over.”

Assistant Li nodded and went to make a call.

Boss Pang’s gaze swept around, and his pupils constricted.

He saw an acquaintance.

An acquaintance from the same trade.

Immediately, the alarm went off.

His acquaintance had just gotten out of the car and saw Boss Pang. Then, the man smiled and walked over.

“Boss Pang, you’re here too?” Boss Wen asked with a smile.

Boss Pang also replied with a smile, “Boss Wen, I didn’t expect to see you here too.”

Boss Wen continued to smile and said, “It seems that our purpose of coming here is self-evident.”

Boss Pang only smiled.

Boss Wen narrowed his eyes. “I heard that Boss Pang has met with the general of this supermarket?” His gaze looked at the supermarket’s signboard.

Boss Pang immediately replied, “I heard the same about Boss Wen.”

Both of them were testing the other.

Back then, they were too slow to get the cooperation with Zeng Family’s vegetable shop. When they arrived, all the produce had already been booked by the other hoteliers.

Their business plummeted while the other hotels’ businesses rose.

After waiting for so long, they finally waited for Taoyuan Village’s Green Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Supermarket to open. If they missed it this time, they would really kick themselves.

They saw other competitors in the business before the supermarket opened. It would be joking to say these bosses were in a good mood.

The boss of the supermarket was not related to them, so it was impossible for them to ask the boss to only sell their products to them. It was impossible.

When Boss Wen and Boss Pang were chatting, they saw another familiar face. It was the owner of a restaurant. It seemed like all the owners of hotels, restaurants, and hostels were all there. Not only that, but there were also the owners of hotpot shops, vegetarian shops, and so on.

How did these people get the news? They gathered like buzzards around a carcass!

Plus, most of the bosses came in person.

Boss Pang raised his wrist, looked at his watch, narrowed his eyes, and said, “The supermarket will open in ten minutes. There are so many people around here.”

Boss Wen nodded and looked around, saying, “These old ladies and grandpas seem to be residents of the neighborhood. It sounds like they don’t appreciate the expensive vegetables sold here.”

“Then they don’t have to buy them.” Boss Pang frowned. “This supermarket’s owner is really weird. We offered him cooperation, but he didn’t want them. He wants to sell his stock in retail. Isn’t retail harder than selling in bulk?”

Boss Wen didn’t say anything. He just glanced at Boss Pang with a somewhat contemptuous expression.

If retail was so hard, why would you stand here so early?

“It’s opening!”

There was a sudden burst of excitement in the crowd.