I Start with a Mysterious Island-Chapter 68: This Time Was an Accident

CLICK.

SLAM.

Lin Li opened the van door and slid into the driver’s seat, but he didn’t immediately start the engine to head for the market.

He turned and reached into the rear of the van. With a single thought, nearly two hundred massive white radishes, weighing a total of two thousand pounds, materialized out of thin air in the empty cargo space.

RUMBLE...

After retrieving the white radishes from the Mysterious Small Island, Lin Li started the van and began driving toward the market.

...

The market was busiest around six or seven in the morning, so when Lin Li arrived as evening approached, only a few scattered people were milling about.

Most of the stall owners were bored, fiddling with their phones.

"YAWN..." Old Li, the vegetable seller, yawned and said to his wife, "There’s hardly anyone left. Why don’t you head home and make dinner for the kids? I can manage the stall by myself."

"Alright, I’ll head home then." Old Li’s wife nodded. Just as she was about to grab her purse and leave, a young man in his early twenties carrying a black plastic bag approached their stall.

Seeing a customer, Old Li’s wife immediately put on a welcoming smile. "Looking for some vegetables, young man? Ours are incredibly fresh. They just came in this morning."

Lin Li’s gaze swept over the sizable vegetable stall. He noticed they sold white radishes and gave a slight nod before asking the proprietress,

"Ma’am, I’ve got about two thousand pounds of white radishes I’m looking to sell. Would you be interested?"

Old Li’s wife was taken aback. She hadn’t expected the young man to be a seller, not a customer.

It wasn’t that she’d never had people try to sell her produce directly, but they were never this young. They were usually in their thirties or forties, at the very least.

Besides, they already had a reliable supplier who offered good quality at low prices. There was no need to buy from an unfamiliar person making a cold call.

"We still have plenty from our last shipment, so we don’t need anything right now, young man. You should try asking one of the other stalls," Old Li’s wife said, shaking her head.

In truth, their business was doing very well. The vegetables in their storeroom were nearly gone, and they were already planning to restock the next morning. She was just politely turning Lin Li down.

"I see. Well, sorry to have bothered you." Lin Li nodded and turned to try another stall.

"Hang on a second, young man," the yawning Old Li suddenly called out, stopping Lin Li just as he was about to leave.

"Hm?" Hearing someone call out, Lin Li stopped and turned back to Old Li. "Is there something I can help you with?" he asked, confused.

"What kind of produce are you selling?" Old Li asked offhandedly. He was mostly just bored and felt like making small talk with the young salesman.

"White radishes," Lin Li said.

"And what else?"

"Just white radishes."

"..." Old Li was speechless. He’d never met a door-to-door produce salesman who only sold a single item.

"What’s your wholesale price per pound for these radishes?" Old Li asked, already losing interest.

"Fifty cents a pound."

"What? Fifty cents a pound?!" Both Old Li and his wife were stunned when they heard the price.

The current market rate for white radishes was seventy cents a pound; a price as low as fifty cents was simply unheard of.

The couple exchanged a look. Then Old Li, taking charge, asked Lin Li with a neutral expression, "Can I see one of your radishes, young man? If the quality is good, we’ll take them."

"Sure." Lin Li nodded and handed over the black plastic bag.

"Wow, this is heavy." Old Li took the bag from Lin Li. ’How many radishes did this kid cram in here?’ he wondered.

But when he and his wife opened the bag and saw only a single white radish inside, they were both dumbfounded.

"This... How can a single radish be this big?"

"Look, young man," Old Li sighed, "it’s no use showing us some specially selected, exceptionally large and perfect specimen. If you want us to buy, you have to show us a regular one!"

"This is a regular one," Lin Li explained, seeing the misunderstanding. "My entire van is full of radishes this size."

"I’ve only ever seen a white radish this big at the produce expo last year.

At the time, the staff told me that this type of massive, ten-pound radish was a new breed that couldn’t be mass-produced yet. And you’re telling me you have a whole van full of them...?" Old Li eyed Lin Li with deep suspicion, thinking he was bluffing.

’It’s just a big radish. Why would I need to lie about it?’ Lin Li grumbled inwardly.

He then said to the stall owner, "Sir, you can come with me and see for yourself. My van is in the parking lot just outside. Once you see it, you’ll know I’m not lying."

"Fine. If what you’re saying is true, I’ll take all of them." Old Li nodded, then turned to his wife.

"Don’t go home just yet. Watch the stall for me. I’m going with this young man to see this van full of giant radishes he’s talking about."

With that, Lin Li led the stall owner to where he had parked.

"It... It really is a whole van full of these huge radishes!"

When Old Li followed Lin Li to the parking lot and saw the back of the van packed to the brim with massive white radishes, his eyes went wide with astonishment.

At the produce expo, the staff had explicitly told him that radishes this size couldn’t be mass-produced. But here was an entire van full of them right before his eyes. This... this was just astounding.

"So, can you take the whole lot?" Lin Li asked the wide-eyed stall owner.

"Yes! Young man, if you get any more of these giant radishes in the future, you bring them straight to me. I’ll buy every last one."

’It’s not like I plan on making a living by farming and selling produce. This was just a one-time thing...’ Lin Li thought. He simply smiled, nodded at the stall owner, and said, "Alright. If I get more, I’ll come find you."

After confirming the quality of the produce, the stall owner told Lin Li to wait a moment and then hurried back to the market.

A few moments later, he returned with several helpers in tow, pulling a few handcarts up to Lin Li’s van.

Then, it was time to unload.

...