Reborn As Super Heiress

Zhong Zifan, upon hearing the hostess’s words, realized that she might have misunderstood and quickly pointed to Liao Song, who was checking the goods, and smiled:

"Big sister, we came together."

The big sister looked at Zhong Zifan and then at Huo Sining, and only then did she say with some disappointment, "You came together, eh? Even with a big belly, you’re still looking at goods, you’re really dedicated to your work."

Huo Sining couldn’t help but twitch her mouth, but she didn’t explain much.

Liao Song was inspecting more thoroughly. Possibly because it was his first time doing this kind of business, he didn’t have much experience in this area and could only judge based on what he’d heard from others and read in books, so he was a bit slow.

After he finished looking over the condition of this tree, he was somewhat conservative as well. When he discussed the price with the owner, he also appeared relatively cautious.

However, after hearing the price Liao Song offered, the male owner was fine, but the hostess was immediately displeased. She turned to shout at the middle-aged man who brought Liao Song in:

"Master Xiao, you’re the one who told me that your cousin is generous and honest and definitely won’t let our family suffer a loss. That’s why I kept this tree and didn’t sell it, waiting for your cousin to come and check the goods."

"But look at how your cousin is doing business, being so hesitant with this little money. Does he want to buy or not? Just give me a straightforward answer. If you can’t make up your mind, then wait on the side!"

"Let me tell you this, I have no shortage of buyers for this tree. A big client came to the village today and is looking at trees at the village entrance. He might be here soon, so make your decision!"

The hostess raised her chin, with a look of "buy it or not," and her words were quite pointed. It was clear she was dissatisfied with Liao Song’s haggling.

Hearing this woman’s words, Liao Song couldn’t help but frown, and Liao Song’s cousin and Zhong Zifan also didn’t look too well.

Ornamental walnut trees are different from edible walnuts; they have a low fruit set rate. So, although they bloom profusely, no one knows how many nuts they will produce, and people can only bet based on past experience.

One such ornamental walnut tree, an old one, can bear 400 to 500 pairs of walnuts. The wholesale price per pair is around 500 to 600 yuan, which means such an old tree can earn 200,000 to 300,000 yuan a year.

And if a walnut dealer wants to reserve the whole tree during flowering, they need to pay half the deposit in advance, which is 120,000 yuan.

If you’re lucky and the tree bears more than 500 pairs of walnuts, the extra part is like hitting the jackpot for free.

But if you’re unlucky, the whole tree may not even produce 300 pairs of walnuts, or even fewer. Then the buyer who reserved this tree would incur a significant loss.

This is similar to the gambling nature of jade cutting, but compared to jade, gambling on the walnut tree cycle takes longer, needing several months or even half a year from flowering to fruiting.

Due to the long time, buyers have to consider more factors when contracting a whole tree. They can’t make hasty decisions.

After all, tens of thousands as a principal is not a small sum. If you’re really unlucky and the tree bears fewer nuts, then you’re simply out of luck.

As a newcomer like Liao Song, he actually preferred to purchase the nuts when they matured, but he knew that right now the whole ornamental walnut circle was playing by such rules, relying on gambling. If you hesitate not to buy now, by the time the walnuts mature, those trees will all have owners. You won’t even be able to buy them even if you want to; you’ll only be able to watch others reap the harvest.

However, right now, even if he wanted to reserve, the price might not necessarily be agreeable with this hostess.

Clearly, the hostess felt that her tree was good and could bear many nuts, so she was taking a stance, asking for an exorbitant price. Clearly, she’d already received the message that another wealthy buyer was in the village, so she wasn’t in a hurry to sell but was waiting for that big client to come in and then hold out for a higher price.

But because of this, Liao Song’s previous plan to compete for resources with the wealthy buyer who had suddenly appeared in the village was likely to be foiled.

This was the last household at the far end of the village. Further ahead, those families were sure to have gotten the news earlier than this one.

So, surely everyone in the village knows there’s a big buyer here today. Every household is probably waiting to sell at a good price. Even if Liao Song came now, those people wouldn’t easily let go. They might even hope from the bottom of their hearts that Liao Song and the wealthy buyer engage in healthy competition, preferably by bidding against each other. This way, the villagers could just sit and reap the benefits of a fisherman.

Seeing this situation, a hint of worry flashed in Liao Song’s eyes. He vaguely felt that he might not have checked the calendar before going out today, and he was probably going to come back empty-handed.

Seeing Liao Song’s expression, Cousin Xiao also felt a bit sorry and quickly gave Liao Song a look. The group came out of the hostess’s house feeling dejected.

"The situation isn’t too good, Brother Liao Song. If you really want to harvest, the price might not be low enough!"

Huo Sining saw the hostess’s demeanor and knew the situation was unfavorable for Liao Song. Once they were out the door, she couldn’t help but say.

Liao Song nodded: "The market is rising, and these farmers are now well-informed. Not one of them is a fool, they’ll definitely jack up the prices. As long as there’s profit to be made, those walnut dealers are also willing to yield some profit."

"I’m not necessarily trying to drive down the price, it’s just that this woman is asking for an outrageous price. This business inherently has a gambling nature. If something goes wrong with the tree by harvest time, these farmers don’t have to bear any responsibility. It’ll be us walnut merchants who lose money."

Hearing Liao Song’s words, Huo Sining couldn’t help but nod, agreeing with his point. This kind of business is like raw stone merchants; if a merchant knew all his raw stones would yield green gems, unless he’s a fool, he’d definitely crack those stones open himself first.

It’s known that selling raw stones and selling jade roughs are two completely different prices. If they really all yield green, the raw stone merchants would make huge profits.

In the same way, these farmers know that no one can predict how much the walnut trees could bear this year. So by adopting this whole-lot reservation method, they’re shifting all the risks onto the middlemen selling the walnuts. No matter how much fruit the tree bears, once it’s sold now, whether it turns a profit or loss in the future won’t affect them.