Chapter 160: 4 JIN 5.9 YUAN, FREE SHIPPING

"6. yuan with free shipping? I wouldn't dare bring that up to Sen-ge—might get beaten up."

When Li Hui learned Chen Yansen's demand, he waved his hands frantically and plopped down on a green stone slab beside the orchard, instantly losing all motivation.

Three jin of navel oranges, plus picking, packing, cardboard boxes, and express shipping fees—selling for just 6. yuan doesn't even cover costs.

Merchants selling fruit on Taobao and JD only offer 9. yuan for three jin with free shipping during flash sales, and they strictly limit inventory.

But Pinbei wants to sell it openly!

Zhang Yifeng and Yuan Wei exchanged glances, both stumped—9. yuan was already negotiated thanks to Yunsu's shipping discounts.

"Yifeng, you decide," Yuan Wei frowned, his mind a tangled mess.

"I'll go talk to Wei Boss," Zhang Yifeng gritted his teeth and made up his mind quickly.

When the boss sets a demand, they must find a way to get it done.

Wei Yucheng is the largest fruit agent in the area, with his own fruit-washing plant, fruit crate factory, and canning facility, plus thousands of mu of orchards under contract.

After Zhang Yifeng communicated with the Agricultural Association, they introduced him to Wei Yucheng.

This kind of e-commerce collaboration directly with the origin isn't unprecedented.

Juhuasuan had already partnered with orchards and vegetable farmers in Shandong earlier this year, but due to unstable supply quality and constant negative reviews, they eventually gave up.

Zhang Yifeng and his team learned from Ali's mistakes—they went straight for the biggest local "kingpin," and the benefits were clear: ample supply and control over farmers trying to pass off inferior fruit.

Human nature is unpredictable; Zhang Yifeng knew well that while they could keep a close eye on packing and shipping, they had no ability to manage fruit collection themselves.

"I'll go with you," Yuan Wei said after a moment's thought.

"Boss Zhang, Boss Yuan, wait up!" Li Hui, still sitting on the ground, saw them mounting their motorcycles to head into town and rushed after them.

The three bumped along the mountain road, circled the hill, and drove into Jiaguo Food Company.

Wei Yucheng heard the commotion downstairs and came down warmly to greet them.

At their first meeting, Wei Yucheng looked down on Zhang Yifeng and the others—they were all only in their twenties, and didn't seem reliable.

But once he learned they were Pinbei's merchant acquisition managers, his attitude changed instantly.

The internet and e-commerce were booming; Chen Yansen had cashed out over ten billion from FoxTaobao, and Pinbei had gained fame in the industry because of it.

Wei Yucheng ran a fruit flagship store on Taobao, but due to seasonal limits, costs, and operational level, sales had always been sluggish.

After being introduced by the Agricultural Association, he proactively reached out to Pinbei.

Even though Pinbei hadn't launched yet, everyone online said Tencent would open a top-level entry point on QQ and WeChat, with hundreds of millions of daily exposures.

Wei Yucheng couldn't even imagine how many tons of navel oranges he could sell daily as one of Pinbei's first merchants.

If the cooperation went well, he could later sell sugar oranges too.

So Wei Yucheng treated Zhang Yifeng and the three with special care.

When he heard they were staying in a cheap hotel in town, he immediately invited them to his home and treated them to good food and drink.

"Manager Zhang, how's the navel orange quality this year?" Wei Yucheng smiled, leading them upstairs for tea.

Zhang Yifeng sat down, looked at Wei Yucheng, and sighed: "Wei Boss, the fruit is good, but when I submitted the specs and pricing, the company wants every tier cut by another three yuan."

"What? Three yuan?!"

Wei Yucheng's smile vanished.

He could manage 9. yuan for three jin with free shipping thanks to his influence in the local fruit industry.

Dropping to 6. yuan wouldn't just mean no profit—he'd lose eight or nine jiao per order in labor costs alone.

Oranges don't fall off trees by themselves; picking, sorting, washing, packaging—all cost money.

"Manager Zhang, we already agreed on terms. How can I run a business that loses money?"

Wei Yucheng spread his hands and flatly refused.

"Wei Boss, you can't say that. Look at our product page—different navel orange tiers are all on one link, unlike Taobao. Users will choose their preferred tier; they won't all buy the cheapest."

"Use low price to draw traffic, then raise profits on higher tiers. Trust me, you won't lose."

Zhang Yifeng opened his laptop and showed Wei Yucheng Pinbei's UI mockups, trying to convince him with tiered profit margins.

"Sorry, Manager Zhang, I'm a traditional merchant—I won't do any business that doesn't turn a profit. But if you lower the diameter requirement to under six centimeters, I might agree."

Wei Yucheng shook his head.

Oranges under six centimeters weren't bad in taste—they were just too small, even fruit vendors didn't bother to collect them.

These are usually used for juicing, canning, or left to rot in the orchard as fertilizer.

Their cost is only 0. –0. yuan—less than the price of the cardboard box.

"Six centimeters? Won't that be too small and hurt the taste?" Li Hui came from a poor background and wasn't picky about food—he figured if the flavor was the same, lower price was fine.

"Come, I'll take you to the processing line—the taste is definitely fine, just smaller and less attractive."

Seeing Li Hui interested, Wei Yucheng led the three to the sorting workshop.

Inside, countless navel oranges rolled along conveyor belts and sorters, divided into baskets by diameter, while workers neatly stacked the sorted fruit nearby.

"There," Wei Yucheng pointed to the fruit in the corner.

Zhang Yifeng, Yuan Wei, and Li Hui stepped forward, frowned, picked up the fruit, and measured them—these oranges were barely bigger than tangerines, their diameter smaller than a duck egg.

"I'll taste it," Li Hui said bluntly, tore one open, and shoved a piece into his mouth.

He chewed twice—no sour bitterness as expected, just sweet, crisp, and juicy; the flavor was no worse than the eight-centimeter large navel oranges.

"Let me try," Zhang Yifeng said to Li Hui.

"Here, Boss Yuan, you try too," Li Hui passed the orange over.

"Hey, you're right—except for looks, the taste is just as good," Yuan Wei bit in and smiled.

"Wei Boss, what's the cost for oranges under six centimeters?" Zhang Yifeng tasted one and turned to ask.

"Call it two jiao," Wei Yucheng said dismissively.

"What about 5. yuan for four jin with free shipping? Use these small oranges as traffic drivers—it'll outperform 9. yuan."

Zhang Yifeng's eyes lit up, seeking Wei Yucheng's opinion.

"But I'd still be losing money!" Wei Yucheng did a quick calculation—the cost alone was around six yuan.

"Wei Boss, if you trust me, I can sell out all the navel oranges from these nearby orchards in one day."

Zhang Yifeng, desperate to win him over, made a wild claim.

"Manager Zhang, do you know how much these orchards produce? I'll scare you—it's at least thirty thousand tons. At four jin per order, that's 7. million orders."

Wei Yucheng chuckled, not believing a word.

Juhuasuan's top fruit hits sold at most a few ten thousand orders per day!

He wasn't some e-commerce newbie—he wouldn't fall for that.

Zhang Yifeng kept his expression calm, matter-of-factly: "Thirty thousand tons? If I can't sell it all, I'll stay here and plant oranges for you for a year."

"Damn! Manager Zhang, you're playing hardball?" Wei Yucheng was startled by his boldness.

Though it was a joke, it revealed Zhang Yifeng's confidence.

"Wei Boss, give me a straight answer—do it or not?" Zhang Yifeng pressed.

"Fine, I'll say it upfront—I'll only do 100, 00 orders at 5. yuan. If gross profit doesn't rise, I won't continue."

Wei Yucheng thought it over and gave his reply.

The fruit itself wouldn't lose much—it was the labor cost that hurt.

Zhang Yifeng sighed in relief and lowered the price of 6–7 cm oranges by another yuan, and cut all other tiers by two yuan.

Though he hadn't met Chen Yansen's demand, he'd done his best.

That evening.

Chen Yansen received Zhang Yifeng's message; after a few seconds of thought, he agreed.

Since he had navel oranges of all diameters, he could just let users choose.

If navel oranges became a hit on Pinbei, he could later expand into vegetables and fruits, then the entire food category.

Add clothing, general merchandise, small appliances, cosmetics—and Chen Yansen was confident he could complete all major popular categories before Pinbei launched.

His starting point differed from Huang Zheng's—he had no shortage of capital, traffic, or merchant resources.

In just twenty days since launch, over 400 merchants had joined, nearly 90 percent factories and brands.

If you couldn't offer competitive prices, you had no right to join.

He knew well—if Pinbei could make money, merchants would swarm in the moment they smelled profit; he wouldn't need to shout.

Just like when he founded FoxTaobao—he had to build a benchmark so the industry knew: you could make money on Pinbei!

Meite was a backup; the fruit merchants of Western Guangdong were the top priority.

Because fruit and vegetable categories had low unit prices and high order volumes, Yunsu Express could expand rapidly alongside them.

With 4, 00 couriers now, each month they contributed over 2, 00 strands of Ren Dao Xinhuo to him!

If that number rose to 100, 00, he'd gain 600, 00 strands of Ren Dao Xinhuo per year!

In less than two years, he could raise his physical and spiritual stats above 100!

After replying to Zhang Yifeng, Chen Yansen left the tech park.

DST Capital was visiting tomorrow—officially for a tour, actually for investment evaluation.

As long as he retained controlling stakes, Chen Yansen wasn't opposed to financing partnerships, especially with investors like DST that controlled vast supply chain resources.

Moreover, DST had partnerships with Qualcomm and Microsoft, offering more room to negotiate licensing fees for communication patents.

In Chen Yansen's view, the value of the Orange Phone factory far exceeded that of Orange Tech—trading partial equity for rich supply chain and patent resources was absolutely worth it.

(End of Chapter)