Chapter 1733

Tao Zhuangzhuang stumbled out of the room in a daze; the steaming heat outside swept over him, and he instantly broke into a sweat again.

But even more restless than him were the villagers waiting outside.

They weren't exactly queuing for anything; it was just that since the outcome here hadn't been decided, their hearts weren't settled either, so they couldn't help but gather here to chat and talk.

Seeing the biggest grape grower in the county town come out with a strange expression on his face, the crowd instantly surrounded him:

"Old Tao, how are your family's grapes?"

"Can they give you 40? Your family's grapes really grew well; if they can't give 40 for yours, then mine will be in even worse shape."

"I reckon it's unlikely. Old Tao's family has over a hundred acres of orchards; that adds up to ten or twenty thousand jin. One person is worth how many families in our county town?"

"Then we should at least strive for 35, right? The Party Secretary said that now that there are more goods, prices have dropped—I understand that... but we invested a lot of capital too!"

"Exactly! Now when we set up a stall, as soon as we name a price, nobody buys; they don't even taste them before saying we're ripping people off."

"It would be better to sell the grapes from before; at 3 yuan a jin, I see people buying them all the time..."

"You know that Old Man Chen, right? His family's few acres of old grapevines weren't really managed, but they had a bumper harvest this year too. The other day, someone from the city bought over 100 jin, saying a few sisters were planning to make wine together..."

Everyone was talking at once, their thoughts varied; they were afraid that Tao Zhuangzhuang's family would be offered a high price, yet also afraid that if even his family couldn't get a high price, their own would be even worse off.

And as Tao Zhuangzhuang listened to everyone talking at once, his expression became even more bewildered:

"The price offered is actually quite good; they said as long as the inspection passes, they can start grading immediately and open a livestream to sell them."

But the other party offered the price increase so readily that he was still dazed, wondering if they were planning to use the inspection report to drive the price down later.

But, there was no need for that!

He had already accepted the previous mention of 40 as the maximum.

In fact, as the largest grower in Bai Yu County, seeing so many people following the trend to plant the same kind of grapes this year, he had already anticipated a price drop.

The only thing he hadn't expected was that the buyers who had promised to come didn't show up, and the ones he found at the last minute heard the rumors and only thought about colluding to drive the price down...

Now that he had finally found a reliable streamer willing to take over, he thought about this year's market conditions and truly worried about this high price of 50 per jin.

If these didn't sell and the fans were scared off, how would the remaining lower-grade ones sell?

And inside the room, Yanran and the others were tasting Tao Zhuangzhuang's grapes, feeling jubilant at the moment:

"This family really put in the hard work; just tasting this flavor, I know the inspection report won't be bad."

They were fortunate enough to be admitted as graduate students under Professor Song during his spare time; whether they learned any skills or not, they didn't know, but in any case, the teacher didn't really want them to use his reputation, fearing he would lose his lifelong fame.

But following such a master, they certainly enjoyed plenty of daily perks.

They had truly tasted agricultural products with local characteristics from all over.

If Song Tan's family's products weren't so outstandingly excellent, they wouldn't have stayed rooted here so honestly.

But they hadn't expected that this Shine Muscat in front of them would taste almost exactly like what the teacher had specially brought back last year.

"If there are people who know their stuff, and they take these to supply high-end supermarkets, with this quality, they could still sell for a hundred yuan this year."

Song Tan thought for a moment: "Boss Chang should be able to sell them; he has cultivated his customers quite well."

Old Zhao's place wouldn't work; the target demographic is different. It's not that they don't know quality, it's that their economic conditions truly don't reach that level.

Lu Chuan thought for a moment: "Then should we introduce them to Boss Chang?"

Song Tan naturally didn't care one way or the other—bringing goods is about collecting money, but it's not purely for the sake of money.

At this moment, she called the person back:

"Boss Tao, please come in for a moment; let's discuss the grape sales again."

As soon as these words were spoken, Tao Zhuangzhuang, who had been preparing to announce the price among the crowd, tensed up again, and as the villagers listened, their hearts felt even more complex and indescribable.

They had all seen the quality of Old Tao's family's produce while wandering around privately; even this still needed to be discussed?

Sigh.

It's truly difficult.

And after entering the room, Boss Tao, upon hearing Song Tan's words, felt a surge of wild joy, followed by a moment of bewilderment, and then he became conflicted again.

This conflict actually made Song Tan somewhat puzzled: "If you contact the boss to come and pick up the goods directly, you just need to give Qiao Qiao a red envelope; we don't take a commission."

Logically speaking, this should be more profitable, so why was he still hesitating?

Boss Tao hesitated for a moment, and instead asked: "Can my family's grapes be sold through livestreaming?"

Song Tan was very confident.

To be able to make her say they were qualified, these grapes were truly very good; however, she didn't promise anything:

"There's no guarantee for this, but Qiao Qiao's ability—if he weren't trustworthy, the leadership wouldn't have arranged for us to come."

"Why?" she asked curiously:

"If you sell them in bulk offline directly, not only is there no commission, but there are also no costs for after-sales service and express packaging, and the money can be credited to your account immediately."

She didn't see any downsides to these various benefits at all, so why was the other party hesitating instead?

Qiao Qiao's charm couldn't be that great.

Tao Zhuangzhuang gave a bitter smile: "If you had come two days ago, I would have truly thanked the heavens."

At that time, he was so anxious and angry that his cheeks were swollen, and he couldn't even sleep peacefully in his dreams.

But now that the dust had settled, and he had accepted Qiao Qiao's conditions, he became hesitant instead—

"I want to try livestreaming."

What?

Everyone looked over curiously.

Boss Tao's cheeks were a bit flushed, and his fists were clenched, but he gritted his teeth and still spoke his true thoughts:

"When livestreaming, can you let me stand in front of the camera too? I don't have to speak; I just want to get a familiar face."

He sighed: "Last year, the buyer came to contract the orchard, and they paid very readily; they were also doing business properly, and we even signed a contract; the cooperation was excellent."

But, the other party suddenly couldn't come.

His high-quality grapes almost rotted in the fields.

It's great that the boss introduced by the big streamer can pay promptly, but what if they don't come next year?

Betting on this, he wanted to see if his family's grapes had a market online, and he also wanted to let everyone get a familiar face so that next year he could figure out how to sell online himself.

This way, if he couldn't wait for a buyer offline, at the very least, he would have another way to survive.

Once he said this, Song Tan understood.

This is the drawback of having a sales model that is too singular.

She had previously sold online, supplied Old Zhao, and even accepted two fruit merchants last year...

She was worried about exactly this.

No matter how good Boss Tao's grapes are, with the price set here, nobody would buy them. Even good wine fears a deep alley!

It's just that she was certain her family's fruit was extraordinary. And Boss Tao, instead of taking the entity boss who pays promptly, wanted to risk trying a livestream that might very well not sell...

Song Tan thought about it and could only praise him: "You truly have courage."

Who knew that the courageous Boss Tao would have his dark face flush red, and he said coyly:

"If the livestream doesn't sell them, can you introduce that buyer again? I'll still pay the commission of 5 yuan per jin."

Everyone:...

?? 12.23 Take a break, not today.