Chapter 43: Doing business is pretty much like making friends

Inside the off-road vehicle.

Wu An watched Lao Mai drive with one hand in a carefree manner, feeling a bit nervous, this is a mountain road after all.

That aside, shortly after getting on the mountain road, Lao Mai felt unwilling and took out a cigarette to smoke.

Suddenly remembering something, he took out his phone again, and Wu An noticed it was a Samsung phone.

Seeing this, he quickly grabbed the steering wheel.

Lao Mai made a call and greeted, "Boss Gao, are you out working?"

"I have some fish here."

"I need you to come to the market gate to collect them."

On the other end of the phone, Boss Gao asked, "Lao Mai, really? Do you still need me to go to the market gate to pick them up?"

Lao Mai said, "There are too many fish."

Boss Gao thought for a moment and said, "Alright, alright, when you get there contact me, I'll send my lackey over."

Lao Mai turned his head to look at the fish still flopping in the fish net and said, "It'd be better if you came yourself; I'm afraid your lackey can't handle them."

Boss Gao's side was a bit busy: "Lao Mai, don't go on like that, just leave it as is; you know I'm busy over here and can't get away."

After saying that, he hung up the phone.

Lao Mai put away his phone, turned his head to see Wu An's nervous look, and laughed, "A An, it's not that you're scared, is your courage really that small?"

Wu An seriously said, "I value my life more."

Only after the heavens opened their eyes did he get a second life; there are still many things undone, many regrets unmade up for, he can't just die like this.

Lao Mai joked, "You don't seem like a young person at all."

Never mind Lao Mai's nonchalant attitude, he held the cigarette in his mouth, placed both hands on the steering wheel, and said, "Sit tight."

"Let's get there early; we can't wait for these fish to still have a way to live."

Driving fast, in just over half an hour we had already arrived at the town's paved road.

Arriving at the vegetable market, the sky was just beginning to lighten.

It was already noisy with people coming and going, basically all stalls.

Doing business here is hard work; you have to be busy from the early morning, earning hard-earned money, of course, the money earned is definitely more than from a regular job.

Don't think it's just a vegetable market; it's actually very large, because it also includes a seafood market, all the town's seafood passes through here, gets consolidated and packed for delivery to the county, the city, and even the whole province or even the whole country.

Before Lao Mai had even stopped the car, he had already called Boss Gao again; as soon as the vehicle came to a stop, an energetic youngster leaned against the window and greeted, "Lao Mai, I'm here to collect the goods."

Lao Mai raised his eyebrows: "Just you?"

The energetic young man laughed: "One isn't enough; how many fish can a single fisherman catch, ten, twenty..."

While he was speaking, he glanced at the open trunk; upon seeing the catch inside, his voice cut off abruptly.

Because the person was dumbfounded by the sight.

There are too many fish!

At a glance, there were no fewer than sixty or seventy fish.

Lao Mai chuckled, "Little guy, you're stunned, huh?"

"Hurry up and call your boss, have him come personally to collect the goods."

The young man said he didn't bring his phone, so he ran toward the market; the boss shouted at him to bring some ice.

The energetic youngster immediately vanished in a run; shortly after, a middle-aged man with slicked-back hair and a blue shirt walked over.

Wu An looked at the middle-aged man, feeling a bit dazed, sensing that the man looked familiar, yet he was certain he had never met him before.

He must have seen him somewhere, but he couldn't recall it at the moment.

Lao Mai waved: "Boss Gao."

Boss Gao gave a greeting, walked to the trunk, saw so many fish, and asked with a shocked expression, "Lao Mai, what's going on?"

"You're amazing, actually able to catch this many fish!"

"How long did you fish? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Lao Mai laughed heartily, "It wasn't me, it's these two handsome guys."

Boss Gao and his few lackeys looked toward Wu An and A Qing.

A Qing said, "We haven't fished that long, just over two hours."

Everyone was shocked again.

The fish were biting incredibly well, right?

Someone nearby couldn't help but ask, "Handsome guys, where were you fishing?"

"Come have a cigarette, you guys are so awesome, you actually caught that many fish."

"Alright, alright, I haven't caught anything in half a month; if I don't get any fish now I'll die."

"According to the ways of the jianghu, share a fishing spot."

Lao Mai hurriedly shouted, "Go away, go away, still sharing a fishing spot, are you going to share your wife too?"

That person was also a tough one: "Big brother, I'm not going home after fishing today, you go find my younger siblings to get cigarettes."

"……" Lao Mai laughed and cursed, "Get lost, you damn fool, just spouting nonsense!"

Lao Mai greeted Boss Gao, walked over and introduced, "Boss Gao, you do the biggest business in the market."

Then he introduced Gao Qiangqi: "This young brother is a decent person, just like you, he's my sworn friend despite the age gap."

Boss Gao extended his hand first: "Gao Qiangqi, everyone calls me Boss Gao out of respect; don't listen to Lao Mai's nonsense, doing business is actually just making friends, I just have more friends."

"To be honest, I really can't eat all these fish; I mainly don't sell fish."

"But since Lao Mai came to me, I will definitely help find buyers, guaranteeing a fair price."

Wu An shook hands with him, exchanged names, a flash of realization crossed his eyes, and he remembered.

In my previous life, being away from home, I missed my hometown and my elder brother and sister-in-law and couldn't return, so I paid special attention to all news about my hometown.

One news report said that someone from my hometown had assets over a hundred million, was a supplier to many famous restaurants and chain hotels, with aquatic products business spread throughout the province—a tycoon in the aquatic industry—and had a bunch of titles; back then I didn't really understand them, but just looking at it seemed very high-end, the report was detailed and even had a photo, which was exactly this Boss Gao in front of me!

Now this Boss Gao is merely a relatively strong aquatic products purchaser in the town.

Speaking of that, Boss Gao's lackey had already poured the fish from the fish holding area out, put them into boxes filled with crushed ice, and A Qing also joined in the busy work.

The boxes were stacked one on another and pushed to the market by handcart.

Wu An followed along walking to the market, and Lao Mai said quietly: 'With Boss Gao, no one dares to cheat you on this batch of fish.'

Gao Qiangqi walked into the market, and those stall vendors all proactively greeted him.

Wu An watched as Gao Qiangqi responded cheerfully, and the bearing of the future aquatic industry tycoon could already be glimpsed.

Arriving at a stall, Gao Qiangqi greeted the boss and introduced Wu An: 'Old Fang, specializing in buying sea fish.'

He also introduced to Lao Fang: 'They are all wild sea fish.'

"They were just caught at dawn."

"Take a look and give a price."

Lao Fang walked over and flipped through the sea fish in the top box.

Gao Qiangqi said: "He's my little brother; give me a fair price, don't make things difficult for me."

Lao Fang nodded happily, helped move the boxes down, and said: "Since you're Boss Gao's friend, then this way, we won't look at size; we'll price according to the larger ones—I'll give you 50 per catty for Red Friend."

"Sea bass at 30 per catty."

"Black Bream at 50 per catty."

"Yellow Leg Lax at 55 per catty."

Wu An nodded satisfiedly, not saying anything else; at least they were all five or ten yuan higher than Lao Xie's.

It's not that Lao Xie is ungenerous; it's just that from now on he can deliver the goods to the town, and he definitely won't go to Lao Xie's side anymore.

The essence of doing business is basically like making friends; whether you can do it well and grow big depends on whether you know how to be a person.

Those who gain the Way receive much help; those who lose the Way receive little help.

If it weren't for his good relationship with Lao Mai, let alone whether he'd get cheated coming to the market, just getting to town would be a hassle, let alone possibly connecting with the future aquatic industry tycoon.