Taoyuan Village Green Fresh supermarket was the biggest vegetable supermarket in Beijing. The decoration was luxurious and extravagant. It was already very surprising that a store that sold vegetables would use such decorations.
However, what shocked the customers the most was the prices of the stuff.
Even though they were not short of money, when the young masters who didn’t know the prices of daily necessities saw the prices, their expressions were indescribable.
“Is this cabbage?” A well-dressed young man pointed at a cabbage with a puzzled expression.
A young man next to him looked at it, then pointed at a sign and said, “It says here it’s cabbage. That should be cabbage!”
“188 RMB for a cabbage? Am I seeing things?” Li Jiamin saw the price tag on it. “I heard that cabbage should be very cheap. And what is this purple and long thing?”
“This is an eggplant, right?” A young man next to him said with uncertainty, “I’ve seen it on TV. How much does this eggplant cost? 88 RMB for one.”
“88 RMB a piece? That’s really much cheaper than cabbage,” said Li Jiamin. But he was not really correct. One cabbage weighed around three catties, while an eggplant weighed less than half a catty. Therefore, the eggplant was definitely much more expensive.
Normal people would have this common sense. However, these young masters had been well-fed since they were young. The food they ate was prepared by professionals. As for these raw materials, they had never seen them before.
“Ah, this is a tomato, right?” Li Jiamin saw the red tomatoes on the shelf and immediately said with certainty, “This is indeed a tomato. I’ve seen and eaten it before!”
“This tomato smells really fragrant! I remember tomatoes can be eaten raw like fruits.” The young master next to him said.
Then, a shop assistant came over and asked very politely, “Gentlemen, is there a problem?”
Li Jiamin pointed at the tomato and said, “Can these things be eaten directly?”
The shop assistant smiled and said, “Of course! Tomatoes can be eaten directly as fruit. Moreover, our tomatoes taste better when eaten raw. Why don’t we cut one open and let you have a taste?”
“Can we?” Li Jiamin’s eyes lit up.
“Of course!” The shop assistant smiled and said, “Please wait a moment!” After saying that, the shop assistant went to find a fruit knife and a plate. He took a random tomato from the shelf, washed it, and then cut it open. The fragrance was already very strong, but when it was cut open, the fragrance was even more intense.
“It smells so good. Is this a tomato?” A young lady next to them was carrying a basket and holding a four-or five-year-old child with one hand.
The child’s small nose twitched. Then, he said to the young lady in a very cultured manner, “Mom, I want to eat tomatoes. Is that okay?”
At this moment, the shop assistant squatted down with a plate in hand and asked with a smile, “Little child, do you usually like to eat tomatoes?”
The child nodded his head crisply and said, “Yes, I do!”
“Come. I’ll give you a piece to try!” The shop assistant used a toothpick to pick up the tomato slice and handed it to the child.
The child didn’t take it immediately. Instead, he looked at the young lady with a look of inquiry and desire in his eyes.
The young lady smiled and said, “Okay, let’s try it!”
The child immediately took it happily and said, “Thank you, Big Sister!”
The shop assistant gave another slice to the young lady and said with a smile, “Madam, please try it too!”
The young lady looked at the red tomato and smelled the fragrance coming from it. She did not refuse and took it, “Thank you!”
At this time, the child next to her had already taken a bite. He squinted his eyes and said happily, “Mom, the tomatoes are very delicious. They are the best tomato I’ve ever eaten.”
The young lady patted the child’s head and said happily, “Oh, really? Mommy will have a taste too. If they are good, we will buy some back, okay?”
“Okay!” The child nodded happily.
On the other side, the young masters were also itching to try the tomatoes after they were cut open.
“I want to have a taste too. I want to see what’s so special about your tomatoes.” A young man grabbed a slice. “Wow, this is so delicious!” The tomato slice was very juicy and delicious. He swallowed the slice quickly and grabbed some tomatoes from the shelf.
Li Jiacheng and the others around looked at him and were stunned at first. Then, one after another, they took samples of the tomatoes. As the samples disappeared, some didn’t even use the toothpick and grabbed the tomatoes directly.
“These tomatoes are really delicious!” They were soft and fragrant.
“I need to get some.” After someone had tasted them, he didn’t even look at the price and directly took some from the shelf and put them into the basket.
Li Jiacheng and the other young masters were like aunties shopping at the market. They swept the tomatoes into their baskets. Even though the tomatoes were expensive, the young masters were not short of money.
“These tomatoes are 66 RMB each, right?”
Someone saw the price tag and said in surprise, “That is quite expensive. So many people are fighting over them that I thought they were free.”
“Are they actors?” Someone said suspiciously.
“Actors? Don’t you know who owns this supermarket? Do they need to hire actors? But how can the things here be so expensive? Will anyone buy them in the future? Take this cabbage as an example. It’s only two to three RMB per catty in the market. Even the organic vegetables in the big supermarkets are only 20 RMB per catty. But here, it’s sold for 188 RMB per piece.
“Also, look at these small rapeseeds, beans, and carrots. They are all so expensive. They are all more than 60 to 70 RMB. Can an average person afford them?”
“Do you want to buy some to try? These vegetables look really good.”
The person who was asked shook his head and said, “I don’t think so. Everything here is so expensive. I can’t afford them. I’ll buy them at the wet market later. Come, let’s go to the front and have a look!”
“We’re already here, so I think I’ll buy some to try. I want to know how special these things are that their prices are so high!” Then, the person picked an eggplant, which weighed about half a catty. It should be enough to make a dish.
“Wow, are all the things here inlaid with gold? They are so expensive!”
“If they are inlaid with gold, can they be eaten? Before I came, I checked online and found that the things sold here are normally set at these prices. However, they got sold out very easily. The supermarket doesn’t accept reservations. There are 40 to 50 supermarket chains in the country. Their stock will be sold out before noon.”
“Oh? Is their business really that good?” The person asked with suspicion.
“Yes. Haven’t you heard the news? When the scandal about Green Fresh broke out, almost all the supermarkets were closed. Only one remained open. However, many rich people sent people to that supermarket through helicopters to buy vegetables. It was crazy.”
“No way. Is that an exaggeration?”
“It’s not exaggerated at all. You can still find news about it online.”
“It seems that I have to buy some to try then. If they can attract the attention of the rich, then the stuff here might be something extraordinary.”
In short, the customers who entered the supermarket were shocked and confused by the prices.
When the Xiao family entered the supermarket, they were slightly surprised to see that it was bigger than the other stores.
Eldest Aunt Xiao said, “Yu ‘Er, this store is much bigger than the other stores!”
Although Eldest Aunt Xiao did not participate in the opening ceremony of all the stores, she did attend some.
Mother Xiao nodded and said, “It seems to be almost twice as big.”
Xiao Lingyu said, “The first floor is more than 1,100 square meters, the first three floors are the storefront, and the fourth floor is the office. If we calculate the total area, it is indeed twice as big as other shops.”
“Won’t the rent be very high?” Grandma Xiao asked, “As we walked here, the in-law told us about this place. This place is the business center of Beijing. The rent must not be cheap, right?”
For a businessman, the first thing to consider was the cost.
Grandma Xiao was not a businesswoman, but she had learned a lot from Xiao Lingyu.
Xiao Lingyu smiled and said, “Grandma, don’t worry. Our shop doesn’t need to pay rent.”
“Why?” The Xiao family members didn’t quite understand.
Xiao Lingyu looked at Gong Tianhao beside her and said with a smile, “Because the shops on this street belong to Tianhao.”
“All the shops on this street are Tianhao’s?” The Xiao family members were really surprised.
Old master Gong said with a smile, “In-law, it’s just some shops. It’s nothing.”
Everyone, “…”
