Chapter 10

Qin Lin watched Zhao Moqing and his mother washing dishes in the kitchen, a smile spreading across his face.

Moqing's presence had brought more smiles to his mother's face, and she seemed to be in a much better mood.

More smiles and a good mood would do his mother's health good.

His mother clearly wanted to help him marry Moqing, but their family's financial situation made it impossible.

Therefore, he had to save up for a down payment on a house as soon as possible, then show his mother the marriage certificate and bring Moqing home.

This was probably what he wanted to do most right now, and one could say he had no great ambitions.

However, there were always things in life more important than ambition.

Thinking about this, he looked at the game screen, wishing he could activate a cheat to level up his character and plant all the red strawberries, earning millions a day.

When Qin Lin was about to send Zhao Moqing back, Lin Fen followed them downstairs to the neighborhood, repeatedly reminding him, "Xiao Lin, remember to send Moqing home safely, and ride slowly on the way..."

"Mom, I know!" Qin Lin replied with a smile, then rode out of the neighborhood with Zhao Moqing.

Zhao Moqing lived in the Dongcheng Mingyuan neighborhood.

Qin Lin stopped his bike in the neighborhood, and the environment alone made him feel the stark difference from the old neighborhood he rented.

This was one of the best neighborhoods in Youcheng County, with housing prices reaching 14,000 yuan per square meter, and a 120-square-meter house with renovation costing over 2 million yuan.

For comparison, many houses in the provincial capital also cost around 2 million yuan, showing how inflated the housing prices were in this small Youcheng.

Every time he came here, he had to consider a problem: if he followed the normal path, he would have to live frugally and spend 3-5 years paying off his family's debts.

If there were no opportunities to earn more money during this period, it would take another 5 years or even longer to save up for the down payment.

This was assuming that housing prices would not rise in the future.

Every time he came here, he felt a bit nervous, fearing he might let Zhao Moqing down.

Fortunately, the game in his mind could pull him out of this powerless quagmire.

Zhao Moqing seemed to sense Qin Lin's emotions and didn't get off the bike. Instead, she leaned her face against his back, "Qin Lin, why don't we just come out to our families? I want to fight with you."

Qin Lin knew that Zhao Moqing was expressing her determination; she had brought up this topic more than once.

He grabbed her hand and promised, "Didn't I say I need some time? Don't worry, I've started a new business, doing wholesale, and it's more profitable than before. I'll bring you home soon."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Okay, I believe you!"

A few simple words showed her confidence in Qin Lin.

After a moment of intimacy, Qin Lin handed another 2 pounds of grade 2 red strawberries to Moqing.

"More?" Zhao Moqing was pleasantly surprised.

The strawberries earlier were so delicious that she and Lin Fen had finished them all.

Qin Lin nodded, "Yes, if you like them!"

Zhao Moqing was naturally delighted and gave Qin Lin a sweet kiss before reluctantly going upstairs. When she got home, she found her mother, Chen Xiao, and her sister-in-law, Li Jiawen, watching TV in the living room.

"Moqing, you're back!" Li Jiawen, who was the same age as Zhao Moqing and worked in makeup, was dressed fashionably. Seeing her sister-in-law return, she smiled and said, "Moqing, come and try these imported strawberries I had someone buy for me. They cost 200 yuan per pound, a rare treat."

As she spoke, she picked up a strawberry and offered it to Zhao Moqing.

Zhao Moqing opened her mouth to accept it.

Li Jiawen put the strawberry in Zhao Moqing's mouth and asked, "How is it? Pretty good, right?"

Zhao Moqing tasted the strawberry and looked at her sister-in-law strangely, "Jiawen, these strawberries cost 200 yuan per pound? Did you get scammed?"

Li Jiawen asked in confusion, "How could that be? My close friend from university helped me buy them. Are they not good?"

Zhao Moqing didn't say anything but took a strawberry from her bag and offered it to Li Jiawen, "Open your mouth!"

Li Jiawen, seeing the red strawberry, opened her mouth to bite it and was stunned because it was much better than the ones she had bought. "Moqing, where did you get these strawberries? They're so delicious, how much do they cost? They must be expensive, right?"

"They shouldn't be expensive!" Zhao Moqing hadn't asked about the price of the strawberries and vaguely said, "These are from Qin Lin. His store sells them cheaply, probably 20 yuan per pound!"

"20 yuan per pound?" Li Jiawen was disheartened when she heard the price, "What? The 200-yuan strawberries aren't as good as the 20-yuan ones. Moqing, I think I was really scammed. 200 yuan, and my friend is done for."

As she spoke, her hand reached into Zhao Moqing's bag.

The strawberries she had bought didn't seem as good anymore; the ones her sister-in-law brought back were much better.

Chen Xiao, hearing Qin Lin's name, frowned and asked, "How is Qin Lin doing recently?"

"Mom, Qin Lin is doing wholesale now. He will get better," Zhao Moqing said, though she didn't really know how Qin Lin's wholesale business was going. She could only say good things about him and quickly ran to her room to avoid further discussion.

Li Jiawen added, "Mom, actually, Qin Lin is a good person, hardworking, and treats Moqing well."

Chen Xiao sighed, "I know he's good, but you know his family situation. How much hardship will Moqing face if she marries him?"

Li Jiawen didn't respond to this.

...

The next day, Qin Lin picked the ripe watermelons and strawberries in the morning and planted new seeds.

After washing up and having breakfast, he went to the warehouse first and took the watermelons out of the game to deliver them to Liu Dasheng and others.

"Xiao Qin, I need to talk to you about something!" Liu Dasheng, after weighing the watermelons, asked somewhat awkwardly, "The price of watermelons has dropped. Can you lower your wholesale price by 20 cents?"

Hearing this, Qin Lin frowned slightly. The price of watermelons had already started to drop?

The drop in watermelon prices was expected. Every year, the price of watermelons soared in July and August, but by the end of September, they started to drop.

However, the wholesale market in Youcheng had already seen a price drop this year?

After some thought, he understood the reason. After all, he had joined the market, supplying over 800 watermelons, or more than 9,000 pounds, each day, which had certainly impacted the small county's market.

In this case, he needed to consider planting something else. Once the price of watermelons dropped, they would become less valuable, and by the end, they might sell for less than 1 yuan per pound, leaving little profit.

Sure enough, when he delivered the goods to Carrefour in the evening and settled the payment, Manager Chen also mentioned the price drop.

This made him even more determined to stop growing watermelons.

As soon as he left Carrefour, he sent a message to the other store owners, roughly saying, "The watermelons from my second uncle's nephew's uncle's son's field are sold out. You can buy them from the market tomorrow."

He didn't feel guilty about suddenly stopping the supply. After all, they were in business, and there was no long-term supply contract.

After that, he immediately looked at the game screen in his mind, controlling the game character to leave the farm and go to the seed store in Mineral Town to check if there were any crops that could be planted on the beginner's land and were more profitable than watermelons.

At the same time, he went online to check the prices of these crops, naturally choosing one that was suitable, safe, and expensive.

After searching for a while, he found a very suitable one.

It was okra.

Okra was the most expensive crop that could be planted on beginner's land, with a similar maturity period to watermelons.

The key was that okra was a seed crop, not a seedling crop, making it as discreet and convenient as watermelons.

Currently, the wholesale price in their southern region had already reached over 6 yuan per pound.

His cost was just the price of the seeds, and he didn't ask for much, just 6 yuan per pound wholesale.

With this in mind, he went to the seed store and bought a bag of okra seeds.

Back home, he entered the game, put the okra seeds in the seed storage box, then exited the game and controlled the game character to dig up the watermelon seeds and plant the okra seeds in the 24 plots.