Chapter 13: Golden Dragon Fruit
"You didn't even store them in a carton?" Zhuo Xiong once again expressed his doubts regarding the quality of that batch of dragon fruits because he felt that no matter what, the imported dragon fruit couldn't have been packaged so shabbily.
"Can't you package them yourself when you take them back? Look at the quality before you speak!"
Zhuo Xiong walked into the cold storage warehouse with some doubts, grabbed a dragon fruit from the crate, and pried it open.
The fresh and taut skin made it hard for Zhuo Xiong to pry it open.
However, when the dragon fruit was peeled, a strong, fruity scent wafted up into his nose.
"Yo, it looks okay..." Zhuo Xiong said with a hint of surprise in his voice.
"Don't talk nonsense. Try it first!"
The first flavor that he tasted when he took the first bite of dragon fruit was sweetness!
Unlike the mild taste of ordinary dragon fruit, the dragon fruit in Zhuo Xiong's hand had a sweet and fruity fragrance.
"Yes, it's sweet, it seems to taste sweeter than the red-fleshed ones."
"They taste better than the red-fleshed dragon fruits, and they look great too. Look at the bright red skin and green scales, and you'll find it appetizing. The dragon fruit of this variety also has a fruitier scent."
Zhou Kun's words did make sense. Usually, red-fleshed dragon fruit would be extremely sweet, but they had thinner skin and would be rather difficult to preserve. They had a high tendency to be dehydrated and shriveled, which would make them look bad.
The white-fleshed dragon fruit had thick skin and could be stored easily. However, their flesh usually did not taste as good as the red-fleshed dragon fruit.
Since Zhuo Xiong wanted to use the dragon fruit to snatch away the business of the fruit store beside his, he must have certain requirements for the appearance and the rich aroma of the fruit.
Dragon fruits like Zhou Kun's batch were most suitable for being displayed in large quantities at the door of the fruit store to attract customers.
"They're really good, how much do you plan to sell them for?"
"10 yuan per 500 grams (catty)."
"Is it really that expensive?" Zhuo Xiong originally thought that an asking price of 7 yuan would already be the limit. To his surprise, the price that Zhou Kun offered was higher than the retail price.
Generally speaking, the wholesale price of dragon fruit was between 4 to 4.5 yuan per 500 grams. The price of 10 yuan was even higher than the retail price.
"I can't find a higher quality product on the market than my batch of dragon fruits. Is 10 yuan that expensive?" said Zhou Kun who had great confidence in that batch of dragon fruits.
After all, they were dragon fruit grown in a magical world. Not to mention the entire city, it could be considered the one and only batch in the world. After running a fruit business for so many years, Zhou Kun believed that the quality of that batch of dragon fruit was the best.
After listening to Zhou Kun's words, Zhuo Xiong hesitated a little. At the purchase price of 10 yuan, he would have to sell that batch of dragon fruit at a price of at least 18 yuan per 500 grams, considering the usual losses of fruit.
That price may be more expensive than the price offered by the Good Orchard Fruit Store next door that adopted a high-end concept. The problem was whether or not Zhuo Xiong could sell the dragon fruits away.
"Come on, now try this." Zhou Kun saw Zhuo Xiong's hesitation and took out a dragon fruit that he had bought from the wholesale market previously.
Zhuo Xiong didn't understand what Zhou Kun meant, so Zhou Kun peeled the skin off effortlessly and handed it to him, motioning for him to taste it.
Zhuo Xiong grabbed it, took a bite out of it, and spat it out.
He thought, 'What's this? It's so tasteless and bland like water.'
In an instant, Zhuo Xiong understood what Zhou Kun meant. Before drawing the comparison, he felt that the ordinary dragon fruits that were available on the market may be considered delicious, but after he tasted Zhou Kun's dragon fruit, he felt that the other types of dragon fruit were all horrible.
"How's it? Do you want to purchase a basket and give it a try?"
"Sure, give me a basket of them."
Zhuo Xiong gritted his teeth and decided to give it a try.
After all, since the Good Orchard Fruit Store branch opened next door, he had been unable to run his business due to his competitor's high-end concept. His shop was now full of popular and affordable fruits like bananas and pears. If that were to go on, there will be no business in his shop. He wanted to rely on those dragon fruits to make a turnaround.
"Come on, help me weigh them." Thus, Zhou Kun and Zhuo Xiong carried a basket of dragon fruits to the weighing scale.
"A little over 29 kilograms. Deducting the weight of the basket, I shall round it up to 22.5 kilograms. 10 yuan per 500 grams."
The two completed the transaction swiftly, and Zhuo Wei, who was about to leave, saw the golden dragon fruits in the basket at the side.
"Eh? I've never seen yellow dragon fruit before. Is it a new variety? "
"Yes, it's a new variety that was delivered with this batch of dragon fruit. There's a lack of an environment that provides the conditions for large-scale cultivation of this new variety, so the supplier sent a few samples. I'm an early adopter." Zhou Kun casually made up a reason.
Hearing that they were delivered with that batch of high-quality dragon fruits, Zhuo Xiong immediately became interested.
"There are so few of them. Let's try one," said Zhuo Xiong who peeled one without Zhou Kun's permission.
The lack of a fruity scent made Zhuo Xiong feel rather disappointed.
However, since he had already peeled it, he took a bite without thinking too much.
In an instant, he felt like his spirits were awakened and refreshed, causing him to shiver as he thought, 'Damn, this dragon fruit is really different from ordinary ones.'
Zhou Kun felt the pinch when he saw Zhuo Xiong peeling the golden dragon fruit skillfully. After all, it was worth one Dragon Crystal each.
"Scram, scram, all you do is eat and drink my food for free. Leave as soon as you're done. I still have to go deliver the goods."
"You're turning against me after you earned the money. Fine, I'll go first then. Hurry and deliver the goods to me as soon as possible."
After sending Zhuo Xiong away, Zhou Kun originally planned to place the remaining golden dragon fruit in the corner. However, at the thought of the fact that he had never tasted it while Zhuo Xiong did, he felt rather upset. Hence, he decided to peel one and began eating it.
As soon as he took a bite of the golden dragon fruit pulp, Zhou Kun too felt a wave of refreshing aura that seemed to have woken his spirits. However, unlike Zhuo Xiong's nonchalance, Zhou Kun, who knew the origin of the golden dragon fruit, sensed that something was wrong.
Is this the element of life that led to the destruction of the nation previously?
Initially, Zhou Kun had eaten numerous dragon fruit but he had never felt the elements of life. He thought that that kind of thing would only affect the people in the other world.
To his surprise, the golden dragon fruit that he had unintentionally purchased and initially only purchased it in order to purchase the other batch of dragon fruit, turned out to really contain the elements of life.
'Wait a minute!'
'The elements of life are said to have healing effects. Would these golden dragon fruits help with my parents' recovery?'
At that thought, Zhou Kun suddenly became a little excited. The car accident that his elderly parents had gotten into caused one of them to end up staying in the hospital for rehabilitation, and the other was still lying in the emergency room.
'If the golden dragon fruit really contains the elements of life that have healing effects as the rumors claimed them to, I wonder if my parents can try consuming them and use the elements of life to treat their conditions.'
Zhou Kun was filled with regret. He thought, 'Why did I let Zhuo Xiong waste one of the fruits?'
He carefully wrapped the golden dragon fruits in cloth, preparing to take them home in order to store them in the refrigerator. He would then bring them to his mother, who was in rehabilitation, in a bid to let her try it.
After packing up, Zhou Kun finally recovered from the shock and realized that he had not supplied fruits to his uncle yet in the past two days.
The quality of this batch of dragon fruit is not bad. I shall visit Uncle's shop after delivering the goods to Zhuo Xiong later.