“Twelve strawberries total 960 Star Coins, and two peaches are 240 Star Coins, so altogether it’s 1,200 Star Coins.”
The young man noticed that Ruan Qiao didn’t want to chat, so he didn’t continue the conversation. After inspecting the fruits, he gave her the price.
The price was almost exactly what Ruan Qiao had calculated herself, and she was very satisfied. The deal was quickly agreed upon.
He took the strawberries and peaches, and almost immediately, her light-brain received a notification that the payment had been credited.
Seeing the notification, Ruan Qiao took a paper bag from her backpack and, pointing to the oyster mushrooms inside, asked the young man, “Do you take these?”
He glanced at them, curiosity in his eyes. “What kind of mushrooms are these? I’ve never seen them before. Did a friend send them to you too?”
Ruan Qiao didn’t answer his last question, simply explaining, “These are oyster mushrooms. They’re edible.”
She thought for a moment and added experimentally, “If you boil them in water with a bit of salt, they taste really good.”
“Really? They look quite nice.”
The young man looked at Ruan Qiao, seemingly a little envious of her generous friend who could send such rare items.
“Will you take them?” Ruan Qiao asked again.
“I can’t decide that myself. Mushrooms can’t be judged for edibility just by appearance. Would you mind if I take some inside for our testers to evaluate?” he replied.
“Sure.” Ruan Qiao said, taking her small knife and cutting a tiny piece from the least noticeable spot to hand over.
The young man gestured for her to wait and quickly took the sample to the back room.
Ruan Qiao had deliberately mentioned that oyster mushrooms make good soup, hoping to see whether people here actually cook.
She was worried that everyone only purchased grains and produce to make nutritional liquids and never used fire otherwise.
That would have been a real nightmare.
Fortunately, judging by the young man’s reaction, people here did cook. Exactly how they ate or what they ate would still need further observation.
The young man returned quickly, and when he looked at Ruan Qiao again, his smile was even broader.
“Miss Ruan, these oyster mushrooms are indeed edible fungi, and their nutritional value is excellent. We agree to purchase them. We’re willing to pay 600 Star Coins per kilogram. Does that work for you?”
Six hundred Star Coins per kilogram.
To be honest, the price was still a bit below what Ruan Qiao had in mind. After all, just a few strawberries had sold for 960 Star Coins, while these oyster mushrooms would need two kilograms to fetch only 600!
She tentatively asked, “Could the price be any higher?”
The young man smiled warmly as before, but there was not a trace of concession in his tone.
“Miss Ruan, this price has already been determined by our technicians after evaluation. It’s quite high. You can’t compare it to the price of fruits, vegetables and fruits aren’t comparable.”
Ruan Qiao thought about the list she had seen earlier: cucumbers were only a few dozen Star Coins per kilogram. Compared to that, 600 didn’t seem so bad.
She quietly sighed, ready to agree.
Just then, a sharp pinch on her shoulder made her jump!
Startled, she turned her head and realized that the little squirrel had pinched the flesh on her shoulder through the fabric!
That little rascal!
Since coming in, both the squirrel and the hedgehog had been perfectly quiet, so much so that Ruan Qiao had almost forgotten they were there.
Unexpectedly, right at this moment, the little one decided to make its presence known!
Ruan Qiao took a deep breath, about to scold it, when the squirrel pinched her shoulder again.
Seeing that she hadn’t reacted, it pinched even harder!
Only then did Ruan Qiao realize: the little one was clearly trying to stop her from selling the oyster mushrooms.
She paused for a moment, and then a thought struck her.
She looked at the young man and confirmed, “This is your final price? There’s no more room to raise it?”
The young man had originally expected her to agree. For some reason, however, he suddenly hesitated, a flicker of surprise in his heart, though his expression remained unchanged.
He maintained his previous smile and repeated, “Miss Ruan, this price is already very high.”
“Fine then.” Ruan Qiao nodded, calmly lifted the paper bag and held it to her chest, then looked at him. “I’ll go check with the other places. You might as well take out the slices you cut earlier and return them to me.”
The young man’s expression instantly froze.
Ruan Qiao raised an eyebrow. “You wouldn’t be trying to keep my mushroom samples, would you?”
She swung her wrist slightly. “I’ve had the recording function on the entire time since I walked in. If not, shall we just take this to the police station?”
“How could that be? We’re a legitimate company, how could we do something like that?”
The young man’s smile grew increasingly awkward.
He quickly pulled over a chair for Ruan Qiao to sit, and said nervously, “Miss Ruan, please wait a moment. I’ll call headquarters and help you apply for this.”
With that, he hurried to the back again, wiping sweat from his forehead as he went.
Being on their turf, Ruan Qiao naturally didn’t say much, but from his expression, it was clear the previous price had indeed been set far too low.
If it weren’t for the little squirrel, she would have almost been fooled by him!
Ruan Qiao couldn’t help reaching out to poke the little one’s forehead affectionately. “[1]“Tiaotiao” (跳跳) literally means “jump jump” in Chinese. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1798661_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1798661_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Tiaotiao, you did really well today! You deserve a huge credit!”
At first, the little squirrel didn’t realize who she was talking to.
When he figured it out, his eyes went wide, staring at her in shock, not even dodging when she poked his forehead.
Ruan Qiao naturally knew why he was stunned.
But seeing the usually proud little one show such a rare flustered expression, she couldn’t resist pretending not to notice and teasing him.
She tapped his fuzzy head again with her finger and asked, feigning confusion, “Tiaotiao? Tiaotiao? Why are you so stunned?”
After being poked twice, the little squirrel finally reacted, squeaking angrily in protest.
He gestured with his paws, almost as if trying to speak human words to express his indignation.
Ruan Qiao blinked innocently. “You don’t want me to call you Tiaotiao?”
The little squirrel nodded firmly: “Squeak!”
“Then should I call you [2]“Bongbong” is just a playful, made-up nickname meant to mimic a cute, bouncy sound. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1798661_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1798661_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Bongbong?”
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
“Not Bongbong either? Then what? Squeak-squeak?”
Ruan Qiao laughed at this, which only flustered the little squirrel more; his fur puffed up, turning him into a little golden-red ball.
While they were laughing, the young man came out again, but this time without holding the mushroom slices.
Ruan Qiao quickly composed herself and looked at him calmly.
The young man’s smile grew even brighter.
“Miss Ruan, I just reported to our headquarters. To show our sincerity, the headquarters has agreed to purchase this package of oyster mushrooms at 1,200 Star Coins per kilogram.”
He paused for a moment, then added earnestly, “Miss Ruan, this really is the greatest sincerity we can offer.”
This price was two hundred higher than Ruan Qiao’s initial expectation, and she was fairly satisfied.
Although she knew that after buying her mushrooms, they would still have a large profit margin—
That’s business. Where in business doesn’t someone make money?
What matters is getting what she wanted.
Sure, she could take the mushrooms elsewhere to compare prices, possibly selling them even higher.
But she didn’t have a car, she had come out late today, and there were still many things she needed to handle.
And this purchasing point was indeed the closest one on the list; the others were much farther away.
She didn’t want to delay other matters.
“Alright, we’ll go with this price, but I have one more request,” Ruan Qiao said.
Hearing that she had another request, the young man’s expression shifted slightly, but he still smiled and asked, “What’s your request? Go ahead.”
“Please give me a bottle of the nutrient solution you use for cultivating the mushrooms. If there’s any matching equipment, I’d appreciate a set as well.”
The young man was momentarily taken aback, then smiled and shook his head. “Are you sure we even have those?”
Ruan Qiao pursed her lips and smiled, not answering directly, but instead asked back, “Can you do it?”
“Yes! I’ll prepare a complete set for you!”
This time, the young man’s response was wholehearted.
“If you manage to grow them, remember to sell to us first, in light of how sincere we’ve been.”
He knew that earlier withholding the slices might have offended Ruan Qiao.
Now, hearing her request, which was nothing difficult for them, he was naturally willing to oblige.
As for Ruan Qiao, when she noticed he hadn’t returned the slices before, she had immediately understood their intention.
She also knew that they must have a professional laboratory in the back.
With just a slice, cultivating the mushrooms would be extremely easy for trained personnel.
Even though she had deliberately avoided taking the most active part of the root when preparing the slices, it wouldn’t be a problem for a researcher to grow them.
That’s why they had been so stubborn during the initial price negotiation, they didn’t want to set a precedent for paying a high price.
After all, with the mushroom strain in hand, even rare varieties could be grown by them.
And the reason they agreed to raise the price once Ruan Qiao reclaimed the slices was largely to secure the strain for themselves.
Although Ruan Qiao had conveniently bought two mushroom bags before coming, and had brought them along, she didn’t lack the strain and was confident she could continue cultivating.
But as for the equipment, who would complain about getting it for free?
Hearing the young man, Ruan Qiao didn’t say anything further and smiled in agreement.
After selling the fruits and oyster mushrooms, her bag was already more than half empty, and even after placing the equipment inside, it didn’t feel heavy.
They left the purchasing station and continued wandering deeper along the commercial street.
Not far ahead, Ruan Qiao spotted a convenience supermarket and immediately perked up.
The simplest way to understand the living standards of a place was to browse a supermarket.
Places so closely connected to everyday life offered the most genuine insight.
The supermarket wasn’t particularly large, but it clearly belonged to a higher-end category, with very refined decor.
Ruan Qiao, carrying the two little companions, was quickly drawn to the area selling fresh vegetables and fruits.
At the purchasing station, they had already seen a wholesale window, where prices were much higher than the buying price.
Now, seeing a retail section on the same street made her very curious about how the prices would be set.
They walked straight over.
Ruan Qiao was stunned as soon as she got there!
She had never realized that selling vegetables and fruits could require such fancy packaging!
She had seen imported supermarkets before, selling expensive produce, high prices, luxurious packaging, but this was on a whole different level.
But compared to the prices here, that packaging was like a tiny spell against a mighty one!
She first looked at the vegetable refrigerated display.
The vegetables inside were all arranged in small bundles, each vibrant and green, planted in pink nutrient crystal clay, then decorated like bouquets and placed inside clear acrylic boxes.
The boxes were so transparent they looked like flawless crystals.
Under the lighting, the vegetables inside appeared extraordinarily elegant.
They didn’t look like something to eat, they seemed more like items to buy and display at home.
Ruan Qiao glanced at the prices and was even more shocked.
She realized that any vegetables bought at these prices could only be kept on display, there was no way she could bear to eat them.
Then she moved on to the fruit section, and the sight nearly made her stagger backward!
Damn, this isn’t just expensive, it’s highway robbery!
She saw two pears.
The most ordinary kind of crystal pears.
On the purchase list, their buying price was 20 star coins cheaper than peaches.
Here, however, they were placed in special small acrylic boxes and tied outside with a golden ribbon into a beautiful bow.
And the price? A staggering 500 star coins each!
Thinking about selling her peaches for only 120 star coins apiece, Ruan Qiao felt her heart bleeding.
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