The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 278: Chapter 278: High-End Commands a High Price

Kuno Hiroo’s small frame was no match for the enthusiasm of so many foreign buyers.

One of the American buyers was particularly assertive. He reached out a large hand, shoved Kuno Hiroo aside, and leaned in for a closer look at the Panda Butterflytail.

He muttered, ”This is incredible! How can there be such a beautiful ornamental fish? Hua Country never fails to surprise me.”

Kuno Hiroo looked like he was about to cry. When Japanese people meet Americans, they’re naturally a head shorter.

Not just in height, but psychologically as well.

Kuno Hiroo was filled with regret. He should have come earlier.

The feeling of being able to see them but not buy them was pure torture.

Faced with everyone’s enthusiasm, Han Xiaorui simply smiled. ”These Panda Butterflytails are very rare,” she said. ”The two we have here today are for display only and are not for sale.”

”If you’d like to purchase them, you can place a pre-order. We can ship within six months, but we cannot fulfill short-term orders. Please plan accordingly. If you’re not prepared to wait, please refrain from ordering.”

Even though Han Xiaorui priced the Panda Butterflytails at one thousand US dollars each, with a purchase limit of two per customer, people were still scrambling to buy them.

The Panda Butterflytail was just that captivating.

When word got around the exhibition hall that someone was selling a single fish to foreigners for one thousand US dollars, everyone was dumbfounded.

’My god, how could an ornamental fish be so expensive?’

Soon, it wasn’t just the foreign buyers coming over to look; even other exhibitors started crowding around.

It was as if they thought they could absorb the breeding techniques just by staring.

The day was a hectic whirlwind, with even more customers than the day before.

Without exception, they all placed orders for Panda Butterflytails.

Of course, it wasn’t just the Panda Butterflytail. Her other varieties of butterflytails also became highly sought after.

Han Xiaorui’s butterflytails were incredibly distinctive.

There were pure white ones, their entire bodies a pristine white with elegant, flowing tail fins.

There were also pure black ones, known as Black Butterflies.

There were even some with alternating patches of orange and white.

Among the butterflytails alone, there were over a dozen varieties, each with a graceful form and unique coloring.

While not as expensive as the Panda Butterflytail, their prices were still considerable.

In the past, when buyers from Europe and America imported goldfish, they mostly sourced them from Japan.

Thanks to Japan’s marketing efforts—hosting and participating in various goldfish competitions—they had driven up the prices for fish with beautiful forms and special colors.

Therefore, by quoting prices just ten percent lower than what buyers from Europe and America were paying for imports from Japan, Han Xiaorui effortlessly poached their customers.

The foreign buyers were thrilled. Not only were the prices lower, but the variety was also much greater, giving them far more options. There were so many different kinds!

And that was just the goldfish. There were also exotic yet beautiful marine ornamental fish, whose colors were even more vibrant, and they landed quite a few orders as well.

There were many orders, but the quantities in each were small.

As beautiful as the fish were, they still had to be able to withstand long-distance shipping.

The precious goldfish would be shipped by air, while most of the smaller freshwater ornamental fish would go by sea.

They were so busy the entire day that they didn’t even have time for lunch.

Han Xiaorui had to ask one of the government staff from Shencheng who was overseeing the exhibition to buy them some bread.

They munched on some bread, drank some water, and made do with that for lunch.

By the time the exhibition ended for the day and the foreign buyers had all left the hall, the staff from Jinshan Bay Ornamental Fish and Zhou Wei’s fish tank factory were so exhausted they sat right down on the floor.

To avoid getting their clothes dirty, they spread out newspapers to sit on.

Wu Lingling was listless with exhaustion, but her eyes were shining brightly. ”Sister Xiao Rui, our fish are amazing! Those foreigners didn’t want to leave our booth.”

Zhou Wei quickly chimed in, ”That’s right! The goldfish sold well, and so did our fish tanks. My god, if this keeps up, I think I’ll have to build a new factory.”

Han Xiaorui chuckled lightly. ”Don’t get ahead of yourself. Let’s wait until things stabilize. Neither ornamental fish nor fish tanks are disposable items; they last a long time. It’s too risky to rashly increase production.”

”But, there were definitely even more foreign buyers today than yesterday. You’ve all worked hard. Rest for a bit, then we’ll get up and go have a nice dinner.”

They were all young. After a few minutes of rest, everyone had recovered their energy and began packing up the fish.

These fish were precious and they couldn’t be careless. There was still one more day of the exhibition!

Just as they were packing, Director Chen Zhipeng of Eastern International Trade approached them.

”Director Chen, what brings you here?” Han Xiaorui put down what she was holding and hurried over to greet him.

’It was all thanks to Director Chen that they’d gotten such a good booth.’

Director Chen smiled. ”I heard you have a fish here that’s selling for one thousand dollars apiece, and you still can’t keep up with demand! What does it look like? I have to see it.”

Han Xiaorui smiled and led Director Chen to the fish tank. ”It’s this one, the Panda Butterflytail. It’s our most expensive and also our rarest variety.”

”Customers who place an order are limited to one purchase every six months, with a maximum of two fish per order. We will increase the quantity available only after we’ve expanded our breeding operations.”

Director Chen was surprised. ”You can’t expand the breeding operations?”

Han Xiaorui explained, ”On one hand, they’re difficult to breed. On the other hand, we want to cultivate a high-end product, and scarcity creates value. If there are too many, the price inevitably won’t be as high.”

Director Chen thought it over and felt she had a point. ”Xiao Rui, you’re right. Let me see today’s order forms. Let’s tally them up and have something to celebrate.”

Most of the other exhibitors at the Shencheng fair were selling fabrics, various machine parts, traditional silk embroidery, or other handicrafts.

Silk and embroidery could fetch a higher price, but most of the other goods were very cheap.

So when Director Chen heard that Han Xiaorui had a goldfish worth one thousand US dollars, he was absolutely stunned.

’Are these goldfish made of actual gold?’

But when Director Chen saw the Panda Butterflytails, along with the other beautiful goldfish, marine fish, and small freshwater fish, he was thoroughly impressed.

’It seems there’s a high level of technical skill involved in breeding ornamental fish.’

Han Xiaorui took a stack of order forms out of her briefcase and handed them to Director Chen.

Director Chen looked at the thick stack of orders, quite shocked. ”This many?”

Han Xiaorui said modestly, ”These are all first-time clients, so the quantities are small. Even though they love our fish, they’re worried the fish won’t survive the long journey, so they’re ordering cautiously.”

”However, we’ve already solved the logistical issues. We can guarantee live delivery to anywhere in the world. In the future, they will definitely increase their order sizes.”

”Excellent!” Director Chen nodded. His gaze fell on the prices, and his shock deepened.

The smaller fish were inexpensive, as they were indeed tiny and targeted at customers like primary school students or other young people.

They were a high-volume product, but the profit margin was still substantial.

When he saw the prices for the more beautiful butterflytails, Director Chen’s hand trembled slightly. ”None of these are cheap. How did you dare to quote such high prices from the start?”

When Han Xiaorui had first set the prices, both Yu Zhenxing and Yang Jianguo had been stunned, thinking they were far too expensive.

But the prices hadn’t been set arbitrarily.

Han Xiaorui smiled and replied, ”Of course, we had a benchmark. Many of these fish used to be exported from Japan. As long as our prices are even a little cheaper than theirs, we can win over their customers.”