Chapter 98

Boss Qian gave an embarrassed laugh, then continued explaining, "Brother, look at my place—I mainly do small seafood. Tuna is used for sashimi or pan-fried fish; my chef can't make it, and customers who want this wouldn't come to our shop."

Hearing Boss Qian say that, Ye Cheng could also understand.

Tuna is more Western-style; other grouper, shellfish, sea cucumber, etc., are more small seafood, still somewhat different.

Ye Cheng frowned slightly, thinking of a problem.

He brought over the snakeskin bag holding sea urchin, opened it to show Boss Qian, "What about these sea urchins, do you take them?"

Boss Qian's face showed a hint of bitterness; Ye Cheng immediately understood, this thing Boss Qian's sales also aren't good.

"It's fine, then see what you can take; the rest I'll figure out myself."

"Brother, I'm really sorry, I can take a little sea urchin, but not much, because few people order it, you have too much, I can't finish it." Boss Qian explained; having refused two items in a row, he felt a bit embarrassed.

Ye Cheng patted Boss Qian, "No problem, I'll figure something out myself."

"You should look for Japanese restaurants, Western restaurants, or larger hotels; they might be able to take your goods."

"Hmm, then look at the others, see if you take these."

Ye Cheng started taking out other things.

"This is butter crab, only two, both quite plump."

"Butter crab?" Boss Qian's interest sparked upon hearing it; he took it from Ye Cheng's hand, examined it closely, nodding repeatedly, "Good stuff, how about 300 each?"

"Okay, then there are two geoducks; you can cook this, right?" Ye Cheng was a bit unsure.

"Of course I can; quite a few people eat it, two servings, it's quite economical for gatherings."

Boss Qian took the two geoducks and looked at them, "150 each."

After looking at these two pricier items, the others were easy to price.

The swimming crabs total 2.5 catties, 100 yuan.

Cat's eye snails: 10 yuan per catty, 32 catties, 320 yuan.

Hairtail: just under 4 catties, 180 yuan.

Altogether it's 1500 yuan.

After leaving Boss Qian's, looking at the 1500 yuan in his hand, Ye Cheng felt a bit dazed; it was the first time it was so little.

"Damn, bro, every time it's five or six thousand, seven or eight thousand, even over ten thousand; how come today it's only this little?"

Looking at the remaining two bags of sea urchin and that big tuna, Ye Cheng felt a bit lost, where should he sell them?

With no other option, Ye Cheng could only go to the market first to have a look.

Today Lao Wang wasn't there; his original spot had been taken by another vegetable seller; Ye Cheng went around and found no spot.

No way, he could only change his approach; he planned to try selling at the entrance of a residential compound.

It was already 2002; Donghai Shi had developed some new commercial buildings with elevators; in this era, those who could buy elevator apartments were wealthy.

Ye Cheng planned to try at the entrances of those residential compounds.

Riding his motorcycle, Ye Cheng headed to the city center; no matter the era, the city center is always the most expensive area.

Dragon Palace No. 1.

An eye-catching residential compound name left Ye Cheng stunned; damn, they dare to use such a name, isn't that a bit over the top?

However, looking at the compound's quality, for this era it's indeed acceptable.

Several dozen floors, with an elevator and a landscaped small pool; given that small high-rises and stacked villas hadn't been developed yet, this project counts as top-tier.

Most importantly, the security of this era were really just guards, not the later hated kind; they merely glanced at Ye Cheng at the gate, confirmed he was selling fish, and then ignored him.

It's now 8 a. m., rush hour, people coming and going, plus a group of elderly women who just snatched eggs and returned.

Ye Cheng's stall set up, immediately drew a crowd of onlookers.

"Yo, what are you selling?"

"Sea urchin, the size isn't small."

"And this fish is so big, I've never seen one like it."

"Auntie, this is tuna." Ye Cheng quickly explained.

"Oh, tuna, I've heard foreigners love eating this."

"Mm, mm." Ye Cheng nodded repeatedly, yes, exactly foreigners.

This time to save talk, Ye Cheng had prepared a sign beforehand:

【Large sea urchin 40, small 30;

Tuna, whole piece 3000, no retail.】

"3000? This fish is too expensive." Several aunties gathered around Ye Cheng's tuna started discussing, not buying, but just wanting to see who could buy it, who would be the sucker.

Ye Cheng felt he could sell it at that price; this fish is over a meter long, several dozen catties, and he kept it fresh so well.

"Young man, you're selling sea urchin at 40 each, that's not cheap either."

"Exactly, I just came from the market and was selling them for 10 yuan each."

"Make it cheaper, we'll buy a few more."

Several aunties started haggling.

The haggling knocked off three-quarters of the price; Ye Cheng wasn't annoyed, he took out a pair of scissors from his motorcycle, then casually picked a sea urchin,

"Ladies, please first look at this quality."

Saying that, he quickly trimmed the surrounding spines, cut open an opening on the sea urchin, poured out the black stuff inside, revealing the golden-yellow sea urchin roe, five lobes, each especially plump, looking extremely tempting.

"This quality, this color, 40 yuan isn't expensive at all; really, maybe someone will try to snatch it later." Ye Cheng said confidently.

Must say, the sea urchin Ye Cheng opened is indeed good—big, with plump, good-colored roe inside.

This made the aunties embarrassed to haggle further; facing a young man who called them "beauties," they each became reserved.

"Come, give me two, my son loves to eat them."

Then I'll take a few too, my wife is coming home to eat tonight.

Give me the big ones, 40 each.

Several aunties each bought several, and they could also recommend to the onlookers: 'These sea urchins are so good, 40 yuan each, really worth it.'

This one for steaming eggs, the freshness makes your eyebrows fall off, it's so delicious.

Look at this color, golden yellow, how beautiful.

That's how buying things goes, there's a herd mentality; seeing so many people buying, the onlookers also started buying.

You one, I two, quickly Ye Cheng's sea urchins sold out; the remaining few smaller ones, Ye Cheng gave them all to several beautiful aunties; if not for them, his stuff would probably be hard to sell so fast.

Now only this tuna remains; this thing itself is eaten little, seen even less.