34 Chapter 34: Growing Word-of-mouth

"Mother, I just wanted to get a taste of the grapes. What's wrong?" Li Hongyuan explained embarrassedly. He did not expect to get caught in the act while eating a grape. 

"You don't need to taste it. What's wrong? Are the grapes not going to be sweet if you don't taste them?" the elderly lady gibed sullenly. 

Li Hongyuan knew that she was angry with him. 

"Mother, are you still angry? It was my fault for spouting nonsense before figuring out things clearly when we were having dinner just now. I'll apologize to you. Will that do?" 

After all, he was still her own son. Seeing that Li Hongyuan had given in, the elderly lady finally looked less upset. 

"You just don't know what you're talking about. You wouldn't be able to buy this grape elsewhere even if you wanted to!"

Although the elderly lady was boasting, she had no idea that such was indeed the case. After all, all the grapes in Zhou Kun's cold storage warehouse had been sold out, and they were not distributed to the market at all. 

"These grapes are indeed delicious. They taste better than the local ones I've had previously."

"That's for sure. Otherwise, why would I bother snapping them up?" She sounded extremely proud of herself for having good judgment and taste. Her son and grandson were both very pleased in the end, weren't they?

Zhao Yumei who was initially in the room was displeased and unconvinced. She wondered why her son and husband stood on the elderly lady's side all of a sudden. In turn, she also went to the living room in an attempt to taste the grapes and find out how magical they were that they enchanted three of her family members.

Women have an innate desire for food and were naturally picky about their food as well. Take the milk tea stores and snack stores along the streets as an example. There will always be more women than men lining up at the entrance.

Zhao Yumei often bragged about having tasted Qingwang grapes, which were the most delicious in the world. Hence, she definitely looked down on fruits of unknown origin like those bought by the elderly lady. 

However, she had to eat her words at the instant that she ate her first grape. It was like a smack to her face. 

"Mother, these grapes are delicious. 30 yuan per 500 grams isn't expensive at all." Zhao Yumei squinted and savored the floral fragrance of the grapes, thinking to herself that it must be a new variety of grapes. Otherwise, she had never eaten anything like it before.

Seeing the instant change in his wife's attitude, Li Hongyuan felt that they were creating trouble for no reason at the dinner table earlier on. 

The matter regarding the grapes blew over. However, Zhao Yumei soon saw her husband sitting on the couch and being entirely engrossed in eating the grapes. Hence, she nudged him with her elbow. However, Li Hongyuan did not understand what Zhao Yumei meant. 

"Don't just focus on eating. These grapes are so superb. Why didn't you think of sending some to Manager Wang's house?" 

Manager Wang, whom Zhao Yumei mentioned, was Li Hongyuan's biggest client. Li Hongyuan would often seek help from him. 

"He's so affluent. How can these grapes be good enough for him?" Li Hongyuan was a little unconvinced. He felt that those grapes wouldn't make a good gift.

"You don't understand. You gave him something expensive before but did he accept it? Go and find out where he lives, and then send some grapes to his home address. After seeing that its edible fruit, he definitely wouldn't turn them down. Once he and his family eat the grapes, they will praise you continuously."

Li Hongyuan felt that that method was perhaps, feasible even though it was old-fashioned. After all, as the old saying goes "Who receives a gift, sells his liberty." 

Apparently, Li Hongyuan was not the only one in the estate who had that idea, because, by the time he went to the fruit store in front of the estate to purchase a gift box for fruits, the store assistant told him that he was too late and that all the gift boxes had been sold out for the day. 

Zhou Kun didn't know anything about the events that were caused by his grapes. However, in the next two days, the "Jinlan Residences" clique that Huang Fang was a member of, group-purchased another batch of dragon fruit in the same manner. 

Seeing that his cold storage warehouse was gradually emptying out, Zhou Kun suddenly found it to be a little absurd. 

More than 10 days ago, he was still worrying about the sales of his cantaloupe. Yet, he was now troubled about not having enough stock. 

"Little Zhou..." Huang Fang's familiar voice could be heard over the phone, giving Zhou Kun a headache. 

"Auntie Huang, I'm out of grapes, and I barely have any dragon fruit left. The other fruits are not in stock for the time being. Look..." Zhou Kun first informed Huang Fang that he had run out of stock for three types of fruit, not giving her any chance to speak. 

"Little Zhou, hear me out. I remember that you've recently purchased a batch of peaches." 

Zhou Kun did not expect the peaches, which he had only promoted once, to be targeted by her too. 

"The peaches that I have are ordinary peaches from Tong City. It doesn't matter where you purchase them from. It's the same everywhere." 

"Kid, are you silly? Who would drive business away as you do? Besides, I can only purchase peaches from you. Let me tell you..." 

After listening to Huang Fang's explanation, Zhou Kun learned that Huang Fang had previously organized two successful group purchases. However, she was no longer satisfied, and she wanted to organize an activity where they would be visiting a peach orchard and picking their own peaches. 

First, she suggested that he set up a Jiaduoduo online store, followed by group purchase. Now, she was trying to organize a fruit-picking activity. Zhou Kun finally understood that there was nothing that the bevy of elderly ladies wouldn't do for fun. 

However, Zhou Kun did not agree immediately. He could only first seek Old Zhuang who grew peaches. 

At last, Old Zhuang agreed to the self-picking activity, on the condition that they paid 10 yuan for each peach. After hearing it, old Madam Huang agreed nonchalantly. 

Logically speaking, Zhou Kun no longer had anything to do with the matter since he had already given Huang Fang Old Zhuang's address and contact number. However, Huang Fang refused to stop getting Zhou Kun involved. 

"Little Zhou, I'm not an ignorant or unreasonable person. You're selling fruit to earn money, aren't you? How can I purchase peaches without you as the middleman?" 

Zhou Kun initially refused. However, after much persuasion from Huang Fang, Zhou Kun had no choice but to follow her. 

Zhou Kun originally thought that the activity was limited to 10 to 20 people. However, the 45-seat bus that was parked at the entrance the next day made Zhou Kun think that things were not that simple. 

"Little Zhou, hurry and get on the bus. We're all waiting for you." 

"How many people are going on this trip? Do you need to charter such a large bus?" 

"Don't worry about that, it's a bus that belongs to a neighbor of ours who lives in the estate too. We're just borrowing it. Do you see the two MPVs at the back? There are more than ten people in there!"

Zhou Kun was surrounded by the "Flowers of Jinlan" as soon as he boarded the bus. 

"Is this the Little Zhou whom you've been introducing to us?" 

"Young man, you look very bright. How old are you this year? Do you have a girlfriend? Do you want me to introduce a girl to you?" The elderly ladies bombarded Zhou Kun continuously and made him feel like he was almost going to faint. 

The elderly ladies basically found out everything about Zhou Kun during the bus journey. They even patted their chests and promised to help matchmake Zhou Kun with someone. 

Amidst the boisterous chatter and laughter, they finally arrived at Old Zhuang's peach orchard. 

At that moment, Zhou Kun was rather dumbfounded. He had not thought of an explanation for the incoming team of sixty to seventy people, that he could give to Old Zhuang. 

When Zhou Kun alighted, the bus driver said with envy, "Young man, you brought so many elderly ladies here at one go. You'd probably be able to get a large sum of commission later, right?"