After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH44

Chapter 44: Buying Trees

Lu Ao had never heard of Harumi, but he was very familiar with its common name, papa mandarin.

Every winter and spring, he would buy quite a lot of papa mandarins.

Papa mandarins were sweet, crisp, and tender, especially the flesh inside each orange segment. Each juice sac was large and plump, and the texture was excellent when bitten into.

Lu Ao was interested. “Would it be convenient to take us to have a look?”

“Convenient, convenient. What’s inconvenient about that?” Old Chen said. “When I bought those Harumi trees, they were already quite expensive. One cost me a thousand yuan. I heard they were imported from abroad. I didn’t have much money, so I didn’t buy many. I bought five in total. Later, two died, and now three are left.”

Lu Ao was a little surprised. “The saplings were that expensive? How big were they when you bought them?”

“Not very big. About up to my thigh. My friend said those saplings were good. If I had bought other saplings, they wouldn’t have been that expensive.”

“Since these saplings are so valuable, isn’t anyone cultivating them?”

“There are. They started a few years ago. But no one knows what the quality of the cultivated saplings is like, so they can’t sell for a high price. Most are only a few dozen to a hundred yuan each.”

Old Chen led them up to the mountainside. “The Harumi trees are planted here.”

Lu Ao looked over. Three citrus trees stood side by side. Each one was quite tall, at least three meters high. Their crowns spread out like huge green umbrellas.

At this time, all three Harumi trees had already bloomed. Small white flowers were either hidden among the leaves or exposed outside them, adding lively embellishment to the citrus trees.

Old Chen kept bees in the orchard, and countless little bees buzzed around the citrus trees collecting nectar, making the orchard look especially thriving.

This was Lin Dawu’s first time visiting his orchard too. Looking at the scene, he could not help praising, “You’ve managed this orchard really well.”

“Of course. Every bit of it was managed with sweat split into eight parts. Fertilizing, pruning, weeding—nothing was neglected.” Old Chen said proudly, “I’ll take you to see the waxberries.”

The three of them followed him. His waxberries were planted on the mountain top.

Several waxberry trees were heavy with red fruit, and quite a few had ripened to a purplish red.

As soon as Lin Dawu saw them, he asked, “These waxberries are already ripe. Why haven’t you sold them yet?”

“A fruit dealer made an appointment to come the day after tomorrow, so I left them for him.” Old Chen dragged a ladder out from under the tree. “I’ll pick some for you to try.”

Lin Qiyan quickly aimed the camera at Old Chen as he held the ladder and climbed the tree.

Old Chen cut down seven or eight branches together with the fruit. After coming down, he handed them over. “These waxberries are hybrids of our local waxberries. They don’t have a name, but the flavor is very strong. They aren’t bland like ordinary waxberries.”

Lin Dawu took a branch, picked off a waxberry, blew on it lightly, and put it into his mouth.

Lu Ao carefully observed them and saw that there really were no bugs on the waxberries before picking one to taste.

Old Chen had not been bragging. His waxberries were indeed good. When Lu Ao bit down, the inside was full of rich juice.

The waxberries were very sweet, but their flavor was also strong and full, not bland at all.

After Lu Ao finished eating, he found that the pit inside was very small too. A waxberry the size of a marble had a pit only the size of a mung bean.

Lu Ao ate several in a row and looked up, only to see Old Chen watching him nervously.

Lu Ao nodded. “They really are delicious.”

Old Chen broke into a smile. “What other trees are you interested in? I’ll take you to see them.”

“Let’s look at the loquats, and the cherries too.”

“Okay. Let’s head down a little.”

Old Chen took Lu Ao to see the loquat trees, cherry trees, and fig trees.

His orchard mainly grew cherries. There were fifty large cherry trees, each seven or eight meters tall. Every year when they bore fruit, he had to hire people from town to come pick cherries.

Just from this orchard of cherries alone, his annual net income was one or two hundred thousand yuan.

Lu Ao looked around and asked, “Are all these fruit trees for sale?”

“They’re for sale!” Old Chen said. “Aside from the fruit trees currently bearing fruit, which aren’t easy to move, all the others are for sale! The fruit-bearing ones are for sale too, but only after this crop of fruit is harvested.”

Lu Ao considered his words before asking, “May I ask why you suddenly want to sell the fruit trees?”

Old Chen froze, and a bitter look suddenly appeared on his face.

Lin Dawu said softly from the side, “Sister-in-law is sick. He wants to sell the fruit trees to pay for her treatment.”

Old Chen wiped his face and said, “Yes. My wife is sick. I want to take her to Xinluzhou to have a look.”

As he spoke, Old Chen’s eyes reddened a little. “Her kidneys weren’t good to begin with, and she has to go to the county for dialysis every week. Now they’ve found a tumor in her brain too. I really have no choice. Otherwise, with such a good orchard, how could I bear to sell it?”

“Don’t worry. These fruit trees of mine are all good trees. My home is here, and I can’t run away.” Old Chen said, “If you buy the fruit trees and don’t know how to grow them, I’ll provide after-sales support.”

Lu Ao had not expected this answer, and for a moment, he felt uncomfortable.

Lin Qiyan, who was holding the camera beside them, also froze.

In this era, it was actually rare to see someone willing to exhaust their family fortune to treat their spouse’s illness.

Sister-in-law Chen looked ordinary too. Her skin was dark, she had single eyelids, and there were spots on her face. She was not beautiful.

It was hard to imagine Old Chen being willing to bankrupt himself for her, all to grasp at a sliver of hope—even if pouring all that money in might not bring a good outcome.

Lu Ao paused for a moment and asked, “Brother Chen, how are you selling these fruit trees?”

“The cherry trees are a little more expensive. Six thousand yuan each. Harumi is five thousand. Waxberry is three thousand. Pomelo is two thousand. Loquat is fifteen hundred,” Old Chen said. “If you buy a lot, I’ll give you a fig tree for free.”

Lu Ao was thinking.

Old Chen thought he found it too expensive and quickly explained, “These are all good cherry trees. Real, solid cherry trees, all grafted onto top-quality rootstocks. If you manage them well, one tree can bear more than fifteen hundred jin of fruit in a year. You’ll make your money back after just one crop.”

“I don’t think they’re expensive.” Lu Ao smiled at him and said, “I’m thinking about where I can plant them.”

Lin Dawu very much wanted to help make this deal happen and asked, “Doesn’t your family have a mountain?”

“We have a low hill, but it’s covered in trees. They said it can’t be cut down, developed, or used.”

Lin Dawu asked, “Then can you contract a mountain? Contract it for fifty years, and it won’t be much different from your own.”

Old Chen looked over full of hope.

Lu Ao pondered. For a moment, he seemed unable to make up his mind. When he looked up, he met Old Chen’s eager gaze.

Their eyes met.

Old Chen felt embarrassed and quickly said, “Take your time thinking. This is a lot of money. Don’t decide all at once.”

That amount of money was not much to Lu Ao. One cherry tree was six thousand yuan. Even if he bought all of them, plus the loquats, waxberries, and the rest, it would only be a little over three hundred thousand.

It was just that he had recently been bidding on a boat, and his money was tied up there. The cash he had on hand might not be enough to take care of this too.

Hearing that Old Chen was in a hurry, Lu Ao said, “Let me think about it.”

After the group finished looking at the fruit trees, they went down the mountain. Sister-in-law Chen had already prepared lunch at home.

Because there were guests, Sister-in-law Chen had specially slaughtered a duck and made them a spicy stir-fried duck dish. There was also plenty of fish and snails.

Five people were eating, yet the table was covered with eight dishes and one soup.

Seeing the Chen family in such difficulty yet still being so hospitable, Lin Dawu and the others felt very uneasy.

They wanted to leave.

Old Chen and Sister-in-law Chen insisted on keeping them, saying the weather was so hot and they did not have a refrigerator. If the food was not eaten now, it would all spoil by tomorrow morning.

Hearing that, everyone could only stay for the meal.

Sister-in-law Chen was in poor health, but her cooking skills were superb.

The whole table of food was very delicious.

Lin Qiyan ate at the table, his expression gloomy the entire time.

He put down his chopsticks and finally made up his mind. “Brother Chen, I want to buy two cherry trees. Is that okay?”

Lin Qiyan only made videos and did not have an online shop, so his income was limited. He earned only seven or eight thousand a month. His income was better only when he got advertisements.

That income had to support two people. His grandmother was also old and would occasionally fall ill. Once medical expenses came up, there was not much money left at the end of each month.

Spending twelve thousand on two cherry trees was already his limit.

Old Chen understood his intention and quickly said, “No, no. If you’re only planting them to eat cherries, buying cherry trees isn’t worth it. Twelve thousand is enough for you to eat cherries for decades.”

Sister-in-law Chen also advised him, “We appreciate your kindness. Go back and discuss it with your family. Don’t spend money recklessly.”

Lin Qiyan said, “I’m not spending recklessly. I’m pretty good at earning money. I want to buy two cherry trees. Later, I can pass them down to my sons and grandsons. They can count as heirlooms.”

Everyone did not know he was gay and that he could not possibly have sons or grandsons. Hearing his plan, they felt it was somewhat reasonable and stopped persuading him.

Old Chen was just about to reply when Lu Ao said, “Lin Qiyan, don’t compete with me. I want all fifty.”

Then he said to Old Chen, “Sell them to me. We’ll draft a contract later. The trees can stay here for now. I’ll go back and contract a mountain, then find people to haul them over.”

No matter what, he was someone who had sold a single fish for several hundred thousand. At worst, he would go take a few more trips around the sea over the next few days. He refused to believe he could not catch any valuable fish.

If he really had cash flow problems, he still had a house in Xiding City. He could use it as collateral for a loan when the time came. At worst, he would pay a little more interest.

After Lu Ao made up his mind and saw how uneasy Old Chen and his wife looked, he changed the subject. “Speaking of which, there’s one more thing I’d like to ask you for help with.”

Old Chen immediately asked, “What is it? Tell me.”

“I want to ask where ginkgo trees are sold. My ancestors planted a ginkgo tree at home. They didn’t know that ginkgos need both a male and a female tree to bear fruit. Now there’s only one female tree there, and it hasn’t borne fruit all these years. Since I’m living at home now, I want to buy a male ginkgo tree.”

Old Chen asked, “How big of one do you want? My brother-in-law has ginkgo trees. His family planted a whole grove. If you’re not in a hurry, you can buy a small ginkgo tree and slowly grow it.”

“I’d rather buy a big one. The ginkgo tree at home has already been planted for decades. It wouldn’t be good to delay it any longer.”

Hearing him say that, Old Chen readily said, “Then I’ll call and ask for you.”

Old Chen called his brother-in-law.

After hearing the whole story, his brother-in-law asked over the phone, “You really want to buy a male ginkgo tree? Did you distinguish the male and female trees correctly?”

Old Chen was just about to ask Lu Ao when Lu Ao had already heard and said to him, “We distinguished them correctly. Male ginkgo leaves have deep splits, while female ginkgo leaves only have a small notch. We didn’t mix them up.”

Old Chen had turned on the speaker, so his brother-in-law heard too and said, “As long as you didn’t mix them up. How big of a ginkgo tree do you want?”

Lu Ao said, “As long as it can bloom.”

Old Chen’s brother-in-law said, “Then all right. I’ll dig up a five-year-old ginkgo for you. That isn’t worth much. Since you bought my brother-in-law’s trees, I’ll just give you the ginkgo. You can come pick it up yourself.”

Old Chen did not feel comfortable letting his brother-in-law take a loss because of him, but he also could not contradict him, afraid Lu Ao would misunderstand.

He stammered for quite a while before his brother-in-law said, “I still have to go to the fishpond. I’m hanging up first. When you’re coming, just call and let me know.”

Old Chen hung up and said to Lu Ao, “It’s settled.”

Lu Ao said, “Thank you for the trouble. How about this? I’ll pay the market price when the time comes. I’ll have to trouble you to go pick it up from your brother-in-law’s place. Later, I’ll hire a truck to come over and haul the fruit trees together.”

“Ah, how can I accept that?”

“It’s fine. I can’t let you take a loss.” Lu Ao asked, “Shall we talk about the contract now?”