This sudden shout startled everyone, and the lively atmosphere instantly vanished.
Everyone turned their heads, and soon, a man in uniform pushed his way through the crowd.
Wu Tian recognized this man. His name was Zhao Qiang, the person in charge of managing the vegetable market, responsible for its daily maintenance.
"Why is this guy suddenly looking for me?"
Wu Tian felt a wave of confusion, then walked up to Zhao Qiang.
He was quite polite and asked courteously, "Manager Zhao, is there something you need?"
But Zhao Qiang's attitude was completely different.
His face was filled with fierceness, looking like he was there to cause trouble.
At this moment, he pointed at Wu Tian's tricycle and shouted, "Who allowed you to set up a stall here? Why didn't you report to me?"
Wu Tian replied, confused, "No, Manager Zhao, I'm just a small vendor! I'm just setting up a temporary stall; I don't think I need to report to you, do I?"
"Who says you don't need to? If I say you do, then you do!" Zhao Qiang didn't give Wu Tian a chance to explain. He waved his hand and said, "Get on your tricycle and come with me!"
The customers nearby, although they wanted to buy Wu Tian's cabbage, dared not say anything when they saw Zhao Qiang coming to cause trouble. They quickly dispersed.
Wu Tian found it inexplicable, but he had no other choice for the moment and decided to go with Zhao Qiang to see what was going on.
The two walked into the market management office. Zhao Qiang sat on a chair, with his legs crossed.
He looked at Wu Tian contemptuously and said, "Do you know what you did wrong?"
Wu Tian was completely bewildered and asked, confused, "What did I do wrong?"
"You dare to ask me!" Zhao Qiang said loudly, "You set up your stall there, severely blocking the market traffic. Don't you realize that!"
Wu Tian frowned and said, "I'm setting up my stall in the designated area. If there are many people, it just means my business is good."
"What does that have to do with me? Are you saying I'm not allowed to have good business?"
"Nonsense!" Zhao Qiang said aggressively, "You made a mistake and you're still arguing. I think you don't know my capabilities!"
"Pay a fine of ten thousand yuan today, or you're not leaving!"
"Ten thousand yuan?!" Wu Tian exclaimed in surprise, "Are you deliberately picking a fight? Setting aside whether I did anything wrong or not, the market regulations only allow a maximum fine of five hundred. How did you come up with ten thousand yuan?"
"You still want to argue with me?" Zhao Qiang slammed the table.
He said loudly, "Look at this place. Here, I decide how much the fine is. It's not your place to point fingers!"
After saying that, he continued, "Of course, if you don't want to pay the fine, you can. Starting today, you can let me act as your agent for your cabbage."
"Of course, I won't take it for free. I'll buy it at one cent per jin, how about that?"
"One cent per jin?" Wu Tian found it utterly absurd.
"Even the most ordinary cabbage is worth more than that, isn't it?"
"Not to mention that my cabbage is premium quality. How could I possibly agree to that?"
"You won't agree?" Zhao Qiang sneered, "Fine, then you pay a fine of fifty thousand yuan!"
"Furthermore, you are not allowed to set up a stall here from now on, or I guarantee I'll fine you every time I see you!"
Looking at Zhao Qiang's unreasonable and overbearing demeanor, Wu Tian was filled with anger.
He suddenly remembered that he had heard that Zhao Qiang was the "cabbage bully" of the vegetable market.
As long as a vegetable sold well in the market, he would interfere, making huge profits under the guise of acting as an agent, and oppressing many vendors to the point of suffering.
This time, Zhao Qiang must have seen the good quality of his cabbage and had malicious intentions, wanting to seize his cabbage through such means!
Wu Tian certainly would not yield to such malicious behavior.
He looked directly into Zhao Qiang's eyes and said, "You don't need to scare me; it's useless."
"I've received an education, you know. Your so-called fine is unreasonable and will not be recognized by law, so you should put away your underhanded tactics."
"I don't need any agent. I can sell this cabbage myself, so you don't need to worry about it."
Seeing that Wu Tian was not giving him any face, Zhao Qiang became angry.
"What kind of attitude is that? You've offended me, and you think you can still operate in the vegetable market?"
"Let me tell you, this is the only vegetable market in the entire county. You can only sell your vegetables here!"
"If you don't listen to me, then your cabbage leaves will all rot!"
Zhao Qiang had made his stance clear, and it was almost like the negotiation had broken down.
However, Wu Tian was not afraid of power.
The tougher you were with him, the less he would yield.
He said coldly, "If they don't sell, then they don't sell. Even if all my cabbage rots, I won't give you a single leaf."
After speaking, Wu Tian completely ignored Zhao Qiang and turned to leave.
As he had said, despite Zhao Qiang's harsh words, he did not actually have that much authority.
Therefore, even though Wu Tian left in front of him, Zhao Qiang could not stop him.
Wu Tian got on his tricycle and left the vegetable market, then wandered around the county town.
In fact, he was still a bit troubled. He had no connections, and if he wanted to sell vegetables, he could only go to the vegetable market.
But the vegetable market was controlled by Zhao Qiang, which meant his only channel was cut off. Selling vegetables was indeed difficult.
"Do I have to go find Tang Qi?"
If he could cooperate with Tang Ren Catering, it would be a great thing; many suppliers couldn't even get such an opportunity.
However, he hesitated.
Because he had great confidence in his cabbage, he believed that such cabbage would be extremely popular and highly sought after.
If he went to find Tang Qi now, wouldn't that be considered using a back door?
He wanted people to scramble for his cabbage, not to sell it through underhanded means.
"Sigh, I'll look around a bit more first."
With that thought, Wu Tian cast aside his worries and continued to wander around the county town.
As he walked, he passed a rather large restaurant.
At this moment, someone called him from the entrance of the restaurant, "Hey! You, the cabbage seller, stop!"
Wu Tian applied the brakes and asked the person, "Is there something you need?"
The person said, "I'm the manager of this restaurant. We're in urgent need of cabbage right now. Are you selling this cabbage? If you are, I'll take it all."
Upon hearing this, Wu Tian was immediately overjoyed.
Didn't someone just show up?
He quickly nodded and said, "Yes, yes, yes. I brought so much out, how could I not sell it?"
The manager said, "Alright, then quickly unload your goods at the kitchen. We're very busy right now. You can have some lunch here first, and I'll settle the accounts with you later."
Wu Tian nodded and said, "No problem, lead the way."
Afterward, Wu Tian parked his tricycle at the unloading dock of the back kitchen and then headed into the restaurant.