"Unless he paid for all the watermelons himself, it's impossible..."
"That's right, a top scholar actually stole someone's watermelon, he really is from a poor and remote area..."
Several maids on the second floor opposite the watermelon stall quietly looked out the window, covered their mouths with their hands and belittled Zhu Ping'an outside. Who made him so ungrateful just now? He even wanted my young lady to be his concubine. He didn't even take a piss to look in the mirror. What an ignorant country bumpkin!
Yan Lan was also looking out the window. Although her pretty face was filled with hatred for a simple-looking young man outside the window, her eyes were shining with an inexplicable brilliance, unlike the contemptuous maids around her.
"What's wrong, Lanlan? Do you think this nerd can really help sell this truckload of melons?"
Li Niang leaned against the window and glanced at Zhu Ping'an outside. Her slender jade hands played with a lock of hair on her chest. The long, smooth black hair flowed happily between her jade fingers. Then she cast her charming eyes on her sister-in-law Yan Lan's face and asked with a giggle. She didn't believe it anyway.
The old man had been selling a cart of watermelons for two days, and only their family bought a few watermelons for the novelty. After hearing the price, other families had no intention of buying. Instead of spending six or seven times more money, it is better to wait ten days for the watermelons to come off the harvest and buy them cheaply.
"This scoundrel!"
Yan Lan did not answer Li Niang. She stared out the window with burning eyes, as if she had returned to the scene of bathing that day. She gritted her teeth and said something hatefully.
The girls on the second floor also looked out the window curiously.
"Don't worry, old man. I have a way to sell your watermelons quickly. You can spend money according to this method in the next few days, and then you will have the money for your son's betrothal gift."
Zhu Ping'an looked at the worried look of the old man selling melons and thought of the time a few years ago when he and his parents set up a stall in the town to sell wild game, and wanted to help the old man solve the problem.
Hearing this, the old man selling melons smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Sir, please don't make fun of me. I will sell here for another day. If it doesn't work, I will try my luck somewhere else tomorrow."
The old man who sells watermelons wants to sell them quickly, because the watermelons will go bad in two days. He is more anxious than anyone else. However, he has lived for fifty or sixty years and has eaten more salt than Zhu Ping'an. He knows why his watermelons cannot be sold, but he can't do anything about it. If he lowers the price, the whole winter's hard work will be wasted, and he has also spent a lot of savings on buying land, fertilizers, and farm tools!
If he wanted to sell the watermelons quickly, he had to lower the price, and it had to be a little bit, at least half as much. Otherwise, they wouldn't be sold. But if he lowered the price, he would lose too much, which he couldn't afford.
It is precisely because he knows the crux of the problem that the old man selling melons does not believe what Zhu Ping'an said.
"Fortunately, this old man has some brains, otherwise he would have been cheated of the watermelon by that man..." The little girls on the second floor had red faces with excitement. Seeing Zhu Ping'an being humiliated, they were very happy and told him that he deserved it for being ungrateful.
Well
Why am I so unconvincing
"Uncle, you're selling too slowly. It'll probably be the same no matter how many places you go." Zhu Ping'an touched his nose and smiled helplessly.
"There's nothing we can do about it." The old man selling melons sighed heavily.
"I have a way to sell your melons faster. Really, believe it or not." Zhu Ping'an shrugged and said it again, his ink-black eyes full of confidence.
"Do you really have a solution?" The old man selling melons raised his head and looked at Zhu Ping'an hesitantly.
"If you sell it, it's your money. If you can't sell it, it's your melon. You won't suffer any loss anyway." Zhu Ping'an smiled with the corners of his mouth.
Yes, whether it can be sold or not, he will not suffer any loss. The old man who sells watermelons thought for a while, and then felt that what Zhu Pingan said made sense. No matter what, he will not suffer any loss. So why not give it a try? Anyway, he has been selling watermelons for a long time and has not sold a single one.
If the little adult in front of me wanted to take advantage of the watermelon, there was no need to go through so much trouble. He could just ask directly. I didn't dare to refuse.
"I wonder what the method that adult is talking about is?" the old man asked after thinking it through.
Oh, old man, you have been fooled by him. He is trying to steal your watermelon... Looking at this scene outside the window, several maids on the second floor opposite covered their eyes and screamed, feeling very disappointed.
"The reason why you can't sell your watermelons is simply that people think the price is too high. If you sell the watermelons and people think they are getting a good deal, then you don't need to shout out, everyone will rush to buy them..." Zhu Ping'an knocked on the watermelon and analyzed softly.
"But if I sell it cheap, I will lose money."
The old man shook his head vigorously and looked at Zhu Ping'an with disappointment. He had just been thinking of giving it a try, but he didn't expect that the method proposed by this little adult was to sell it at a low price. If it could be sold at a low price, I would have sold it at a low price long ago.
"Hahaha... With such a big fuss, I thought he could come up with some clever tricks, but after all this time, it turns out that he was just selling it cheaply..."
"If they could sell it cheaper, they would have already sold it cheaper. You don't need to tell me. Madam is right. A nerd is a nerd. He actually wants others to sell it cheaper. Hahahaha... It's so funny."
The maids on the second floor covered their mouths and laughed, looking down on and mocking the number one scholar outside the window.
Li Niang's charming eyes also showed a smile, but Miss Yan Er beside her frowned slightly, looking as if she was thinking about something.
Facing the doubts from the old man selling melons, Zhu Ping'an just pulled the corners of his mouth and shook his head, looking mysterious.
"Ah? Aren't you selling them at a low price?" The old man selling melons was surprised, and then looked puzzled. What you just meant was to sell them at a low price.
"I'm not selling it at a low price, I'm giving it away for free..." Zhu Ping'an smiled.
"Free... Free..." The melon seller turned pale and stuttered. He was so scared that he looked at Zhu Ping'an as if he was a second-generation bastard from Beijing. He didn't expect that he was a good official who helped the poor people, but he turned out to be evil...
Not only the old man, but the maids on the second floor opposite were also filled with righteous indignation. They criticized Zhu Ping'an verbally and with great contempt.
"Bah, bah, bah, the fox's tail is exposed. He actually wants the old man to give watermelons for free! Look, he is still smiling. It's a shame that he is the top scholar. How shameless."
"He didn't spend a penny, but he wanted to steal someone's cart of melons. He said it so righteously. Look, he's still laughing. How shameless!"
"You have never seen the world and are greedy. Even this truckload of watermelons is such a waste of your time."