Chapter 210: Breaking the Deadlock

Li Xiao wasn’t the type to drag his feet. Now that a deal had been struck, the sooner they acted, the better.

After all, there wasn’t much time left before the mushrooms were fully mature.

If he couldn’t find a suitable sales channel by then, the first batch would spoil right there on the farm.

While he wasn’t hurting for money, wasting so much food—especially mushrooms of such exceptional quality—seemed like a terrible shame.

Dong Guojiang couldn’t help but feel a surge of admiration as he watched his boss secure a sales channel in just a few words.

After all, his responsibilities were in company management; sales, for him, was a genuinely difficult problem.

Finding channels for normal sales wasn’t hard.

But when it came to finding outlets for a high-end product like this, he was at a loss.

Seeing Dong Guojiang still standing there in a daze, Li Xiao hurried him along.

“Didn’t you just say that a dozen or so varieties of mushrooms were starting to mature?”

“Go pick some of the mature ones. We don’t need a lot, just enough for a tasting.”

At Li Xiao’s command, Dong Guojiang immediately had his subordinates pick the mature mushrooms and package them simply.

Li Xiao glanced at the time. It was a little after four, so there was still a while before the dinner rush at six.

Time was of the essence, so he didn’t wait around.

The mushrooms had just been picked; if he waited until tomorrow, the flavor wouldn’t be nearly as good.

He placed the mushrooms on the passenger seat, stepped on the gas, and sped off toward Jiuhe Garden.

Li Xiao drove fast. The 911 zipped through the city streets, and it wasn’t long before he arrived at Jiuhe Garden.

He brought the freshly picked mushrooms into the restaurant and found An Chongwen.

An Chongwen was quite curious when he saw the mushrooms Li Xiao had brought.

As the executive chef, he not only possessed outstanding culinary skills but also had a great deal of experience in appraising ingredients.

He examined the mushrooms closely and immediately noticed the difference between them and ordinary ones.

An Chongwen opened the box and took out one of the matsutake mushrooms.

[Image: Wild Matsutake]

[Image: Cultivated Matsutake]

‘Honestly,’ he thought, ‘if I weren’t looking closely at this matsutake, I’d really think it was wild.’

But on closer inspection, he could see certain details that revealed it was cultivated.

At this realization, An Chongwen’s expression immediately turned serious.

He had dealt with plenty of mushroom suppliers, but it was truly rare to see cultivated mushrooms of such high quality.

However, he also knew that some mushrooms looked good on the outside but were very average in taste and texture.

So he didn’t jump to any conclusions. Instead, he looked at Li Xiao and asked,

“Mr. Li, would you mind if I used these mushrooms to test a dish?”

Li Xiao was extremely confident in his company’s product. After all, the mushroom spores were provided by the System, and he had personally tasted them before. There was absolutely no question about their quality.

He couldn’t say they would blow every other mushroom on the market out of the water, but they could easily surpass 90% of them.

So he said with confidence,

“Of course. If we’re going to be partners, you naturally have to try them to be sure.”

“And I can guarantee that all future deliveries will be of this same quality. If the quality ever fails to meet the standard, I will immediately pull out and compensate your restaurant for any and all losses.”

An Chongwen didn’t pay too much mind to Li Xiao’s promise.

After all, in his view, promises were made to be broken. He’d heard far more outrageous ones.

After a few casual pleasantries, An Chongwen took all the mushrooms into the kitchen.

He didn’t hand them off to his sous chefs. Instead, he prepared and tried a few of the mushrooms himself.

Once cooked, the mushrooms released a rich aroma. Their texture was delicate, their flavor exquisite, completely surpassing his expectations.

A flash of pleasant surprise lit up An Chongwen’s eyes. The quality of this batch of mushrooms was even higher than he had anticipated; they weren’t just for show.

Their quality was even better than some of the wild mushrooms they had tried in the past.

After a moment’s thought, he made his decision. If he could get a stable supply of such high-quality mushrooms, it would significantly enhance their dishes.

But this was their first time working together, so he remained cautious.

He had encountered unscrupulous suppliers before—ones who would provide extremely high-quality goods at the start, only to gradually mix in lower-quality product to cut costs and increase their profits.

He worried Li Xiao might do the same, so he didn’t plan to place a large order right away. Instead, he would start with a trial collaboration.

If the quality remained consistently high, he would then make larger-scale purchases.

Having decided on his strategy, An Chongwen returned to his office and immediately laid out his thoughts.

“Mr. Li, the quality of these mushrooms is truly excellent. They’re nearly comparable to mid- to high-grade wild mushrooms. I’d be happy to try adding them to our procurement list.”

“However, since this is our first time working together, the initial order quantity won’t be too large.”

“If we can confirm down the line that the quality of your mushrooms remains consistently high, we will increase our order volume. I hope this arrangement is satisfactory to you?”

Although things couldn’t be finalized all at once, Li Xiao knew this was to be expected.

They had no prior history of cooperation, so just getting his foot in the door was a good start.

Li Xiao nodded.

“That’s perfectly fine.”

The two then had a brief negotiation regarding the price and supply volume of the mushrooms.

Since An Chongwen was extremely satisfied with the mushrooms’ quality, he didn’t try to haggle over the price Li Xiao proposed.

After concluding their business, Li Xiao didn’t leave right away. He decided to stay and have dinner at Jiuhe Garden.

An Chongwen personally cooked, preparing several exquisite dishes for Li Xiao, which of course featured the very mushrooms he had just brought.

…

With this first success under his belt, the subsequent promotion efforts went much more smoothly.

Li Xiao didn’t continue to handle things personally. He was the boss, after all, not a salesman.

He had Dong Guojiang take mushroom samples and distribute them for free to some of Yangcheng’s famous private kitchens.

If his company were only producing ordinary mushrooms, distributing free samples wouldn’t have had much of an effect. But the quality of their product was nearly identical to that of wild mushrooms.

With such a significant advantage in quality, finding sales channels for the mushrooms became easy.

Although all the contracts the company signed with these high-end restaurants were currently short-term, that was enough for now.

As long as the quality of the mushrooms remained stable, it wouldn’t be long before those short-term contracts turned into long-term ones.