[Today's Intelligence]:
Yesterday, while drinking with your fellow townsman Liu Zhiyuan, you obtained the following intelligence:
Next to the tenement building where Liu Zhiyuan rents, there is a standalone courtyard available for rent.
Buried under the western wall of the courtyard are 10 jars of 20-year-old, high-quality Daughter Red wine!
Note: This wine was hidden by a deceased tenant, with a total market value of approximately 200,000!
…
"Daughter Red worth 200,000 in total!"
Seeing the intelligence refreshed today, Jiang Tao's eyes lit up.
Another piece of intelligence worth 200,000!
"It just so happens that I need a small courtyard to store the tangerines this time. Tomorrow, I'll go rent that courtyard first!"
"As for the 10 jars of Daughter Red buried there, I'll have to dig them up quietly in the dead of night!"
Noting that the intelligence mentioned the 10 jars of Daughter Red were hidden by a deceased tenant, Jiang Tao felt no psychological burden.
After reviewing the intelligence, Jiang Tao slipped into bed to sleep.
He slept straight through until 6:45 the next morning.
After getting up, Jiang Tao washed up briefly, put on his clothes, and headed downstairs.
Last night, while drinking, he had made plans with Xiao Liu and the others to meet at 7:00 AM at "Old Guo's Shop" for breakfast.
When Jiang Tao arrived, he saw that Liu Zhiyuan was already there.
The guy was smoking a cigarette with one hand while scrolling through his phone with the other.
Sensing someone looking at him, Liu Zhiyuan looked up, saw Jiang Tao coming in from outside, and greeted him with a cheerful smile, inviting him to sit.
"Brother Jiang, you're here! Come, take a seat."
Jiang Tao sat down and asked with a smile, "What are you scrolling through, looking so happy?"
Liu Zhiyuan grinned and said, "Brother Jiang, haven't you heard? These past few days, a bunch of foreign girls have popped up on Little Red Potato. Now we can get a taste of some international flavor. Look at this one—she's way better-looking than those cookie-cutter, pointy-faced internet celebrities in China!"
"You little punk, just looking at them counts as getting a taste?"
Jiang Tao burst out laughing at Liu Zhiyuan's comment.
Liu Zhiyuan wasn't offended and chuckled, "Just appreciating the view! It's my little hobby! Unlike you, Brother Jiang, married to such a beautiful wife—you're practically a winner at life!"
Jiang Tao smiled encouragingly, "You've got to step up your game too. During the New Year, go on a few more blind dates. Cast a wide net to catch some fish, you know."
"Ugh, with my situation, I'm not counting on getting married. Being single is so much freer!"
"Earn money for myself, spend it on myself, save a few tens of thousands a year, and when I'm old, I'll just move into a nursing home."
Liu Zhiyuan gave a sheepish smile. His hopes for marriage had long been shattered by one failed blind date after another.
Though he worked hard and could earn seventy or eighty thousand a year, in the face of the ever-increasing dowry demands and outrageous requirements back in his hometown, his income was far from enough.
A dowry of 188,000? He could grit his teeth and afford it.
A car worth over 150,000? He could manage that too.
But add to that a fully paid 100-square-meter apartment in Ping County?
That was far beyond what a rural guy like Liu Zhiyuan could bear!
In their hometown of Ping County, the base salary was barely 3,000 a month, and there weren't any proper large-scale enterprises in the county.
Yet, housing prices were outrageously high.
Even old, rundown second-hand apartments averaged over 4,000 per square meter.
For high-rise apartments built within the last 10 years, prices soared to 7,000 per square meter!
Back when Jiang Tao married Xu Li without a car or a house, he had truly struck gold.
Over the years, every time he visited his in-laws during the New Year, his mother-in-law never missed a chance to subtly imply that he had gotten a steal with her daughter.
"You're still young; you'll have plenty of opportunities in the future."
Jiang Tao smiled and patted Liu Zhiyuan's shoulder. On the topic of marriage, he didn't feel it was his place to give advice.
Getting married or staying single was a personal choice, just two different attitudes toward life—neither right nor wrong.
Changing the subject, Jiang Tao asked, "Xiao Liu, have you thought about what I mentioned last night? Want to join in? If this deal goes through, we could make a decent profit."
"Brother Jiang, I thought about it, and I feel there's still some risk involved."
"So… I can only put in 50,000 at most. Anything more is beyond my risk tolerance."
Liu Zhiyuan answered straightforwardly. For him, 50,000 was already a significant investment.
"Alright, 50,000 it is. Invest whatever you're comfortable with."
Jiang Tao didn't care how much others invested.
His goal was to get everyone on the same boat so they could help him sell the tangerines together.
With 250,000 worth of tangerines, there was no way he could sell them all by himself in a week.
The intelligence system indicated that this market trend would last only a week at most.
After that, prices would drop, and profits would shrink.
So, they had to act fast and wrap things up within a week to maximize profits.
If he was eating the meat, his buddies should at least get a sip of the soup.
Otherwise, they might feel resentful and not work as hard.
As Jiang Tao and Liu Zhiyuan chatted, Shan Yufei and Zhang Chao arrived, and the group was complete.
They ordered four baskets of steamed buns, along with tofu pudding, wonton soup, and millet porridge.
The four ate and talked. Like Liu Zhiyuan, Shan Yufei was also prepared to invest 50,000.
Zhang Chao said he didn't have any spare cash but was willing to help sell the tangerines.
And so, Jiang Tao contributed 250,000, Liu Zhiyuan 50,000, and Shan Yufei 50,000, pooling a total of 350,000.
Jiang Tao's share was 71%, while Liu Zhiyuan and Shan Yufei each had 14%.
The remaining 1% was set aside for group meals and fuel expenses.
If this project succeeded, they'd have to celebrate with a big meal at a decent restaurant.
After eating their fill, Jiang Tao and the others drove four trucks to the fruit wholesale market they had visited the previous day.
Liu Zhiyuan and the other two were regulars there and knew many of the bosses.
In the end, they decided to work with a boss named Liu.
The boss, Liu Yue, was 35 years old, about 1.6 meters tall, with fair skin and a certain charm.
Liu Yue had been running her business at the fruit wholesale market for over a decade, with a solid reputation and strong connections.
For her, a 350,000 deal for tangerines wasn't a big order.
After some haggling by Jiang Tao and the others, they managed to knock 2 yuan off the price per crate, bringing it down to 33 yuan per crate.
In the end, they ordered 10,606 crates, saving over 20,000 just on the purchase.
This was one of the benefits of pooling their money to buy in bulk.
To sell all 10,606 crates in seven days, they'd need to sell at least 1,500 crates per day.
Even with superhuman effort, Jiang Tao couldn't do it alone.
With four people selling, the difficulty was reduced fourfold.
Each person would need to sell about 378 crates a day to meet the goal.
Liu Yue had 3,000 crates in stock that day, with the remaining 7,606 crates to be delivered the next day.
According to the intelligence system, the price of tangerines wouldn't start soaring until the day after tomorrow.
So, delivery tomorrow was fine.
The four of them filled their trucks, each taking 300 crates back to Xiaoshahe Village.
Jiang Tao smoothly rented the standalone courtyard next to Liu Zhiyuan's place for a short-term lease of one month at 2,300 yuan.
The courtyard was spacious, with an area of about 70–80 square meters, perfect for storing the tangerines.
After renting the courtyard, they unloaded the tangerines from the trucks into the yard and made a few more trips to the market to haul the rest.
It took three round trips to transport all 3,000 crates for the day.
The 3,000 crates of tangerines were stacked in the courtyard, covered with a large tarp.