"Boss, wait, don't kill it yet!"
The old man suddenly called out to the boss just as he was about to kill the coconut snail.
"Bring the snail over, let me smell it."
The boss frowned slightly:
"old man, there's nothing wrong with this snail. It's very fresh. Look, its tentacles are still moving."
"I'll know if there's anything wrong with just one sniff."
The old man was persistent, and the boss, helpless, had no choice but to hold the half-basin-sized coconut snail in both hands and bring it to him.
"Hmph!"
The old man leaned his nose close and took two deep sniffs.
"This snail already smells. It's not fresh. I don't want it. Give me my money back."
...
Lin Yang saw the old man pay and the boss prepare to kill the snail, and he had already convinced himself to give up and prepare to leave.
Who knew that at this moment, the old man suddenly didn't want it anymore and demanded a refund.
His heart couldn't help but start to anticipate again.
Although he wished the boss would refund the money immediately, he didn't act rashly.
Making a move before the old man and the boss had sorted out the ownership of the coconut snail would definitely attract unwanted attention.
If his intentions were discovered, it would be difficult to get the coconut snail.
He just watched from the side, deciding to see what to do next after the old man and the boss determined the final ownership of the coconut snail.
The boss saw that the old man's attitude was firm and his words very certain.
Helpless, he had no choice but to hold the coconut snail under his own nose and take two deep sniffs.
As the scent entered his nostrils, his brows furrowed. There really was a faint foul smell.
This smell was very faint; if one's nose wasn't particularly sensitive, they wouldn't be able to smell it at all.
Having been in the seafood business for over a decade, he knew the coconut snail had only recently died, no more than five minutes ago.
At this point, he recalled that the old man had entered the shop as soon as it opened today and had been staring at the last coconut snail.
After it was scooped out, he had fiddled with it for a long time, hesitating and haggling over the price.
After finally buying and paying for it, he was now demanding a refund on the grounds that the snail wasn't fresh.
There was no way he didn't know what the old man was thinking.
He was just waiting for the snail to die so he could buy it at a low price.
This kind of thing was not the first time he had encountered it; it was already commonplace.
People who do such things are thick-skinned, and there's nothing you can do about them.
Often, there are only two choices: sell it at a low price, or keep it for yourself.
However, due to the special nature of seafood, once it dies, it will spoil in a very short time.
If you sell it to him at a low price, you can still recoup some of your capital, but if you keep it for yourself, it's equivalent to losing everything.
Therefore, these people often succeed.
The boss sighed helplessly, resigned to his bad luck.
He said in a good-natured tone:
"old man, this snail is indeed dead, but it only died a few minutes ago. How about this, I'll give you a 50% discount and round it down, so I'll charge you 780?"
"Eating dead seafood will give you diarrhea. This snail shell is quite nice though. How about you sell it to me for 50 yuan? The shell can be a decoration, and the meat can be cooked to feed cats."
Upon hearing this, the boss's face immediately fell. He was already losing money at half price, and who knew this old man would be so shameless.
He wanted to buy a coconut snail worth over a thousand yuan for fifty yuan.
But as a business owner, no matter how annoying it was, he couldn't drive away a customer.
He could only say in a good-natured tone:
"old man, that price really won't do. If you really want it, I'll go down one more step and give it to you for 700."
"I'll only pay fifty. Sell it if you want, otherwise forget it."
"Alright, in that case, I'll give you a refund, old man."
The boss performed a series of actions and refunded 1580 yuan.
"Hmph, how can you do business like this, selling dead seafood so expensively!"
The old man, instead of being happy after receiving the refund, started making a scene in the shop.
"You old geezer, didn't you deliberately kill that coconut snail? If you can't afford it, don't eat it. What kind of behavior is this? Aren't you afraid that doing too many immoral things will bring disaster to your descendants!"
"How dare you speak like that? I'm going to report you."
"You old geezer, you think I'm easy to bully because I haven't shown my power, huh? I'll chop you to death with one knife today!"
The boss raised his cleaver and jumped out from behind the counter.
His eyes were so fierce that just one look sent shivers down one's spine.
The customers in the shop who were selecting seafood were so scared that they scattered and fled, fearing they would be caught in the crossfire.
The old man was even more terrified, standing frozen on the spot, unable to move for a moment.
The plump proprietress, seeing the conflict escalate, also came out from behind the counter. She snatched the cleaver from the boss's hand.
"Husband, calm down. If you kill him, you'll go to jail. Why get angry with such a person!"
"Hmph, you just wait, I'll go home and report you!"
The old man, seeing the boss being restrained, instantly regained his confidence, but he was also afraid of actually being chopped a few times, so he didn't dare to stay long. He turned and slipped away, hiding in the crowd.
"Damn it, I've seen a lot of weirdos in all these years of running a shop, but this is the first time I've seen such a weirdo."
After the old man left, the boss was still cursing.
It took a lot of persuasion from the proprietress for him to slowly calm down.
Lin Yang had been staring at the coconut snail. Now that the snail's final ownership was determined, he walked to the counter:
"Boss, how much is this coconut snail? I'll take it."
"Young man, are you sure you want it?
This snail was killed by that old geezer, but it died recently, so it's fine to eat. The taste won't be different from a live one. Normally, it's sold at half price. How about I give you a further discount, 700?"
"Mm."
Lin Yang responded, immediately scanning the QR code on his phone to pay.
"Wait, young man, seeing how straightforward you are, I'll just give you this coconut snail for free. If everyone was as straightforward as you, then that kind of thing wouldn't have happened just now."
"No need, whatever the price is, that's what I'll pay."
Lin Yang paid the money directly. This was not the time to take advantage.
Now that he had paid, the coconut snail was his. If he had really taken it for free, and a melo pearl was found inside, the boss would have the right to take it back if he went back on his word.
Wouldn't that be a huge loss if that happened?
It wasn't that he didn't trust the boss, but rather that he trusted human nature.
For a few hundred or a few thousand, he might exclaim, "You're so lucky," but this was millions. How many people could resist that temptation?
Therefore, a clear transaction was the best choice to avoid any other disputes.
"Young people are just straightforward! From now on, whenever you come to buy seafood at my shop, I'll give you a 20% discount!"
The boss said, then turned and took the coconut snail to the operating table to process it.
His technique was very skilled. He held both sides of the coconut snail and tapped the pointed end against the workbench.
"Crack, crack, crack..."
As he moved his hands up and down, the meat of the coconut snail squeezed out of the shell like toothpaste.
Lin Yang frowned. Although he had now bought the coconut snail, if the melo pearl inside was revealed, it was hard to guarantee that the boss wouldn't have other ideas.
Although it might still end up in his hands, that would definitely involve various troubles.
He hurriedly spoke to stop him:
"Wait, boss, no need to process it. I'll take it home and process it myself!"
"Young man, it's no trouble. Our shop includes processing with seafood purchases. You just need to take it back and handle it."
Saying that, he placed the coconut snail on the operating table, pressed down on the shell with one hand, and with the other, grabbed the exposed snail meat and pulled hard.
A whole, intact piece of snail meat was pulled out of the shell.
"Clang!"
At the same time, an orange-yellow, quail egg-sized bead was brought out and dropped onto the workbench.