wavenovel Chapter 14: Garlic You're Ruthless
Chapter 14: Garlic You're Ruthless
Lin Qi originally thought that his uncle would be very excited to learn that he could tell him his girlfriend's QQ album password and would immediately agree to his request.
Zhang Xin only showed a hint of excitement when he first heard the news, and then shook his head in disinterest.
"I'll go with you to get things done, but you can forget about the QQ photo album password."
Seeing this, Lin Qi asked in confusion, "Don't you want to know what he looks like?"
"Yes, I want to!"
Zhang Xin unscrewed the iced tea Qin Jiahui handed him, took a sip, and then explained, "She won't let me see her QQ album because she's not ready to accept me yet."
If she wanted me to see it, she would have given me the password.
What if I secretly look at her photo album and she gets angry?
"..."
Lin Qi stared at him speechlessly: "Didn't you already tell him to call you 'husband'? Why haven't you accepted it yet?"
"..."
Zhang Xin's face behind his side-swept bangs stiffened, and he became furious and embarrassed: "What do you know! Have you ever been in a relationship?"
This is the most important thing in a relationship: trust!
"I can't explain these things to a little kid like you!"
With that, he waved his hand dismissively, ending the conversation.
Lynch wasn't angry.
As long as my uncle agrees to go with me to handle things, that's fine.
Lin Qi pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket and tossed it onto the front desk: "Uncle, take this money. Tomorrow morning, go open an ICBC account and deposit the money in."
Zhang Xin was taken aback when he saw the stack of hundred-yuan bills.
He picked up the money, glanced at its thickness, and his eyes, not hidden by his bangs, were full of suspicion: "Where did you get this money?"
Before Lin Qi could answer, he raised his voice: "You didn't steal your class's funds, did you?"
"..."
Lin Qi couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"Don't talk nonsense."
Qin Jiahui smiled and spoke up for Lin Qi: "Xiao Qi isn't that kind of person."
"Then where did you get so much money?"
Zhang Xin unfolded the folded banknotes and counted them: "Two thousand six? That much? Where did it come from?"
He works as a network administrator at an internet cafe, and his monthly salary is only 800 yuan.
This is more than three months' salary for him.
"Earned."
Lynch was telling the truth, but he didn't explain the process.
"Where do you get so much money?"
Zhang Xin's expression turned serious: "Lin Qi, you're still a student. Don't get involved in any messy things, understand?"
"I know."
Lin Qi thought for a moment and decided to give him an explanation: "I have a classmate whose family is very well-off, and I earned this money from her."
"classmate?"
Zhang Xin remained suspicious: "Which classmate? Male or female?"
"The female classmate's name is Song Shiyin."
My uncle doesn't know Song Shiyin, so I just need to fool him.
"A female classmate?"
Upon hearing that it was a female classmate, Zhang Xin's expression immediately relaxed, and he raised an eyebrow mischievously: "Didn't know? You've finally figured it out?"
"They're just classmates."
Lynch continued to explain, "I was doing someone a favor."
"Help someone with something? What kind of thing?"
Zhang Xin became increasingly puzzled.
"It's a financial matter; you'll find out when you get there."
"How did this get involved in finance again?" Zhang Xin asked, even more worried. "You haven't been scammed, have you?"
No, it won't.
Seeing that he was still hesitant, Lin Qi simply said, "To put it bluntly, it's about trading garlic on an electronic platform, catching a wave of market trends, and making some money."
"What is an electronic trading platform?"
Zhang Xin couldn't understand at all.
"It's just stir-fried garlic."
Lin Qi explained, "The agricultural product trading market in Shouguang allows the buying and selling of cold storage garlic warehouse receipts. Her family has connections and knows that garlic prices are going to rise this year, so she wants to stock up on a batch in advance to make a profit."
"Really?"
Zhang Xin was skeptical: "Didn't all the garlic at home rot in the ground? How could garlic prices go up this year?"
Although he works as a network administrator, he knows how difficult it has been for garlic farmers in the surrounding towns and villages these past two years.
At least in Lynch's family, they lost a lot of money because of growing garlic.
Indeed, the garlic market has been exceptionally bad in the past two years.
Since 2007, when China's garlic exports were restricted by many countries, prices have been declining all the way down.
During the good market years of 2004-2006, the price of garlic remained at 2-3 yuan per jin (500g).
As a result, in 07 the price plummeted to 3 cents per warehousing unit.
The production cost of garlic is 1 yuan per kilogram.
As a result, garlic farmers suffered heavy losses, and Lin Qi's family also lost money that year. The following spring, they had to take out a loan from the credit union and borrow money from others.
Lin Fuze originally thought the market would be better in 08, but things didn't go as planned, and the market was even worse in 08.
Not only have exports not improved, but domestic garlic is also unable to be sold.
In September of the second half of the year, the financial crisis broke out, and prices of all commodities worldwide plummeted, including garlic.
At that time, the price of raw garlic once dropped to as low as 12 cents per pound, and the price of second-grade garlic even dropped to 7 cents per pound.
It's important to know that the cost of cold storage for garlic is 15 cents per kilogram, which is already more than enough to cover the cold storage fees.
As a result, many garlic traders abandoned the garlic in their cold storage and simply ran away.
Some of those who lost a lot of money even took poison or jumped off buildings.
Shandong is a major garlic producing area, and many garlic farmers have suffered heavy losses, including Lin Qi's family.
Many garlic farmers simply gave up on harvesting their garlic, letting it rot in the fields, in order to minimize their losses.
This year, many garlic farmers have given up on growing garlic and have lost hope.
Lin Fuze had the same idea, which is why he went out to work on the construction site with his brother.
But Lynch knew that the garlic market was about to turn around this year.
First, due to the sluggish market conditions for several consecutive years, garlic farmers both domestically and internationally have given up garlic cultivation, resulting in a significant reduction in the planting area.
Domestically alone, the area under garlic cultivation has decreased by about 30%.
However, garlic can be stored in cold storage. Fresh garlic can be stored for more than six months, and dried garlic can even be stored for three to five years.
Several years of sluggish market conditions have resulted in a large amount of garlic being stored in cold storage. A significant portion of this needs to be consumed before prices can rise.
Thus began a marketing campaign that would go down in history.
Lin Qi got up and went to the computer, quit his uncle's game, connected to a VPN, and logged onto the internet.
He opened the Google website and typed in a string of English information: Mexican flu.
Click search, and soon a series of web pages pop up.
Lin Qi clicked on the first webpage, pointed to the content, and asked Zhang Xin, "Can you understand it?"
"What?"
Zhang Xin flicked his bangs: "It's all in English, how am I supposed to understand it?"
"This is a new type of influenza virus that contains gene segments from avian influenza, swine influenza, and human influenza. It is currently breaking out in Mexico and is difficult to prevent. It is estimated that it will spread to China soon."
Lin Qi pointed to the contents and explained to him, "Some people say that eating garlic can prevent this virus, so garlic is being snapped up, causing prices to skyrocket."
"real?"
Zhang Xin stared blankly at the dense English text on the webpage, feeling a chill run down his spine.
"Of course it's true. This is a new type of flu, and it's highly contagious. Unless we completely close the borders and prevent anyone from freely entering or leaving, it will definitely spread."
Lin Qi personally experienced this period. At that time, the school would disinfect each classroom every day, spraying alcohol, and they would also boil vinegar with alcohol lamps in the classroom, filling the room with the smell of vinegar.
"I mean, does eating garlic really prevent this?"
Zhang Xin asked nervously, "If it really can prevent it, we need to tell our family and prepare more!"
Lin Qi looked at him, remained silent for a moment, and then shook his head: "It can't prevent it, it's basically useless."
"Then why did you say garlic would be snapped up?" Zhang Xin was confused.
"Because of the special circumstances, people would rather believe it exists than not, so they would rush to buy it."
Anyway, eating more garlic won't do any harm.
Lin Qi also recalled that this year, garlic prices rose from a few cents per pound to four yuan per pound in just a few months.
This also gave rise to a popular phrase of the year – "Garlic is ruthless".
However, most ordinary people only remember that garlic prices soared this year, becoming so expensive that they could hardly afford it anymore.
But few people know how many people made a fortune from this garlic boom, creating countless wealth myths.