After a busy day, Chen Pingjiang was utterly exhausted, but he was merely a fountain commander.
Zhou Guanghan, who had done a lot of physical labor since childhood and was a sports student, was the true ADC.
At four in the afternoon, the truck driver arrived at the entrance of Tongcheng University with over seven hundred catties of grapes.
Chen Pingjiang ritualistically set up a small table, hung banners...
Before long, many people had gathered in twos and threes in front of the stall.
At four o'clock, the sun was still quite strong, but the students didn't mind, arriving early.
Yesterday, they heard that "Sunshine Rose" was very popular, and their girlfriends were clamoring, saying that girls in the same dorm had received gifts from their boyfriends,
"Why don't I have one? Do you not love me?"
Who could resist that, folks?
"Everyone, please queue up! Today's supply is ample, but each person is limited to two portions per day!"
Yesterday, someone bought ten bunches at once, which taught Chen Pingjiang a lesson.
He quickly blocked the way for scalpers and proxy buyers, as these university students were quite cunning.
"Today's New Product Release, Limited Time Sale Ing!"
A few girls at the front of the line tilted their heads, pointing at the drink cups in the cart.
"This looks so delicious, Xiaoyu, let's get a cup."
"Okay, okay, I think this Grape Yakult tastes great."
...
Next to the small table, an additional long folding table was added, covered with various grape juices, which were Chen Pingjiang's new products launched today.
The banner detailed the product categories.
"Iced Coconut Grapes, 5 yuan/cup. Xiaochen's Masterpiece, first created in 2006, selects seasonal Sunshine Rose grapes from the golden production area at 40 degrees North latitude. Each fresh grape is hand-peeled and paired with a coconut milk tea base."
"Grape Yakult, 6 yuan/cup. A major work of 2006, sweet, sour, smooth, and fragrant, fully showcasing silkiness, the taste of love, you'll know it when you buy it."
"Grape Burst Lemon Oolong Tea, 5 yuan/cup,..."
"Toffee Hazelnut Aroma..."
Chen Pingjiang put a lot of thought into the packaging; these were the results of preparations from a while ago.
He made various flavors of grape fruit tea in his rented room, then packed them into foam boxes filled with ice packs, keeping them at a low temperature.
Now, taking them out to sell was perfect timing.
For the style, logo, etc. of the plastic cups, Chen Pingjiang had many discussions with the design company and manufacturer, revising the drafts several times.
These were plastic cups that broke through the aesthetics of 2006.
Chinese people have a "since you're already here" mentality.
Plus, at 5 PM, the sun hadn't set, and people gathered together, sweating profusely from the heat.
At this moment, with a cup of iced drink in front of you, would you buy it or not?
And it's different from the outdated bubble teas on the market, would you buy it or not?
"Wow, what is this? It's so delicious!"
"Yeah, I've decided I'm going to drink one every day from now on!"
There was no breeze on a summer evening, and it was sweltering.
Now, with a cool fruit tea in their stomachs, the heat was dispelled, and they had more energy to queue.
Most importantly, girls these days had never tasted anything like this...
The commotion at the front of the line quickly caught everyone's attention, and many people directly cut in line to buy a cup first, drinking while queuing.
This was undoubtedly another wave of dimensionality reduction attack.
Chen Pingjiang was extremely strict about the quality control of the Sunshine Grapes for sale.
Even slightly bad or rotten grapes, or even small ones or those with poor appearance, were all discarded.
This was his confidence in daring to sell them for twenty yuan a bunch.
However, doing so would undoubtedly cause costs to skyrocket.
On the one hand, to control costs and increase new profit points, and on the other hand, after removing individual bad or rotten grapes, a bunch of grapes could still be eaten, but their appearance was poor, making it a waste to throw them away.
Therefore, juicing these grapes to make fruit tea was simply a killer move.
Coupled with the hot weather and students queuing, the sales scenario was perfectly set.
In those days, some milk tea shops that would become popular later were either not yet established or had not entered the mainland market.
It was not until 2004 that the first Street Guest milk tea takeaway shop opened in Shanghai, which then became an instant hit on the streets, but the flavors were still the classic bubble tea and silk stocking milk tea.
The concept of fruit tea already existed in first-tier cities, but Tongcheng, a fourth-tier small city, had never even heard of it.
This sudden combination of "grape + coconut milk," "grape + Yakult," and "grape + oolong tea" directly revolutionized the students' worldview.
So milk tea could be made like this? And it's so delicious!
In fact, if you were to ask how delicious it was, Chen Pingjiang would probably scratch his head.
He didn't have the machines and technology of later generations, no high-temperature brewing or high-pressure extraction.
It was just simple mixing, repeatedly adjusting the proportions and taste, but even so, the taste was quite memorable.
Students bought it for its novelty, and everyone who tasted it for the first time found it delicious.
"No, no, Yanzu, each person is limited to one cup."
"I have money, why won't you sell it?"
"It's not about money, so many people are waiting. Tomorrow, tomorrow I'll prepare more stock."
"Then... alright, I'll have six cups tomorrow."
...
Chen Pingjiang was sweating profusely from his busy work, his crossbody bag was bulging, and he was directly using a large plastic bag to hold money.
Students' money is so damn easy to earn!
The combination of Sunshine Rose + fruit tea directly ignited the enthusiasm of the university students at Tongcheng University.
There were so many people that the road was completely blocked.
Nearby merchants watched, their eyes turning red with envy.
This is faster than robbing a bank, damn it!
The area where Chen Pingjiang's stall was located was very inconspicuous.
After all, although it was just a temporary snack street, most of the stalls were fixed, and the vendors in this particular section were latecomers.
Now they benefited from Chen Pingjiang's popularity; people hot from queuing would grab an ice cream, and hungry from queuing would get a bowl of fried rice.
If there were an aerial shot, the siphon effect of the crowd would be clearly visible.
Foot traffic at the start of the street was normal, but at the end of the street, it was exploding.
It even alarmed Tongcheng University's security department, and soon several security guards arrived to maintain order.
This also relieved Chen Pingjiang.
He was very afraid that students might get into disputes over cutting in line or fights due to arguments, which would render his hard-earned efforts to maintain the situation useless.
Leaving Zhou Guanghan, who was acting as a helper and packing, Chen Pingjiang walked around to one of the older security guards who was directing.
"Thank you, leader, your presence has been a great help to us."
Chen Pingjiang enthusiastically offered a cigarette, with a practiced ease that was almost heartbreaking.
The security captain looked at Chen Pingjiang in surprise, then hesitated as he looked at the offered cigarette.
"I'm the grape vendor. Today, I really want to thank all the leaders for helping maintain order. I'm truly grateful, truly grateful."
Hearing him say that, the security chief no longer hesitated, took the cigarette, and calmly tilted his head to accept Chen Pingjiang's light.
"Your business is very good. I heard you're a freshman at our school?"
"Yes, I'll be enrolling in a few days."
Chen Pingjiang lied without batting an eyelid.
"Today's university students are really impressive, running such a big business before even starting school."
The security chief looked at Chen Pingjiang with some admiration, as if trying to memorize his appearance.
But in his eyes, Chen Pingjiang really didn't look like an incoming freshman; the mastery of his smoking posture couldn't be achieved without six or seven years of smoking, could he have started smoking in elementary school?
Especially his adeptness in handling social situations, it was nothing like an average university student.
"Leader, a small token of my appreciation."
Saying this, Chen Pingjiang handed over a carton of Huazi cigarettes plus four boxes of pre-packaged Sunshine Rose grapes.
These were prepared by Zhou Guanghan last night.
He had asked Chen Pingjiang what they were for at the time, and upon learning their purpose, he gave a thumbs-up and exclaimed,
"Uncle-Grandpa, awesome!"
The security chief reached out to decline,
"This is against regulations, it would be a mistake."
"Hey, I'm not even a student at Tongcheng University yet, and I'm not asking you to do anything. I'm just thanking everyone for helping maintain order today. These grapes are very sweet; take them back for your brothers' wives and children to try. You can't refuse on their behalf."
Chen Pingjiang said, smiling and taking a puff of his cigarette.
The security chief looked around, realizing at some point Chen Pingjiang had led him to a quiet spot with no one else nearby.
Feeling much more at ease, he nodded:
"No need to be so polite. Don't worry, I'll make sure my guys maintain order for you today."
Chen Pingjiang's few words dispelled his concerns.
Their relationship wasn't one of transactional bribery; if it was just a thank you, the school wouldn't mind.
Moreover, if his subordinates knew he had refused the grapes, they might complain about him.
He had heard some colleagues at work say they wanted to buy a bunch to take home for their wives and daughters to taste, so if he took them now, everyone would surely trust him more.
They were busy until 8:30 PM, without even having time to eat, before they finally sold out all the goods they had brought today.
This was one hundred cups of various fruit teas plus three hundred bunches, totaling nearly seven hundred catties of grapes, all sold out in just four hours.
If the fruit shops in the city knew about this achievement, they would go crazy.
The grandfather and grandson finished packing up and returned to their rented room at eleven at night, too tired to even shower, and simply collapsed onto their beds.
"Erzi, go count the money."
Chen Pingjiang lay sprawled on the bed, playing dead, muttering in a muffled voice.
Zhou Guanghan was utterly exhausted.
His work was several times more than Chen Pingjiang's; he packed for four hours and stood for four hours without a break.
During the day, he also had to unload, sort fruit, and load goods, doing the work of three people.
"Uncle-Grandpa, you count it. Farming at home wasn't this tiring."
"The bed has sealed me, I can't move. Besides, you're a sports student, what's a little hardship? Those who endure the bitterest hardships rise above all others."
After a long silence, Chen Pingjiang, fearing Zhou Guanghan had fallen asleep, quickly said,
"Uncle-Grandpa promises you, the first thing I'll do when we get to school is introduce you to a girlfriend."
"Ten, twenty, fifty..."
Chen Pingjiang chuckled.
For an eighteen or nineteen-year-old lad, just mentioning women made everything smell sweet.
(End of this chapter)
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