Papa Wang took a small portion of the seeds they had bought and soaked them overnight in warm water at forty to fifty degrees Celsius. The next morning, he took them out, drained off the water, mixed them with damp sand, and spread them on cloth to germinate. During the process, they had to be turned over and sprayed with water regularly. They should sprout within four to six days.
Papa Wang knew more about this sort of thing, so Wang Cheng simply handed all the seeds over to him. He planned to let Papa Wang take complete charge of the plots on North Mountain. Wang Cheng himself only needed to handle the follow-up once the medicinal herbs had grown.
After breakfast, Wang Cheng went up the fruit mountain with Eldest Maternal Aunt and Cousin He Ping.
There was a great deal of planting work to do on the fruit mountain. Everyone had been exhausted while clearing weeds over the previous few days, so Wang Cheng gave them a small bonus in recognition of their hard work. The group became even more energetic afterward.
The fruit mountain had been divided into several areas, with apple trees, plum trees, persimmon trees, pear trees, and so on. Recently, chestnuts and hawthorn had also begun ripening one after another. Whole stretches of chestnut and hawthorn trees covered the mountain, occupying no less area than the plum trees.
Wang Cheng followed Eldest Maternal Aunt to that section of the orchard. Everywhere he looked were wild chestnuts, heavy on the branches and ready to fall. Beyond them were the hawthorn trees, bright red fruit hanging vividly among the leaves. Both kinds of fruit had greater food and medicinal value than plums and persimmons.
Autumn was a busy season by nature.
By the end of the day, Wang Cheng had already filled several large baskets with chestnuts, and there was plenty of hawthorn as well. Seeing the sun nearing the horizon, he told everyone to pack up and prepare to head down the mountain.
Several large baskets of chestnuts and hawthorn were placed at home, another substantial harvest. Mama Wang took it upon herself to give away quite a lot. Nearly all the nearby neighbors received some, and now they all beamed whenever they saw Wang Cheng’s family. After setting some aside for themselves, Wang Cheng planned to find a buyer for the rest. Chestnuts could be stored for a while, but hawthorn could not.
The next day, Manager Xu from the food-packaging factory happened to call and tell him that the first batch of jam had finished being packaged and was ready for pickup at any time. Wang Cheng told his parents and left. By the time he arrived, Manager Xu had already been waiting after receiving his call.
“Manager Xu, is there anywhere nearby that rents out warehouse space?”
Wang Cheng planned to store most of the processed food in a warehouse in the future. That would make collection and delivery much more convenient. Guanjia Village did have a market, but it was not large. Manager Xu knew the area well, so he was the right person to ask.
The moment Manager Xu heard the question, he understood that Wang Cheng wanted somewhere to store food. He immediately said, “There are warehouses nearby, but they’re all rented out. If Mr. Wang doesn’t mind, our factory actually has one warehouse sitting empty.”
“Could you show it to me?”
“Of course. Please follow me.” Manager Xu immediately led the way.
The packaging factory’s warehouse area was not very large. There were only three units, all on the first floor for convenient loading and unloading. Two were already in use, with one of them rented to an outside party. The remaining one was the empty warehouse Manager Xu had mentioned. It was not completely sealed. A small iron ventilation window had been built high into the wall, too small for an adult to squeeze through. Since the space had not been used, there was no lock yet. If Wang Cheng wanted to rent it, he could install one himself.
After looking it over, Wang Cheng was quite satisfied. The warehouse was neither dark nor damp. He did not have that much jam yet, so this space was just right. If production increased in the future, he could reconsider then.
“This warehouse works. I’ll rent it.”
Manager Xu immediately took Wang Cheng to his office and pulled a warehouse-rental contract from a drawer. After confirming there were no problems, Wang Cheng signed his name. The price Manager Xu offered was considerably cheaper than he expected. Since the other man clearly wanted to establish a relationship with him, Wang Cheng had no reason not to accept.
Afterward, Manager Xu had factory workers move all of Wang Cheng’s jam into the warehouse. The jam was packed in sets of twenty-four jars, with thirty-seven sets in total. Even after everything was moved inside, it did not take up much space.
After leaving, Wang Cheng first called Lin Yue and told her all the follow-up work for the jam was complete, then asked how much she wanted to order.
He could not see her over the phone, but Lin Yue was surprised by his words. She had expected it would be at least half a month before she heard from him. Instead, not even a full week had passed. Suppressing her surprise, she said, “Then please send me two sets of plum jam and two sets of persimmon jam, Mr. Wang.” Four sets were not much. Since the fruits had different costs, the prices differed too, and plum jam was more expensive than persimmon jam. Even so, the total came to less than seven hundred yuan.
Wang Cheng then called the other supermarkets. One of them broke its promise. The person in charge told him they had recently brought in another batch of jam and no longer needed his, probably not in the future either. Wang Cheng was not surprised, and he had no interest in doing business with someone who lacked integrity. Although he had secured four supermarkets in total, none of their orders were much larger than Lin Yue’s. Altogether, he sold only fourteen sets.
When Manager Xu heard Wang Cheng needed fourteen sets loaded into his car, he sent employees over to help. By the time they finished, the trunk and back seat were almost completely packed.
Wang Cheng planned to consider buying a delivery vehicle once the product became better known. Half an hour later, he arrived at Renchang Supermarket. He got out and unloaded four sets of jam. Lin Yue happened to be there, and after confirming there were no problems with the goods, she settled the bill immediately.
“If the jam sells well, I’ll call you again, Mr. Wang.”
If it did not, naturally she would not.
“I hope I’ll hear good news from Boss Lin.” Wang Cheng spoke sincerely, then left without lingering. The second supermarket happened to be fairly close to Renchang Supermarket. He wanted to finish delivering the orders to the other three supermarkets as quickly as possible. If there was still time afterward, he could go see Chu Yifeng.
“Yue, is this the young salesman named Wang Cheng you mentioned last time?” The supermarket’s female manager walked over to Lin Yue. She had previously heard employees say the owner had promised to order from a young man who came in to pitch his own product, and she had not believed it. The seller’s background was unclear, and they were in the food business, where reputation and trust mattered enormously. If anything went wrong with the food, the consequences could be serious.
“That’s him.” Lin Yue nodded.
“He is handsome, but Lin Yue, aren’t you already forty?” the female manager teased.
“You know perfectly well I’m not young anymore. A handsome young man like that probably already has a girlfriend. Even if I threw myself at him, he might not want me. Besides, I’m divorced.” Lin Yue did not get angry. Instead, she joked at her own expense.
The female manager was actually one of Lin Yue’s close friends. Hearing that, she said, “So what? There are plenty of young people nowadays who only care about money. Rich older women are exactly what they like.”
“You’re not wrong, but I don’t think Wang Cheng is one of them.”
“How do you know?”
“The car he was driving just now cost more than two hundred thousand. Someone who can afford that isn’t short of money. If it were only for deliveries, wouldn’t it make more sense to buy a cargo van? His clothes aren’t cheap either.” Lin Yue was fairly well-off herself and had enough experience to recognize such things.
This was actually the first time Wang Cheng had worn the clothes he bought in the capital. Since he was going out and meeting people from several supermarkets, he wanted to look a little more presentable, so he changed into them. He had not expected Lin Yue to recognize their value at a glance.
“Then why is he making deliveries himself?” the female manager asked, puzzled.
“Ask him next time he comes.” Of course, whether Wang Cheng himself would still be making the next delivery was another question.
While the two women discussed him, Wang Cheng had already gone to his second delivery location. Employees handled the orders at the remaining three supermarkets. By the time he finished all the deliveries, it was a little after four in the afternoon, slightly earlier than he expected. Delivering goods really was hard physical work.
Wang Cheng parked in a temporary roadside space and prepared to call Chu Yifeng. Unexpectedly, the phone was turned off. He tried again with the same result. Maybe the battery was dead. He then pulled up Yuan Xia’s number. After what happened last time, he had no idea how Yuan Xia was doing.
“Wang Cheng?”
“It’s me. How are you now?”
Hearing the concern in his voice, Yuan Xia felt warm inside. “How else could I be? Ever since I told him what happened, he’s practically wanted me to stop going to the university altogether. He’d only feel at ease if I stayed home every day.”
“It must be nice to have someone fuss over you.” Wang Cheng sounded envious.
“What’s there to envy? Don’t you have someone now too? Doesn’t your boss dote on you?” Yuan Xia laughed.
“Him? Don’t mention him. He does make me hurt, but I’m the one who hurts.” Wang Cheng blurted it out before realizing he had said something he absolutely should not have said. He hurriedly changed the subject. “Anyway… are you staying home now?” His voice sounded painfully stiff.
How could such a clumsy attempt fool Yuan Xia? He immediately burst out laughing.
“Teacher Yuan, stop laughing.” Sitting in the car, Wang Cheng covered his forehead helplessly. His mouth had moved too quickly, and he had spoken before his brain caught up. This was humiliating.
Yuan Xia answered by laughing even harder.
A few seconds later, Wang Cheng heard another man’s voice come through the phone, and Yuan Xia’s laughter dropped in volume. His lover had probably returned. Wang Cheng immediately said, “Teacher Yuan, your man’s back, right? Let’s leave it here. We’ll talk next time.”
He hung up before Yuan Xia could answer. Wang Cheng had only just breathed a sigh of relief when his phone rang. He thought it might be Chu Yifeng, but when he looked at the screen, it was someone else.