"Someone gave me the contact for a juice factory before; I'll call them for you and see if they buy watermelons."
Chen Yiyang smoothly offered to 'help out' Zhang Fu.
Not suspecting anything, Zhang Fu promptly expressed his gratitude, "Thanks, buddy. The juice factory doesn't have high quality requirements for fruit; if they're willing to buy, I'll sell it to them cheaply."
Even though it was already past 1 a.m.
Chen Yiyang made the call, and surprisingly, someone answered immediately.
"Who is this?" A young man's lazy voice came on. Judging from his tone, he didn't seem to be sleeping and was in a good mood.
So Chen Yiyang began to speak, "Is this Manager Zhao from Linghui Juice Factory? We have a truckload of watermelons here. Do you want them?"
"Watermelons?!" The person on the other end suddenly perked up.
"It's not yet the season to harvest watermelons. When our people go to buy watermelons, the sellers say they want to wait for the sunshine to improve, so the quality of watermelons can go up before harvesting them. Where are your watermelons from?"
"I'll hand the phone to the seller; you can talk." Chen Yiyang casually gave the phone to Zhang Fu.
Zhang Fu quickly explained the situation to the manager on the other end.
Although the juice factory had its regular suppliers, it was currently a time of shortage for watermelons.
If they could get a truckload, they would take it.
The other party asked Zhang Fu to drive to the factory immediately.
"Thank you so much, brother; you found a connection for me." After finishing the call, Zhang Fu repeatedly thanked Chen Yiyang.
"No problem, just a handy favor." After speaking, Chen Yiyang got into the truck with Zhang Fu.
He was not worried that Zhang Fu would be scammed again, but wanted to go to the juice factory to expand his network.
The previous experience of snagging jade stones made him realize.
Even with external help, he must have a strong network to fully utilize the intelligence from the bargain-hunting app to make money.
So, regardless of the people's background or profession, knowing more people is never a disadvantage.
Holding Hans, Chen Yiyang climbed into Zhang Fu's truck. The two drove through the night to the Linghui Juice Factory in the suburbs.
At the factory gate, a young man stood with several security guards waiting.
"You must be the sellers of the watermelons, right?" The young man came over and introduced himself, "I'm Zhao Qiankun."
"Your name is so impressive." Chen Yiyang also introduced himself to the young man.
"Hey, having an impressive name is useless; I'm still just a nobody," Zhao Qiankun seemed dissatisfied with his current situation.
Given his age and the fact that he could be a manager at a juice factory, there must be a significant background at home, which might explain his high aspirations.
"The watermelons look good." After glancing at the watermelons, Zhao Qiankun waved his hand and said, "Drive straight into the warehouse; let the security unload it."
After directing the security, he turned to Zhang Fu, "It's so late, the finance department isn't here. I'll scan you the money for the watermelons. Five thousand, right?"
"Yes, yes," Zhang Fu quickly said.
Zhao Qiankun scanned five thousand yuan to Zhang Fu and then invited the two, "Are you guys tired? If not, come to my office for some tea."
"I need to go home after selling the watermelons; it's just my wife watching over the watermelon field," Zhang Fu said, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Okay, leave me your number then. Next time you have watermelons to sell, contact me directly."
After speaking, Zhao Qiankun then looked over at Chen Yiyang.
"Buddy, you don't have a watermelon field too, do you?"
"Not at all," said Chen Yiyang, holding Hans. "But having tea at this hour, are we still going to sleep tonight?"
"Forget sleeping, the higher-ups are having a fire safety inspection, and my old man wants me to stay up here."
"Then I'll say in advance, if I get sleepy, I'll crash in your office."
"No problem."
Zhao Qiankun pulled Chen Yiyang's arm and walked into the factory compound.
The two young men quickly found they were very much on the same wavelength and soon got acquainted.
"Your dog is really nice."
Once inside Zhao Qiankun's office, he saw Hans clearly under the office light and said in surprise.
"I've raised a few German Shepherds too, but none are as good as yours. Yours must be of competition standard, surely."
Squatting in front of Hans, Zhao Qiankun started examining him with his fingers.
"This shoulder height, this ear, these eyes, this fur, definitely a competition-standard German Shepherd. It's not cheap."
"Found it during a bargain opportunity; I didn't spend much," replied Chen Yiyang, who had already checked up on German Shepherds after bringing Hans home.
Hans's appearance, weight, and personality were unquestionably that of a standard competition German Shepherd.
But to know exactly what level within the competition standard, it would need to be determined by a dedicated rating agency.
When Chen Yiyang first acquired Hans, he had thought about finding a channel to sell him.
But after a few days of spending time together, he felt it was nice to have a dog at home, and since he wasn't short on money, he hadn't looked into the price and selling channels for competition German Shepherds, fearing he'd be tempted to sell Hans if he found out.
"It's definitely a skill to find a bargain like this, brother."
Zhao Qiankun played with Hans for a while but Hans was already more exhausted than a dog.
Very soon, he ignored Zhao Qiankun and found a spot to lay down and rest.
"Look, even the dog couldn't stay awake," Zhao Qiankun said, standing up. "Let's drink tea."
The two young men who hit it off continued to chat leisurely in the office as they drank tea.
And so, unexpectedly, they made it all the way to past seven in the morning.
"Time's up, I'm finally free," Zhao Qiankun checked the time, jumped up, and said, "Someone will soon come to take my shift. I can finally get off work."
"Sleep, sleep," Chen Yiyang rubbed his eyes and said, "I need to go home and sleep."
"What sleep in this fine weather!"
Zhao Qiankun grabbed Chen Yiyang and said, "Let me take you to a great place."
"I still have my dog with me; can dogs go to this place you're talking about?" Chen Yiyang pointed at Hans and asked.
"I'll drive you home first; you take the dog back, and then we'll go."
"Alright, alright." Seeing his friend so enthusiastic and having nothing to do today, Chen Yiyang agreed.
So Zhao Qiankun drove his Mercedes-Benz S, taking Chen Yiyang and Hans first to Chen Yiyang's neighborhood to let him take the dog back home.
Then the two of them got back in the car and headed to the next location.
"Why does this place look so familiar?"
After getting out of the car, Chen Yiyang looked up.
Wasn't this the massage shop he wanted to try out the morning before last?
"Qiankun bro," Chen Yiyang pointed to the shop and asked Zhao Qiankun, "Is the great place you're talking about this massage shop?"
"That's right." Zhao Qiankun smiled expectantly and said, "You have no idea how pretty the girls here are. Besides, it hasn't been open long. I've been busy lately and had no time to come, but today I finally have the chance."
"They're shut down due to recent crackdowns," Chen Yiyang told Zhao Qiankun with a face full of sorrow.
"I don't believe it!" Zhao Qiankun, refusing to accept it, called them.
And sure enough, he got the news that the shop was temporarily closed.
"How could this be? I spent the whole night drinking tea just for this," Zhao Qiankun said, full of disappointment.
"Bro, you're driving a Mercedes, don't act like a Cadillac owner. If it's closed, it's closed. How about we head home and get some sleep?"
"That Mercedes is my dad's. My dream is actually to be a Cadillac owner and join the Cadillac owner's club."
Zhao Qiankun sighed, disappointed as he prepared to get back in the car and head home.
But as he looked up, he noticed another massage shop open nearby.
"Hey, there's another one, bro, let's go there!" Zhao Qiankun shouted.
"That's a vegetarian shop with meat prices," Chen Yiyang reminded him.
This was valuable info he had after being ripped off there once.
"Even if it's vegetarian seafood prices today, I'm going for it!" Zhao Qiankun seemed fired up and insisted on dragging Chen Yiyang into that shop.
Then, he ordered the most expensive package for both him and Chen Yiyang.
Which had the lobby manager staring at Chen Yiyang.
They were running a high-price legitimate massage shop here, originally intending to capitalize on the reputation of nearby illegitimate shops to trick some people who wandered in by mistake.
This young guy was here the day before yesterday, how come he's brought a friend today?
Could it be that the skill level of their shop's technicians had recently soared,
justifying the 1299 price tag?
Since it wasn't his money, Chen Yiyang ignored the lobby manager's "big spender" gaze.
After choosing a technician, he and Zhao Qiankun went into separate private rooms.
But halfway through the massage, he just fell asleep.
When he woke up again, it was already afternoon.
As he walked downstairs, the lobby manager at the front desk said to him,
"Mr. Zhao has already settled the bill and left. He's also topped up a card here, saying if you want to continue spending when you wake up, put it on his card."
"Alright, got it." Chen Yiyang nodded, neither in a rush to go home but sat in the massage shop's lobby, eating the fruits and snacks they had there.
Anyway, since the wasted money was spent, was it too much to make up for it by eating a bit?
When he picked up his phone, he noticed a missed call.
He glanced at the note for this number: Zhang Jiuqian Studio.
So he called back.
"Hello Mr. Chen. We've arrived in Jin City."
A familiar female voice came from the other end, "If it's convenient on your end, we can visit your house."
"Home isn't necessary," Chen Yiyang declined, "It's almost lunchtime, I know a tea restaurant, let's meet there."
Lunchtime?
The woman on the other end found Chen Yiyang's words odd and looked at the current time with a perplexed expression.
Two forty in the afternoon.
What country's lunchtime was this?
Actually, Chen Yiyang knew it wasn't lunchtime yet. But since he had already missed the regular eating time,
the time for lunch was naturally decided by his stomach.
So he went home first to take a shower and feed Hans a belated lunch.
Then, with his art tube and paintings, he headed to the tea restaurant.