Chapter Ten Acquiring Tangerines

  Du Le graduated from Southeastern University of Science and Technology, majoring in International Trade. Southeastern University of Science and Technology is a well-known university in the province of Dongnan, located in Fuyong City, the provincial capital of Dongnan Province, which is adjacent to Fuhai City.

  In Du Le's class, at least half of the classmates are students from Dongnan Province. Dongnan Province is an economically developed province, especially Fuyang City, which is a national southern coastal city and has close ties with international trade, making it more economically advanced. After graduation, many of Du Le's classmates chose to stay in this city to find work.

  At this time in Fuhai City, Du Le met Dong Lili. Du Le felt a bit awkward and forced a smile, saying: "Hello, are you here to buy a mobile phone too?"

  "You're really heartless, why didn't you come to the class dinner? Everyone is blaming you." Dong Lili walked up to Du Le and stretched out her hand, saying "Is your phone online? Let me borrow it for a moment."

  As for Dong Lili's words, Du Le had nothing to say in response. He couldn't possibly say that something had happened at home, could he? When the class held a farewell dinner, it just so happened that his old father had recently passed away, and he simply didn't have the heart to participate. At the time, the school certificates had all been handed out, so naturally he hurried back home. However, Du Le didn't plan on telling Dong Lili any of this; otherwise, she would probably come at him with a warm and intimate inquiry, which would be quite uncomfortable.

  Du Le smiled and handed her phone to Dong Lili, "Just got online."

  Dong Lili took the phone and dialed a number on it. After a while, the other phone in her hand rang. Then, she returned the phone to Du Le, "This is my number, I'll buy a mobile phone battery today, and I have to rush to work. Let's keep in touch when we're free. There are still several people from our class working in Fuhai City, and we can get together for dinner sometime."

  Du Le hurriedly nodded and smiled: "No problem."

  "Don't think about running away when the time comes." Dong Lili stared at Du Le and said with a smile.

  Du Le felt a bit embarrassed and subconsciously touched the back of his head.

  After saying goodbye to Dong Lili, Du Le put away his phone and purchase receipt, and hurriedly left. Dong Lili was not the most beautiful person in the class, but she could be considered a little beauty. Today, Dong Lili's white-collared outfit looked elegant, generous, and refined, and with her usual courtesy, Du Le's eyes were always dodging, not daring to look at her directly.

  It's clear that Du Le has a crush on Dong Lili, but it's not possible due to his personality. Although Du Le appears nonchalant about many things in college, he knows it's not because he's carefree, but rather because of his own lack of self-confidence, so he chooses to appear calm on the surface.

  Du Le walked out of the mobile phone store and boarded a bus. He quickly put his chance encounter with Dong Lili aside and began thinking about how to devise his "orange selling plan".

  Originally, Du Le only planned to buy and sell a small number of oranges to make some money for his family. However, when he had 500,000 yuan in hand, his mind began to change. The more capital you have, the more profit you can make, except for unforeseen factors, this is a direct proportion. Otherwise, why would people with more money always get richer? But Du Le was still hesitant, after all, this money wasn't easily earned. Next time, he might not have such an opportunity again.

  Arriving at the Zhongba Bus Station, Du Le spent nearly two hours on the bus before finally arriving in Weishiyuan's hometown of Xinghua Town. Before reaching their destination, Du Le first gave Weishiyuan a phone call.

  As soon as Du Le got off the bus, he saw Wei Shiyuan waiting on a sidecar motorcycle.

  "You really came, before I received your call, I thought you were joking." Wei Shiyuan said with a smile, "Today we two will have a good drink."

  "Not for now, take me to see your home's tangerines." Du Le said with a smile as he sat on the three-wheeled motorcycle.

  Wei Shiyan stared at Du Le and asked in confusion, "You really want to buy a batch of oranges?" The two had a good relationship in high school and still understood each other relatively well.

  "I know a boss who happens to want a batch of oranges, we are brothers, if not you then who," Du Le had already thought of an excuse, saying that he took out the plastic bag that originally held the mobile phone packaging box and opened it for Wei Shiyan to see. Inside were the 200,000 yuan that Du Le had put in advance, as for the mobile phone packaging box, it had long been put into his spatial pouch.

  Wei Shiyan was so moved that he didn't know what to say, Du Le saw the situation and hurriedly laughed, "Let's go, let me take a look quickly, if the tangerines are not good, I won't want them!"

  Wei Shiyan nodded and said, "Absolutely top-notch, a high-quality agricultural product that has been awarded provincial honors." After finishing speaking, he started the motorcycle and kicked up a cloud of dust.

  All the way, Du Le saw were mature fruit forests, not only oranges, but also many other fruits. Xinghua Town is a famous fruit town in the eastern province, even known nationwide.

  Just then, when Du Le arrived at Wei Shiyan's suburban home, most of the people he saw didn't have a few smiles on their faces, looking worried and anxious. It seems that this year's orange sales are indeed very poor.

  When they arrived at their destination, Wei Shiyan's parents both came out to greet Du Le.

  "How did you get to my house?" Du Le asked after paying off Wei Shiyan's parents.

  "You'll know when you come with me." Wei Shiyan said with a bitter smile, leading Du Le to the door of the flat house beside the main house.

  Wei Shiyan opened the door for Du Le to see, a room full of oranges, with a large air conditioner hanging inside.

  "These were just picked up the day before yesterday." Wei Shiyuan took an orange and peeled it directly, handing half to Du Le and continued, "Try it."

  Du Le took it and looked at the crystal-like fruit pulp inside, opened his mouth and swallowed it in one bite. "Hmm, very sweet, and juicy too."

  "In previous years, we were selling at a wholesale price of one yuan per catty, and it was even sold abroad." Wei Shiyan sighed and continued, "This year, two mao per catty, there are hardly any buyers, and the old customers' purchases are less than one-tenth of the usual amount. Seeing the piles of oranges about to rot away is really heartbreaking."

  "How much would you have to sell it for per kilogram to break even?" Du Le asked.

  "At least two yuan and fifty cents," Wei Shiyuan said, "A Le, if you want it for yourself, you can just pack a few bags and take them home. Leaving them here is the same, except they'll rot and be useless."

  Du Le thought for a moment while eating his tangerine, then said: "Shi Yan, I'll buy it at 50 cents per catty, but you have to help me pack them up so they're easy to transport. At first, my quantity won't be very large, we need to test the market's reaction."

  Wei Shiyan heard this and immediately knew that his old classmate was trying to help him, so he hastily said: "No way, I won't let you take the fall for me."

  "Stop, it's too embarrassing to say." Du Le chuckled and stopped Wei Shiyuan's words, saying: "I have conditions, first you must guarantee the quality of the oranges, help me screen them well, pack them, and secondly, you have to help me transport the oranges to the main road, so they can be loaded onto trucks. I believe that Xinghua Town's oranges won't just stop at this price, they'll definitely go up in the future. My boss is taking a big advantage of us!"

  Wei Shiyan saw the situation and refrained from saying more, which would have hurt their feelings. The brotherly affection was in his heart, no need for words.

  "Thank you!" Wei Shiyan said sincerely, "How many catties do you want?"

  "I brought 40,000 yuan over, take as much as you can, and I'll just use the rest to buy some goods." Du Le said. Leaving around 10,000 yuan in cash flow, he simply used the remaining amount to make purchases.

  "Forty thousand, that's eighty thousand catties!" Wei Shiyan was startled.

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