Chapter 504: A Pleasant Surprise from Thirteen

“Shellfish, large ones, sixty-one pounds.

“Sea fish, ninety-one pounds. Oysters: twenty large, ten small.

“Crabs, thirty-five per pound. Lobsters, forty-five per pound.”

Just as Wang Yun was about to speak, Thirteen—who was usually silent—suddenly spoke up.

Everyone froze. They turned to look at him.

After quoting the prices, Thirteen calmly fixed his gaze on the buyer in front of them.

The buyer was stunned. Weren’t these guys new to the Sero Market? How could they know the going rates so well?

A wave of frustration and dissatisfaction rose in his chest. He had hoped to make a tidy little profit off this deal, but clearly, these people knew exactly what they were doing.

The first buyer, the one who had offered two thousand yuan, went pale. But he couldn’t even get mad. His offer had, in fact, been lower than the average market price by about two yuan per pound.

Not a huge amount, but over dozens of pounds, it added up to nearly a hundred yuan.

Enough for a decent pack of cigarettes.

But now it felt like something was stuck in his throat, neither swallowed nor spat out. His chest tightened with irritation.

“I’ll take the whole lot!”

A new voice rang out from the crowd.

A man with a leather document pouch tucked under his arm pushed forward with confidence. His tone was assertive, no-nonsense.

Wang Yun’s face lit up with a warm smile.

“Great! Please wait a moment. I’ll go grab some bags.”

He turned to leave, but before Big Mouth could even stand to help him fetch some from a nearby vendor, the buyer waved a hand and pulled out a stack of black plastic bags from behind his back.

“No need. I brought my own. Just help me load it into the van,” he added, pointing to a nearby minivan.

This move instantly triggered grumbles from the other buyers.

“Hey, man, don’t hog everything for yourself, huh? Leave us a little, will you?”

“Yeah, which restaurant are you from? This stuff doesn’t keep long, needs to be sold the same day. There’s at least two or three hundred pounds here. You think you can move all that?”

Another buyer echoed the complaint.

But the man with the document pouch shot them a sharp look.

“You people need to mind your own business. You were the one who offered just two thousand. Says a lot about your character. These folks are clearly honest people. Their prices are fair. Why shouldn’t I buy from them?”

His words left the original bidder speechless.

Because the truth was, with fair pricing, this haul was worth well over ten thousand yuan.

“You—”

“Highest bidder wins, sorry everyone. This deal’s closed!” Big Mouth stepped up with a cheerful grin, smoothing over the situation.

He was good at easing tension when it counted.

With all the seafood spoken for, the rest of the buyers had no choice but to leave, grumbling under their breath.

One of them even tried to get Wang Yun’s contact info before leaving, but Wang Yun politely refused.

First, they didn’t have the time to keep selling seafood.

Second, that buyer clearly wasn’t serious.

After helping the new buyer load the van, they received their payment—eighteen thousand yuan in total.

In an instant, they’d become five-figure earners.

As they counted the bills, Old Hu and the others looked like their eyeballs were about to fall out of their heads.

“This little bucket here’s just smaller seafood,” Wang Yun said. “If you’d like it, we’ll include it in the delivery. Or, if you don’t need it, we’ll knock off two hundred yuan; we want to keep it for ourselves.”

The remaining bucket held the smaller catches, mostly gathered by Xiang Xiang.

Wang Yun smiled as he spoke, making sure to keep things courteous. After all, the man had been generous.

“Keep it for yourselves,” the buyer replied, glancing at the now-loaded van. “You’ve got quality goods. If there’s a chance in the future, I’d love to work with you again.”

He extended a hand, his eyes full of expectation.

Wang Yun shook it and gave a polite nod.

“Maybe someday,” he said.

“Oh? Alright then.”

The buyer seemed a bit puzzled by Wang Yun’s vague response, sensing that he wasn’t too keen on establishing a long-term partnership.

But he didn’t push it.

Maybe this group had other plans.

The next moment, the crew walked out of the Sero Market, money in hand, full of swagger. Behind them, the vendors and buyers left behind were already buzzing with gossip.

Dawn was breaking.

It was already six in the morning. Everyone but Wang Yun was both starving and exhausted.

Yet no one complained.

“Thirteen, how did you know those prices so well?” Old Zhou asked after they’d walked a bit, clearly curious.

Everyone else was wondering the same thing.

“For real, Thirteen, you didn’t say a word before, and now you go and pull off something huge!”

Xiao Gao stepped forward, trying to clap Thirteen on the shoulder, but Thirteen immediately dodged.

Instead of being offended, Xiao Gao just smiled in amusement and watched him closely.

Thirteen looked at everyone, his face flushing red.

“If you don’t want to say, that’s fine. Let’s go eat,” Wang Yun said with a smile.

People with autism process things differently. For Thirteen to speak that much just now was already remarkable. And during the seafood gathering, he’d worked with unmatched focus. The largest and best catches had all been his.

“At the entrance to Sero Market, I saw that man paying for seafood,” Thirteen said softly.

Compared to earlier, his voice was more tense.

Like he was nervous to be talking to people he was starting to trust.

“Wow, your observational skills are amazing! So you figured out the prices just by watching someone else buy?” Old Zhou praised him enthusiastically.

Thirteen shyly nodded.

Wang Yun’s eyes sparkled.

Looks like this team was going to have more than a few surprises after all.