Chapter 125: Selling to the state run restaurant
"You!"
The supplier had not expected such a turn of events; he thought that even if he were to lower the price, Second Uncle Han would have no other choice but to agree to his demands. Who would have thought that this young woman would suddenly appear out of nowhere and then ruin his good thing? He glared at Han Ruochen and said to her, "Who are you, and why are you intervening in our matter? Don’t you know when two elders are speaking, a young one like you shouldn’t speak?"
Han Ruochen was not at all offended by the words of the supplier. She simply tilted her head to one side and stated coldly, "Then do you mean to say that no matter how unfair your price is, my uncle will have to sell his goods to you? Is there some sort of law that I didn’t know of?" Han Ruochen knew this man. He was called One Eye because he lost one of his eyes while at sea. No one knew what happened to him, but most of the people in the village said that one of this man’s eyes was lost because he had a fight with a shark.
One Eye had never corrected or denied the rumours, so they had prevailed till now and even made him a sort of big shot.
However, Han Ruochen did not have any sort of fear when facing One Eye; this was because she knew that this man didn’t have any fight with a shark. He lost his eye due to a freak accident. What was more, in her past life, just because her uncle gave in to this man once, he started raising his prices in the market while he gave less than one-fourth of the original price of the goods to her second uncle. If not for this sudden stroke of bad luck, her grandmother would not have passed away.
It was all due to her second uncle being too honest and not breaking free from this supplier, even when he knew that the money that he was giving him was not fair.
Due to this, her second uncle’s family only got poorer and poorer.
One Eye was driven speechless by her words. He glared at her and then turned to look at Second Uncle Han. He said angrily to him, "Are you sure that you are not going to say anything to your niece?"
Second Uncle Han turned and looked at Han Ruochen, who simply blinked her eyes at him. She didn’t say anything and allowed her uncle to make the decision himself. If her uncle didn’t speak up, then there was no point in her trying to help him.
In the end, the matter lay in the hands of her second uncle.
Second Uncle Han pursed his lips; he knew that ultimately the decision lay with him, and if he chose to work with One Eye, then his niece would probably not say anything, but was he going to work with One Eye? Second Uncle Han looked at the dried chiton shells that had taken quite a lot of effort, and then thought about how hard his wife had worked to dry these chiton shells.
His heart hardened, and he said, "She is right. Selling these chiton shells to you is no different from throwing them away. What is the point in selling them for three yuan? It’s better if I keep these things with me. At least I can use them."
Then, before One Eye could say anything, he picked up the bucket of chiton shells and then walked away with Han Ruochen and Tong Zhaodi. He said in a low voice to the two of them, "It’s a good thing that you came, Ruochen. I was worried that I would end up getting scammed."
Just then, a voice screamed at the three of them from behind.
"Alright, you can go ahead and take the shells away. But I am telling you, Old Han, no one will be willing to accept your seafood if I spread out the word. Just wait for your seafood to rot!" One Eye threatened angrily. He was furious when he saw that Second Uncle Han had refused to sell the seafood to him. He was the main supplier of seafood in this region; he would love to see who would take Second Han’s seafood once he passed out the order.
When Second Uncle Han heard his threat, he turned worried.
"Don’t worry, Uncle," said Han Ruochen when she saw that her second uncle was getting worried. "There is no point in going back; even if you go back, One Eye will only reduce the money and take even more supplies."
Second Uncle Han also knew about this. He sighed heavily and then said, "It’s not that I am worried. But where will I sell these many chiton shells and the fish that I have collected?"
"How about selling it to the state-run restaurant?" Han Ruochen said to her uncle. She turned and glanced at her second uncle, who seemed to be stupefied by her suggestion. "I did tell the owner of the state-run restaurant that I would start delivering fresh seafood to his restaurant. How about you take the seafood to the state-run restaurant and sell it to them? I think they will give you a reasonable price."
Han Ruochen knew Luo Jianguo and Luo Jingmo; the two brothers were really kind and reasonable. Since that was the case, they would definitely give her uncle some face regarding the fact that the three of them were childhood friends.
"Will that be okay?" Second Uncle Han didn’t want to burden his niece. He already knew that he was not cut out for this business, but he had no other skills and was not well educated. In the past, he had never cared about studies and had not finished his studies, but now he was filled with nothing but regret. If only he had listened to his mother back then!
