Chapter 243: Wang Defa: Can we talk about this price again?

Ye Cheng said a word to Ye Guowei, then transferred 3500 yuan to Wang Defa, 500 yuan was today's boat rental fee, and 3000 yuan was the deposit for buying the boat.

After a couple of days, once the transfer is done, this boat will be Ye Cheng's.

Wang Defa, having received the money, relaxed instantly, casually pointed at the boat and said, 'How about it, Lao Er, how's today's catch?'

'Just caught some oysters, nothing else,' Ye Cheng said offhand.

He wasn't lying, not a bit of falsehood, really only oysters.

'Oysters aren't bad either, come, Second Uncle will help you unload them.' Wang Defa unusually took the initiative to help, and Ye Cheng went along with him.

When he got on the boat and took a look, he was instantly dumbfounded.

Pointing at the pile of oysters stacked like a mountain, he said, 'This is what you called "a bit"? This isn't a bit, it's a mountain!'

'It's a bit more, but really only oysters, Second Uncle—you said you'd help us unload them, so get moving.'

Wang Defa looked at the mountain of oysters and instantly felt that the 33,000 yuan price just mentioned was too little, his stomach full of regret.

'Lao Er, can we talk about this price again? Look, you've hauled in thousands of oysters, you...'

Before Ye Cheng could speak, Ye Guowei spoke up, his face full of displeasure: 'Second Uncle, our A Cheng has already paid the deposit, and today's boat rental fee is also paid; you can't just raise the price on the spot because our catch is good.'

Wang Defa was left speechless by the rebuke, and could only stomp off angrily, refusing to help any further.

Ye Cheng shook his head helplessly; Wang Defa just cared too much about money.

He left, and the three of them paid no attention, beginning to move the oysters out basket by basket.

The baskets were borrowed from the dock; they handed out two cigarettes, which were plentiful at the dock.

With so many oysters unloaded, several fish buyers gathered around, picking up the oysters to inspect them.

'Ladies and gentlemen, these are top-quality oysters, fresh, lively, plump, absolutely premium.'

Ye Cheng directly pried open one for everyone to see; the flesh was indeed flawless, plump and juicy.

'What price? Name your price, Lao Er.'

'Yeah, name a price, and we'll buy them all together as a partnership.'

Several interested parties began asking for the price.

Ye Cheng sized them up and said, 'Big ones 5 yuan each, small ones 3 yuan each—what do you think?'

Several people glanced at each other, and finally Boss Li stepped forward,

'You have too many; give us a wholesale price—reduce each by one yuan, and we'll take them all off your hands; otherwise hauling them out will be a hassle.'

To be honest, that price is a bit of a loss, but seeing this little mountain of oysters, Ye Cheng really didn't want to keep moving them, so he figured it was just paying for their hauling service.

'Alright, we'll go with that price.'

In the end, the three bosses split this batch of oysters: 800 large ones, 2,300 small ones, totaling 7,800 yuan.

After deducting the 500 yuan boat rental fee, each person received 2,400 yuan.

No wonder Wang Defa felt resentful—one trip earned 7,800 yuan per person, while his own boat couldn't compare to making several trips out to sea.

After selling the oysters, Ye Cheng carried the sea turtle back home; now this could be considered an ancestor.

'Brother, you say we're so fated—how about I give you a name?'

The sea turtle looked at Ye Cheng with a blank expression, not knowing what he intended to do.

Ye Cheng looked at the sea turtle, then pondered for a moment,

'You say you're yellowish, so from now on I'll call you Da Huang, okay?'

Xiao Hu beside him nearly burst out laughing, 'Brother, Da Huang is a dog's name, okay.'

'Who says Da Huang must be a dog? Anything yellow can be called Da Huang.'

'Right, Da Huang, let's go back—I'll get you something to eat, then we'll go eat some small fish; I've specially bought you a big bag of them, all alive.'

Just now at the dock, Ye Cheng had casually bought some miscellaneous fish and tiny shrimp, which weren't worth much.

Da Huang didn't care for his new name, but was more interested in the small fish and shrimp Ye Cheng mentioned.

After returning, Ye Cheng settled it in, then went about his own business.

That evening he still had a meeting to attend—the Small Lobster Alliance meeting.

There was no way around it; everyone's enthusiasm was strong, and it couldn't be suppressed.

Ye Cheng hadn't even eaten dinner yet when this group showed up; fortunately Jiang Yunxiang knew he'd be late getting home and brought him a plate of food directly.

Ye Cheng took a couple of bites, then gathered the crowd and started the meeting.

Those who came were all acquaintances: Zhang Guafu, the two Chen brothers, Jiang Yunxiang, and Qian Shen—five people total, filling the seats completely.

Ye Cheng also couldn't be bothered to make tea; he handed each person a bottle of soda and then began.

'Ladies, and brothers.'

After saying that, Ye Cheng himself felt it was odd—what kind of opening line was that?

'How about this, Aunt Zhang—tell us how the small lobster sales have been these past few days.' Ye Cheng pointed at Zhang Guafu.

Being called out, Zhang Guafu's face flushed red, a bit excited.

She stood up, about to speak, but Ye Cheng pressed her down with his hand, saying, 'It's not a big conference speech, auntie—just sit and speak.'

Zhang Guafu sat down embarrassedly and continued, 'These past few days I've been going into town to sell small lobsters, right at the market entrance; they're very popular and sell well.'

As she said that, Zhang Guafu's face broke into a satisfied smile: 'If it weren't for A Cheng saying each person can only sell two catties, I'd probably have sold out by now.'

Hearing how well it sold, everyone instantly felt happy as well—after all, if Zhang Guafu could make money, so could they.

'It sells so well—then hurry up and sell more.'

'Exactly, exactly, A Cheng, hurry up and get more.'

Ye Cheng's face darkened; he said nothing, glanced at the few aunties, saw their unfriendly looks, and they hastily shut their mouths.

It wasn't that Ye Cheng wanted to scold them; he merely needed to put on that attitude.

He wanted them to know he was the one in charge of this matter; if things got chaotic from the start, it would be hard to manage later.

"Aunt Zhang, how many jin have you sold these past few days?" Ye Cheng looked at Zhang Guafu, his tone calm.

When Ye Cheng lowered his voice, Aunt Zhang also became nervous, not daring to speak randomly, she just muttered,

"I sold for four days, the first day 40 jin, afterwards always 20 jin."

Ye Cheng nodded, looking at the Chen Brothers, "How's the purchasing going? Is it going well? Why did it decrease later?"

The atmosphere grew tense, Chen Zhangfu also didn't dare to act out, he spoke solemnly, "Brother Cheng, on the first day we just randomly caught them, but in the following days we caught fewer."

Ye Cheng heard that, it turned out these two were just relying on their own catching.

"Didn't I tell you to go to each village to collect? How many can you two catch by yourselves?"

Chen Zhangfu scratched his head, "Brother Cheng, we didn't think catching ourselves would earn more."

"Earning a little more is nothing, do you know what cooperation and mutual benefit means? Do you know that helping others make money is how you yourself make money?"

Ye Cheng lightly scolded them, then continued, "If it's according to your idea, I wouldn't need to teach you how to make money with crayfish; I could just do it myself."

As soon as Ye Cheng said that, nobody spoke.