Chapter 59: Not Good! (Fifth Bonus Update)

Yuan Banyue pinched her nose with one hand and fanned the air with her briefcase in the other. “What’s that smell? It’s awful!”

Zhang Dong’s wife looked embarrassed. “It’s our family’s specialty—grilled stinky fish fillets. They smell bad, but taste delicious.”

“Never heard of grilled stinky fish fillets before. The smell is too much for me! Please move aside.”

Yuan Banyue’s tone was far from polite.

Zhang Dong’s wife forced a smile. “We also have fragrant grilled fish fillets, just 1.3 yuan per jin. Would you like to try some?”

Yuan Banyue looked her up and down. “You’re Zhang Dong’s wife, right?”

“That’s me! I’m surprised Boss Yuan remembers me!”

Zhang Dong’s wife was clearly proud, and even shot a provocative glance at Chu Xuan, as if to say, “See? Boss Yuan knows me!”

Chu Xuan simply watched the scene unfold.

Yuan Banyue looked disgusted. “Zhang Dong sold me spoiled dried shrimp. I haven’t even settled that with him yet! How about you give me a refund? It’s not much, just fifty or sixty yuan.”

Zhang Dong’s wife hurried back to her stall. “Zhang Dong is Zhang Dong, I’m me. He sold it to you, so go find him, not me.”

Yuan Banyue walked over to Chu Xuan’s stall, smiling. “Boss Chu, haven’t seen you for a few days. How’s business?”

Chu Xuan replied with a polite smile, “Thanks to you, business is booming. Would you like to buy some grilled fish fillets today? In a few days, the rainy and typhoon season will start, so I might not be able to come to the city.”

Before Yuan Banyue could answer, Zhang Dong’s wife butted in, “Boss Yuan, I really have proof. Liu Chao and this fatty are working together to scam you!”

Yuan Banyue already knew about Liu Chao taking commissions—not just from Chu Xuan’s family, but from others too. Liu Chao earned his commissions fair and square; it wasn’t really a scam.

“Shut up! Even if you had proof, I’d still be happy to let them ‘scam’ me!”

That successfully shut Zhang Dong’s wife up.

Yuan Banyue turned to Chu Xuan politely. “I’ll take all the grilled fish fillets you have left. I’ll have my people bring a cart over to weigh them at the market office. Later, I’ll borrow Liu Chao’s office so we can settle up. I’d also like to discuss a long-term partnership.”

“Of course.”

Finally able to settle accounts, Chu Xuan felt a weight lift from her heart.

Ten minutes later, Chu Xuan not only received 960 yuan for the goods, but also signed a supply contract with Yuan Banyue.

Chu Xuan would supply 2,000 jin of grilled fish fillets each month. At the start of each month, Yuan Banyue would pay 30% as a deposit, and the balance at the end of the month. If Yuan Banyue failed to pay on time, Chu Xuan could cut off supply the next month and demand interest at the bank rate, except in cases of force majeure.

If Chu Xuan couldn’t deliver on time, she’d have to pay a penalty, also except for force majeure.

Of course, if either party wanted to terminate the contract, they just needed to give one month’s written notice.

The contract would take effect on August 1st, next month.

For this month, Yuan Banyue ordered 1,000 jin of grilled fish fillets, to be delivered in three days, with payment on the spot.

Supplying 2,000 jin a month was no problem for Chu Xuan. With a few people working hard, they could grill that much in three days.

She didn’t have to worry about sourcing fish either—after all, she’d been reborn and knew there’d be plenty of ribbonfish in the coming years.

Sometimes, she even thought that once she secured a few more supply contracts, she’d talk to Grandpa Wang about opening a grilled fish fillet factory under the village collective.

Then they could not only make grilled fish fillets, but also dried shrimp, small dried fish, noodlefish, and so on.

A little after five in the morning, Mu Chenze came to find Chu Xuan, and the two of them headed for the bus station.

Mu Chenze looked listless.

Chu Xuan asked with concern, “What’s wrong? You look like a wilted eggplant.”

Mu Chenze sighed. “I didn’t get paid for the goods today. I’m really on edge.”

“How much is it altogether?”

“3,500 yuan. The cost alone was 2,000.”

“Why didn’t the boss settle up with you?”

“Boss Yao said it’s not much money, not worth settling today. He’ll pay me tomorrow. I’ve been supplying him for a while and he seems trustworthy, so I agreed to let him pay later. But for some reason, I just feel uneasy.”

Hearing this, Chu Xuan suddenly remembered that in her previous life, Mu Chenze had been cheated out of a whole truckload of seafood—wasn’t it around this time?

But in her last life, he hadn’t delivered to the city every day, just every few days.

She couldn’t recall the exact date.

She tried hard to remember the boss’s name. Wasn’t it Yao Dianxin?

“Is Boss Yao’s full name Yao Dianxin?”

“That’s right. How did you know?”

“I overheard someone mention it at the market. That guy’s scammed a lot of people. Let’s hurry and stop him!”

Mu Chenze didn’t doubt her for a second. “Let’s go!”

Chances were, Boss Yao hadn’t left yet, since he’d just said he was waiting for another truckload of dried goods.

Mu Chenze started running, and Chu Xuan followed, but after a few hundred meters, she was out of breath.

She gestured for Mu Chenze to go on ahead and stop him.

That was thousands of yuan’s worth of goods—they absolutely couldn’t let themselves be cheated.

“Chu Xuan, just another thousand meters ahead, then turn right. It’s the transfer warehouse with the attached office. I’ll go on ahead!”

With that, Mu Chenze sprinted off.

By the time Chu Xuan, panting and half-running, reached the place, Mu Chenze was being threatened by Yao Dianxin.

“Mu Chenze, if you insist on getting paid for this shipment, then forget it! Take your goods back yourself!”

Mu Chenze quickly did the math. If he hired people to unload and then hired a truck to haul it back—and if any abalone died in transit—he’d lose several hundred yuan.

“Boss Yao, how about this: I’ll take a smaller profit. Just give me 3,000 yuan for this load.”

Yao Dianxin looked shameless. “I really don’t have any cash today. Not 3,000, not even 1,000. If you want your money, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”

Chu Xuan steadied her breathing, guessing what Mu Chenze was worried about.

If they took the goods back, even if they couldn’t sell them fresh, they could dry the abalone and at least break even.

But if they didn’t get paid, they’d lose thousands.

She spoke up, “On the way here, I ran into Brother Lin. He’s got a job in the city and can be here in about an hour. We can hire some people to unload, and when his truck arrives, we’ll haul the abalone back. We can dry them and I’ve got sales channels—we’ll still make a good profit.”

She said this on purpose.

Yao Dianxin snorted. “Go ahead! But you’ve got twenty minutes to clear my truck, or I’ll charge you a storage fee. Every extra minute is one yuan.”

Chu Xuan cursed him inwardly and gave Mu Chenze a look.

Mu Chenze knew now wasn’t the time for harsh words.

Deal with this jerk after unloading!

He looked around at the dozen or so strong laborers nearby. “Fifty cents per bucket to unload the abalone. Who’s in?”

There were a hundred buckets of abalone in the truck.

With a dozen strong men, they could unload it all in ten minutes.

But no one responded.

Were they unhappy with the pay?

Mu Chenze had to up the offer. “Sixty cents per bucket!”

The laborers just looked away, ignoring him.

Chu Xuan shouted, “One yuan per bucket! Who’s in?”

(Please vote for me, thank you, darlings!)"